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12 Unbelievable Stories From Behind The Scenes Of 'Blade: Trinity'

Jacob Shelton

Updated May 11, 2023 790.5K views 12 items

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639 votes

141 voters

Blade: Trinity is one of the most unforgettable movies in cinema history - not because it’s so good, but because it’s a train wreck from beginning to end. The dark stories from the set of Blade paint a picture of Wesley Snipes being a celebrity who’s impossible to work with. Multiple members of the cast and crew claim the production almost came crashing down because of the nightmare behavior of Snipes, but he’s not the only person to blame.

These Blade behind the scenes secrets are all absolutely bonkers, and they explain why the movie is such a mess - and why it effectively ended that version of the franchise. Not only was Snipes high the entire time he was on set, but he and the film’s director were openly fighting. Their hatred for each other even ended up turning into a physical altercation that spilled out onto the set. If you didn’t already think this movie was bananas, taking a look behind the scenes of Blade: Trinity will make you realize how crazy it really was.

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115 VOTES
Ryan Reynolds Was Referred To As "That Cracker" Throughout Filming
Photo: New Line Cinema
When Spin reporter Chris Parry showed up to cover the final days of filming on the set of Blade: Trinity, he got the story of a lifetime. One of the craziest things he learned was not only did Wesley Snipes not refer to his co-stars by name, but he specifically referred to Ryan Reynolds as "that cracker." Speaking under terms of anonymity, an executive on the film claimed Snipes would say things like "tell that cracker to get out of my eye line," and "tell that cracker to get his lines right."
The "anonymous executive" said they would have walked off the film in the first week, but the rest of the crew was working extra hard to make up for all of the bad vibes Snipes was putting out.
115 votes
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94 VOTES
Wesley Snipes Got Physical With Director David Goyer, So Goyer Hired Biker Body Guards
Photo: New Line Cinema
It turns out Wesley Snipes will totally throw down if you piss him off on set, which is exactly what happened one day when the star tried to strangle director David Goyer during a confrontation about their vampire movie. The night after being intimidated on set, Goyer was out drinking at a strip club with members of the crew when he met some bikers. According to Patton Oswalt, "David says to them, 'I’ll pay for all your drinks if you show up to set tomorrow and pretend to be my security.'" They agreed to the deal and showed up the next day while "Wesley freaked out and went back to his trailer."

As to Goyer and Snipes's relationship post-Blade, Goyer said it was one of the most "personally and professionally difficult things I've ever been through," and when asked if he has spoken to Snipes since, he responded, "No, no... we've never spoken again."

94 votes
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60 VOTES
Wesley Snipes Stayed In Character Throughout Filming
Photo: New Line Cinema
It's not crazy for method actors to stay in character while on set. When a character is as intense as Blade (his entire family was murdered by vampires), it can be hard to dip in and out of that emotional intensity, so it makes sense Wesley Snipes wanted to be in the zone throughout filming. Still, it's very silly he was so serious about pretending to be a vampire killer named "Blade." Patton Oswalt claims Snipes introduced himself as "Blade" the one time they actually met.

60 votes
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86 VOTES
Wesley Snipes Was Really Pushing For A Sex Scene That Never Happens
Photo: New Line Cinema
It turns out Wesley Snipes really wanted to have a sex scene in Blade: Trinity. He talked about it on the DVD commentary for Blade 2 and was allegedly making moves behind the scenes to make sure his character showed his prowess in the bedroom in the third film. Supposedly the idea was for Blade and Abigail Whistler (Jessica Biel) to hook up at some point during the movie, but the idea never came to fruition. Was it because Biel vetoed the scene? Or was it because it had nothing to do with the plot of the film?

86 votes
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93 VOTES
Natasha Lyonne Was In The Midst Of A Breakdown During Filming
Photo: New Line Cinema
Natasha Lyonne has definitely had her ups and downs with drug abuse, and a lot of it has been in the public eye. She appears in Blade: Trinity as Sommerfield, a blind hacker, and one reporter claims she was in a low spot during filming. While Chris Parry was trying to interview the cast, Lyonne's publicist asked him to email his questions to her and allow them to be vetted by a lawyer. She never got back to him with her answers.
Patton Oswalt backs up the claim Lyonne was going through "some kind of mental breakdown," but she was at least having some sort of twisted fun with it: "Wesley is all boundaries, and [Lyonne] has no boundaries. She played a blind computer expert. So the first scene they had together, she put her hand right on his face, and he just recoiled. It was awesome."
93 votes
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73 VOTES
Wesley Snipes Accused David Goyer Of Being Racist
Photo: New Line Cinema
There was no love lost between Wesley Snipes and David Goyer throughout the filming of Blade: Trinity. It's one thing to not like someone you work with; there is a whole new level to claiming someone is racist. Snipes claimed the first two Blade films had multiracial cast and crew, but by the time the third film rolled around the producers purposefully stacked the crew with white people.

The most heinous claim made by Snipes was a member of the cast or crew (the claim is vague) wore a shirt that he felt was racist and Goyer did nothing to discipline them. Thankfully Patton Oswalt, who played a hacker nerd in the film, was able to provide context to the scenario. He told AV Club:

One day on the set - they let everyone pick their own clothes - there was one Black actor who was also kind of a club kid. And he wore this shirt with the word 'Garbage' on it in big stylish letters. It was his shirt. And Wesley came down to the set, which he only did for close-ups. Everything else was done by his stand-in. I only did one scene with him. But he comes on and goes, 'There’s only one other Black guy in the movie, and you make him wear a shirt that says "Garbage?" You racist motherf*cker!'

73 votes
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73 VOTES
Parker Posey Didn't Think Wesley Snipes Cared About The Movie
Photo: Blade: Trinity / New Line Cinema
In an impromptu interview with Chris Parry (who was writing for Spin at the time), indie darling Parker Posey was upfront about how it was obvious Wesley Snipes was checked out. She said, "I came here to do something fun and stupid and big budget and I don't normally get to do that kind of thing. Don't have the boobs for it, you know? So I'm just showing up, saying my lines, having fun with it. And Wesley isn't."
If you've seen the film then you know Posey's scenery chewing turn as Danica Talos is one of the highlights of a movie full of folks acting like crazy people.

73 votes
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45 VOTES
Post-It Notes Were Wesley Snipes's Preferred Method Of Communication
Photo: New Line Cinema
After getting into a physical altercation with director David Goyer, Wesley Snipes and the director stopped speaking altogether. But you can't make a movie if the film's director and star aren't communicating, so Snipes devised a way to get his point across while still expressing the maximum amount of sulk - Post-Its. Towards the end of the shoot after filming all of his close-ups, Snipes started passing Post-Its to Goyer, and each of them were signed, "From Blade." Hopefully the director kept a few of those to sell at auction some day.

45 votes
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82 VOTES
Blade Was Blazed Every Day Of Filming
Photo: New Line Cinema
In an interview with AV Club, Patton Oswalt dropped dime on how much weed Wesley Snipes smoked while on set. Oswalt told the AV Club, "[Snipes] wouldn’t come out of his trailer, and he would smoke weed all day. Which is fine with me, because I had all these DVDs that I wanted to catch up on."

82 votes
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69 VOTES
Wesley Snipes Didn't Have A Say In The Script
Photo: New Line Cinema
It's a rare occurrence for actors to get a say in the scripts for their films, but when actors are playing a character for a good stretch of time, they often get to give at least a little input as to their character's motivations and emotions. This was the third outing for Wesley Snipes as Blade, so he should have had some input in the direction of the character. If Snipes gave notes on the script, they definitely weren't taken seriously.
Snipes later said he was unhappy with the “juvenile level of humor” in the script and felt he was being pushed out of his own franchise in order to make way for the characters played by Jessica Biel and Ryan Reynolds.

69 votes
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47 VOTES
The Script Changed From A Dark, Serious Tone To A Completely Campy One
Photo: New Line Cinema
If Patton Oswalt is to be believed, the original script for Blade: Trinity was a very serious piece of writing that had the titular vampire questioning his humanity. But the tone changed at some point, and the movie turned into the goofy romp it is remembered as today. Oswalt said, "There’s a scene where Blade goes in and confronts this guy for harvesting humans. That scene was supposed to be the whole basis of the film. Blade is fighting for the last shred of humanity. But they thought that it was just so f*cking grim, so they decided to just have Blade fighting Dracula."

47 votes
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51 VOTES
Wesley Snipes Sued The Production For $5 Million
Photo: New Line Cinema
After completing the film, Wesley Snipes sued the production and New Line Cinema for a whopping $5 million. He claimed the "director, screenplay, and supporting cast of Blade: Trinity" were put in place without his consent and he was basically forced to make the movie. On top of that, Snipes claimed he hadn't been paid everything he was owed for his appearance and "he was harassed and defamed because of his race." The suit was settled out of court for an undisclosed amount of money.

51 votes