Nederhorst explained that rubberized knives, which are essentially prop knives used in films, are realistic molds of real weapons. Not only do these props look “indistinguishable from the real thing,” but also allow a ton of flexibility during intense scenes while ensuring on-set safety. However, these rubber knives can potentially cut someone when brandished quickly, and Nederhorst’s solution for this was for actors to only use the knife handle so that the team could digitize the knife in post:
“Instead, we make a handle, so the performer has something to grip on to. And then we match-move them on a computer and put a knife in there digitally. Ninety-five percent of the knives you see in ‘John Wick 3’ are digital. In the case of throwing knives, we won’t even have a handle — people will mime out the throw, mime the catch, and mime someone getting hit. It’s all mimed out and rehearsed meticulously.”
This highlights the intensely thorough approach that went into planning and polishing these scenes, as match-moving mimed back-and-forths in digital demands incredible care and attention to detail, as everything needs to look seamless in each frame. Nederhorst also revealed that rehearsals played an equally important role here, where the stuntpersons figured out the best way to move about to make the choreographed action seem fluid and instinctive. A lot of work also went into “super-photogenic” data captures of every person involved:
“I’m really fussy about data capture…We scan all the performers and all the knives, and get complete, super-photogenic versions of every single person and prop, so we can re-create them digitally. If you want it to look real, you need real-world measurements…You need to do the work.”
That sounds about right, as the results speak for themselves.
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