The buzz surrounding upcoming MCU film Blade, with Academy Award-winning actor Mahershala Ali in the eponymous role has stirred once more; the Phase 5 movie is currently seeking writers to pen its script and although John Wick director Chad Stahelski, who expressed interest in the project will unfortunately be preoccupied with other endeavors, Ali’s recent commentary concerning why he was attracted to the role of the daywalking vampire hunter gives us faith that the reboot will be handled with the utmost care and faithfulness to the original trilogy and the comic books from which they drew inspiration, no matter who ends up taking creative control.
“So I did this Marvel show for Netflix called Luke Cage, right? And so in doing that show, the day it premiered I had turned to my agent and I had said, what are they doing with Blade?” Ali explained in an episode of The Tight Rope podcast.
“Because I kept hearing that they were trying to find a way to remake it and put it back together. And he goes, ‘[I’ll] check on it,’ and so there was this long process of them speaking about, at least in the television division, really [wanting] to make it a TV show again, but not necessarily, trying to acquire the rights still, and some thing’s kinda going on, so it took a couple of years…”
Ali went on to talk about what inspired him to take on the role of Blade as well as the impact the original Blade trilogy starring Wesley Snipes had in terms of setting the groundwork for the comic book movie universe which we enjoy today.
“But it was really my participation in Luke Cage that sparked the idea, married with being so inspired by Wesley Snipes’ work, and what he had done, and how much had changed since his iteration of Blade, and how that had really sorta like ushered in this era of like this Marvel and DC sort of like comic book stuff… I just wanted to be considered for it because I had definitely a connection, at least in my mind to Wesley Snipes going way back to high school when people used to joke and say we looked alike, and all this stuff.”
Ali continued by relating the amount of respect he had for actor Wesley Snipes, specifically the darker tone he contributed to the comic book-based films.
“Wesley was someone who I recognized, and yet had an impact on my confidence and in just… standing in my own truth and own strength in a certain way, so I always kind of followed his choices, and really was inspired by his work, and so many others, but Wesley in particular.
“I really wanted to take on that role, and tackle that, and also…I love that it’s darker, that’s all in terms of tone, he’s a little bit darker than some of the other ones, and so that element was attractive to me.”
Blade‘s release date in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is still unknown at this time but as always, we’ll keep you updated whenever that information becomes available.
What do you think of the casting choice of Mahershala Ali as Blade? Are you looking forward to seeing Blade, the Vampire Hunter in the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Let us know in the comments.
Featured image: @OllyGibbs
