He's a real 'Daredevil'

Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Feb 14, 2003 by Jeff Vice

Perhaps it's appropriate that Mark Steven Johnson is an amateur kickboxer. After all, he had to fight every step along the way just to make his dream project, the superhero action movie "Daredevil."

"I think I'm a whole lot more bruised, sore and tired from that fight than I am from any real one I've ever had," the 38-year-old writer/director said during a lengthy telephone interview from Hollywood, just hours before the film's premiere there.

Still, he admits he wasn't the likeliest choice to direct a major- studio action film, let alone a film based on one of the darker superhero comic books out there -- the title character is a blind attorney who fights for justice as a costumed vigilante.

"Before now, all I was being offered were nursing-home comedies, sweet little feel-good movies, that sort of thing," Johnson said, referring to his screenwriting work on such movies as "Grumpy Old Men" and the film that marked his directing debut, "Simon Birch." "Little did they know that I was a closet comic-book fan, that I've been itching to make something like this my entire career. Maybe I'm not as good -- as nice a guy -- as everybody thinks."

All kidding aside, Johnson said he's had a "Daredevil" movie in his mind for nearly 30 years. And he's been working on this particular one for the past three years. "I can still remember the first Daredevil comic I bought. I was 9 at the time, and I'd just started reading superhero comics. There was just something I loved about this particular character -- that he couldn't see, but, yet, he didn't let his supposed handicap stop him from fighting for his fellow man."

Johnson likens his almost lifelong affection for the character to filmmaker Sam Raimi's love for "Spider-Man," which Raimi directed last year. "Neither Sam nor I were the obvious choices. Or maybe we were. I mean, we both came from such similar perspectives -- having loved those characters for so long. I think we both got our respective jobs because we were so passionate about doing things right."

Once Johnson convinced the Fox studio heads that he was the right man for the job, the fights continued over such things as casting Ben Affleck in the title role, as lawyer Matt Murdock, whose four remaining senses are heightened after a childhood accident and who now fights on behalf of the oppressed and downtrodden residents of Hell's Kitchen.

"It seemed obvious to me," Johnson said. "Ben looks and sounds like a superhero. Is it just me?"

Affleck is also an "old-school" Daredevil fan, according to Johnson. "Ben's like me. I knew if I was going to get this done, he'd have to come along for the ride with me. It was that important. Ben was going to be in the movie or it wasn't going to get made -- at least not by me."

Co-starring with Affleck is Jennifer Garner, from TV's "Alias," who might sound like a natural choice to play the main character's love interest, Elektra Natchios -- but that also became a source of contention. "You have to remember that when we were casting the movie, Jennifer wasn't as big a star as she is today. So we really had to sell the studio on her. We sure look like geniuses now, though."

Garner also managed to impress one extremely important person -- Frank Miller, whose lengthy run on the comic as both writer and artist in the early '80s is still the most fondly remembered. "I was worried that Frank wouldn't think she looked Greek enough," he said, referring to the character's ethnicity. "But when we showed him some of the footage, he just got this huge smile on his face. He said, 'Well, she works for me.' "

Eventually, Johnson had nearly all the members of the cast and crew reading Miller's "Daredevil" comics. "I remember Frank showed up around the last day of shooting, and there was this complete hush when he came in. Now these are people like Ben and Jennifer. And they treated Frank like he was the biggest star in the universe at that moment."

In addition to trying to impress Miller, Johnson said he also felt he had a "huge responsibility" to fans of the comic book. He noted that several scenes in the movie were essentially "ripped right out of the comics, such as the showdown between Elektra and Bullseye, the "assassin who never misses," played by Irish actor Colin Farrell. "It's the same as it is in that particular issue, right down to the dialogue."

Actually, there are references galore to the comic books -- including cameos by "Daredevil" co-creator Stan Lee and filmmaker Kevin Smith, who wrote eight issues. And those who stick around through the final credits will see a "pay-off" scene that also came straight out of the comic books.

"Well, you have to do something to reward those people who stick around," Johnson said with a laugh. "Unless, of course, they fell asleep. Then they'll be scratching their heads, wondering what that was all about."

E-MAIL: jeff@desnews.com