Posted in: Disney+, Marvel, Movies, TV | Tagged: daredevil, daredevil: born again

Daredevil: Born Again: D'Onofrio on Wilson Fisk/Kingpin Psychology

Daredevil: Born Again's Vincent D'Onofrio reflects on his journey as Wilson Fisk/Kingpin, intense physical & psychological demands, and more.

If there's anyone who can teach a masterclass in acting, it's Vincent D'Onofrio and the various diverse roles he dives into, from playing a traumatized Vietnam War recruit in Full Metal Jacket, a farmer-turned-cockroach alien in Men in Black, a lead detective in Law & Order: Criminal Intent, or a crime boss-turned-mayor of New York City in Daredevil: Born Again. There isn't a challenge the character actor hasn't met. As part of his career retrospective with GQ, D'Onofrio spoke on his most iconic roles and among them is Marvel's most infamous organized crime boss, who's been battling with Charlie Cox's Matt Murdock-Daredevil since the Netflix series from Drew Goddard and revisited under Dario Scardapane for Disney+, breaking down what makes Fisk tick, finding love, and micromanaging to keep up the intensity and insanity of the power hungry character.

Daredevil: Born Again Star Vincent D'Onofrio Breaks Down Wilson Fisk/Kingpin's Nature

D'Onofrio broke down the nuance of Wilson Fisk and how he works. "He's a very manipulative person, Wilson Fisk. He's sort of a genius at manipulating, and he's incredible, you might say, 'chess player' when it comes to life, he's also a monster, and he's also a big baby. [highlights season two of Netflix series 'Seven Minutes in Heaven', trying to make a proposal with Frank Castle] He's an interesting character to play. That's why it's still fun to play him."

One character-defining moment was pairing him with art dealer Vanessa (Ayelet Zurer), who not only married him in the Goddard series' final season but also embraced his criminal empire in season one of the Scardapane series. "You put a character like that in a domestic situation, like falling in love, getting married, having a relationship. He's just not normal, and he's not like you or me. To put that kind of person in a domestic situation is really a lot of fun as an actor, but really scary for everybody else."

Building Fisk from the ground up was a very involved process. "It's a very emotional part. It's all of that. The stuff, even his voice, I found through an emotion; the way he speaks has a lot to do with an event that happened in my life, and that's always in me when I'm speaking as him; whether speaking like him, whether it's laughing, experiencing joy, or being brutal to somebody," D'Onofrio said. "It's all come from this emotional place. And so, he's a very intense character to play. Even the smallest of scenes, or the biggest of scenes, they're all very intense to play, no matter what's going on in the scene, only because I have to bring so much into it, like many actors do. We bring a lot of stuff in that's not scripted, but that makes us feel like we're a living, thinking character while the camera is rolling."

It's not just the scene work, but it's the cadence, body language, and playing off his co-stars. "There's an abundance of emotions and events from my life that I'm juggling while the camera's rolling, so it would be acting, reacting, his voice I'm playing, his posture I'm playing, and then these emotional things inside me. It can be tough and tiring at times, but it's intense, and it works well for Wilson Fisk, for Kingpin. So, these days I just play all that and in the context of how a king would behave," D'Onofrio said.

For more on D'Onofrio discussing his meeting with then Marvel TV executive Jeph Loeb, when he came to realize Cox was perfect for Daredevil, why their grounded performances were key to why Daredevil works so well, how it carried over six years later, his confidence Born Again was going to be an eventual reality, his hopes Marvel sorts the character's live-action rights issues gets resolved so Kingpin can appear in films, and his deep dive into his other characters, you can check out the video.

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