Following up on last week’s report that Blade is undergoing another rewrite with at least its seventh writer, now it’s questioned if the Marvel movie that has been in development for five years is “doomed,” with it also questioned if Mahershala Ali is leaving the role.
A recent rumor from Daniel RPK offers writer Michael Green has exited Blade and that significant revisions are happening again, said to include the addition of a new male villain, with production possibly pushed back from the summer to the fall.
This is on top of all the previous problems which include it reported the script featured Blade as a second rate character in his own movie that focuses on female characters.
Update: Mahershala Ali is in talks for the Jurassic World reboot, and in their reporting, the Hollywood trades make no mention of Blade.
Original article continues:
“Too many of the key players are not happy”
Now YouTuber John Campea weighs in and says he heard something similar from a source recently as well, and that he heard it before Daniel RPK.
“About a week or to ago, I had somebody say to me, somebody relatively connected to the situation, that they had heard that they were right back to square one, that too many of the key players are not happy with the current iteration of the script,” said Campea.
Campea notes his source didn’t say who the key players are, whether it’s two-time Oscar winner Mahershala Ali, or director Yann Demange, who is the second director on the flick having replaced Bassam Tariq, or even Kevin Feige.
Been in development for 5 years
Much like I have said, Campea also says it’s getting to the point where it’s laughable because it’s so bad, and again, Blade has been in development for five years and Mahershala Ali was 45-years-old when the project was first announced but now he is 50 years old.
Campea continues and says that maybe the most recent delay is a good thing, as Daniel RPK at least said Marvel finally has the story locked down, which suggests new script revisions may be for dialogue and scenes and such.
“If that is true, maybe they are not in as bad shape as it seems,” offered Campea.
Believes Mahershala Ali won’t play Blade
However, John Campea also adds that he believes Blade will continue without Mahershala Ali.
“But I am now at a point, something I have denied before, I didn’t believe it before, but I am now at a point that I am going to say this: I do not believe Mahershala Ali is going to be Blade,” said Campea.
Campea continued, “I think within the next two months, we are going to get the infamous ‘scheduling conflicts.'”
Campea added, “This guy can only put his career on hold for so long.”
The YouTuber also made a point of stressing that he has no insider info on Mahershala Ali leaving the role, it’s just his personal opinion.
“I’m just saying as a fan, I think I am at the point that I just don’t believe Mahershala Ali is going to be it,” he explained. “I think at some point he is going to go, ‘You know what, guys? It has been fun, I’ve waited five years, I’m going to do something else.'”
Where has Blade been in the 15 years of the MCU?
Campea’s co-host, Robert Meyer Burnett, also questioned how Blade would fit into the MCU, as how do you explain the supernatural and the undead and connect it to things like the first Iron Man movie, or the Eternals and Celestials, when it’s never been heard about before (much like the X-Men).
“Where did it all come from? If you are vampire in this world, and there are enough vampires in this world that you need a character like Blade, the question is, like the X-Men, well, where have they been?” questioned Burnett. “And if there are vampires… Do the superheroes know about this? Did the Eternals know about this? Do the Celestials know about this?”
