Ben Affleck in Daredevil in 2003.

Picture: Marvel/20th Century Movies

Before Charlie Cox fought guys in hallways and made frequent blind jokes in the MCU, 2003 daredevil the movie has a hangover matt murdock for years. The Ben Affleck-directed movie could probably be considered a cult classic these days in some ways, but it doesn’t really come up in conversation unless someone wants to say Cox’s Matt Murdock is the definitive version of the character.

daredevil celebrated its 20th birthday before the start of the weekend, and Yahoo Entertainment managed to sit down with its director Mark Steven Johnson to revisit the film. Johnson, who also directed the 2007 films Ghost Rider, was candid in saying that the maligned film was jam-packed. “I wanted it all to be in there, but the movie couldn’t handle much,” Johnson said. “I wanted to do the Daredevil origin story, and I wanted to do the Elektra saga and I wanted to feature Bullseye and Foggy. […] One of the mistakes I made with the film was wanting to put it all in!

When daredevil had its physical output, there was also a plus beloved director cut featuring a subplot with the late Coolio. Naturally, Johnson considers the “true” version of the film, as it has more of everything in the theatrical cut and turns out to be a “more complete” film. “When you’re told to cut half an hour and make it more of a love story, things start to feel rushed and not quite right. It’s a fan thing: when you love something so much, you want to say it all.

In that same interview, Johnson explained what he had in mind for a potential sequel. Like the original film, its follow-up would have focused more on Matt’s love life, but this time with Karen Page (played by Ellen Pompeo). But that was entirely dependent on the success of the Jennifer Garner spin-off film. Electra, which was released in 2005 without much critical or commercial fanfare. “I didn’t work on the Elektra movie at all, but that one didn’t work out and then it all kind of went away, unfortunately,” he said.

For the complete return on Daredevil 2003, which also includes Johnson’s thoughts on mastering the Kingpin (played by the late Michael Clarke Duncan) and Marvel’s involvement in his film at the time, you can read it here. And you can watch the daredevil movie on HBO Max.


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