Marvel's Blade Underwent Changes So Extreme That Mahershala Ali Almost Left The Film
Marvel has apparently been having a very, very hard time rebooting Blade into the MCU, which is kind of strange when you think about it. I mean, how hard is it to crack Blade? The character is pretty simple! He looks cool, he has cool weapons, and he kills vampires. That's it, really. It's not that complicated. And yet, Kevin Feige and company continue to struggle with the project, which is set to star Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali in the lead role of the Daywalker. The project, along with Ali's casting, was first announced in 2019, and it's apparently been all downhill since then.
Stacy Osei-Kuffour was initially tapped to write the film, with Bassam Tariq directing. But Tariq left the project due to constant shuffling of the production and creative differences. Yann Demange was brought in as the new director, and a string of writers, including Michael Starrbury, Nic Pizzolatto, and Michael Green all took cracks at the script. Now, a report in Variety reveals that the behind-the-scenes troubles with the film have grown so frustrating that Ali came close to completely walking away from the movie altogether.
This isn't rocket science
Per Variety, the new "Blade" has "gone through at least five writers, two directors and one shutdown six weeks before production." And here's a glimpse of how strange things became: as Variety puts it, at one point, the script "morphed into a narrative led by women and filled with life lessons. Blade was relegated to the fourth lead, a bizarre idea considering that the studio had two-time Oscar winner Ali on board." Yes, that's right — Blade wasn't even going to be the main character in the "Blade" movie. Things got so bad that "Ali was ready to exit over script issues," leading Kevin Feige to bring in "Logan" writer Michael Green to start from scratch.
But I ask again: why is it so hard to get "Blade" right? The character has already been successfully brought to the screen with the 1998 "Blade" starring Wesley Snipes, followed by Guillermo del Toro's very enjoyable "Blade II" and the third, less-good entry "Blade: Trinity." The blueprint is there. And yet, Marvel doesn't seem to know how to handle this character. The studio already dabbled in the supernatural with the short film "Werewolf By Night," so introducing Blade shouldn't be an issue. And yet, here we are. My advice: keep things simple. Introduce Blade as an ass-kicking vampire hunter and simply go from there. This isn't rocket science, folks.
As of now, the plan is to shoot "Blade" on a budget of $100 million, which is pretty low for Marvel. If all goes according to plan, "Blade" will return to the big screen on February 14, 2025.