Palisadian Anjelica Huston Wows in ‘John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum’

Palisadian and Oscar winner Anjelica Huston is back on screen for “John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum,” now in theaters.

In the action franchise’s third installment, brooding, retired assassin John Wick (Keanu Reeves) is on the run after killing a member of the international assassin’s guild. With a $14 million bounty on his head, Wick seeks the assistance of the Director, a shadowy, omniscient Russian matriarch decked in diamonds.

“All of this for what, because of a puppy?” Huston asks Reeves in the “Parabellum” trailer. “There is no escape for you. The High Table wants your life.”

The Director runs a school where she trains young assassins and spies, and it was her influence that turned Wick into the killing machine he has become.

The star-studded cast also includes fellow Oscar winner Halle Berry as the deadly assassin Sofia, Ian McShane as proprietor of secret assassin hotel The Continental, Lance Reddick as hotel concierge Charon, Laurence Fishburne as disguised assassin leader Bowery King, Mark Dacascos as ninja-training assassin Zero and Asia Kate Dillon as The Adjudicator, a chancellor of the High Table that ruthlessly hunts Wick.

Huston was handpicked by Parabellum director Chad Stahelski and creator Reeves.

“We wanted an actress that had the presence, the gravitas and someone you believe would just be this overpowering force in this world. Without missing a beat, Keanu goes ‘Anjelica Huston,’” Stahelski told the LA Times earlier this month.

Huston even learned how to do a Russian accent for her role as the Director, something she convincingly accomplished in only a few days before shooting.

“I’ve done Polish, but not Russian. I only had a few days to learn it because they were still making my deal up until the last moment,” Huston told the LA Times.

Huston also recently completed work on a screen adaptation of the novel “Waiting for Anya,” the story of a young shepherd (Noah Schnapp) and a widow (Huston) who help smuggle Jewish children from France into Spain during WWII.