‘John Wick’ Producer Sued
You Double-Crossed Me With Donnie Yen, Michelle Yeoh
Published
July 16, 2026
1:00 PM PDT
Donnie Yen and Michelle Yeoh are at the center of an alleged Hollywood double-cross … with a veteran producer claiming the company behind ‘John Wick’ hijacked his stars and cut him out of the action.
Arthur Sarkissian is suing Basil Iwanyk and Basil’s company, Thunder Road Films … claiming they torpedoed a movie he spent years and a bunch of money developing.
In the lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, Arthur says he first teamed with Thunder Road on “The Father” and paid to rewrite the script for Yen … but instead of producing the movie, he claims Thunder Road dangled a bigger paycheck in front of Yen for “John Wick: Chapter 4” … killing Arthur’s project in the process.
He says the film then got a second life as “The Mother,” with Yeoh attached and international presales allegedly reaching as high as $18 million. Arthur claims he was promised an $850K producer fee and even brought his handpicked director aboard.
But the project allegedly hit another wall when Yeoh decided she didn’t want to play a mother of two — moving the role to Jennifer Lopez.
Arthur claims Thunder Road told him they were working to save the film … while secretly shopping around Hollywood for a replacement script.
The suit says the search led to “The Surgeon,” another Yeoh action flick — only this time, Arthur says his promised payday was nowhere to be found.
He’s suing Thunder Road and Iwanyk for breach of contract, profiting off his work without paying him, and making promises they didn’t keep … seeking at least the $850K, plus development costs, lost profits, and punitive damages.