Good Role Hunting
Ben Affleck finds a risk worth taking in 'Daredevil'


Ben Affleck isn't a tool; he just plays one in the movies. Delivering his big "You're sittin' on a winning lottery ticket--and you're too much of a pussy to cash it in!" speech to Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting, Affleck lacked the necessary emotional weight, but nevertheless conveyed something real about a schlub's relationship to a more talented friend. Humility is what gives the actor's blasé cockiness its warmth, and it's what makes masses of people care about his bad choices in movies and in love. (Incidentally: Couldn't he settle down with Mango, the Chris Kattan cross-dresser on Saturday Night Live?)

From Poor Harbor to The Smell of All Fears, Affleck has bluffed his way through the blockbuster genre, negating his taste (and his left-wing politics) in the bargain. Nothing about his persona makes you think he could pull off playing a blind, tortured superhero in Daredevil: The guy is too affable, even gamely fielding questions about a certain famous fiancée during a recent press junket for the movie. "I take a lot of comfort in the fact that there's only so much you can say about that stuff," he says in a conference room at the Ritz Carlton in Pasadena. "And then you say, 'Colin Farrell is dating Britney Spears,' and you're off the hook."

Still, it's worth remembering something about the original Marvel Comics Daredevil: He's a square. Transforming the cane he uses as a blind man into the billy club he wields as a costumed crime fighter, Matt Murdock lives a conspicuously clean double life. Justice is his 9 to 5--he's a New York lawyer--and the Hell's Kitchen upbringing of his childhood is washed out of his speech. As a boy, Murdock closely obeys his prizefighting dad (portrayed with blunt feeling by David Keith in the movie). Grown up, he defends the legal system with every breath. Only his handicap and his maniacal workaholism keep him from being a redheaded stepchild of Clark Kent. (The accident that robbed him of sight also enhanced his other senses to Caped Crusader levels.)

Daredevil stays true to most of this myth, with one glaring exception. As imagined by writer Stan Lee and artist Bill Everett in 1964, the character was unwaveringly moral. Now the movie introduces him to us as a vengeful and disillusioned sociopath who has yet to find his moral footing. This Daredevil owes an obvious debt to writer-artist Frank Miller, who turned the comic into a kung fu soap opera in 1982, and whose noir reinvention has long been regarded as the best superhero comic series in history. Miller's Will Eisner-like panels introduced a generation of American kids to Japanese-style visual storytelling (and combat), much as Tarantino later brought Hong Kong to Hollywood. I distinctly remember hoping that Martin Scorsese would direct the movie, complete with throwing stars to the throat and an R rating.

Daredevil comes close in its kinetic and entirely plausible violence (which was edited to earn a PG-13). But the movie has been handed off to a different sort of brat. Like all of the recent Marvel movies (Blade, Blade II, X-Men, and Spider-Man), this latest CG bonanza is proudly and profoundly shaped by the passions of comic-book geeks. Director Mark Steven Johnson (Simon Birch) admits to having no more qualification than pure, abiding fandom: He spent years lobbying Marvel honcho Avi Arad, who produced all of the above movies. And together, the filmmakers were exceedingly deferential to the vision of Frank Miller.

"I had Frank come visit when I was in New York," says Johnson in Pasadena, "and I showed him some scenes from the movie. And he looks at me and he goes, 'You're getting away with it! It's so dark!' I'm like, Wow--Frank Miller says it's dark!"

Daredevil quotes wholesale from Miller's comics and assembles his primary cast of villains: Elektra, Murdock's one true love and most formidable opponent (played by Alias star Jennifer Garner, who brings emotion to every muscle); the hulking crime boss Kingpin (Michael Clarke Duncan, who pulled a Raging Bull-style weight gain for the picture); and Kingpin's assassin Bullseye (Colin Farrell--who, when asked about his character's movie poster during the junket, says, "I wouldn't masturbate to anything else.").

All these characters are vivid and funny, with dialogue that seems acquainted with real life. The same goes for Murdock's hapless, hilarious legal sidekick, "fun-loving" Foggy Nelson (Jon Favreau in top form)--who, if he hadn't been dreamed up by Stan Lee, might stand as a sort of fictionalized Ben Affleck to Daredevil's Matt Damon.

Speaking of whom: What does Damon think of his buddy being a superhero? "He feels threatened," Affleck deadpans. "A little jealous. He likes the tights." Affleck says he has always loved his character, and, like Johnson, might seem to have no other qualifications for the job. But, as with the director, love turned out to be enough: The schlub seizes the role, mustering the first performance of his career that transcends the merely likable. Perhaps he has found his calling: Playing a crazed acrobat forces him to rely more on movement than charm. (He and Garner trained for months with wire-fu expert Yuen Cheung-Yan.) When Murdock meets Elektra for the first time, it's as if she's unimpressed with Affleck himself, who has to woo the girl in battle at a tiny public park as nearby children shout, "Fight! Fight!"

Affleck was introduced to Johnson by director Kevin Smith (Dogma)--a connection that also lends Daredevil its only nagging flaw. Smith has been writing his own Daredevil stories for Marvel since the late 1990s, delving more deeply into the character's Catholicism, a subject that hadn't come up until the mid-'70s. The idea of Daredevil going to confession was ingenious: It also broke a long-standing taboo against religion in comics. (Since then, the Thing has recited the Shema.) But Johnson goes so far as to set the climactic fight in a cathedral--though, thankfully, Smith's more recent (and racist) portrayals of odiferous Al Qaeda operatives didn't make it to the screen.

To be sure, I have my biases and Daredevil has his. (I'm the atheist son of a former priest, and, as only hyperextended geeks know, Murdock was the son of a nun.) But surely a movie this packed with sound, fury, and backstory could have jettisoned the God subtext altogether. Maybe the geeks need a devil's advocate.

Article from Minneapolis City Pages, written by Peter S. Scholtes.

     Posted 11:11 AM by Sarah  []

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Must-See, Just-See Thursday

Over on ABC, Foley's missus earned her keep. The Jennifer Garner-fronted Alias was spied by 12.3 million (60th place), up from the 9.3 million it has been averaging for the season to date. The show's been on the rise since ABC awarded it the post-Super Bowl time slot last month. Look for its profile to get even higher as Garner kicks butt on the big-screen this weekend in Daredevil opposite Ben Affleck.

Article from E! Online, written by Joal Ryan.

     Posted 10:18 PM by Sarah  []

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Garner Fears Picking Up Unfair Tag

Sexy actress Jennifer Garner fears the day she ever has to put her foot down and say no to somebody during filming - because she knows it'll quickly earn her a bitchy reputation.

The Alias stunner, who stars alongside Ben Affleck and Colin Farrell in the upcoming movie Daredevil, admits she finds it much easier to be obliging and agreeable while working.

Garner, wife of actor Scott Foley, says, "It's hard to strike a balance between the fact that you're so grateful to have your job and want to do everything that's asked of you, and at the same time put yourself or your family or things like that first.

"I'm definitely still learning about that. But I guarantee you, the first time I do say no or I do put my foot down, I will immediately be characterised as a bitch, as difficult, as... y'know? And that's so unfair to women.

"So maybe the fear of that does keep me from standing up for myself more when I should."

Article from Teen Hollywood.

     Posted 10:15 PM by Sarah  []

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NEW: Affleck says he's no Daredevil in his real life

HOLLYWOOD – Ben Affleck puts on a red suit and mask and becomes a man without fear in “Daredevil,” opening Friday. That's hardly the case in his closely scrutinized private life, though.
“I have so many fears that it would be hard to itemize them all. My real superhero would be Anxiety Guy,” he said while promoting the movie in a Pasadena hotel meeting room.

In the big-screen adaptation of the Marvel comic book, Affleck is Matt Murdock, a blind attorney by day and Daredevil, the relentless masked avenger of evil, by night. In real life, the 30-year-old star is living inside a paparazzi tornado swirling around his engagement to actress-diva Jennifer Lopez.

Affleck, recently named the sexiest man alive by People magazine, seems resigned to the fact that the media frenzy is showing no signs of letting up.

“It's a little weird,” he said. “I've been in public relationships before, you know, with Gwyneth (Paltrow). It wasn't quite the same type of thing. I didn't anticipate that it would be different. I thought, ‘OK, there's a degree of publicity that comes along with this.' I was a little bit shocked.”

He's also more than a little bit prepared to fend off prying personal questions. In fact, Affleck employs the same smooth demeanor Daredevil uses to dodge items flung at him by deadly nemesis Bullseye, the bald-headed killer portrayed with scenery-chewing style by Colin Farrell.

According to Affleck, Farrell has taken some of the heat off him and J.Lo.

“I take a lot of comfort in the fact that there's only so much you can say about that kind of stuff,” he said. “Then there's somebody else like Colin Farrell dating Britney Spears and you're off the hook. If I could do my bachelorhood all over again, I would do it the way Colin does.”

Rumors have been swirling of a possible rift between the high-profile couple, including reports that Lopez and Matt Damon, Affleck's longtime pal, don't get along.

“I'm not even abreast of all the rumors,” Affleck said. “I can tell you that nothing's changed as far as I know.”

Finally, the questions turned to “Daredevil,” and Affleck couldn't resist firing back at the media. “I'm glad to get to some of the questions that won't make any of the copy.”

According to Daredevil lore, toxic chemicals blinded Matt Murdock, the son of a tough-luck boxer, when he was 12. A super sense of hearing compensates for his lost sight and allows him to become a night-stalking New York crime fighter.

When it comes to playing someone blind on screen, Affleck said, the bar was raised pretty high by Emily Watson's recent work in “Red Dragon” and Al Pacino's Oscar-winning performance in “Scent of a Woman.” But his challenge was different.

“The interesting thing about this is while he's blind with his eyes, because of this sort of super power that he has in terms of his enhanced hearing, it allows him to create this sort of three-dimensional map using this kind of sonar of his surroundings,” he said. “He's not technically blind in the way that we think of people being blind. Matt Murdock is kind of an act. He plays at being more helpless than he really is.”

Affleck was fitted for opaque contact lenses to help bring a sense of reality to his performance. That didn't make shooting fight scenes with co-star Jennifer Garner — who plays sometime girlfriend, sometime foe Elektra — any easier.

Garner, the star of the TV series “Alias,” trained with Affleck for weeks to get the vigorous precision fighting sequences just right. Even so, things didn't always work out that way.

“We beat the dickens out of each other,” she said. “My knuckles all got busted open with Ben's stick. He just bruised me up one side and down the other. But I did the same to him. We were dance partners. We were just very violent dance partners.”

Affleck likes the fact that writer-director Mark Steven Johnson retains a sense of real-life grittiness in “Daredevil.” Unlike many comic book-to-movie transformations, he said, this one isn't tongue-in-cheek.

“It dares to ask the audience to take the characters seriously and to really get invested in their emotional journey,” he said. “It was hard for me. It's a little far afield from my everyday life, putting on a costume, fighting crime and getting stabbed on this operatic, melodramatic scale of good versus evil.”

Article from the San Antonio Express, written by Larry Ratliff.

     Posted 4:03 PM by Sarah  []

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The little daredevil in Jennifer Garner
TV's sexiest spy couldn't say no to a demanding role in Hollywood's latest action flick drawn from the comics

(Daredevil promotional poster)

Jennifer Garner arrives at the Los Angeles premiere of her new action film Daredevil.

LOS ANGELES - On the sunny patio of a Pasadena hotel, in jeans and a well-tailored Gucci sport jacket, Jennifer Garner appears much more like the woman Maxim magazine dubbed the world's sexiest than the physically formidable secret agent Sydney Bristow she plays on the Alias television show every week.

But the rowdy Irish actor Colin Farrell, who portrays the villainous Bullseye opposite Garner's vengeful heroine Elektra in the upcoming comic-book movie Daredevil (opening Friday), leaves no doubt as to which aspect of the 30-year-old actress leaves the stronger impression.

"She's really tough, man," Farrell mutters in his tobacco-cured brogue. "Yeah, she's a tough bird, she's a fit girl. We would do a take or two and I'd be in the corner wheezing, and Jennifer'd be like, 'Can we go again straightaway?' I'd be going, 'She's gonna kill me!' "

"I've never seen anyone more determined to kill me in his whole life," counters a laughing Garner, who credits her great shape to an hourlong workout every morning. "Colin was so into our fight scene; it's a good thing he smokes as much as he does, otherwise I don't know if I'd be sitting here with you right now."

Daredevil stars Ben Affleck as the title vigilante, a blind New York avenger whose fantastically enhanced other senses make him a scourge of nighttime crime. But Garner's Elektra Natchios is no slouch at martial arts herself. She was trained in many disciplines from childhood because her crooked millionaire father, who is secretly in cahoots with Daredevil's arch-nemesis The Kingpin (Michael Clarke Duncan), figured she'd need to know how to protect herself someday.

And does she ever, when Kingpin henchman Bullseye kills the elder Natchios but makes it look like Daredevil's fault. Elektra suits up in skintight, belly-baring leather, sheaths some wicked-looking, three-pronged Asian fighting knives and goes out for some payback -- not knowing that Daredevil is secretly Matt Murdock, the blind lawyer she loves.

A devoted childhood ballerina turned serious stage actress from Charleston, W.Va., Garner finds it amusing that, after many years in show business, she made her first big splash as TV's top action heroine, and that what looks to be her movie breakthrough cast her along the same lines.

"It really makes me laugh that this is the way I've come to notoriety," she says. "I really love words. I love Shakespeare and Ibsen and Strindberg and Shaw. I wanted to work in regional theater because I love approaching a text. And I do feel like on Alias I'm given that task every episode. It is not all about the action to me, it's all about the acting and I happen to do action mixed in, which is the perfect combination.

"If this movie lends itself to me being known even more as the action chick, great. I would love to always have this world to fall back on. But I don't feel pigeonholed."

Still, one of the reasons why Garner wanted to make Daredevil was to learn some new tricks. Primary among these was the extensive wire work she and Affleck were taught by Hong Kong action effects specialist Cheung Yan Yuen, a veteran of many Jackie Chan movies, the Charlie's Angels movie and the upcoming Matrix sequels.

It wasn't the easiest training she'd ever done, though. And Garner had once practised ballet for six hours every day.

"We'd rehearse with them every single day for six weeks, and at the end of each day they would shake their heads no and say, 'Today, maybe, you are five per cent,' " she says of the encouragement-impaired, Hong Kong training team. "And it's not like the next day we'd be 10 per cent. 'Perhaps, today, you are six per cent.' And then the next day we'd be back down to five!"

Once up to speed, though, Garner enthusiastically confirms that she enjoyed the heck out of jumping, kicking and flipping beyond human capabilities.

Except for that one day.

"I did have a moment," she eagerly confides. "It's crystallized in my mind because it is the one moment when the movie went from 'Ooh, that hurts and it's kind of funny that that hurt' to 'I never need to do this particular thing again.' I had to hurl myself off of a two-storey height head first, directly toward the camera. Every time that I did it, they would pull me up by the harness just as I was about to hit the camera. It felt like my ribs could break every time. About the 12th or 13th take, it hurt so much and it just seemed so strange and unnecessary to do this to yourself.

"That's very rare. Normally, when you do a stunt, you get less scared every time you do it. In this case, every time I did it I was shaking more and more and more. But that was really it, the one point in the movie when I thought, this is not fun. But that out of a whole summer being strung up on that wire? That's pretty great."

Did we mention that, along with tough chick and hottie, a term often used to describe Garner is cheerleader? Even when complaining about something worth complaining about, the actress comes off sweet and sunny and ever-so-grateful just to be involved, regardless of what's going wrong.

"With Jennifer Garner, it's really one of those things where she's so up-with-people, you keep thinking there has to be some dark side, some twisted underbelly here," co-star Affleck notes. "But as far as I could tell from the months we spent together, there really isn't. ... I think that, if she has a flaw, she's too patient, indulgent and puts up with too much when she should really be saying, 'Wait a minute, this isn't my job.' "

"It's the fault of every Southern woman," Garner says. "We grow up trained to be kind of ingratiating and to put ourselves second in every situation ...

"It's hard to strike a balance between the fact that you're so grateful to have your job and want to do everything that's asked of you, and at the same time put yourself or your family or things like that first. I'm definitely still learning about that. But I guarantee you, the first time I do say no or I do put my foot down, I will immediately be characterized as a bitch, as difficult, as ... y'know? And that's so unfair to women. So, maybe the fear of that does keep me from standing up for myself more when I should."

BUSY NEWLYWEDS

For the moment, though, work is mighty rewarding. Home life ain't bad, neither. After 21/2 years of marriage, Garner's husband, Scott Foley, whom she met when they both worked on the teen series Felicity, just started a TV sitcom of his own, A.U.S.A.

"He's my biggest support, I'm his biggest fan. We are really good friends, and we're trying to keep perspective that this is not what our life will be forever. He is definitely my first priority outside of what I need to do for my job."

Which is always quite a bit, but recently went, at least to some observers, quite a bit further. The Alias episode that aired after last month's Super Bowl was heavily promoted on ABC commercials with shots of Sydney Bristow in Victoria's Secret-quality skivvies. It was a bald attempt to increase male interest in the critically acclaimed show that, over the length of one-and-a-half seasons, has often played to disappointing Nielsen ratings. But Garner insists that, except for the overhyping, it was no real departure for Alias, which "has always been sexy."

Garner says that Alias's previous lack of mass popularity has been more annoying than worrisome to its close-knit cast and crew.

"We're all 110-per-cent committed to doing the best that we can. And we do have a fan base that is loyal to our show. I would love for more people to catch onto it, but if they don't, we're happy with what we have."

These days, Garner is getting calls from Steven Spielberg (she arguably shares the coolest scene with Leonardo DiCaprio in Catch Me if You Can), and this summer she'll headline her first romantic comedy, 13 Going on 30.

Tough, sexy, eager to please -- whatever works for Garner, she genuinely could not be happier with the results.

"The last year has been beyond my wildest dreams and even then some."

Article from the Edmonton Journal, written by Bob Strauss.

     Posted 3:56 PM by Sarah  []

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Daredevil Interview: Jennifer Garner: Daredevil Actress

Continuing Comics2Film's coverage of Twentieth Century Fox's Daredevil press junket we present the latest transcript of the round-table interviews. In this segment, Jennifer Garner talks about her work as Elektra in the film.

Q: Did your work on Alias prepared you for the action role in Daredevil?

I didn't think about doing Daredevil with any hubris at all. I did Daredevil because I wanted to learn what I thought it could teach me. I was so obsessed with fighting after my year of Alias, and so into learning as much as I could, I really wanted to take it to another level. That's what Daredevil did.

I had to learn to fight weapons. I had to learn to fight on wires and just fighting every day, all summer, it just kind of built my confidence.

Q: I understand when they were teaching you the fighting, the instructors weren't exactly encouraging. Can you talk about that?

Well master Cheung Yuen and his men are the best in the world at what they do and Ben and I felt so lucky to be working with them. We had so much respect for them and for what they demanded of us. They absolutely demanded precision. They absolutely demanded discipline.

On Charlie's Angels you always read about how they had six months beforehand to rehearse or Matrix they rehearsed for six months. We didn't have that. I was working on Alias right up until the day I started Daredevil and Ben was being Ben off in the world, saving the planet or whatever Ben does...I say that with love...and so we didn't have time to get together for months beforehand, so we were under the gun from the minute the movie started.

We were learning fights and doing them at night and then sleeping until about noon and then meeting at this big warehouse and working with Master Cheung Yuen and his men for three hours on our playground fight, which is our kind of big, courtship, mating-dance, flirtation fight.

It was so fun to do. We would work on that every single day for six weeks, Saturdays and Sundays, no exceptions. Nobody missed. We were there. I had so much respect for how much Ben just dug in and that made me want to elevate how hard I was working. I just adore that man for what we went through together on those days.

Q: But were the instructors hard on you?

Our instructors were not the kind of men who would coddle you and say what a great job you did today and, 'Gosh, that's so much better than last time.' We would do something we felt was flawless and they would go [Instructor Voice], 'Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! No. No. Slow. Slow. Start again.'

And Ben and I were the only two that really spoke English in the room. There was an interpreter there but he and I would just look at each other and we'd be like [WHISPERS], 'I thought that was pretty good, did you? Yeah, I thought -- OK let's do it again,' and we would kind of, maybe think we would do it better -- [Instructor voice], 'Ah! Ah! Slow. No. Ah. One at a time. One at a time!'

And so they just hated everything we did, which kind of added to out determination to do this fight flawlessly.

Q: You said you were obsessed with learning all this stuff. What is it giving you to learn all this?

Well I've always been obsessed with acting, since I figured out that it was something that existed in the world. I've always wanted to be on stage in some way. I didn't think I would do it for a profession. I just loved it so much, so when I was younger I would seek out any opportunity to, not just be on stage, but to learn what I could do to be better on stage or to learn what I could do behind the scenes that might help me understand what I'm doing on stage even more.

So, whether that was working for free in the summers or working backstage at college or being on stage in college, I kind of felt like I am never going to be good at this, and that's what always attracts me to it. But I did start out as a ballet dancer and that does start you off with a certain amount of discipline and a certain understanding of your body and pushing your limitations.

So when I first started fighting for Alias, and first started using my body in this way, while I was acting, it was like this whole world opened up for me. That I would have an aptitude for this and such a passion for it was such a surprise for me. I was kind of blown away by how much I loved the days when I would fight on Alias. I wasn't getting enough. Even though I fought every few days I felt like I was learning the fight and doing it and kind of getting better in that moment, but not training. I like to train with something. I like to pick it apart and really do the nitty-gritty work.

That's why I wanted to Daredevil and that's what this was. Ben and I really trained.

Q: Did you know a lot about this comic book character beforehand?

Well, I grew up in a family of three girls so we read "Seventeen". We read "Little House on the Prairie." We didn't read comic books.

I wish that I had because I think Elektra's incredibly empowering and now when I meet women who say, 'Oh, Elektra! It's because of Elektra that I...,' whatever, 'Thought I could live on my own,' or ,'became physically fit,' or whatever. I think that that's a pretty amazing thing for a comic book character to give a young woman.

Now, of course, I've read her entire saga and her story is pretty epic. It's pretty fascinating. She's a very dark woman and I'm waiting to have a little time because I might actually branch off and read X-Men or The Hulk. I got into it.

Q: Does Daredevil set the stage for an Elektra spin-off movie?

I don't know how to talk about it without giving it away, but like I said, Elektra's story is epic. There is no ending to Elektra's story.

There is talk of a spin-off but I don't know any more than you do. Mostly I hear from you guys that there's talk of a spin-off, more than anywhere else. I'm open for it. I would miss the big red devil if I had to do one on my own but as long as my stunt double is up for it, I'm up for it.

Q: There's as much talk about the spin-off as there is about the sequel.

Great! Let's do it!

Q: But, are you honestly not aware of it or is it just hype?

That's what I don't know. I don't know if you guys are making it seem like a bigger deal than it is or if it really exists and I'm kind of ignorant or being naive to how serious they are about it. I guess I don't want to set myself up for something that isn't going to happen. I mean, I'm an actor. I've been promised a lot of things.

So, I'm up for it. I'm up for doing a Daredevil sequel. I'm up for watching a Daredevil sequel. It's all fine with me. I'm going back to Alias so I'm happy.

Q: Will you ever get to the point where you would say goodbye to Alias?

I can't imagine that point, because what makes me feel so lucky is that, yes, I get to come out and take a risk and do Daredevil or do a comedy this summer like 13 Going on 30 but ultimately, no matter what happens with these movies, as long as Alias gets picked up, I'm going home to a family that loves me, who I learn from.

It's exactly what I thought I would be doing as an actor. I'm working in a company. It's kind of like really great-paying regional theater. It's what I wanted to do was have mentors and learn from them and I still, absolutely every day that I work with Ron Rifkin and Victor Garber and Carl Lumbly or Michael Vartan or Bobby Cooper. I learn something from these people. I have so much respect for them as actors. And they write beautiful stuff for me there.

So as long as the writing stays at the level that it is I always, always be happy to go back to Alias.

Q: Tell us about snogging Ben Affleck.

What would you like to know about snogging Ben Affleck?

Q: Did you ever think you would find yourself in a big movie with a big star like him and be in that situation?

I never gave it a thought one way or another, but it's a pleasure to snog Ben Affleck and if he showed up right now I guess we could show you how very good we are at that very thing.

[Quiet voice] That's not going to sound good.

It's fine. It was just part of the scene and it's no bigger deal than kissing anyone else. It's always awkward when you kiss someone you've become friends with on set because you don't realize what a boundary it is and what an unspoken thing it is, how intimate a kiss is.

At the same time, of course, there are fifty people around, maybe a hundred people around and that does wipe away any notions you might have of any...

Q: I suppose what I'm saying is that Ben's in all the tabloids and his love life is in the newspapers. I suppose it's a little different for somebody whose set up that high over a regular, every day actor.

The great thing about working as an actor is that when you're on set it's very insular. It's just you and him, and he and I had been through a lot at that point. He was not on the cover of tabloids at that point. So it was just an actor and an actor in a scene together and we had to kiss and it was fine.

Q: You've been on the cover of tabloids also, haven't you?

I don't think so. No. I have not been.

Q: At the end of the day, how do you talk about rolling around with Ben Affleck with your husband [actor Scott Foley]?

Well you don't. I mean, out of respect to both people, you don't really get into that. And Scott does understand what I do for a living. He is an actor and he certainly has spent his days rolling around and will again. I get what that is for him and he gets what that is for me and it's really not nearly the deal that it would seem from the outside.

Q: Talking about 13 Going on 30, what makes Gary Winick the right director for that and have you seen Niels Mueller's latest draft?

Niels' latest draft is genius and Gary was absolutely my first choice from the very minute that I saw Tadpole.

I felt like the performances were deft and subtle and hysterically funny, not maybe in a huge, laugh-out-loud kind of way, but in a true-to-life kind of way. Clearly his approach was character based and I knew that he and I together could take this character and find laugh-out-loud moments, but starting the way that I have to start with something, which is reality and character and playing whatever you need to play in the scene. Not kind of looking from the outside-in of what's funny.

I thought everybody was so beautiful in that movie and it has such heart in it that I knew that Gary could help me give the performance that I'm hoping to give in 13 Going on 30. I'm nervous about it and knowing that he's going to be there alleviates so much of my anxiety.

Q: Are the supporting roles cast yet?

Absolutely. Mark Ruffalo is going to play my love interest and I can't wait for that!

Q: You stole your scene in Catch Me If You Can. Have you gotten good feedback on that?

Catch Me If You Can has been nothing but magic from the minute it came into my life until right now when it comes up. It just makes me smile every time it comes up in any way.

I mean, imagine, after auditioning steadily for seven years, suddenly Steven Spielberg is calling you to offer you, OFFER YOU a role in his movie. It really felt other-worldly to me, and then not only did he offer it, it happened.

I actually couldn't believe that I was finding myself on this set with him and with Leo and then this scene was so much fun to shoot. It was such a great day, not just because we were kissing, but because Steven was having so much fun directing it, the whole place just lights up. I think that's the way he directs. He seems to love it so much. That was my experience with him.

Then to have the movie come out and think that it's as fun as I thought it was, and I'm actually in it. Not only do I love the movie but I'm in it! I love my scene! I'm so happy.

It's just been nothing but great and to go back to Alias after the Christmas break and have my crew say, 'Jen! We saw the movie! We're so excited!'

That just makes me happy.

Q: Do you have a toy?

A toy for Catch Me If You Can?

Q: No.

For Elektra? There is a toy for Elektra. I haven't seen this young lady yet. There's also an Alias action figure. I'm about to be like fifteen action figures at once but I haven't seen any of them.

Q: Is it a thrill to be an action figure?

I haven't seen them. I don't know. I'll let you know.

Q: Did you get to know Ben from your work in Pearl Harbor?

We were around each other, together a lot. My was role was small enough and peripheral enough that I was given the gift of observation.

So, I was able to watch and admire the way Ben treated everyone around him from the crew to people with smaller roles, like myself, to background performers. He's really a gentleman and he's not afraid to laugh at himself, or you, and I knew, I just had an instinct that he would take care of me in my first step out there, and he did. I was right and I'm so glad that he was my first, my big red devil.

Q: Do you know your limitations when it comes to stunt work?

I did absolutely almost everything in the movie.

Q: Is there ever a point when they have to say you can't do that?

They don't have to say that to me. If there's something that I feel like...it's almost always something small, like jumping backwards off of something high, in heels, where I'll say, 'I don't trust myself to land and not tweak something.' That's when I'll put my double in because her balance is so impeccable. She's a gymnast.

Or there were a couple of aerials in the movie. I can't do an aerial. Even if you put a wire on me I don't know the first thing about doing an aerial so Shauna [Duggins], my stunt double would do that.

Or on Alias, if there's a thing falling down the stairs, I have no desire to fall down a flight of stairs. I don't think that that's fun. I don't get it. I only do what's fun. That's almost everything to me, but getting hit by a car: 'Shauna. Have a good day. I'll be right here. Don't get hurt. Love you. See you later.'

So I definitely know my own limitations. I push them a little bit, but not much. I definitely want to be at work the next day.

Q: Would Ben have made your list of 'Sexiest Guys Alive'?

You know, Ben is sexy because he's so kind, and because he has a great sense of humor and because he's 6' 4" and tall, dark and handsome and all that stuff. Sure, he'd make my list, but I'd laugh at it at the same time. He's such a big goofball.

Q: What kind of kidding did you guys do, both dressed in leather like that?

We felt just this side of ridiculous most of the time, especially when you're dangling from thin air on a wire. Yeah, I think we kind of laughed our way through the movie.

It was my summer job so I was definitely going to have a good time and I think Ben always has a good time. So, all of us laughed a lot, especially if Colin was around. Then you're guaranteed a good time.

Q: What do you think of that shot of you on the billboard?

Umm...that's something else. As the crew of Alias would call it, that's a biscuit shot. You see my biscuit.

They're always saying to me, 'OK, Jen. This is a biscuit shot. Adjust yourself.'

I think, good for them. Whatever they want to do.

Q: What's it like the first time you were held up on wires?

I was held up on Alias, during the pilot, the first time and I climbed up a building, you know, fifty feet in the air, and the first time, it was terrifying and exciting and you're looking at the word from this high, but you have to really trust your stunt coordinator.

You have to really trust the people that are hooking you up and Shauna Duggins, my stunt double, is so adamant about triple-checking every connection, my harness.

I know how to put a harness on by now. No. She comes in with me. She double checks. She triple checks. She tapes it down. She makes sure that I have not missed a beat because, you are dangling up there and because I trust her so much and because she's so careful with me I know that I'm going to be OK. So, then you just enjoy the ride.

Q: You trust her after a season on the show, but in that pilot you had to go more on faith. Where does that come from?

That's just guts. That's just, 'I'm gonna do this and the character's gonna do it and nobody else seems to be nervous about it so string me up.'

Q: How was it watching the film?

I haven't seen it. I haven't seen Daredevil.

Q: How do you think it'll compare with Spider-Man? How do you think those fans will like it?

I have no idea. I'm interested to see.

Q: What's your work-out schedule like?

I work out about an hour, not really more ever, a day, most days. It ends up being about five days a week. So every day that I can, whether that's at four in the morning or five in the morning. I do cardio and weights and circuits so that my heart rate is always up. A lot of stretching and a lot of injury preventative things with rotator cuffs and knees and backs and all that stuff. I have a great trainer, Valerie Waters. I've been with her for two years. I'm just so grateful for her.

Q: Four in the morning is pretty early. Do you like that?

Yes. It kind of shakes off the day before and gets you started for the day ahead. Once you get over it...lots of people get up at four in the morning. It's not that big of a deal. It just sounds impressive.

Article from Comics2Film.

     Posted 3:49 PM by Sarah  []

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Being Ben Affleck: Wanna try it out?

Ben Affleck is running late. He was supposed to turn up at 11 a.m. to begin a long day of interviews on behalf of "Daredevil," his new movie about a blind attorney who, every night, morphs into a mask-wearing vigilante. As 11 a.m. comes and goes, publicists with walkie-talkies and tense looks on their faces begin issuing updates on Affleck's whereabouts. He's in the building. He's coming down the hall. He's approaching. He's coming through a side door. He's here.

When Affleck finally arrives, he immediately disarms you with his sense of humor.

"I'm late so I'm starting at a serious deficit already, I can tell," he says. "I apologize. So go ahead and fire away with the really intrusive, insulting questions, and we'll be even."

Affleck is only half-joking. He's certainly not afraid to discuss what some in the media have disparagingly referred to as "The Bennifer Show." In case you haven't picked up a paper, watched TV, or logged onto the Internet in the last six months, Affleck is engaged to Jennifer Lopez.

Not since Richard Burton wooed Elizabeth Taylor has a celebrity couple generated so much buzz. The amount of interest in Affleck's love life has surprised even the actor, who was on the merry-go-around once before, with Gwyneth Paltrow.

"I do take a lot of comfort in the fact that there's only so much they can say about me and Jennifer and then somebody else comes along," he says.

"Colin Farrell is dating Britney Spears, and suddenly we're off the hook."

Not so fast, Ben. Inquiring minds want to know if the couple are having problems, as the tabloids keep trumpeting, or if they're headed for the altar anytime soon.

"I can tell you that nothing's changed as far as I know," he says. "But I'm not up to date with the papers. And, no, I'm not getting married in the near future."

Recently named the "Sexiest Man Alive" by People Magazine, Affleck, 30, hardly looks the part when he saunters into a conference room at Pasadena's Ritz Carlton Hotel.

Wearing jeans, sneakers, and a long-sleeve undershirt topped by a faded blue T-shirt, he resembles a skateboarder more than a Hollywood mover-and-shaker.

As for the "Sexiest Man Alive" business, Affleck says he was informed of the distinction by his mother. "I guess People called her first, and when she told me, I said, 'Mom, that could be a prank.' She said, 'No, it's not, and I just want to tell you I think it's ridiculous.' She goes, 'Just don't get a big head.' So that's my feeling about that."

Affleck certainly knows how to make the most of his contradictions. He says he longs for anonymity. Yet he pops up canoodling with Lopez in one of her videos.

He says he'd like to go back to his roots and make smaller movies along the lines of "Shakespeare in Love" and "The Boiler Room." Yet his next four flicks - "Gigli" with Lopez, "Jersey Girl," also with Lopez, "Surviving Christmas" with James Gandolfini, and John Woo's "Paycheck" - are big-budget pictures.

He says he's riddled with fears. "I have so many fears that it would be hard to itemize them all," he insists. "My real-life superhero would be called Anxiety Guy."

And yet he commands the screen in "Daredevil," which opens Friday and co-stars Jennifer Garner (of TV's "Alias"), Colin Farrell, Michael Clarke Duncan, and Jon Favreau. Shot between his movies with Lopez, "Daredevil" is likely to be another hit for Affleck, who rebounded nicely from the disaster that was "Pearl Harbor" by filling Harrison Ford's shoes as CIA analyst Jack Ryan in the $100-million-grossing "Sum of All Fears."

"Daredevil" is being hyped as this year's answer to "Spider-Man." Like the other Marvel Comic Book-inspired flick, the $80 million action extravaganza boasts a hunky hero in red tights who swoops around Manhattan fighting crime and wooing lovely ladies.

But there are some differences. Daredevil, who is a much darker character, pays a high price for his adventures. He might be the first superhero who pops Vicodin for his aching, crime-fighting limbs.

Starring as the sight-impaired superhero has long been a dream of Affleck's, a self-described comic book geek.

"It's hard to say why," the Boston native says. "I suppose this is a conversation better suited to my shrink. But why not talk about it? Every other issue of my life is worth baring to the world.

"When I was a kid, I noticed a contrast between Daredevil and others in the comic book universe, many of whom were chaste Boy Scouts. They were predictable. It was nothing I could ever identify with.

"And as I got into adolescence, Daredevil represented something more realistic. It sounds funny to say this about a guy who puts on a red suit and fights crime, but he was a flawed hero. He was openly religious. He had these tragic love affairs. He struggled with himself as much as he struggled with the bad guys. He didn't always win. He didn't always do the right thing. I guess that resonated with me a little bit more."

Despite traveling in some chi-chi circles, Affleck seems remarkably grounded.

Co-star Garner says she's been impressed with Affleck ever since they met on the set of "Pearl Harbor."

"I loved the way Ben treated people with smaller roles, like myself," she says. "He was so nice to the background performers and the crew. I had enough of a peripheral view to be able to observe him, and I was so impressed with him as a person."

She was even more impressed with Affleck on the set of "Daredevil" when he saved her from serious injury, or worse, during a tricky stunt.

"I was about to smash my head into this wall, and there was nothing I could do about it," Garner says. "I couldn't manipulate my way out of it at all, and out of nowhere comes this 6-foot-2 red devil and he just puts his arms out and goes, 'I've got her!'

"I'm telling you, I felt like I had my very own superhero. I was just swooped up by him."

Article from NorthJersey.com, written by Amy Longsdorf.

     Posted 3:34 PM by Sarah  []

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TV Gal Spells Out the Best Kisses

Pucker up. Because their kiss, their kiss is on my list.

Deep down, we know that a television couple is entirely fictional (really, we do). They're two actors paid to read their lines and emote (I'm serious, we know that). But sometimes we forget. Sometimes a television kiss is the butterflies-in-your-stomach, toes-curled, heart-go-pitter-patter kind of lip lock that we actually stand up and cheer.

Here are my 10 favorite television kisses of all time (I instituted a one kiss per show rule).


Sydney and Vaughn on "Alias" in "Phase One" : The kiss that inspired this particular column. After SD-6 had been destroyed and their reason for remaining apart obliterated, Sydney and Vaughn, in full S.W.A.T. team regalia, rushed toward each other, kissed, and the world around them disappeared. Jennifer Garner and Michael Vartan share a rare and palpable on-screen chemistry. They just look at each other and generate heat. So, when their lips finally met, it was the pay off fans have been patiently waiting for. Their little seduction in Sydney's kitchen in "Double Agent," was also fantastic, but there's nothing like the first kiss.

Find the other nine at Zap2I1. Article by Amy Amatangelo.

     Posted 3:30 PM by Sarah  []

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On TV, sex is everywhere, but where's the romance?

Scripted romances fare no better on TV. Creating a good one is such a problem that few writers even try anymore.

First, there's the elusive question of chemistry. As soap opera fans know, a "super couple" doesn't come around every day. Some pairs have jump-off-the-screen chemistry; others simply don't combust.

Then, there's the problem of pace. Get a couple together too quickly and the romance seems forced. Keep them apart too long, put too many obstacles in their path, and that gets tedious. Put them together forever and the show is really in trouble. If there's a true blow to TV romance, it's marriage.

Consider "Good Morning Miami," a show billed as a romantic comedy and built entirely on the will-they-or-won't-they relationship of its two lead characters, TV producer Jake (Mark Feuerstein) and hairdresser Dylan (Ashley Williams).

Adorable as she is, and nice guy that he seems to be, the pairing flopped. For one thing, instead of feeling spontaneous, it seemed forced. For another, the two actors have less chemistry than bagels and lox.

It's possible to get TV romance right, however.

The hottest current coupling is found on ABC's "Alias" (8 p.m. Sundays on Channel 30), where Sydney (Jennifer Garner) and forbidden-love Vaughn (Michael Vartan) recently shared an epic kiss as music soared and the camera swirled around them in a scene straight out of a 1940s movie.

Unfortunately, because of the whole CIA-double agent thing, and the fact that Vaughn is Sydney's boss, and the fact that everybody in the world is out to get them, they can never be together, at least not in public. How hot is that? It's a perfect solution to the TV-romance dilemma, and also calculated to keep Internet fan-fiction sites very, very busy.

Read more from St. Louis Post Dispatch. Article by Gail Pennington.

     Posted 3:19 PM by Sarah  []

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Farrell Hits The Bullseye

Colin Farrell, who plays the villainous Bullseye in the upcoming Daredevil movie, told SCI FI Wire that the character was a refreshing change from his other roles in serious movies such as Tigerland and Minority Report. "It was fun to do, man," the Irish actor said in an interview while promoting Daredevil.

Farrell added, "I've always ... just tried to concern myself with the character and what's going on in the character's head and heart. But this time there was no major internal struggle going on. It wasn't someone that lost a father or found himself in a prisoner-of-war camp or was going through anything really except just the fun and enjoyment and pleasure that he derived from killing people. He was fairly black and white, Bullseye."

In the film adaptation of the Marvel Comics series, Farrell plays the bald assassin who helps the evil Kingpin (Michael Clarke Duncan). "It was just a case of checking in your subtlety at the door and having a f--king good time, you know?" Farrell said. "And [director] Mark [Steven Johnson] was great to be around, because he was always inspiring me to just push the envelope and go further and further. And I enjoyed it."

Farrell said that it helped to wear a flowing black leather coat and the imprint of a bullseye on his forehead. "The costume was a huge help," he said. "You put that sh-t on, they put a bullseye on your head, you're bald, you've got piercings, and you just start moving a little bit differently and swaggering like your sh-t doesn't stink. ... You growl a lot, and you feel like you're just ridiculous and just a caricature and over the top, so you just deal with that." Daredevil opens Feb. 14.

Article from Sci Fi Wire.

     Posted 3:13 PM by Sarah  []

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New Poll at Sci Fi Wire

Alias star Jennifer Garner switches gears to play Elektra in the upcoming Daredevil movie. Who would win in a fair fight, spy girl Sydney Bristow or sword-wielding Elektra?

*Sydney would kick butt!
*Elektra's the devil's own!
*They'd tie, then have coffee.

Vote here

     Posted 3:03 PM by Sarah  []

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Post-9/11 shows fuel national pride
Realistic or not-so-much, pop culture's new face is pro-red, white and blue

On the Feb. 2 episode of the television series Alias, CIA agent Sydney Bristow came face-to-face with two identical men, one of whom stole the other's body and face through next-generation gene therapy.

This is the CIA?

Alias is in the middle of a boom in entertainment that portrays, accurately or not, the nation's federal intelligence agencies. Coupled with intelligence operations' heightened profile in the campaign against terrorism, shows like 24 and The Agency and films like The Recruit and The Sum of All Fears are opening students' eyes to a different way to serve their country. The spotlight on the nation's intelligence operations has brightened at the same time as an outbreak of law enforcement and government-based pop culture, fueling a general movement of national pride that has prompted changes in some students' career interests.

"I'd say in general there's probably a slight shift in terms of a slightly more patriotic viewpoint through those shows and movies," said Brad Morse, an adviser in the government and politics department. An increase in the number of students signing up for international politics courses was likely prompted by the national awareness, he said. Morse said the idea of pop culture additionally influencing students' decisions is not completely unfounded.

"I haven't seen specifically an influence, which may be surprising me a bit," Morse said. "I always figured all those lawyer TV shows probably influenced people to become lawyers and doctor shows [did the same for] doctors, but I haven't really seen a noticeable trend along those lines ... I think those things have subtle cultural effects, and they probably take years to happen."

The criminology and criminal justice department has also seen growth in the number of students in the major, an increase easily correlated with the fight against terrorism, officials said.

"Because of the emphasis on homeland security, [the number of students] has definitely increased a great deal in the past few years," said Barbara Scotto, an academic adviser for the department. "Our major now has over 1,400 students, so we're one of the largest on campus."

Scotto said most CIA employees work for other federal agencies before joining the agency, so their fields of study often vary. Paul Nowack, a CIA spokesperson, acknowledged the diverse nature of positions at the agency and said the applicant pool deepened considerably in the year following the terrorist attacks.

"We have had an increase of interest ... for working here since the 9/11 attacks," Nowack said. "We've more than doubled the amount of applications we usually get, something over 140,000 in that year, instead of the usual 60,000 or under."

Other sources at the CIA said application numbers occasionally spike with exposure gained from TV shows and movies. Despite the Hollywood endorsements, however, advisers emphasize that flashy scenes like those frequently shown on Alias are not always the best representations of reality.

"We have an office here, and have a person who coordinates with Hollywood," Nowack said. "In some cases, we've been approached for our cooperation to be advisers on some things for some of the recent productions and movies. Other things, we've not been consulted at all ... TV shows have their own agenda to provide entertainment. We have our own things that we have to do regardless of what anyone out there says about us ... [the TV shows] are for one purpose, and they'll portray us any way that they like, and that's certainly their right."

Scotto said few students come into her office motivated by a TV show or movie and advised against putting trust in the Tinseltown portrayal of any occupation.

"I think Alias is so in the realm of almost fantasy that I think people look at that and don't see that as a real possibility," Scotto said. "[Students] have to take it all with a grain of common sense."

The CIA is not alone in getting extra interest from exposure in the news and pop culture; Scotto mentioned the TV series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation as one that influences students to go into forensic sciences, and said the FBI is "the main agency that students are interested in."

Nick Stewart, a freshman criminology and criminal justice and government and politics major, said he hopes to work for either the FBI or CIA, and acknowledged the extra personal challenges brought on by heightened interest in the careers.

"I think applications [for the agencies] have increased ... that's kind of affecting me," Stewart said. "You really have to be on top of your game and really get a lot done to actually be looked at by them."

Although Stewart said he sometimes views government-based entertainment, he said consumers should understand the creative liberties taken by people behind the camera.

"Some of it is misrepresented, and a lot of it is Hollywood," Stewart said. "I did see The Recruit, and a good portion of that is true, but you know a lot of it is Hollywood, and I think it's glamorizing what these people do ... Obviously, everything's going to have dull moments and stuff you have to work towards."

Stewart acknowledged, however, the benefits the agency reaps from the extra attention. "[The agencies are] recruiting the best out of the best now," he said. "That couldn't be better for them."

Article from The Diamondback, written by Laura Kennedy.

     Posted 1:09 PM by Sarah  []

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A 'Daredevil' leap for minor superhero
Originally a modest action piece, the film took on blockbuster proportions after the success of 'Spider-Man.'


The making of "Daredevil" is the story of two movies. The first was conceived when "Spider-Man" was just another comic book. The second was made after the Tobey Maguire movie spun staggering box-office records.

Originally imagined six years ago as a $50-million action story with modest aspirations, "Daredevil" grew into a nearly $80-million would-be blockbuster. Much of the transformation can be linked to "Spider-Man," which debuted just weeks before "Daredevil" started production and eventually grossed more than $796 million worldwide.

" 'Spider-Man' did us a big favor," says Gary Foster, the producer of "Daredevil," which opens Friday. Thanks to Peter Parker's popularity, "Daredevil's" special effects budget was bolstered, renowned fight choreographer Cheung-Yan Yuen ("Matrix Reloaded," "Charlie's Angels") was brought in, and several shots were added to critical stunt sequences.

The flashy additions should help. Unlike some of its Marvel comic book brethren, "Daredevil" doesn't have huge name-brand appeal. If "Spider-Man" is the equivalent of John Grisham, "Daredevil" is more akin to John Irving. They both write books, but only the first author guarantees big opening-weekend business.

Still, it's no surprise that "Daredevil" has been turned into a movie. In the franchise fever currently seizing Hollywood, comic books are now seen as preeminent source material. They have devoted fans who turn out opening weekend, offer myriad possibilities for spinoffs and sequels (there are more than 100 characters in "X-Men" alone) and they often bring fresh storylines into the clichéd action genre.

This summer, moviegoers will see "The Hulk" and an "X-Men" sequel. In the works are a "Spider-Man" follow-up, "The Punisher," "Fantastic Four," "Ghost Rider," "Iron Man," "Namor," "Werewolf by Night" and new "Superman" and "Batman" movies. Suddenly, it's a very crowded arena.

Starring Ben Affleck, Colin Farrell and TV's "Alias" star Jennifer Garner in her first (and presumably not last) leading film role, "Daredevil" tells the story of Matt Murdock. Blinded in a childhood accident, Murdock (Affleck) is nevertheless dubbed the "Man Without Fear." Crusading lawyer by day, he turns into the violent vigilante Daredevil at night, guided by extrasensory perception that helps him "see."

Over the course of the film, Daredevil battles Bullseye (Farrell), a sharpshooter who turns peanuts, pencils and paperclips into lethal weapons; Elektra (Garner), a knife-twirling knockout; the crime boss Kingpin (Michael Clarke Duncan); and the most hideous villain imaginable, a pesky newspaper reporter (Joe Pantoliano).

Among comic book aficionados, "Daredevil" is a legitimate blockbuster; actor-comic book collector Nicolas Cage just auctioned his copy of a first issue of "Daredevil" for $11,500. But outside the universe of geeks who can debate for hours the talents of comic legends Stan Lee and Frank Miller (both of whom have cameos in the film), "Daredevil" enjoys fleeting awareness.

While many moviegoers had never heard of "X-Men" before that film's 2000 debut, the comic books of the same name are Marvel's biggest sellers. "Daredevil" is well down in the pack. In the last two months, it was Marvel's 13th bestselling title, trailing "Spider-Man," "X-Men" and "Avengers," the company says.

"When I first told people that I was making a movie called 'Daredevil,' " Foster says, "they would respond by saying, 'Oh, you're making a movie about (motorcycle stunt rider) Evel Knievel?' " Adds "Daredevil" director Mark Steven Johnson: "I was going after this before the whole Marvel phenomenon started. Nobody knew who Daredevil was."

'A hero who is human'

They are still learning. Before "Daredevil" was eventually made by 20th Century Fox and producing partner New Regency, several studios passed. Sony's Columbia Pictures, which made "Spider-Man," walked away from the project when it was unable to secure "Daredevil's" Internet movie rights -- and today we all know how valuable that isn't.

Despite its success with "X-Men," Fox was nervous about several aspects of "Daredevil's" making. "It's not as well known as 'X-Men' or 'Spider-Man,' but it is a great character," says Tom Rothman, Fox's chairman. "We weren't making it because it has a built-in fan base. We went into it because it's a great story -- this guy is deeply interesting. He's a hero who is human. He is morally complex, he bleeds, he hurts, and he is a flawed person."

"Spider-Man" proved audiences didn't mind a conflicted hero; it also showed that an actor like Maguire, best known for art films, could become an action star. The casting couldn't be more timely, at least in terms of free publicity. Affleck's relationship with Jennifer Lopez has filled miles of tabloid newsprint. Farrell recently showed up at the premiere of his other new movie, "The Recruit," with Britney Spears on his arm, nearly triggering a paparazzi riot.

The best timing, however, might revolve around the casting of Garner. The filmmakers closed their deal with Garner just hours before she won a Golden Globe last year for "Alias." While the first "Daredevil" poster featured only Affleck, the new edition showcases the entire lead cast, with Garner nearly as prominent as the film's title character in disguise.

It's an outfit that Affleck almost didn't get to wear. Fearful that audiences wouldn't accept Affleck (or any other actor, for that matter) in a tight red leather suit with little horns, Fox originally asked the costume designers to steer away from the comic book aesthetic.

"Studios are like banks: they are risk-averse," says Avi Arad, chief executive of Marvel Studios and a "Daredevil" producer. "They wanted the characters to look like somebody who could walk into a diner and no one would look up from their soup."

But the resulting costume design looked like a hip-hop interpretation of the Unabomber's FBI sketch: a man in a hooded sweatshirt and dark sunglasses. For the core audience, it rang false. "We were afraid of his looking ridiculous," Johnson says. "I mean, it's a guy in a devil suit. But at the same time, you have to honor the fans. You have to treat it seriously, with respect. If not, you're dead in the water. You've made 'Batman' or 'The Phantom.' "

'Wow' moments

For the core comic book crowd, authenticity helps open movies. What also boosts ticket sales are eye-popping special effects. Thanks to its $140-million budget, "Spider-Man" had plenty. How was "Daredevil" going to compete, with half that amount?

Already, "Daredevil" was shooting in Los Angeles to save money, even though almost the entire story is set in New York's Hell's Kitchen. Farrell was added to the cast at a deep discount, because he owed Regency and Fox a movie as part of his acting contract for an earlier movie, "Tigerland." And the special effects budget was less than what most big studios spend just on screenplay rewrites.

As soon as "Spider-Man" opened, Foster says, Fox "was suddenly saying, 'We need more "wow" moments. We need bigger effects.' "

The most significant improvements were made to a cinematic trick called Shadow World, which tries to represent Murdock and Daredevil's point of view. The number of Shadow World shots was increased by about 50%, but the film's effects budget still came in at only $6 million.

The filmmakers did not have enough money for an effects-heavy scene in which Daredevil runs across lanes of moving traffic. But they were able to add several impressive shots to a fight between Daredevil and Bullseye. Yuen choreographed two balletic fight sequences, one between Murdock and Elektra in a playground, the other between Daredevil and Bullseye in a church.

In adding all these bells and whistles, the challenge was not to lose Johnson's original idea for "Daredevil": a troubled protagonist who is far less invincible than his comic book peers.

"This was our chance to show something different, something you may not have seen before," says Johnson, whose only other directing credit came on the $21-million sentimental drama "Simon Birch," adapted from Irving's "A Prayer for Owen Meany." When you first meet the hero, Johnson says, he's not kicking anyone around. "In fact, he's bleeding to death."

While other comic book movies offer huge, expensive set pieces to wrap up their movies, "Daredevil" presents something much smaller. "I really don't know if this will work," Johnson says, discounting early talk of a "Bullseye" prequel, a "Daredevil" sequel and an "Elektra" spin-off. "We don't have the big third act of 'Spider-Man' or 'X-Men.' We have guys fighting in an office. Ours is very personal. It's not about saving the world."


Ben Affleck turns superhero in “Daredevil.”
(Zade Rosenthal)

In her first leading film role, Jennifer Garner plays the knife-twirling knockout Elektra.
(Zade Rosenthal)

Article from Calendar Live, written by John Horn.

     Posted 1:06 PM by Sarah  []

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Daring to trust a director's passion

Sometimes the logical choice isn't the right choice. Mark Steven Johnson, the 38-year-old director and screenwriter of "Daredevil," admits he's hardly an A-list director or writer. His most notable writing credits up until "Daredevil" were "Grumpy Old Men" and "Simon Birch." His last film was the 1998 Michael Keaton vehicle "Jack Frost." Made for around $50 million, it grossed a mere $34.5 million at the U.S. box office.

It isn't exactly the sort of track record you'd expect from the screenwriter-director at the helm of a $75 million action flick like "Daredevil."

Still, as a lifelong fan of the comic book on which the film is based, Johnson says that of all the projects he has been involved in, this is the one he always wanted to make.

"I knew nobody was going to hand me the keys to this movie. So, I kept calling Avi's [Arad, the head of Marvel Entertainment] office until he let me do this movie."

Arad says he was reluctant to entrust Johnson with the project at first.

"Mark was known as a fantastic comedy writer. Still, my No. 1 rule is the people involved in Marvel projects have to be passionate about them. With Mark, I could tell it would be a labor of love."

Once he got the job, Johnson wanted to be certain he got everything right.

"I'm under a lot of pressure. I got a tremendous opportunity. I feel responsible, not only to Fox because they stuck their neck out, but also to the fans, because I'm one of them," Johnson says.

He immediately came under fire from comic book fans who picked apart everything for costumes to casting choices.

Two particular characters caused the most ire. Elektra--Daredevil's love interest--is Greek, but Jennifer Garner--who plays the character in the film--is not. The scuttlebutt surrounding her casting was nothing compared to what followed when African-American actor Michael Clarke Duncan was cast as the villain Kingpin, though. Kingpin is a large, muscular character who happens to be white in the comic books.

"Fanboys will pick apart everything. I wanted to stay true to the comic and find the best possible Kingpin."

Johnson auditioned several wrestlers and while they fit the build of the character, none of them had the acting chops to pull off the role. Johnson is quick to defend his choices.

"I kept coming back to Michael. He has the physical presence and the acting skills. So he isn't white. Michael has the most important attributes of the character and that's why I cast him."

Cast in place, Johnson says he set out to make the best possible film he could.

"We'd shoot all night. I'd go back to my trailer, grab an hour or two of sleep, then get up and rewrite a scene and go shoot it. Everything had to be perfect. Once something is shot, you aren't able to change it. That's a pretty intimidating thing."

Johnson says he's most proud of one of the film's first scenes. After a night of crime fighting, the battered and bruised Daredevil comes home to his tiny, cramped New York apartment, finds out his girlfriend has dumped him via his answering machine, takes a fistful of painkillers and tries to get some sleep.

"You get the sense this guy can't go on much longer doing what he's doing. Daredevil is a man without fear, but that might not be such a great thing. As one of the characters in the film says, 'A man without fear is a man without hope.' "

Johnson himself remains optimistic. He's already attached to a "Daredevil" sequel should "The Man Without Fear" strike box office gold. He also says he'd be content making comic book movies for the rest of his life.

"Avi should be very nervous and leave no forwarding address," Johnson says with a laugh. "There's a lot in the Marvel universe I'd still like to get my hands on."

Article from the Chicago Sun-Times, written by Misha Davenport.

     Posted 1:00 PM by Sarah  []

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Marvel on a roll with screen success of superhero stable

Everyone--it seems--wants a piece of Marvel Comics. Just ask Avi Arad, the head of Marvel's film division, Marvel Entertainment.

"It's been a crazy day," Arad recently said from his cell phone.

A few days before the Super Bowl and while he was location scouting for the "Spider-Man" sequel in Manhattan, Arad found himself sidetracked after someone hacked into Universal Studios and stole the new "Hulk" trailer that was set to debut during halftime.

"It's all over the Internet. I've been on the phone all morning trying to get people to remove it from their Web sites."

Though he is a very busy man, Arad, 54, won't hear of talk of rescheduling an interview. Interest in films based on Marvel superheroes remains high and Arad would like to keep it that way.

"We're at the point where--finally--our work is being recognized as literature. Sure, they're comics, but they're also books."

Of course, it helps that one of Marvel's films last year, "Spider-Man," grossed $403 million and is No. 5 on the list of top-grossing films of all time. Its other, "Blade II," also was a hit.

This year promises to be no different. In addition to Daredevil, Marvel superheroes such as the Incredible Hulk and the X-Men are poised to leap from the panels of comic books to the big screen. Another Marvel property--"Mutant X"-- is the second-highest-rated series in syndication and has just been renewed.

Arad said 2004 will be even busier, with four films being considered for release. In addition to the "Spider-Man" sequel, the studio plans to release "The Punisher," "Namor: The Sub-Mariner" and quite possibly either "The Fantastic Four" or "Ghost Rider."

Many of the projects have been in development hell for years. Marvel, however, is enjoying some new-found clout and the studio has been able to get some of its long-languishing projects off the ground.

"It's about having the best and brightest in entertainment wanting to take part in your projects. That's what it takes. Without the best, you can't make these movies," Arad said.

Arad has said he'd love to cast George Clooney as The Fantastic Four's leader, Mr. Fantastic. There's another A-list star he's set his sights on for a future Marvel project.

"Tom Cruise. I would love to have him for 'Iron Man.' If he wanted it, he could definitely be my Tony Stark."

The Sci-Fi Channel is also developing "Brother Voodoo"--about a doctor who is also a voodoo priest--as a two-hour movie that will serve as a possible pilot for a future series if the ratings are good. "1000 Days," based on another obscure Marvel property called "Strikeforce: Morituri," is also being groomed as a possible series for the cable channel.

If that wasn't enough, Arad says there's even a "Daredevil" sequel waiting to be green-lighted should the first film prove to be a powerhouse. Arad also is in talks with Jennifer Garner to spin off her "Daredevil" character Elektra into her own film franchise.

"It's in the script phase, but Jennifer says she's already attached. She had a great experience making 'Daredevil' and is looking forward to returning to the role," Arad said.

Article from the Chicago Sun-Times, written by Misha Davenport.

     Posted 12:57 PM by Sarah  []

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Giving the 'devil his due

Sixty stories above street level in New York City, there's a damsel in distress. Actress Jennifer Garner is about to hit the wall--literally.

Her troubles began when Mark Steven Johnson, the director of "Daredevil," made a not-so-simple request. "Jen, see that brick wall we created on the rooftop. Well, run straight at it going full speed, throw your legs up and flip over." Wired for safety and stunt savvy from her TV series "Alias," a game Garner gave it her best shot.

Months later, she recalls, "I ran at the wall, went to throw my legs in the air and got entangled in the safety wires. My arm was caught and I swung at top speed and face first towards the brick wall. I was going so fast that I honestly didn't think I'd have a face left."

It wasn't a bird, it wasn't a plane that saved her. It was a 6'4" fiancee of another Jennifer who, in a red leather suit, raced forward, shoved a few lesser mortals out of his way and put his arms out. Ben Affleck, who is "Daredevil," wasn't acting when he screamed, "Don't worry! I got her!"

Even half a year later, Garner marvels, "It wasn't like he was 'Daredevil.' It was like he was Superman or something."

"These days most people are sick of seeing me," Affleck jokes on a sunny morning in Pasadena at the Ritz Carlton Hotel, where he and Jennifer Lopez are staying. "But Jennifer Garner was really, really glad I showed up that day."

In a white T-shirt and jeans, Affleck doesn't look like he's up for any superhuman duties today. In fact, he looks a little bit whupped. For the last year, his very public romance with fiancee Jennifer Lopez has been played out in the mass media--ad nauseam.

"I'd like to work without being in the middle of a tornado," Affleck says, and then he shrugs. "I guess this is how you get the big-money movies. I'd like to think that I'm a towering talent. The truth is, I've had to sell my life along with the movies. It's all about visibility."

Affleck, who stars in "Daredevil," opening Friday, would like you to believe that he is having a devil of a time adjusting to being in the limelight. Sure, there are funny moments, like when he was named by People magazine as their 2002 Sexiest Man Alive. "People called my Mom first. So Mom calls me and says, 'You're the sexiest man alive?' I said, 'Mom, it's probably a prank.' Mom says, 'You as the sexiest man alive? It's ridiculous, Ben! But if it's true, don't get a big head.'"

That's tough when you have a superhero movie out next weekend that has you in enough red leather to upholster a fleet of Rolls Royces.

In "Daredevil," Affleck plays the dual role of lawyer Matt Murdock, a.k.a. "Daredevil" or "The Man Without Fear." The character is based on the Marvel comic about a native of Hell's Kitchen who has an accident as a young boy and is blinded. The good news is that all his other senses become hyper acute. He "sees" with almost a sonar sense.

As an adult, Murdock becomes a lawyer by day and judge and jury by night. Dressed like the devil in red, he rids the streets of scourges like a one-man vigilante squad.

"He goes to confession at church. His priest is sort of his Alfred," says Affleck. "At nights, he takes Vicodin to make the pain of all that street fighting go away. This is a guy who hurts."

"He also makes out. He's a dog in that area," says "DD" director Johnson. "Daredevil hits on girls and plays the blind boy routine." But he's not just a lover of Elektra (Jennifer Garner). Daredevil also must fight to save his city from the evil Kingpin (Chicago's own Michael Clarke Duncan) and a vicious killer named Bullseye (Colin Farrell), who got that name because he never misses.

From the start, Affleck wanted in on the action. "I loved the comic books as a boy because this Daredevil wasn't some chaste Boy Scout. The guy represented something more realistic. I know, it sounds funny because the guy still puts on a red suit, tights and fights crime. Still, I liked that he didn't always do the right thing. He was just a guy with a handicap and some vulnerabilities and peculiarities. Yet, when he gets hit, he bleeds."

Playing blind wasn't for wimps. Affleck says, "Pacino did a fantastic job playing blind in 'Scent of a Woman.' He set the bar high." So, Affleck decided to hit that mark by studying with blind actor Tom Sullivan. He also wore opaque contact lenses, which actually did blur his vision. "I really couldn't see well. The challenge was not to walk into the furniture," he says.

The other challenge involved the fight scenes with Duncan, Farrell and a tough girl named Jennifer Garner. "One day, I kicked Ben so hard in the head," frets Garner. "He said to me, 'Owww, that hurt. Plus, it's not fair. I saved your head from that brick wall and you just kicked mine in.'"

She adds, "We worked with master fight trainer Cheung Yan Yuen, who choreographed 'Charlie's Angels.' And we also worked with his brother Wo-Ping Yuen, who did all the action for 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.' But we didn't have three months to train. I was filming 'Alias' and Ben was being Ben all over the world.

"We had weeks to train, which is why one day I also took a chunk out of Ben's nose, a big piece," Garner says, wincing. "I hit him hard, he was bleeding and Ben's makeup artist freaked. I was like, 'Is he insured?'"

But unlike his character, Affleck is not the Man Without Fear. "I have so many fears," he jokes, "that if I were a superhero, I'd be Anxiety Guy."

Article from the Chicago Sun-Times, written by Cindy Pearlman.

     Posted 12:55 PM by Sarah  []

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Heroine chic
Jennifer Garner electric as Daredevil's equal in adaptation of Marvel comic
Houston native defends her troubled hero


As Ninja assassin Elektra Natchios, Jennifer Garner proves she knows her way around a sword. Ben Affleck plays the title character in Daredevil which opens on Friday.

PASADENA, Calif.—Jennifer Garner likes to begin most days by hitting the gym as early as 4:30 a.m. An hour of cardio, weight circuits and stretching and she's off to a gruelling 15-hour day on the set of her hit TV series Alias. That doesn't leave much time for the Houston native to spend with her husband of two years, actor Scott Foley. Still, she insists, "He's the one I want to be with when I do have the time, so we make it happen whenever we can."

Recently, Garner, 5-foot-8 with flowing, shoulder-length brunette locks, ducked out of a cast dinner honouring her new movie Daredevil, offering only: "I'm sorry guys, I've got a date."

Garner and Foley have been hopeless romantics since their first meeting on the set of his now-cancelled teen drama Felicity in 1998.

"I remember the very first day going home and telling my roommate 'That's the girl I'm gonna marry,'" he gushed in January. But it wasn't exactly that easy.

"I let him woo me for a little," Garner says with a smile. "And he did. He was very determined."

First came the phone calls. Then the flowers.

"He took me for drives and made me dinner," she remembers. "And he didn't try to kiss me too soon. He definitely took his time."

Garner admits a romantic trip to Paris finally sealed the deal. "We rode the Ferris wheel, held hands, sipped hot chocolate in bistros and fell completely and ridiculously in love," she says.

Two years later, Foley still lights the walkway to their house with candles and wakes up early on weekends to cook his wife breakfast in bed.

The couple was married on Oct. 19, 2000 in the backyard of their San Fernando Valley home. So far, despite their busy schedules, the relationship is holding firm. The house, however was another story. "The plumbing didn't work, the septic tank was old, and the electricity was kind of off," Garner laughs. "So we just moved to a smaller place where everything works."

They brought along their Maltese terrier Charlie Rose (not named after the American TV newscaster) and a beagle-boxer mix named Maggie May that Foley rescued one afternoon after she had been hit by a car. "We became an instant family," Garner says. It may be a while, however, before there are any further additions to the household.

"We're both still young and although we want to have children and we've spoken about it, we are both pretty happy with our lives right now, living one day at a time," Foley says.

On rare nights off, Garner and Foley enjoy quiet nights at home playing Scrabble or Gin. This weekend they are going to New York City where Garner was scheduled to host Saturday Night Live. It's a final chance to promote her role in Daredevil, a big-screen adaptation of the popular Marvel comic, starring Ben Affleck as the blind superhero. It opens Friday.

Garner stars as Elektra Natchios, a Ninja assassin and Daredevil's old flame. "What I love about Elektra is that she is Daredevil's equal," Garner says. "She can take him physically. She is as smart as he is. She is absolutely capable of taking care of herself ... yet she has a very feminine side."

So does Garner, who grew up playing the saxophone and dancing ballet. She was never much of a comic fan growing up in Charleston, W. Va. "I followed Little House On The Prairie and Emily Of New Moon," she says.

Garner is the middle of three girls born to Pat, a retired English teacher and Bill, a former chemical engineer. While enrolled at George Washington High School, Garner and her best friend Carrie babysat, took care of neighbours' pets and sold ice cream to earn enough money for clothes from her favourite store, The Limited. She dated a popular football player, but wasn't exactly a social butterfly. "I wasn't popular, but I wasn't tragic, either," Garner says with a laugh. "I didn't like parties and I still don't."

Instead, she prefers gardening, hiking and cooking. In fact, while filming the pilot for Alias, each Sunday night Garner would prepare all of her meals for the following week. "I would just have a big cook-a-thon and make all of these healthy things: soup, chicken breast, vegetable lasagna," she says.

Garner, who admits to having a soft spot for Martha Stewart ("I know she's supposed to be mean, but I just love her"), enrolled at Denison University in 1990 to study chemistry but changed her major to drama. After college, she moved to New York and then to Los Angeles, paying the bills with a hostess job at Isabella's restaurant.

She scored guest spots on Fantasy Island (the later series), Law & Order and Spin City, before landing the breakthrough role of Agent Sydney Bristow in 2001. Garner is currently filming the romantic drama 13 Going On 30 opposite Mark Ruffalo.

Plans are also in the works for a Daredevil spin-off movie featuring Elektra in the starring role — an idea she likes.

"Wouldn't that be fun?"

Article from TheStar.com, written by Sean Daly.

     Posted 11:04 AM by Sarah  []

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Ben-hero

PASADENA -- Jennifer Garner had to do some major moonlighting to play the love interest of Matt Murdock (Ben Affleck) in Daredevil.

There were weeks she was doing double duty travelling from the set of her hit TV show Alias to play Daredevil's Elektra Natchios, who becomes the prey of the villainous Kingpin (Michael Clarke Duncan) and his henchman Bullseye (Colin Farrell).

Garner says Affleck became her hero off-camera as well as on-camera.

It happened while they were rehearsing a courtship sequence in which Elektra and Matt engage in a battle of skill and wit in a playground.

"At one point Elektra runs up a wall, flips over and lands on her feet. I was on a wire which helped with the momentum. During one take, during the flip, I got tangled in one of the safety wires.

"I was being propelled back toward the wall. If Ben hadn't swooped in and caught me in his arms, I would have smashed my head or face against the wall."

Garner and Affleck have a second fight sequence, but this time as Elektra and Daredevil, when she wrongly believes he is the evil force in her life.

These two scenes were inserted as a result of the success of Spider-Man.

"Because they weren't planned, Ben and I had to rehearse these two scenes for three hours every day for six weeks.

"We worked with (fight choreographer) Cheung Yan Yuen who'd worked on The Matrix. For most of that rehearsal period he hated everything Ben and I did. He'd scold us after every attempt, so we were unbelievably proud when we finally got his approval."

The success came at a cost.

"I actually took a divot of skin out of Ben's nose. His makeup man had to fill it in every day for weeks.

"Ben joked that he had saved my nose and I tried to break his."

Garner says her training for Daredevil has greatly enhanced her stunt work on Alias.

"No one ever demanded I get really good on Alias. I just had to make it look good. On Daredevil, they pushed me daily to excel.

"I took two of Ben's Daredevil stuntmen back to do an episode of Alias that showcases some wicked action because we were used to working with each other."

Article from Canoe, written by Louis B. Hobson.

     Posted 10:57 AM by Sarah  []

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Femme fatale
Smalltown girl makes big in Daredevil

PASADENA -- Jennifer Garner is every bit as proud of her off-screen alias as she is of her on-screen ones.

In her reel life, Garner plays such super women as double agent Sydney Bristow on TV's Alias and Elektra Natchios, billionaire love interest of Matt Murdock, the blind vigilante in Daredevil.

In real life, Garner is Mrs. Scott Foley, the wife of the actor she met in 1998 on the set of the TV drama Felicity.

Foley, 30, was series regular Noel Crane for four seasons.

Garner, 30, played Hannah Bibb in three episodes.

"From the moment I met Scott, he definitely intrigued me. I knew I wanted to see him again," says Garner, adding they dated cautiously.

"He was very big into flowers and still is. He'd always send me flowers after a date.

"I liked that he didn't try to kiss me too soon, but what I really loved was that he would cook for me on weekends. That seemed so romantic."

They were married in October of 2000 and Garner insists "Scott is still as romantic as he was when we were first courting, and he can still prepare an incredible meal."

These days, Garner oversees what her husband cooks because she has him on the strict low-carbs diet she follows in order to stay fit for the rigorous filming schedule of her TV show Alias.

"Scott gained quite a bit of weight when he stopped smoking. I waited until it was his decision to lose the weight and then we dieted together."

She's so proud of his progress that Garner insists her husband should be the next screen Superman.

"Scott's butt would look so great in those Superman tights."

Garner says she's been in tune with her body since she was a child.

"I was trained as a ballet dancer and so I understand my body, which is why the stunts and fights on Alias and in Daredevil are something I loved doing.

"These screen fights and actions scenes are really just another form of choreography."

SURPRISE STAR

Garner was a relative unknown when she was cast in the TV spy drama Alias.

She'd had guest spots on such TV shows such as Law & Order, Spin City and The Pretender, and had minor roles in such films as Dude, Where's My Car? and Pearl Harbor.

In its first season, Alias earned Garner a Golden Globe for best dramatic actress, and the show's fan base continues to grow.

"It doesn't seem odd to me to be recognized in public and have people say hello. I'm from a small town where everyone says hello to everyone else.

"I haven't had to cope with paparazzi yet and doubt I will because I'm happily married with no skeletons in my closets.

"The only drawback is that I'm getting my share of really sexy leading men. Scott understands it's all part of my job, but doesn't exactly love it."

Article from Canoe, written by Louis B. Hobson.

     Posted 10:52 AM by Sarah  []

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Sensing a hit
'Daredevil' brings his courage and brains from the printed page to film


"Spider-Man" is No. 4 on the all-time blockbus ter list - not bad for a charac ter based on a "funny book."

Friday, another Marvel Comics character hits the big screen, and Marvel is betting that "Daredevil" also will be a hit.

But don't expect another Spider-Man movie.

"Daredevil," starring Ben Affleck in the title role, is different, said Avi Arad, Marvel's representative to the film industry. It will be a much darker film.

Daredevil is a vigilante whose super-enhanced senses more than make up for his blindness. He's more Batman than Captain America, more at home fighting street crime than world-class villains.

"Spider-Man is an icon, known all over the world," said Arad. "Children wear Spider-Man pajamas who have never seen a Spider-Man comic. Daredevil is not as well-known but is a hero in and out of his costume.

"He's human. He hurts. He's not perfect. He does not have all the powers that the other guys do. Also, he's religious, and that plays a part in his life."


A regular hero

Like Spider-Man, Daredevil was born of tragedy. But, in many ways, Daredevil is more of a hero than Spider-Man, The Fantastic Four or The Avengers.

Those other guys have all kinds of superpowers. You can't hurt The Thing with a Sherman tank. Daredevil is close to being just a regular guy.

He has some interesting abilities: senses so enhanced that he could tell you how many grains of salt were on the pretzel he just ate. He could track down a woman by the scent of her perfume, or a man by his body odor.

It seems as if these abilities might be fun at dinner parties but hardly useful when involved in a life-or-death battle with villains such as Electro, The Owl or The Gladiator.

Daredevil relies on courage and brains. At times, he tricks his adversaries into defeating themselves. Over the years, he has developed a reputation in the criminal community as a hero to be feared.

Arad believes all that comes across in the film. He said it doesn't hurt to have a comic fan and movie star such as Affleck behind the mask either. Affleck's co-star is Jennifer Garner (from television's "Alias") as Elektra, a trained ninja and Daredevil's love interest. She already has signed to star in a Daredevil-less "Elektra" sequel.

Arad said the one to watch in the film is the hulking Michael Clarke Duncan as crime lord Wilson Fisk, "The Kingpin."

"People are going to love him," Arad said. "He has a presence on the stage. They will also be attracted to the other villain in the movie, Bullseye, [played by Colin Farrell]. He's a killer with an attitude, a natural star. He could have joined a rock band or played football, but instead he is a charming killer that people will like in spite of what he does."

Like his comic-book counterpart, Bullseye can use anything as a deadly weapon. He can throw the simplest object with such force and unerring accuracy that even a simple paper clip or pen becomes a weapon in his hands.

"He would never use anything so mundane as a knife or gun to kill," Arad said. "For Bullseye, it's got to be done with style."

Arad said the comic-based movies walk a very fine line. They try to remain true to the comics to please the fans but also appeal to people who have never read a comic.

"It all comes down to the script," he said. "It has to be a good story. When you go back to these comics, you find a great story for the taking."


As a child

With Daredevil comics, the story was written by Stan Lee and drawn by Bill Everett in 1964. A host of artists took up the pencils after Everett's first issue. Dozens of writers and artists handled the book over the years with wildly varying degrees of skill.

Daredevil is a lawyer, the only child of a washed-up boxer and a woman who became a nun. As a young boy, Matt Murdock was not allowed to play with the other kids in the tough New York neighborhood called Hell's Kitchen.

His father wanted him to do well in school, go to college and be a success. Matt must have been the greatest kid in the world, because he understood and appreciated what his father was doing. He studied, ignoring the taunts of the neighborhood bullies who called him "Daredevil" as an insult.

Unknown to his father and to the other kids, Matt spent as much time training his body in a neighborhood gym as he did his mind. He was sort of a closet athlete.

His life changed on a busy New York street corner when a blind man walked in front of a truck. Matt pushed the man out of the way as the truck swerved and flipped over to avoid them. A vial containing a radioactive isotope fell out and struck Matt on the face, blinding him.

In real life, he would have gotten cancer and probably died. But, as it often happens in comics, the substance imbued him with incredible senses and enhanced physical skills.

He went to college, got a law degree and opened a practice with his college roommate, "Foggy" Nelson. His first act as a superhero was to avenge his father's murder.

"Battlin' Jack Murdock" was making a comeback, never realizing that his opponents were taking dives.

When the time came for Murdock to feign defeat, he couldn't because his son was in the audience. He won the fight but lost his life.


Bumps in the road

Romance and Daredevil's career would have their ups and downs. He fell in love with his secretary, Karen Page, and told her his secret. She went off to Hollywood to become an actress but instead became a heroin-addicted porn star who eventually betrayed Daredevil to Kingpin.

Writer/artist Frank Miller delivered the quintessential Daredevil stories when he introduced Elektra. The woman was a college love of Murdock's who was turned into a murder machine.

Still, they fell in love, and things seemed to be going great until she was murdered by Bullseye and died in Daredevil's arms.

She got better (this is the comics, after all), but things were never the same.

Miller also wrote the dramatic, yearlong "Born Again" saga where The Kingpin destroys Daredevil and Murdock professionally, psychologically, physically and emotionally. It took months for Daredevil to recover.

Years later, Daredevil turned the tables on Kingpin and destroyed him in much the same way.

Ironically, Kingpin started out as a Spider-Man foe. Marvel hopes that the folks who liked the "Spider-Man" movie will feel the same about "Daredevil."

Article from Cleveland.com.

     Posted 10:47 AM by Sarah  []

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