Garner is free of complexes in ‘Elektra’ role
For months, Jennifer Garner tried to ignore the flattering remarks she heard on the set about her performance in Daredevil.
Garner, who played the superhero-to-be Elektra Natchios in the 2003 comic-book adaptation, shrugged the comments off as confidence-boosters.
“This was my first movie where I had a major role,” the star of TV’s Alias says. “I thought they were just being nice. They even said they could see there being an Elektra movie. But I thought there was no way they’d make that before they made Daredevil 2.”
But that project has been shelved while Garner settles into Vancouver to film Elektra, the superhero spinoff due in theaters in February.
The film, which also stars Terence Stamp and Goran Visnjic of Welcome to Sarajevo, picks up right where Daredevil left her รณ seemingly dead at the hands of the villain Bulls-eye. But as in all comic books, heroes and villains are never truly gone. “I wasn’t killed, just really, really hurt,” she says. “The movie picks up with my recovery.”
Filmmakers haven’t decided if Daredevil will make an appearance, but fans of the heroine’s comic book will be relieved to know that Elektra, directed by Reign of Fire’s Rob Bowman, will follow its origins.
In Daredevil, many devotees were angry to find the assassin in a black costume. She returns to her trademark red leather outfit for Elektra.
And filmmakers plan to keep her character, who straddles the line between villain and superhero after her father is murdered, a dark protagonist. The movie follows her training as an assassin by The Hand, a group of mystical ninjas.
After her turn as a wide-eyed innocent in the romantic comedy 13 Going on 30, Garner says she was interested in trying something a little more menacing. “I kind of like to hopscotch around” in film genres, Garner says. “I’m fascinated by characters who are coping with anger and loss.”
While the Web is buzzing over plotlines and characters, Garner has been blissfully unaware of the rumor mill.
“We’re really in the woods up here,” she says of the Canadian location. “We’re at the top of a mountain where my cell phone won’t even work. It’s nice to be so isolated and peaceful.”
Not that she won’t remain busy. While Garner has no films lined up after Elektra, she plans to return for the fourth season of Alias, which runs on Sundays on ABC.
“I love doing movies, but it’s nice to have a place to come back to,” she says. “That’s my family.”
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