When you think of Blade in live-action, Wesley Snipes is always the first thing that pops into your head after he headlined the successful original trilogy that allowed him to display his incredible martial arts skills in a trio of action-packed and stylish comic book adaptations.
Spare a thought for poor Kirk Jones, then, better known by his stage name Sticky Fingaz. The rapper and occasional actor landed what he must have imagined was his breakout onscreen role when he was tapped to star in Blade: The Series, which debuted in June of 2006 and became the most-watched original premiere in Spike TV history.
Unfortunately, ratings then fell off a cliff throughout the rest of the season, and Blade was canceled after just thirteen episodes. Two-time Academy Award winner Mahershala Ali will be the third star to play the Daywalker in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s upcoming reboot, and Sticky Fingaz offered him some advice during an interview with ComicBook.
“Big up to the new Blade. I know he’s going to do an incredible job. He’s a great actor. It’s a lot of physical requirements and he’ll probably live up to the task. So blessings to him and pick up to him. And I give him the same respect that Wesley gave me. Man, just do your thing, man. Just, be honest.
Hit the thing, just like they say with 2Pac. Say he got stuck in the road juice, he left in set, he was still Bishop. When I was doing Blade, I was transfixed. I was one of my favorite actors, Giovanni Ribisi. He’s a character actor, and he’s on set even at lunchtime, he’s still in character. I’m a ninja, so I’m still Blade in real life. So yeah, just engulf it and just go for it and make it come to life, man.”
No offense to Mr. Fingaz, but nobody’s going to be comparing Ali’s performance to his, when it’s the shadow of Snipes that looms in the background. A leading man, director and writer are all in place with shooting scheduled to begin next summer, we’re just waiting on Kevin Feige to stake out an official release date so the Blade hype train can finally pull out from the station.
Published: Oct 24, 2021 05:35 am