WRITERS: Mark Steven Johnson, and based on the comic book characters by Bill Everett, Frank Miller and Stan Lee.
PRODUCERS: Avi Arad and Gary Foster and Arnon Milchan.
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER: Kathleen M. Courtney.
CO-PRODUCERS: Becki Cross Trujillo and Kevin Feige.
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Stan Lee and Bernie Williams.
ORIGINAL MUSIC: Graeme Revell.
DISTRIBUTOR: 20th Century Fox
DVD RELEASE DATE: July 29th, 2003 (USA)
BOX OFFICE OPENING: $40.3 million (USA)
BOX OFFICE RESULT: $102.5 million (USA)
BUDGET: $78 million (USA)
PRODUCTION DATES: March 2002 -- August 2002
- Vin Diesel was originally approached for the role of Bullseye, later given to Colin Farrell. Other contenders for the role of Daredevil were Matt Damon, Edward Norton and Guy Pearce.
- The character of Quesada is named after Marvel Comic Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada, who ponce penciled the Daredevil series.
- Ben Affleck was in Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back (2001). Kevin Smith directed the movie, and wrote several of the comics. And in that particular film, there is a scene on the Miramax set where they are making a Daredevil movie. Smith plays Kirby, named after the legendary Marvel Comics artist of the same name, Jack Kirby.
- Although the characters Daredevil and Spider-Man coexist in the comics, it was decided that all obvious references to the later character had to be removed since the licenses were given to separate film companies. This includes the decision that The Kingpin, originally a Spider-Man enemy, would never appear in the Spider-Man franchise and the character Ben Urich, a reporter who is a colleague and occasional professional partner of Peter Parker in the comics, would not work for the Daily Bugle.
- Jolene Blalock was considered for the role of Elektra.
- The Priest's line: "A man without hope is a man without fear" is taken from a Daredevil comic by Frank Miller.
- Jennifer Garner wore green contact lenses over her brown eyes for her role as Elektra.
- In the comics, the Kingpin is white, but in the movie he is played by an African-American, Michael Clarke Duncan. The studio was convinced to use Duncan after several white wrestlers gave poor screen tests.
- The first two cuts of the film submitted to the MPAA received R-ratings. Additional edits were needed to get the PG-13.
- A subplot with a character played by the rapper Coolio was removed, primarily to make the film shorter and get it a PG-13 rating. However, Coolio was featured in the trailers for the film.
- Michael Clarke Duncan needed to gain an additional 40 lbs to his already hefty frame to play The Kingpin.
- The woman's voice on the phone is that of Joey Lauren Adams.
- The film was originally envisioned as an R-rated film with nudity and hard violence.
- Originally this film was going to be a relatively low budget film of roughly $50 million. However during shooting in the summer of 2002, Spider-Man became a spectacular success and the director was soon approached by 20th Century Fox executives to enhance the film's visuals and raised the budget to accomplish that.
- Nominated for one 2004 Razzie Award for Worst Actor (Ben Affleck).
- Followed by a sequel: Daredevil 2 (2005)
Matt Murdock: There's no eyewitnesses, I mean, ya know Bigfoot has eyewitnesses.
Franklin: Oh please!
Elektra: You should try asking for my number.
Bullseye: By puttin' the fear in him!
Bullseye: Yeah, I want a costume.
Kingpin: Business.
