John Wick 4 director defends one of the film's biggest criticisms

John Wick Chapter 4 introduced a new villain into the franchise in Bill Skarsgård's terrifying Marquis. He was undoubtedly a fitting threat to Keanu Reeves’ assassin, especially given the movie’s surprising ending. However, we weren’t alone in finding something slightly odd about Skarsgård's accent in the film.

Unsurprisingly, given his name, the Marquis appears to be a powerful French aristocrat who holds a high rank in the High Table. Yet, in the movie, his accent doesn’t seem to be very French at all, and quickly became one of the big talking points of the film. 

Now it turns out that he wasn’t trying to do a French accent after all, at least according to director Chad Stahelski. Speaking on Josh Horowitz’s podcast Happy Sad Confused, he explained: "He came to be, he goes, 'I want to do a little bit like f--ked up French like Cajun accent.' I’m like, 'I have no idea what that sounds like.' Some people gave us shit a little bit because it’s not a good French accent. I’m like, 'Guys, it’s not supposed to be French.' Like, he wasn’t trying to be French, he’s a guy that speaks French."

Well that does clear things up a bit, and it’s good to know there’s a reason behind it, even if it wasn’t spelled out in the movie itself. Ahead of John Wick 4’s release earlier this year, Skarsgård gave us some insight into his character’s background too.

Speaking to Total Film, he shared: "The Marquis is a young man of unknown origin who has quickly climbed the ladder within the High Table doing god knows what. I always saw him as someone from the gutter who now savors the glittery suits he’s wearing."

John Wick 4 is out on digital now. For more upcoming movies, check out our guide to all of the 2023 movie release dates confirmed so far.