*Mahershala Ali is thrilled that veteran Wesley Snipes approves of him taking over the role of the Marvel character Blade.
We previously reported that Ali will replace Snipes in an upcoming reboot of the franchise for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Snipes starred in three of the Blade movies: 1998’s “Blade,” 2002’s “Blade II,” and 2004’s “Blade: Trinity.”
Snipes recently said that he knows Ali will be “great” as the superhero vampire.
“Man, you know, [I’m] humbled and so encouraged by that,” Ali said on Tuesday’s episode of The Breakfast Club. “Because he didn’t have to say that.”
“So, for him to come out and say that [as] somebody I look up to so much, I sincerely appreciated that,” he later added. “So, thank you, brother.”
READ MORE: Wesley Snipes Has Nothing But Love for Mahershala Ali’s ‘Blade’ Takeover
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Later in the conversation, the “Moonlight” actor the role of Blade comes with “a lot of pressure.” Snipes said that Ali “has got a heck of a job on his hands.”
“I’m learning. It’s a lot of pressure, it’s a lot,” Ali said of the role in an MCU movie. “But other people have done it and survived and succeeded. So, I’m just going to try to set myself up to do the absolute best work I could do.”
In an interview with Uproxx, Snipes confirmed that he’s not involved in the “Blade” revamp.
“I don’t have any involvement, but I support the young artists and I support Marvel in their business decisions,” Snipes said. “It’s a beautiful thing. I think it’s a heck of a job. He’s got a heck of a job on his hands.”
Snipes said he’s producing a movie he calls a “Blade-killer” which he describes as “Blade on steroids.”
“[It’s] our Blade on steroids. And we set our character in the world of shape-shifters and a little bit of time travel,” he explained. “But the action is going to be … Well, we did white belt action in Blade. Now we’re going to do black belt action.”
“It’s wonderful what we did, but, brother, we’re so much better than we were then,” he continued. “And we’ve got more tools. Some of the things that were innovated in the Blade franchise in the first film are now standard in the Marvel universe and all of these other action movies. And the technology allows them to do a lot of things we couldn’t do then. Now give us the technology, and we’ve already got the skills and the flavor. It’s popping, baby!”
He will do great ???????? https://t.co/11PeFroKUY
— Wesley Snipes (@wesleysnipes) November 11, 2021
When it was announced in 2019 that Ali was cast in the upcoming reboot film for the character, Snipes defended Ali from criticism on Twitter, when a user wrote that he is going to “have a hard time outdoing” Snipes.
“He will do great,” Snipes wrote in response.
