The lost and unmade what-ifs of superhero films are long and storied—projects that nearly happened, then evaporated in the corporate fog. Once upon a time, before 20th Century Fox lost rights to “Daredevil” and sold it back to Marvel, who then teamed up with Netflix for a series version of the character, Joe Carnahan of “Narc” and “Smokin’ Aces” once circled a take on “the man without fear” hero that sounded closer to a street sermon than a spandex showcase.
Carnahan’s new Netflix film, “The Rip,” is now streaming (read our review), and The Playlist spoke with the director about his cop crime thriller on our Discourse Podcast. During the conversation, which broached several topics, Carnahan reflected on his long-gestating, ultimately unrealized vision for a grounded, period-set “Daredevil” trilogy, which would have tracked the character across distinct musical and cultural eras.
“It was going to be ‘Daredevil’ in 1973, which was classic rock, then ‘Daredevil’ in ’79, which was punk rock, and then ‘Daredevil’ in ’85, which was new wave,” he explained. “It was very street-level, very Hell’s Kitchen. That’s the version that always spoke to me.”
Ultimately, he said, the reality of modern franchise filmmaking and the need to please all the stakeholders made that kind of expression difficult.
“You’ve gotta cross all these T’s and dot all these I’s, and sometimes people’s I’s are T’s and sometimes their T’s are I’s. That level of sophistication is very hard for me to wrap my head around.”
His other issue is: once someone has done a superhero movie, as Christopher Nolan has, what’s the point? Not to mention the time commitment it takes to pull off a huge blockbuster of that scale.
“Listen, it’s like when you’ve done it as well as Chris Nolan did it in the ‘Batman’ films, and that’s just done as well as it can be done,” he explained. “And then on the other end of the spectrum, like with Sam Raimi with the second ‘Spider-Man,’ which I love, Alfred Molina’s Doc Ock. I mean, I love that movie. That run that Marvel had from 2008 to 2018, I loved those ‘Avengers’ movies, but at the same time, it’s hard— I’d rather make ‘The Rip.’ I don’t want to spend 2.5 years on one movie. I got a lot of shit to say.”
At one point, Carnahan was working on a remake of “The Raid” with his close collaborator Frank Grillo. While it went away, the writer/director said, in his mind, it was better in the original because it was more emotional—and regardless of what happens, he’ll definitely work with Grillo again. Moreover, he could still take elements from the script and use them for his own purposes.
“I wrote on spec with the idea that if we did it— I wanted to make it modular so that if we couldn’t come to an arrangement with the actual ‘The Raid,’ that we could take those elements out and it would be my own script,” he revealed.
“And that’s what wound up coming to pass, that we couldn’t reach an agreement with the producers,” he continued. “And so, I just pulled it, and it became its own thing. In many ways, because of its conceit, it’s better than the original. Just the way it’s written, it’s a much more fundamentally emotional film than the original. You feel these things with these characters very, very innately. And I’d love to be able to do that, man. And listen, any time that Frank and I can reunite and get back on the floor together is gonna be a joy.”
For now, Carnahan sounds content staying in the lane where he can actually get the cameras rolling—“The Rip” is streaming on Netflix now.
Listen to the whole podcast conversation below. — Additional reporting by Mike DeAngelo.
Rodrigo Perez is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Playlist, which he launched in 2008. He has worked in entertainment journalism since 2000, including at MTV, and has written for SPIN, IndieWire, Pitchfork, Complex, Magnet, and various music, film, and entertainment publications over the past two decades.
- Rodrigo Perez
- Rodrigo Perez
- Rodrigo Perez
- Rodrigo Perez
- Rodrigo Perez
- Rodrigo Perez
- Rodrigo Perez
- Rodrigo Perez
- Rodrigo Perez
- Rodrigo Perez
