“Take risks”: Ana De Armas reveals the lessons she learned while filming Ballerina

Ana de Armas recently opened up about her experience of working on the John Wick spin-off Ballerina. The action thriller is gearing up for its theatrical release on June 6, 2025. It introduced Ana de Armas as dancer-assassin Eve Macarro in the John Wick universe. So, during its Hollywood premiere, the star revealed what she learned from portraying this character. She said:

“I think it’s important to keep looking for truth, answers — To keep pushing until you find your truth no matter what. So, take risks and get to the bottom of it.”

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This is not the first time De Armas has taken risks for a physically demanding performance. She has proven her mettle as a reliable action star with projects like No Time to Die (2021), The Gray Man (2022), and Ghosted (2023). However, she has big shoes to fill as a potential torchbearer of this franchise after Keanu Reeves.

That's not an easy task, but she has figured out how to ace it, considering her past conversation with IGN in March 2025. At the time, she spoke in detail about her process to embody this character through her training for action scenes:

"I wanted to be realistic with the efforts she makes to stay alive and the pain she’s feeling every step of the way. Because she’s a ballerina, she’s very good with close combat flights, she’s fast and always three steps ahead, using real-life objects as weapons, turning simple things into something deadly, which is a quality that I love.”

Ana de Armas talks about her favorite stunt while working on Ballerina.

Ana de Armas seems to have cracked the code about finding the balance between being a ballerina and an assassin. However, for the latter, she gets into some extreme fights. The trailers have already revealed that, and considering the intense fight choreography, Collider asked her about the easiest and the toughest stunt to learn. She said:

"I discovered that I'm really good with high kicks. It was a good thing with the ballet training because I was like, “Let's go for the high kicks! She is a ballerina.” Then, the opposite was also a kick. There's one thing that's called the “penetration step.” It's kind of like you go with one leg to your knee, and then at the same time with the other leg, you do a round kick. So, you try to trip the person on the floor. I don't know if I'm explaining it well, but that was so hard. That was really, really difficult."

After this rigorous training, De Armas had to share the screen with Keanu Reeves, who has been a vital reason the fans keep flocking to John Wick films. However, she had a wonderful experience working on Ballerina. In line with this, she told IGN:

“His creativity and input during the rehearsal is always so inspiring, he knows these films better than anyone and I loved having him by my side. When I saw him walking on set dressed as John, it was pretty surreal. I’ll never forget that day. Keanu has always been a huge influence on me, since the day we met. I never imagined I was going to work with him again; and here we are, living a really cool full circle moment.”

From the World of John Wick: Ballerina is scheduled to be released on June 6, 2025.