[John Wick Series] – Stories, filming locations, cast of John Wick Chapter 3 Parabellum John Wick Reloaded)
Filming location: Library in John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum) – NYPL
The New York Public Library, in short NYPL is a public library managed by the city of New York.
The library of New York has served as a filming location for various movies such as the library where Sam Hall makes camp on in the movie the Day After Tomorrow, and Toby McGuire’s Spiderman series.
In John Wick, this serves as a location where John must have made emergency plans in the past as he kept his ‘ticket’ to the Ruska Roma in this library.
Ernest, the assassin and the book that John Wick was searching for Russian folk tales by Alexander Afanasyev
After John Wick was on the edge of becoming Excommunicado, John Wick visits the library and asks for Russian Folk tale (Александр Николаевич Афанасьев) written by Alexander Afanasyev(In Kirill, Александр Николаевич Афанасьев) which is a collection of Russian folk tales.
The page that John wick opens is actually a Russian fairy tale called Vasillisa the Fair or Vasillisa the Beautiful (Василиса Прекрасная) which is a story very similar with Cinderella and the babayaga appears as an neutral figure that actually help Cinderella escape from her miserable life.
In short, Vasillisa inherits a magical doll before her mothers passes away. Her stepmother and stepsisters demand Vasillisa to find the ‘magical flame’ after even when Vasillisa’s father goes missing. Vasillisa would meet with the babayga where the babayaga gives three impossible tasks in favor.
Vasillisa completes the impossible tasks and the babayaga would give her the magical flame. Vasillisa’s step-family would disappear and Vasillisa would meet with a man and live happily ever after.
Ernest is acted by the NBA player Boban Marjanovic from Serbia. He is already famous for his cool attitude and he played was quite the scene stealer during John Wick Chapter 3.
Filming location – Theater of the Ruska Roma New York – Tarkovsky Theater – United Palace
The headquarters of the Ruska Roma New York, the Tarkovsky Theater was filmed at the ‘United Palace’ in Manhattan. John Wick witnesses his childhood while young boys wrestle and young girls take ballet lessons which the ‘Director’, the leader of the Ruska Roma New York insists that ‘Life is Suffering’.
After a ceremonial, the director takes the ticket of John Wick and sends him to Morocco despite him being excommunicated.
Adjudicator - Asia Kate Dillion feat. The only antagonist that didn’t get killed by John Wick
The adjudicator was granted by the High Table to judge John Wick and those who directly or indirectly supported John Wick when he killed Santino D’ Antonio and when he escaped from New York.
It might be difficult to say antagonist, but the adjudicator was the only person that opposed against John Wick and wasn’t killed or at least nearly killed by him.
The tattoo on the adjudicator’s neck (which happens to be the tattoo of Asian Kate Dillon) states ‘einfühlung’ which means ‘empathy’.
The adjudicator differs from the Harbinger in John Wick 4 as the Harbinger is more of a messenger that delivers a warning while the adjudicator is more of an investigator. Asia Kate Dillon plays the role of adjudicator.
Asia Kate Dillon plays Brandy Epps along with Roby Rose who played Ares in John Wick Chapter 2 Reloaded in the television series Orange is the New Black. Currently, Asia Kate Dillon is also premiering as Taylor Mason in the television series Billions.
Director - Anjelica Huston
The Director who leads the Ruska Roma of New York was interesting as she might hold the key of the past of John Wick. Anjelica Huston took the role as the director and she is also taking the role as the director in the prequel television series the Ballerina
. Anjelica Huston is part of the famous Huston family and one of the most famous roles that Anjelica Huston took would probably be Morticia Addams of the Addams Family. After Jenna Ortega’s Wednesday became a mega hit on Netflix, the original Addams Family series also became popular around the world.
Zero – Mark Alan Dacascos
Chad Stahelski’s John Wick did receive criticism for orientalism which is the misperceived conception of the western countries on the eastern countries.
Zero’s character might be one of the reasons of the criticism on Chad Stahelski, however as a mirror counter part of John Wick, it was a great character who was similar but different with John Wick and made a great contrast.
Zero’s name originates from the Japanese naval airplane Zerosen manufactured by Mitsubishi Industrials. He leads a legion of ninjas, shinobis.
He admires John Wick but differs from him as he has a psychopathic nature and seems to like cats. Cat lover – Dog lover, someone who cares deeply of those around him – someone who doesn’t care of those around him, away from such differences Zero is a psychopathic killer who assassinates without emotions while John Wick is more of a killer who assassinates with his emotions all in.
John Wick seems to avoid Zero as much as possible and deny that he is the same as Zero and stabs Zero without hesitation probably as he knows that they do share some in common.
Sanada Hiroyuki from John Wick Chapter 4 as the Osaska Contiental Hotel manager Koji was originally considered for this role, but Mark Alan Dacascos was given the role as Zero.
Mark Dacascos is actually a Chinese, Philippine, Japanese American most famous for hosting the Iron Chef series. He would also play the role as Wo Fat the main antagonist in the Hawaii Five-O).
Setting Zero as a Japanese chef while Zero and his shinobis aren’t assassinating people might be a reference from Mark Dacascos being a host for the Iron Chef series for such a long time.
About Morocco
Also referred as the ‘Gateway of North Africa’, Morocco has shared a long history with Africa and the European countries. The one who sits above the High Table, the ‘Elder’ is a figure in the John Wick universe being the most symbolically important figure if the underground world.
Morocco was called Mauretania during the ancient Roman era and was once part of the Roman Empire and the Western Roman Empire.
Morocco may have been influenced by such culture but along with Muslim culture, Morocco develops a unique culture of its own.
The capital of Morocco is not Casablanca or Marchesi but Rabat(الرِّبَاط). However, the most famous cities are Casablanca and Marchesi.
Morocco is famous for crafts work in leather, dyes which along with its exotic culture gives a very unique colorful background for filming
Hashshashin / The origin of the assassins
There are many words to describe a contracted killer. A hitman refers to a killer that is bond to a contract usually for financial exchanges while mercenaries refer to people more of protection roles.
The term assassin holds more of context of a political intent rather than a financial exchange in return of an assassination.
There are some theories that support the term ‘assassin’ derives from the killer group of political purpose the Hashshashin that were active in Syria, Turkey regions during the Persian Empire’s reign.
Some say that assassin derives from the Egyptian Arabic term hashasheen which means ‘trouble maker’ or ‘noisy people’.
There were records that the Hashshashin were political groups that supported Shia Islam and resistance against the Mongolian Empire’s invasion to Persia.
In John Wick Chapter 3 Parabellum, the ‘Elder’ who yields more authority than the High Table (It might be more of a symbolic position though) seems to be a descendant of the Hashshashin giving more historical context and support for the underworld of the John Wick universe.
The Elder – Saïd Taghmaoui
The Elder who is the descendant of the Hashshashin, the origin of the assassins and the historic basis of the criminal underworld of the John wick Universe cast is Saïd Taghmaoui.
Saïd Taghmaoui is a Morocco-France-American actor who usually premiered in France domestically. Saïd Taghmaoui would premiere as Captain Said in the movie Three Kings.
He would also take the role as Suares who was the leader of the terrorists in the quite experimental movie Vantage Point. Most people would recognize him as Abel Shaz of the G.I. Joe movie series or and Samir who was a master in disguise and fraud in the movie Wonder woman.
Berrada - Jerome Patrick Flynn
The former manager of the Morocco Casablanca Contiental Hotel and former boss of Sofia Al-Azwar and current manager of a mint which is a place that manufactures coins and species is Berrada acted by Jerome Patrick Flyn. Berrada provides a brief hint of the John Wick Universe as he explains about the golden coin and the marker.
Jerome Flyn is an English actor probably most known for his role as Bronn in the Game of Thrones television series where he is a mercenary but loyal to the Lannister House who would even put an arrow by a crossbow on Drogon.
Sofia Al Azwar – Halle Maria Berry
Another dog lover and a person who owns a marker to John Wick was Sofia Al Azwar, the current Casablanca Continental Hotel manager acted by Halle Maria Berry.
Halle Berry marked an important event of the filming industry history as she became the first colored person to ever win an Academy award as a main actress.
Halle Berry won this Academy Award on 2002 for her role in Monster’s Ball with Billy Bob Thornton and Heath Ledger. Halle Berry started off her career as a model winning the Miss America title at a young age and entered the movie industry in an early age as well.
She has been the mutant ‘Storm’ during the trilogy of the X-Man movie series, Jinx Johnson in the 007 Another day series as a bond girl as well. She would also play a role in the movie Sword fish and the Kings man: The Golden Circle both under the name Ginger.
Another famous but infamous film by Halle Berry is Cat woman where she was given the honor(?) of the Golden Raspberry Awards also known as the Razzies and Razzie Awards due to the weird context of the whole Cat woman film.
Halle Berry actually attended the Golden Raspberry Awards show when she received the ‘worst female actor award for Cat woman and parodied the moment when she received the Academy award which was a very fascinating respond by Halle Berry herself to how the public reacted to Cat woman.
Body count of John Wick Chapter 3 Parabellum
Si Vis Pacem Parabellum means ‘If you want peace, you must prepare for war’ for the record of the movie’s name. Parabellum itself refers to prepare for war. As the movie is named parabellum, John wick is prepared for war and kills a total of 94 people in Chapter 3.(This might be subjective)
The film premiere time is 130 minutes which means that on average of 1 minute and 23 seconds, one person was killed by John Wick. The total number of people that John Wick killed from Chapter 1 to Chapter 4 is 439. This means that John Wick himself has wiped out a military battalion size of professional assassins.
