Pow! Bam! Zoom! We recently got word that filming has begun on the action adventure thriller Daredevil. The film, which is scheduled for release on January 17, 2003, will shoot entirely in Los Angeles.
Daredevil?
Although most of us are familiar with Superman, Spider-Man and Batman, non-comic book aficionados may not be so familiar with the superhero Daredevil, the Man Without Fear. If that includes you, don’t worry–we’ve done the homework for you.
A byproduct of mutagenic effects
According to Marvel Entertainment, Daredevil, whose real name is Matthew Michael Murdock, is a lawyer by day, adventurer by night in New York City’s Hell’s Kitchen. He is as agile as a circus performer but possesses the skills of a heavyweight boxer.
His weapon of choice is a billy club that he uses as a cane when he’s not busy slicing through the sky fighting crime. Oh, did we forget to mention he’s blind? When Murdock tried to save a man from getting hit by a truck one day, he was splashed in the eyes with some radioactive waste and ironically lost his own eyesight. His other four senses then developed with superhuman sharpness.
Murdock, like most superheroes, has not had an easy life: he grew up a timid bookworm and was constantly teased by other children who facetiously nicknamed him “Daredevil.” Over the years people close to him were victimized, and the women he loved jilted him. Mobsters killed his father, a once respected boxer, when he refused to throw a fight. Murdock is determined to bring his father’s killers to justice.
All these events were catalysts in Daredevil’s crime-fighting career. Must be hard to keep track of so many vendettas.
Friends, foes and subterfuge
If you’re wondering who will play the 6-foot, 200-pound, blue-eyed, red-haired superhero, it’s none other than Ben Affleck. Apart from some slight physical dissimilarities, Affleck seems the perfect choice to play the masked vigilante.
Of course, with almost every action hero comes a love interest and Daredevil is no different. In the Marvel Universe, Murdock falls in love with Elektra Natchios, the daughter of a Greek ambassador, while attending Columbia University–and it appears as though the story line will remain the same in the film. Jennifer Garner, who plays Sydney Bristow on ABC’s Alias, has been cast in the role of Elektra.
The impressive cast list doesn’t end there. The larger-than-life Michael Clarke Duncan stars as the massively muscled underworld figure Wilson Fisk, a.k.a. Kingpin (at 6-foot-7, 450 pounds, this role was practically tailor-made for Duncan).
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Colin Farrell is the psychotic and ruthless killer Bullseye, who can turn anything–including a playing card or paperclip–into a deadly weapon, thanks to his skills and killer aim. Bullseye was once hired to murder Murdock but was defeated by his doppelganger Daredevil, upon whom he has now sworn vengeance.
Made‘s Jon Favreau is Franklin “Foggy” Nelson, Murdock’s lifelong friend and law partner. They opened a law office together after graduation and soon became Murdock’s partner in his war on crime.
Men in tights are here to stay
While the film’s producers seem like a logical selection–Gary Foster (The Score) and Marvel Studio President and CEO Avi Arad (X-Men, Blade 2)–the choice of writer and director Mark Steven Johnson is a little surprising. His 1998 directorial debut, Simon Birch, is a far cry from an action adventure feature of Daredevil‘s caliber, as are his screenwriter’s credits, which include the Grumpy Old Men movies and the ridiculously bad Jack Frost. But who knows, maybe Daredevil will be his big breakthrough film.
Daredevil: The Man Without Fear made his debut as a superhero in 1964 in Marvel comic’s Daredevil #1. One thing is certain: if Arad, whose producing credits include X-Men, Blade and Spider-Man, has his way, Marvel characters will continue to morph into live action and animated feature films.
Next summer, Universal Pictures is releasing The Hulk while 20th Century Fox will release its much-anticipated sequel X-Men 2. And they are not the only studios getting a piece of the action hero pie.
MGM and Bruce Willis’ production company, Cheyenne Enterprises, recently teamed up for a first-look deal for new movies and television projects from Stan Lee’s POW! Entertainment. Superhero action pics already in consideration are The Femizons, The Double Man and Nightbird.
