Eva Longoria quietly invested $6 million (£4.6 million) in John Wick when some of its funding fell through at the last minute.
In a 10th anniversary retrospective of the 2014 action movie, directors Chad Stahelski and David Leitch revealed to Business Insider that the Desperate Housewives actress put up the hefty sum to save the project from going under.
"We were less than a week out and we lost almost $6 million on a gap financing," Stahelski remembered. "We were financing independently to get the bond, but one of the investors couldn't raise the money in time."
Both of the filmmakers as well as producer Basil Iwanyk and leading man Keanu Reeves had already put their own money into the project. Staff at Creative Artists Agency (CAA), who helped them put the financing together, offered its clients an opportunity to invest in the film - and Longoria took up the offer.
"(Longoria) came to the rescue and she provided the gap financing, literally less than 24 hours before we had to lock the doors on the movie and walk away," Stahelski said. "Basil took us out to dinner (after filming), and we were laughing about all the bulls**t that happened, and he said, 'By the way, funny story, you know who gap financed you? Eva Longoria.' We were like, 'What!'"
The co-directors eventually took Longoria out to lunch to thank her for saving their movie. She admitted she didn't think the film was "going to work" but it ended up being "the best money" she'd ever spent.
Leitch noted that, as a producer, Longoria got "paid back significantly" thanks to the success of the movie.
The 2014 original spawned three sequels, an upcoming spin-off starring Ana de Armas and the TV show The Continental.
When asked if Longoria could potentially appear in future John Wick projects, Leitch replied, "She wants to for sure, she wants to do action. I would love to work with her, we're trying to find something."
