Wesley Snipes recalls moment Michael Jackson almost joined Marvel's vampire world: 'Michael actually...'
From creating some of the most iconic dance moves to dominating the music world, Michael Jackson was truly a man of many talents. Beyond his legendary musical achievements, the King of Pop also acted in films such as 'The Wiz' and 'Men in Black II,' among others. Interestingly, there were even talks of Jackson appearing in a Marvel movie. While this idea never came to fruition, the speculation behind it does make us curious about how Jackson might have fit into the superhero franchise. Reportedly, Jackson expressed interest in appearing in Wesley Snipes' movie 'Blade II.' In the action movie released on March 21, 2002, Blade (Wesley Snipes) teams up with vampire enemies and their leader, Eli Damaskinos (Thomas Kretschmann), to hunt a new breed of mutant vampires called Reapers.
In a deleted scene, Nyssa Damaskinos (Leonor Varela) encounters a tall, gaunt vampire handling bags of blood in the House of Pain. Director Guillermo del Toro confirmed in the DVD commentary that this vampire role was intended as Jackson’s cameo. However, ultimately, a local Czech actor was cast in the role. Without Jackson's cameo, the scene felt unnecessary and clearly slowed down the story's pace. The scene would have added fun to the action flick only if Jackson had appeared in it. So, cutting it helped the film move more quickly toward the main action with Jared Nomak (Luke Goss). Although the scene was deleted from the movie, it can still be viewed in the DVD and Blu-ray bonus features.
The protagonist of the movie, Snipes, also revealed that Jackson pitched a role for 'Blade II,' saying, "Michael actually asked me if he could be in 'Blade II.' The great Michael wanted to be in one of the 'Blade' movies, to be a tough guy." Snipes asked, "Mike, which one are you going to do? You want to play one of the vampires?" Jackson replied, "No! I want to be like Blade's friend—I want to fight with you!" Snipes recalled telling him, "Oh Mike, you got jokes," but Jackson insisted, "No, I'm serious!" Snipes further added, "It's very hard to imagine how people would have managed seeing Michael Jackson in the 'Blade' movie. I don't know," in his conversation with Billboard.
Notably, Snipes appeared in Jackson's 'Bad' music video in the 1980s. Years later, he told Billboard that young Jackson encouraged him to pursue acting. Recalling their conversation, Snipes said, "He says, 'Hey, you’re really good, you should really pursue this. Have you thought about acting?" I was like, "Mike… well… yeah. What do you mean?" He was like, "Coz you’re really good, you should really consider doing this. You could be good." "Mike, what are you talking about? You know… I’m an actor!"
