The Punisher
Short description
Frank Castle is an undercover FBI agent and former Delta Force operative preparing to leave field work behind for a desk job and a quiet life with his wife and son. His final assignment goes wrong when Bobby Saint, the son of the crime boss Howard Saint, dies during the operation. Saint retaliates by ordering the murder of Castle and his entire family. Castle survives, and, aided by a local recluse, he recovers and takes on the identity of the Punisher, hunting down the men responsible.
The film is the directorial debut of Jonathan Hensleigh, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Michael France. Hensleigh went on to direct Kill the Irishman, The Ice Road and Ice Road: Vengeance. Thomas Jane plays Frank Castle, with John Travolta as Howard Saint, Will Patton as Quentin Glass, Roy Scheider as Frank Castle Sr., Laura Harring as Livia Saint and Ben Foster as Specker Dave. Gale Anne Hurd and Avi Arad produced, and the credited cast and crew number 57 and 154 respectively.
Produced on a budget of 33 million dollars by Valhalla Motion Pictures, Lions Gate Films, VIP Medienfonds 3 and Marvel Enterprises, the film took in about 55 million dollars worldwide. Audience ratings sit at 6.4 out of 10 on IMDb from 180,000 votes and 6.4 out of 10 on TMDB from 3,288 votes, while critics gave it 4.8 out of 10 across 169 reviews, a lower figure than the audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- Thomas Jane underwent intensive training for the filming: to build muscle, he spent several hours a day weightlifting, followed a diet, and also learned to handle various types of weapons.
- Initially, the main role was offered to Vin Diesel.
- Five identical "Pontiac GTO" cars were specially manufactured for the film (two of them were completely destroyed during filming). In the film with Lundgren, the main character drove around on a motorcycle.
- Hugh Jackman was offered the role of Frank Castle, but had to decline as he had already begun preparing for the film "Van Helsing" (2004).
- The filming of the explosion scene in front of the "Bank of America" building was not publicized in advance, so hundreds of people called 911, thinking it was a real explosion.
- "The Punisher" was filmed in Tampa, Florida. During pre-production, Hensleigh and cinematographer Conrad Hall reviewed numerous action films, crime dramas, and Westerns from the 1970s. These films helped the creators understand the style in which "The Punisher" should be filmed.
- The basis of the film is the adventures of a hero from popular comics published by Marvel. He first appeared in 1974 in the comic book "The Amazing Spider-Man", after which fans of the genre could regularly follow his exploits for 30 years.
- During the filming of the fight scene, Thomas Jane accidentally cut Kevin Nash with a knife.
- The character of The Russian was played by well-known wrestler Kevin Nash, who had to get rid of his long hair for the role.
- A film of the same name starring Dolph Lundgren was released on video in 1989, although his character had little in common with the comic book heroes.
- Initially, "The Punisher" was intended to be the first film in a trilogy, but even before filming began, Jonathan Hensleigh had a smaller budget than he wanted, which hindered the plans. Hensleigh knew that most action films had budgets of around $64 million, while he had only $15 million. In addition, he was given 50 days for filming, which was half the time allotted to most films. Due to these problems, most of the script had to be rewritten. According to DVD commentary, the first scene of the film was supposed to be a battle in Kuwait during the Gulf War, and one of the storylines would have revealed the betrayal of Frank's best friend, who gave him up to Saint.
- The film marked the directorial debut of screenwriter Jonathan Hensley.
- Rebecca Romijn admitted that in the scene where her character stitches up the knife wound sustained by Thomas Jane's character, she inserted the needle too deeply and ended up making several stitches on the actor's body, rather than on an artificial prop simulating the wound.
- Specifically for this role, Thomas Jane, like Dolph Lundgren who played in the 1989 film of the same name, dyed his hair black to more closely resemble the character from the comic book.
- Howard Saint did not appear in the comics; this character was specifically created for the film.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
