Echo and Daredevil star Vincent D’Onofrio has nothing but great things to say about his time making the upcoming Disney Plus Marvel television series. In fact, his words are so sweet, we might be blushing a little.
In a recent interview with MovieWeb, the Wilson Fisk performer sang the praises of Echo director Sydney Freeland, crediting her and her majority-female crew for “one of the smoothest productions I’ve ever been on.” The 64-year-old went on to reveal that there were never any kinks in need of ironing out during his time on set, and that “nobody ever bumped against anything.” We suppose that means literally and figuratively. “It was amazing,” he gushed.
Could we have another Loki season 2 on our hands?
The last Marvel show to be hailed for its bump-free production was Loki, particularly its second season, with producer Kevin Wright boasting about it being “the first Marvel series to never have any additional photography.”
Re-shoots have plagued Marvel in recent years and have rarely been signs of good things to come. The constant switches in release schedules, paired with the constricting inter-connectedness of the fictional universe, have resulted in blunders as shocking as Secret Invasion. Loki needing no last-minute touch-ups was a welcome change, which proved auspicious in the end.
Loki felt like one of the first Marvel installments in a long time to be carefully crafted and perfected, instead of caving under the weight of deadlines and disorganization. Consequently, it was also one of the best things the comic book juggernaut has put out since the Infinity Saga.
Judging by D’Onofrio’s comments, it seems like Echo could be channeling a lot of that same energy. At least at first glance.
Is Vincent D’Onofrio doing damage control?
We can’t help but feel a certain amount of whiplash over D’Onofrio’s comments considering the stark difference from earlier reports that characterized the Echo production as — to paraphrase — an “unreleasable mess.”
Back in May of last year, industry insider Jeff Sneider painted a completely different picture of the behind-the-scenes of the upcoming Hawkeye spin-off, saying on The Hot Mic Podcast, “I heard the show was kind of plagued by issues throughout production.” According to Sneider, the initial material was so bad, that the team had to go back in and “reshoot the entire thing.”
The choice to release every episode at once — a binge-friendly strategy in the same mold as other streaming platforms, but unlike how Disney Plus usually operates — also raised eyebrows, as many questioned whether it meant that the studio had lost faith in the show altogether.
Whether or not these rumors are true, the fact that D’Onofrio has chosen the press run for the show to change the narrative so completely doesn’t feel accidental. The actor is Freeland’s biggest supporter.
“Sydney Freeland had a lot to do with that when it comes to my performance in this show. You know, the script pleases you. I wanted to please her as a director. She has this quality where you just want to do the right thing for the lady. You just do. She’s just awesome, and you just want to do the right thing for her. She’s got this great way of directing. It’s so subtle and so powerful at the same time. It’s pretty amazing. That kind of thing doesn’t always happen in one’s career.”
We can’t wait to see for ourselves which of these accounts seems more plausible when Echo hits Disney Plus Jan. 9.
