Keanu Reeves, 56, cracks a beaming smile at female friend in Berlin

Daily Mail 7/27/2021 Eve Buckland For Mailonline

He's been busy reprising his brooding John Wick persona for the fourth film in the franchise in Berlin in recent months.

And Keanu Reeves looked in great spirits as he flashed a beaming smile at a female production assistant while leaving his Berlin hotel on Monday.

The Speed star, 56, was delighted as he stepped out with wet hair and clad in a black suit, casually chatting to his blonde friend.

It appeared Keanu was en-route to run some errands as he carried a bag from Freddy Leck laundromat.

The pair enjoyed a quick friendly chat before the screen star headed off.

Work on the next installment of the action thriller franchise began shortly after the release of its third film, John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, in May of 2019.

In April of last year, series director Chad Stahelski spoke to Collider and noted that the project's creative team had set their bar much higher for the upcoming film from its inception.

'We submitted an idea or thematic [plan] and it was really big. So, we're talking about doing a little bit more than a [John Wick 4], or something like that, and trying to develop that,' he said.

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The filmmaker also expressed that the development team had a relatively fleshed-out story in mind for the forthcoming feature and that they were glad to have a roadmap of sorts.

Stahelski said, 'I'm in a happy place where we are in development...we're in a place where we know what we want do and where we want to do it.'

Production for the fourth entry in the franchise will take place in Berlin and Paris.

New York City and Japan will serve as additional filming locations.

The crew behind the film originally intended to shoot back-to-back for another John Wick feature, although this idea was later shot down, leaving the possibility of a fifth movie in limbo.

The fourth entry in the action franchise was originally scheduled to make its debut sometime this year, although the onset of the global pandemic forced the release date to be pushed back to May 27 2022.