Hollywood star Mahershala Ali, who essayed the character of the human-vampire hybrid Blade, shared that he’s moved on from the “Blade” film project as he promotes his new movie “Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother.”
LOS ANGELES —Hollywood star Mahershala Ali, who essayed the character of the human-vampire hybrid Blade, shared that he’s moved on from the “Blade” film project as he promotes his new movie “Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother.”
Marvel Studios announced in 2019 that Ali would portray Blade, also known as Eric Brooks, whom Wesley Snipes famously brought to the big screen in the 1990s.
Aside from Ali’s voice cameo in the 2021 movie Eternals, the project never materialized, and in a new interview with GQ, the actor shared that he’s moved on from film.
“Not with me. The best way I can answer this question is, when I look at what is for me, is it was either this or that—and I’ll take this,” Ali said, when asked if he and Marvel Studios have any future with Blade at the moment.
“No offense to them.” I’ve been doing this professionally for pushing 30 years now, and one thing I’ve learned is that what is for you is for you and what is not is not. For whatever reason, that project is not for me. If they wanted to do it, we would’ve done it.”
He said that he had to to “move on” and “I have moved on.”
Ali was slated to make Blade with writer-director Bassam Tariq, who left the project in 2022. Tariq, 39, instead turned toward Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, and Ali followed suit, reports people.com.
The movie sees Ali portray a Muslim hitman in Houston whose wife suddenly dies, according to GQ, and Ali told the outlet that the film “feels very much in alignment with the type of work I want to be known for.”
“I don’t really want to be known for remakes. I’d love to do original work that resonates with people and impacts them in unique ways. So, I’m good,” he said.
“Again, you had me under contract, they have billions of dollars, if they wanted to do the movie, we would’ve done the movie.”
“So we’re not doing the movie. When I look at this and Blade, I couldn’t have done both, and the reason this even exists is because that project fell apart and Bassam had the time, space, energy, and focus to go and write this and then re-approach me. And I was able to use those skills that I had been working on for over a year training for Blade. In that way, I feel creatively redeemed on some level, just in my own journey between me, myself, and I.”
“But I feel ready to move on from the Blade questions. Those questions are for them. They didn’t want to do it, so they should answer that question.”
Ali’s new comments on Blade come days after Marvel Studios executive Kevin Feige told podcaster Josh Horowitz on the Happy Sad Confusedpodcast that he is “feeling like a gigantic loser and failure that we didn’t get off the ground with Mahershala.”