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Cold Bishop wrote:I thought it was pretty well known that, after the original film was such a disappointment (not just financially, but to Jane, artistically), he approached Walter Hill with the specific purpose of doing a Hard-R Taxi Driver influenced take on the material. They went even as far as giving a presentation to the studio, but Lionsgate kiboshed it.

ianungstad wrote:Unless plans have changed, there are plans to launch Punisher as a basic cable series.

SpiderBaby wrote:I must say, there are a few things I love with P:WZ.

Cold Bishop wrote:I know the soundtrack alone was the source of much controversy: Anderson wanted a full orchestral soundtrack; Lionsgate wanted wall-to-wall Modern Rock, something they could market as a CD.

Cold Bishop wrote:

SpiderBaby wrote:I must say, there are a few things I love with P:WZ.

It definitely doesn't quash my theory that more masculine genres could use female filmmakers.

dx23 wrote:I'm glad Fox didn't pick up the series because it would not work unless it is shown on AMC, HBO, Showtime or FX.

flyonthewall2983 wrote:

dx23 wrote:I'm glad Fox didn't pick up the series because it would not work unless it is shown on AMC, HBO, Showtime or FX.

AMC would probably fumble the ball with it, HBO would just pass it on to Cinemax, and Showtime would let it run too long. FX would be a better fit if you consider the kind of areas they went with The Shield and more recently American Horror Story. Plus they kind of have a niche for the kind of macho material The Punisher represents.

David, you've done drama and horror. Some fairly formidable directors have branched out into superhero movies pretty beautifully —is that something you would consider doing?

DC: I don't think they are making them an elevated art form. I think it's still Batman running around in a stupid cape. I just don't think it's elevated. Christopher Nolan's best movie is "Memento," and that is an interesting movie. I don't think his Batman movies are half as interesting though they're 20 million times the expense. What he is doing is some very interesting technical stuff, which, you know, he's shooting IMAX and in 3-D. That's really tricky and difficult to do. I read about it in "American Cinematography Magazine," and technically, that's all very interesting. The movie, to me, they're mostly boring.

Do you think the subject matter prohibits the elevated art form?

DC: Absolutely. Anybody who works in the studio system has got 20 studio people sitting on his head at every moment, and they have no respect, and there's no…it doesn't matter how successful you've been. And obviously Nolan has been very successful. He's got a lot of power, relatively speaking. But he doesn't really have power.

So that's a no.

DC: I would say that's a no, you know. And the problem is you gotta… as I say, you can do some interesting, maybe unexpected things. And certainly, I've made the horror films and people say, "Can you make a horror film also an art film?" And I would say, "Yeah, I think you can."

But a superhero movie, by definition, you know, it's comic book. It's for kids. It's adolescent in its core. That has always been its appeal, and I think people who are saying, you know, "Dark Knight Rises" is, you know, supreme cinema art," I don't think they know what the f**k they're talking about.