The legendary Wesley Snipes made a surprise return as Blade in the new “Deadpool & Wolverine” movie, despite Marvel’s recent recasting of the character for its upcoming Blade franchise. This unexpected cameo not only delighted fans but also secured Snipes two Guinness World Records.
Variety reports that Snipes has broken records for the longest career as a live-action Marvel character and the longest gap between character appearances in Marvel films. His appearance as the half-vampire “daywalker” in this superhero threequel comes 25 years and 340 days after he first portrayed Blade in 1998’s “Blade.” This achievement surpasses his co-star Hugh Jackman, whose tenure as Wolverine began 24 years ago in 2000’s “X-Men.”
Additionally, Snipes’ return as Blade marked the longest gap between character appearances in Marvel films. He last played Blade 19 years and 231 days ago in 2004’s “Blade: Trinity,” beating Alfred Molina’s 17-year hiatus between his roles as Doc Ock in 2004’s “Spider-Man 2” and 2021’s “Spider-Man: No Way Home.”
For the past few months, ex-Blade star Wesley Snipes has been vocal about his displeasure with Marvel’s decision to recast his iconic character in the franchise. This week, Snipes turned his attention to his Blade: Trinity co-star, Patton Oswalt, sparking further controversy.
Snipes took to Instagram to express his frustrations, posting a cryptic message that seemed to call out Oswalt directly. He wrote: “Lordy Lordy Lordy, u mean to tell me PO was a ‘Pinocchio’ all along… and that’s the so-called ‘reliable source’? Well now ‘baby wipe’ anyone? #Blade #MarvelStudios #daywalkerklique
The post has left fans speculating about the underlying tension between Snipes and Oswalt, as well as the broader implications for the Blade franchise. Snipes, who portrayed the titular vampire hunter in the original Blade trilogy, has been openly critical of Marvel Studios’ decision to reboot the character with a new actor.
While Marvel has yet to respond to Snipes’ latest comments, the actor’s dissatisfaction with the franchise’s direction is clear.
For many people, New Jack City is a 90s classic. With an ensemble cast of excellent performances and a forever-relevant story about the perils of power, many people hold it in high regard. It was released in 1991 and people still reference it to this day whether it be through memes or the classic “Am I my brother’s keeper?” quote. The movie just recently celebrated its 33rd anniversary and we’re looking at where the cast is today.
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 27: Wesley Snipes attends the 94th Annual Academy Awards at Hollywood and Highland on March 27, 2022 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images)
Wesley Snipes is among the New Jack City cast members who took significant leaps in Hollywood afterward. Snipes has a long resume of credits, including roles like King Of New York, though New Jack City undoubtedly catapulted him to new heights in his career. Just after starring in the 1991 cult classic, he co-starred alongside Woody Harrelson in 1992’s White Men Can’t Jump. Still, one of Snipes’s most iconic roles landed in the Blade trilogy from 1998-2004. After appearing in other action-based roles, he joined the ensemble cast of action stars in 2015’s The Expendables 3. Snipes has proven his range by appearing in recent non-action films like 2019’s Dolomite Is My Name and 2021’s Coming 2 America.
Outside of his acting roles, Snipes has pursued other business ventures. One of the most interesting ones is his foray into the world of sci-fi literature. He co-created the After Dark comics series with Antoine Fuqua – the director of Training Day,The Equalizer trilogy, and several other films. Snipes also did some writing of his own with his novel Talon Of Gold from 2017 and a 2022 comic book series called The Exiled.
Ice-T
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – OCTOBER 08: Ice-T speaks to fans during New York Comic Con 2022 on October 08, 2022 in New York City. (Photo by Roy Rochlin/Getty Images for ReedPop)
Ice-T was surely a household name before appearing in New Jack City. The gangsta rap pioneer has continued to make music, though there’s no doubt his role on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit has eaten up the bulk of his time since 2000. According to Deadline, he became the longest-running male series actor due to his long-standing role as Detective Odafin Tutuola. In 2018, Ice-T began hosting a show called Ice Cold Blood which ended in 2021. This series followed true crime stories. Ice-T has remained active as a rapper, dropping his last album in 2020 and appearing on singles over the years.
Allen Payne
MIAMI, FLORIDA – MAY 6: Actor Allen Payne performs on stage during the Je’caryous Johnson Presents: New Jack City Live stage play at James L. Knight Center on May 6, 2023 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Johnny Louis/Getty Images)
Allen Payne was a cast member in New Jack City in 1991 but other people may know him for his role as C.J. Payne on Tyler Perry’s House Of Payne series. This series ran from 2006 to 2012 and had a revival in 2020 before ending in 2023. Payne also starred in the 2021 Lifetime Original movie The Fight That Never Ends. He most recently appeared in the New Jack City stage play where he reprised his role as Gee Money from the film. Other cast members include Treach, Big Daddy Kane, and Flex Alexander. The stage adaptation originally ran from November 2022 through summer 2023. It returned in January 2024 with this year’s run scheduled to end in June.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – DECEMBER 08: Chris Rock attends Netflix’s Headliners Only Screening at the Paris Theater on December 08, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Johnny Nunez/WireImage)
Chris Rock has taken more and more dramatic roles in recent years but being cast as Pookie in New Jack City was one of his first forays into a non-comedic role. His most recent role was starring in 2021’s Spiral: From The Book Of Saw where he played the lead role as Detective Zeke Banks. Unfortunately, his artistic output has been shadowed in recent times following the 2022 Oscars when Will Smith slapped him on stage. However, the dust has settled from this incident and he has bounced back from it. In 2023, he released a Netflix stand-up special called Selective Outrage and in 2024 will release a documentary with Kevin Hart called Chris Rock And Kevin Hart: Headliners Only in December.
Bill Nunn
Bill Nunn during Image Film & Video Awards, Honoring Spike Lee at Earthlink Live in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. (Photo by Frank Mullen/WireImage)
Bill Nunn was a cast member in New Jack City that had already been in another iconic movie before this one. He played Radio Raheem in Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing. He went on to act in multiple roles throughout the 90s and 2000s. Some may be most familiar with his roles in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy. He also appeared in the TV movie version of A Raisin in the Sun starring other icons like Sanaa Lathan and Phylicia Rashad. Unfortunately, Nunn passed away in 2016.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – DECEMBER 06: Mario Van Peebles attends the 4th Annual Celebration of Black Cinema and Television presented by The Critics Choice Association at Fairmont Century Plaza on December 06, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images,)
Mario Van Peebles is not only in the cast of New Jack City – he’s the director. Out of everyone on our list, he has the most stacked resume as an actor and director in film, television, and theatre. Throughout the 90s, 2000s, 2010s, and 2020s he directed films and episodes of television series. He also continued to act in both, sometimes directing the episode or movie he was also playing a role in. His most recent directional role was 2024’s Outlaw Posse, he has a role in this one too. His son, Mandela Van Peebles is also in it.
Judd Nelson
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – JULY 18: Judd Nelson attends Premiere Of Sony Pictures Classic’s “David Crosby: Remember My Name” at Linwood Dunn Theater on July 18, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Leon Bennett/FilmMagic)
Judd Nelson was cast as the partner of Ice-T’s character in New Jack City. Since this role, he appeared in a variety of shows and movies, both live-action and animation. It just so happens his most recent television role was on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in 2021. His last film role was 2022’s The Most Dangerous Game.
Michael Michelle
ATLANTA, GEORGIA – APRIL 12: Michael Michele attends Lifetime’s “Drunk, Driving And 17” Advanced Screening at Swirl Films Office on April 12, 2023 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Nykieria Chaney/Getty Images)
Michael Michelle is one of the few female cast members in New Jack City. She continued to appear in film roles throughout the late 90s and 2000s. Her most recent roles have been in television series. From 2016 to 2022, she had either main or recurring roles in Blue Bloods, MacGyver, Star, Queen Sugar, and Dynasty.
BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA – DECEMBER 05: Vanessa Estelle Williams attends Los Angeles Special Screening Of Amazon And MGM Studios’ “American Fiction” – Arrivals at Samuel Goldwyn Theater on December 05, 2023 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Unique Nicole/WireImage)
Vanessa Estelle Williams was cast as Keisha in New Jack City. Her character was one of the few women in Nino’s Cash Money Brothers gang. Williams continued to act throughout the years, most recently appearing in TV movies and other small roles. However, her biggest role was in 1992’s Candyman, another classic movie. She reprised her role in the 2021 sequel of the same name.
Who was your favorite cast member from New Jack City? Let us know in the comments section.
On this day, 33 years ago, the cult-classic crime thriller New Jack City arrived in theaters across America. The story of the rise and fall of Nino Brown and the Cash Money Brothers has continued inspired Hip Hop culture for a quarter-century and continues to permeate the culture that made it a success.
New Jack City came about at a pivotal time. In 1991, Hip Hop was still a fledging music genre and culture, looking to legitimize itself in the eyes of mainstream America officially. In addition, the blaxploitation film genre had been defunct for over a decade, leaving a gaping hole in “Black Hollywood.” New Jack City was a harbinger of the resurgence of Black actors, writers, and filmmakers in Hollywood, as well as the crystallization of Hip Hop’s synergistic capabilities.
The film also catapulted actors like Wesley Snipes, who played the lead role as the morally barren kingpin Nino Brown and Chris Rock stick-up-kid-turned-crackhead-informant “Pookie,” into stardom. The film’s director Mario Van Peebles also made his directorial debut with the film, which he also starred in. Ice T, who also played a major role in New Jack City as NYPD detective “Scotty Appleton,” spoke with Rock on his “Final Level” podcast about some of the behind-the-scenes of the cult classic.
Chris Rock: At the time, you and I were the most popular people in the cast, really, just ’cause we’d done s**t.
Ice-T: We’d done things.
Chris Rock: Nobody knew Mario [Van Peebles]. Nobody knew Wesley [Snipes].
Ice-T: Wesley had done Major League.
Chris Rock: No one knew “G-Money,” you know, Allen Payne.
Ice-T: That was what got me confident enough to act.
Chris Rock: And you were actually making money. [Laughs] I was broke.
…
Ice-T: … You know, it was an interesting experience. New Jack City was a new-jack movie. The director was a new-jack.
Chris Rock: The producers were new-jacks, new-jack actors, new-jack soundtrack. Remember we kept runnin’ out of money? There was a couple of times, while we were filming, we were like, “This s**t is getting shut down.” Like, the chase on the bikes was [suppose to be] a car-chase. But it turned into a bike-chase; we had no money! [Laughs] Somebody had to think fast.
The film was shot on an $8 million budget and premiered at the 1991 Sundance Film Festival on January 17, 1991. The film would later release nationally on March 8, 1991, raking in $7,039,622 in opening weekend sales — and later became the highest-grossing indie film of 1991 with $47,624,253 domestically.
The film also had a longstanding effect on the music industry. Perhaps the most notable example is brother Bryan “Birdman” and Ronald “Slim” Williams‘ Cash Money Records label, a blatant reworking of Nino Brown’s “Cash Money Brothers” gang in the film. In addition, Lil Wayne‘s solo album series ThaCarter is not only his last name but an homage to “The Carter,” Nino’s crack house fortress in the film, as well as name drops Nino in his 2010 single “I’m Single.”
For decades, Nino Brown has become a regularly referenced movie character in rap lyrics. A simple search of “Nino Brown” on RapGenius shows over 4000 references to the surface by artists from all over the world. It’s safe to say Nino and New Jack City will continue to inspire generations to come, and if you disagree…
Jack Harlow’s aspirations to become a beloved industry baby is underway. As the “First Class” prepares for tonight’s Grammy Awards, where hopes to win big, Hulu just released the first look at its upcoming film White Men Can’t Jump remake starring the musician.
Despite appearing in several commercials and documentaries, this film marks Harlow’s acting debut. He has big shoes to fill stepping into the role of quirky street basketball player Billy Hoyle. While Harlow certainly has the charisma of the character nailed, he still needs to showcase another side playing off his co-star actor Sinqua Walls (Teen Wolf, Power, The Breaks), who plays his athletic partner in crime, Sidney Deane.
The original beloved 1992 film starred actors Woody Harrelson (who originally played Billy Hoyle) and Wesley Snipes (who originally played Sidney Deane) quickly became a cultural fixture. But, even though this is Harlow’s first significant role, director Charles Kidd II, professionally known as Calmatic, who has worked with Harlow in the past, isn’t worried.
In an interview with Esquire, Calmatic confidently said, “Man, listen, after this film, I don’t think Jack Harlow is going to be a rapper.”
Calmatic later clarified his statement to say, “I mean, I’m sure he is not going to give up rap, but he’s definitely going to be a Mark Wahlberg—where I think people are going to know him more for acting than his music,” adding, “And so I’m happy that he got his feet wet with White Men Can’t Jump so I can take a little responsibility for that. I’m excited for the world to see him and get the full scope of him as an artist.”
The original film, written and directed by Ron Shelton, came out in 1992. The film starred Woody Harrelson as basketball player Billy Hoyle, who teams up with Wesley Snipes’ Sidney Deane to make money by hustling people on the court. The first-look trailer immerses viewers into the world of recreational basketful and is filled with professional references.
Watch the full teaser clip above.
Jack Harlow is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
starring Sinqua Walls and Jack Harlow, streaming May 19 on Hulu.
Quavo’s basketball skills are undeniable and he’s certainly one of the better ballers when compared to the musicians around him. During last year’s, NBA All-Star Weekend, Quavo absolutely showed out during a pickup game with Jack Harlow against 2 Chainz and Lil Baby. More recently, Quavo became a playable character on NBA2K22, which was certainly a cool moment despite him not being happy with his player rating. Now, Quavo wants to show his basketball skills on the big screen and he’s hoping to do so through an upcoming film with Jack Harlow.
During a recent run-in with TMZ, Quavo made it clear that he wants a role in the upcoming White Men Can’t Jump reboot, which Jack Harlow is set to star in. While Harlow is set to play the role of Billy Hoyle (originally played by Woody Harrelson), Quavo wants a shot at playing Sidney Deane who was originally played by none other than Wesley Snipes. “I think they need to call me, so me and Jack Harlow can do it,” Quavo said. “I need to play Wesley Snipes’ role.”
Quavo also took a moment to show support for Harlow’s upcoming role by calling him “amazing,” and saying that “he can do everything.”
You can hear Quavo’s comments about the White Men Can’t Jump reboot via TMZ here.
Jack Harlow is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
On this day, 31 years ago, the cult-classic crime thriller New Jack City arrived in theaters across America. The story of the rise and fall of Nino Brown and the Cash Money Brothers has continued inspired Hip Hop culture for a quarter-century and continues to permeate the culture that made it a success.
New Jack City came about at a pivotal time. In 1991, Hip Hop was still a fledging music genre and culture, looking to legitimize itself in the eyes of mainstream America officially. In addition, the blaxploitation film genre had been defunct for over a decade, leaving a gaping hole in “Black Hollywood.” New Jack City was a harbinger of the resurgence of Black actors, writers, and filmmakers in Hollywood, as well as the crystallization of Hip Hop’s synergistic capabilities.
The film also catapulted actors like Wesley Snipes, who played the lead role as the morally barren kingpin Nino Brown and Chris Rock stick-up-kid-turned-crackhead-informant “Pookie,” into stardom. The film’s director Mario Van Peebles also made his directorial debut with the film, which he also starred in. Ice T, who also played a major role in New Jack City as NYPD detective “Scotty Appleton,” spoke with Rock on his “Final Level” podcast about some of the behind-the-scenes of the cult classic.
Chris Rock: At the time, you and I were the most popular people in the cast, really, just ’cause we’d done s**t.
Ice-T: We’d done things.
Chris Rock: Nobody knew Mario [Van Peebles]. Nobody knew Wesley [Snipes].
Ice-T: Wesley had done Major League.
Chris Rock: No one knew “G-Money,” you know, Allen Payne.
Ice-T: That was what got me confident enough to act.
Chris Rock: And you were actually making money. [Laughs] I was broke.
…
Ice-T: … You know, it was an interesting experience. New Jack City was a new-jack movie. The director was a new-jack.
Chris Rock: The producers were new-jacks, new-jack actors, new-jack soundtrack. Remember we kept runnin’ out of money? There was a couple of times, while we were filming, we were like, “This s**t is getting shut down.” Like, the chase on the bikes was [suppose to be] a car-chase. But it turned into a bike-chase; we had no money! [Laughs] Somebody had to think fast.
The film was shot on an $8 million budget and premiered at the 1991 Sundance Film Festival on January 17, 1991. The film would later release nationally on March 8, 1991, raking in $7,039,622 in opening weekend sales — and later became the highest-grossing indie film of 1991 with $47,624,253 domestically.
The film also had a longstanding effect on the music industry. Perhaps the most notable example is brother Bryan “Birdman” and Ronald “Slim” Williams‘ Cash Money Records label, a blatant reworking of Nino Brown’s “Cash Money Brothers” gang in the film. In addition, Lil Wayne‘s solo album series ThaCarter is not only his last name but an homage to “The Carter,” Nino’s crack house fortress in the film, as well as name drops Nino in his 2010 single “I’m Single.”
For decades, Nino Brown has become a regularly referenced movie character in rap lyrics. A simple search of “Nino Brown” on RapGenius shows over 4000 references to the surface by artists from all over the world. It’s safe to say Nino and New Jack City will continue to inspire generations to come, and if you disagree…
