With Daredevil: Born Again debuting this week, stars Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio have been making the press rounds talking about the process of taking the very R-rated, violent Netflix series and extending that story for what D’Onofrio says is essentially a fourth season on Disney+. The thing is, the Disney Marvel shows tend to be much more family-friendly affairs. Bone-crunching isn’t really a thing over there. Or at least it didn’t used to be.
“There were practical effects in [Born Again], behind the monitor we’re just like … ‘We didn’t know you could do that,’” laughs Justin Benson, who directed the season premiere with his filmmaking partner Aaron Moorhead. “That it just happened in-camera. And it should be said that Vincent should get a lot of credit for one of the biggest gags in the show. [He was] a team leader on that and it benefited.”
D’Onofrio, who of course plays the Kingpin of Crime in the show, Wilson Fisk, agrees that much of the credit for such moments goes to the special effects team. And while they’re not giving away the specifics of that particular scene, the team all agree that they can’t believe it made to the final cut of the episode.
“It was all practical,” the actor tells IGN, which is to say not a computer-generated effect. “After we accomplished it, I went home that night [and] because it went so well I thought, ‘It’s never going to be in the show, no matter what.’”
But the moment did make it, and not in an altered state to downplay how violent it is either. “No softening it up,” says Moorhead. Cox recalls doing scenes as Matt Murdock/Daredevil where they had to shoot alternative versions because “the likelihood is that leg break or that whatever wouldn’t [make it] in. And without exception, every one of the more brutal, more violent breaks or moments or pieces of action is in our show.”
After we accomplished it, I went home that night and thought, ‘It’s never going to be in the show, no matter what.’ -Vincent D’Onofrio
The action behind the Netflix Daredevil series was always “street level” and “gritty,” as the parlance goes, and the mission statement behind the new version – once it was settled upon after some behind-the-scenes pivots – was to maintain that approach, MCU or no MCU. Even little touches like Matt breathing so heavily after an intense fight scene are meant to drive home not just how human Daredevil is, but also that there’s an emotional drive behind the scene beyond just “punch guys.”
“We’ve always tried to do that on the show,” says Cox. “To make sure that every punch or kick is almost like a line of dialogue, that there’s a reason for it to be there. And where possible – I’m not trying to excuse the violence of our show – we always make sure that it’s not just grotesque for the sake of it.”
D’Onofrio points out that the action only works if “real people emotion” is at the core of it all, and he promises “terribly emotional stuff” from Daredevil: Born Again: “You have some funny stuff, you have a lot of action, and you have real relationships that are failing, and succeeding, and failing, and succeeding through the whole story.”
It’s important to the actors and the directors to not romanticize the violence, and perhaps that is part of why it can work whether it’s in the Netflix show or now in the MCU – because it’s always being used in the service of continuing Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk’s stories and evolution.
“It gives it scope,” explains Benson. “The only reason it works is because we’re showing a consequence of the actions of people who are doing things that are grotesque. And it’s a manifestation of their pain. … It’s showing how grotesque that pain can be and making it feel even more human. Often it’s not for fun. It’s something you kind of want to look away from.”
Part of the inspiration for the team in how to depict such scenes came from the movies and shows they’ve loved over the years. D’Onofrio points to Harrison Ford’s everyman performances over the years – he’s “waiting for somebody around the corner and he’s got a gun, and his hand is shaking, he’s shaking” – and even Gary Cooper. For the actor, there’s a humility in both Daredevil and Kingpin that reminds him of the Harrison Fords and the Gary Coopers.
Daredevil: Born Again“Anytime they were in a fight, or they were holding a gun, they looked nervous,” he says. “They carried their own humility into the action scenes with them. And I always thought that that was the way to go. That made it look real to me. Gary Cooper in Sergeant York, when he takes aim, when he becomes the sniper, it’s the humility in his eyes that you see. It’s amazing. I think that helps action stuff a lot. We’re all very conscious of that.”
Daredevil: Born Again’s first two episodes debut on Disney+ on March 4.
