John Wick 4 Costume Designer Hypes Hard Rock Suitstakes

John Wick always wears a suit and tie, and one lucky fan now has the chance to win a similarly well-tailored suit in the new John Wick Suitstakes. Coordinated with Hard Rock International in tandem with the release of John Wick: Chapter 4, the Suitstakes runs from March 9 to March 31. The winner of the Suitstakes, which can be entered on the competition's official site, will have a John Wick-style suit designed for them by John Wick: Chapter 4 costume designer Paco Delgado, and will also win a 2-night stay at Hard Rock Hotel’s Rock Star Suite in New York City.

In John Wick: Chapter 4, John (Keanu Reeves) teams up with the Bowery King (Laurence Fishburne) to battle the High Table. John gets a chance at freedom from the High Table if he can defeat the deadly assassin known as the Marquis de Gramont (Bill Skarsgård). Along the way, John will also cross paths with many allies and enemies his old friend Caine (Donnie Yen), Shimazu (Hiroyuki Sanada), Killa (Scott Adkins), and Chidi (Marko Zaror).

We speak to Paco Delgado about the John Wick Suitstakes and his work as the costume designer in John Wick: Chapter 4.

Paco Delgado on John Wick: Chapter 4

Keanu Reeves hiding behind an overturned car in John Wick Chapter 4

Screen Rant: How did the John Wick Suitstakes come about and what does it entail?

Paco Delgado: John Wick: Chapter 4 is about to open in a couple of weeks, and Lionsgate has started a partnership with Hard Rock Hotels, and I think it’s a brilliant idea. It’s an idea to have a person that we design a suit for them influenced by my designs for John Wick, and I think it’s great. As you know, Hard Rock Hotels are amazing and they have a huge collection of memorabilia of costumes and everything related to fashion and rock. And I think it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience to have a John Wick kind of bespoke suit that I’d design.

As the costume designer for the John Wick franchise, what can you share about the process of creating John’s look and how that’s evolved throughout the series?

Paco Delgado: Well, I think it was very important to design a set of costumes that were up to this sort of fashionable world where John Wick lives, and I think it was easy because working with Keanu, he’s very elegant and easy to dress. The only thing that we wanted to do was to carry on with the same sort of style of the previous movies, but at the same time, we wanted to heighten it. We had a big opportunity with part of the movie taking place in Osaka, and I thought it was a way to introduce Japanese-inspired costumes and it was a very interesting project to do.

Scott Adkins as Killain John Wick Chapter 4

Scott Adkins also has a very different look in John Wick: Chapter 4. What can you share about designing his suit and having to coordinate that with his prosthetics?

Paco Delgado: I would say that was just fun, really. Chad [Stahelski] had this idea that he had to be this massive guy, and we built a prosthetic body first, because I was wondering at the beginning 'How do you create a suit for somebody where you don’t know what their dimensions will be?' So, we decided to start with a prosthetic body and then put Scott into it, and then measuring him up like we would with a person without prosthetics.

Then we made the suit, and we had to make many attempts, because it was very difficult to calculate the metrics and how much of the fabric we need, because it was so big. Then, Chad wanted him to be in red, so it kind of made a fashion statement at the same time, because if you have to a criminal, you might say ‘Let’s dress him in black’, but that was a great idea by Chad.

What can you share about how you’ll be creating the suit for the winner of the Suitstakes?

Paco Delgado: I think the most important thing is to create a suit that is very linked to John Wick, and independent of whether the winner is a lady or a gentleman. Obviously, it has to come from a conversation from the winner. My process I think will be exactly as I do on a movie, having a conversation with the winner, knowing what is their body type and trying to see what expectations they will have. That’s what I do with actors normally before I start designing costumes, so I’ll do that and make it bespoke, which is something that we are not very used to in every day life. A bespoke suit is a very, very luxurious item that not many people have in their lives, so we want to give this great gift to the winner.

John Wick Chapter 4 Bill Skarsgard and Marko Zaror pic

Who were your favorite new characters in John Wick: Chapter 4 to design costumes for?

Paco Delgado: Well, the thing is, John Wick meets so many well-dressed people, and especially in this movie, it’s like asking my mother who her favorite son is! The amazing thing about this movie is everyone had a very different background. With Donnie, we had to be really sort of fashionable, and he’s very particular about what he wants and he brings all of his martial arts background with him, and it was really, really amazing working with him. He had very clear ideas of what he wanted.

For example, the Marquis de Gramont, played by Bill Skarsgård, I was a big fan of, because we made him very extravagant, almost an aristocratic person. We played with fabrics that have shine and that was interesting, and then also, we have Hiroyuki Sanada who plays Shimazu. That was another sort of twist, because I wanted him to be sort of a cross between Japanese traditions and the way that Japan has embraced the Western world. I had sort of a type of kimono designed by him that was inspired from some things in the Japanese Imperial Museums.

When had Shamier [Anderson] playing the Tracker, who was a completely different character, and Rina Sawayama, and she is one of the few ladies in the movie, so it was another way to design with a different twist. Also, Natalia [Tena], it was fun to work with her, and we wanted to have a feeling of a sort of rockfish character with her, then also Marko Zaror and all the rest.

With the John Wick series being so full of action with gunplay and martial arts and swords, how does that impact you as the costume designer? When the cast does their fight scenes, do their suits get damaged or torn, and do you have to have a lot of back-ups for them to roll into?

Paco Delgado: Just imagine. Keanu has, I think, three suits changes. We almost did 20 repeats of each, if not more. You have to think that Keanu goes into a scene that may be under the water, or you have to do many takes in a limited time, then you have to change the costume three or four times throughout the day. Then, you have his photo-double, and also, you also have to think about how you construct the suits, because they are made in a way where they need to be easy to move in, but sometimes you might them to be resistant, and sometimes you don’t and you might want the suits to be able to get trashed to make a bigger impact on screen. So, you have to think of so many things.

One of the big obsessions is trying to find materials that look like a normal men’s suit, but they have elastic fibers inside them, so they can be functional in the sense that they could jump on a motorbike or out of a window. It’s a very, very interesting technically how all of these things have an impact on the things you design. It’s not only fashion, but it’s a lot about how do you construct these suits in a way where they can be functional, and at the same, time, they can be beautiful. I hope it’s going to be an amazing experience of designing this suit with the partner of the Hard Rock Café, and I’m really looking forward to it!

More About The John Wick Suitstakes

SUIT UP John Wick Suitstakes: John Wick isn't just known for being an infamous assassin – his fashion has become a global statement and conversation piece. Now through March 31, Hard Rock Hotels & Casinos are giving one lucky fan the chance to "suit up" like John Wick himself with a custom-tailored suit from the film's award-winning costume designer, Paco Delgado. The lucky fan will also get the chance to enjoy an exclusive stay and experience at Hard Rock Hotel's legendary Rock Star Suite in New York City. For more information and full rules, check out their site here.

Check out our other John Wick: Chapter 4 interviews here: