Action Director Philip J. Silvera On His ‘Bite The Curb’ Moment In ‘Daredevil: Born Again’

BusinessHollywood & EntertainmentAction Director Philip J. Silvera On His ‘Bite The Curb’ Moment In ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ByLaura Sirikul,Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Laura Sirikul is a L.A.-based reporter covering film/TV and music.Follow AuthorJun 01, 2026, 10:00am EDTNEW YORK, NEW YORK - FEBRUARY 24: Philip J Silvera attends the Daredevil: Born Again red-carpet launch event at The Hudson Theater on February 24, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images for Disney)Getty Images for DisneyDaredevil: Born Again action director, second-unit director, and stunt coordinator Philip J. Silvera likes to reference an infamous scene from the 1998 crime drama American History X when putting together a fight-and-stunt segment. He doesn’t show anything visceral, but uses the idea behind it to gauge how much impact and feeling he can get from the audience.“I use the American History X as a philosophy,” Silvera says from his trailer during a break filming Season 3 of the Disney+ series. “That’s my baseline – what is the ‘bite the curb’ moment? You don’t see it, but it’s how the audience feels in a certain way who’ve seen the film. What is the ‘bite the curb’ moment in a sense that grabs the audience and makes them feel connected to the sequence?”For Daredevil: Born Again season 2, which came out this past March with positive reviews, the Emmy-nominated action director says there were too many for him. Sure, there were a lot of violent scenes, but his “bite the curb” moment was the emotional impact between Daredevil (Charlie Cox) and Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio) after the loss of his wife, Vanessa (Ayelet Zurer).“It was a more emotional scene between Daredevil and Kingpin, where we wanted to make Kingpin go into such a blind rage that he loses [a part of] Vanessa by throwing Daredevil into the painting [that Fisk purchased when he met Vanessa] and destroying something again that he loves with his ow...