Keanu Reeves’ memory slip accidentally named John Wick

If you’re trying to name an action movie where the bloke’s beagle gets offed by Russian gangsters, “Scorn” probably isn’t your first guess. And yet, that’s precisely what the producers behind John Wick wanted to call it—at least, until fate (or just Keanu Reeves being Keanu Reeves) intervened. Things could’ve gone very differently for the world’s favourite grieving assassin and his arsenal of household objects.

The Story Behind the Name: Not Exactly “Taken,” Is It?

Picture this: production is rolling along for a stylised revenge flick, and the studio wants a punchy, one-word title. They settle on “Scorn.” I’ll be blunt: that sounds more like something you’d find on a Jason Statham DVD shelf next to “Blitz” and “Crank.” You get the pitch, lots of furrowed brows, but does anyone actually care about a film called “Scorn”? It’s generic as anything, but I can see why it seemed clever back in the early 2010s. One-word titles were all the rage, trying to bottle a bit of the magic from “Taken.”

Still, it’s mad to imagine the whole Wick-verse taking off under that name. “Scorn 2: Still Scorned?” Not quite the same, is it?

The Keanu Factor: What’s in a Name?

Keanu Reeves, you’ll recall, wasn’t exactly riding high before all this. The ‘90s were brilliant for him—Speed, Point Break, The Matrix—but after those, the 2000s turned pretty sketchy. Unless you’re oddly fond of Street Kings (I’m not, and you shouldn’t be). Even Man of Tai Chi didn’t light any fires, though it’s better than people give it credit for. The bloke clearly needed a break.

Miraculously, his agent found the script for “Scorn”, and Keanu promptly punted it over to Chad Stahelski and David Leitch—the stunt legends he’d worked with on The Matrix set. Suddenly, things clicked. The project rolled ahead smoothly, but there was just one snag: Reeves was absolutely useless at remembering the title.

A Quote for Posterity

'The only reason it’s called John Wick is that Keanu kept referring to it as John Wick,' screenwriter Derek Kolstad said. 'Marketing was like, "Dude, that’s four to five million dollars in free advertising so far, so it’s John Wick instead of Scorn." I can’t imagine it being Scorn now.'

Me neither. Sometimes forgetfulness is a blessing. You try naming half a franchise after the word “Scorn” and see what happens.

The Secret Sauce: Name It After Your Hero

Naming an action movie—or a series—after the main character is, historically, a winning move. Just look at what everyone else does:

• Reacher
• Shaft
• Nikita
• Salt
• Jack Ryan
• Bourne

Viewers get curious. Is this person out for revenge, running a black-ops job, doing something unspeakable to people with a pencil? You don’t know—which drags you in. Also, let’s not pretend “John” and “Jack” aren’t Hollywood’s go-to names for blokes who kill for a living. From John Rambo to John McClane, you can’t swing a cat without hitting an iconic, no-nonsense John.

So yes, Keanu’s cold streak and shocking memory were good for something after all. But here’s where it gets a bit daft—the franchise is now stuck forever trading on Wick’s name, even if the man himself is nowhere to be seen. Take “Ballerina.” They had to flog it as “From the World of John Wick: Ballerina.” Same thing with “The Continental.” And you can bet any spinoff—like whatever Donnie Yen’s Caine is getting—will have “From the World of John Wick” straplined all over it. Mildly irritating, but we’ve seen worse.