Chad Stahelski reveals how Donnie Yen convinced him to make Caine the coolest character in ‘John Wick 4’.

Donnie Yen left viewers amazed with his performance as the blind High Table assassin, Caine, in John Wick: Chapter 4. Yen stars as an ally of John Wick, who is forced to go after his friend. In the film, Yen’s character oozes charisma, especially during the fight sequences, and his sleek look outshines even Keanu Reeves’s stylish assassin in some scenes.

Donnie Yen

Director Chad Stahelski revealed original plans for the character while crediting Yen with the changes that made Caine look cooler. The director spoke about how he had originally envisioned the character, but Yen made him change the script to make Caine the coolest character in John Wick: Chapter 4. Here is what Stahelski shared about collaborating with Donnie Yen.

Chad Stahelski Reveals Original Plans For Donnie Yen’s John Wick 4 Character

Donnie Yen in John Wick 4

Chad Stahelski spoke at length about working on John Wick: Chapter 4 on Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast. During the podcast, Stahelski was asked about the creation of Donnie Yen’s character in the movie. Stahelski stated that the original plans for the character were entirely different. He had imagined the character as a traditional Chinese martial artist, comparing him to Master Shifu from the Kung Fu Panda franchise.

“I had a very different vision of Caine and it was a little bit more traditional Chinese in its appearance you know it was an older, more Shifuesque guy.”

However, Yen was not on board with the character in its original form and asked Stahelski to make some changes to the character. Stahelski revealed that Yen wanted the character to look cooler. Yen also cited marital artists Bruce Lee and Chow Yun-fat as templates for redesigning his character’s look. Eventually, Stahelski agreed to make the changes, resulting in Caine becoming one of the coolest characters in the John Wick universe.

Donnie Yen Wanted His Character to Look Cooler Than Keanu Reeves

Donnie Yen as Caine

Donnie Yen echoed Stahelski’s sentiments in a February 2023 interview with GQ, confirming the original plans for his character were much different from the final version. In the interview, Yen stated that the character initially had a stereotypical Chinese name. Moreover, his character was supposed to dress in Mandarin collared shirts.

“This is a John Wick movie. Everybody’s supposed to be cool and fashionable. Why can’t he look cool and fashionable?”
Yen made the above statement, voicing his concerns about the character to director Chad Stahelski. In a separate interview with Collider, conducted in November 2023, Stahelski admitted that the character was originally written with Jackie Chan in mind.

However, after Donnie Yen was signed for the role, he made suggestions to make his character look cooler. Stahelski was open to Yen’s suggestions and decided to remodel the character.

“He’s like, ‘Caine should be the coolest dude in this movie with the sunglasses and the stuff.’ Donnie literally built that character.”
In the same interview, Stahelski admitted that he was a fan of Yen. Moreover, the director also praised Yen for being collaborative and cited Yen’s directing skills as the primary source of his insightful suggestions to improve the character of Caine.

John Wick: Chapter 4 is now streaming on Starz and available to rent on VOD platforms.