Quotes from David Leitch

It's called 'John Wick' - it's really about this guy's very simple journey. We just didn't want to clutter it. It's gratifying it in its own right, in its simplicity.

Some actors have an affinity for dance, and they should explore it, train in it, and get good.

Stunt coordinating is a good training ground for directing because you have exposure to all the departments in film.

While filming 'The Matrix,' we studied how a Chinese fight-choreography team trains actors before production starts so that they can participate in action sequences in a more dynamic way.

Great actors can transform, but sometimes there's just this person who speaks right to the role. When they walk in the room, you know they're that character. That is something you can't teach an actor; that's something that's luck and chance.

Take up martial arts and get proficient. Take a sword-fighting class. Dive in and immerse yourself in it as you would any other acting class, so when the opportunity comes, that skill can be really utilized, and it's not half-baked.

Friends who are directors like Jim Mangold or the Wachowskis or Zack Snyder - who, whether they know or not - have really left a mark on who I am as a director.

Part of the problem is that many directors treat female characters too often as precious. Or they want to live in a fantasy world where they just do spinning hook kicks and knock out guys who are six foot four, and that doesn't work either.

As a director, just to be able to jump in to do something that's different, and to explore comedy and be challenged by that, is great. Some directors never get that opportunity.

I look at the action scenes as placeholders when I arrive on a script, knowing that I'm going to expand on them when I understand the constraints of the movie, the locations of where we're shooting, the abilities of the actors, and where we want to go with the characters.

You learn tricks to make action look more dynamic - having the fight come toward you or shooting on a longer lens to compress the speed.

I think, as a choreographer and an action designer, you're constantly giving your characters problems to overcome. That's what makes it fun for choreography. But it also makes it fun for the audience to see them solve those puzzles and how they are as a human being.

A lot of people don't give their audiences credit. You can leave it a little mysterious. They can think about it.

Spies go undercover. They take on different personas.

If you're trying to get to the underworld of Berlin, it's not suits and ties; it's rock and roll.

Sometimes, the action genre does get stale. Although I want to go back and see my favorite characters in their tentpoles - and will religiously do that - it's really fun to see breakout ideas and concepts. Let's make some new stories.

As a second unit director, you're entrusted to shoot the action sequences. On every movie, it's slightly different.

I've been doing second unit for years, which is sort of like directing mini movies. Now that I'm directing entire films, it's really just more of everything. There are a lot more questions that need answers.

You know, the 'Atomic Blonde' universe is its own universe. There's influences obviously of Bond and Bourne and 'Wick,' all the things I've been exposed to, but it is its own universe.

You have to make bold choices to be noticed.

In the stunt world, fights and vehicles are often two different disciplines.

As a stunt guy, you become a mini-director. You're talking to actors about performance.

Film is a collaborative art form. I don't know why you wouldn't recognize the stunt performers.

The vehicle-stunt world is so specialized. But when you spend so long in it as a stunt coordinator, you're exposed to all the disciplines, so it's always fun to combine the two ideas - a car chase and a fight scene - and make something more dynamic.