Le sigh…George Orwell once wrote, "journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed: everything else is public relations," which means 99% of what we do is the latter (we're not fooling ourselves). But lord, this 2+2=7, "Daredevil" story is a bit sad even for our crazy world of would-be, very wishful thinking.
A random movie fan writes on Twitter, "hope @DAVID_A_SLADE gets back to the Daredevil stuff soon, & I hope, maybe, Josh Hartnett could finally get a Marvel role" to which director David Slade, set to reboot the "Daredevil" franchise for 20th Century Fox responds with, "You and me both."
Now evidently that means to some, that Hartnett might play the character of Daredevil and Slade might be hinting at something. (@!$##@#@??) OK, wow, Hartnett did star in Slade's "30 Days of Night" in 2007 back when the actor seemed to be interested in a Hollywood career, but what part of random fan tweet and "you and me both" creates this kind of logic leap that gives me (and maybe you?) a major fucking headache? You can't even call Hartnett potentially being considered as the lead for Daredevil a rumor, that would be giving the misinformation too much credence. That didn't preclude many from reporting it.
But in case you needed proof — and some obviously did — Slade himself took to Twitter to shoot down the misunderstanding. "Nope, Josh Hartnet [sic] is not being discussed or anyone else for DD that was just some wishful thinking, we are not at casting stage." Slade also added, in case you're wondering, the chances of the director shooting the picture in 3D are slim. "More DD debunking I am firmly against shooting in stereo so its unlikely to happen that way, & Fox is rightly against 2D to 3D conversions."
As for Hartnett, he's been AWOL as a leading man for several years. He was once mooted as the new "Superman" and was even offered a three-picture deal by Warner Bros. that could have netted him north of $100 million. He just recently left his representation at CAA and that odd move (his Q-meter is waning more than ever, while the agency is more powerful than ever) even precipitated Deadline to write a piece that essentially amounted to, "whatever happened to that dude and why didn't he ever capitalize on his near-massive success"? He’s now repped by IFA Talent Agency who also have Chris Hemsworth, Ryan Gosling and Angelina Jolie in their roster, but if Hartnett does mount a comeback, he's likely going to have to prove himself all over again before he nets a major leading role, let alone a super hero tentpole, fyi.