Tuesday, December 24, 2024

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John Wick’s Chad Stahelski Says He Would “Love A Swing” At ‘Blade’ Or ‘Wolverine’ With Hugh Jackman

Happy New Year! There’s no rest for the wicked, and let’s get right to it (though we hope you had a great NYE and aren’t hungover). Happy Sad Confused isn’t resting during the break, either. In their most recent episode, they had on “John Wick” filmmaker Chad Stahelski for a “John Wick 4” watch along, where the director watched the film with the host and commented on it and many other things.

READ MORE: The 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2024

The idea of potentially working for other studios and franchises came up during the talk. And while Stahelski has previously said he’s had “nice” conversations with Kevin Feige about the “Blade” movies, a franchise he’s expressed interest in the past, it sounds like Stahelski would love to direct a “Blade” movie one day.

In the conversation with Stahelski, he says he loves other franchises but relishes coming up with the world and universe rather than being handed the keys to an existing franchise with existing rules. “If I could ever work with Hugh Jackman on ‘Wolverine,’ I’d be over the moon, but that caveat is… there’s a reason I’m attached to things I’m attached to,” he said, suggesting the sense of freedom he has on “John Wick” since he helped build it from the ground up. “To create the world of ‘Rainbox Six’ with Michael B. Jordan, to create the world of ‘Highlander… it comes from I.P., but I think I have the take or the vision that would make me really happy.”

In his long answer, Stahelski shifted toward Marvel and said he’d love to take on the franchise of “Blade.” “Of all the things out there, I would take a swing at ‘Blade’ in a second,” he said, arguably his strongest public pitch for the Marvel brand that he’s ever made. “That’s one that gets under my skin; I’m like, ‘I would take a swing at that.”

Asked if he ever got a meeting on the project, he suggested he’s had some talks with the studio, but Marvel already had an idea for what they wanted to do, which is maybe why those conversations didn’t go anywhere. “Look, I’ve worked for Marvel, a bunch,” he said, noting some of the second-unit stunt work and second-unit directing he’s done for the company, most notably on the Russo Brothers, ‘The Winter Soldier’ second Captain America film. “They’ve been very, very good to me. And certainly, Kevin Feige has almost been like a mentor in a capacity with the advice he’s been very happy to give me about opening a franchise with ‘John Wick.’”

“We’ve talked about it,” he admitted, continuing, “But they have a very good formula, and they have their thing going, and I think they’ve got the right people involved in ‘Blade’ now, not that I’m in the inner circle. But we’ve had talks, but for whatever reason, things come together for [a reason], and there’s a good fit for them now. But for what they’re doing, they’ve got a great thing going, but if that thing doesn’t work out for them in five years from now, I’d still be like, ‘yeah…”

One must imagine that timing must have had something to do with it because “Blade” has allegedly gone through at least two directors and six different versions of the script. It was even reported that Mahershala Ali was getting so impatient with the franchise that he considered leaving altogether. Stahelski would be a perfect salve, but he’s obviously been working on the “John Wick” films up until 2023 and wouldn’t have been available until now (and, of course, they already have a new plan in place).

“Maybe on the fourth ‘Blade’ reboot,” he quipped, “maybe I can pull back Wesley [Snipes],” he continued with the joking.

Watch the entire conversation below. As for Wolverine, well, Jackman is rumored to be sticking around in the MCU until at least “Avengers: Secret Wars,” but we’ll see what happens…

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