There’s a lot that can be said about Blade: Trinity. The vast majority of fans would agree that it’s the weakest of all the Wesley Snipes-led Blade movies. In fact, some might even argue that the stories about Snipes’ on-set behavior that emerged in the years that followed are far more entertaining. Most of these stories came from Patton Oswalt, who had a small role in Trinity as Hedges, the Nightstalkers’ weapons guru. Now, in a new interview with The Guardian, Snipes himself is refuting these allegations.
Oswalt originally described Snipes’ conduct in a 2012 interview with The AV Club. As he tells it, Snipes spent most of his time smoking pot inside his trailer during the film’s Vancouver shoot, coming out only to film close-up shots while a stand-in handled the rest of his character’s scenes. Oswalt also said that Snipes “tried to strangle” David S. Goyer, who made his franchise directorial debut with Trinity after writing the previous two Blade installments. Things got so bad that Snipes allegedly began communicating with Goyer solely through Post-Its, all of which he signed “Blade.”
But according to Snipes, this isn’t accurate. He also insists that if he did assault the director, the outcome would have been very different.
“Let me tell you one thing,” said Snipes. “If I had tried to strangle David Goyer, you probably wouldn’t be talking to me now. A black guy with muscles strangling the director of a movie is going to jail, I guarantee you.”
Snipes later detailed his belief that racism also may have played a role in people’s readiness to believe Oswalt’s account.
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“This is part of the challenges that we as African Americans face here in America – these microaggressions,” added Snipes. “The presumption that one white guy can make a statement and that statement stands as true! Why would people believe his version is true? Because they are predisposed to believing the black guy is always the problem. And all it takes is one person, Mr Oswalt, who I really don’t know. I can barely remember him on the set, but it’s fascinating that his statement alone was enough to make people go: ‘Yeah, you know Snipes has got a problem.’”
Snipes also added that he “was one of the executive producers of the project. I had contractual director approval. I was not just the actor for hire, I had au-thor-i-ty to say, to dictate, to decide. This was a hard concept for a lot of people to wrap their heads around.”
Unfortunately, the Blade: Trinity drama didn’t end after cameras stopped rolling. In 2005, Snipes also filed a lawsuit against New Line Cinema, Goyer, and executive producer Toby Emmerich. He sought $5 million in damages over a multitude of claims, including the studio’s refusal to pay his full salary. Additionally, Snipes alleged that Blade’s scenes were cut to make more room for Ryan Reynolds and Jessica Biel’s characters.
Meanwhile, Marvel Studios is currently working with Mahershala Ali on a Blade reboot, which will hopefully court much less controversy.
What do you think of Snipes’ response to these Blade: Trinity rumors? Let us know in the comments down below!
Recommended Reading: Blade by Marc Guggenheim: The Complete Collection
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