Before last weekend’s Comic Con, the news had started to leak that Ray Stevenson - best known as Titus Pullo in the BBC’s Rome - was taking on the long leather coat and skull t-shirt to play The Punisher in Marvel/Lionsgate’s second stab at rejuvenating the character.
But Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige, busily talking up Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk, was evasive when we asked him to confirm that Stevenson would be picking up the gun-laden mantle of comics’ most trigger-happy vigilante.
Not any more - he’s happily revealed to The Hollywood Reporter that Stevenson was his top choice. “"Ray was the first name I wrote down after I saw Rome, because he managed to keep the audience caring about him despite being the most violent guy," Feige gushed to the trade mag.
Green Street Hooligans helmer Lexi Alexander, no stranger to brutal blokes, will be directing - and aiming to shove the franchise well into R-rated territory. Which, given the subject matter, is surely a good idea. This time out, our hero Frank Castle will deal with mob figures in New York, particularly his arch-nemesis from the comics, a hideously scarred enforcer named Jigsaw.
Source: ( The Hollywood Reporter )
