Michael Jackson Asked to Co-Star in This Wesley Snipes Action Movie
Michael Jackson didn’t act in movies often, however, he wanted a major role in a famous action movie. In addition, he created the character he wanted to play in his head. Here’s what Wesley Snipes had to say about all this.
The useless advice Michael Jackson gave to Wesley Snipes
Jackson and Snipes famously worked together on the music video for “Bad.” Snipes told Billboard that Jackson tried to give him advice while shooting the video. Specifically, he said Snipes should commit to becoming an actor. By the point Snipes appeared in the “Bad” video, he’d already appeared on television and the silver screen.
“He was like, ‘Coz you’re really good, you should really consider doing this. You could be good,” Snipes recalled. He responded “‘Mike, what are you talking about? You know… I’m an actor!’ He says, ‘Oh, you’ve taken an acting class before?’ ‘No Mike! I’ve been studying this sh*t all my life!’” For context, Snipes was not yet a superstar when he appeared in the video.
Wesley Snipes laughed at the thought of working with Michael Jackson on this movie
One of Snipes’ most iconic films is Blade. That movie was a smash, so a sequel was a logical next step. Jackson had some ideas for what the sequel should be like.
“I’ve had some interesting conversations with Michael, the grandmaster Michael,” Snipes recalled. “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. I was like, ‘Mike, which one you gonna do? You wanna play one of the vampires?’ He was like, ‘No! I wanna be like Blade’s friend — I wanna fight with you!’ I said, ‘Oh Mike, you got jokes.’ He was like, ‘No, I’m serious!’ It’s very hard to imagine how people would have managed seeing Michael Jackson in the Blade movie. I don’t know. [Laughs.]”
Ultimately, Blade II had nothing to do with Jackson. Jackson’s interest in the Blade series is part of a larger trend in his career. Blade is a horror franchise and Jackson often worked horror themes into his work, most famously in “Thriller” but also in “Ghosts” and “Is It Scary?”
How ‘Blade II’ performed without the King of Pop
This raises an interesting question: Did Jackson’s absence hurt the film at the box office? According to Box Office Mojo, Blade II earned over $155 million. For comparison, Box Office Mojo reports the original Blade earned merely $132 million.
Blade II was successful enough to inspire a sequel called Blade: Trinity and a spin-off television show called Blade: The Series. While Jackson’s music appeared on the soundtracks of films like Free Willy and Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home, he didn’t contribute music to any of the Blade soundtracks. Jackson certainly liked the idea of being part of the Blade franchise — it just never happened.
