The figure on the ground was an idea for how I could introduce one of the Bloodpack. I wanted one of them to be really petulant. When Blade arrives, he’s lying on the floor, and he gets up, which is directly stealing from Mad Max.
The suit on the right [opposite] didn’t make it, but this is what I wanted the vampire guards to wear. You can see how I’m echoing the helmet I became obsessed with for Abe Sapien with the asymmetry thing.
To the left of the vampire guard suit, you can see the bomb that Blade attaches to the head of Reinhardt.
MSZ: And what’s this guy making the muscles?
GDT: I wanted a guy that was shaped like that to be part of the Bloodpack, but I couldn’t find him.
NOTEBOOK 3, PAGE 25B
–Talk with carol about the elevator’s design—.
–Beam splitter
–Roman bath scene for Damaskinos
–Lighthammer becomes a Reaper.
–Pin “sewing machine.” ID machine.
–Nyssa appears blurry and in slow motion to Blade, her blood in ROSTRUM—
–Red, Blue, Green, Amber.
–Flechette for Rheinhardt’s head—
——————
Douglas N
Jhonson B
“Healer” C
——————
–Base code:
Dry Leaves/ Wind
3 cameras on fan
R 4 45° medium.
Short and long
High/Low LC
Frame
skip.
Vam
Speed
MUD!! when Verlaine dies because of L.hammer
Eye with pupil that contracts.
Del Toro originally wanted to have Nomak feast on the head of a helmeted guard as if it were a soft-boiled egg.
NOTEBOOK 3, PAGE 26A
–Is this closure? As close as its gonna get…
–Panicked crowd reveals Reaper latched on Priest. BAM!! BAM!! It turns around.
–Someone is DRAGGED away.
–Speak urgently with Carol about the possibility of a tunnel like this:
–For the 4 WAY INTERSECTION
–Large goggles, 22 FPS TATTOO
Use negative space!!
Blood cascades out in SLOW MOTION in the wind
– Use the G CALVE [?] in the scene with Segura—.
While this particular scene didn’t make it to the film, Nomak (Luke Goss) adopted a similar pose while finishing off Priest (Tony Curran).
• GDT: Some stuff here [above] made it into Blade II; some stuff didn’t.
On the bottom of the page is a very brutal moment I wanted to put in the film—of Nomak with a broken helmet of a guard, eating him like a boiled egg. I couldn’t quite get it, though.
And I just liked the pose of this figure [on left] for one of the Bloodpack.
I wanted one guy to have a crash test dummy tattoo because I thought it would be, like, really hardass.
The rest didn’t make it. Little ideas about scares, or fight techniques. The little box there, with the face in it—that’s a cheat that I like to do. I haven’t done it much, but the idea is that if the audience sees negative space on the right, they expect something to come out on that side. The idea was to use a shadow because it makes it doubly intriguing—you know, the audience immediately says, “Oh, something’s going to come out of the shadows there.” So you get them scared that something is going to come out from the right, and then it comes from the left.
I did it in this movie, but I did it really, really badly. It doesn’t work. You can see it in the House of Pain. When Nyssa enters and she hears a noise, Nomak comes from the other side. But I think we were, like, half a day late. Instead of doing a really great sequence, we had to do it in one shot. So I failed miserably. [laughs] But, you know, one day I’ll do it right.
MSZ: And is that someone being decapitated by two swords?
GDT: Yeah, it’s a move I wanted Blade to make, which was to do like a twist around a guy, and after he lands, the head comes off. We didn’t do it.
The guy on the next page [opposite], I wanted him to be part of the Bloodpack, with that red tattoo, sort of tribal. And again, I drew the gold spinal cord, in case I forgot.
NOTEBOOK 3, PAGE 26B
–Gold spinal column with ribs
Black fabric for Chupa
Light comes from above
–Slow motion with strobe lights (72) (48) (8)
–Very shallow focus, with things entering and exiting the visual field
Marble.
–Timing for the big fight that begins with the sound of an ice cube falling into a glass with liquid in it—.
–Sound is meant for a GRIPE
–Even I have now been infected by time…
–Chain link fences on both sides.
–220° to give a little “[?]” and at 12 or at 8 FPS (print at 8 FPS?).
–When you die you turn to dust
–Perhaps give Chupa a cowboy hat and make all his clothes black.
–Ultra slow motion for the bite
NOTEBOOK 3, PAGE 27 A
–1/2 Dissolve spanking for Reapers.
–They go crazy with pain like B.R.P.
–Film some of the fights at 22 fps with variations in the shutter: 45°, 90°. Do some tests
–The Reapers should move on all fours like apes, but they need to make very high-pitched sounds, like squealing pig-people.
–The call of the Reapers should be like the trailing breath of a human laugh: cackle-cackle
–The Prague sewers are oval in shape, not round, and they’re made of concrete. There are carvings on the bricks.
–The oldest vampire’s lair should look much older than the rest of the building in which it is located.
–Look for a memorable detail for Scud and one for Whistler: perhaps he finds his wedding ring behind a moldy machine.
Nyssa (Leonor Varela) plays cat and mouse with a Reaper in the sewers. The Prague sewers, which served as the underground Location for Blade II, were scouted extensively by del Toro and other members of the film crew.
• GDT: This is the drawing [opposite] I did based on some photographs of the Prague sewers, which have a very vaginal feel. We scouted the sewers for the movie. It was a really unforgettable experience.