Blade (1998) Trivia

When David S. Goyer first pitched the idea of doing a Blade movie, the executives of New Line felt there were only three actors who could possible do the role: Wesley Snipes, Denzel Washington and Laurence Fishburne, but in Goyer's mind, Snipes was always the perfect choice for the character of Blade and LL Cool J was originally considered for the part of Blade.

Jet Li was offer to play as Deacon frost instead but opting to do Lethal Weapon 4 (1998) instead.

Donal Logue reinjured his jaw in the scene where he is struggling with N'Bushe Wright in the hospital. He had originally broken his jaw in a motorcycle accident years before.

A great many handheld shots were accomplished with a special anamorphic-lens camera that also had single-unit sound - the only one of its kind in the world.

In the scene where Blade is chased to the subway, and the subway train is passing by, all the passengers are cardboard cutouts with the special FX man among them.

Blade's silently-mouthed "What... the... fuck?" is a direct reference to the "A Fistful of Yen" segment from The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977).

In the last fight scene in the temple, Deacon says "My turn" - this is a reference to The Lost Boys (1987).

Udo Kier played Count Dracula in Dracula cerca sangue di vergine... e morì di sete!!! (1974).

The true name of the Blade character is Eric Brooks. (Another character calls Blade "Eric," and Blade's mother's driver's license says "Vanessa Brooks." It also says she's from Bradenton, FL).

The vampires at Frost's party are watching Mortal Kombat (1995).

The Vampire Bible is referred to as "The Book of Erebus". Erebus is a god of darkness according to Greek mythology.

"La Magra" is Spanish and Italian for "the thin one".

Blade's car is a 1968 Dodge Charger with various modifications.

The first cut of the film had a disastrous test screening with audiences, and heavy edits and re-shoots were implemented which delayed the release date more than half a year. The most significant change was the addition of the final sword fight between Blade and Deacon Frost, which did not exist in the original version of the movie.

In the ending as it was originally planned, Frost turned into La Magra and became a large swirling mass of blood instead of keeping his form. This was scrapped because they couldn't get the special effects to look right. It can be seen as a special feature on the DVD.

Stan Lee originally had a cameo that was ultimately cut from the film. He played one of the cops that come in to the blood club during the aftermath and discover Quinn's body on fire.

When the film was first being developed, David Fincher was supposed to direct. He later dropped out to pursue other projects.

In the alternate ending on the DVD, the blue figure in the black coat on the roof is director Stephen Norrington as an unnamed vampire.

The scene where Karen and Deacon are talking about the cure for vampirism initially ran a bit longer and answered the question of how the vampires would feed if everybody was turned into a vampire. They would keep some humans alive in giant blood bags to harvest them. The bags can still be seen in a doorway during the scene, and later played an integral part of the plot in Blade: Trinity (2004)

Wesley Snipes became attached to the project because he was in discussions with Marvel Comics to be Black Panther, a project that is still pending as of 2005.

Kris Kristofferson's character Whistler was created for Blade's cameo on the Spider Man cartoon show. He was liked so much by Marvel CEOs that he was adopted into the Marvel universe.