{"id":131524,"date":"2020-12-12T03:05:34","date_gmt":"2020-12-12T00:05:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/32-things-we-learned-from-the-blade-commentary\/"},"modified":"2020-12-12T03:05:34","modified_gmt":"2020-12-12T00:05:34","slug":"32-things-we-learned-from-the-blade-commentary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/32-things-we-learned-from-the-blade-commentary\/","title":{"rendered":"#32 Things We Learned from the &#8216;Blade&#8217; Commentary"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_84 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a26ebd3a1a01\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a26ebd3a1a01\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/32-things-we-learned-from-the-blade-commentary\/#Blade_1998\" >Blade (1998)<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/32-things-we-learned-from-the-blade-commentary\/#Best_in_Context-Free_Commentary\" >Best in Context-Free Commentary<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/32-things-we-learned-from-the-blade-commentary\/#Final_Thoughts\" >Final Thoughts<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;<strong>#32 Things We Learned from the &#8216;Blade&#8217; Commentary<\/strong>&#8221;<\/p>\n<div>\n<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\">\n                <\/aside>\n<p><!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 3.7.8--><i data-stringify-type=\"italic\">Welcome to\u00a0<\/i><b data-stringify-type=\"bold\"><i data-stringify-type=\"italic\">Commentary Commentary,<\/i><\/b><i data-stringify-type=\"italic\"> where we sit and listen to filmmakers talk about their work, then share the most interesting parts. In this edition, Rob Hunter revisits the best Marvel film\u2026 Blade<\/i>.<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p>Marvel <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/watch-movies-tv-seriess\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"8\" title=\"Watch Movies &amp; TV Series\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">movies<\/a> are all the rage these days, but one of the best hit the big screen way back in 1998. <strong><em>Blade<\/em><\/strong> brings the famed half human\/half vampire hero to life with a stellar Wesley Snipes, plenty of attitude, and even more blood. The film is new to 4K UltraHD \u2014 and it looks absolutely terrific \u2014 so after rewatching the movie itself I dug into the supplements and listened to the commentary for the first time.<\/p>\n<p>Keep reading to see what I heard on the commentary for <em>Blade<\/em>.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"graf graf--h3\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Blade_1998\"><\/span>Blade (1998)<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"graf graf--p\">Commentators: David Goyer (writer), Wesley Snipes (daywalker), Stephen Dorff (actor), Theo Van De Sande (cinematographer), Kirk M. Petruccelli (production designer), Peter Frankfurt (producer)<\/p>\n<p><strong>1.<\/strong> Blade arrived in the comics around the mid 70s suggesting his mother was bitten in the 40s or 50s, but they updated it for the film.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2.<\/strong> Goyer and director Stephen Norrington wanted to make it clear from the opening scenes that this wasn\u2019t going to be a \u201cparticularly gothic\u201d vampire tale.<\/p>\n<p><strong>3.<\/strong> A line of dialogue was dropped from the <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">script<\/a> featuring Blade (Snipes) saying that he remembers being born, \u201cliterally being cut from his mother\u2019s womb.\u201d It\u2019s his origin story and the obvious beginning of his hatred for the vampires.<\/p>\n<p><strong>4.<\/strong> Traci Lords was a late addition to the film and ended up being \u201can epiphany\u201d to the filmmakers. \u201cShe was exactly right for the role. It really sets up this world and how arrogant and sexy, and she embodied all of that.\u201d Her boyfriend at the time plays the large guard at the entrance to the rave.<\/p>\n<p><strong>5.<\/strong> Per Petruccelli, it was made clear by Norrington early on that he wanted to see a lot of \u201chero\u201d shots of Blade \u201cwhich meant we were going to be seeing a lot of ceilings.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>6.<\/strong> \u201cI\u2019ve found that American action films rely more on spectacle,\u201d says Snipes, \u201cbut action films from other countries don\u2019t do it that way.\u201d He adds that international action is often embedded into \u201cthe emotional state and intent of the character.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>7.<\/strong> Blade spins and leaps onto a ledge at 9:13, but it was a tricky move. They shot nearly ten takes, but each time his body bounced on the wall and he missed catching the thin ledge. They resolved the issue by having Snipes\u2019 stunt double stick the landing.<\/p>\n<p><strong>8.<\/strong> Goyer and Norrington had some battles with New Line Cinema over Karen\u2019s (N\u2019Bushe Wright) relationship with Curtis (Tim Guinee). The filmmakers wanted to keep the conversation going a little too long to the point that viewers are bored with these two talking about themselves, \u201cand that\u2019s when the vampire\u201d rises. The studio kept requesting they trim it all down as it \u201csounds like <em>Melrose Place<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>9.<\/strong> The scene where Quinn (Donal Logue) attacks Karen in the hospital corridor features lots of screaming, but they knew something was wrong when Logue started yelling too. During the tussle, he fell face first onto the hard floor and completely dislodged his jaw. He had broken it in an accident years prior, and opening his mouth too wide and too fast can unhinge it. They were filming in an abandoned hospital but had to rush to a real one, \u201cbut I\u2019ve got this guy who\u2019s dressed as a third-degree burn victim, essentially naked, running in with his jaw hanging down.\u201d The room cleared out pretty fast.<\/p>\n<p><strong>10.<\/strong> A deleted conversation from the script explained how Blade\u2019s sword originally belonged to Whistler (Kris Kristofferson) who himself was part of a long line of vampire hunters.<\/p>\n<p><strong>11.<\/strong> Norrington wanted Kristofferson for the role as he was \u201cthe cool grandfather, grungy type of fighting, jolly type of a guy.\u201d Goyer actually wrote the character, though, with Samuel Fuller in mind.<\/p>\n<p><strong>12.<\/strong> \u201cI don\u2019t really like commercial movies,\u201d says Dorff, but the script and filmmaker interested him. \u201cI didn\u2019t want to do a silly comic book movie.\u201d He then goes on to say he wanted to do a movie that would \u201creach more people\u201d before name-dropping the high-brow talents he worked with the year before including Jack Nicholson and Harvey Keitel.<\/p>\n<p><strong>13.<\/strong> The scene where Karen touches Blade\u2019s sword (yeah, I hear it) was originally longer as she went on to discover a weird, hybrid infant of some kind floating in a tank. It came with a jump scare, and Goyer says \u201cI think it would have scared the living shit out of the audience, but New Line felt it was just too horrible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>14.<\/strong> The vampire on the street corner at 40:21 is a cameo by Norrington.<\/p>\n<p><strong>15.<\/strong> Goyer says he never liked the idea of crosses as a deterrent to vampires as he never viewed the creatures as religious in any way. \u201cAlso, obviously, why would a cross do anything against a jewish vampire?\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>16.<\/strong> It was Snipes who suggested the entrance to the vampire safe room inside the club be through the walk-in freezer.<\/p>\n<p><strong>17.<\/strong> The blobulous vampire Pearl took four people to perform \u2014 one at the head, one at each arm, and one operating the feet. He\u2019s surrounded by used blood bags and debris, but originally they wanted dead children scattered around as well seeing as Pearl was too big to move around easily and would need easy prey.<\/p>\n<p><strong>18.<\/strong> The ancient parchments hanging in the vampire archives cost five bucks each as they\u2019re just Xerox paper with artwork that were then aged artificially.<\/p>\n<p><strong>19.<\/strong> The high-kicking teen vampire is played by Eboni Adams, a Billy Blanks protege, who was <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/trip-and-travel\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"10\" title=\"Trip &amp; Travel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">travel<\/a>ing for martial arts competitions at the time they found her.<\/p>\n<p><strong>20.<\/strong> Goyer says screenwriters typically find their strengths in dialogue or structure, and he thinks he\u2019s best with the latter. \u201cI think my dialogue\u2019s okay, but in an action movie structure is absolutely king.\u201d He adds that he wishes he had cut more dialogue from the film.<\/p>\n<p><strong>21.<\/strong> There\u2019s no subway train in the entirety of the subway sequence. Well, outside of CG.<\/p>\n<p><strong>22.<\/strong> \u201cI really don\u2019t like my performance in this scene,\u201d says Snipes about the combustive conversation with Karen after she\u2019s learned of his origin. Norrington wanted Blade to get angry with her questions, but Snipes feels it\u2019s forced and is evident in his performance. \u201cHe can say exactly the same thing and be just as cold and just as clear without being angry.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>23.<\/strong> <em>Blade<\/em> was the third time Udo Kier played a vampire on screen.<\/p>\n<p><strong>24.<\/strong> Snipes has thoughts on the scene where Blade and Deacon Frost (Dorff) face off during the day on a busy street. \u201cThe issue with this scene\u201d involved scheduling realities and Norrington\u2019s uncertainty as to what he wanted. It was one of Dorff\u2019s first day\u2019s, \u201cand the guy hadn\u2019t had the chance to figure out what his character was let alone play the dynamics of the scene.\u201d Snipes tried to help, which \u201cwas very delicate,\u201d and it paid off. He told Dorff \u201cwe need more,\u201d and it finally clicked resulting in a powerful interaction between the two.<\/p>\n<p><strong>25.<\/strong> Dorff doesn\u2019t disagree, but he does add that it was an interesting day in part because people like David Fincher were visiting the set. He had also been rehearsing for hours and felt his performance was growing stale, so when Snipes stopped to watch playback \u2014 and to remind Dorff that he\u2019s a producer and therefore has more say on the film \u2014 the two grew antagonistic. \u201cThe most tense situations on a movie tend to make the best movies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>26.<\/strong> Snipes can\u2019t stop laughing at the scene where Blade tries to help a dying Whistler by touching his extremely bloodied body with a small piece of gauze.<\/p>\n<p><strong>27.<\/strong> Fincher was attached to direct the film at one point and worked with Goyer on a draft of the script. One of the bits of wisdom he imparted to the writer was that \u201con the road to enlightenment, you have to kill your mother, kill your father, and kill Buddha.\u201d Goyer applies that here for Blade\u2019s road back towards his humanity.<\/p>\n<p><strong>28.<\/strong> A scene was deleted showing Deacon\u2019s blood farm with a batch of sedated humans hooked up to a tap for drinking. \u201cIt just ended up looking kind of goofy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>29.<\/strong> Deacon\u2019s end was changed and revamped (you\u2019re welcome) from draft to draft, but it eventually came back around to what Goyer had written in his first draft.<\/p>\n<p><strong>30.<\/strong> One ending that was proposed involved the vampires\u2019 contraption working and leading to a vampire apocalypse of them taking over the planet. The sequel would have then taken a <em>Mad Max<\/em>-like tone as Blade and others bring the fight to them across an apocalyptic wasteland. Another involved Deacon being turned into vortex of CG blood \u2014 the vampire god \u2014 but preview audiences were uninterested in watching Blade fight against an animated squiggle.<\/p>\n<p><strong>31.<\/strong> The infamous line of Blade\u2019s \u2014 \u201cSome motherfuckers always trying to ice skate uphill.\u201d \u2014 was an offhand comment by Snipes at an early story meeting. Goyer loved it and decided im<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">media<\/a>tely that they should use it.<\/p>\n<p><strong>32.<\/strong> The Moscow-set postscript originally featured Whistler as the vampire attempting to kill the woman before being interrupted by Blade.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"graf graf--h3\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Best_in_Context-Free_Commentary\"><\/span>Best in Context-Free Commentary<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"graf graf--p graf--startsWithDoubleQuote\">\u201cThe blood has a character of its own.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhistler is the modern day Van Helsing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re gonna make a comic book movie, but we\u2019re not really gonna make a comic book movie. We\u2019re gonna make a real movie.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think vampire films should be dark, cold, and without light. You should have a very strong black.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI had a hard time killing him because I wanted him to hang out more.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat do you do with a 900 pound vampire?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<em>Blade<\/em> was sort of my ode to Peckinpah.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat the audience has to understand is that <em>Blade<\/em> is not a horror movie. <em>Blade<\/em> is an action movie.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEndings are always hard. Virtually every movie I\u2019ve ever been involved with, the endings changed after preview screenings.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNorrington is a very strange guy.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"graf graf--h3\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Final_Thoughts\"><\/span>Final Thoughts<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"graf graf--p\">There are some fun and informational bits throughout this commentary, but its format is far from ideal. The various commentators were recorded separately, and various snippets are just dropped throughout. Still, it\u2019s an entertaining listen for fans of Snipes, Dorff, and of <em>Blade<\/em> itself. Goyer\u2019s filmography is a mixed bag \u2014 and he\u2019s a jabroni for saying <em>Blade<\/em> isn\u2019t a horror movie \u2014 but this movie remains a highlight and he offers some interesting insights into its creation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"graf graf--p\">Read more Commentary Commentary from the archives.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more Like this articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/social-media\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Social Media category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/blade-commentary\/#utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=blade-commentary\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;#32 Things We Learned from the &#8216;Blade&#8217; Commentary&#8221; Welcome to\u00a0Commentary Commentary, where we sit and listen to filmmakers talk about their work, then share the most interesting parts. In this edition, Rob Hunter revisits the best Marvel film\u2026 Blade. Marvel movies are all the rage these days, but one of the best hit the big&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":131525,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/blade.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[25848,22447],"class_list":["post-131524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-mediaa","tag-blade","tag-commentary-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131524"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131524\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}