Into Hell's Kitchen

into hel l 's kitchen written by Patrick Sullivan

During our time at Long Beach Com ic Con 2015, I attended the "Psychology of Daredevil" panel where I got taken into the world of Dar edevil. I got to hear from two of the staff writers, Christos Gage and Ruth Fletcher Gage (who happened to pen the episode 'Speak Of The Devil'), actors Peter Shinkoda and Tom Walker, and Dr. Andrea Letamendi who has a Ph.D. in psychology.

would've been against this mysterious silent ninja." It was actually Ruth who decided against it. As the audience was already familiar with Nobu, she believed it would confuse the viewers who aren't knowledgeable with the comics to introduce a random ninja, who doesn't speak nonetheless.

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Into"speak of thedevil " During the panel, the cast and writers talked a lot about the 'Speak Of The Devil' episode, as all four of them were involved with it to some capacity throughout production. We got plenty of interesting insight into the writing behind the episode from an interview with Christos.

For instance, the fight scene that plays out during the whole episode between Nobu (Peter Shinkoda) and Daredevil (Charlie Cox) could've been a slightly different scenario. By different, I mean the fight almost wasn't with Nobu at all. The writing staff 's first option was a Daredevil character named Kirigi. "...it would've been this gigantic ninja in robes where you can't even see his face and it would've been probably a very similar fight but it

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Ruth was considered a crucial part of the writing staff due to the fact prior to working on this project, she'd never read a Daredevil comic. "It was so important because when you're doing a TV show, even a comic book character TV show, you have to assume that probably the majority of your audience will be people who don't read comics." In the long run, it definitely helped out.

Christos had a bit of his own advantage for the writers room.

During his solo panel for the Eat.Geek.Play. Podcast he shared with the audience that his father was a crime reporter who'd meet with mob

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informants. "I think that 's one of the things Drew [Coddard] found intriguing from the start..." It helped give the writers an edge when it came to the character of Ben Urich. "...when my dad did investigative reporting he could spend months on a single story and the paper would pay for it, and nowadays they'd be like 'that 's not budget effective, we need you to cover a variety of stories..." which is basically the case with Ben. 'Speak Of The Devil' is easily one of the most critically acclaimed episodes of the first season. From the panel alone you can tell just how much love went into it. "We were trying to encompass a lot of things that are important to Daredevil; the religion, the character, the inter conflicts, of course an awesome ninja fight... So to hear people say stuff like that and all the number of people who told us this is their favorite episode makes us feel really good."

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IntoNobu&Francis Aside from getting the chance to dwell more into the writing process behind the series, I also got a chance to talk with actors Peter Shinkoda and Tom Walker. Peter played the role of Nobu, a mysterious Japanese man with an agenda. "From where the starting point of the show was [where] you can see me, I was kind of pissed off."

Peter mentioned during the panel that he was criticized on the portrayal of Nobu as being 'too intense'. "Certainly in Nobu's eyes he's got an agreement with Fisk [and] Fisk obviously has one with him... but as you [can] see Fisk is not taking care of his side and hasn't been previously to my introduction in the show." Intense would be anyone's reaction when their plans all rely on one man and that one man is failing to keep up his side of the bargain. "I don't necessarily think he's a pissed off guy, just kind of gets introduced that way and gets more aggravated."

There weren't too many characters other than Madame Gao and

Daredevil who could stand toe-to-toe with Kingpin throughout the series.

Nobu was one of those few though, he wouldn't back down in terms of what he'd say or if he came off threatening. "...when I entered in to his little lair, the second time, Tommy Walker 's character Francis tried to subdue me

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or prevent me from going in and I twisted his arm and I told Fisk to get his pet off me." He was definitely an opposing force to Fisk who proposed him with a problem.

As I mentioned we also got to talk with Tommy Walker who played the role of Francis. If you may not remember him, Fisk beat the crap out of him after discovering the death of his dear friend Wesley. The odd thing about this is Francis comes back to work for Fisk as if nothing ever

happened. "I think fear definitely has a big factor because, come on, I think Fisk has this... you know, as the Kingpin's lore goes, he's not just a man, he's a presence, an entity that somewhat takes over the city and in the Dar edevil history we all know that when you hear his name... They built a mythos around him."

Tom said, and I quote "I think you probably nailed it..." when I added that Francis just may have understood where he sat on the food chain in this situation. "He does understand where he sits on the food chain but he also got kind of like a promotion by default, so he also understands that."

Francis can be seen at the end of the series with Vanessa before she takes off on a helicopter. With that said, we may even be seeing more of Francis in season 2.

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d'onofrio " Like t he f ir st day you know, he doesn't know m e. So he gives you a lit t le nod, t he next day 'hello', t hen t he next day it 's 'Good m or ning, m or ning Tom m y' and you'r e like 'oh, he's got m y nam e now '. He's a joy once you get him t alking and he's t elling st or ies and he's so loose and so cool. He's like got t his hippie m ent alit y in som e ways, like he's such a cool laid back dude... So he's not hing like Fisk in r eal lif e, absolut ely not hing like Fisk. He's ver y good t o ever yone... ver y awar e of ever yone else on set ... polit e, but not in t hat like 'I 'm being polit e because I 've been in t his business 20 year s, 30 year s. He's act ually ver y polit e, he does appr eciat e t he lit t le t hings and he's so m uch f un t o wat ch wor k. I t 's like a m ast er s class wat ching him do his t hing. I t 's cool." - Tom m y Walker

" ...I havetostay just as focused, just as intimidating, andjust asop-positional tohim asheistome."

- Peter Shinkoda "Hewasaweinspiring."

- Tommy Wal ker

" ...one t hing t hat t hey kept t hat was r eally r elevant t o m e was as soon as he (t he dir ect or ) yelled cut I 'd get back t o Tom and we'd discuss 'm y god m an, you'r e st anding t oe-t o-t oe,' m aybe a f oot or t wo under D'Onof r io and t hey would shoot it t o m ake m e sm aller t han him , t hey'd shoot it over his shoulder . This is like t hr ee and half , f our pages of int ense slow bur n dialogue wit h him and t her e was a f ew t akes wher e Vincent was physically m enacing in his eyes and I can't help it , som et im es he act ually m oves of f of his m ar k and com e up and int im idat e [Nobu] and t her e's t his par t wher e he goes like t his wit h his lip and his eye was t wit ching like he was about t o choke m e out so I 'd have t o count er t hat wit h [a look like] 'oh, you gonna m ake a m ove' so you know it was ver y int im idat ing but I can't slip out of charact er , I have t o st ay just as f ocused, just as int im idat ing, and just as op-posit ional t o him as he is t o m e." - Pet er Shinkoda