With Nobody now available on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD everywhere; we were able to sit down with screenwriter and action aficionado Derek Kolstad to talk about creating yet another instant action icon, and he also shared a few tidbits about what's to come next for John Wick.
He tells us more about the apparent mutual decision between him and the John Wick team to step away from penning John Wick: Chapter 4 and allow a new writer, Shay Hatten, to take the character in an exciting new direction. But, even though he's no longer involved with the main storyline, he is still involved with the future of the franchise, as he teases a few details about what's to come in The Continental and Ballerina.
If you missed the first part of our lengthy conversation, be sure to check it out by heading HERE, and if you missed his comments on writing for Marvel Studios, make sure you head over HERE!
Check out the full video interview below or keep scrolling for the transcript!
ROHAN: I know it wasn't entirely your decision and you’re obviously still working with 87North/87Eleven on other things, but when did you know it was time to step away from John Wick: Chapter 4?
DEREK: When you look at the history of screenwriters in Hollywood when it comes to the things they’ve made, at a certain point, it becomes bigger than them and my whole thing with everything I do is just making sure that the praise is there like I wouldn’t be there without that and I wish them nothing but luck and yet, then you also look at something like Nobody, which came out of a conversation with Bob Odenkirk, who I’ve loved in any number of capacity for years, but then something like that goes and I don’t ever want to feel like I need to have my closet in a little thing, but more importantly, just like blessings upon.
I just want these things to succeed because I want to watch them, I write what I watch and in many ways, it’s like they’re all sacrifices to the old gods in the ‘70s and ‘80s because that is the kind of movie I was raised on and now to do it for this kind of audience nowadays is a challenge, but it’s just so [frick]ing fun. So, when you look at Falcon and Winter Soldier and a lot of the other things that I’ve done and are in the works, that will be announced soon, I get to play with - I get to do cool shit with cool people, I think at the end of it, that’s what it’s all about.
ROHAN: Even though you're not writing the next film, you're still very much involved in the future of the John Wick franchise, so is there anything you're allowed to tease about what's to come in The Continental TV series and the Ballerina spinoff?
DEREK: I’m involved, but Shay Hatten, who is an incredibly talented writer, he wrote the Ballerina as a spec and it was based on his love for John Wick and they swept in and are making a part of that universe and I couldn’t be happier for him and he’s seeing a great deal of success here with Army of the Dead.
The Continental TV show, I know one of the directors involved and it’s just this sense of giddiness, you get super excited about anything in life when it’s a world that you dig as an audience member and suddenly you see that they’re doing a show, an an animated show, a podcast, a video game, and you hope for the best and knowing the crew behind these things, they’ll deliver.
But, the funnest thing right now is Nobody got theatrical in a time when we thought it was going to be, we’re the little engine that could, and to actually hear today that I think we’re available for digital today and then Blu-ray/DVD tomorrow and I’m getting all these texts from friends and families that can’t wait. It’s just exciting, so when you hear something like Ballerina and John Wick 4 and The Continental and any number of iterations based on something that you, myself as a writer, who was not destitute, but going, “What the hell am I doing with my life?” and handing a script to Sony going like, “Is this the one? Is this finally going to be the one?,” and it was. So, nothing but blessings and joy upon them all.
Nobody is now available on 4K Ultra HD & Blu-ray!