*Keanu Reeves was honored with the inaugural Lance Reddick Legacy Award on Sunday at the 51st Saturn Awards.
Reeves and Reddick starred together in all four “John Wick” movies before Reddick died in March 2023 at age 60.
According to Reeves, Riddick’s popularity helped make Wick a massive success, and he wrote a letter thanking him. The actor died days before the theatrical release of “John Wick: Chapter 4.”
“I once told him … Well, actually I wrote him a letter, and I said, ‘People love John Wick because Charon loves John Wick,'” Reeves told People at the awards show on Jan 4. “Because that character loved John Wick, that made John Wick okay. And so when I got to act with him, we had such an affection.”
The “Matrix” star added, “The characters had such an affection, and offscreen, we had such an affection and just really enjoying working on the ‘John Wick’ films, our characters, getting to work with Chad [Stahelski] and on that series,” he explained.
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“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime project. I think he knew that. I knew it. And we just loved working together on it.”
We reported previously that Reddick’s cause of death was listed as ischemic heart disease and atherosclerotic coronary artery disease, but the actor’s lawyer disputed the coroner’s conclusion, People reported.
“Lance was the most physically fit person I’ve ever known,” Reddick’s attorney, James Hornstein, said previously in a statement. “He exercised daily at his home gym, including extensive cardio work, and the availability of gym facilities was a contractual requirement for his work away from home. He ate as if a dietician was monitoring his every meal. The information appearing on the death certificate is wholly inconsistent with his lifestyle.”
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Meanwhile, Reeves told People that Reddick had a “passion and a fire for creativity, and for his craft, and for art.”
“I had the chance to work with him on four films over the course of eight years,” Reeves continued. “Over that time, we got to know each other better. But also, he had such a grace and he was funny. I mean, humor-wise.”
In related news, Lionsgate confirmed that “John Wick 5” is in development, even though Wick appears to have been killed off in “Chapter 4.”
