Hobbs & Shaw director David Leitch has thrown his hat in the ring to join the MCU, revealing to Screen Rant that he'd be open to directing Marvel's reboot of
Blade.
In the interview, Leitch revealed his history with the Marvel character. The director was actually a stunt performer in the 1998 adaptation starring Wesley Snipes.
“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.”
Snipes, of course, won't be returning as the titular vampire anti-hero in Marvel's MCU reboot. The studio has instead gone with Mahershala Ali, who previously starred as Cornell "Cottonmouth" Stokes in
Marvel's Luke Cage on Netflix. Leitch had nothing but praise for Mahershala.
“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."
David Leitch has had an extensive career as a stuntman and actor in Hollywood, but only recently gained notoriety behind the camera as a director. He made his directorial debut with 2014's
John Wick, starring Keanu Reeves, co-directing with Chad Stahelski. He also directed 2017's
Atomic Blonde, featuring Charlize Theron and James McAvoy, as well as 2018's
Deadpool 2, starring Ryan Reynolds. His most recent directing stint was the just-released
Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, starring Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham.
While David Leitch is still relatively new to the directing game, he clearly has no problem taking on blockbuster franchises and working with big-named stars. Of course, the MCU is a completely different beast. Leitch
has been rumored to helm Deadpool 3 (
and he seems open to that as well); but, with Disney's acquisition of Fox and the
X-Men, it's unclear where the Merc with a Mouth stands in Marvel's plans.
Despite being revealed during San Diego Comic-Con, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige
confirmed that Blade is actually a Phase 5 movie, so we've still got a while to go before that hits the big screen. With Phase 4 taking up the entirety of 2020 and 2021, it would give Leitch time to finish up his current projects before entering the MCU should a deal get done.
Would you like to see David Leitch direct
Blade?