Forget Dolph Lundgren, forget Thomas Jane — Ray Stevenson is the Punisher now, and he’s getting ready to prove it with September’s Punisher: War Zone.
Stevenson recently sat down for a chat with IGN Movies about what it’s been like settling in underneath that skull-emblazoned shirt as the lethal vigilante, and he promises a new direction for the Punisher films:
“It’s not Punisher 3; it’s Punisher: War Zone. We’re going exclusively for the MAX series with Garth Ennis writing and Tim Bradstreet doing the cover illustrations. That was the look — the New York, night-time predator, with all the incredible, dark psyche that goes along with him. Certainly not a superhero, but an anti-hero.”
The Punisher, as fans of the comic books know, is one of the more interesting characters in the Marvel universe — a man driven to the most desperate fringes of justice for its own ends. It was all the more disappointing, then, that the two previous attempts to bring his story to the screen (1990’s Lundgren-led The Punisher and the 2004 Thomas Jane reboot) didn’t do the best job of turning the print version into compelling viewing. Stevenson isn’t worried, though — in fact, he’s already talking franchise:
“I’d be delighted to play Frank again. We’ve opened him with this one; we’ve opened up wounds. It was a very interesting journey as an actor because it really does raise some quite severe moral and social issues. The state can still kill people, but we can’t license individuals to kill people. We’ve advanced, as it were. Yet if somebody harmed my son, I would absolutely stop their seed. I don’t think I’d be big enough, or magnanimous enough, to allow due process. And if they got off, how would I feel then? But where is the advancement if we constantly revert back to eye-for-an-eye, to the ancient law of retribution? Are you happy that he’s out there, knowing full well that you’ll never be a target? But what if you transgress? Where does he draw his line? And if we entertain, and at the same time hold up a mirror, then we’re in…”
To read more of Ray Stevenson’s thoughts on Punisher: War Zone, follow the link below!
Source: IGN Movies
