Blade’s Stephen Dorff Says Mahershala Ali Will “Be Great” Playing the “One-Note Character” in Marvel Studios Reboot

Stephen Dorff is no fan of Marvel movies, but the Blade actor says his True Detective co-star Mahershala Ali will “be great” as the half-human vampire hunter in Marvel Studios’ coming reboot. Dorff played vampire Deacon Frost in the Stephen Norrington-directed Blade, the 1998 original starring Wesley Snipes in the Daywalker role now belonging to Ali. The reboot, reportedly titled Blade, the Vampire Slayer, is currently on the hunt for a director — and according to Dorff, Marvel needs a good one to “help elevate that character.”

“I have no idea what’s going on with that movie and don’t think they’ve even hired a director yet. What I will say is what made Blade so special was the director, Stephen Norrington, and I don’t think either of the sequels were as effective – they didn’t have what he brought to the material,” Dorff told Zavvi. “The film felt ahead of its time in a major way, I think that and The Matrix set the bar for the type of comic book movies we see today. What those movies had that a lot of modern comic book movies miss is a clear directorial vision.”

Despite calling Marvel’s Blade a “one-note character by design” — the vampire hunter “shows up, looks cool, and kicks ass,” according to Dorff — the actor said his True Detective Season 3 co-star will “be great” as the supernatural superhero.

“Mahershala will be incredible doing that, but you need strong writing and direction to help elevate that character, and I don’t know what Marvel’s vision is for Blade,” Dorff said. “I just know that Mahershala is a hell of an actor and that he’ll be great in the role.”

Dorff recently came under fire from Marvel fans when he told The Independent that Black Widow, the first film in Phase 4 of the MCU, “looks like garbage” and that he’s “embarrassed” for star Scarlett Johansson. Despite his criticisms, Dorff told Entertainment Tonight in 2020 he was open to reprising and “reinventing” the Deacon Frost role in the Blade reboot or a Joker-style spin-off.

“We talked about doing a Deacon Frost movie on its own at one point — me and the director of the original Blade, who is just a genius, Stephen Norrington — and it never really happened because Marvel was a new entity and Kevin Feige was kind of building this whole new universe he’s built successfully,” Dorff said last year. “They weren’t really interested in the dark Marvel movie but maybe after Joker and all this stuff, maybe it’ll start to be trendy.”

Marvel Studios has not announced a release date for Blade, the Vampire Slayer.