Rosario Dawson
She’s no stranger to the comic book and action/adventure genre, which makes her a perfect addition to Netflix’s bold new superhero experiment: a live-action series based on Daredevil.
Rosario Dawson is a wonderful surprise on so many levels. She began as a street-stoop discovery and a dramatic actress early on in Kids, when she was barely 16. By her mid twenties she’d done everything from the super-serious to the goofy (remember Josie and the Pussycats?) and proven she could do comedy and musicals as well. Not long after that she proved herself to be something of an action star as well, holding her own against Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in Rundown, playing tough girls in Robert Rodriguez’ Grindhouse and Death Proof, and then pivoting to break our hearts in Rent. The impressive pictures continued–Eagle Eye, Seven Pounds, Unstoppable–and most recently gave a truly great performance in the horribly under-seen thriller from Danny Boyle, Trance, where she co-starred with James McAvoy (and that should have been one of the major hits of last summer). And yes, she had no trouble letting her sexy side out in Sin City as well. Meanwhile we haven’t even touched on her truly important work with non-profits and the Latino get-out-the-vote movement, Voto Latino, which continues to this day.
“The premiere dates for Daredevil or any of the other Marvel/Netflix properties isn’t quite known; most believe it’ll be sometime in 2015.”
But one thing she hasn’t done much at any point in the super-busy career is television. Except for the occasional cartoon voice or Robot Chicken appearance, she’s been busy on the big screen…until now. Now she’s signed on to be a major player in Daredevil, one of the four live-actions superhero series that Netflix and Marvel have announced. She’s set to play “a woman with a quest to heal the wounds of Hell’s Kitchen. Her own journey forever alters the course of Mat Murdock’s battle against the injustices in the city.” “Whether or not Dawson’s character is one that’s appeared in the comics or graphic novels before isn’t clear yet (but that just makes it part of the fun.) The producers of the new Daredevil show seem to know just how lucky they are. Comic book and TV veteran Jeph Loeb called her “one the most charismatic, talented and powerful actresses in Hollywood,” in a post on the Marvel website. “Her role in the series is absolutely critical to Matt Murdock’s journey to become the hero we know as Daredevil.”
Rosario Dawson Sin City
It really shouldn’t come as a surprise; Dawson’s got some deep comic book roots already, and there are some strange echoes in the DD gig. Daredevil’s legendary nemesis The Kingpin is set to be played by Vincent D’Onofrio (a brilliant bit of casting). D’Onofrio, probably best remembered for his years on Law & Order: Criminal Intent, was also the huge cockroach in disguises (seriously) in the original Men in Black; Dawson played a space princess who didn’t know was a space princess in Men in Black II. There’s a Frank Miller connection as well: she’ll appear as Gail in both Sin City movies, a world created by graphic novelist Miller–who also is the creative force behind the grim-and-gritty “reboot” of Marvel’s Daredevil, a version that is clearly at the center of this live action piece.
The premiere dates for Daredevil or any of the other Marvel/Netflix properties isn’t quite known; most believe it’ll be sometime in 2015. In the meantime, here’s a strange little artifact from a few years ago–the closest that Dawson’s gotten to TV before. It’s a short-lived science fiction-ish web thriller series called Gemini Division, and it was briefly visible in 2008, though it never truly got off the ground, and these mini-episodes are all that remain. It’s so forgotten, in fact that its old website URL, “GeminiDivision.com,” is now a place you go to find a good chiropractor in your area. Seriously.
Anyway: you can see, even in this under-produced little web-show, just how smart and charming (and yes, beautiful) Rosario Dawson is, not that it was ever in doubt. And it just guarantees that Daredevil’s gonna be a blast.
Gemini Division
