Tim Allen Told Keanu Reeves How He’d Kill John Wick… It Didn’t Go Well

Keanu Reeves in John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum
(Image credit: (Lionsgate))

Keanu Reeves has the reputation of being one of the nicest guys in Hollywood. He’s made headlines for giving up his seat on a subway, donating money to children’s hospitals, taking pay cuts on films and calling an entire audience “breathtaking” at E3. But when it comes to his famed John Wick role, he’s known as a badass assassin, and he’ll defend it.

His Toy Story 4 costar, Tim Allen, recalled seeing Pixar’s summer hit with Keanu Reeves after he’d just seen John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum. When the Last Man Standing actor played around with Reeves about the action flick, here’s what happened:

I go into this whole thing, 'Hey, Keanu. Here's what I would do if I was in the movie, if I was one of the villains. I'd say, 'Hey, look. Let's keep him out of enclosed spaces. What I would do is I'd wait until you come out of your house, because you have a little dog that you walk. I'd be across the street with a big rifle and I'd just pick you off coming out of the house.’ He doesn't even blink. He goes, 'Wick would know you were there.'

Incredible! On Jimmy Kimmel Live, Tim Allen talked about this hilarious exchange between him and Keanu Reeves that ended with the John Wick actor perfectly shutting down Allen's idea about how to theoretically take Wick down. Allen thinks Wick’s strengths lie in places such as bars or factories, so he shared his idea to Keanu Reeves. But he ended the conversation feeling a little awkward about the whole thing! Reeves confidently knew Allen’s plan would not get past John Wick.

There seems to be a friendly rivalry of sorts between Tim Allen and Keanu Reeves. It all started because Duke Caboom can strike some comparison to Buzz Lightyear. But Reeves purposely made an effort to not imitate Allen in any way, adding a gruffness to “Canada’s favorite stuntman.” Duke Caboom may be smaller than Buzz Lightyear, but he was a big hit in Toy Story 4!

Tim Allen told Jimmy Kimmel that he felt that the final Toy Story film has “too much Keanu Reeves” and there’s a hint of jealousy that he might be cooler than Buzz. The movie marked the final appearance of Buzz and Woody on the big screen after 25 years of the characters' exploits. Allen and Tom Hanks have since become best friends in real life, even though recording sessions are often done alone.

Toy Story 4 was recently nominated for two Oscars: Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song for Randy Newman’s “I Can’t Let You Throw Yourself Away.” The Pixar film earned $1.07 billion worldwide, becoming the sixth highest-grossing movie of 2019.

Keanu Reeves is already training for John Wick 4 and for his upcoming return to The Matrix, both coming in 2021 – currently on the same day in May. There’s also a spinoff series centered on The Continental in the works.

Sarah El-Mahmoud
Staff Writer

Sarah El-Mahmoud has been with CinemaBlend since 2018 after graduating from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in Journalism. In college, she was the Managing Editor of the award-winning college paper, The Daily Titan, where she specialized in writing/editing long-form features, profiles and arts & entertainment coverage, including her first run-in with movie reporting, with a phone interview with Guillermo del Toro for Best Picture winner, The Shape of Water. Now she's into covering YA television and movies, and plenty of horror. Word webslinger. All her writing should be read in Sarah Connor’s Terminator 2 voice over.