Report: Lionsgate Eyeing Halle Berry for 'John Wick: Chapter 3'
Lionsgate has found their female lead opposite Keanu Reeves!
Yes, you read that correctly! The 51-year-old Oscar winner is in negotiations to join the third installment in an undisclosed role.
A source close to That Hashtag Show (h/t CinemaBlend) confirms Berry is in negotiations to play a character named "Sofia" who has a child. Hashtag's latest report further solidifies an earlier report by the same site revealing original plans to cast a female lead between the ages of 20-40. While I was holding out hope said character would lead to an Atomic cross-over (too soon Greg) or possibly set up the female-led "ballerina" spin-off, I can't say Berry's casting disappoints! In fact, it's downright badass.
If Hashtag's source is legit - please be legit - it appears production for John Wick: Chapter 3 (which kicked off earlier this week in New York City) will indeed move forward with a few headliners we can trust, including returning cast members Common (Cassian), Ruby Rose (Ares), Ian McShane (Winston), Lance Reddick (Charon), and Laurence Fishburne (Bowery King). I'm assuming John Leguizamo (Aurelio) and Thomas (Jimmy) Sadoski are 'in' but neither have been confirmed. If negotiations prove successful, Berry will join newcomer Hiroyuki Sanada (47 Ronin) in a role that's likely to see Berry as a high level assassin. Is she a friend or a foe?!?
Based on Lionsgate's intial plot synopsis, it appears Chapter 3 will pick up right where Chapter 2 left off. And despite Winston's one hour professional courtesy, it looks like John will indeed enlist the help of the "service industry" to fight his way out of the Big Apple! Did you think John could escape New York without any assistance? But by service industry, are we talking The Cleaners? Aurelio's auto shop?
Check out the synopsis:
John Wick (Keanu Reeves) is on the run for two reasons… he’s being hunted for a global $14 million dollar open contract on his life, and for breaking a central rule: taking a life on Continental Hotel grounds. The victim was a member of the High Table who ordered the open contract. John should have already been executed, except the Continental’s manager, Winston, has given him a one-hour grace period before he’s “Excommunicado” – membership revoked, banned from all services and cut off from other members. John uses the service industry to stay alive as he fights and kills his way out of New York City.
Lionsgate's synopsis also falls in line with earlier comments from director Chad Stahelski - indicating Wick 3 will follow the same hyper-stylized formula as the previous installments (duh) but will attempt to expand upon the mythology created in Wick and Wick Chapter 2 by showing "more of the intricacies of the world" and "inner workings of different parts of New York."
I suppose it's only a matter of time until we find out. John Wick 3 is set to debut in theaters May 17, 2019 (US).
