Marvel Kept Charlie Cox In The Dark About Daredevil’s Blindness

Charlie Cox (Stardust, Boardwalk Empire), the star of Netflix’s Daredevil, was a guest last night on Late Night with Seth Meyers. He spoke to Seth about the casting process and learning to play blind.

When Cox first landed the role many people shared their opinion, and Cox’s mother sent him an opinion from the internet that he found humorous. “I don’t know this guy, but I don’t like his face,” Cox recalled.

Cox admits that he wasn’t familiar with the Daredevil comic books, nor was he aware that the 2003 film starring Ben Affleck was related to Marvel.

Meyers asked him when he knew in the casting process that Marvel was pursuing him for the superhero role. “They sent me the mock sides taken from the script – with different names – and the project was titled untitled something and in the body of the email from my agents they said, ‘We believe this is to be Daredevil,’” Cox explained to Meyers. “And then there was a long character description that said: redhead, tall, athletic, gymnastic, strong, like 14-something words. I had a friend of mine – the audition was the next day – I was thinking I just got to learn these lines. And he said, ‘I think — isn’t Daredevil blind?’ And I said — and I didn’t have time for this — and I was like, ‘No, dude, I’m pretty sure they would have told me if the guy was blind.’ I had to email them back, ‘Is Daredevil blind?’ And then the email back, 2 minutes later said, ‘Oh yeah and he’s blind.’”

Cox then explains how he worked with a visually impaired person to get into character. Cox observed his trainer’s cane technique and what he did with his eyes so that he could incorporate that into his Matt Murdock performance.

Watch and listen to Cox in the video below.

It’s time to let the devil out. Marvel’s Daredevil is here to clean up the streets of Hell’s Kitchen, New York. Lawyer by day, street-level hero by night, Matt Murdock is on a mission to make his city a better place against an underground terror within the city.

Daredevil debuts on Netflix, April 10th.