Giving 'devil his due

By Scott Bowles
USA Today

Elektra (Jennifer Garner) grapples with Daredevil (Ben Affleck), unaware that he is Matt Murdock, the man she has fallen in love with. 20th Century Fox

Murdock fields probing questions about Daredevil from investigative reporter Ben Urich (Joe Pantoliano). "Daredevil" opened on some theater screens last night and more widely today.

"Look at that," she says, gently touching the star of the comic-book adaptation "Daredevil," which arrives in theaters today. "Look at all those gray hairs. You didn't have those when we first met."

Ben is quick with his retort: "Yeah, but look at your forehead. It takes up half your face."

No, this isn't Hollywood's hottest couple. Ben Affleck is with his other Jennifer, Jennifer Garner, who co-stars with him in the first major movie of the year. Having spent months swapping fisticuffs in the film, they're gently sparring over a meal.

After months of grueling workout regimens and a hectic shooting pace, Affleck and Garner can relax and reflect on Hollywood's first comic-book foray since a certain web-slinger turned the movie industry on its ear.

For Garner, 30, who also stars in the ABC hit "Alias," "Daredevil" marks her first starring turn on the big screen and could be a barometer of her strength as a leading lady.

For Affleck, the buzz around the superhero may mean a respite from the tabloid attention on his not-so-secret identity. Since his engagement to singer-actress-perfume-diva Jennifer Lopez, Affleck has garnered the kind of attention that could make the Hulk blush.

Affleck, 30, concedes that the attention to virtually every detail of his life — from his romance to his alcohol rehab — has taken its toll.

"I understand they wanted me for the movie because they thought I'd do a good job in the role," Affleck says, chewing hard on his always-present Nicorette gum. "But they also knew I'd bring a certain amount of publicity to the movie that goes beyond what's on screen. That's not always easy."

Indeed, "Daredevil" is more a test of Affleck's drawing power than that of the Marvel comic-book icon. More people know about the actor's rumored Valentine's Day wedding date and struggles with alcohol than they know about Matt Murdock, the blind lawyer who is a crime fighter by night.

"I've been in public relationships before, with Gwyneth" Paltrow, Affleck says of a previous love interest who also made him tabloid bait. "But this isn't the same thing. I didn't expect this much attention. I was kind of shocked."

A few weeks ago, Affleck says, he and Lopez decided to stop at a Los Angeles shopping mall so he could have a link taken out of his watch.

"By the time they got the link out, there were 700 people outside the door," he says. "They had to lock the doors of the store. Then they had to shut down the mall. I just don't get it. And it can make you rethink even the simplest things you want to do."

Like setting a wedding date? Affleck says he will not waver in his plan to marry Lopez but quickly adds that the Feb. 14 wedding date was a myth. Beyond that, he says, planning anything in the romance department can be perilous.

"I'll think, 'This would be nice to do, or a good place to go or a good day to do it,' " he says. "Then I'll realize that it will probably be a media event. The danger is in letting that change your priorities about what's important in your life. I struggle not to let that happen."

It was that internal strife that made Affleck right for the role, says "Daredevil" director and screenwriter Mark Steven Johnson.

"Matt Murdock is a vulnerable man who is human, gets knocked around and makes mistakes," says Johnson, 38, who also directed "Simon Birch." "And so is Ben. He's always been public about his life, even when it pains him. He was the only guy I wanted to play Daredevil."

It didn't hurt that both Affleck and Johnson are certified comic-book geeks who spent much of their childhoods thumbing through the illustrated adventures of Daredevil, created in 1964 by writer Stan Lee and artist Bill Everett.

Affleck and Johnson pressured Fox into boosting the budget from $60 million to $80 million, even though the Daredevil comic book's popularity ranks well below Batman, Superman and Spider-Man.

Audiences expecting a Spidey-like experience at "Daredevil" are in for a start. Though the hero wears a red, skin-tight costume, this is no Peter Parker. After his first fight scene, which Johnson calls his favorite of the film, Murdock adjusts loose teeth in his mouth, pops pain pills and bathes to soothe the scars and welts on his back.

The film twice received an R rating for violence before Johnson made enough cuts to earn a PG-13.

"Daredevil's" darkness stems from its source material. Rarely has a comic-book film been as faithful to its origins. For some scenes, Johnson ripped out pages from the comic book for dialogue and set design.

"He blew up some panels and put them on the set so we'd know exactly how we were supposed to look," says Garner, who said she had not read a comic book before signing on for the movie. "They wanted everything in the movie to look like the comic book — including us."

Which meant some intense body sculpting for its stars. Johnson brought in martial artist Cheung Yan Yuen, who choreographed much of the stunt work for this year's "Matrix" installments, to whip the actors into shape.

"Jen and I did a lot of bonding on the set," says Affleck, who was paid a reported $12.5 million for the role. "That's what happens when you are the only two English-speaking people around. Everyone else was Chinese."

And not always flattering. Affleck says that after each day of workouts and rehearsals, a translator would give the actors an appraisal of their progress.

"The translator would come up to us and say, 'Master Cheung Yan says you are at 5 percent. He is very unhappy,' " Affleck says, laughing. "It was refreshing to get an honest appraisal of your work, to be told you're a disgrace to the family."

Honesty, he concedes, is something he has missed since his face began gracing tabloid and magazine covers. He has been on the cover of People magazine twice recently: once for his alcohol abuse rehabilitation in August 2001, and again in December 2002 when the magazine named him the Sexiest Man Alive. Tabloids have claimed that Lopez called off a Valentine's Day wedding because buddy Matt Damon tried to talk him out of it and that Affleck has spent $11 million on former CIA and FBI agents to guard Lopez.

Affleck says most of what is written about him is "blatant lies," but he concedes he has entered into a "Faustian bargain" with the media. He decries much of the attention to his private life, but then he appears in "Jenny From the Block," the music video from Lopez's latest album that features a shot of Affleck's hand placed squarely on his fiancée's butt.

"I've done this long enough to know the deal," he says.

"All I can do is make the movies I want to make and try to make my personal life as much my own as I can. Besides, in a couple of years, there will be someone else the media is hot to follow."