The 2004 Marvel Comics adaptation The Punisher wasn’t a huge hit when it was released by Lionsgate, it made just under $55 million at the global box office, but that was still enough for Lionsgate to greenlight a sequel. And when The Punisher 2 first went into development, the idea was that The Punisher director Jonathan Hensleigh would be back at the helm, with Thomas Jane reprising the role of vigilante Frank Castle. But there were script issues, Hensleigh left the project, and Lionsgate started searching for another director. And during a panel at the Fanboy Expo Knoxville last weekend, Jane revealed that two of the directors who were considered for The Punisher 2 were Rob Zombie, who was then fresh off of working with Lionsgate on The Devil’s Rejects, and The Warriors‘ Walter Hill.
Jane said (with thanks to ComicBook.com for the transcription),
There were a couple of iterations of Punisher 2. One of them was with Rob Zombie directing, which I thought would have been interesting. But that was one iteration. We were batting around script ideas and trying to find a new director. The Marvel folks wanted to go with a different director, and that was their choice, so it was like, ‘Who is that person going to be?'”
Then Walter Hill entered the picture, and Jane thought they had found the right director. He and Hill
met and fell in love with each other and went to the studio. Walter said, ‘I’ll write it, and direct it, and that’ll be that.’ They ended up saying no to Walter Hill for reasons that are beyond my ability to comprehend. That’s when I said, ‘If you’re not going to make the perfect Punisher film with the perfect guy, then who else do you got?’ They floated another director who hadn’t really done anything in that ballpark, and so that’s when I had to pull out. I had to say, ‘Listen, I’m not sure if you guys really understand what it is you’re doing. Therefore, the chances of fu*king this up are pretty high.'”
The next Punisher movie ended up being Punisher: War Zone, directed by Lexi Alexander and starring Ray Stevenson as Frank Castle. And it did have a Rob Zombie song on the soundtrack. Walter Hill and Thomas Jane still haven’t worked with each other, but Hill originally intended for Jane to be Sylvester Stallone’s co-star in Bullet in the Head. The producers had Hill replace Jane with Sung Kang from the Fast and Furious franchise.
I would have been very happy to see a Punisher movie directed by Walter Hill – and it would have been interesting to see Rob Zombie go straight from The Devil’s Rejects to The Punisher 2 instead of remaking Halloween.
Do you wish Walter Hill or Rob Zombie had made a Punisher movie? Share your thoughts on these “what could have been” scenarios by leaving a comment below.