Matt Damon Passed on DAREDEVIL in 2003, Would Star In New Version If Chris Nolan Directs

Here's a piece of trivia some comic book movie fans might not know: Matt Damon was apparently offered the role of Daredevil in the 2003 movie before his buddy Ben Affleck, and Damon ended up passing on it. In a new interview to promote his film The Martian, Damon told the New York Daily News:

"For us it was always 'Daredevil' — that's the comic we read when we were kids. But when that one came along (in 2003) I chickened out, because I couldn't tell. I hadn't seen the director (Mark Steven Johnson's) work and I didn't know. So I just said, 'No.' Ben [Affleck] was like, 'I gotta do it."

How different would Damon and Affleck's careers been had Damon taken that role first? Affleck probably wouldn't have married Jennifer Garner, and a case could probably be made that he may not have developed into the solid director he's become today. I wonder if Damon is playing Batman in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice in that alternate timeline somewhere...

In the meantime, Damon said it wasn't entirely out of the realm of possibility that he'd suit up as The Man Without Fear one day — but only for the right director:

"If Chris Nolan came up to me and said, 'I want to do Daredevil,' I would be in."

I don't think Damon actually thinks that's going to happen (he was probably just humoring the reporter who asked the question), but considering Nolan's relationship with cross-town rivals Warner Bros. and DC, it seems incredibly unlikely that he'd go work for Marvel on a live-action Daredevil movie, especially when Charlie Cox is already kicking ass in the role on Netflix. But there's another (probable) missed opportunity to file into that alternate timeline for comic book film fans.

Via: THR