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Marvel Selects Bassam Tariq To Direct New 'Blade' Film With Mahershala Ali To Star


Outsiders

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Deadline is reporting from sources within that Marvel has selected Bassam Tariq to direct the new Blade movie with Mahershala Ali set to play the iconic vampire hunter.

Marvel had no comment at this time and sources have confided that the deal is not yet done.  Stacy Osei-Kuffour is on board to pen the script with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige producing.

Blade was created as a supporting character by Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan, and appeared in Tomb of Dracula No. 10 in 1973.  He is a human-vampire hybrid thanks to his mother being bitten and killed by a blood-sucker during childbirth. The character became a star in the ’90s when New Line adapted the comic with Wesley Snipes on board to star, with two sequels following the hit movie.

Bassam Tariq is credited for directing the Riz Ahmed film Mogul Mowgli.

Bassam_Tariq_Mahershala_Ali.jpg

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I dont know if this is old news but damn Ali will be amazing as Blade! Im extremely curious how it will turn out. Im sure hes better to work with than Snipes was. 

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On 7/19/2021 at 8:57 PM, Gigantor said:

Ah, as my boy Youngrippa59 would say,  the "tokenization" in the MCU continues.

Why is it everytime some person of color has any part of any movie or tv deal, on this forum we have to hear these outraged whines of "tokenism" or "SJW/woke"...oh I know why, its because the underlying belief...no, FEAR...is that they couldn't possibly get there on their own merits. Stop being such a scared rabbit.

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I’m not sure how hiring a black actor to play a black character constitutes tokenism

as far as the director, just a continuation of marvels usual pattern of hiring up and coming, talented directors usually known for indie work or smaller films , while relying on 2nd unit for action scenes. I would call that smart hiring rather than tokenism but I suppose if all you do is look at the ethnicity and/or gender, then that is all you will see.

that said, no familiarity with this director but marvel has generally made good choices. Feels like hiring Alan Taylor to direct the 2nd Thor movie is their most recent misstep but that was many years ago

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On 7/20/2021 at 12:57 AM, Gigantor said:

Ah, as my boy Youngrippa59 would say,  the "tokenization" in the MCU continues.

I watch him too but I def dont see how this is tokenization. This if anything is anti tokenization. This is one of those moments where you would cheer for who they decided to play as its appropriate and not changing a race to fit sjw values. This overall is a massive win. 

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My apologies for not being more specific, I was referring to the choice of director. It seems like Disney is going way out of it's woke ways to hire just about nothing but minorities to direct their 4th wave of MCU movies. And how is this guy a "great" director? His 1 film credit is Mogli Wogli? You telling me there weren't at least 5-10 other directors better than this guy?

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On 7/20/2021 at 1:40 PM, Gigantor said:

My apologies for not being more specific, I was referring to the choice of director. It seems like Disney is going way out of it's woke ways to hire just about nothing but minorities to direct their 4th wave of MCU movies. And how is this guy a "great" director? His 1 film credit is Mogli Wogli? You telling me there weren't at least 5-10 other directors better than this guy?

Yeah we got it you're racist. Say less.

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On 7/20/2021 at 12:40 PM, Gigantor said:

My apologies for not being more specific, I was referring to the choice of director. It seems like Disney is going way out of it's woke ways to hire just about nothing but minorities to direct their 4th wave of MCU movies. And how is this guy a "great" director? His 1 film credit is Mogli Wogli? You telling me there weren't at least 5-10 other directors better than this guy?

 

On 7/20/2021 at 2:42 PM, cbwilk said:

Yeah we got it you're racist. Say less.

@Gigantor@cbwilkLet's keep it clean and everyone has their own opinion.

As to what Gigantor mentioned, he isn't that off.  Deadline mentioned that Marvel has hired a more diversity of colored directors and it shows in the films.

Quote

Tariq marks the sixth person of color to direct a movie for Marvel, joining Ryan Coogler, Chloé Zhao, Destin Cretton, Taika Waititi and Nia DaCosta, the latter of whom was recently named director of the Captain Marvel sequel. Feige has made it his mission in recent years to diversify not only the cast appearing in front of the camera but those behind it as well, and recent hires have proven that.

 

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On 7/20/2021 at 2:52 PM, Outsiders said:

 

@Gigantor@cbwilkLet's keep it clean and everyone has their own opinion.

As to what Gigantor mentioned, he isn't that off.  Deadline mentioned that Marvel has hired a more diversity of colored directors and it shows in the films.

 

Funny how when you state facts that "offend" those that don't agree with it, all they can retort with is the good ol  "race card"

Never let your feelings get in the way of the facts.

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Yeah just to let people know, the whole speaking on hiring directors as of recent, being ethnic , well it's a progressive push, in the movie industry, it's actually a real thing, and it's wonderful to help push those who were minoritities in the movie world for so long on major motion pictures, I worked in the Industry , and yes it's a thing, I won't go into huge details but it's almost a law, chose the new young and ethnic or female director over the white male director (who have dominated the film industry since it's birth), it's too make a positive shift in the industry to give those a chance whom may not have for many decades they have not, it's a socio poltical decision and good on them, we can have diversity and new talent at the fore front of the film industry for the years to come.

 

now on to my gripe about this whole blade movie, yes love Marshalala Ali, great actor, but and I know this is a stupid thing,, but he was already cottonmouth! , so that makes me bummed out marvel obviously is saying Netflix shows are not cannon anymore, I hate the idea of the same actor being two different people in the MCU, but I guess moving forward this is a thing, but anyways he's going to be an awesome blade, I just will need some time to get over him also having been Cornel stokes.

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Marvel Studios is a finely tuned, near-perfected machine. They don't want veteran directors with boldness of vision and clout. They don't want artists. They want people who will come in and do the work exactly as the machine specifies. They haven't been using A-list directors since the first THOR; instead, they want very young and fresh directors that Marvel can control or journeymen with a background in television who are used to filling in and working with set parameters and not letting their egos get in the way of the productions. 

Bassam Tarriq has only directed one feature film before this? That's not anything new.

The Russo brothers had only directed two or three movies and were mostly known as TV directors before they came aboard CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER. Same with James Gunn before GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY; he had two movies and a bunch of shorts or TV. Same with Taika Waititi before THOR: RAGNAROK. Jon Watts had one feature length film credit under his belt before they hired him to direct SPIDER-MAN HOMECOMING. Ryan Coogler directed two movies before BLACK PANTHER. Chloe Zhao had three before THE ETERNALS. Cate Shortland did three before BLACK WIDOW. 

Marvel isn't going to hire somebody with a long resume of credits and clout within the industry. (Sam Raimi seems to be the exception to this; I am shocked they brought him aboard to direct the Doctor Strange sequel.) The reason is because they give the directors relatively little to do; so much of the action and spectacle of the movies is coordinated and directed by the second unit teams, who work on that part of the production so far in advance that oftentimes that part of the work is being done before the director has even signed on. Ava DuVernay walked away from a Marvel Studios offer because she didn't want to surrender that much of her control to the studio; she wanted to oversee all of the action and visual effects parts of the production, and Marvel said "No, we got that covered, you just direct the talkie scenes" and she said peace out. 

This is the machine. This is how a studio creates the unparalleled success of twenty-four consecutive crowd-pleasing, box office smashes. Because they're all formulaic; because they all feel kind of the same, like comfort food. The trade off is, you'll never get a visionary genre-defying transcendent piece of film like Christopher Nolan's THE DARK KNIGHT or James Mangold's LOGAN. But you also won't get a jaw-dropping clusterfuck like BATMAN V. SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE.

 

TL;DR - Martin Scorsese won't direct BLADE.

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On 7/20/2021 at 2:58 PM, tarot said:

@Outsiders I'm actually more surprised that you responded. Usually you just post the news. lol 

I'll give the Marvel posters credit for being more decent and civil toward each other than other forums.  Most times I can just sit in the shadows and relax...

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On 7/20/2021 at 5:00 PM, Lord_Scareglow said:

now on to my gripe about this whole blade movie, yes love Marshalala Ali, great actor, but and I know this is a stupid thing,, but he was already cottonmouth! , so that makes me bummed out marvel obviously is saying Netflix shows are not cannon anymore, I hate the idea of the same actor being two different people in the MCU, but I guess moving forward this is a thing, but anyways he's going to be an awesome blade, I just will need some time to get over him also having been Cornel stokes.

It's not just you.  I'm torn.  I think he's going to absolutely kill it as Blade, but it's already weird enough when Black Mariah shows up in Civil War.  It's a difficult thing to ignore.  Luke Cage season 1 is my favorite of the Netflix things.

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On 7/20/2021 at 5:10 PM, MonsterChris said:

It's not just you.  I'm torn.  I think he's going to absolutely kill it as Blade, but it's already weird enough when Black Mariah shows up in Civil War.  It's a difficult thing to ignore.  Luke Cage season 1 is my favorite of the Netflix things.

Yeah I'm glad I'm not the only weirdo who feels this way, It was one of the main staples of the MCU that each character was clearly defined by an actor (bruce banner, thaddeus ross and rhodey exempted because this was the beginning, also fendral doesn' really count), either way since the MCU took off and substantiated itself, it's been a huge point to make sure everyone one even the smallest characters are those characters.

 

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On 7/20/2021 at 2:39 AM, LordVenger said:

How is this tokenism?

Tokenism = brown people doing stuff, apparently. I don't know. The political tirades on this forum are almost always ridiculous.

Anyway, glad to see this one is finally coming together. Just finished rewatching True Detective Season 3 during quarantine. Ali is gonna kill it as Blade.

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