With a publicist nudging gently at his back, Affleck finally manages to make his way out of the circle of hungry journalists, although even as he’s being whisked away, he arches his head back in time to answer one last question.

Ben Affleck is charming enough, likeable enough and funny enough to capture the attention of the attending press even after studio publicists have turned off the mics, flickered the lights and done everything short of chasing everyone out with pitchforks and torches. This may, for members of the anti-Affleck committee, be hard to believe - but while it may be easy to dislike the man based on say, REINDEER GAMES, it’s damn near impossible not to love him in person. He’s not the mugging, Zoolander-esque Affleck from the cover of ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY. He’s the t-shirt and ratty jeans guy next-door…if, of course, the guy next door to you just happens to be engaged to Jennifer Lopez.

It’s both a blessing and a curse for him that he happens to be involved in one of the most high-profile relationships since…well, since Adam and Eve. For one, he genuinely seems to have found a girl he’s in love with. For another, the surrounding media blitz has catapulted the actor, once “stuck playing obnoxious bad guy bullies” as he puts it, into a whole new level of celebrity.

With all the yin pleasure that accompanies dating Jennifer Lopez though, comes the yang backlash, a complete lack of privacy and the inability to stop at Circle K for a gallon of milk.

“It's new for me…” admits a suddenly sheepish Affleck. “I've been in public relationships before, you know, with Gwyneth, but it wasn't quite the same thing. I don't know what's different about it. I didn't anticipate that it would be different. I thought okay, there's a degree of publicity that kinda goes along with this. I was a little bit shocked, but I take a lot of comfort in the fact that there's only so much you can say about that stuff.” A slight, contemplative pause and you wonder if the jovial Affleck that trotted into the room not a few minutes ago has been frightened back under his shell. But he continues: “Then Colin Farrell's dating Britney Spears and you're off the hook entirely,” and just like that the crowd again rests gently in the palm of Mr. Ben Affleck’s hands.

As Affleck’s and co-star Farrell’s lives have changed drastically, what with their rising careers and blossoming love lives, so have those of pretty much everyone involved with DAREDEVIL.

When Jennifer Garner was first cast as Elektra, she wasn't quite the budding superstar she is today. Sure, she garnered (no pun intended?) critical raves for her performance on the then wet-under-the-ears ALIAS, but there was no Golden Globe award, no cover of ROLLING STONE and no Steven Spielberg film. All this positive change might be tickling the studio pink (as sequel and spinoff talk buzzes loudly) but Garner herself isn't fazed.

"As far as fame is concerned, it hasn't really hit me yet. Not to sound naive `cause I know there's an awareness about me, I know that I'm on the cover of a magazine, but I'm at work so much of the time that I don't live my normal life."

Farrell once had a similar attitude but lately has found his burgeoning stardom hard to ignore. "A lot's changed in the past week...I've never noticed change in three years, cause the films I've done didn't exactly light up the box office, but a lot's changed in the past week. I'm getting calls from friends at home saying paparazzi are outside my house and my mother's house in Dublin. You know, that's never happened before to me… I'm still not used to the fact that I get to choose sometimes the pieces and that I'm in a position of privilege as an actor that I'm in. It's shocking and surprising and I don't know why I was given this opportunity and chosen."

The Irish actor now feels a certain, newfound kinship with Affleck, who calls him a “lovable rogue,” as they share war stories about public inquiries into their private lives. As Affleck alluded to above, just days before the DAREDEVIL press junket, Colin Farrell walked down the red carpet premiere for THE RECRUIT with The World’s Most Eligible Bachelorette, Britney Spears.

Of his latest romance, Farrell says it’s all a simple misunderstanding. “I'm sitting in a hotel with 25-30 of my family and friends who came over from Dublin and (Britney’s) there and talking to someone in the corner with her friends and I'm going, ‘Isn't this all dandy. We're all together having drinks before the premiere.’ And we go to the premiere and the limos open and then I went, ‘Oh, of course, of course.’ Then it was a feeding frenzy. But up until that time, I hadn't fuckin thought of it. And there'll be people that'll go, ‘Shut up, you manipulative bastard, yes you did.’”

To answer the more direct question as to whether he and Spears are an item, Farrell denies their involved but says casually, as he takes a drag from the Camel Light dangling from his lip, “ she’s really just a sweetheart…and not exactly hard on the eyes either.”

Like Farrell, once the M.O. with Ben and Jen was to deny, deny, deny and keep the publicity to a minimum. Affleck is now more willing to run with it, rather than away from it. Realizing how absurd it all is, the actor has some fun. When the topic of conversation finally returns to DAREDEVIL, the reason, after all, he’s here in the first place, he jokes, “I'm glad to get to some of the questions that won't make any of the copy.”

The good-natured Affleck answers all the questions about Lopez and his private life openly but with caution and a slight hesitation. "You sit down and you want to talk about the movie, or this, or that, but then all the people ever ask you about, here we are, case in point, is your personal life. So honestly, if you're a sort of people-pleaser, or you feel like being polite or even courteous, you want to sort of respond to those questions and hope...to get back to talking about DAREDEVIL."

When the conversation finally veers back towards DAREDEVIL, his face lights up - less like the Sexiest Man in America and more like the comic geek shuffling through back issues of FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUALS in Forbidden Planet - the same Affleck who was introduced to DAREDEVIL comic books at the ripe age of nine.

“When I was a kid, there was a contrast between (Daredevil) and others in the spectrum of this comic book universe, many of whom were really very chaste, Boy Scout, black and white, kinda golden-age, ‘50s comic book heroes that were predictable. You always knew they'd do the right thing. They were fighting intergalactic foes…and it was fun in kind of little kid way, but it was nothing that I could ever identify with. As I got into pre-adolescence and into adolescence, (Daredevil) represented something to me I thought was more realistic. It sounds funny to say about a guy that puts on a red suit and fights crime at night, but it was like he was a flawed hero.”

Affleck wasn’t the only DAREDEVIL fan involved with the production. Writer/Director Mark Steven Johnson got the job, with a terribly slim resume, by impressing studio executives – or should I say frightening? – with his passion for the comic-book source.

"I was really in danger of losing (DAREDEVIL). They were really going to take it away from me and get a big-name director. So I was so incensed, I jumped up on my motorcycle and rode to the Fox lot to meet with one of the executives on the movie. They said, 'he's busy, he's not expecting you and he has meetings all day.' And I said 'I'm not leaving. I'll wait.' So I waited for hours...for four hours. I'm in the lobby PACING, just freaking out. Every once in a while the assistants would come and look and say, 'he's still here?,' like I was some maniac who was gonna attack their boss. And I waited and waited and waited and finally they said, 'OK, he'll see you.' I went into his office, shut the door and locked and went off for 30 minutes straight. Just ranting about how I'm the right guy and why it's a big mistake if they don't let me do it.”

That sheer enthusiasm and passion for the project that Johnson, who admits he can be a “pissy fanboy,” possessed inspired the rest of the cast members who had little, if any, knowledge of a the comic character.

“I had never heard of DAREDEVIL till I met Mark,” explains Farrell. “Not much of a comic book culture where I come from.” Dublin may have been short on comic book stores but Farrell was clearly impressed with Johnson’s devotion. “I met Mark and he had a blatant passion for the project and the comic book and the characters, you know he had gotten his first comic book when he was eight. He's been an avid fan of it so just being with him was so contagious `cause he just loved it so much. He had written the script and from Day 1 was a part of everything on the project. Costumes...he wrangled all the bands for the soundtrack...he had his finger in every single pie. That was a huge part of the reason I wanted to do this piece.”

Jennifer Garner admits she was more into LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE, ANNE OF GREEN GABLES and EMILY OF NEW MOON” than a certain Man Without Fear. But it’s hard to imagine the gracious Garner would raise much of a fuss.

As Elektra in DAREDEVIL and on ALIAS, Garner is a tough, rock-em-sock-em babe, but in real-life she’s not quite like her fictional counterparts. "I'm a strong person, but I'm not tough. I am NOT violent. I can't even watch violence.”

Garner is truly a sweet soul, spending a good bulk of her interview talking about how much she loves her husband, actor Scott Foley, and his work. As Affleck puts it, “if (Jen Garner) has a flaw, it's that sometimes she's too patient, too indulgent.” She even finds time to gently rib yours truly. When I admit that I've never seen an episode of ALIAS, the hit show that also acts as her meal ticket, Garner rolls her eyes.

"Did you see the Super Bowl episode?” she asks.

"I didn't, ‘cause I know I'm not gonna understand what's going on."

"Alright, I'm sitting with you right now. But if you miss Ethan Hawke tonight...you can just turn your tape recorder off and never talk to me again. It's sooo good and so easy to understand. Ken Olin directed it. It's so easy to understand. Get over it, it's not that difficult. It's a television show. It's got great characters, great drama and there's action - watch a few times and you'll get it. My roommate's dead. My roommate's dead - there, watch it tonight. Watch the show!!" All of course said with a wink and a smile. A very, very adorable smile.

While that adorable face, along with Affleck’s and Farrell’s, will help sell the movie, there’s more to DAREDEVIL than your three matinee idols. Much more. MUCH more. Add up Ben, Jen and Colin and you might get the right thigh of Michael Clarke Duncan.

Michael Clarke has his own chair. The chair that Colin or Jen sat in probably wouldn’t hold the massive actor, so he’s got his own chair; a throne really. As he sits down, dwarfing the once giant chair, an assistant walks up behind him and places a pitcher of cranberry juice, a large glass and a plate with three pastries next to him. He says, “I hope you don’t mind” as he tears into one of the Danishes and washes it down with a tall glass of juice. Not that if I did mind I would ever voice my dissenting opinion.

When he speaks his voice bellows. His biceps test the very fabric of his sleeves. I fear a handshake would crush my wimpy Irish paw. All this and director Johnson wanted more. He wanted BIGGER.

“Mark said 350 and I said that's too much. That’s GREEN MILE weight, where I was just miserable. I said I'd do 335 and that's it. No more, no less, that's all I'll give you. His complaint was when they tried the suits on, they tried them on when I was like this. So naturally when he walked in he said, ‘That's not the Kingpin! Look how the suits are fitting.” Then they put all this padding in me and it made me look so...dorky cause the shoulder came up to here (motions next to his ears) and I said, ‘That's not the Kingpin either - that's stupid.’ I said ‘tell you what - trust me to know that I will work out and eat and get the muscle you need.’ And he said I don't know... But every wardrobe fitting I came to, they took out less and less pads. Until mark walked in on the final wardrobe fitting and he's like, ‘See I told you! The pads are great!’ and the guy (from wardrobe) said there's no padding.”

Also having to go bigger for DAREDEVIL was Jon Favreau, who bulked up to play Matt Murdock’s partner-in-law, Foggy Nelson. While Favreau was off filming his latest directorial effort ELF with Will Ferrell, buddy Affleck gave some well-deserved props.

“Favsy just flat out killed it…(his) stuff is the one thing I still wish there was more of…I thought he was brilliant. I'm a huge fan of his. I love SWINGERS. I love his sense of humor. And he really got it. He understood that the brooding, hero guy who's got the weight of the world on his shoulders is so ripe for having his balloon popped by this sort of counterweight to him. Still my favorite moment in the movie is when he tells me that the office looks like the set of 'Sanford and Son' and he's waiting for Lamont to come in. That's just genius and that was Jon's. And there's like so much other stuff in there that didn't make the movie which hopefully we'll see on the DVD with him going, (launches into Favreau impersonation) <'Where do you go at night? You come home, you have bruises. Do you have an alternate life style? You can tell me about it.'> It's some great stuff that he did. <'What is it about Fight Club? First rule, don't talk about fight club?'> He had these great jokes that didn't make the movie. I think it kind of ended up making it feel like the movie stopped for the Jon Favreau standup act.”

Here we are, on the eve of DAREDEVIL’s release and so much has changed for the cast and crew of the film.

Johnson, who readily admits he was “not the logical choice to direct this movie,” has shown the world he’s a director of great potential and high caliber. He may have been worried the studio was going to dump him and opt instead for Ridley Scott but Johnson likely won’t have that to worry about next time around. He’s already planning a DAREDEVIL sequel that he hopes Kevin Smith will adapt, based on his “Guardian Devil” storyline, and an ELEKTRA spinoff. Johnson also promises a kick-ass DVD loaded up with as many extras as he can possibly fit.

For Affleck, Garner, Farrell and Duncan, the world is their oyster. Affleck recently wrapped reshoots of GIGLI, his first of two movies with Jennifer Lopez, and is currently filming SURVIVING CHRISTMAS with James Gandolfini. He insists a wedding is eventual but no date is set.

Garner is excited about trying something different in her next film, the comedy 13 GOING ON 30, where she’ll play a 13-year-old trapped in a 30-year-old’s body. She continues to work on ALIAS, whose post-Super Bowl show nabbed a series high in ratings.

Farrell will continue being Colin Farrell. Filming on this summer’s action blockbuster SWAT, with Samuel L. Jackson, just wrapped and the actor is headed back to Dublin to partake in a few pints of ale, a few packs of smokes and a few Irish lasses. There he’ll prep the indie drama AT HOME AT THE END OF WORLD, for which Farrell says he looks forward to getting back to “doing some fuckin’ .” Oliver Stone’s epic ALEXANDER THE GREAT biopic also looms on the horizon.

Michael Clarke has agreed to voice the Kingpin in the DAREDEVIL animated series and is contractually obliged, like his three co-stars, to return for a possible sequel. Duncan has bigger ideas that just a DD2 though.

“SPIDER-MAN and DAREDEVIL. You know they gotta bring those two together. They have a big fight and the Kingpin is the reason they fought. You have to bring Ben Affleck and Tobey Maguire together. It’d be the biggest movie in history…If I were a producer, I would get that deal done. Give me 3-5 years and I could get it done.”

It wouldn’t take you long to figure out, by looking at this crew, that the old adage is true – change is good.

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