Daredevil Showrunner Says He Had To Fight For Kingpin Casting After Exec Concerns
Summary
- Steven DeKnight almost didn't get Vincent D'Onofrio as Kingpin in Daredevil.
- DeKnight describes having sleepless nights trying to cast Wilson Fisk, as he believed only D'Onofrio could do it.
- The casting director's personal connection with D'Onofrio helped secure him despite being initially deemed too expensive.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe almost didn't get Vincent D'Onofrio as Kingpin in Daredevil, reveals showrunner Steven DeKnight.
During an appearance on Horror Fuel (via CBR,) DeKnight revealed that it was actually a bit more complicated to get D'Onfrio as Kingpin when they were developing the Daredevil TV show for Netflix. It turns out that Marvel TV president Jeph Loeb was initially hesitant before they finally got the beloved actor as the iconic Marvel villain, sharing the following:
We wanted to make sure the casting was right. I had sleepless nights over trying to cast Wilson Fisk, Kingpin, and my feeling was, there was only one person that could do it, and that was Vincent D'Onfrio. And I remember telling [executive producer] Jeph Loeb, I sent him a picture of Vincent with a shaved head on the internet, and I said, 'Come on. There's nobody else that can do this. This is Kingpin.' And Jeph said, 'Yeah, yeah, we love him, but he's way too expensive. He was on Law & Order, he makes like a million dollars an episode. We'll never get him.' But, it turns out, a couple of months later, our casting director, Laray Mayfield, was personal friends with him. And she said, 'Well, let me just check and see if there's any interest.' And it turns out Vincent was a huge Daredevil fan, a huge comic book fan of Daredevil, and he said, 'Yeah, I'd love to do it. Look, we'll work something out on the price.'
Source: Horror Fuel (via CBR)