The Punisher: War Zone

[Shadowmancer]

First details on the Punisher Sequel
Posted: 2007-08-10 Updated: 2007-08-10 13:35:23

With a hail of bullets and the roar of revenge-heavy gunfire, a slew of new details have emerged for 2008's "Punisher" sequel.

First up, there's a new warrior donning Frank Castle's iconic skull shirt: Ray Stevenson, star of HBO's acclaimed "Rome" series. With a new star comes a new director, German auteur Lexi Alexander ("Green Street Hooligans").

The Irish-born Stevenson, most known for his role as Titus the callous warrior on HBO's "Rome," clocks in at a hulking 6'4" and judging by his work on "Rome" is probably the absolute perfect choice to play the skull-clad vigilante.

Lexi Alexander is a former karate and kickboxing world champion known for writing and directing the gritty film "Green Street Hooligans."

The film is currently in pre-production and shooting is scheduled to start this September in Montreal for a 2008 release.

This was taken from Marvels website. I haven't seen Rome yet and I have heard that it isn't that good if you are going to be looking for Historical accuracy, but it should be interesting to see how this one Shapes up as I liked The Punisher and Thomas Jane as him.

 

[wotdoiput]

Huge fan of the Punisher, huge. Thomas Jane was extremely good in the role. Not very happy that he wont be returning for the sequel.

Will still watch it however. Just might be a dvd job.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

I wasn't impressed with the original. He's one of the best comic characters going (I have two Punisher tats) but it just wasn't gritty enough for my liking. If there going to make the film adult then they should make it less stupid. Then ending was complete poo on the last one.

 

[Shocky]

The Punisher is a great character, but I don't feel it will ever translate that well on the big screen. I mean the guy is popular, you see that skull, you know exactly who it is.

The problem is he is too dark for it too be a success at the box office. Sure, the die hard fans will go to see it, but you are going to have a huge problem drawing a fringe crowd that is going to feel sympathy for the character after he murders a shit ton of people.

It wont happen on the big screen, but I kinda like the Punisher character now in the comics. Captain America tells him off about being hero, cap gets shot, and now the Punisher has put captain America into his attire.

 

[justinsayne]

Ray Stevenson is the guy on the left, he is the one who will be playing The Punisher, idk I think he looks the part, and I did like the first one, however I'm holding judgment on the second one until I atleast see a trailer

 

[Y 2 Jake]

My guess is that it will be DTV. Thomas Jane isn't exactly a mega star. While the original wasn't a big role for John Travolta it was for Jane. If they had any intention of this hitting the cinema they would get somebody with a little bit of star power. If it's direct to video the name alone will make it do a bit of money, at the cinema it would need a name actor. It's also made by Sony who usually release ''Shit I didn't expect then to do a sequel to that'' DTV DVD's.

 

[Shadowmancer]

From Marvel.com

It seems that there's no rest for the powers behind Marvel Studios and Lionsgate's highly anticipated Punisher sequel, "Punisher: War Zone." Following up on her first four casting choices, director Lexi Alexander dropped details for a trio of new roles on her official blog.

Every good hero—even the merciless Punisher—needs a great villain, and Alexander's found the "perfect Jigsaw" in Dominic West ("300" and HBO's "The Wire"). Can he handle the scarred and sadistic criminal? You betcha.

And what's better than one enemy for Frank Castle? Two, of course. And while West suits up as the film's big bad guy Jigsaw, Martial arts master and action movie veteran T.J. Storm also joins "War Zone" as the savagely vicious Irish gangster Maginty.

And though it's still unclear how the character will fit into Castle's war, Punisher's sometimes sidekick—and frequent weaponsmaster—Microchip will be played by Wayne Knight, known far and wide for his role as Newman on "Seinfeld"!

The film is set to shoot in Montreal this October so check back in with us regularly for the latest updates on everything "Punisher: War Zone"!

If someone can fix the name of the thread as wel to include its real name that would be good. I have been reading the Punisher Max series recently, and if you want a good read, read that. I think that they have chosen the right guy to play Maginty, hopefully this gets done really well as this is a good way to build up the movie, relative unknowns in a movie butit will be awesome in terms of the violence.

 

[Shadowmancer]

Spoiler: Story for Punisher II

From Marvel.com

What's the story behind "Punisher: War Zone"? Get the official scoop on the movie, set to hit theaters September 12, 2008, right here!

Waging his one-man war on the world of organized crime, ruthless vigilante-hero Frank Castle sets his sights on overeager mob boss Billy Russoti. After Russoti is left horribly disfigured by Castle, he sets out for vengeance under his new alias: Jigsaw. With the "Punisher Task Force" hot on his trail and the FBI unable to take Jigsaw in, Frank must stand up to the formidable army that Jigsaw has recruited before more of his evil deeds go unpunished.

Starring Ray Stevenson (HBO's "Rome") as Punisher, "Punisher: War Zone" is directed by Lexi Alexander and produced by Gale Anne Hurd and Ari Arad. The film's executive producers are Kevin Feige, Ogden Gavanski, Oliver Hengst and Jeremy Latcham.

Dominic West, Doug Hutchinson, Colin Salmon, Wayne Knight, Dash Mihok and Julie Benz co-star in the 2008 release.

The Story sounds awesome. With Jigsaw in it, I can't wait to see the movie as they can get more into the story quicker without having to explain how he became the Punisher. Hopefully they push this movie in a similar direction with the way that they took the Punisher Comic book in directing this far more into the Garth Ennis style than what they have for the main universe punisher title. Hopefully the first scene is an all out kill fest as that would kick ass.

 

[Shadowmancer]

From Marvel.com

First Look at Punisher: War Zone
Director Lexi Alexander updates Marvel fans on the action-packed film

By "Hollywood" Mel Caylo

Welcome back, Frank!

"Punisher: War Zone," scheduled for release September 12, 2008, is in its last weeks of shooting in Montreal, but director Lexi Alexander took time out to unveil the first image of new "Punisher" star Ray Stevenson ("Rome") and speak to us about the highly anticipated movie, which has a many a Marvel zombie wondering, "Is this a sequel?"

"This is a complete reboot," says the German-born martial artist turned filmmaker, who was recovering from a serious cold she got after shooting in subzero weather for two straight weeks. "[Frank] Castle is one story—the mythology stays the same. The one thing I concentrated on is to really make it as close to the [Marvel] MAX series as possible." That can only mean one thing: violence, and lots of it!

"I really like violent movies," Alexander confesses. "[This] will be a hard [rated] R. The feeling of it is going to be much darker [than the previous "Punisher" films]. Comic fans will realize immediately the world we created feels more like the comic book world."

It's that devotion to sticking close to the source material that has Marvel fans pumped for this film, which not only borrows elements and characters from Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon's 2000 "Welcome Back, Frank" storyarc (the inclusion of Detective Martin Soap, for example), but digs into the entire Punisher universe (like pegging longtime villain Jigsaw as the main baddie) for inspiration.

"We took parts out of the world of Frank Castle and tried to make the best story possible," notes Alexander. The film, which is set in the Punisher's hometown of New York City ("We call it 'Marvel New York' because rather than setting it in real New York, I wanted it to have a little surreal feeling," says Alexander), pits Frank against mobster Billy Rusotti (Billy "The Beaut" Russo in the comics). A confrontation between the two leads Rusotti to crash face-first through glass, disfiguring his face and earning him the puzzle-like nickname of Jigsaw.

Playing Jigsaw on the big screen is "The Wire" actor Dominic West, who, along with Stevenson, Alexander credits for helping "Punisher: War Zone" take shape.

"Ray Stevenson is incredibly intense," marvels Alexander. "Not only does he totally look like the Punisher, he's…kind of got that look where his life is on his face, you know?

"On the other hand, Dominic is just a really skilled actor. This guy is a real British theater actor; he has a huge range. When you have both of them at the dinner table, privately, you can actually tell that the essence of each of these characters is in them. Ray will sit there and say nothing all evening and be really intense and just listen. Dominic will sit there and be entertaining everybody and be loud and like a clown. We have two actors who really represent the essence of these characters."

Alexander, a former World Karate and Kickboxing Champion (she's since hung up her Gi to pursue filmmaking), was herself also able to bring a lot to the production. Because of her martial arts background, she worked closely with Stunt Coordinator Pat Johnson (whom she also worked with on her last film, "Green Street Hooligans") to design all the hand-to-hand combat scenes in "Punisher: War Zone," which account for about 30 per cent of the Punisher's killing methods (the other 70% being, of course, his imitable gunplay).

"Once in a while I jump in because I see that a punch doesn't sell," says Alexander of her hands-on approach to filmmaking. "The guys shake their heads because they tower over me. I'm like, 'Can you turn around and do it like this?' And Ray [Stevenson] will say, 'I can't believe this little midget is showing me how to fight.'

"There's a lot of humor about the fact they think I can kick their ass," she laughs. "That's good for a director because they all listen to me."

Alexander definitely has our ear, as we'll be checking back on the production in the months to come, here on Marvel.com.

If you enjoyed this report, we hope you check back next week—and every Tuesday—when I, "Hollywood" Mel Caylo, deliver the Marvel's official entertainment 411, right here on Marvel.com!

They chose the right guy for portraying Frank Castle in terms of look, So it is going to try get as close as possible to the Max run of Punisher. That means one thing and one thing only Violence and lots of it with a good script. If they had Garth Ennis on the script as well you can just see that this movie is going to be good.

 

[Shadowmancer]

Here is a shot of Frank Castle. the Have grey/blackish skull. That won't work. The reason the Punisher is Iconic is because of his Skull Logo hopefully it is only a vest over the Logo as that would make sense. But the more I see the guy as Frank Castle the more I like the look of the guy playing him.

 

[X]

Thomas Jane is awesome. The comic book of the Punisher is awesome.

But the movie was one of the biggest steaming piles of shit I've ever had the misfortune of seeing. The people who like that movie are the same people who think Sylvester Stallone is a good actor.

Can't say I'm too interested in this movie either. I'll probably end up giving it a rent when it comes out if theres nothing better to watch.

[Oh yeah! 1500th post!]

 

[Y 2 Jake]

[youtube]SZPC1iyvLoU[/youtube]

That is one of the most violent tarilers I've ever seen. It's almost like some sort of Euopean trash cimema it's that violent. I expected this to be nothing more than a direct to video shit fest. But that looks awesome. It kind of looks like the movie Smokin' Aces should have been. None stop action and violence.