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 earlier today, be sure to check it out by heading HERE!
Check out the full video interview below or keep scrolling for the transcript!
ROHAN: You've written both John Wick and Nobody, which had these modest budgets and ultimately went on to become massive box office successes. Now, you also have experience writing for a huge production like The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which had huge budgets for each individual episode.
From a screenwriter's standpoint, how do you approach your script when you know the budget is going to be smaller versus something like Marvel? Does a larger budget free you up and allow you to be more ambitious or do you have the same approach regardless of potential budget?
DEREK: It’s funny because I grew up in construction, building homes, with billing systems, and it’s common knowledge I named John Wick after my grandfather, who I just hung out with yesterday, it was great. When you look at construction, I remember my dad, who was the CFO, would say it was just zeroes, the only difference between a thousand, ten-thousand, hundred-thousand building is, you need the same things for each one, just different iterations of it. They’re just zeroes and to me, the best movies are ones that treat it that way where at its core, it’s a good story is all we’re after.
I’m a huge fan of the Guardians of the Galaxy movies because you can have these awesome action sequences and these great characters and just this bone-chewing dialogue, but then you get something like - and I bring this up every week - is in GOTG Vol. 2, when Kurt Russell is about to die, and he looks at his son and he says, “But, you’ll be mortal,” and Chris Pratt says, “What’s wrong with that?”
Oh! It gets me every time man, that is the kind of line and the kind of magic that can be in a cell phone video that you and I and my cousins can shoot in a basement and have the same appeal because one of the things that whole crew does so well is they realize that and I believe this too, you need the humor, levity, and soul and so when people say, wouldn’t you rather be doing these bigger things, I’m like, I just want to be doing these kinds of stories.
If the budget’s one-hundred, two-hundred million or ten- or twelve, it’s the same thing, different challenges await you, I know, but at its core - When I visit the set, it was probably the longest day and it’s cold and I love Winnipeg, they were a joy to us, it’s Bob in almost every scene and after how many hours and dawn’s approaching, and everyone’s [frick]ing done, Ilya yells cut and Bob and Daniel, the guy who built out all the action sequences are still grinning and chuckling and saying, “Can you believe we get to do this?” - So, if I end up on a two-hundred million dollar movie or a two-million dollar movie, I just hope there’s a moment where I can chuckle and say, “Can you believe we get to do this?”
ROHAN: I have to ask, after The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, are there any other Marvel characters that you'd like to write? Because I think your sensibilities would be perfect for someone like The Punisher...
DEREK: Like anyone else, I grew up with all of these characters and all of these comic books - my favorite, because I was a child of the ‘80s, was I loved the relationship that Colossus had with Wolverine at that time because they had this yin and yang, but in regards to characters, I think I’m more of the kind of guy that if you were a director, actor or producer and you came to me with your thing, with your favorite character, that’s what I want to do man, I want to be the catalyst, I want to make sure that thing that you see and that character or storyline or world, I can bring to life, that’s much more exciting.
I honestly don’t have one character where I’m like, “I can’t wait to do this guy,” it’s more like, “Hey Derek, I love this guy or this girl or this creature or this what have you - can you do something with it?,” and you see their energy and you want to draft off it. I want to do that kind of stuff, those are the best adaptations out there, so a lot of stuff I’m involved with that I would never have sprinted off after my own, but then I got to know the creators and the directors and the actors and you see their excitement and you’re like, “Alright, let’s play, let’s play!,” and that to me, is the best part of my job and I want to do that for as long as I can.
Nobody is now available on 4K Ultra HD & Blu-ray!