Halle Berry's Training During The Making Of John Wick Chapter 3 Actually Caused Hives

Halle Berry in john Wick Chapter 3

For two movies the John Wick franchise put Keanu Reeves' character up against basically the entire criminal underworld, of which, there is quite a bit, with little to no assistance. However, in John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum, John gets a little bit of help. Some of that help comes from Halle Berry, who is introduced in the new film as Sofia, an old friend who owes John a debt.

Sofia comes from the same world as John Wick, and that means Halle Berry had to go through the same rigorous training to make Sofia look like the some brand of badass that John Wick is. However, Halle Berry admits doing so wasn't easy. She, personally was no fan of guns, to the point that she apparently broke out in hives during her first training session. According to Berry...

The first session I had I literally broke out in hives. I was uncomfortable holding something so powerful, and a bit afraid of it.

We all love some good old faction action in our movies, but for many of us, there is comfort in the fact that it is all fictional. Even holding a prop gun allows for a degree of separation from the real thing if an actor needs it, but training for John Wick movies is much more real, and apparently for Halle Berry, things were actually a bit too real.

While the action scenes in John Wick movies are highly choreographed and stylized, the weapons training is done to make the handling of the weapons look as authentic as possible. That means real guns.

Eventually, Halle Berry says in the special features of the John Wick: Chapter 3 Blu-ray, that, while she clearly hasn't changed her tune on guns in the broad sense, she was able to get through the training by focusing on the fact that, by learning how to properly handle a gun, she would be in the best possible position if she were ever absolutely forced to use one.

What helped me was, I connected to thought that, while I'll never own a gun, I have two small children, and if someone ever pulled a gun on me, now I would know what to do with it if I was lucky enough to get it away from them. And with all of my other John Wick training, I might get it away.

Hopefully we'll get to see Halle Berry put all that training to good use again. John Wick: Chapter 4 is on the way, and so there's always the possibility that we could see Sofia again. Clearly, whatever Halle Berry's feelings about guns, she learned how to use them quite well. Sofia looks to be as skilled with a gun as John Wick himself. If they wanted to give Halle Berry a spinoff, there's no question she could pull it off.

Dirk Libbey
Content Producer/Theme Park Beat

CinemaBlend’s resident theme park junkie and amateur Disney historian, Dirk began writing for CinemaBlend as a freelancer in 2015 before joining the site full-time in 2018. He has previously held positions as a Staff Writer and Games Editor, but has more recently transformed his true passion into his job as the head of the site's Theme Park section. He has previously done freelance work for various gaming and technology sites. Prior to starting his second career as a writer he worked for 12 years in sales for various companies within the consumer electronics industry. He has a degree in political science from the University of California, Davis.  Is an armchair Imagineer, Epcot Stan, Future Club 33 Member.