There’s a Blade reboot in the works at Marvel Studios that will see the vampire hunter get worked into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and there has been some concern that this version of Blade will be watered down in comparison to the R-rated Blade films we got from New Line Cinema a couple decades ago. But during a conversation with Deadline, director Yann Demange assured fans that we don’t have to worry about seeing a PG-13 Blade movie. Like the upcoming MCU film Deadpool 3, the Blade reboot is going to be rated R!
Mahershala Ali is taking on the title role in this reboot, and when Blade came up in his Deadline interview Demange said, “They gave me the R, which is so important. … We are going to have fun, because Mahershala is such a deep actor. I’m excited to show a kind of ruthlessness, a roughness he has, that allows him to walk the earth in a particular way. I love him for that. He’s got a dignity and integrity, but there is a ferocity there that he usually keeps under the surface. I want to unleash that and put it on the screen.“
Four years have passed since Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige announced that a new Blade was in the works, and it has been a bumpy ride for the project over those four years. It has passed through the hands of multiple screenwriters – Stacy Osei-Kuffour (PEN15), Michael Starrbury (When They See Us), True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto, Beau DeMayo (The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf). It had a director in Bassam Tariq (Mogul Mowgli). Tariq cast Delroy Lindo (Get Shorty) and Aaron Pierre (Old) alongside Ali – then he dropped out due to “scheduling issues”, and the character Pierre would have been playing was apparently written out of the story. Demange signed on to direct the film, Mia Goth (Pearl) was cast, possibly as the villain Lilith, and Blade was just weeks away from filming when the production had to be delayed due to the writers strike, followed by the actors strike… Now the writers strike is over, and Michael Green (Logan) is working on a fresh draft of the script.
It has been said that Blade is going to have a budget that’s somewhere under $100 million, so that could be why Marvel Studios and Disney feel safe letting it have an R rating.
Are you glad to hear the Blade reboot is going to be rated R? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.
Yann Demange has previously directed Dead Set, ’71, White Boy Rick, and the pilot episode of Lovecraft Country, among other credits.
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