The past 15 years have been one long Marvel crossover for Philip J Silvera.
The veteran stunt coordinator and second unit director suited up as Deadpool for part of the now-famous test footage that helped get the movie greenlit. He was in that elevator in Captain America: The Winter Soldier when Steve Rogers asked, “Does anyone want to get out?” Most notably, he has been a guiding force on Daredevil, helping define the feel and tone early on in the Netflix series with such sequences as its famous, season one hallway fight.
“We did the test footage for Deadpool five years before it got leaked, and I was shooting Daredevil episode 10 when it got leaked,” says Silvera, who got the Daredevil job after Deadpool director Tim Miller tipped him off to it. “And then two weeks later, while I’m wrapping up the last three episodes of season one of Daredevil, I’m flying back to L.A. every weekend to start prep on Deadpool.”
A decade later, Daredevil: Born Again streamed its finale Tuesday, and Silvera has already been deep into production on season two. Silvera has also been promoted to the title of action director after serving as second unit director supervising stunt coordinator on season one. It’s an acknowledgement of his work on moments such as a sequence that cuts between two fights: one between Wilson Fisk and Adam, a former love of his wife, Vanessa. The other is between Daredevil and Muse, a serial killer wreaking havoc on New York.
Even with Disney+ giving the production more time and money than the Netflix version of Daredevil, sequences like this one involved creative thinking on set. As Silvera reveals, they had to cut a moment for time on Wilson Fisk’s portion of the fight, where the Kingpin holds his adversary up by the throat “and almost kills him — to mirror image what was happening in Muse.,” notes Silvera. However, with the shoot running short on time, they had to get creative with help from Wilson Fisk actor Vincent D’Onofrio.
“We found this rage that he let loose,” recalls Silvera of the actor, who improvised a rageful scream. “Vincent just blurts out ‘MAHHHHHHH!’ And that was just in the moment, going with the feelings, being able to change things on the fly.”
Born Again was a rebirth moment for Silvera, who, just a few years ago, thought his journey on Daredevil was done for good after Netflix canceled the show in 2018.
Even after Marvel Studios revived the series as Daredevil: Born Again with fan-favorite actors Charlie Cox (Daredevil) and D’Onofrio (Kingpin), Silvera was not back at first. The new team went on to shoot multiple episodes, but Marvel Studios was dissatisfied, ultimately replacing the creative team with showrunner Dario Scardapane.
Then, in 2023, shortly after the SAG-AFTRA strike ended, Silvera got the call as he prepared to fly to a friend’s wedding. Would he want to return to Daredevil? In an acknowledgment of how key the stunts were to the show’s success, Marvel even touted Silvera’s return in press about the development of the revamped show.
Silvera says that after more than ten years, Cox and D’Onofrio’s physicality has become key to the character, and he estimates they do 90 percent of their own fights on the show. The series is particularly grueling for Cox.
“He works around the clock on just main unit — and then comes over and does three or four big action sequences [on the second unit],” he says of Cox. “He’s full on all the time.”
Silvera’s promotion to action director on Born Again season two comes as more and more respect has been paid to the work of stuntpeople. Last week, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said it would create a stunt design Oscar. He praises stuntmen-turned-filmmakers such as David Leitch and Chad Stahelski for helping shine a spotlight on their craft.
“It’s bittersweet, though, knowing that so many who laid the foundation for this moment — legends who built the artform decades before us — may never be recognized the way they deserve,” he wrote in a follow-up email after the news was announced. “The original Indiana Jones films, Troy, 1917, the Bond series, Jackie Chan’s revolutionary work.”
As for season two of Daredevil: Born Again, Silvera notes, “The writing in season two, and the tone and direction they’re taking it in, are some of my favorite Daredevil storylines.”
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