Goyer Sharpens Blade 3, David Goyer Blade feature Options

[Sorelle Saidman]

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Director Sharpens Blade

Wednesday, February 11, 2004

David Goyer has just returned to L.A. after months of hanging his hat at the Opus Hotel while directing Blade: Trinity here.

"I'm taking a week off to get my life back in order," he says of settling into his house and being reunited with his two small Schipperke dogs, a Belgian breed.

"It was quite a long haul," says Goyer of the 18-week shoot, "but you know, I had a really great experience. I loved it, I'm quite missing Vancouver."

Goyer, who worked here briefly as a producer on the short-lived 1997 NBC series Sleepwalkers with Bruce Greenwood and Naomi Watts, wrote the two previous big screen adaptations of the obscure comic book hero Blade, the daywalking vampire halfbreed played by Wesley Snipes, but Blade: Trinity is his directorial debut.

"I was just going to write and produce. Before (producer) Lynn Harris suggested that I direct, it never occurred to me," says Goyer. "But I immediately put on my director's hat and said, 'Well, let's see how the script turns out.'"

So. How did the script turn out?

As expected, there's a lot of action. "We had a lot of big stunts, more than the other films. We blew things up, smashed a lot of cars. We blew up, smashed and shattered $170,000 [US] in glass alone.

"The big surprise for me was that it turned out quite funny, it has quite a bit of comedy. That's why I decided to cast a lot of people that had improvisational backgrounds or comedic backgrounds."

In addition to Snipes, Kris Kristofferson returns as Blade mentor Whistler. Newbies include Jessica Biel (7th Heaven) as Whistler's daughter, Vancouver's Ryan Reynolds (Van Wilder) as a vampire hunter in cahoots with Blade, Parker Posey (Best in Show) as the head vampire and wrestler Triple H as her sidekick.

"I was really pleasantly surprised by Triple H," says Goyer. "(Others) were very keen on bringing him in but I wasn't a giant WWE fan. But he turned out to be completely professional, dedicated and humble, and very funny with great comedic timing. We ended up writing more scenes for him."

Snipes didn't surprise Goyer. He declined to detail the star's notoriously bad behaviour but stories about Snipes' partying, carousing, fights, tantrums and tardiness were legendary on the set.

"I am going to try and be as diplomatic as possible," says Goyer. "There has always been drama on the Blade films and this one was no different. We prepared for drama . . . and there it was."

Will he work with Snipes again?

Long pause.

"Yeah," says a resigned-sounding Goyer.

Will there be a Blade 4?

"Wesley told me when we did the second one that he thought he only had one more in him but you never know. We'll see. I always conceived of three films and there is a definite ending to this. I don't want to cheat (by opening it up again). On the other hand if it does $150 million, then . . . we're all whores."

Sorelle Saidman
sorelle@telus.net

© The Vancouver Province

[Aurra]

On the other hand if it does $150 million, then . . . we're all whores.

What a great quote! Too true, too true...