Typecasting typically affects actors by limiting the kinds of roles that casting directors and film producers are willing to offer. However, anyone paying attention will find that directors and screenwriters can get caught up in similarly singular expectations. Sometimes, however, a director adds a new spin on their trademark format and surprises the audience with something special.
Chad Stahelski has carved out a nice little niche for himself over the past decade. He’s a gifted stunt coordinator who elevated his stellarunderstanding of fight scenesto the realm of feature film. He’s put his fingerprint all over the modern action landscape, and everyone’s wondering what he’ll do next.
RELATED:Director Chad Stahelski Teases An Emotional Conclusion In John Wick 4
Stahelski is best known for the ongoingJohn Wickfranchise, for which he has served as director. With three films out, a fourth on the way, a fifth still in the planning stage, anda couple of spin-offs, it’s a huge name in blockbuster cinema.Wick’s distinctive style is among the most influential in the action movie genre. This has lead Stahelski to become an in-demand stunt coordinator and second unit director who handles combat in even larger action franchises, like both Marvel and DC comic book movies. He’s taking the path most big directors enjoy nowadays, cutting his teeth on a mid-size film that becomes a hit and being handed one huge IP after another. Many members of theJohn Wickcrew have followed a similar career trajectory, from screenwriter Derek Kolstad to uncredited co-director David Leitch. Stahelski’s big project is an adaptation of Sony and SuckerPunch’s hit gameGhost of Tsushima, but he announced a very different project recently.
In 1972, author and film scholar Rodney William Whitaker donned the pen name Trevanian and put out his first book. His first novelThe Eiger Sanctionwas adapted into a feature in 1975, directed byand starring Clint Eastwood. Only seven years later, he put out his best-known novel,Shibumi. An adaptation of Trevanian’sShibumiwas announced by Warner Bros. last year, to be produced by Stahelski’s 87Eleven Entertainment company. A year later, in August 2022, Warner Bros. announced that Stahelski is cutting out the middleman and directing the film himself.Wickwas Stahelski’s first film in the director’s chair, and he’s only directed entries in that franchise since. Fans of the novel and the films would notice that it’s used as a prop inthe firstJohn Wick. SinceShibumiwill be one of his first movies as a director outside the franchise he started, it’s worth looking into the story that drew him in.
Shibumiis set in the contemporary 70s but takes place in a world that is secretly run by a handful of energy companies. The novel is a political thriller that details the resistance against the “Mother Company”, a shadowy cabal of big power providers who use terrorism and violence to destroy their critics. The element that draws comparisons toWickis the main character, Nicholai Hel. He’s a legendary assassin with a long history of completing impossible tasks who has willingly left the business to enjoy his retirement. He’s a master of killing peoplewith random household objects, his name strikes fear into all who hear it, and the instant he’s set his mind to something, a million people will die on the way to his success. Hel takes the level of hyper-competence fans have come to expect from Wick and escalates to a hilarious world of physical perfection. The term “Mary Sue” is often misapplied, but Hel could be the new poster boy for the concept, and that’s where the book gets weird.
There is a very good case to be made thatShibumiis a parody of action-heavy political thrillers. Trevanian was reportedly infuriated by the fact that his aforementioned first novel wasn’t recognized as a parody. His 1973 follow-upThe Loo Sanctionwas even more explicit in its comedic critique of the genre.Shibumiis seen by some as a hilarious fan-fiction level mess that frames its main character as a borderline god, but others will argue that it’s ajoke at the same concept’s expense. Main character Hel’s multinational background takes a little from several cultures, his superhuman effectiveness in combat is often funnier than it is impressive, and fighting isn’t the only thing he’s the best at. The book takes long digressions to describe Hel as the best lover in all of human history, as well as discussing his endless obscure knowledge and deep Asian-inspired philosophy. If it’s a parody, it’s a fairly harsh one. If it isn’t, it’s fan-fiction of an original character that would make the weakest AO3 entry look restrained.
Whether Trevanian intendedShibumias a gag or not, Chad Stahelski will be the one defining the cultural reaction to the work when it comes to theaters. The director has the chance to create a hilarious parodyof his own beloved franchise, or he could make the most self-indulgent Mary Sue work ever written even more hilarious. Fans will have to wait and see whether they’ll be laughing atShibumior with it when it comes to the big screen sometime next year.
