Deadpool 2 Director Wants to Direct Blade

Marvel Studios shocked fans all over the world during San Diego Comic-Con, when it was revealed that the studio has a new Blade movie reboot coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe! So far, all we know is that two-time Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali is going to be the MCU Blade, and that the film won’t be arriving until Phase 5.

That leaves a pretty a lot of vacancies in the cast and crew for Blade that Marvel has yet to fill, and when it comes to the director’s chair, there’s one filmmaker who is already actively campaigning to get himself on Kevin Feige’s shortlist: Deadpool 2 director, David Leitch!

David Leitch has broken out as one of the action genre’s most in-demand directors thanks to movies like John Wick and Deadpool 2, but before taking the helm, Leitch was one of the most in-demand stuntmen working in Hollywood. One of the first jobs he got was apparently working an iconic scene in the original Blade, which certainly left an impression on him. Speaking with Screen Rant while promoting his latest film, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, Leitch let it be known that he would be more than game to go from in front of the camera to behind it, to make this new vision of Blade happen:

“I love Blade. And it’s actually one of the first stunt jobs that I was in, the original Wesley Snipes one. I was a stunt performer in that movie. I was in the blood club. You remember that scene? Yes, dancing around in the recycled special effects blood. It was great.

Mahershala is such a great actor, and I’ve been fortunate to work with some great actors, and I never go wrong that way. Having him play that role is a big deal and would be really exciting. So, yeah, I would love to have that conversation.”

Given the nature of Blade‘s story and action (a half-vampire hunting and battling full-fledged vampires), there are probably not a whole lot of Marvel fans that would object to having David Leitch take on this film. Leitch’s action style is a refreshing throwback to a philosophy rooted in grueling performance feats from actual stunt people, which makes films like John Wick hit harder and entertain fans more than “shaky-cam” action franchise (Bourne), or CGI and green-screen illusions (most Marvel movies).

Ironically, with all of the digital effects trickery that Leitch had to work into Hobbs & Shaw‘s big set pieces, he’s probably more than ready to map out something more practical for a vampire-on-vampire action/horror experience. It’s also not hard to believe that the results of Leitch’s Blade would outshine what director Daniel Espinosa is doing with Sony’s Morbius – not that it would stop fans from wanting to see that crossover happen, anyway.

Would you like for David Leitch to direct Blade? Let us know in the comments!