Shot in New York City and nearby Rockland County,John Wickcaptures some of the area’s most iconic landmarks and locations, from the idealized pastoral vistas of John’s marital home to the cavernous concrete canyons of Manhattan. The settings, say the filmmakers, are meant to be familiar, yet not of this world and, perhaps, not quite like any world audiences have seen before.

“This movie has real style,” says producer Basil Iwanyk. “There is an intensity to the visuals that is based on some of the iconic conventions of the graphic novel.”

The filmmakers invented two separate and contrasting worlds for John Wick. First, there is the very private, rural world of John’s life with Helen. “That is very organic and warm; very cinéma vérité real,” says Leitch. “Once he crosses back over, he enters the hyper-real world of the assassins, where the situations are heightened and the characters are a little over the top. Everything in that world is pushed a bit.”

Production Designer Dan Leigh jokes that there were not two worlds, but two of everything onJohn Wick. “There were always a couple of opinions,” he says. “I approached the story as more of a fable, which ties into the graphic-novel idea. The visual manifestation of that is something that transcends reality. The light is a little bit different. There’s texture in the air. There are unexpected objects everywhere.”

“Derek doesn’t provide a lot of details about the world, which is one of the things we liked about it,” says Leitch. “He provides plenty of clues, but there’s still so much mystery.”

The clues include gold coins that serve as currency and the exclusive institutions that shelter the assassins and their assets. “We’ve constructed a very specific, interesting, well-rounded world,” says Iwanyk. “Everyone wears a suit. Everyone looks sharp.”

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