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Fans have hadtheir share of concerns and consternation over the casting of the various rolesin Daredevil but one name that met with almost universal approvalwas that of Joe Pantoliano. Comics2Film recentlyspoke with "Joey Pants" about his work as Ben Urich in the comic bookadaptation.
Pantolianotold us that, while he was not schooled in the comic book sourcematerial, the project had several attractions for him.
"Mark Steven Johnson is an old friend of mineand a very talented youngman," Pantoliano said. "Gary Foster, theproducer is somebody I've known and worked for his fatherDavid Foster. They wanted me to be in thismovie.
"Ben Affleck was a big attraction for mebecause I like Ben and I admirehis work and I didn't know anything about this film."
While the actoris not a comic reader, he told us he does appreciate the movie's roots. "I've had some good luck withcomic book type movies like Matrix and Iunderstand the power of its genre. I've been to a couple of comic book conventions, when we werecoming out with that movie. I was likeenormously impressed by the size andmagnitude of it," Pantoliano said of comic book fandom.
"Then I got to know Avi Arad over at Marvel Comics and I really was glad thatI kind of fell into this event."
The actor saidhe's not worried about the kind of fan scrutiny movies like Daredevilare subject to. Instead, he seesthe level of passion as a benefit.
"It's like abuilt-in fan base. From a lot of thee-mails I saw, a lot of Daredevil fans were really happy about the casting of meas Ben Urich and so that was encouraging,"the actor told C2F.
Pantoliano saidhe didn't have any special preparation for the part of the reporter. "Mark wanted me to look like me a lot. I wear my hat backwards alot so Ben wear's his hat backwards. He came over to talk to me about the movie.He said, 'those glasses are great.' Actually, my cousin had made them for me sowe got our glasses in themovie," Pantoliano said. "I showed up and it was just really fun and It was nice being able to play agood guy in a movie."
The actor hasplenty of experience playing the heavy in films and TV. That reputation helpedhis character have a sense of ambiguity. "It was important to Mark to create some element ofdoubt for the new Daredevil fans. People that knowDaredevil know theoutcome the nature and they know the future of the story because they're aficionados,"Pantoliano said. "For the new audience, he wanted to mislead theaudience a little bit to think that maybe Ben was going to reveal the identityof who Daredevil really is."
The actor saidhe enjoyed working with Johnson, a first time action director. "It's very pleasant. He's really encouraging and quiet and has a very strongpoint of view in his storytelling. He wasn't' all over the map," Pantolianosaid. He compared Johnson's vision and style to the Wachowski Brothers, hisdirectors on The Matrix. "They had in their mind's eye exactly and they shared their thoughts with you. I find that to be usually very encouragingwhen you're making a movie with a director."
While he's not acomic collector, he did walk away from Daredevil with a fewmementos. "They gave me the storyboard, which I still have and value very deeply. Ihave it with The Matrix storyboard. It was amazing," Pantolianosaid. "In fact, I want to get thatto those guys. I want everyone to sign it: Ben Affleck, all the producers andall the actors. They all signed my Daredevil chair back."
We askedPantoliano if he had an difficulty acting against someone who was wearing redleather and horns. "Those were the producers. They were the ones with the red leatherand the horns," the actor joked.
In truth, hesaid he doesn't have any scenes with Daredevil himself, but rather his alterego. "Most of my stuff with Ben. He's a joy. He's a real stand-upguy."
In general,Pantoliano seemed thrilled to be part of Daredevil. "I just love being on it. I can't wait to see ColinFarrell in it. Ithink he's going to be hysterical. Ben and Jennifer were just a joy towatch and be around. Favreau's going to be really funny. Michael Clarke Duncanis going to be terrific as Kingpin. I can't wait to see it!"
However, playingthe good guy reporter didn't give the actor a chance to get in on the action orwear a costume. We asked him if that was something to aspire to."Absolutely," was his enthusiastic reply. "I would get into anything that would make my ass look better.Who could I be? I'd want to be Catwoman."
One fairlycommon trait among Pantoliano's characters is that they often come to bad ends,as with his popular turns in The Sopranos, The Matrixand Memento. "I knew my life was in trouble when I died in the first two minutes ofMemento," the actor joked.
So Daredeviloffers a change of pace. "It's nice to be on a movie where I can come back and make another one.If this is as successful as everyone is anticipating it, I'll be able to comeback as Ben Urich," Pantoliano told us.
If DaredevilII happens, it'll be the actor's third sequel, following U.S.Marshals (a follow up to The Fugitive) and BadBoys II, which opens this summer. One sequel he didn't get to do was TheMatrix. The actor remains philosophical about it.
"The bad news is that I didn't but the good news is that if I had, I wouldn'thave been in either The Sopranos or Daredevil. One door closes another oneopens."
Look for morefrom the cast and crew of Daredevil right here soon.
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