Elektra

By: Corona's Coming Attractions
Date: Friday, November 05, 2004

Genre:
Action/Comic Book Adaptation.

Studio:
20th Century Fox.

Production Company:
Regency Enterprises.

Project Phase:
Released.

Who's In It:
Jennifer Garner (Elektra Natchios/"Elektra"); Terence Stamp (Stick); Goran Visnjic (Mark Miller); Kirsten Prout (Abby Miller); Will Yun Lee (Kirigi); Natassia Malthe ("Typhoid Mary"); Hiro Kanagawa; Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa.

Who's Making It:
Rob Bowman (Director); Zak Penn, Stu Zicherman, Raven Metzner (Screenwriters); Avi Arad, Gary Foster, Mark Steven Johnson (Producers); Kevin Feige, Brent O'Connor (Executive Producers); Bill Roe (Director of Photography); Kevin Stitt (Editor); Graeme Murray (Production Designer); Lisa Tomczeszyn (Costume Designer); based on the Marvel Comics character.

Premise:
Elektra faces off against the clandestine organization that trained her in the ways of assassination, The Hand, when she refuses to carry out an assassination.

Release Date:
January 14, 2005.

Comments:
Mark Steven Johnson's DAREDEVIL movie proved to be a hit at the box office, prompting the decision to give the crimson clad superhero's love interest her own film franchise.

Scoop Feedback:

April 17, 2003... It seems 20th Century Fox isn't waiting around for its DAREDEVIL spinoff film to gather moss. Writers Stu Zicherman and Raven Metzner have been hired by the studio to begin work immediately on the ELEKTRA screenplay, for star Jennifer Garner to reprise. According to the trade, Elektra will do battle with The Hand, the assassin guild that trained her. Also included somehow in the mix will be the mentor character Stick, used in the DAREDEVIL comics as the initial trainer of young Matt Murdock/Daredevil.

Zicherman and Metzner worked on another Marvel character before landing the ELEKTRA gig, that being the movie screenplay for a proposed DEATHLOK feature.

Development continues on DAREDEVIL 2, too. [Source: Variety.]

February 19, 2004... Director Rob Bowman (REIGN OF FIRE, THE X-FILES: FIGHT THE FUTURE) is in discussions to helm the ELEKTRA movie for 20th Century Fox. Producers Mark Steven Johnson and Gary Foster want to secure Bowman so he can be ready for star Jennifer Garner's hiatus before filming season four of ALIAS.

The ELEKTRA script was written by Zak Penn (SUSPECT ZERO, BEHIND ENEMY LINES) and will show how the character returned to life after seemingly being killed by the assassin Bullseye in the DAREDEVIL movie. The screenplay combines story elements from the Marvel Comics graphic novels THE ELEKTRA SAGA and ELEKTRA: ASSASSIN, as well as incorporates the character of Stick. As longtime readers of Marvel's DAREDEVIL book may know, Stick served as the mentor to a young Matt Murdock, giving him the training to become the guardian angel of Hell's Kitchen.

Filming on ELEKTRA is expected to commence in May. [Variety.]

February 22, 2004... FilmJerk has released info on the storyline and characters in the ELEKTRA movie, now slated to start filming May 3 in Vancouver, Canada. The site has posted an overview of the plot for this DAREDEVIL spinoff vehicle that will star Jennifer Garner as the mysterious sai wielding assassin.

Here's how FilmJerk described the ELEKTRA movie's storyline:

"The film finds Elektra (Jennifer Garner) again working for the Order of the Hand, the group that trained and then abandoned her. At the request of Kirigi, the film's villain, she is told to target Harbor Island man named Mark Miller because, she is told, of an act his grandfather performed. A widower, Miller is a likeable man introduced to Elektra by his 13-year-old daughter Abby. After falling for him, Elektra becomes his protector and has to fend off four ninja assassins dispatched by Kirigi. But there is more to Mark Miller than he appears, as he has aligned himself with Stick, Elektra's former mentor, and both he and his daughter are able to defend themselves. In the end, with Kirigi's four assassins defeated, Kirigi faces off against Elektra."

The site also reveals the names and abilities of five of the film's supporting characters, including the villains Kirigi, Tengu, Stone and Typhoid. Upon reading the description of the superhuman ability of Typhoid, fans of the DAREDEVIL comic will recognize that it is indeed the deadly Typhoid Mary from Marvel Comics.

Read it all over at FilmJerk.

April 16, 2004... USA Today is reporting that Terence Stamp (THE LIMEY, STAR WARS: THE PHANTOM MENACE, SUPERMAN II) has joined the cast of ELEKTRA, Jennifer Garner's superheroine spinoff film from last year's DAREDEVIL. According to IGN FilmForce, Stamp will play the part of Stick, the mysterious older martial arts teacher vital to Daredevil and Elektra's origins.

In the DAREDEVIL comics the elder fighter trained Matt Murdock in hand-to-hand fighting techniques, allowing the blind lawyer with superhuman senses to fight criminals in Hell's Kitchen. Stick also mentored Elektra before she became an assassin for The Hand, an evil order of ninjas and thieves. Undoubtedly the ELEKTRA movie's storyline will borrow what it needs from Stick's comic book origins and make it its own.

FilmForce also reports that the young actress Kirstin Prout has landed the role of Abby in the film, which may be the daughter of the Mark Millar character that Elektra is hired to murder. [USA Today, FilmForce.]

April 26, 2004... ER's Goran Visnjic has been cast as ELEKTRA's romantic attraction in the DAREDEVIL spinoff film. Visnjic's character is the person that Elektra is ordered to assassinate; instead she winds up falling in love with him and protects him from those seeking his head.

The actor has played Dr. Luka Kovac on NBC's medical drama for the past five seasons. He can currently be seen in theaters in the thriller CLOSE YOUR EYES. [The Hollywood Reporter.]

Meanwhile, sources for FilmForce are reporting that model Natassia Malthe has landed the part of Typhoid Mary in the ELEKTRA movie. Malthe, 26, began her professional career as a fashion model and has made the leap to feature films, appearing in such pictures as 40 DAYS AND 40 NIGHTS, LAKE PLACID and DISTURBING BEHAVIOR.

Typhoid Mary is one of three new supervillains said to exist in the ELEKTRA screeenplay. The character was introduced in the pages of Marvel's DAREDEVIL comic book series as a disturbed assassin who has the power to kill with just one touch. [FilmForce.]

May 7, 2004... According to today's Hollywood Reporter, Will Yun Lee has landed the role of the main villain in ELEKTRA, now filming in Vancouver. Lee's character is the leader of The Hand, a shadowy organization of master assassins that trained Daredevil's lady friend in the arts of deadly combat. After breaking a mission given to her by The Hand, Lee's character orders her death.

Lee last appeared on the big screen in TORQUE. He also starred in DIE ANOTHER DAY as Colonel Moon and the WITCHBLADE TV series as Danny Woo. [The Hollywood Reporter.]

May 12, 2004... Hollywood North Report has a series of brand-spanking new spy photos straight from the set of the ELEKTRA movie, now filming in Vancouver, Canada. Taken just yesterday, the snapshots show Jennifer Garner, Goran Vsnjic and Kirsten Prout being filmed in an action scene. Other images in the series show the trio running in an empty lot with a score of crew members making sure the moment is filmed.

Check out Hollywood North Report for the complete set of snapshots from the set. [HNR.]

May 28, 2004... Similar to the studio's strategy for the release of DAREDEVIL, 20th Century Fox has a plan to release ELEKTRA on February 18, 2005. Things worked out well two years earlier when DAREDEVIL was released in the same month.

August 23, 2004... After enthralling audiences at last month's Comic-Con, the preview clip for Jennifer Garner's ELEKTRA spinoff movie has hit the web (just in an unofficial way.) After being hosted (and then pulled) from a off the grid ELEKTRA URL, the clip is now being hosted by The Movie Box. While it's not the film's first trailer, the short does show plenty of Garner doing her assassin for hire thing in the film including shots of Elektra in her new red costume. There's also a few brief shots of some of the film's villains and a little bit of the ALIAS star discussing her approach to the character this time around.

Visit The Movie Box and download the file. 20th Century Fox has scheduled ELEKTRA for a new release date on January 14, 2005.

October 7, 2004... Superhero Hype scored the first complete look at the teaser poster for ELEKTRA, now appearing in theater lobbies nationwide. Naturally, Jennifer Garner adorns the poster with the character's trademark weapon of choice, her sai. And is that a hint of her red costume that we see on her?

ELEKTRA opens on January 14, 2005. [Superhero Hype.]

October 25, 2004... USA Today has published the first photo of Typhoid Mary, one of the heavies from the upcoming ELEKTRA movie. The image is likely getting some added exposure because it shows Mary (played by actress Natassia Malthe) about to lay a fatal liplock on Elektra (Jennifer Garner).

Malthe is quick to point out that the scene in question isn't meant for true titillation, but it's drama. "This is not a sexual act," Malthe tells the newspaper. "I want to kill her."

In

the Daredevil comic, Typhoid has the power to kill any living thing by planting a kiss on their skin. The ELEKTRA movie recreates this ability and adds to Mary's power. "She can kill with her touch or by kissing or even blowing kisses," adds Malthe. "If she walks through a forest, everything withers around her."

[A shout out to Coming Soon for the heads up.]

October 26, 2004... We've just heard word from a good friend of ours that 20th Century Fox is intending on shipping the trailer for ELEKTRA with prints of SEED OF CHUCKY, opening in theaters November 12. While ELEKTRA and the fifth CHUCKY film are by two different movie studios, it's not unusual for trailers for higher profile films to hitch a ride with another firm's feature. It also doesn't necessarily mean that if you pay to see SEED OF CHUCKY that the trailer for ELEKTRA will run in front of the picture, just that it's being shipped with the movie and will be playing on movie screens beginning that Friday.

[Our thanks to our friend of The Hand (comic book fans will know what we mean.)]

November 4, 2004... 20th Century Fox has opened the gateway to the official website for ELEKTRA, the spinoff movie from DAREDEVIL. Jennifer Garner plays the assassin for hire that's now come back from the dead to battle ninjas for director Rob Bowman (THE X-FILES: FIGHT THE FUTURE). ELEKTRA arrives in theaters January 14, 2005.

The website has one wallpaper image and a synopsis of the film, but the best content available right now are the two video clips showing Bowman working on editing the movie. You can hit the website by going to www.elektramovie.com.

Official Web Site:

www.elektramovie.com