Jason Statham Drops Out of DAREDEVIL Talks After His Involvement Leaks?
Yesterday a rumor hit the internet that Jason Statham was in talks with Marvel to take on the role of Bullseye in Daredevil Season 2. According to Bloody-Disgusting, the rumors were in fact true, but because of the news was leaked so early, Statham removed himself from the running. The site says,
He was legitimately in heavy negotiations for the role and the leak killed it. Perhaps his agent saw the positive uproar and instantly upped the actor’s asking fee? Perhaps the studio spotted the same excited reaction and preemptively killed the deal out of fear of Statham’s management going for more money? Who knows. The bottom line is that yesterday the Crank star was at the top of the list and deep in negotiations and today Marvel has moved on to other pastures.
I don't agree with the site's speculation on why the actor dropped out. Statham's agent knows exactly how fans would react to the news, that's his job, and it's Jason freakin' Statham! The same goes for the studio, which is exactly why they wanted to bring him onto the series in the first place! They knew the fans would be excited about his casting, and they knew he wasn't going to be cheap because, again, it's Jason Freakin' Statham! So I don't think money played a factor.
If Statham did in fact drop out, it's hard to know why exactly that would be. The news leak obviously played a factor in the decision. I'm just not sure why widespread excitement would want to make him leave the project. The report goes on to offer this word of advice:
The moral of the story is that sometimes we, as film writers, sometimes just need to sit on scoops until they are more fully formed. And in this instance, things moved too fast.
That's just the world we live in, though. The way the internet works today with social media, everything moves fast all the time, and there's no slowing it down. I personally think there's more to the story behind-the-scenes, I just have no idea what it is. Maybe it was the amusing comments he made on the kind of weak sauce action that he sees in the Marvel movies. Maybe he dropped out as a matter of principle.
There's no confirmation of any of this, though. This is basically a rumor based on news of a rumor, so there's a chance that the rumor of Statham being in the running for the series is still valid.