David Leitch may only have four feature films under his belt as a director, but the 49 year-old has already established himself as one of the action genre’s premiere talents behind the camera. John Wick, Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2 and Hobbs & Shaw are four very different types of action movie, but Leitch has proved to be just as comfortable handling gritty and intimate hand-to-hand combat as he is at orchestrating massive superhero set-pieces.
During the press rounds for Hobbs & Shaw, Leitch revealed that not only was he a part of the first Blade movie back in 1998, but he’d also welcome the opportunity to direct the upcoming Marvel Studios reboot starring two-time Academy Award winner Mahershala Ali.
“I love Blade. And it’s actually one of the first stunt jobs that I was in, the original Wesley Snipes one. I was a stunt performer in that movie. I was in the blood club. You remember that scene? Yes, dancing around in the recycled special effects blood. It was great.”
The presence of having an actor of Ali’s caliber in the title role has generated plenty of excitement among both fans and those over at Marvel Studios, and Leitch also proclaims himself to be a huge fan of the actor’s work, as well as officially declaring his interest in directing the project.
“Mahershala is such a great actor, and I’ve been fortunate to work with some great actors, and I never go wrong that way. Having him play that role is a big deal and would be really exciting. So yeah, I would love to have that conversation.”
Deadpool 3 has yet to even be officially confirmed by Disney following the company’s acquisition of Fox, but it almost seems inevitable given that the Merc With a Mouth’s two solo movies have earned over $1.5 billion at the box office. If Leitch isn’t asked to return for the third installment, then he would be an excellent choice to board another Marvel Studios project.
While there’s been speculation that Marvel are eyeing a black filmmaker to tackle Blade, Leitch would also be an inspired pick given his penchant for crafting slick action scenes and drawing great performances out of his actors. No stranger to working with big names having had Keanu Reeves, Charlize Theron, Ryan Reynolds, Jason Statham and Dwayne Johnson as the leads of his movies to date, the prospect of Leitch directing Mahershala Ali as the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Daywalker is definitely an exciting one.
