Historians have long affirmed that the design of the Arc de Triomphe aimed to forever pay tribute to those who fought in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars by trapping motorists within its clutches. There are rumors of drivers from the last century entering the roundabout and still searching for an exit.

For the filmmaking wizards behind John Wick: Chapter 4, however, the world’s most perplexing roundabout, with a special mention to Hemel Hempstead, serves as just another stage to showcase one of the most exceptional, intense, and certifiably insanе action scenes audiences are ever likely to witness.

Keanu Reeves, of course, returns as the titular action hero, unleashing rеvеngе and chaos upon those who fall within the reach of his calloused knuckles. The movie involves plenty of cars, including the remarkable use of a 1971 Plymouth Barracuda. However, this time, the action is concentrated specifically around the Parisian monument in a stunt sequence for the ages – or more accurately, a sequence of barely contained vehicular chaos.

Tanner Foust, a racing driver and seasoned stuntman for major Hollywood blockbusters, including Ford v Ferrari, Need for Speed, The Bourne Legacy, Iron Man 2, and Fast & Furious, was enlisted for John Wick 4. However, this job was unlike any other.

“The whole goal of my job, essentially, was not to drive,” he explains. “I had to put on the wig and the beard and do the stunts, at least once, so it was in the can. But I spent four months in Berlin training Keanu on his days off from figҺting. And he’d already learned quite a lot about driving from previous movies.

“Plus, he rides motorcycles, and I find people who ride motorcycles generally learn driving skills quicker.”

Tanner and the stunt team devised six different driving maneuvers that Keanu could consistently learn and perform on camera, and the scriptwriters apparently crafted the scene around those moves.

“And he was awesome,” Tanner remarked. “He had to do it all one-handed while holding a gᴜn and sometimes reloading it mid-drift. That gave the film guys the opportunity to rip the doors and windscreen off so you could see it was him doing it all.”

Tanner, a double Formula Drift champion, rates Keanu’s drifting skills as a solid eight, noting that Keanu is the best among any actor he has worked with. Keanu’s background in motorcycles, where you learn not to slide the front tire, contributes to his prowess in car driving.

Tanner also highlighted how Keanu’s experience with motorcycles, knowing when to stop rather than pushing over the edge and potentially losing control, made the rest of the stunt team feel safe around him. The process of developing driving stunt ideas and witnessing the entire team piece it together, topped off by Keanu’s actual performance, was “as badass [an experience] as possible” for Tanner.

Certainly not as rewarding as successfully navigating around the Arc de Triomphe during rush hour and leaving at your chosen exit, one would sᴜspect.