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Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
For Ana de Armas, Keanu Reeves' co-star 10 years ago and once again, 'Ballerina' is a pirouette
NEW YORK (AP) — Years before Ana de Armas was using an ice skate to slice a neck in 'From the World of John Wick: Ballerina,' she co-starred with Keanu Reeves in a much different film. The erotic thriller 'Knock Knock,' released in 2015, was de Armas' first Hollywood film. De Armas, born and raised in Cuba, had just come to Los Angeles after acting in Spain. English was new to her, so she had to learn her lines phonetically. 'It was tough and I felt miserable at times and very lonely,' she says in an interview. 'But I wanted to prove myself. I remember being in meetings with producers and they would be like, 'OK, I'll see you in a year when you learn English.' Before I left the office, I would say, 'I'll see you in two months.'' Since 'Knock Knock,' her rise to stardom has been one of the last decade's most meteoric. She was radiant even as a hologram in 'Blade Runner 2049.' She stole the show in Rian Johnson's star-studded 'Knives Out.' She breezed through the Bond movie 'No Time to Die.' She was Oscar nominated for her Marilyn Monroe in 'Blonde. ' And now, 10 years after those scenes with Reeves, de Armas is for the first time headlining a big summer action movie. In 'Ballerina,' in theaters Friday, de Armas' progressive development as an unlikely action star reaches a butt-kicking crescendo, inheriting the mantle of one of the most esteemed, high-body-count franchises. 'It's a big moment in my career, and I know that. I can see that,' she says. 'It makes me look back in many ways, just being with Keanu in another film in such a different place in my career. It definitely gives me perspective of the journey and everything since we met. Things have come far since then.' Taking on the pressure of 'John Wick' While de Armas, 37, isn't new to movie stardom, or the tabloid coverage that comes with it, many of her career highlights have been streaming releases. 'The Gray Man' and 'Blonde' were Netflix. 'Ghosted' was Apple TV+. But 'Ballerina' will rely on de Armas (and abiding 'John Wick' fandom) to put moviegoers in seats. Heading in, analysts expected an opening weekend of around $35-40 million, which would be a solid result for a spinoff that required extensive reshoots. Reviews, particularly for de Armas playing a ballerina-assassin, have been good. 'There's a lot of pressure,' says director Len Wiseman. 'It's a lot to carry all on her shoulders. But she'll be the first person to tell you: 'Put it on. Let me carry the weight. I'm totally game.'' De Armas, whose talents include the ability to be present and personable on even the most frenzied red carpets, has done the globe-trotting work to make 'Ballerina' a big deal: appearing at CinemaCon, gamely eating hot wings and cheerfully deflecting questions about her next film, 'Deeper,' with Tom Cruise. Yet for someone so comfortable in the spotlight, one of the more interesting facts about de Armas is that she lives part time in that bastion of young A-listers: Vermont. 'Yeah, it surprised many people,' she says, chuckling. 'As soon as I went up there, I knew that was going to be a place that would bring me happiness and sanity and peace. But I know for a Cuban who doesn't like cold very much, it's very strange.' 'This has been a surprise' Winding up in northern New England is just as unexpected as landing an action movie like 'Ballerina.' She grew up with the conviction, from age 12, that she would be an actor. But she studied theater. 'I never thought I was going to do action,' de Armas says. 'What was relatable for me was watching Cuban actors on TV and in movies. That was my reality. That's all I knew, so the actors I looked up to were those.' De Armas also had bad asthma, which makes some of the things she does in 'Ballerina' — a movie with a flamethrower duel — all the more remarkable to her. 'I couldn't do anything,' she remembers. 'I couldn't run. I sometimes couldn't play with my friends. I had to just be home and be still so I wouldn't get an asthma attack. So I never thought of myself as someone athletic or able to run just a block. So this has been a surprise.' At 14, she auditioned and got into Havana's National Theatre of Cuba. Four years later, with Spanish citizenship through her grandparents, she moved to Madrid to pursue acting. When she arrive in LA in 2014, she had to start all over again. Now as one of the top Latina stars in Hollywood, she's watched as immigrant paths like hers have grow increasingly arduous if not impossible. The day after she spoke to The Associated Press, the Trump administration announced a travel ban on 12 countries and heavy restrictions on citizens of other countries, including Cuba. 'I got here at a time when things were definitely easier in that sense,' says de Armas, who announced her then-imminent U.S. citizenship while hosting 'Saturday Night Live' in 2023. 'So I just feel very lucky for that. But it's difficult. Everything that's going on is very difficult and very sad and really challenging for many people. I definitely wish things were different.' 'She doesn't just enjoy the view' Chad Stahelski, director of the four 'John Wick' films and producer of 'Ballerina,' was about to start production on 'John Wick: Chapter 4' when producer Basil Iwanyk and Nathan Kahane, president of Lionsgate, called to set up a Zoom about casting de Armas. He quickly watched every scene she had been in. 'How many people would have played the Bond girl kind of goofy like that?' he says. 'I know that I can harden people up. I know I can make them the assassin, but getting the charm and the love and the humor out of someone is trickier. But she had it.' In 'Knives Out,' Stahelski saw someone who could go from scared and uncertain to a look of 'I'm going to stab you in the eye.' 'I like that in my action heroes,' he says. 'I don't want to see the stoic, superhero vibe where everything's going to be OK.' But it wasn't just her acting or her charisma that convinced Stahelski. It was her life story. ''John Wick' is all hard work — and I don't mean just in the training. You've got to love it and put yourself out there,' says Stahelski. 'When you get her story about how she came from the age of 12, got into acting, what she sacrificed, what she did, that's what got my attention. 'Oh, she's a perseverer. She doesn't just enjoy the view, she enjoys the climb.'' When that quote is read back to her, de Armas laughs, and agrees. 'Being Cuban, and my upbringing and my family and everything I've done, I've never had a plan B,' she says. 'I've never had that thing of, 'Well, if it doesn't work, my family can help.' Or, 'I can do this other career.' This was it. And I also knew, besides being the thing I loved the most, this was my survival. This is how I live. This is how I feed myself and my family. So it's also a sense of, I don't know, responsibility.' That makes her reflect back to when she was just trying to make it in Hollywood, sounding out words, trying not to disappoint directors whose instructions she could barely understand, trying not to be intimidated by the action star across from her who had just finished shooting the first 'John Wick.' 'I was so committed to do it,' she says. 'I was so invested in the trying of it, just giving it a shot. When I give something a shot, I try my best, whatever that is. Then I can actually say: I gave it a shot.'
Winnipeg Free Press
8 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Winnipeg Free Press
For Ana de Armas, Keanu Reeves' co-star 10 years ago and once again, ‘Ballerina' is a pirouette
NEW YORK (AP) — Years before Ana de Armas was using an ice skate to slice a neck in 'From the World of John Wick: Ballerina,' she co-starred with Keanu Reeves in a much different film. The erotic thriller 'Knock Knock,' released in 2015, was de Armas' first Hollywood film. De Armas, born and raised in Cuba, had just come to Los Angeles after acting in Spain. English was new to her, so she had to learn her lines phonetically. 'It was tough and I felt miserable at times and very lonely,' she says in an interview. 'But I wanted to prove myself. I remember being in meetings with producers and they would be like, 'OK, I'll see you in a year when you learn English.' Before I left the office, I would say, 'I'll see you in two months.'' Since 'Knock Knock,' her rise to stardom has been one of the last decade's most meteoric. She was radiant even as a hologram in 'Blade Runner 2049.' She stole the show in Rian Johnson's star-studded 'Knives Out.' She breezed through the Bond movie 'No Time to Die.' She was Oscar nominated for her Marilyn Monroe in 'Blonde. ' And now, 10 years after those scenes with Reeves, de Armas is for the first time headlining a big summer action movie. In 'Ballerina,' in theaters Friday, de Armas' progressive development as an unlikely action star reaches a butt-kicking crescendo, inheriting the mantle of one of the most esteemed, high-body-count franchises. 'It's a big moment in my career, and I know that. I can see that,' she says. 'It makes me look back in many ways, just being with Keanu in another film in such a different place in my career. It definitely gives me perspective of the journey and everything since we met. Things have come far since then.' Taking on the pressure of 'John Wick' While de Armas, 37, isn't new to movie stardom, or the tabloid coverage that comes with it, many of her career highlights have been streaming releases. 'The Gray Man' and 'Blonde' were Netflix. 'Ghosted' was Apple TV+. But 'Ballerina' will rely on de Armas (and abiding 'John Wick' fandom) to put moviegoers in seats. Heading in, analysts expected an opening weekend of around $35-40 million, which would be a solid result for a spinoff that required extensive reshoots. Reviews, particularly for de Armas playing a ballerina-assassin, have been good. 'There's a lot of pressure,' says director Len Wiseman. 'It's a lot to carry all on her shoulders. But she'll be the first person to tell you: 'Put it on. Let me carry the weight. I'm totally game.'' De Armas, whose talents include the ability to be present and personable on even the most frenzied red carpets, has done the globe-trotting work to make 'Ballerina' a big deal: appearing at CinemaCon, gamely eating hot wings and cheerfully deflecting questions about her next film, 'Deeper,' with Tom Cruise. Yet for someone so comfortable in the spotlight, one of the more interesting facts about de Armas is that she lives part time in that bastion of young A-listers: Vermont. 'Yeah, it surprised many people,' she says, chuckling. 'As soon as I went up there, I knew that was going to be a place that would bring me happiness and sanity and peace. But I know for a Cuban who doesn't like cold very much, it's very strange.' 'This has been a surprise' Winding up in northern New England is just as unexpected as landing an action movie like 'Ballerina.' She grew up with the conviction, from age 12, that she would be an actor. But she studied theater. 'I never thought I was going to do action,' de Armas says. 'What was relatable for me was watching Cuban actors on TV and in movies. That was my reality. That's all I knew, so the actors I looked up to were those.' De Armas also had bad asthma, which makes some of the things she does in 'Ballerina' — a movie with a flamethrower duel — all the more remarkable to her. 'I couldn't do anything,' she remembers. 'I couldn't run. I sometimes couldn't play with my friends. I had to just be home and be still so I wouldn't get an asthma attack. So I never thought of myself as someone athletic or able to run just a block. So this has been a surprise.' At 14, she auditioned and got into Havana's National Theatre of Cuba. Four years later, with Spanish citizenship through her grandparents, she moved to Madrid to pursue acting. When she arrive in LA in 2014, she had to start all over again. Now as one of the top Latina stars in Hollywood, she's watched as immigrant paths like hers have grow increasingly arduous if not impossible. The day after she spoke to The Associated Press, the Trump administration announced a travel ban on 12 countries and heavy restrictions on citizens of other countries, including Cuba. 'I got here at a time when things were definitely easier in that sense,' says de Armas, who announced her then-imminent U.S. citizenship while hosting 'Saturday Night Live' in 2023. 'So I just feel very lucky for that. But it's difficult. Everything that's going on is very difficult and very sad and really challenging for many people. I definitely wish things were different.' 'She doesn't just enjoy the view' Chad Stahelski, director of the four 'John Wick' films and producer of 'Ballerina,' was about to start production on 'John Wick: Chapter 4' when producer Basil Iwanyk and Nathan Kahane, president of Lionsgate, called to set up a Zoom about casting de Armas. He quickly watched every scene she had been in. 'How many people would have played the Bond girl kind of goofy like that?' he says. 'I know that I can harden people up. I know I can make them the assassin, but getting the charm and the love and the humor out of someone is trickier. But she had it.' In 'Knives Out,' Stahelski saw someone who could go from scared and uncertain to a look of 'I'm going to stab you in the eye.' 'I like that in my action heroes,' he says. 'I don't want to see the stoic, superhero vibe where everything's going to be OK.' But it wasn't just her acting or her charisma that convinced Stahelski. It was her life story. ''John Wick' is all hard work — and I don't mean just in the training. You've got to love it and put yourself out there,' says Stahelski. 'When you get her story about how she came from the age of 12, got into acting, what she sacrificed, what she did, that's what got my attention. 'Oh, she's a perseverer. She doesn't just enjoy the view, she enjoys the climb.'' When that quote is read back to her, de Armas laughs, and agrees. 'Being Cuban, and my upbringing and my family and everything I've done, I've never had a plan B,' she says. 'I've never had that thing of, 'Well, if it doesn't work, my family can help.' Or, 'I can do this other career.' This was it. And I also knew, besides being the thing I loved the most, this was my survival. This is how I live. This is how I feed myself and my family. So it's also a sense of, I don't know, responsibility.' That makes her reflect back to when she was just trying to make it in Hollywood, sounding out words, trying not to disappoint directors whose instructions she could barely understand, trying not to be intimidated by the action star across from her who had just finished shooting the first 'John Wick.' 'I was so committed to do it,' she says. 'I was so invested in the trying of it, just giving it a shot. When I give something a shot, I try my best, whatever that is. Then I can actually say: I gave it a shot.'
Toronto Sun
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Toronto Sun
REVIEW: Something ‘Wick'-ish this way comes in 'Ballerina'
Published Jun 04, 2025 • Last updated 5 minutes ago • 3 minute read Ana de Armas as Eve in "Ballerina." Photo by Lionsgate Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page. You probably already know where you stand on the John Wick action movies. Either you think they're dazzling displays of state-of-the-art fight choreography and darkly detailed world-building or they're deplorable wallows in gun fetishism and ultraviolence – the apex of R-rated commercial entertainment or the nadir of a culture that's been numbed by video game carnage and can only cheer on the cleverness of the kill. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account This being America, of course, they're both. 'Ballerina' – technically titled 'From the World of John Wick: Ballerina' – is more and less of the same, a spinoff that stars Ana de Armas ('Knives Out,' 'Blonde,' 'No Time to Die') as Eve Macarro, a dancer/killer in the secretive Ruska Roma school for assassins. The character turned up briefly in the third John Wick film played by Unity Phelan, a ballet dancer who has since been unceremoniously jettisoned for lacking the necessary star power and oomph. Here the character has been reenvisioned as a wide-eyed yet steel-nerved dispenser of mayhem and vengeance. An opening scene sees little Eve (Victoria Comte) traumatized by the death of her father (David Castañeda) at the hands of a secretive cult led by the Chancellor (a sepulchral Gabriel Byrne) and vowing revenge as she rises in the Ruska Roma ranks. Her mentors include the school's Director (Anjelica Huston, doling out the ham with the finesse of a third-generation pro) and Winston (Ian McShane), the proprietor of the New York Continental Hotel for Hit Men and Ladies and a welcome holdover from the canonical films. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. How's de Armas? She handles the stunts with skill and enthusiasm, the acting chores less notably. (In her defence, Shay Hatten's script is strictly functional, with all the best lines given to the colourful array of supporting characters.) Besides the baroque action scenes and the franchise's vision of a global steampunk bureaucracy of evil, the main asset of the John Wick movies has always been Wick himself, as played by Keanu Reeves with a Zen exhaustion that's a rare and mighty thing. De Armas simply doesn't have a purchase on the cultural affection that Reeves has built over four decades of stardom, and that lack keeps 'Ballerina' firmly in the minor leagues for about two-thirds of its running time. At a certain point, however, two things happen. One is a special guest appearance that reenergizes the film, and the other is director Len Wiseman's unexpected commitment to slapstick humour. Maybe call it slap-death. We've had a taste in a midmovie sequence in which Eve is beating on a fellow assassin with a TV remote, causing a nearby screen to flicker on with clips of the Three Stooges, 'Airplane!' and Buster Keaton. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Later, there's a marvellous game of dinnerware three-card monte with a gun hidden somewhere beneath a pile of fallen plates. The many, many disposable extras are dispatched with a grim merriment you will find either to your liking – the audience at my screening hooted in approval – or actively depressing, and even a doubter may have to admit that the creative gymnastics with which people here get shot, stabbed, blown up, impaled, garroted, dismembered or finished off with an ice skate to the head are impressive and often enlivening, like a Bob Fosse dance routine with gallons of fake blood. (A scene in which Eve visits a munitions specialist is standard gun porn, though, and notably dull until someone has the bright idea to open a case of grenades.) This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Likewise, the series's vision of an underworld bound by arcane pacts of honour and maintained via dusty pneumatic tubes and CRT terminals from the 1970s would be pompous if it weren't so engagingly silly. All those rules about who gets to kill whom and when and how! I thought the whole point of being a villain was that you didn't have to follow rules. 'Ballerina' takes this bizarro-world civic mindset to a logical extreme in a bravura third act set in a Czech mountain village, where every last inhabitant down to the schoolchildren is a professional assassin and where ordering a cafe latte is an invitation to a knife fight. It's lunatic and just slightly too close to home in these fraught and fractured days. The world of 'Ballerina' is one where everybody knows your name – and it's written on every bullet. – – – Ty Burr is the author of the movie recommendation newsletter Ty Burr's Watch List at – – – Three stars. Rated R. At area theatres. Contains strong/bloody violence throughout and language. 125 minutes. Rating guide: Four stars masterpiece, three stars very good, two stars OK, one star poor, no stars waste of time. Celebrity Columnists Toronto & GTA Canada Canada
Express Tribune
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
Ana de Armas reveals intense fitness and firearms training for 'John Wick' spin-off 'Ballerina"
Ana de Armas has revealed the demanding physical preparation she underwent for her role in Ballerina, the upcoming John Wick spin-off set to release on June 6. The actor, known for No Time to Die and Blonde, described her routine as 'pretty intense' and said she followed the programme 'to the letter.' Speaking in a Reddit r/AskMeAnything, de Armas said her training began with a strict, low-calorie nutrition plan and daily workouts that included 90 minutes of strength training. She then completed four to five hours of stunt coordination at action studio 8711, followed by firearm practice at a shooting range. To finish her day, she ran on a treadmill wearing a weighted vest. 'It was painful but I loved it,' she wrote. 'It felt good.' Ballerina is set between John Wick: Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 and marks the first time a female lead fronts the franchise. De Armas added that action movies are complex, with fight choreography involving the entire crew. 'The choreography goes beyond just the fight. She also explained how her role in Ballerina required high levels of discipline and energy, especially for long action sequences filmed in a single take. Though she admitted she never saw herself as an action star, de Armas said she is enjoying the experience and named Kill Bill as a dream project.
Perth Now
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Ana de Armas 'hated' singing in Eden
Ana de Armas was "terrified" of singing in 'Eden'. The 37-year-old actress starred in the Ron Howard-directed survival thriller film alongside Vanessa Kirby, Sydney Sweeney and Jude Law, and Ana has now revealed that she did everything she could to avoid having to sing in the movie. During an appearance on 'Hot Ones', the actress explained: "I hated it. "I remember when I talked to Ron. And I was like 'Ron, I really think I should lip sync. This is not for me.' And he just didn't want to hear it. "He was like 'no, you're singing. You're singing. If you do it bad, it's good for the character.' And I'm like 'yeah but people don't know that.'" Ana admitted that she would've rather done "100 stunts than sing" in the film. The actress recalled feeling "very exposed and vulnerable" at the time. Ana explained: "I just couldn't convince him to let me lip sync so I had to learn the song. "It was horrible. I was terrified. I would rather do 100 stunts than sing that song. It was terrifying because it's also in front of all the actors. I just felt very exposed and vulnerable and it's not one of my talents, for sure." Ana previously portrayed Marilyn Monroe in 'Blonde', the Andrew Dominik-directed biographical drama film. And the actress admitted that she finds it easy to relate to the Hollywood icon. She told Vanity Fair magazine: "There was a lot there that I could relate to. "If you put Marilyn Monroe the movie star aside, she's just an actress trying to navigate life and this system, which is so hard to navigate for anybody. On top of that, you add this point of view of Andrew's, which was to see that through her trauma. "I truly thought it was going to do justice to a more dimensional human being, because I wouldn't want to be remembered just for one thing. I am more than just an actress on the cover of a magazine." Ana thinks modern-day movie stars don't compare to people like Marilyn. She said: "The concept of a movie star is someone untouchable you only see onscreen. That mystery is gone. For the most part, we've done that to ourselves - nobody's keeping anything from anyone anymore."
