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As published on page
B5 on December 6, 2004
ACTOR PROFILE
Canada's Ryan Reynolds brings dose of humour to latest Blade vampire film
(Frank Gunn/Canadian Press)
Blade:Trinity director David Goyer (bottom) and actor Ryan Reynolds in an interview with the Canadian Press.
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JOHN MCKAY
Canadian Press
TORONTO -
Blade, that leather-clad, weapons-wielding vampire hunter played by Wesley Snipes in two successful action/horror films, is back.
And this time Snipes' severe, inscrutable anti-hero's rival is none other than the original vampire, Dracula himself.
Blade: Trinity, which opens in theatres Wednesday and which may or may not be the final screen instalment in the Marvel comic book-based franchise, introduces some other new elements, too.
There's more martial-arts combat as well as a generous dose of humour, provided by Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds, master of the droll wisecrack (and fiancé of singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette).
"She loves it," Reynolds, 28, insists, when it is suggested a kung-fu vampire thriller doesn't sound like Morissette's style. "She's seen the first one, she loved that one."
And he indicates that his true love also appreciated the buff physique he developed to play Blade's new ally, another vampire killer named Hannibal King. Reynolds says at first he couldn't understand why they wanted him for such a film, but he began to train and bulk up for a role that would require plenty of arduous screen combat, including having the WWE wrestling star and human mountain, Triple H, mop the floor with him.
"I just didn't look right and thus began the process of packing on 20 or 25 pounds of weight for the movie and getting to look like a character who could actually handle himself," he explains.
"Because these comic-book characters look like that, you know, and a lot of them are irreverently funny in moments as well and I thought that this is something that could definitely be imbued into this character."
Director David Goyer, who wrote all three Blade screenplays, says when New Line Cinema wanted a new script he thought it would be different to provide Snipes' taciturn, humourless character with a foil that would be fun.
"When we did the first cut of the film, I thought there were about three jokes too many," he says. "It's a very subtle thing, how far do you go, how many jokes is too many?
"We screened it for a preview audience and shaved off three jokes and that seemed just right."
In one scene, for example, Blade offers a dismissive sneer when told King's team is called the Nightstalkers.
"Well, we were going to use the name Care Bears," King deadpans. "But it was already taken."
Goyer always had the idea of introducing the ultimate vampire, Dracula, since Blade originated in the Tomb of Dracula comics. But he messes big-time with traditional movie vampire lore. This Dracula (played by Australian actor Dominic Purcell) is a 7,000-year-old Sumerian god, resurrected from his timeless slumber somewhere in Syria or northern Iraq in order to help the latter-day Vampire Nation deal with rivals like Blade who are determined to exterminate them.
This Dracula can move about in daylight, doesn't turn into a bat and is not affected by crucifixes or silver stakes.
"The whole premise of the Blade films are that we're turning the vampire mythology on its ear, we're completely upending the paradigm," says Goyer. "That's why Blade gained traction with the fans.
"This is not your grandfather's Dracula, he's not Bela Lugosi, he's not Frank Langella. He's something else."
As for those who say the whole leather fetish and fantasy genre has been done to death with such recent titles as Underworld and Van Helsing, Reynolds really wants it known that it all started with Blade.
"The Matrix is inspired by Blade," he insists, noting that the first movie in 1998 had not only the black leather outfits but the now-famous bullet-time photography where characters can dodge bullets in slow motion.
There's also a ghastly scene in Blade:Trinity showing the vampires' blood farm, row upon row of brain-dead humans hooked up to machinery to provide a constant flow of blood nourishment. It bears an uncanny resemblance to sequences in The Matrix where unconscious human bodies are wired up as an energy source.
"I wrote that scene for the first (Blade) film and we filmed a version of it," says Goyer, adding that the sequence, which he penned in 1994, was cut in the final edit and ended up in the deleted scenes of the DVD.
"So I can truly claim ownership of that scene."
Shot almost entirely in nighttime locales in Vancouver, Blade: Trinity will be to some another mindless, violent cyberpunk horror film that blends martial-arts action, gore, parody and fetishism. But fans of the genre have been filling Internet sites with their frantic anticipation of the upcoming release with one site offering a countdown clock.
Goyer says one reason for the popularity of his entry in the post-modern vampire genre is that he has refused to compromise by seeking anything less than an R rating, despite the potential box office benefits of a PG-13.
So will there be a Blade IV? Goyer doesn't know yet.
"We'll see. Son of Blade, maybe."
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