Have you ever wondered who the real-life John Wick is? Part of the story was inspired by the life of an American soldier.
For those who don’t remember (impossible, but come on), the story of John Wick begins when the protagonist loses his beloved wife Helen to a terminal illness.
Before she leaves for good, she leaves John a beautiful beagle named Daisy , who would help him deal with his grief.
As expected, John Wick ends up creating a strong relationship with the little girl and she accompanies him to several places, even sleeping with him in his bed.
Everything was going great until he stops at a gas station and meets some Russians, whose leader, Iosef Tarasov (played by Alfie Allen) falls in love with our protagonist’s 1969 Mustang Boss 429 .
When he refuses to sell his car to the mobster, the Russians follow him and find out where John lives.
They break into the house to steal the car and beat the protagonist. To make matters worse, the gangsters kill Daisy and drive away in the car, leaving John badly injured.
I confess that this part of little Daisy’s death made me cry ( and it makes me tear up now, as I write this text ) at the time and, for me, it is one of the saddest films I’ve ever seen, simply for that reason: the death of the beagle.
However, after all the violence and destruction they left behind, what no one would have imagined is that this group would awaken the most violent side of one of the most lethal killers in the entire world , who is determined to take revenge on all those who caused him suffering. .
After Daisy’s death, the character of John Wick undertakes a murderous mission, where, little by little, he kills everyone who was connected with the theft of his car, the death of his dog and the destruction of his house. .
All of this caused the anger of his old enemies to resurface, which forces John to become a fugitive with a huge price on his head.
It’s true that much of the story is fiction, but the plot of John Wick is based on a real case , where another man had to deal with the death of a puppy who was the personification and living memory of loved ones he lost along the way. of your life.
John Wick may not exist in real life, but Marcus Luttrell does! He was the one who inspired part of the plot of the franchise, which is an international success and box office champion.
Real-life John Wick: who inspired the story?
Although the stories end up being quite different shortly after this tragic incident, the “real” (if we can call him that) the real-life John Wick is called Marcus Luttrell, a retired SEAL and was the only surviving soldier on a mission in 2005 , where he and his group faced several Taliban in Afghanistan.
Luttrell’s story also inspired the 2013 film Lone Survivor. Directed and written by Peter Berg, the film stars Mark Wahlberg , who plays Marcus Luttrell.
In the film, according to Wikipedia, SEAL Team 10 fails in a mission, Operation Red Wings, which aimed to capture or kill a Taliban leader during the war in Afghanistan.
With Luttrell being the only survivor of the mission in Afghanistan, doctors diagnosed the soldier with post-traumatic stress disorder, and to help him, they give him a dog to be his companion.
So, then, Luttrell calls the dog Daisy , which were the initials of his companions killed during the mission. “D” for Daniel Phillip Dietz Jr., “A” for Matthew Gene ‘Axe’ Axelson, “S” for Luttrell’s own nickname (Southern Boy) and the “Y” for Yankee, which was one of Michael Patrick Murphy’s nicknames.
Just like in the John Wick movie, Marcus and Daisy created a strong bond and the dog was helping Marcus to get better. But their story would take a tragic turn.
On April 2, 2009, the sound of a gunshot woke him up in the early hours of the morning and when Marcus went to check what was happening, he saw that someone had shot his dog.
Still according to Marcus’ testimony, the criminals also beat the dog with a baseball bat.
Without understanding and completely upset, he begins to investigate and he discovers who were the perpetrators of such cruelty.
When he found who the perpetrators were, he decided that he would not shoot or kill them, but he decided that he would not leave any of the killers in peace.
He went on a chase after the criminals and ended up reporting them all to the police, before he lost track of where they were.
Thus, Alfonso Hernández and Michael Edmonds were identified and apprehended. Edmonds confessed and was sentenced to 5 years in prison, but on probation.
Hernández was taken to jury and sentenced to 2 years in prison and to pay a fine of 1000 dollars for the damage caused to Marcus.
Getting justice, Marcus said that he considered Daisy as a member of his family and wanted justice to punish both killers with the full weight of the law.
Years later, in an interview with North American newspapers, Luttrell said that he forgave both of their lives, because Hernández and Edmons had already killed many people.
Even though Marcus Luttrell is not an assassin for hire, like the charismatic John Wick, his story of persecution to discover the identity of his dog’s killers inspired much of the film.
In fact, the name of the dog that Helen leaves for John is called Daisy, which ends up being the last and only memory he has of his wife, while for Luttrell, the dog was the link between him and his companions who died on mission.
Marcus currently runs the Lone Survivor Foundation, based in Houston, Texas. At the institution, military personnel injured in war and their families receive support with health, well-being and therapy issues so that they can make the transition home.
In July 2021, he ended up losing his last companion: Mr. Rigby , a Labrador, who passed away at the age of 16 due to natural causes. He currently has other dogs.
