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When Marvel announced its plan to create four new TV shows to stream on Netflix – Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist and Luke Cage – there was something of a collective eye-rolling. With DC characters having been successful on TV for over a decade (Smallville, for example), and a slew of new ventures already in the works for them (Arrow, Gotham, The Flash, Constantine), Marvel’s announcement felt perhaps like an attempt to keep up with its competitors on the small screen – a motivation that does not always yield the greatest results. All of those qualms were put to rest, however, when Daredevil casting choices began to hit the headlines – Charlie Cox (Boardwalk Empire) as Matt Murdock, Rosario Dawson (Sin City: A Dame To Kill For) and, in the iconic, villainous role of Wilson Fisk, the great Vincent D’Onofrio.

There are a vast number of good, talented actors working in the industry today, but there are only a select few whose names are synonymous with the perfection of their craft. When Vincent D’Onofrio is cast in a project – be it TV, film or theatre – it is a resounding signal to the audience that this is something worth watching. The story will be interesting, and the characterization flawless. It is the unspoken contract that has gradually developed between us and the actor, who uses every inch of his intimidating presence to inhabit a role – and when that role is Wilson Fisk (aka Kingpin), the legendary nemesis of Daredevil with decades of history inside the pages of Marvel’s comic books – things get very exciting indeed.

Daredevil is now in production, and Vincent D’Onofrio is deep into the process of delivering his take on Fisk. However, he managed to spend time discussing the project with Screen Crush:

“It’s huge. I mean the whole Marvel world is so huge. But I gotta tell you, I couldn’t be working for nicer people. I really am. I’m just having a great time. The whole – the way that they’re shooting it, our Daredevil, everybody that’s in the show, it’s just going so well. Tonight we have a big fight scene that’s happening. It’s the first time you see my character do something physical.

“The thing about Marvel is that they’re not – they’re into real acting. They’re looking for artists that are willing to take chances and are willing to create characters, even if that character has been around for years and years in comic books, they are still depending on us to create something and take it somewhere else.

“I think – it’s not just me, by the way, it’s the writer. It’s Steven DeKnight, it’s Jeph Loeb at Marvel, it’s the scripts, and it’s me. I think it’s gonna be the… I hope – I should say – I hope it’s gonna be the new way to look at Wilson Fisk. I think there will be no other Wilson Fisk but this one after we’re done with it. That’s what we’re hoping for.”

That certainly is fighting talk from the actor, but from someone of D’Onofrio’s stature, it is entirely believable. Sure, Michael Clarke Duncan did a great job in the 2003 film Daredevil, but when you have Full Metal Jacket‘s Private Pyle, Men In Black’s Edgar, or Law & Order: Criminal Intent’s Detective Goren on the job, the whole thing is elevated to a higher plane.

Nothing spoke in greater volume about the casting of D’Onofrio as Fisk than the reactions of the fans. We saw vehement responses to the news of Ben Affleck as Batman, and even some dissent around the casting of Mark Ruffalo as Hulk, but when the latest embodiment of Wilson Fisk was announced, audiences had little criticism to express. It’s almost a no-brainer, but D’Onofrio is always happy to listen to his audience:

“It’s like when you’re doing a play and you feel the audience before you walk out for your first one, you know? That feeling is quite something. When you do a play, you do so many performances. You show up in the dressing room after your 100th performance, and you’re like, ‘I don’t wanna do this play anymore. I just don’t wanna play it anymore’. And you’re about to break into tears because you just don’t wanna do this play anymore, you know? And in dressing rooms in theatres, you have these little speaker boxes, and you can hear the audience coming in. Once the audience starts coming in, hearing them, you suddenly go from hating the play to wanting to go out again, just by hearing the audience. And so it’s the same kind of thing. I can hear the audience with these fans of Daredevil and these fans of Marvel, and it just makes you enthusiastic.”

An enthusiastic Vincent D’Onofrio playing Wilson Fisk in a Daredevil TV show on Netflix? I’m in. The arrival of this show on the popular streaming service in 2015 cannot come soon enough.