Warning! SPOILERS ahead for The Continental episode 1.
Frankie’s brutal stairwell fight in The Continental is broken down by stunt coordinator Larnell Stovall. The series, a prequel to John Wick, is set in the 1970s and explores how Winston Scott became involved in New York City’s criminal underworld. Here, his younger counterpart is played by Colin Woodell, and the rest of The Continental‘s cast includes Mel Gibson, Mishel Prada, Ayomide Adegun, Peter Greene, and Ben Robson. The first of three episodes titled, “Brothers in Arms,” premiered September 22 and saw Frankie rob the hotel, only to be pursued up a flight of stairs, where he eventually is killed his way out.
In a recent interview with Variety, Stovall revealed what went into creating that intense stairwell fight from The Continental. He explained how the set was built, and noted that because scheduling didn’t allow for more time, the crew had to “be very smart” when planning the action. Read Stovall’s comments regarding Frankie’s brutal fight scene below:
We looked at multiple stairwells and found one that worked perfectly. The Budapest team and the U.S. team got back together at the gym and created our own version. We designed it, how many levels it’s going to be, how long the sequence is going to be, and we do our best make it exact. We wanted to create tension, drama, pressure, guys coming from up the stairs, guys coming from down the steps. It felt like ants coming at him and you didn’t know how he was going to make his way out of it.
Our quality is a feature film, but our schedule was similar to a TV schedule. Some of the fight scenes in ‘John Wick’ may have three to five days to shoot that sequence. In TV, we have one day. You have to be very smart in how you design the action sequence because you don’t know if you’re ever gonna be able to go back and film again or have that location again. We nailed it. It was the first big one to let our audience know, ‘This is who we are and this is the type of action you can expect.'”
How Brutal Is The Continental’s Action?
Frankie, who worked at The Continental, broke into a vault during Cormac’s (Gibson) New Year’s Eve party. While stealing a mysterious and highly valuable coin press, he was attacked, and amid the chaos, gunshots were fired at the attendees above. During his escape, Frankie killed several men and audiences watched as he turned the looted object into a weapon. The entire sequence contained vicious action, showing a lot of blood and even a person falling from multiple stories. The scene ended with Frankie jumping out of a window, where he was picked up.
Albert Hughes, who directed the first episode, previously explained that The Continental‘s action was shortened so viewers would want to see more of it. Frankie’s stairwell fight was likely the most memorable sequence of the premiere, but another moment that stood out was when The High Table began beating up his partner. More brutal action took place in the final minutes, as Frankie was preparing to flee and Winston, Yen (Nhung Kate), and him were faced with dangerous assassins, resulting in what appeared to be his death.
The John Wick franchise is known for its impressive fights and stunt work, and The Continental seems to be continuing that trend. With two more episodes left, it will be interesting to see how intense things get, and Stovall’s comments suggest there is more to come.
