Mahershala Ali was set to star in Marvel’s Blade reboot, but it never got off the ground.
Several years later, the two-time Oscar winner Mahershala Ali says the experience has been more enlightening than exhausting.
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Ali revealed what he learned from the ordeal.
“I’ve learned that that’s where I want to consciously commit myself, to things that feel unique, but purposeful, and have a real reason for being here,” he says. “I think that’s the larger lesson for me over the course of, say, seven years or so.”
Ali says he “really learned the hard way” that films that feel “small with big potential” are his preference. His new film, Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, “only affirmed that for me.”
Interestingly, Bassam Tariq is the director of the film who was originally slated to direct Blade. Ali says the movie was a “happy accident.”
“It’s no secret that Blade didn’t quite work out. But clearly, if Blade had happened, this wouldn’t have happened,” the actor tells Entertainment Weekly in an interview alongside his director. “As a result of the dust settling a bit and Bassam working on his next project and me looking for my next project…clearly Bassam thought of me.”
In the film, Ali plays Latif, a devout Muslim father living in Houston who secretly works as a contract killer. Immediately following a violent job, Latif receives devastating news: his wife has suddenly passed away, leaving him as the sole caretaker of their three young children.
“I started writing this around COVID before I even met Mahershala. But even when I didn’t have a name for this character, I wrote ‘Mahershala,’” Tariq said. “I knew that I wanted to talk about grief, but I wanted someone to hold it with the dignity that I’ve seen people in our Muslim community hold it with. And when we started to get to know each other while we were on Blade, I was just like, ‘I can’t believe I’ve met someone who also sees things so similarly to me.’”
“It was so refreshing to read something that was essentially a no-brainer for me, for many reasons,” said Ali.
Following delays with the Marvel project, Ali has identified a new film that aligns with his updated career direction.