It didn't sound very promising at first that Marvel's upcoming Blade would feature three female leads and revolve around life lessons, but that thankfully turned out to be a stubborn rumour according to screenwriter Michael Starrbury: instead, director Yann Demange said in an interview with Deadline that the film will definitely be rated R, i.e. forbidden to children:
"They gave me the R, which is so important. We are going to have fun because Mahershala is such a deep actor. I'm excited to show a kind of ruthlessness, a roughness he has, that allows him to walk the earth in a particular way. I love him for that. He's got a dignity and integrity, but there is a ferocity there that he usually keeps under the surface. I want to unleash that and put it on the screen."
So this will be Marvel's second R-rated film project, alongside Ryan Reynolds' upcoming Deadpool 3. Nic Pizzolatto, who wrote True Detective, is responsible for writing a new script and, in addition to Mahershala Ali, we also see Mia Goth and Delroy Lindo in key roles.
How excited are you about the new Blade?