Ben's 'Daredevil' Shape-Up!

For his super-sized action flick 'Daredevil,' BEN AFFLECK had to slim down, diet hard and train like a fiend to get into superhero-fighting shape!

ET caught up with 'Daredevil' stunt coordinator JEFF IMADA and Fitness and Training expert DAVE LEA for the word on working with Ben, and what the regime for molding him into his final svelte form was like!

"Daredevil uses a lot of batons and stick-fighting," Lea explained. "I started the first two to three weeks with sticks, weights, stretching, kicking, punching and different fighting positions. There was also a lot of stomach training; this gave him a lot of strength throughout the movie for all of the agility and gymnastics he had to do with the wires and tricks like that."

So did Ben show any "diva-like" tendencies during the six months of hardcore stomach-crunching, punching and kicking? Not once! "Ben was very adventurous," Lea told ET. "When he was ready to work, he'd work. He adapted to the pain."

Imada said he was also very impressed with the Affleck work ethic. "Ben was a real trooper. He really loved to get in there and even if it was uncomfortable he'd keep pushing and trying harder. He pulled it off, and he did quite a bit of (the stunts) himself!"

'Daredevil' follows in the footsteps of other Marvel Comic adaptations like 'X-Men' and 'Spider-Man,' but what makes this masked crusader different from his comic-book cohorts is his humanity and vulnerability.

In the movie, Matt Murdock (Affleck) is a lawyer blinded by a freak accident that leaves him with super-charged senses. Like every great superhero, Daredevil has his evil nemeses to battle. In the big-screen go-around, COLIN FARRELL ('Phone Booth') plays the villain with perfect aim known as Bullseye, while MICHAEL CLARKE DUNCAN ('The Scorpion King') takes on the role of crime lord Kingpin.

The film has been a pet project of director MARK STEVEN JOHNSON ('Simon Birch') for the last six years.

"My dream was to get all of these people involved and to make the movie that's been in my head for such a long time," Mark said. "What we're hoping to do is make something different -- a movie that will be a great kick-[butt] superhero movie [but] at the same time have some emotions, some heart, and characters that you actually care about."

Catch Ben and his daring 'Daredevil' when it opens February 14th, 2003.