The upcoming reboot of Blade, which will be introducing the character into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, has apparently brought Bassam Tariq on board the project to direct.
Mahershala Ali, who is playing the hybrid vampire hunter in the movie, raved about the opportunity to return to a "darker" interpretation of the superhero horror. "It was really my participation in Luke Cage that sparked the idea, married with being so inspired by Wesley Snipes' work," said the actor of his interest in exploring that character and the accompanying themes. "I love that it's darker, that's all in terms of tone, he's a little bit darker than some of the other ones, and so that element was attractive to me."
Interestingly, Marvel Studios is aiming for a PG-13 rating for the movie, which didn't fill some fans with confidence when recollecting the brutality and gore of the original trilogy. However, Wesley Snipes is confident that Ali is going to kick Blade off with a bang like he did in the '90s. "We haven't talked about characterizations or how he should play it or anything like that," revealed Snipes. "We did communicate about how much we appreciate each other's work, and how I'm comfortable with saying, 'Hey man, go rock it, baby. If you got it, do it.'"
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According to this report from Variety, Bassam Tariq has been approached by Marvel Studios to take the reins on Blade. As a creative, Tariq's focus has often been on his Muslim identity and bringing the richness of this background and outlook to the silver screen. One of his early projects covered the importance of vaccination against polio in Pakistan, and in 2010, he and his friend Aman Ali travelled to 30 different mosques during Ramadan chronicling the experience and spotlighting the issues that America's Muslim communities face.
Most recently, Tariq co-wrote and directed the movie Mogul Mowgli, starring Riz Ahmed as a rapper who must suddenly grapple with the realisation that he has a degenerative autoimmune disease. If all goes well with these chats between Tariq and Marvel Studios, then he will join the team behind Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe which is looking to be the most diverse roster to date. We'll let you know as and when we hear more about Blade.
Featured Image Credit: Marvel Enterprises, New Line Cinema, NetflixTopics: Disney, TV and Film, News, Marvel