Indeed, Elektra gave Jennifer Garner the opportunity to explore a character she had created on screen a year earlier. “At the end of ‘Daredevil’ we left Elektra at the beginning of her real darkness,” says Garner. “When we pick her up in this movie, there’s a wall of ice around her. She’s so isolated from the outside world that she doesn’t even know she’s isolated anymore.”
Mark and Abby Miller, played by “E.R.’s” Goran Visnjic and young Canadian actress Kirsten Prout, are also experiencing a form of isolation – the kind that comes from being on the run, always looking over your shoulder, and trusting no one. “When we first meet her, Elektra is a professional killer, and her latest targets are the characters played by Kirsten Prout and me!” notes Visnjic.
“Obviously, Elektra has a change of heart and spares their lives, but it becomes much more than that: Elektra begins to care for Mark and Abby. But it’s hard for Mark to watch the budding relationship between Elektra and his daughter Abby. He’s afraid that Elektra might become a role model for her.”
But Elektra has no desire for Abby to follow in her footsteps. Elektra and Abby have a natural affinity, as both deeply feel the loss of their mothers who died much too young. “If there’s one thing Elektra’s not going to give up on, it’s Abby,” says Garner. “She’s determined to protect this girl from becoming like her, and she will give up her own life in order for Abby to have a chance.”
For Visnjic, jumping from the life-and-death world of a fictional emergency room to the universe of a legendary comics character, was more than welcome. The actor, who also recently starred in the title role of the mini-series “Spartacus,” read a lot of comics as a young person growing up in Croatia. “It’s exciting to be portraying someone from that world,” says Visnjic. “Because it’s not the real world, we can push the boundaries a little further. It’s an opportunity to be more imaginative.”
Esteemed actor Terence Stamp already had strong ties to the world of big event, comics-to-film adaptations, having played the super-villainous General Zod in “Superman” and “Superman II.” At first reluctant to work on another genre project, Stamp ultimately gave in after he was relentlessly pursued by the filmmakers. “We were determined to get Terence,” says Producer Gary Foster. “General Zod is still one of the great characters in comic book movie history, and we knew Terence could bring that kind of magic to ELEKTRA, as Stick”
The role held a special challenge for Stamp, since Stick is clinically blind but professes to have the ability to “see” better than most sighted people. “Originally I intended to convey the blindness by having my eyes closed,” Stamp recalls. “It’s something rarely done by an actor, and I like to do original things if I can.” In the end Stamp played the role with his blind eyes open. “It still entails a different spatial sense,” he explains. “You can obviously see if your eyes are open, but if you’re playing blind you’re not necessarily looking at where you’re going or who you’re talking to. So there’s a kind of side vision that comes into play.”
The relationship between Stick and Elektra, sensei and pupil, is central to the story. Stick is the puppet-master, setting events in motion and then intervening only when necessary to guide his student’s progress. “Elektra wants Stick to be her sensei, but she doesn’t want to do what he tells her to do,” says Stamp. “Although he often appears to be giving up on her, he has a kind of overview, a way of getting her to do what he wants by hook or by crook, so to speak. In the East they say that the guru needs the great pupil even more that the great pupil needs the guru. So I think there’s a kind of symbiosis in their relationship.”
Once Elektra decides to help Mark and Abby, she too becomes a target for The Hand, a team of ninjas whose members each possess a specific black magic skill. Foremost among them is Kirigi, played by Will Yun Lee (“Die Another Day”). Kirigi is a master swordsman and an adept of Kimagure. And Will Yun Lee is a long-time adept of martial arts. “My father was one of the first Tai Kwan Do masters to come to the United States,” says Lee. “So I’ve been studying martial arts since I was a child.”
Kirigi’s team is comprised of Tattoo, Typhoid, Stone and Kinkou. Tattoo, played by Chris Ackerman, derives his magical powers, as his name implies, from the animals engraved on his skin. He can command these animals to leave his body, take form in the real world, and do his bidding. The behind-the-scenes tattoo process, which involved transfers, ink drawing and airbrushed coloration, took the ELEKTRA Special Makeup Effects team about six hours to apply.
Typhoid, played by Canadian Natassia Malthe, is the ultimate femme fatale: Whatever she touches dies. Bob Sapp, who portrays Stone, is a veritable mountain of a man, standing 6’3” tall and weighing 374 pounds. Stone’s body is rock hard, so hard that Elektra’s weapon of choice, her sais (a pair of three-pronged daggers), break against him. Kinkou, played by Edson T. Ribeiro, is the man who can’t be knocked down. His sense of balance is super-human. Ribeiro, a native of Brazil, is a master of that country’s martial art form, Capoiera, a combination of dance and martial art.
ELEKTRA was filmed in and around Vancouver, British Columbia. The decision to shoot a major portion of the movie in natural settings was a departure from the gritty, urban landscapes of other comics-to-film adaptations. “The forest surrounding Vancouver is spectacular,” says Rob Bowman. “There is something fresh to invite into the comic book world with these colors and this light.”
“We’ve tried to keep the backgrounds as smooth and unobtrusive as possible, so that the characters kind of pop out,” adds Production Designer Graeme Murray. “It’s designed very much in a comic book style in that sense.”
Another key theme brought out by the production design involves the opposing forces of light and dark as represented by The Chaste (the heroic band of ninjas led by Stick) and The Hand. The Hand’s conference room, where we first meet Kirigi and his team, is slick, urban and modern, with lots of hard, reflective surfaces. It is located in downtown Tokyo, atop a skyscraper. In contrast, Stick’s mountain retreat, a simple encampment, is nestled in a clearing in the forest that affords a view of majestic mountain peaks.
A key element of the film’s overall look is its costume design. Fans and filmmakers alike were delighted that the big screen Elektra’s costume is the comics character’s signature red. “It was very important to me, to Jennifer, and, I know, to the fans, that this time the costume be red,” says Costume Designer Lisa Tomczeszyn. “In addition, we’ve incorporated at a lot of fashion elements like corset lacing, low-rise pants, and high fashion boots into her costume. Bearing in mind that Elektra Natchios is one of the wealthiest women in the world, she wears every important designer label.”
In designing the costumes, Tomczeszyn had to take into account practical considerations, like the film’s many action and fight sequences. “Originally I wanted her costume to be a bit more sports-oriented, but it turned out that the fabrics I wanted to use were just too flat on film,” says Tomczeszyn. “So I had to build in stretch panels down the legs of the pants. The bodice is rigged so that it doesn’t inhibit any shoulder or arm movement, which is critical to Jennifer’s work with her sais. Unfortunately, there was no place to hide stunt pads.”
Stunt pads or not, Jennifer Garner trained hard before and during shooting. Her days often started before dawn, when she’d squeeze in a 4:00 a.m. training session before getting set-ready. “Elektra is a consummate martial artist, and I’ve poured by heart, body and soul into my training,” says Garner. “Luckily I had ‘Daredevil’ and three years of ‘Alias’ under my belt.”
Some visual effects were incorporated into the fight sequences, but most of the stunts were accomplished using practical effects. Stunt Coordinator and Fight Choreographer Mike Gunther created ELEKTRA’s many fight sequences, each drawing on various martial arts techniques that are unique in both conception and execution.
“Jennifer did a little bit of boxing, some Wu Shu, a bit of hard style martial arts like Shodukan,” says Gunther. “It’s a little bit of everything mixed together.”
“We trained differently for every fight,” says Garner. For a ‘Bo Stick’ fight, for example, I spent a couple of months training. When we shot that scene I had these big fans on me and my hair was blowing in my eyes. Basically I was fighting blind against five guys, but I was so rehearsed that I knew if I put my stick where it was supposed to be, the fight would go right. I couldn’t see anything but I the heard the ‘click, click, click’ of my stick hitting theirs and it was exhilarating. That’s why I train so hard…so that on filming day I’m not worried. They could have blindfolded me and hung me upside down and I could have done that fight!”
Elektra uses her weapon of choice – a pair of three-pronged daggers known as sais, in all but the Bo Stick fight. Cast and crew marveled at Garner’s skills with the sais, as she made them appear almost like extensions of her arms. “It’s about being comfortable with the weapon, being able to spin it in any direction, and look like you’ve had them in your hands since you were a kid,” says Gunther. “Jennifer had definitely mastered that.”
Garner’s excitement about bringing to cinematic life a beloved comic character is palpable. “I think the audience will be carried along on Elektra’s emotional ride,” she says. “You’re going to see why she is the way she is and why it isn’t working anymore. You’re going to see a friendship forged and a little bit of romance. You’re going to see some great action. I know I worked on this role as hard as I could. I promise…it’ll be a ride!”
Elektra (2005)
Directed by: Rob Bowman
Starring: Jennifer Garner, Goran Visnjic, Terence Stamp, Jason Isaacs, Will Yun Lee, Natassia Malthe, Kirsten Prout, Chris Ackerman, Colin Cunningham, Mark Houghton
Screenplay by: Raven Metzner, Stuart Zicherman, Zak Penn
Production Design by: Graeme Murray
Cinematography by: Bill Roe
Film Editing by: Kevin Stitt
Costume Design by: Lisa Tomczeszyn
Set Decoration by: Peter Lando
Art Direction by: Eric Norlin
Music by: Christophe Beck
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for action violence.
Distributed by: 20th Century Fox
Release Date: January 14, 2005
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