Joe Carnahan, director of this year's sublime The Grey, was set to take on Daredevil at 20th Century Fox, after the departure of original director David Slade. Carnahan envisioned a gritty 1970s-style take on the costumed avenger and produced a sizzle reel (a audio-visual sales pitch, basically) to sell the idea to executives.
He produced two reels an NC-17 rated cut and a PG-13 cut, each incorporating comic book artwork and footage from the much maligned Daredevil movie and period-set films ranging from Taxi Driver to The Warriors to more contemporary works like American Gangster.
Fox execs were said to be very enthusiastic about the idea (something that is far more believable following more unconventional blockbusters like X-Men: First Class and Rise fo the Planet of the Apes) but unfortunately time was not on their side. David Slade dropped out of the project too late for development on a new idea to really take root, and with the deadline for the character's rights fast approaching, it looks like Fox has decided to throw their hands up and let the inevitable happen.
So, The Man Without Fear will be swinging his way back to Marvel Studios, where he is likely to go unused while Marvel focuses so intently on their next big three-year plan for The Avengers 2, but get a taste of what Carnahan had planned with this pair of videos, which he released after achieving 6k followers on Twitter.
A superhero movie that evokes the look at feel of movies like The Warriors? That's the dream for me; The Warriors is one of the all-time great genre movies and its blend of bloody-knuckled grit and unabashed pulp is the perfect balance to strike for a movie like Daredevil.
Maybe, if Marvel Studios can find some time and resources to spare, they could be convinced to give Carnahan a chance to realise his exciting vision for their latest acquisition. If the internet can get Christian Bale the Batman role, we can certainly win Joe Carnahan back his Daredevil gig.
Let's do this, internet!
Source: Joe Carnahan
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