It’s almost a given that when a role as iconic as Blade is recast, the press will want to ask the original actor how they feel about their successor. In this case, it’s Wesley Snipes who’s being asked about how he feels about Mahershala Ali being the new face of the character that Snipes brought to the screen in the late ‘90s.
And if you think you know the answer that Wesley Snipes is going to give to that question in particular, it might be a good idea to hold that thought for a moment and read his response below:
People are very, very sneaky. They try to make it about the actors. It's not about me and him. I'm happy for him to be considered. I'm happy for them looking at him. Flattery... what do they say? Imitation is the best form of flattery. It's something that he has acknowledged that he wanted to do and his family wanted him to do it, so I'm appreciative of him getting the love that I've created something that others want to carry own and make their own stamp on it.
Quite frankly, that answer is so Zen, it has us wondering if Wesley Snipes and Jeff Bridges should team up to make the ultimate chillout movie ever seen. Though if you’re a fan of the Blade franchise and Snipes himself, you probably saw that answer coming a mile away, as it fits in with his previous response to when Mahershala Ali’s casting initially broke.
But as Wesley Snipes’ role in Netflix’s upcoming biopic Dolemite Is My Name has him in the spotlight again, AP Entertainment approached the subject with the actor when they sat down to interview Snipes and co-star Keegan Michael-Key. And with this answer comes the possibility that maybe Snipes will be brought back into the Blade fold after all.
With such an amiable attitude, and fans basically demanding that the original Daywalker be given a role in some sort of capacity in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Blade, it doesn’t feel all that weird of a prospect to cast Wesley Snipes as, say, the new Whistler in the series. No matter if that prospect is a realistic possibility, or a mere pipe dream of the masses, at the very least it’s nice to see Snipes more than happy with how things have shaken out with the MCU’s version of his famous character thus far.
There’s no concrete release date, or any deeper details to speak of, when it comes to the new Marvel Cinematic Universe version of Blade starring Mahershala Ali. However, you can see Wesley Snipes star alongside Eddie Murphy’s Rudy Ray Moore in Netflix’s Dolemite Is My Name. That film will be in limited theatrical release this Friday, and released on the studio’s streaming platform on October 25.
