In Ballerina, Ana de Armas plays a young woman, Eve Maccarro. She finds herself orphaned after the death of her father, killed by a small group of unknown assassins. In this, she shares an important commonality with the character of John Wick, himself driven by revenge in his very first film: the loss of his dog and the theft of his car. And given her prowess in the latest trailer for the film, it seems that Ballerina doesn't only have this motivation in common with John Wick, since she proves to be just as dangerous and ruthless as he is.
Linked to the Ruska Roma, like John Wick
The other element that unites the two characters is the Ruska Roma. It is nothing more and nothing less than a group of Belarusian assassins sitting at the Great Table, a sort of super council bringing together the 12 most dangerous criminal organizations in the world. Of which the Ruska Roma is a part. After the death of her father, it is with her that Eve Maccaro will find refuge and will undergo her training to become a killer and prepare her revenge. Another point in common with John Wick since the latter was raised and trained with the Ruska Roma. Jardani Jovonovich, his real surname, is Belarusian and is linked for life to this organization which made him one of its members. It is this loyalty and this bond that John Wick invokes in his third film, Parabellum, when he finds himself excommunicated and pursued by all the assassins in the world.
John Wick: Parabellum, the anchor point
It is also in this film that we first meet the Director, the one who governs Ruska Roma, played by Anjelica Huston. In Parabellum, during two or three dialogues between John Wick and the Director, we are shown in the background how the organization works: dance exercises synonymous with torture for the young recruited girls (we see one tearing off a nail after her training), wrestling for the boys, bringing back memories in passing to the character played by Keanu Reeves.
The place is none other than the Tarkovsky Theater. And it is there, as John Wick gets help from the Director to reach Casablanca, that Ballerina connects the two films, with a unique encounter between Baba Yaga (Wick's nickname) and Eve Maccarro, in a scene already broadcast on YouTube to promote the film.
Ana de Armas in the same boat as Keanu Reeves
To understand the character of Ballerina, we must refer to the words of its director, Len Wiseman, supervised in production by the conductor of the John Wick saga, Chad Stahelski. The idea in Ballerina is to contrast it with John Wick: while the character played for years by Keanu Reeves seeks to leave the world of assassins, Eve Maccarro seeks to enter it by any means necessary to satisfy her thirst for revenge.
On the other hand, what both characters share is the total dedication of their actors. Ana de Armas threw herself into this role, to the point of performing almost all of her stunts herself. The actress, who plays the leading role in this film, wanted to make her mark on it and live the experience to the fullest. In an interview with ComingSoon, she notably admitted to having burst into tears while handling a flamethrower and burning a stuntman for a scene.
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