Killing John Wick's dog led to a major behind-the-scenes fight with producers, the movie’s screenwriter reveals. Released in 2014, the super-violent John Wick proved to be something of a comeback film for star Keanu Reeves, who has by now played the seemingly invincible assassin Wick in two sequels with a third set to arrive.

A man with an almost supernatural ability to survive punishment while doling out death to his enemies, Wick has a bogeyman quality to him that could have made him unsympathetic to the audience (this is only amplified by Reeves’ natural blank-faced quality). But filmmakers Chad Stahelski and David Leitch solved the problem of getting the audience on Wick’s side with a master stroke in the first movie. As fans well remember, the incident that sets Wick on the path of mayhem is the death of his beloved dog Daisy (the fact that the dog was a gift from his dead wife only makes the animal that much more meaningful to Wick). Using the hook of the murdered canine, Stahelski and Leitch pulled the audience into Wick’s story and created an engine of heartfelt motivation inside what was otherwise an exercise in almost pure carnage, allowing the audience to root for Wick despite his being basically an unrelenting killing machine.

As it turns out, the death of John Wick’s dog was a move producers originally balked at, leading to a big behind-the-scenes fight that thankfully was ultimately won by Stahelski and Leitch. As screenwriter Derek Kolstad said in a recent interview with ComicBook.com:

"But without that dog connection and without that underlying soul and the heartbeat of that character, and also the levity it brings the character and the levity it brings the humor, it was key. At certain points, Chad and Dave, they fought for it, they got it and they were right. They continued to fight for the way they see certain stories playing out elsewhere. They've done quite well with that. They're talented cats, man."