Tag: Eric Brooks

Posted on in Film News, News

‘Blade’ Director Bassam Tariq To Contribute As A Writer On The Marvel Reboot

We’ve been somewhat kept in the dark about Marvel Studios’ Blade reboot as the project is currently in development stages with two-time Oscar-winning actor Mahershala Ali (Luke Cage, Moonlight, Green Book) attached to play a new MCU incarnation of vampire hunter, Eric Brooks. Trade reports suggested that filming could begin as early as next year.

The Ronin has learned that director Bassam Tariq is expected to be involved with the writing process alongside previously announced screenwriter Stacy Osei-Kuffour (Watchmen, Hunters), however, how much he’ll be contributing isn’t terribly clear at the moment.

Tariq wrote both the story and screenplay for his buzzed-about drama Mogul Mowgli starring Oscar-nominee Riz Ahmed (Rogue One, Venom, Sound of Metal).

It isn’t uncommon for Marvel directors to get involved with a script after a screenwriter has been hired, there are some recent examples with Destin Daniel Cretton (Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings), Sam Raimi (Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness), and Chloe Zhao (Eternals).

The filmmaker has already hinted to collaborative working environment with Ali and Osei-Kuffour, praising the two in interviews, including while speaking with IndieWire.

“What’s exciting about the film that we’re making is [there] hasn’t been a canon for Blade, as we’re reading through the comics and everything. Him being a daywalker is the one thing that’s been established, and you know we can’t deny what Wesley Snipes did, which was he basically got this whole ball rolling. A Black man created the superhero world that we’re in, that’s just the truth. For me to now be working with somebody as talented and a juggernaut as Mahershala Ali, and the writer Stacy Osei-Kuffour, I’m just so — I’m so honored to be working with real Black juggernauts and Black talent. For me to just be with them in this room and listen and learn as I build this out, it’s really an honor.”

Blade fans like myself are extremely curious what this new incarnation is going to look like and if they’ll ultimately bring in The Vampire Nation to the MCU with a mature franchise or water it down for a family-friendly audience. At the very least, continuing this idea they are this global entity while also have their own ancient texts and language.

Despite having most of the key players hired, Marvel Studios has yet to give Blade an official release date. Hopefully, they’ll announce one before the end of the year.

BLADE – A half-mortal, half-immortal is out to avenge his mother’s death and rid the world of vampires. The modern-day technologically advanced vampires he is going after are in search of his special blood type needed to summon an evil god who plays a key role in their plan to execute the human race.

Posted on in Film News

‘Blade’: Marvel Reportedly Eyeing ‘Mogul Mowgli’ Director Bassam Tariq For Reboot

Marvel Studios has been developing a Blade project going back to 2013, when it was reported that they were developing in-house script for both Blade and Ms. Marvel (later turned into Captain Marvel). However, when Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali (Alita: Battle Angel, Moonlight, Luke Cage) approached Marvel about playing Eric Brooks, they weren’t exactly planning on moving forward with a film at that time until Ali’s enthusiasm got them to rethink that. The studio announced the casting and the project moving forward at the end of San Diego Comic-Con 2019.

The Blade reboot might have a director announcement coming very soon.

Deadline reports that indie director Bassam Tariq, worked with Riz Ahamed (Venom, Rogue One, Sound of Metal) on the British rap movie Mogul Mowgli, is the studio’s top choice to helm the action horror reboot.

A script is being worked on by writer Stacy Osei-Kuffour, who wrote on HBO’s Watchmen series and the Jordan Peele-produced Hunters.

Eric Brooks aka Blade is a vampire hunter, that happens to be half-vampire himself and allows him to be immune sunlight/silver making him stronger than a majority of adversaries. The main antagonists for Blade are The Vampire Nation, the secretive group of shadowy figures that have a stranglehold on positions of power in human society and have sects all over the world. This makes the new incarnation of Blade a global franchise and we could see vampires in various countries, we’ve seen Asian vampires teased in the original and it would be neat to see Blade in Japan or Hong Kong.

I was massively let down with Marvel’s Black Widow movie after producers and Scarlett Johansson talked-up the action being the best in the MCU, only for them to give us generic fight sequences and an overuse of cartoony CGI (Blade’s worst element is the poorly aged CGI) that quickly dissolved the grittier tone they had been aiming for. I’m hoping that Marvel takes Blade’s action scenes a little more seriously by hiring 87Eleven Action Design (John Wick 1-4, Atomic Blonde) or bring back Liang Yang (Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness) to handle the fight choreography.

End of the day, the Blade is an action franchise with horror elements. The original three movies (third produced by Kevin Feige) led by Wesley Snipes were R-rated projects and Marvel Studios/Disney kept saying over multiple years that Deadpool 3 would be keeping it’s R-rating. There is a good chance since most kids have no idea who Blade is that the vampire hunter might keep his original rating. Also, I’m not sure how interesting PG-13 vampire movie is going to be without blood or invented deaths for vampires at the hands of Blade.

There had been chatter about the studio potentially shooting Blade next year, but Marvel Studios hasn’t given the project a release date and this directorial candidate hasn’t signed a deal. I guess we’ll have to wait a little longer for some official announcements from Kevin Feige/Marvel.

BLADE – A half-mortal, half-immortal is out to avenge his mother’s death and rid the world of vampires. The modern-day technologically advanced vampires he is going after are in search of his special blood type needed to summon an evil god who plays a key role in their plan to execute the human race.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News

Marvel’s ‘Blade’ Reboot Reportedly Shooting Next July – Assumed To Release Sometime In 2023

It’s interesting to learn that two-time Oscar-winning actor Mahershala Ali (Moonlight, Green Book, Luke Cage) approached Marvel Studios about playing Erick Brooks aka Blade, when they weren’t actively casting or developing a reboot at that point in time. But, the studio seemed game to land Mahershala and announced him for the reboot on the stage at San Diego Comic-Con back in 2019, when large-scale events weren’t panic inducing.

Flash forward to 2021 and we have screenwriter Stacy Osei-Kuffour working on a script with a director expected to be named in the near future.

The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that Marvel Studios originally planned on shooting Blade in September but have pushed those plans back to July 2022. They’re also said to be seeking a director for Blade that sees them going head-to-head with DC Films/Warner Bros. who are looking for director to make their black Superman film produced by J.J. Abrams.

Marvel isn’t rushing with Blade, whose start date was pushed from this September to July 2022, so that the studio can spend time working on the Stacy Osei-Kuffour-penned script.

This likely means that Blade won’t be coming out until 2023. There have been signs that they were hoping to shoot Blade in Atlanta, but that has yet to be confirmed. Given the film’s July start, we’re leaning towards the film taking a summer or fall spot.

While Marvel Studios has confirmed that their plan is keep Deadpool 3 an R-rated film, they’ve been less upfront if they’ll keep Blade for mature audiences or not.

Blade was originally one of the more obscure characters of The Tomb of Dracula comics that suddenly got popular when New Line Cinema and director Stephen Norrington brought the character to the big screen back in 1998, two years before X-Men and helped convince studios that Marvel films could be profitable. The character landed a trilogy of movies starring Wesley Snipes, a short-lived live-action television series, and a Japanese anime series.

Released a year before The Matrix, the original Blade had a lot of the similar looks and aesthetics including use of wire-work martial arts known to be extremely common in Hong Kong action films.

BLADE – A half-mortal, half-immortal is out to avenge his mother’s death and rid the world of vampires. The modern-day technologically advanced vampires he is going after are in search of his special blood type needed to summon an evil god who plays a key role in their plan to execute the human race.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Posted on in Film News

‘Blade, The Vampire Hunter’: Marvel Selects ‘Watchmen’ & ‘Hunters’ Writer Stacy Osei-Kuffour To Pen Their Reboot

Yesterday, it was revealed by The Hollywood Reporter that Marvel’s search for screenwriters to tackle their upcoming Blade reboot (seemingly now titled Blade, The Vampire Hunter) has ended as the studio has reportedly selected writer Stacy Osei-Kuffour to tackle the reboot’s script. The studio is said to have been looking for black writers for the last six months that could jump onto their new incarnation.

Stacy is no stranger to comic book or genre project as she previous worked on HBO’s Watchmen and Amazon’s Nazi-hunter exploitation homage Hunters. A perfect choice if you ask me given those her credits. This will make her the first black female writer to work on a Marvel Studios feature film.

Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali is taking over the role of Eric Brooks aka Blade made famous by Wesley Snipes starting in 1998. The success of that first film led to two sequels along with messy live-action televisions that aired on Spike TV. It also predates the release of Fox’s X-Men by two years and proved that feature film adaptations based on Marvel Comics characters could connect with audiences, and make money.

Blade is a half-vampire which allows him to be immune to sunlight leading to his nickname, The Daywalker. He has the strength and speed of a vampire along with their thirst for blood. In the films, he used a serum to keep his thirst at bay. It remains to be seen how much of the established film lore will survive the new MCU version.

We’ll have to wait and see what their angle for the reboot as the trilogy (Blade: Trinity was produced by Kevin Feige) is best known as an R-rated genre hybrid of martial arts action and horror. If Marvel Studios is keen to keep Deadpool 3 an R-rated film there is a likelihood that Blade, The Vampire Hunter could be targeted towards adult audiences given that kids really don’t identify the character or for certain age groups even know he exists.

The next big step will be hiring a director.

While no names have been circulated to be in the running, I’d love to see Rick Famuyiwa to be considered as his work on Lucasfilm’s Star Wars series The Mandalorian has proven he can play within a large established sandbox and also contribute to it at the same time.

As they’ve only just announced a screenwriter, I don’t think the Blade reboot is going to be shooting in 2021 as Marvel is currently busy with productions such as Spider-Man 3, Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness, and Thor: Love & Thunder filming in Atlanta, London, and Sydney respectively. They’re also expected to begin shooting Ant-Man 3, Captain Marvel 2, and Black Panther 2 later in the year.

A release date for Blade, The Vampire Hunter has yet to be announced.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER