John Wick Actor Jokes About Kicking Keanu Reeves’ Ass In Real Life

Boban Marjanović in John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum

Keanu ReevesJohn Wick has taken down opponents of all shapes and sizes over the course of his three theatrical appearances so far. Among his bigger adversaries was Ernest, who was played by Dallas Mavericks player Boban Marjanovic in John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum.

The towering Ernest met his end when John Wick proved words can hurt… well, when you use a leather-bound book as a blunt instrument on a person’s head, that is. In real life though, Boban Marjanovic recently joked about how easy it would have been for him to take down Keanu Reeves. During his appearance on TNT’s Inside the NBA, Marjanovic was asked by analyst Charles Barkley about if it’d be easy for him to kick the John Wick star’s ass, and the basketball player responded:

Of course, my friend. I saw that from Shaq. I saw he was in a lot of movies and kicking everybody’s ass. I tried to do same, but I get the opposite. They kick my ass.

Assuming Keanu Reeves picked up some moves from his martial arts training on The Matrix trilogy, I’d like to think he wouldn’t be helpless in a fight. However, as far as brute strength goes, Boban Marjanovic unquestionably would have the edge if he and Reeves were to go mano a mano. But when you’re operating in the John Wick reality, the eponymous protagonist has to come out victorious in the end, so that spelled bad news for Marjanovic’s character.

In case you can’t remember how John Wick’s brawl with Ernest unfolded in John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum, you can watch the below clip.

2019 was a big year for Keanu Reeves, as in addition to John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum, he also appeared in Always Be My Maybe, Toy Story 4 and Between Two Ferns: The Movie, as well as filmed Bill & Ted Face the Music. Combine all that with continuing examples of him being a truly good guy, and we’re in the midst of the Keanussiance, so it’s not like we’d want to see him fighting someone right now, let alone someone as massive as Boban Marjanovic. Quite the opposite, we need to keep Reeves safe at all costs!

Looking ahead, along with Bill & Ted Face the Music coming out next week, Keanu Reeves is also reuniting with Carrie-Anne Moss and director Lana Wachowski for The Matrix 4. No plot details have come out yet, but the project recently resumed production after having to stop rolling cameras back in March due to the health crisis.

And then, of course, there’s the continuation of the John Wick film series. John Wick: Chapter 4 scored the green light from Lionsgate shortly after John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum was released, and it was announced earlier this month that John Wick: Chapter 5 is also in development, with the plan being to shoot the fourth and fifth movies back-to-back starting in early 2021. This franchise is also expanding with the Ballerina spinoff

and The Continental TV series on Starz.

The Matrix 4 is scheduled for April 1, 2022, and John Wick: Chapter 4 will follow on May 27 of the same year. Keep checking back with CinemaBlend for all the biggest updates concerning Keanu Reeves’ professional endeavors… and even some personal ones.

Adam Holmes
Senior Content Producer

Connoisseur of Marvel, DC, Star Wars, John Wick, MonsterVerse and Doctor Who lore, Adam is a Senior Content Producer at CinemaBlend. He started working for the site back in late 2014 writing exclusively comic book movie and TV-related articles, and along with branching out into other genres, he also made the jump to editing. Along with his writing and editing duties, as well as interviewing creative talent from time to time, he also oversees the assignment of movie-related features. He graduated from the University of Oregon with a degree in Journalism, and he’s been sourced numerous times on Wikipedia. He's aware he looks like Harry Potter and Clark Kent.