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CAPITAL PUNISHMENTThe Punisher's Tom Jane tells Slasherama about his "balls-to-the-wall, punk rock action movie"...
Hello Sir! Would you agree that The Punisher harks back to the glory days of overblown action fun: Charles Bronson, Chuck Norris and all that good stuff?Tom Jane: "Absolutely. Those are the kind of movies which inspired me to make this movie. I love the anti-hero characters that Charles Bronson used to portray. Stuff like Get Carter knocks me out, too." Today's action heroes tend to either be watered down and politically correct, or ironic, don't they? Tom: "Yeah, I don't like winking at the audience. There is a sense of humour to the movie, and a great sense of fun mixed in with the pathos and the balls-to-the-wall, take-no-prisoners, punk rock action that this movie's full of. At the same time, I didn't want the movie to make fun of itself. It's not fun for me: if someone laughs at the movie, it has to be because something funny's going on - not because the movie is commenting on itself." You do get to deliver some classic one-liners. My favourite Bronson line ever, incidentally, came after someone asked him, "What's your business?" and he replied, "Minding my own". Sadly, I can't remember which movie that's in, so if any readers know, e-mail me! Tom: "(Laughs) I had a lot of fun with that stuff! I had to take it seriously with a real straight face, otherwise it wouldn't be funny. You either get that kind of thing or you don't. People who get it can go along with it and it's great fun." Did you audition for the role? Tom: "Well, they came to me with the role and I turned it down! I told them I don't like superhero parts. They had to explain to me that it wasn't a superhero. Frank Castle is like the anti-superhero. He's got no super powers and no superhero suit. So that's what made me say yeah: the fact that I got to do a Charles Bronson thing with it." Would it be true to say that, although you've appeared in the likes of Deep Blue Sea before, The Punisher is the making of you as an actor? Tom: "Well, it's the first film that I've really got to headline and star in. There's a lot of pressure: a lot of Punisher fans to make happy. I did feel the responsibility of bringing this guy to life. But at the same time, I kinda had to throw it all away and make myself happy." Did you watch the first movie adaptation of The Punisher, starring Dolph Lundgren? Tom: "I watched a little bit of it. I was not overly impressed. I thought that they kinda used the name The Punisher and made their own little action movie. I'm sure it must have been really disappointing for the fans, because it didn't have much to do with the comic books at all. Ours is the first real comic book adaptation of The Punisher." You apparently did a great deal of physical preparation for the part… Tom: "I put on about 22-25 pounds for the role, a lot of which was muscle. They just beat the crap outta me on a daily basis. It became a full-time job, going to the gym and doing the cardio-vascular stuff. Then there was the weapons training: the hand-to-hand training and the knife-fighting stuff. It took up a great part of my day for many months. Deep Blue Sea was rigorous, but The Punisher took the cake. It was very rewarding, though: I really enjoyed it." Are you comfortable around guns? Tom: "Yeah, I grew up with hunting and fishing, so I've been around them my whole life. But I got to learn a whole bunch of military techniques, gun safety and stuff like that." Did you learn how to kill a man with a spoon? Tom: "You do learn some scary stuff during the hand-to-hand combat and the knife-fighting training. Some scary ways to end a fight, real quick!" 
You accidentally stabbed a fellow actor, I hear.Tom: "I did stab Kevin Nash during the filming of our fight, yeah. I'm not proud of that - it's actually really embarrassing. I broke the flesh and there was a little bit of blood, but Kevin took it like a gentleman, which made me feel even worse of course! If you're gonna stab somebody, try not to stab the biggest dude on the fuckin' set! The Punisher's fight with Kevin's character The Russian was based on all those great '70s fights, like Sean Connery and Martin Shaw. I'm very proud of that sequence." How does Castle survive being shot at a point-blank range on the jetty? Tom: "Well, it is a willing suspension of disbelief that he survives. That said, from talking to the military guys who had been training me, they'd seen this kind of thing happen all the time. It was a small-calibre pistol that he was shot with, and he was shot right on the breast plate. The heart is off to the left, so he gets shot right dead centre. What often happens is that the bullet gets deflected by the breast plate. Of course in movie logic, people can survive getting shot right in the head." Because of The Punisher's structure, you and John Travolta didn't have many scenes together. Did you get to know him? Tom: "A little bit. The John Travolta I met was very nice - a very gracious man. Intelligent, collaborative with a lot of great things to say. He called me up after he saw the movie and spoke to me for a half-hour on the phone. He said he really enjoyed the film and my performance. A great guy, which was cool. You never know how these superstars are gonna behave or react." You once had Rutger Hauer for a father-in-law. Was that scary? Tom: "Yeah, I had the Hitcher for a father-in-law! But he was a real nice guy. He's always been a hero of mine - I've always admired the hell out of his acting and thought he was one of the best actors there ever was." How has The Punisher been received in America? Tom: "It's been great, especially for a relatively low-budget movie. The fans seem to have really taken to it and enjoyed it. It would be great if it heralded a new breed of simple action movies which don't pretend to be much more than they are." Would those movies include a Punisher 2? Tom: "I hope so, I really do. It's all up to the movie gods. Unfortunately, all the character's loved ones are now dead. We've talked about a story involving the Jigsaw villain from the comics. I can't imagine the series hitting, like, five sequels like Death Wish, but I'd love to do another one. You don't get to make movies like this much any more..." [Check it out at Amazon UK] [Back To Top] [Features Menu] [Home] © Copyright Slasherama 2002-present |