John Wick fans might want to start thanking Eva Longoria.
The “Desperate Housewives” star quietly invested millions of dollars in the action franchise’s first movie, saving “John Wick” from potential oblivion, director Chad Stahelski said in a Business Insider interview published Monday.
“We were less than a week out and we lost almost $6 million on a gap financing,” Stahelski recalled amid the 10th anniversary of the film’s release. “We were financing independently to get the bond, but one of the investors couldn’t raise the money in time.”
He added, “[Longoria] came to the rescue and she provided the gap financing” less than 24 hours before a crucial deadline — though producer Basil Iwanyk hadn’t told him how this windfall arrived.
So Stahelski was blown away when he “found out by the end of the movie” that Longoria, known for her suburban escapades on ABC’s “Desperate Housewives,” was the one who’d stepped in to help.
“Basil took us out to dinner, and we were laughing about all the bullshit that happened, and he said: ‘By the way, funny story, you know who gap financed you? Eva Longoria,’” Stahelski told Business Insider, remembering his shock at the news.
Centred on a retired assassin seeking vengeance on gangsters who killed his dog, the first “John Wick” film took in over $86 million worldwide against a $20 million budget, spawning a billion-dollar franchise known for its stunt work and choreographed fights while further establishing actor Keanu Reeves as an action hero.
But the movie marked just one of many Hollywood investments for Longoria, who founded the production company Unbelievable Entertainment in 2005 and has helped produce TV series like Lifetime’s “Devious Maids,” NBC’s “Telenovela” and ABC’s “Grand Hotel.”
Following the success of “John Wick,” Stahelski said, “We took her out to lunch at [Los Angeles hot spot] Chateau Marmont and she was laughing going, ‘I didn’t think it was going to work.’” But fortunately for Longoria, it did.
David Leitch, an uncredited co-director on the film, told Business Insider that he’d “love to work with” Longoria on another project — and is already “trying to find something.”
Read more at Business Insider.