Director Chad Stahelski has proven himself a helmer of great action, having directed John Wick, John Wick: Chapter 2, and John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum. He continues to be in the John Wick universe as the director on the upcoming John Wick: Chapter 4 and as a producer on the Ana de Armas John Wick spinoff Ballerina. Given his talents in handling visceral action, it’s no surprise that his participation with a Marvel film would be thrown out as a possibility, and now Stahelski is revealing which MCU project he really wanted to helm.
During a recent interview with ComicBook, Stahelski revealed that he spoke with Marvel president Kevin Feige about possibly directing Blade for the MCU. It’s the one Marvel project he wanted to be a part of, and while Feige was kind to him about the situation, Stahelski admits that he may not have been the right choice for the film:
“Marvel was very influential in my career. I owe them a great deal. Kevin [Feige] is an awesome guy and I’ve worked for him many times on second unit. After John Wick 3, he was nice enough to carve out a big chunk of time and have nice talk. He’s been a…in a way…a very strong mentor, even though it was a short period of time. I’ve only talked to him a few times, but he has been very influential in mindset and how to do it. And he actually asked me, ‘What could we ever do?’ I was like, ‘Look, I’m not going to lie to you. I don’t know if I fit that kind of studio mold, but Blade would be the one interesting thing I’d like to do’.”
Stahelski isn’t really a stranger to Marvel-related projects. He has stunt credits on X-Men Origins: Wolverine and the MCU’s Iron Man 2. He also served as a second unit director for Captain America: Civil War. It would make sense for Stahelski to helm his own Marvel project eventually, and Blade did seem like a good choice given his chops on the John Wick franchise, but he’s also aware that he may not be entirely what the studio was looking for.
Directing duties on the MCU’s Blade were handed to Bassam Tariq, a lesser-known director who made his feature debut with Mogul Mowgli. Marvel has a pretty good track record picking the right behind-the-scenes talents for their projects, so I’m sure Tariq is a solid choice for what they’re looking for in their iteration of Blade.
Dp YOU think Chad Stahelski would’ve been a good choice to direct Blade?