Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: What up everybody? Welcome back to another episode of the Nerd Jim Report. I'm your host, Paolo and joining me as always, is Mr. Brian Schultz.
We've spoken about this subject matter quite a bit over the years.
Look man, I'm over this shit. I'm over.
We have asked certain people to reevaluate their situation and look for better pastures elsewhere, better projects elsewhere where it's actually where the needle has moved again. This all started with a phone call really. There was no pre production, there was no plans. Although they did spend some money on projects that looked hopeful for the beginning of a shoot date for this movie and they spent money on that went nowhere.
There have been recent news items that have shown perhaps some hope, but the next minute it showed us that there's really none and that we need to move on.
Marvel been moved on. They just been giving us things to keep certain people happy, I guess to keep fans happy. And perhaps Mahershala Ali, who's a two time, if you wanna, I guess use that as a, as a, as a, as a barometer of, of how we should treat certain people, how much say they should have.
He has had none other than I want to be Blade. And Kevin said yes, outside of that there has been no real plans for this to move forward.
Blade updates, what have they told us now?
[00:02:05] Speaker B: So it was kind of a blue possible step forward rumor and then it was just summarily crushed later in the day. So I'll give you the two pieces. So the first piece was a rumor that Kevin Feige remained determined to get a Blade movie done and that he had re engaged talks with Chad Stahelski, director of the John Wick franchise, who as in addition to someone that we have pitched as a possible caretaker for this franchise, actually said he called Marvel and pitched them way back and like pretty soon around the time, maybe right around the time Mahershali signed on, pitched them on a hard action hard R Blade that Marvel passed on. So that story came out like early in the day that like oh no, Marvel's back maybe talking to Chaz the Helski, maybe he's the one to sort of save the franchise and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
And then later in the day came a more definitive scoop that no, in fact Blade has been canceled and that the character is being relegated to being introduced as a sidecar in either a future Midnight Suns project or as a supporting character in another project. And that maybe that will someday lead to an entry point to a Blade solo film. But Blade the movie is Seemingly no more.
[00:03:35] Speaker A: I would have liked to Mahershala Ali to be like, yo, let me announce it or something like that. Let me be the one.
But whatever. He should have. I, I wouldn't even talk to them. I would have been like, yo, I would have just gone rogue and bent a little go on a rent. I don't know because the treatment. And again, we don't know the full scope of how this behind the scenes, we don't know what really went on. Is it, was it Maheshala, the Marshall Ali not being happy with, they were trying to do possibly because as we know, they wanted to sort of use Blade's daughter as a, as a plot point for, for this movie and perhaps Marshal, you didn't want that.
Was he being difficult? I don't know.
[00:04:33] Speaker B: Not on that.
[00:04:33] Speaker A: I mean, not on that point.
[00:04:35] Speaker B: Not on that.
[00:04:35] Speaker A: No, no, no.
[00:04:38] Speaker B: That's ridiculous. With his stature, you don't sign on to be the jobber for Blade's daughter. That's ridiculous.
[00:04:46] Speaker A: We don't know. Hopefully one day we hear from him, hopefully his lawyer speaks out again.
[00:04:59] Speaker B: I, I continue to say the moment this project officially died, it was when he seemed to wield his power, get his writer from True Detective on he hand. He supposedly hand picked Yan Demong to be like the replacement director. And when those two people were shown the door, I think that was it. Because at that point, it's like, you're the star. You took a swing at a power play to get your people in place and the studio was like, nah, at that point, the relationship's toxic as far as I'm concerned. How's that going to work? How's that salvageable? And if you think that Mahershali, with his stature as an actor is okay with, hey, you know, we're going to throw you in here, throw you in there, off the bench and maybe you get a movie down the road. He's going to like, look up in his office at his two Academy Awards and be like, you can do that, but it will be with a different actor. I think this is absolutely a prelude to his gently disembarking from the Marvel train, because I just don't. I. He's too good. He, he's too big and too accomplished an actor to do what they seemingly want to do with the character now.
Yeah, why bother?
[00:06:21] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:06:22] Speaker B: And you know, he's only getting older, right? I mean, now he's, now we're going to be talking mid-50s, late-50s by the time this stuff even happens as a starting point. For the character, Like I said, Snipes is what, early 60s? Like what? You know, what's the difference?
[00:06:34] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, you could say that. Well, Snipes is way older and he could still play the role. Why can't I? Right.
[00:06:45] Speaker B: But Snipes is putting the bookend on a legacy he's already created.
[00:06:49] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:06:49] Speaker B: Rehearsal is trying to start a new Blade.
[00:06:53] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:06:54] Speaker B: I think that's a different proposition.
[00:06:55] Speaker A: Yes. Do you think they're gonna do this proposed Wesley Snipe films that Ryan Reynolds sort of put out there in terms of having his saga be done similar to the way Logan was?
Logan was finished.
[00:07:15] Speaker B: No, I don't actually. Just because I feel like if you can feel the. You can feel the budgetary tightening going on at Disney, and that doesn't feel like a great necessarily guaranteed use of dollars. I could see Snipes being a team up situation for one more ride where he's more like the co. Where he's got a bigger part than he had in Deadpool and Wolverine. I could also see a special.
I wouldn't rule that out. Right. If we're doing a Punisher special and we did a. We did a Werewolf by Night special, I think a Blade special to wrap up Snipes that I could actually see. But the, hey, we're going to give you $100 million or $125 million, and we're going to go full marketing for a global theatrical release for a Snipes movie. I don't see it.
[00:08:01] Speaker A: Yeah, I, for me, I would be like, listen, we were able to do something fantastic with Black Panther.
We should be able to continue this, this thought process that these movies can be successful. Blake could have been something huge. It could have been another Black Panther.
But that wasn't in their agenda.
They wanted to tell these other stories. They wanted to gear towards this other thing. And this goes back to our conversation about the caretakers of this, of this IP haven't done a good job. They put, I mean, the head that their heads have swelled and they can't see past their own ideas anymore.
[00:08:51] Speaker B: I do think this, this might be one. So on the one hand, I think Blade is seemingly so simple to make successful, it's mind boggling. They haven't been able to do this. Yeah, just when you marry the popular, you know, we're seeing the Sinners movie come out right now. Right. Like vampires, zombies. Like, these are things that are so ingrained in popular culture right there that always sell on some level. And then you take, oh, there's a Superhero, sort of daywalker, vampire hunter that's out there, that has a following from the comics. Like, and you can combine martial arts, you know, great choreographed action. You don't need a ton of plot necessarily. You need sort of a very straightforward targeted narrative. Like this shouldn't be that hard, right? To make like a really good two hour memorable experience. That's fun for a lot of people. But I do wonder on the flip side if this is one of those instances where having this gigantic shared universe becomes problematic because this like, we haven't cracked the code on where to slot the vampire corner of that universe in is at play here too. It's easy for us to create the standalone Elseworlds type Blade enterprise. Harder to put Blade in the middle of a world with Iron man and X Men. Maybe that's part like tonally there's just struggling with like how far can we go to make this credible and serious and not violate the other guardrails of what we're trying to do. Whereas like Chad Stahelski, right? Or like those guys would come in and be like, yeah, I can do a, you know, Gareth Evans. Be like, I'm just gonna do a raid style, like hard R, super dope action movie that you're gonna love for two hours. And then you get to the end of it. Love the movie. And Kevin's like, yeah, but like this character, what am I gonna. I can't. What am I gonna do with this? Like this world does. Is completely incompatible with the bright colors and things that I have. I don't know. Like I'm just. I'm trying to come up with like why this has been over complicated the way it has.
[00:10:53] Speaker A: That has been one of the mentions as to why they haven't moved forward with this because of the complexity of making this world not necessarily believable. Believable in this world where these other characters exist and they're not able to sort of detect this sort of situation.
But I've always said you have Avengers and I've always said also that X Men should be the movie. These other characters, if they're doing something solo, should be X Men. Should be an Avengers type situation and an event. X Men shouldn't be your first film, but whatever. But you also have Midnight Suns and I've always said you got this horror thing. If you want to get into genres.
Horror and Midnight Suns would have been that team that you, that you get up to that point.
I seem to believe that they just weren't. Didn't want to really think about it that much and wanted to continue on this road that they'd been. That had. They have been unsuccessful at, and figuring that out instead of going to a more complex situation, which is perhaps complex a bit. If you're trying to build this, build towards Midnight Suns, you have this multiverse saga on this multiverse.
Put it in a different world, you know, have the Watcher introduce it. I don't know.
[00:12:30] Speaker B: Yeah. And I kind of. I'm also like, by accepting the Netflix verse as canon, which they've done, haven't they created the bridge somewhat already? Like, how. How totally different is the idea of Blade hunting vampires from, like, what the Hand was.
Those were like, undead ninja dudes. Right. Like, you talk about the dark territory that John Bernthal's Punisher is likely going to go in his special. Like, we're. We're into the violence where we need to be, I think, for this to be successful. So I'm kind of like, on the one hand, like, maybe that is the issue, but I'm like, should it be the issue? Like, don't you have enough of a palette now that you can kind of paint this and have it be classic enough as Blade and memorable enough as Blade that we don't need to. This. All this other stuff to marvel it up, you know, and Disney it up?
[00:13:26] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:13:27] Speaker B: I don't know. But I just. I think the more I think this announcement to me is. I don't know if Mahershlow's exit will be an announcement. I just can't see him doing this. And I. Yeah, nah.
[00:13:38] Speaker A: Like, if I was part of his circle, like, the dude that's in the back of like, yo, don't do this, don't do this, don't do this. I know you haven't spoken to me ever, but I'm telling you, don't do this, man. You don't need to do.
Yeah. Yo, you got two Oscars, man. Two Oscars.
This guy has one, and he's running the show. Granted, he's. He's brought in millions, billion, billions. You know, he's brought in. You know, he's been a part of that.
But who's to say that you weren't wouldn't have been able to bring in that excitement, bring in, do what the Black Panther did you. This, you most definitely would have been able to do something to get people excited, to make executives happy, investors at whatever this could have been successful. But they just weren't thinking about it. They weren't thinking about him.
[00:14:37] Speaker B: And it's a shame the Long winding road. And we've told you many times along the way there were all these rumors of like the shoots gearing up, new director is going to be. And we just kept telling you like until you see this movie at your local cineplex, do not believe it's going to get made. And now come to find out it's not getting made.
[00:14:57] Speaker A: This, this is an individual whom I know. His name is Melvin Taylor.
He's always had high hopes for this film to be made and he's always looked at the brighter side of a pos of the possibility. He's always held out to hope.
I've been wanting to get him on the show so that he can talk because he's in like productions, he's like, he's the PA and a lot of production, a lot of sets. He was actually, he actually had a part in the original episodes of Daredevil. The 18 joint. The 18 episode joint. He was in that when they cut it out. But this should now be the nail in the coffin for any hopes for. Listen, we're in year six since the announcement, man, and nothing has been done. Just lip service, yo.
Lip service. I don't believe anything that Kevin says now because he told us the Marvels was going to be dope.
I can't take you seriously after that, I'm sorry. But Mahershala, Alicia be. I'm pretty sure by now he's over it because he's doing other things. Hopefully Jurassic World. Hopefully he's not the first.
I hope he's not killed off in the first 15 minutes of this movie because I'd be upset because you gotta, you gotta do more than just 15 minute stints in movies and get Oscars for it. I'm sorry.
[00:16:28] Speaker B: It's a tough role though. He's the, he's like the crazy boat captain that's taking them where no one else will go. That's usually. And they already showed a scene with like a bunch of like water dinosaurs like circling the ship. I don't know, man.
[00:16:45] Speaker A: Oh man, I, I would hope that Mahershala has something to say about, about this in, in future interviews.
He will be a, he definitely be a, a top prospect for our developing show that we want to do called Top five Questions because even though we would have more, but we would have to come up with good top five questions for, for him in order to explain to us what happened, what was he feeling during these delays, during these meetings where you thought you had some progress and in starting this movie and then eventually being told no.
Jonathan Majors, he wants back in.
Do you see that as a possibility, Brian?
[00:17:48] Speaker B: No.
[00:17:49] Speaker A: Why not?
[00:17:51] Speaker B: When an enterprise like Disney makes a decision like that. I know what you're talking about. You're going to talk about the James Gunn precedent of he was let go and then he came back.
I think in this case, you know, behind the camera versus on camera is probably a little bit different. I think the pivot toward Downey is doom. I think if you were to put Majors back into the mix in any capacity, it kind of complicates that.
I understand that the Kang storyline might need some wrap up, but I just can't, I just can't see it. I know Magazine Dream is coming out now and I think people will probably get a reminder of how talented an actor Jonathan Majors is. But the statements he's put out feel, so I got to be honest, don't totally feel genuine to me. They feel very written by his team to really make nice and praise Marvel and say the nicest things about his, you know, actor, his co actors, as co cast members as much as possible. I think the odds of him ever being sort of rehired by Marvel or to complete this role or play another variant of Kang are slim to none. What do you think?
[00:18:54] Speaker A: If his star power continues to, I would say persevere, they'll regret not doing it.
Even though whatever they do with Kang is not going to be what we would perhaps want it to be in terms of his importance in this whole thing where they were intending to go. The Kang Dynasty. The Kang Dynasty. I was looking forward to seeing the Kang Dynasty, right? It wouldn't, it just would have been something I would have looked forward to seeing. And I guess Quantum man, Quantum mania sort of messed that up. If I was talking to Jonathan Majors, man, I would be like, yo, move on, man, move on.
Keep showing what you're capable of. We saw what you were capable and were capable of in Quantumania. That didn't actually work out that well.
I think there are bigger and better things for you to do.
And he's a superb actor.
And right now, right now you're getting all these people coming out and talking about, oh, I want to be this, I want to do this. I want to be in the mcu like, yo, of course you do. You want that, a paycheck and you want everybody to see you.
You want your career to blossom into getting other roles.
I think Jonathan Major is capable enough and talented enough to get other roles without a problem because he, he's, he's that good.
And he should just wait for better situations and not necessarily think about the MCU in any capacity. If there's something superhero that you want to do. I'm gonna say it again.
I thought, I know I said Aldous Haas would be dope as Icon, but Jonathan Majors could possibly do that too.
[00:21:16] Speaker B: I think that's the smarter move for his career is to buy this time, you know, rebuild. Rebuild the credibility, get further away from the personal issues. I mean, let's be honest, it's Hollywood, right? Like Hollywood. There have been Hollywood people who had a ton of personal issues for the years of all sorts. Right. This is not a, this is not, not typically a one and done industry from that standpoint. There are exceptions, but yeah, I think the smarter move is bet on the long term viability of the genre. If this is what you want to do, wait, don't go back to what made you famous in that regard. Do something new, right. As you said, find a new character in the DC universe. Maybe the IP changes hands and maybe that opens up opportunity. That, that to me is the smarter long term play. He's a young guy. Like this is this guy who's probably going to be. He stays on the straight and narrow, is probably going to have another 20, 30 year career as a possible star. So he could very well be back. I mean, we're talking about Downey. I mean, Downey didn't have the same issues, right? Downey didn't. His issues were personal to him. It didn't involve another person. But this is a guy who was a talent who flamed out, right. And at one point was seen as irreparable. And now he's one of the biggest stars in the world. If not, you know, maybe arguably the biggest from like just sort of a name and money perspective, who knows? He's in that top five, top 10 category. So that's Major's play. Trying to get some closure on Kang is very small in the grand scheme of a career, I think.
[00:22:50] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. So yeah, let us know in the comment section below what you guys think of the Blade situation. Finally, hopefully is over. We can move on to other things and let us know what you guys think of Mages. Wanted to come back into the MCU to do what? Exactly to again, like you said, put a final stamp on what Kang could have been. Right now they're treating him like whatever, you know, so it's not worth it, I think for him to go back to that, just wait and do other things. I heard he was just cast in another film he's doing another movie with.
Well, he has. There's been this rumor or Michael B. Jordan and him want to do another Iraqi. Another Creed.
[00:23:47] Speaker B: Yeah, I heard that. That they want to do a Creed 4 with both of them. I didn't quite understand the rationale for that. I felt like it was pretty much wrapped at the end of. I mean, unless. Unless one of them is going to become the trainer, you know, going to become like the trainer to the other and it's going to be like Rocky 4. Yeah.
[00:24:05] Speaker A: Majors. This is the way I would do it. Pay attention, guys.
[00:24:09] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:24:10] Speaker A: This is the way I would do it.
Yaku, whatever. He goes into the ring with another guy, another killer.
This guy.
[00:24:19] Speaker B: Clever Lang descendant.
[00:24:20] Speaker A: Possibly. Possibly. And he loses that fight in very.
He doesn't get killed like Apollo Creed, which was a. Which was a bad decision to ever do.
But he gets hurt really badly. He can't fight no more. He has this ability now keep him in that state for the rest of the movie and have that be Creed's fuel. And same way it was fuel for Rocky. And Rocky. Ivan, how much money you getting paid, Rock? No money.
No money? What are you crazy? No money?
[00:25:01] Speaker B: Well, as we. Well, hang on. As we found out. As we found out CTE Iraqi 5. As we found out, he was already brain damaged before he fought Drago and then he had serious problems after, Right?
Yeah.
[00:25:14] Speaker A: So if you're gonna go somewhere, don't just give us another fight. And not your own visualization. Because that fight scene in Creed 3 was just like this.
Whatever.
[00:25:28] Speaker B: Okay, we're on an aside. Can we stay on this for a second?
[00:25:30] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:25:31] Speaker B: They went after a more realistic Coogler in particular, went after a more realistic portrayal of boxing in the original Creed, which I thought was great.
I actually thought they missed one thing in the progression for Adonis. That especially given the way Michael B. Jordan looks was there for them, which is a change in weight class. I actually thought they should have wait because I think he's technically the heavyweight champion of the world. Right. Even though he's pretty small. Right. I think he should have grown into that and I think that would have been an interesting, like, nod to real life boxing. He should have started as a light heavyweight or a cruiserweight. And the guys he Conlon. Because Conlon looks like a cruiserweight, he doesn't look like a heavyweight.
[00:26:13] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:26:14] Speaker B: And I think at some point, maybe it's in this movie or in the majors movie is where he would have been trying to put on weight to fight, you know, maybe was Drago's son to fight a bigger guy in the heavyweight class and then struggles with that and has to overcome that. I think they kind of missed that in like, something that really does happen with a lot of real boxers. And now that it's kind of like too late. But I sort of wish they would pivot a little bit in that direction where it's like, maybe it's the other way. Maybe have him come down and like the guy that gets under his skin or some guy that like, goes after his family or like the way Clubber did, like, is in a different weight class, that he has to change everything he does. Kind of like Rocky did in Rocky 3, but do it in a more realistic way to come beat this other. I don't know. I think they need to come up with more boxing driven wrinkles than just like, hey, it's a dude from childhood. Hey, it's a descendant of one of Rocky's own opponents. They need to find some other entry point, I think.
[00:27:03] Speaker A: Yeah. Because when Rocky was fighting dudes, there really. There really wasn't a lot of. Other than Rocky 4. Rocky 5, I know Rocky 5 you hate. I didn't like, particularly like it either, but I just, you know, like watching Sylvester Stallone play that. Play that role. But when he fought Apollo Creed, that was by chance because Apollo, he needed an opponent to beat on right now. Rocky 2 was a direct continuation because of what happened in Rocky 1. That's what it all made sense.
And not to say the. The Creed movies didn't make sense. It's just the style.
Especially with.
What's the guy's name with majors. I don't know what his character's name in that one, but, I mean, I guess I just didn't like the execution of none of these fights.
And I hope they don't do it. But if they do do it, you gotta. It gotta. It has to be better than. Than Creed 3.
It has to be better.
[00:28:20] Speaker B: Yes. That movie was really was the most successful in the series. But I definitely agree with you. It's not one that I revisit. Creed 1, I can re watch all the time, even bits of Creed 2. But like three is.
[00:28:31] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
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