One of the easiest ways to tell if you’ve heard the perfect casting for a film role is that hopeless feeling of loss when it’s revealed the casting news was only a rumor. Such is the case with Marvel Studios and Netflix’s upcoming small screen take on Daredevil, which for the briefest of times had Dexter star Michael C. Hall reportedly donning the red cowl and lawyerly suit. But the Internet got this one wrong, and now I just want to curl up on an operating table and cover myself in shrink wrap.
So it wasn’t actually the entire online life force that is to blame here, as the rumor was first posted on the Marvel Cinematic Universe Facebook page as coming from “a reliable source.” Vulture was on the case, however, and caught up with Hall at the premiere of The Realistic Joneses, his long-awaited return to his stage roots. And surprise, surprise, nobody ever got in touch with him about taking the part. But that doesn’t mean he isn’t into the idea.
When asked if he was aware of the rumors, he responded, “I’ve heard them, but I think that’s all they are – rumors.” Just in case anyone from Marvel or Netflix happened to have their eyes and ears open, though, he made his stance clear.
“Don’t misunderstand,” he said, “I would definitely consider it…but I can’t tell you any inside information, because I think they’re nothing but rumors.“ It would be pretty sweet if these rumors in turn led to the studios officially molding the part around Hall, whose thesp skills were the main reason Dexter remained as grounded as it did once the later seasons started to fly off the rails. Both as Dexter and as Six Feet Under's David Fisher, Hall displayed the perfect kind of personality that Matt Murdoch’s double life calls for.
But does he want to get back into a TV show so soon after ending one? “I really am enjoying mixing it up a little bit,” he said, “and I’m committing to things that have a foreseeable end in sight when I start them, but I wouldn’t rule out the possibility of [a new series] happening at some point. But I’d have to read the script!” At this early stage, Daredevil is set for one 13-episode season, with a pilot written and directed by The Cabin in the Woods director Drew Goddard, but the all-at-once release would have to do incredibly badly for Marvel to forego continuing into more seasons.
Hall will be seen later this year in We Are What We Are director Jim Mickle’s crime thriller Cold in July, based on the revenge-heavy novel from master storyteller Joe R. Lansdale. But you can see him on Broadway right now alongside Tracy Letts, Marisa Tomei and Toni Collette. You can see a little of that Joneses performance in the recent interview Hall gave to Today.
