Mark Steven Johnson’s a little jittery right now. He
may have brought “Daredevil,” to the silver screen, but
writer/director Johnson is still a bundle of nerves about this
six-year project.
“It’s funny, because the director’s really
nervous about you guys,” said Michael Clark Duncan, who plays
Kingpin in the film. “I mean, yesterday, when he was on
camera, he was having a fit! He was just so nervous, that it was
comical.”
The nervousness is understandable: “Daredevil” is
Johnson’s baby and it’s been a long time coming.
Johnson, who had read “Daredevil” since he was nine,
began his mission to make the film by writing the script, which
included many references to Marvel comic illustrators.
He even created a new character, Father Everett, in honor of
“Daredevil” co-creator Bill Everett.
“I just wanted to pay homage to everybody that influenced
me,” Johnson said. “I’m hoping that if, God
willing, the movie does well, that people will go start buying the
comics and go, “˜Who is Frank Miller? Who is Bill Everett?
What do these people mean?’ and hook people on what these
guys have done.”
Johnson’s concept of “Daredevil” favors a
grittier New York, where even superheroes bleed and take Vicodin.
The realism of the characters is what attracted Ben Affleck, star
of the film and longtime fan of the comic, to the project.
“I identified with him because he was a flawed
hero,” said Affleck, who wrote the introduction to Kevin
Smith’s “Daredevil Visionaries” graphic novel.
“He was handicapped, he was openly religious, he struggled
with himself, and he didn’t always win or do the right thing.
He represented something to me that was more realistic.”
The fights in “Daredevil” are not city-wide threats;
they are intimate encounters between the characters.
“You watch these superhero movies, and they top themselves
at the end with a big scene: the Green Goblin holding the tram in
“˜Spider-Man,’ or Magneto’s mutant wave over New
York City in “˜X-Men,'” said Johnson. “At
the end, we’ve got two guys in an office. But I like that, I
like that it’s very personal.”
Marvel was impressed by the script Johnson had written, which
led to Johnson’s contract to write and direct. But just as
“Daredevil” is a relatively obscure superhero, Johnson,
who previously directed “Grumpy Old Men” and
“Simon Birch,” is a foreign figure in the action film
industry, and he and the producers had to fight to keep him as the
director.
“The problem is, when you write a great script, the
natural thing for the studio to think is, “˜Wow! What a great
script! We can get anybody!'” said Avi Arad, executive
producer. “That’s the business, and they have the right
to think like that, but it’s our obligation to fight for the
guy we want to put in front. As far as I was concerned, (Johnson)
had to direct this movie.”
“I was such a long shot, such an unlikely choice,”
Johnson said. “I got the job through sheer attrition, just by
being there all the time.”
Although the buzz is deafening on this project, with billboards
and posters on virtually every corner, Johnson acknowledges that
this film probably will not achieve the monetary success of a
certain webbed counterpart.
“Nobody can compete with “˜Spider-Man;’
“˜Spider-Man’ is “˜Spider-Man,'”
Johnson said. “Nobody knows who “˜Daredevil’ is.
We know that. We just want to do well, to turn people on to
something new.”
Marvel does not do test screenings for any of its pictures as
fans tend to release unwanted spoilers. Johnson is still
apprehensive about the potential reaction from audiences and fans.
But whatever happens, he did it his way.
“I just wanted something a little darker, a little
different,” he said. “I don’t know if it works,
but I just always try to do what you’re not expecting. So
even if it sucks, and people don’t like it, at least it was
different.”