Trivia / Blade II

• Actor-Inspired Element: The scene where Reinhardt asks Blade if he can blush was inspired by a real comment made to Wesley Snipes by a real neo-Nazi.
• B-Team Sequel: Stephen Norrington declined to return as director, as he wanted to move on to other things...but really, how much of a B-Team is it when the replacement director is Guillermo del freaking Toro? That said, del Toro's only English-language film credit before this movie had been the little-seen Mimic.
• Creator Backlash:
  • Del Toro doesn't have many good things to say about screenwriter David S. Goyer and points out some groan-inducing dialogue in the DVD Commentary, though he admits that such bluntly expository lines as "Now you've got an explosive device stuck to the back of your head!" are beautiful in a way.
  • Del Toro also points out several CGI shots that he hates, most notably the final sequence of Blade's duel with Nyssa against the God Lights.
• Creator's Favorite Episode: Wesley Snipes has admitted this is his personal favorite movie in the trilogy.
• The Danza: Karel Roden as Karel Kounen.
• Deleted Scene:
  • An extended opening scene establishing Prague.
  • A flashback sequence showing Blade's first encounter with Whistler, part of which can be seen in the film's title credits.
  • An extended version of the ninja fight in the warehouse, with Blade using some fencing tactics to keep Assad at bay.
  • A scene of Whistler shying away from the growing daylight outside.
  • An alternate take of Blade's first meeting with Damaskinos, with Damaskinos wearing, according to Guillermo del Toro, a "Michael Bolton wig".
  • A scene in which Damaskinos explains the effects vampirism has had on him.
  • A much longer version of the House of Pain sequence, including a scene with Nyssa finding a room upstairs with a man unpacking human entrails from a box, a scene that was meant for Michael Jackson.
  • A line by Whistler about "the power of the pussy".
  • A Bloodpack "meeting" of sorts, with Chupa attempting to urge the others to kill Blade and go after the Reapers on their own.
  • A scene in a bathroom after the House of Pain sequence of Lighthammer discovering how far his infection with the Reaper strain has gone.
  • An extended scene of Damaskinos's dinner and blood bath, in which he tells of the fate of his human heart.
  • An extended scene of Karel's torture of Blade.
  • A "dirty" version of the final scene, in which semen is streaked on the windows that was digitally removed in the final cut of the film because test audiences complained.
• Descended Creator: Donnie Yen (Snowman) was also one of several fight choreographers.
• Dyeing for Your Art: Luke Goss had ten weeks of boxing, Karate, and combat training in preparation for the action sequences and to give him a lean, muscular build.
• Fake Irish: The Scottish Tony Curran as Priest.
• Jews Playing Nazis: Reinhardt was originally written as a Neo-Nazi vampire (though this wasn't made explicit in the final script). His actor Ron Perlman is of Jewish ancestry.
• Playing Against Type:
  • Seeing Danny John-Jules play a serious, cornrow-sporting, badass vampire assassin likely came as a surprise to viewers who mainly knew him as the goofy, fun-loving Cat on Red Dwarf.
  • Santiago Segura is primarily known in Spain for his comedic performances, but here he plays a villainous vampire thug.
• Screwed by the Lawyers: The early scene in which Scud is watching The Powerpuff Girls was originally written with him watching an episode of Speed Racer. However, the owners of the domestic rights wouldn't allow it.
• What Could Have Been:
  • The film was originally set in Moscow, thus picking up directly from the coda of the first film.
  • Michael Jackson was originally going to have a cameo in the "House of Pain" sequence as a "Vampire Pimp" that Nyssa encounters as she searches the upstairs hall. Jackson had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts and the part was played by a Czech actor. The sequence was ultimately cut out entirely for pacing reasons.
  • The Bloodpack character Verlaine was originally scripted to be the twin sister of Racquel, the vampire in the first film that was played by Traci Lords, likely as a way to double-dip on the Stunt Casting.
  • Reinhardt was originally scripted to be a literal Nazi who speaks entirely in German.
  • David S. Goyer's original idea was to use Morbius as a primary villain, but Marvel decided they wanted to retain the rights to make an entirely separate franchise out of Morbius - i.e. a Morbius film, so the story was changed slightly and Jared Nomak was created to be used as the primary villain instead.
  • The original script contained a sex scene between Blade and Nyssa.
  • Professional wrestler Gangrel, whose vampiric gimmick was inspired by the first Blade film, was considered for a minor role.
  • Elena Anaya, Asia Argento, Kristanna Loken, and Rhona Mitra were all considered for the role of Nyssa.
  • The beginning fight scene was originally going to be a car chase but was scaled down to a street fight. The original idea was reused in Blade: Trinity.

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