#Wesley Snipes Denies Trying to Strangle Blade: Trinity Director On Set

Wesley Snipes denies that he was a violent diva on the set of Blade: Trinity. Snipes has had a reputation for being difficult to work with throughout his career, which comedian/actor Patton Oswalt can attest to. Oswalt has spoken many times about working on 2004’s Blade: Trinity with Snipes, painting a vivid picture of the movie’s lead star acting like a diva and remaining in character the entire time, while communicating through Post-It notes and signing off on them as “Blade.”

In a new interview, Wesley Snipes denies some of Patton Oswalt’s accusations, which also included allegedly trying to strangle director David S. Goyer. Oswalt also claimed that Snipes would sit in his trailer all day and smoke marijuana, while only hitting the set for closeups. All other work was reportedly done through a body double. Snipes says, “All it takes is one person, Mr. Oswalt, who I really don’t know. I can barely remember him on the set, but it’s fascinating that his statement alone was enough to make people go: ‘Yeah, you know Snipes has got a problem.'” He had this to say about the Goyer allegation.
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“Let me tell you one thing. If I had tried to strangle David Goyer, you probably wouldn’t be talking to me now. A black guy with muscles strangling the director of a movie is going to jail, I guarantee you. This is part of the challenges that we as African Americans face here in America – these microaggressions. The presumption that one white guy can make a statement and that statement stands as true! Why would people believe his version is true? Because they are predisposed to believing the black guy is always the problem.”

While Wesley Snipes denies that he tried to strangle David S. Goyer, he didn’t exactly deny the rest of Patton Oswalt’s rather humorous story about working on Blade: Trinity. “I remind you that I was one of the executive producers of the project,” Snipes said. “I had contractual director approval. I was not just the actor for hire. I had au-thor-i-ty to say, to dictate, to decide. This was a hard concept for a lot of people to wrap their heads around.” Goyer wrote and directed the movie, and apparently felt that Snipes could have left the production early.

According to Patton Oswalt, Wesley Snipes suggested that David S. Goyer should leave Blade: Trinity while they were filming. Snipes allegedly said, “I think you need to quit. You’re detrimental to this movie.” Goyer reportedly replied, “Why don’t you quit? We’ve got all your close-ups, and we could shoot the rest with your stand-in.” Regardless of the situation, it sounds like working with Snipes on Blade: Trinity was a bit of an adventure.

In 2005, Wesley Snipes sued New Line Cinema and David S. Goyer over a salary dispute. He also complained that his screen time was drastically cut in order to feature more Ryan Reynolds and Jessica Biel. Goyer said, “That was the most personally and professionally difficult and painful thing I’ve ever been through.” However, the director did enjoy working with Ryan Reynolds and Jessica Biel. “Ryan and I remain really good friends today. It was a challenged shoot, as has been reported. What can I say?” You can check out the rest of the interview with Wesley Snipes over at The Guardian.

Topics: Blade