Marvel’s ‘Blade’ Faces More Behind-the-Scenes Hiccups
Since it was announced, Marvel’s vampire adventure Blade has already hit a number of snags, culminating in it being temporarily put on pause. Shooting had already begun in Atlanta, starring Oscar winner Mahershala Ali as the titular character.
On October 11, crew members were apparently notified that production would be paused due to the title parting ways with its director. Production is hoped to resume early in 2023, but its delay has already meant its release date has been moved from November 3, 2023 to September 6, 2024.
Even as early as the writing stage, Blade has faced problems during production, undergoing several rounds of script rewrites. Current writer Beau DeMayo has previously worked on shows such as Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and The Witcher, as well as Marvel’s own Moon Knight.
Here’s a look at who has been involved in directing so far, as well as an update on the current situation.
Who is Directing Marvel’s ‘Blade’?
Marvel Studios parted ways with the original director Bassam Tariq at the beginning of October. Not much information was revealed about the reasons behind the split, saying only that Tariq’s exit from the movie was due to “continued shifts in our production schedule.”
“It’s been an honor working with the wonderful folks at Marvel,” said Tariq in an amicable statement confirming his departure from the crew. “We were able to put together a killer cast and crew. Eager to see where the next director takes the film.”
Tariq will remain credited as an executive producer on the title. The Pakistani-American director was first tapped back in 2021, whose first major success was Mogul Mowgli in 2020.
While it seemed at first that Marvel would quickly find another director, production slowed down to a standstill before it was announced that the studio wanted to take more time to consider other aspects of the feature project.
On November 21, it was finally announced that Blade would get a whole new creative team, headed up by Yann Demange, who directed the pilot of HBO’s boundary-pushing horror series Lovecraft Country. The Hollywood Reporter states that Michael Starrbury will also come on board as a screenwriter, fresh from his Emmy nomination for an episode of Ava DuVernay’s drama When They See Us.
(featured image: Disney)
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