Comic-Con Interview - Ray Stevenson of “Punisher: War Zone”

Evening fans who forsook dinner to head to the Punisher: War Zone panel got treated to comments from the new Frank Castle, Ray Stevenson, the leading lady in the uberviolent crime saga Julie Benz and producer Gale Anne Hurd. Sadly, director Lexi Alexander was on her honeymoon with the first assistant director from the film, so she couldn’t be there to fill us in on her vision. Apparently, though, she’s an experienced martial arts champion and ex-stuntwoman, and Hurd said she could literally kick our asses and “she knows how to give us the action and the violence that we want.”

We also got treated to a world premiere trailer that’s a bit longer than the first one and which showcases Jigsaw, the deformed villain of the film played by Dominic West. This was in addition to a gruesome music video that gave the fans of brutal violence, aka the “sick fucks” that Alexander is counting on to show up this December, more of a taste of what they’re looking for - such as Castle punching a guy in the face so hard that it collapses inwards, and a guy taking a chairleg to the eye. That kind of warm fuzziness demonstrated in the Garth Ennis book series, with iconic covers illustrated by Tim Bradstreet. Here’s some of what they had to say to the assembled fans.

Producer Gale Anne Hurd:

Marvel and Lionsgate really understand and listen when the fans speak. Fans said ‘you know what? We really want a Punisher that hews much more closely to the comic books.’ We went for the MAX series because we wanted it to be ruthless, ultraviolent vigilante justice. (crowd roars in approval). You also told us ‘you know what? Frank Castle is a New York City guy.’ So this film takes place in New York City. And you said ‘you know what? Love Tom Jane, but if it’s not going to be Tom Jane, find us a Frank Castle who looks like he came straight out of the comic books.’ I don’t know about you, but I can’t think of anyone who looks more like a Tim Bradstreet Punisher than Ray Stevenson.

Star Ray Stevenson:

It’s all there - the complexities of the writing, they don’t pull their punches. They don’t shy away from the living hell that this man is in. There is no light at the end of his tunnel. He knows directly where he’s going and he’s on this set course. Approaching a guy like this, one of my first concerns was that we needed to make sure that we had that psychological profile in there.

(after watching the trailer): It’s just a revisit back to those times when we were actually doing it, living it and breathing it. It’s not a green screen movie, it’s not a special effects movie. So much hard work by so many people to actually bring this to the screen. I’m very, very proud of it and very excited.

When I first opened the pages, I thought ‘my god, this is such an uberviolent piece. It’s beyond violence. It’s a violent world with violent men and they deal with it violently. But the more I read it, I couldn’t put it down. It didn’t glamorize it in any way. It didn’t glorify it because it was always reflected in the dark soul that Frank was carrying. There’s a price to pay for this. You don’t really want to be Frank Castle, but you’re glad he’s there.

If I have my wish, it’s going to run and run. It’s up to the fanbase. If this works, we get to do it all again. I can’t wait to see what happens next. If everything goes well, touch wood, we’ll be back here showing the next one. And the one after that. And the one after that.