Editing Blade II (section)

==Production==
Following the success of the original film, [[New Line Cinema]] and [[Marvel Enterprises]] made plans for a sequel in 1999. Goyer had planned to use [[Morbius]] but Marvel wanted to keep the character for a franchise of his own.<ref>{{cite web |author=Jason Myers |title=David Goyer: Stripped to the Bone : Interview |url=http://www.revolutionsf.com/article.php?id=1082 |website=RevolutionSF |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100222080655/http://www.revolutionsf.com/article.php?id=1082 |archive-date=2010-02-22 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Goyer compared the story to ''[[The Dirty Dozen]]''.<ref name="Cinefantastique">[https://archive.org/details/CinefantastiqueVol34No2Apr2002 Cinefantastique Vol 34 No 2 (Apr 2002)]</ref> [[Guillermo del Toro]] was hired to direct ''Blade II'' by New Line Cinema production president [[Michael De Luca]]<ref>{{cite news |date= March 25, 2002 |author= Michael Fleming |title= Helmer scales mountains |url= https://variety.com/2002/voices/columns/helmer-scales-mountains-1117864489/ |work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |access-date= 2018-12-24}}</ref> after [[Stephen Norrington]] turned down the offer to direct the sequel.{{Citation needed|reason=No proof Norrington was offerred or turned down the sequel|date=December 2020}} Goyer and Frankfurt both admired director Guillermo del Toro and believed his dark sensibilities to be ideal for ''Blade II''. Frankfurt first met del Toro when Frankfurt's design company, Imaginary Forces, did the title sequences for ''[[Mimic (film)|Mimic]]'': "I admired ''Mimic'' and got to know Guillermo through that film. Both David Goyer and I have been fans of his since ''[[Cronos (film)|Cronos]]'' and were enthusiastic about him coming on board. Guillermo is such a visual director and has a very strong sense of how he wants a movie to look. When you sign on with someone like Guillermo you're not going to tell him what the movie should look like, you're going to let him run with it". Like Goyer, del Toro has a passion for comic books, in Goyer's comment: "Guillermo was weaned on comic books, as was I. I was a huge comic book collector, my brother and I had about twelve thousand comic books that we assembled when we were kids, so I know my background". [[Tippett Studio]] provided computer-generated visual effects, including digital doubles of some of the characters, while [[Steve Johnson (special effects artist)|Steve Johnson]] and his company XFX were hired to create the prosthetic makeup and animatronic effects.<ref>{{cite news |date=July 21, 2002 |author= Ellen Wolff |title= Artists flaunt character development at confab |url= https://variety.com/2002/digital/features/artists-flaunt-character-development-at-confab-1117870028/ |work= [[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |access-date= 2018-12-24}}</ref>

Del Toro was tired of the romantic concept of "vampires being tortured Victorian heroes" and wanted vampires to be scary again.<ref name="Cinefantastique" /> 
Del Toro chose not to alter the script too much from the ideas created by Goyer and Snipes. According to del Toro: "I wanted the movie to have a feeling of both a comic book and [[Anime|Japanese animation]]. I resurrected those sources and viewed them again. I dissected most of the dailies from the first movie; I literally grabbed about four boxes of tapes and one by one saw every single tape from beginning to end until I perfectly understood where the language of the first film came from. I studied the style of the first one and I think Norrington used a tremendous narrative style. His work is very elegant".

Stepping back into Blade's shoes was a challenge Wesley Snipes relished: "I love playing this role. It's fun as an actor to test your skills at doing a sequel, to see if you can recreate something that you did". Peter Frankfurt added that "Wesley is Blade; so much of the character was invented by Wesley and his instincts are so spot on. He takes his fighting, his weapons and attitude very seriously. He's incredibly focused, but he's also very cool and fun".

Del Toro said that "Wesley knows Blade better than David Goyer, better than me, better than anyone else involved in the franchise. He instinctively knows what the character would and wouldn't do, and every time he twists something around, something better would come out".

[[Principal photography|Filming]] took place in the [[Czech Republic]], at [[Prague Studios]]<ref>{{cite web |date=10 July 2001 |last=Meils |first=Cathy |title=Prague Studios gets $1 million upgrade |url=https://variety.com/2001/film/news/prague-studios-gets-1-million-upgrade-1117802712/ |website=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=18 June 2012 |author=Steve Head |title=Prague Studios to House $55 Million Blade 2 |url=https://www.ign.com/articles/2000/11/24/prague-studios-to-house-55-million-blade-2 |website=[[IGN]] }}</ref> and [[Barrandov Studios]], as well as London from March 12, 2001, and concluded on July 2 the same year.