USA: MARVEL COMIC BOOK SUPERHERO 'THE PUNISHER' JUMPS FROM THE COMICS TO THE BIG SCREEN

Record ID: 388792

  • Title: USA: MARVEL COMIC BOOK SUPERHERO 'THE PUNISHER' JUMPS FROM THE COMICS TO THE BIG SCREEN
  • Date: 3rd April 2004
  • Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (APRIL 3, 2004) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) THOMAS JANE SAYING: "There was a lot of weight training, there was a lot of diet stuff, there was a lot of edge weapon training, a lot of hand-to-hand combat training, some Filipino martial arts, primary and secondary weapons training, you know the list goes on and on,
  • Embargoed: 18th April 2004 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES AND VARIOUS FILM LOCATIONS
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVA58DU2TS37C0AH7XTSIYW153Z5
  • Story Text: The Marvel comic book superhero, "The Punisher"
    jumps from the comics to the big screen.
    Following last month's box office success of Dark Horse Comic's "HellBoy," Marvel Comics are hoping the vengeful vigilante tale will launch a new franchise lead by relative newcomer Thomas Jane.
    John Travolta lends his star power to the cast in his most evil role to date and Travolta, together with his wife Kelly Preston were on hand at the movie's big launch in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California.
    Model-turned-actress Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, who also stars in "The Punisher", walked the red carpet solo the same day as announcing the end of her five-year marriage to actor John Stamos. She avoided reporters' questions.
    Meanwhile, John Travolta marvelled playing Howard Saint - a Florida businessman whose glossy social profile and coveted cosy life cover up his violent dealings with the underworld and his chilling capacity for brutality.
    His son is killed by the FBI and Saint wreaks revenge; taking no prisoners and instead preferring to shoot his enemies personally.
    Travolta explains: "It was classic in that it was high-end evil. This guy being haughty and kind of a blue blood wannabe. He thinks it is good money but it is all bad money. It was fun to play that."
    Thomas Jane, who showed up at the world premiere with his wife Patricia Arquette and her teenage son Enzo, plays FBI agent Frank Castle who crosses Saint's path once too often. But after Saint massacres his family, Castle uses his FBI background to wage a one-man war against Travolta's evil empire, acting as the judge, jury and executioner as "The Punisher."
    Winning a role opposite Travolta was not an easy task for any actor, especially a relatively new and upcoming actor who wanted to muscle in on leading man roles.
    "There was a lot of weight training, there was a lot of diet stuff, there was a lot of edge weapon training, a lot of hand-to-hand combat training, some Filipino martial arts, primary and secondary weapons training, you know the list goes on and on, then I had to learn my lines, so it was a tough job."
    Rebecca Romijn-Stamos plays John's concerned neighbour who is caught up in the violent vendetta.
    She is no newcomer to Marvel Comics, playing Mystique in the "X-Men" franchise. But unlike with "X-Men" movies, she enjoyed the simplicity of her role in "The Punisher."
    "It is so different, the X-men movies there is so much CGI and green screen, you do your best to make those characters come to life but there is so much of it that is out of your control once it goes into post-production and they start to monkey around with the CGI and everything, so at least with this it was nice to go in and know what I was doing and know how the result is going to be."
    But Thomas Jane, after almost a year getting in shape for the punishing role, is more than happy to let computers flex their power. "What you have to do is make enough money so the next time you get CGI muscles."
    "The Punisher" opens on April 16 in the United States and in Canada, and on May 7 in the United Kingdom.
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