Stephen Dorff has hardly been endearing himself to the Marvel Cinematic Universe fanbase recently, blasting Black Widow for looking like a bad video game, and claiming he wouldn’t want to be part of such garbage. It’s just as well that he’s probably not on the studio’s list of actors they’re desperate to work with, when the Blade star has been publicly slamming the biggest franchise in the business.
The 47-year-old did admit that he wouldn’t necessarily be against the idea of returning for a cameo appearance in the Daywalker’s upcoming reboot, which would be ironic when you consider that the CGI from the climactic battle between Wesley Snipes’ Blade and Dorff’s Deacon Frost looks much more like a poorly-rendered console cut scene than anything seen in Black Widow.
However, he still couldn’t resist getting a shot in at the MCU even when praising leading man Mahershala Ali, after voicing his belief that the reason Blade was so successful the first time out was director Stephen Norrington taking what Dorff called a “one-note” character and turning it into something undeniably cool and badass.
“I have no idea what’s going on with that movie and don’t think they’ve even hired a director yet. What I will say is what made Blade so special was the director, Stephen Norrington, and I don’t think either of the sequels were as effective, they didn’t have what he brought to the material. The film felt ahead of its time in a major way, I think that and The Matrix set the bar for the type of comic book movies we see today.
What those movies had that a lot of modern comic book movies miss is a clear directorial vision. Mahershala will be incredible doing that, but you need strong writing and direction to help elevate that character, and I don’t know what Marvel’s vision is for Blade. I just know that Mahershala is a hell of an actor and that he’ll be great in the role.”
Norrington has long since vanished off the face of the Earth, having exiled himself from the directorial game after his torturous experience on 2003’s The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, leading to several infamous clashes with leading man Sean Connery. Blade has only recently settled on a writer, with production not slated to begin until next year, so it could be a while before we find out who ends up taking the reins of the vampiric comic book adaptation.
As a two-time Academy Award winner that’s been heavily involved in every aspect of development so far, though, we at least know that Ali remains hugely committed and dedicated to the project.
