Charlie Cox Empathized With Daredevil In One Very Real Way
To play a character, an actor has to empathize with them. How does Charlie Cox connect with Matt Murdock/Daredevil, who he's played (noncontinuously) since 2015?
In a Reddit AMA conducted by Cox and Vincent D'Onofrio (who played Daredevil's nemesis, the crime boss Wilson Fisk/Kingpin), Cox was asked, "Are there any parts of Daredevil's personality that you also see in yourself?"
He answered: "In our show, we get to see Matt Murdock experience great inner conflict and doubt over what he is doing. Hopefully, that makes him seem more human and is something that I relate to a great deal."
Cox doesn't specify how he relates to Matt's internal conflict, but I have an educated guess. Like his character, Cox is a Catholic. In 2011, he starred in the film "There Be Dragons" as Father JosemarĂa Escrivá, the priest who founded the Catholic sect Opus Dei. Cox also told the blog Patheos in 2016 that playing Matt got him to think about his own Catholicism more.
Much of Matt's aforementioned internal conflict comes from his faith. Even normal Catholics regularly process emotions like guilt and martyrdom (trust me); Matt has these feelings in excess due to his double life as Daredevil. The ironic yet oh-so-fitting Catholicism of Daredevil goes back to Frank Miller's seminal run.
"If you want to play a complex, turmoiled character, then give him a dose of Catholicism," Cox told Patheos. That said, Matt's struggles in "Daredevil" don't begin and end with religion.
A Marvel Hero with Self-Doubt
At Wizard World Pittsburgh in 2016, Cox explained he was drawn to "Daredevil" by the show's thoughtfulness in portraying Matt's vigilantism and its effects on him. Unlike other superhero movies and TV, Cox argued, "Daredevil" shows how its hero feels after he beats up the bad guys. In essence, Cox elaborated on his answer in that Reddit AMA:
"I love this idea that Matt goes out and he believes in what he's doing [...] but then he goes home and he feels bad as well because he's hurting people and questioning whether he has the right to do that. I think the most interesting inner dilemma that he sits with is: should he be Daredevil because he has these powers and they're God-given and therefore it's God's will that he be engaging in vigilante justice, or does he have no right to do that? Is he kind of playing God?"
The next two seasons of "Daredevil" keep testing Matt. In season 2, the Punisher (Jon Bernthal) strolls into Hell's Kitchen and Matt is faced with two quandaries. One, by following the "Thou Shalt Not Kill" commandment, is he just a half-measure against criminals? Two, have his actions as Daredevil inspired worse people like the Punisher? In season 3, he tries to stop being Matt Murdock and stay only Daredevil because he's afraid of endangering his loved ones.
No real person has to face such questions (none of us spend our nights in a costume beating up criminals), but the themes of responsibility are universal. One hopes that "Daredevil: Born Again" continues to push Matt Murdock and give Cox many more chances to play the rare Marvel hero consumed with inner turmoil.
"Daredevil" is streaming on Disney+.