Blade: Wesley Snipes reveals the advice he gave Mahershala Ali

The character Blade’s time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe spotlight is swiftly approaching, as Mahershala Ali is set to star in a Blade movie that Bassam Tariq (Mogul Mowgli) will be directing from a script by Stacy Osei-Kuffour (the Watchmen TV series). That project is expected to start filming next July, and in a new interview Wesley Snipes – who played Blade in a trilogy of films released by New Line Cinema between 1998 and 2004 – revealed that he has talked to Ali and given him some advice on how to approach the role. That advice: “Make sure you’re in shape.”

Speaking with Kevin Polowy of Yahoo!, Snipes said,

Yeah, we spoke. We shared that the issue of him being cast wasn’t between us, you know, that business. I’m cool with it. I don’t walk around as Blade, so I’m not attached to the character like that, you know? I feel no emotional loss. Zero. And I’m happy that he’s been cast, and more than likely he’ll do a great job.”

Then he shared the advice he gave to Ali:

Make sure you’re in shape, man. Make sure you’re in shape. Try not to get hurt. That’s big. The demands of action movies, you gotta be an elite athlete and be well conditioned to survive it and to avoid injury. And enjoy it while it lasts.”

Created as a supporting character by Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan, Blade first appeared in Tomb of Dracula No. 10 in 1973, becoming a cult favorite. He is a human-vampire hybrid thanks to his mother being bitten and killed by a blood-sucker during childbirth.

I loved two of the three Blade movies Snipes was in, and I look forward to seeing what Ali does in the role. In the meantime, I might finally get around to watching the episodes of that short-lived Blade TV series where the character was played by Kirk “Sticky Fingaz” Jones.