Eva Longoria is best known for her work in front of the camera, but it was a move behind the scenes that saved the John Wick movie franchise from financial ruin. In the days leading to cameras finally rolling on the first film, John Wick producers were staring right at one final crisis-a $6 million hole in financing that would have shut the movie down less than 24 hours before the start of shooting. Thanks to Longoria’s well-timed intervention-both because of her connections and her belief in the movie-she managed to save not only the production but eventually bring about one of the most successful franchises of the decade.
The road to bring John Wick into the real world was less than smooth. Directors Chad Stahelski and David Leitch, and producer Basil Iwanyk had invested their personal finances into the film, believing in it deeply.
Maven producer Iwanyk went so far as to max out three of his personal credit cards to keep the project afloat. Still, after all this preproduction work, just days before cameras could roll, one of the primary investors failed to raise the required funds. Two weeks before principal photography, with nearly $6 million still short of its target budget, the entire project teetered closer than ever to collapse.
Not some little hiccup, but a serious make-it-or-break-it situation regarding John Wick: the filmmakers had stretched resources to breaking point and, unless they could secure the gap financing inside of 24 hours, the movie was dead in the water. It was at this juncture that Eva Longoria came to save the day. Represented by Creative Artists Agency, she had been tipped about taking an interest in the movie. Longoria, not otherwise attached, took a deep breath and made the fateful call to invest the $6 million necessary to keep John Wick alive. She did less than a day before production would be shut down.
Stahelski and Leitch would later look back at that moment in amazement and gratitude. Over a celebratory dinner after filming, the directors were shocked when they learned it was Longoria who had bridged the financial gap. “We were literally hours away from shutting down,” said Stahelski, underlining just how close the film came to disaster.
Basil took us out to dinner, and he said, ‘You know who saved you guys? Eva Longoria.’ We were floored.
But Longoria’s $6m investment proved to be rather more than a timely rescue-it was one of the smartest financial decisions she evermade. Back then, she freely admitted to having grave doubts that this film would succeed, advising the filmmakers with a chuckle: “I didn’t think it was going to work.” But the gamble paid off in a way no one could have predicted.
John Wick went on to box office success, raking in $86 million worldwide for the first film alone, spawning a franchise grossing more than $1 billion worldwide across multiple sequels. Longoria would later say that investing in John Wick was “the best money I ever spent.”
