THE FILM INTERVIEW

He’s the OG Blade who made his name as an action star in the ’90s, before his career was temporarily paused by a prison sentence and some questionable film choices. But as his comedy comeback continues in long-awaited sequel Coming 2 America, Wesley Snipes is proving just how versatile he is.

INTERVIEW MATT MAYTUM JENS KOCH PORTRAITS

“I DIDN’T WANT TO BE TYPECAST AS BLADE”

CAMERA PRESS / PICTURE PRESS / JENS KOCH

W esley Snipes’ voice is quite something. Not only does the 58-year-old actor speak theatrically in a smooth, resonant timbre, he also drops several spot-on impersonations during our chat, and frequently explodes in uproarious laughter. He’s sage-like when talking about his talent, health and wellbeing. “My spirit is good,” he beams at the top of our Zoom chat in February. “I’m divinely inspired and spiritually motivated.”

It’s no surprise to find him in fine fettle. His latest role, General Izzi in Coming 2 America, sees him stealing the film amid a wealth of comedy talents. Reteaming with director Craig Brewer and Eddie Murphy – following Dolemite Is My Name, the 2019 film that also showcased his comedy chops – Snipes seems comfortably out of his comfort zone.

For many cinemagoers, he’s best known as an action icon, following a rapid-fire string of ’90s genre hits: Passenger 57, Demolition Man, U.S. Marshals et al. But his filmography tells a more varied story, with Spike Lee collaborations (Mo’ Better Blues, Jungle Fever), comedies (White Men Can’t Jump, To Wong Foo…) and dramas like Mike Figgis’ One Night Stand, for which he won the Venice Film Festival’s Best Actor Volpi Cup.

To a certain generation, though, he’ll be inextricably fused to Blade, Marvel’s badass human-vampire hybrid (Snipes’ Zoom handle is ‘OG Daywalker’). The plasmadrenched first instalment 1998 preempted the box-office potential of the new wave of Marvel comic-book movies. Snipes brought gravel-toned charisma and physical gravitas to the role over two more films: Guillermo del Toro’s Blade II, and the inauspicious Blade: Trinity.

Blade made him a cinematic immortal, and affection for those early roles helped him weather an extended run of direct-tovideo films, and a prison ruling. In 2008, he was sentenced to three years in prison for failure to file $15m worth of federal tax returns. After losing his appeal, he was jailed in December 2010, serving two-anda-half years.

If the big-ticket roles have been fewer since, reliable collaborators have provided notable highlights: he’s reteamed with Lee (Chi-Raq) and Stallone (The Expendables 3), plus there’s those Murphy comedies. When TF asks if it meant a lot to have people like Murphy opening the door to him after his conviction, it’s the only time during the interview when he’s less than jovial. “He didn’t throw me a life vest,” he bristles. “I’ve been very, very active.”

Branching out with his ‘Daywalker Klique’ collective and authoring a book, Talon Of God, Snipes has been busy, but these recent roles have certainly boosted his movie profile again, and next up is a dramatic Netflix series with Kevin Hart. Not bad for someone who started out as a street dancer in the ’70s. “Basically, to win the affection of the few females in the neighbourhood, you had to have some swag,” he recalls. “So street dancing was where it’s at… All of that took me to a performing arts high school, and there they introduced us to the real art form of drama and dramatic acting. And that’s where it all started. From breakdancing to General Izzi.” He bursts into that laugh again. “A natural progression, I would say.”