TV Guide



TV Guide, Feb 8, 2003

He's engaged to J.Lo, but who would have guessed Ben Affleck's real fantasy was to kick butt in tight red leather? Now, as Marvel's cult comic comes to life, the actor gets in touch with his inner superhero- and Alias's Elektra-fying Jennifer Garner.

     BEN AFFLECK'S HEART IS BREAKING. Try as he might to disguise it by shielding his wounded eyes with a pair of cranberry-tinted sunglasses, it's obvious from the way he stands in the pouring rain pleading with his lover to reconsider. "You don’t have to do this alone," he says, his voice cracking with emotion.
     But it's no use. Jennifer is clearly a woman who has made up her mind. Surrounded by a bevy of black-clad bodyguards, she delicately dabs her teary eyes with a tissue once more before turning on her Gucci stilettos and disappearing into the backseat of an idling limo. One of the beefy guards slams the car door and, with it, the hope of any future the once inseparable couple might have had.
     Never fear, readers. The gut-wrenching breakup is only as real as the rainfall the film crew is currently creating, courtesy of water hoses and a gigantic net strung between two sets of trees. Within moments, the Jennifer in question- Ms. Garner, of TV's Alias-emerges from her limo to engage in spirited small talk with costar Affleck before launching into the next take. It's June 2002, and the actors are nearing the end of filming "Daredevil," the tragically romantic comic book film opening on Valentine's Day. It's still months before Affleck will buy that other Jennifer-nee jenny From the Blockthat big of rock or be crowned People magazine's Sexiest Man Alive.

     These days, the "Daredevil" gang is hardly complaining about the blinding publicity generated by those developments. "I'm not gonna lie," producer Gary Foster says. "Those things certainly don't hurt [awareness of the film]. Ben's in every paper you pickup."
     "Daredevil" could use the extra help. Unlike "Spider-Man," the last big budget comic book adaptation to hit the screen, "Daredevil" is hardly a household name. Created by Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee and Bill Everett in 1964, the character is upstanding lawyer Matt Murdock by day and a crimson-clad vigilante by night Despite his superhero status, he sometimes gets beaten in the courtroom and beaten up by the bad guys. He's moody, racked with self doubt and has a proclivity for popping pain pills. And did we mention that he's blind? And that his love life's a mess? (His soul mate, Elektra, played in the film by Garner, also just happens to be a sword-swirling assassin out for Daredevil's blood.) "It's very much like a Puccini opera," says "Daredevil" producer and Marvel Studios CEO Avi Arad. Daredevil and Elektra "find out that good things don't last for them, but this moment of great love is worth living for."
     In other words, "Daredevil" isn't exactly the kind of family-friendly fare that helped "Spider-Man" become the fifth-biggest movie in box office history. Ask anyone involved in "Daredevil," and they're quick to put the kibosh on any expectations of Spidey-like success. "This is a completely different movie," Foster says. "Nobody in their right mind should think that it can make that kind of money."
     Still, Twentieth Century Fox (the studio producing the film) has reportedly sunk nearly $100 million into "Daredevil" in hopes of spawning its next potential franchise. And if moviegoers latch on to the character with the fervor that its comic book fans always have, the film could indeed be a hit. "When I was a kid, I believed Daredevil was real," director Mark Steven Johnson says. "I thought he was just keeping a low profile; that's why he wasn't on the news. He was just so human. He was the ultimate underdog."
     Johnson can relate. Despite his childhood obsession with the character, the 38year-old writer-director faced an uphill battle in winning the plum job. "I wasnft the obvious choice," admits Johnson, who coscripted the little-seen Michael Keaton comedy "Jack Frost" and whose sole other directing credit is the critically knocked "Simon Birch" "The movies I've done have always had plenty of seats still available."

     It took six years, but Johnson's unwavering passion for the character-as well as his vision of "Daredevil" as an emotionally driven action movie about the repercussions of being a superhero-ultimately convinced two different studios that he was the right man for the job. (The project was at Sony before landing at Fox.) It also helped land his leading man. Affleck, himself a die-hard Daredevil fan, initially met with Johnson to discuss playing Bullseye, the film's flashy villain role. Or so he thought. "I get there and Mark immediately says, `You have to play Matt Murdock,"' Affleck remembers. "He'd brought all these sketches he'd done and had so much passion that I knew he would kill himself to make a good movie. I'd fantasized about being this character a million times as a kid, and here Mark was dangling that carrot in front of me. He sucked me right in."
     Garner, however, was a complete Daredevil novice. "Growing up, it never occurred to me to read a comic book," she says. "I grew up in a family of girls. We read Seventeen." Still, an initial fear of being typecast as "Action Girl" ultimately gave way to a burning desire to fine-tune her stunt prowess. While still shooting Alias, she spent weekends learning how to wield prolonged knives called sais, Elektra's weapon of choice. Then, during production on "Daredevil," she and Affleck were put through their paces three hours a day for six weeks by Chinese wire-work master Cheung Yan Yuen ("Charlie's Angels"). Her costars were sufficiently impressed. "At first, I thought Jennifer was one of these cutesy girls who used a bunch of stunt doubles," says Michael Clarke Duncan, who costars as crime lord Kingpin. "But she did this stunt where she kicks off the wall and does this split, and I was ready to marry that woman right then."
     "She was really tough," agrees Affleck. "It made me feel like, `Wow, I'll look like a real wuss if I complain.' She could easily kick my ass, and often did."
     Another blow to Affleck's ego came courtesy of Johnson's request that he dye his naturally dark hair Matt Murdock's trademark red. "I grew it out long because Mark wanted the look of one of those Japanese cartoons, where they have that overly spiky kind of hair," the actor says. "I was glad I did, except when I was wandering around in my real life with this big red Afro. I looked like Ronald McDonald."
     Colin Farrell, who hits the mark as Bullseye, also worried about coming off like a clown. "I just tried to run with it and have a laugh doing it, but sometimes I felt ridiculous," he says. "I'd kick a pane of glass and I basically looked like someone having an epileptic fit. You just hope that all the [computer-generated effects] they put in later will make you look cool."

     To that end-and in an effort to meet moviegoers' heightened expectations after "Spider-Man"-Fox ponied up more money for special effects after the web slinger swung into theaters last May.
     Now audiences will have the opportunity to judge for themselves. 'Every movie would like to make $450 million, but 'Spider-Man' is more famous than Bob Hope in this country," Affleck says. "That said, I hope 'Spider-Man' only helped us by introducing the world to how much fun it can be to go see a movie based on a comic book superhero."
     Fox is hoping "Daredevil" can entice a big enough audience to allow for sequels (Affleck and Garner have each signed on for subsequent "Daredevil" films). There's also talk of a spin-off franchise centered around Elektra. Still, Garner claims she isn’t feeling any pressure. "This movie thing is fantastic, but I have a day job that I love," she says. "Unfortunately for Ben, [the pressure] rests more on his shoulders. I will bask in his success, and if it doesn’t do well, I'll be like, `Oh, Ben, too bad."'
     At least he'll still have that other Jennifer to comfort him.