Hey, I'm Lexi Alexander.
And I'm here with my comrade
and brother, Steve Gainer, the DP.
Hello, everyone,
and welcome to Punisher: w*r Zone.
Well,
this is the famous Lionsgate logo...
...which, actually, I've come to find out
in Canada is an actual real locations.
Yes, the Lions Gate Bridge
there in Vancouver.
Yep.
And the Marvel Knights logo...
...which I don't know much about,
actually.
--32.
Malone hands off for a one-yard gain.
Can 't establish their running game
because Washington--
--will help you.
Mince and mash the garlic into...
This title sequence,
actually, was planned really early...
...and was in one
of the very early drafts...
...to basically give the story here
of what happened to Cesare...
...and what Frank Castle
is about to do.
--Spend one day behind bars.
A lot of the effects that you're seeing
on this are actually in camera.
The flashes
are me taking a little flashlight...
...and shining it down the eyepiece
of the camera.
And there's a swing-shift lens
on the camera...
...to give that out-of-focus look
like that.
A butane canister under the lens
to make it look like heat.
That's a piece of chandelier glass...
...that has a cut in it
that I'm wiggling it in front of the lens.
There.
It was a very cold night
when we sh*t this.
But then again,
pretty much all of our nights were cold.
But this one was specifically cold.
It was very cold.
There was a large--
What was that, like a train--?
Underground, and it's actually--
It was already freezing in Montreal,
and snow and whatnot.
But in this locations,
it was colder than outside even, so...
And, you know,
if you're in Montreal...
...and you're happier to be outside
than inside...
...then you're in a freezer, basically.
I really liked the way they did
the comic-panel look in this case.
You know, l kind of requested
from the very beginning...
...to use a lot of our sh*ts.
Because a lot of our sh*ts,
as you know...
...because we prepared it forever...
...are based directly
and copied directly...
...out of the Max comic-book series.
And not even, like,
you know, a little bit, like, all the way.
Like for example, the opening mansion
and--
God, it goes on and on.
H im with the r*fle.
This is the famous Marine Force Recon
tattoo which you saw there.
--Right in our front yard.
My dear, sweet little boy.
The pained words
of a grieving woman...
...left all alone in a city outraged by
these developments.
I thought
that was a pretty cool setup...
...with him in the corner of the frame
and the TV on the other side.
I always liked that.
I like that we didn't see,
you know, his face right away.
And just kind of like his essence
and aura.
These are a couple
of very lovely stock sh*ts.
Yeah, we actually never went
to New York, did we?
Nope.
All Montreal...
...and Vancouver.
So this right here
is taken directly out of the comic book.
And lucky enough
we found that mansion...
...which there's only one mansion
like that.
This is Dominic.
Do I fix your makeup for you?
You can see how cold it is
just from his breath.
Right. I love Dominic.
He's a really great actor.
And he was a great sport.
Because, I mean, we had
to shave his head because of the mask.
Then we had this wig,
and the wig was a whole problem.
And he was just good
about everything...
...about being in makeup every day
for two hours.
Yeah, and not only that,
but we gotta remember those guys...
...were running back and forth
from our unit to second unit as well.
-Right.
-Some of them--
Ray and Dominic
were doing a lot of double duty.
You know, a lot of them: the stuntmen,
a lot of our crew members.
Ink, keep your nose clean.
I thought we had a really great cast.
-Keram is a lovely guy.
-Keram's fantastic.
So this was inside the mansion,
which was also on locations.
Same mansion
that you see the exterior from.
Right here, this is Romano
playing Nicky Donatelli.
Great guy.
That was one
of my favourite, favourite state...
...like, art designs that Andrew d id.
It's actually a very, very difficult room
to work in, this one, though.
Because it's about a 20-by-20 room.
It's just a room.
And with a 1 2-foot ceiling,
but a hard ceiling.
So it's not a set where you could
actually hang lights outside of the set.
Everything had to be inside.
So we ended u p going forward
with a little balloon.
We had a tiny balloon
that we floated inside the room.
-Because there are a lot of people.
-That's right.
There are a lot of people.
I mean, you got five people on his side.
And six or so people
on Cesare's side.
Wow, it was tough.
--My customs guy Simmons
to be on that night.
Yes,
and the aquariums were actually there.
We just used them. We loved them.
I think Andrew put some blue lights in,
or you put the blue lights in there.
Yeah,
the guy had two types of lights.
He had fluorescent...
...and he had those mercury-vapour
sort of daylight-blue balance lights.
We used those because we're sh**ting
with tungsten-balance light in there...
...the warmer light,
so any daylight balance...
...or blue balance is gonna make
the water look really blue like it does.
And an extension
of the thing we were trying to do...
...by creating the comic look.
Correct. And I also thought that--
By the way,
Cesare here in the wheelchair...
...is a great actor
named John Dunn Hill...
...who I was really lucky to find.
Because that was one of those
Marlon Brando kind of Godfather parts.
And I was like, "Oh, God.
Who's gonna be doing that?"
But he was great.
But also the work that comes
to shine here, I think, was Odette.
Odette,
our costume designer, was just genius.
Because I told her the wardrobe--
We had this whole conversation--
Steve and I tried to figure out...
...how we can best imitate
the frames of the comic book.
And we finally came
to the conclusion...
...that the wardrobe cannot oftset
the colours that we're using.
And so Odette
did all the wardrobe in--
Basically in the same
colour scheme at all times...
...which was not easy.
You think it would be easy,
but it wasn't.
Yeah, she's an incredibly talented
person, so pleasant to work with.
She was fantastic.
And once she had understood what
we were trying to do, she embraced it.
And then she started coming back
going, "How about this?"
-It was fabulous. I really love her.
-Right, correct.
Yeah, we saw The Punisher
already coming in shadows.
At that point,
we still haven't seen really his face.
We did see his Kn*fe.
Great Kn*fe specially made
for the Punisher movie...
...by a guy
who's a good friend of mine by now.
I haven't met him personally
but we're e-mailing.
Dan from Relentless Knifes.
This also was a very difticult set.
This actually is a set.
And this is the only--
I think it is the only stage-built set,
yeah.
There was somewhere
in the neighbourhood...
...of 400,000 watts of light
coming into the set from the top...
...because we had as our light source,
a flare.
And in order to try and create
the red light that was going on--
The red gel that we used eats up
about 1 6 times the amount of light...
...that comes out of a light normally,
so you really have to boost it up.
Light see more in high speed too,
so there's another couple of stunts.
Well, this whole
opening sequence scene is--
You know, it was a lot of work.
You know, you saw all kinds
of murders happen.
There was a lot of,
you know, controversial reactions...
...to The Punisher k*lling a woman.
And, you know--
She reached for a g*n
so basically I thought it was justified.
But then l thought,
"Hey, he's The Punisher.
Why? Is he only gonna k*ll
male bad people?"
And the upside-down sh*t,
which, you know...
...of course,
a lot of people loved that sh*t.
I loved that sh*t. You loved that sh*t.
They loved the thing.
People said,
"The Punisher would never do that."
But our sergeant--
Marine Sergeant Jonathan Barton...
...who was there as our m*llitary adviser
said, "Absolutely. He's The Punisher."
There's my favourite friend and actor,
Dash Mihok, playing Soap.
He's great.
He did a fabulous job.
We're actually back inside
the real mansion again...
...and now we're out back.
Police! Freeze!
This is Tony Calabretta
playing Detective Saffiotti.
Also a great find. Great guy.
Just a really great spirit
to have on set.
And I think
this was one of those scenes, Steve...
...where you kind of came up
with a great light scheme last minute.
-Didn't you?
-Yeah, it was--
We were a little bit on the fly
with this one...
...because we'd had some difticulty
with the weather, if you remember.
-Oh, yeah.
-The ground was wet.
So we could n't bring the lifts out
onto the wet ground, they would sink.
And so we had to improvise.
Sometimes...
...some of the coolest things happen
when you just go for it.
Half of the stuft in this film
I thought was the coolest stuff...
...was totally improvised,
and totally coincidental too.
How did it go down, huh?
I love Dash. l don't have to say
that again. We all love Dash.
He got a standing ovation in the end
when he was wrapped...
...just because
he also is such an incredibly good guy.
I mean,
it's one thing to be a talented actor...
...but to be such a good guy...
This one was one of those sh*ts...
...where l said to you
also in the last minute:
"Oh, my God.
We don't have them planned...
...to get out of the car,
but we need it.
Can you come up
with something cool?"
And you came up with that
in, like, 30 seconds, didn't you?
Yeah, well, backlight
is the cinematographer's friend.
And so I figured, blast a bunch of light
out of that door rising...
...and it might look pretty cool.
Add a Technocrane,
and you got a great sh*t.
Here's The Punisher fixing his nose.
If you look really carefully...
...you'll see snow landing
on the back window of the car.
It was a blizzard when we sh*t this.
We actually had to end
production early...
...because it was a blizzard.
Now, I have to say to the breaking--
Fixing-the-broken-nose scene...
...I actually saw that at a tournament
really happen.
I saw a kickboxing guy do that.
And so that's why I thought...
...it would be a good thing
for The Punisher to do.
-T.J.
-That's T.J. Storm.
And our great Parkour guys
from Montreal who were great.
This is the inside of--
This facility repaired locomotives.
-It's what their original business was.
-Right.
At the same time that we were doing
this, they were sh**ting The Mummy.
Oh, correct. Yep.
And they had all the mummy--
I mean, we always joked about that
the props that were standing there...
...all those golden horses and stuff,
their props...
...probably were more worth than
our entire budget of this film, right?
Oh, most definitely, actually.
Amazing amount of art work.
So now this is a small office
that was inside of that locomotive...
...solely that Andrew
actually kind of embellished u pon.
Andrew Neskoromny,
our production designer.
Yeah, who was kind
of the third musketeer on this team.
-I ndeed.
-It was Steve, Andrew and myself...
...trying to figure out--
And Odette, of course...
...in terms of the look of this film...
...trying to figure out
how we can do a lot for little money.
Time to go to work.
We're running low, boss.
We picked up 200K
from the Lucciano construction site.
I had to launder it through the...
I liked this location a lot. I thought
this worked-- Hard to work in...
...because, obviously,
when you're not on-stage...
...you can't move any kind of walls.
So you're in there crammed,
and it's hot.
But I love the look of it, I really do.
I think also it was on that day...
...that we reached our 200th roll of film
and...
They have this thing in Montreal,
right...
...where when you reach
you're 200th roll of film...
...the actor the sh*t is on has
to buy champagne for the entire crew.
I think they made that up
when we came in town.
But, you know what,
Ray bought the champagne.
And I think we made-- We actually
made both Dominic and Ray...
-...buy the champagne.
-We had two cameras, A and B cameras.
So when each one reached--
Actually, it was 1 00.
When each one reached 1 00...
...they each paid
for a night of champagne for the crew.
-Which was very nice.
-That was nice.
That's a great sh*t too.
Wait, that's not even visual eftects.
You sh*t that, right, with that laser?
That's what happened
when that laser hit the lens.
The diftraction that it created
with that odd pattern.
I love all those floodlights
that you put in there.
Yeah, you know,
that is a large crane...
...that was meant to work
on the locomotives.
And we just installed a
couple of big xenon spotlights on them.
And they're actually almost
like rock 'n' roll lights...
...because they're automated,
you know?
And each of these big lights
that are in this set...
...are actually just movie lights
that Andrew painted...
...and distressed and put a cover on.
Oh, f*ck.
What the f*ck was that?
You know,
it's funny because this locations...
...when I saw it on the screen,
it was so beautiful that I thought:
"Everybody's gonna think this is a set,
not an existing locations."
But it was an existing locations.
I mean,
Andrew made the glass crusher.
You know, and you lit it like this,
but this existed.
Pittsy!
-It was also very cold.
-Yeah, yeah.
-All right.
-The famous glass crusher. You know--
Little behind the scene
filmmaking here.
Obviously, you can't let an actor fall
into real glass...
...so this is plastic.
You know,
there's just no way to get around that.
Nobody won't insure us
if this would be real glass.
So we have to figure out
how to make this most realistic.
And l thought, you know,
you with the light and the smoke...
...and as well as sound,
I thought did a really good job here.
Yes, sound really saved it, actually.
A lot of that also
was sh*t second unit.
I thought they did an amazing job.
Yeah, Doug Coleman, the director...
...and Brian Sweeney, the second-unit
cinematographer, were fantastic.
You know,
we'd come into a location...
...and because of our truncated
schedule of 40-some-odd days--
f*ck!
Forty-some-odd-- No, 40.
The 40th day we had to fight for.
This is our big movie.
Because of our schedule...
...we had to bring people in
to finish things for us.
That's what second unit does
very often...
...aside from sh**ting
establishing sh*ts as well.
And Brian and Doug
just did a spectacular job.
Because they would come
to our set...
...see what we were doing,
take notes.
And also they really gave us a lot.
Like I would say to Doug :
"Oh, only get this,
and get a few people sh**ting back"...
...and he always got me
so much more.
And Brian, of course...
...everything looked exactly
like what you were doing.
Which can be a problem, you know?
When it's not
the same lighting equipment...
...it's not the same lighting crew.
So you know,
it could have easily been not matching.
-That's a stock sh*t.
-Not this, but the one before.
Yeah.
That, actually, was, l believe,
second unit as well.
I mean,
this was not a traditional second unit...
...because we had such limited time.
But we wanted so much.
There was a lot of stuft...
...we, Steve and I,
had to say goodbye to...
...and just, you know, broke our heart
but we had to give it to second unit...
...so we could get this movie done.
That's right. This whole sequence of
coming down into the subway is one.
And then basically what happened
is Steve and I planned it all out.
And, you know,
we told the actors what to do...
...you know, wrote the script for it,
told them how to light it...
...but in the end
we were actually not there.
But I was never unhappy
with anything they did, really.
No, they were great. I especially like
this sequence right here.
-Yeah, me too.
-Of him running.
That contrast of-- And the green.
You know that's one
of my favourite locations, right?
This is The Punisher's den...
...which anybody who has ever picked
up a Max Punisher comic book...
...knows that this looks exactly
like in the comic book.
And this is a practical location.
This was the one that we talked about
before that's incredibly--
It was colder inside there
than it was outside.
And outside, it was like 40 below zero,
wasn't it? It was snowing.
There was 3 feet of snow on the ground
when I walked outside. l was like:
-"Oh, my God."
-It was really cold in there, really.
We had these-- What was it called?
-Canadian Goose jacket.
-Canada Goose, yeah.
Canada Goose jackets and not even--
I had an electrical jacket
that warmed me up with batteries...
...and even that wasn't enough.
It was really brutal.
Yeah, I think l had electric socks,
and the batteries froze in them so...
Yeah.
A lot of good those did.
Very comfortable
with the wires in them.
I think that guy was the head of the--
Actors union in Canada. That's
how he got the job in the first place.
I didn't cast him. He just showed up.
All right. Oh, there you go.
Reach Donatelli's family.
Can you ask Miller if...
-Larry Day.
-Yes, Larry Day. Great guy.
That was our first day, Steve,
at the cemetery.
That's right. Yeah, I love this stuft.
I remember, you wanted
to move a sh*t in the last minute.
And l told you not to because l was
so nervous we wouldn't make our days.
And I had promised a great guy
at Lionsgate named M ike Paseornek.
I said,
"l promise you, we will make our days."
And I wanted to keep that promise,
so...
It started being--
We were a little anxious.
I was, at least that day.
I wanted to make sure
we get it done.
Colin Salmon. We love Colin Salmon.
He's a beautiful man.
I love to photograph him.
Julie Benz, who was great.
Great sport, Julie Benz is.
And the little girl, Stephanie.
I thought she did such a great job.
Thank you.
She's, like, way beyond her years.
Of course, you know,
it was interesting...
...because l don't think her parents
realised...
...that they were signing up
for 40 nights.
Forty night sh**t.
And so oftentimes...
...the parents
had taken her away to sleep...
...and l think we had to do without,
but we somehow did it.
And she was always great
when she was actually on.
Said something big
was gonna happen.
He asked for Homeland Security.
We ran 24-hour surveillance on
Russoti. Just as we're about to...
-Yes, doesn't Colin look amazing?
-Oh, yeah.
Steve and l, we're always sitting
behind the monitor going :
"Oh, my God, he looks amazing."
Now we might need to tell the story
about Dave Crone now.
Oh, my God,
you've gotta tell that story.
Dave Crone is an incredibly talented
camera operator.
He's been my first pick
on several motion pictures...
...but this is actually the first one
that I was able to get Dave on.
-And l respect him very much.
-He's a legend.
I mean, he worked on everything great.
He's a true legend, this guy.
Yeah, and he's fabulous, and l--
Lexi really wanted things framed
on the edge of frame...
...like the girl was right there.
And, you know,
Dave is a very traditional operator...
...and he tends to put people
a little deeper into the frame.
So we were constantly
badgering Dave, you know.
"Put it on the edge. Put it on the edge.
On the edge."
So the frame would slide over
as this scene went.
And then, at this one point,
where we decided that--
We'd already decided in advance...
...that we wanted to have The Punisher
dead in the centre of the frame.
Lexi reminded me,
and I went over and told Dave.
I said, "Okay, let's get him
right in the dead centre and--"
He went nuts.
He couldn't comprehend it.
He started hitting his head
at the wall.
H is head exploded. He went:
Yeah. He's a legend,
and he's done great work.
But I think we drove him
seriously insane.
That's of-- Oh, look at that crane sh*t.
Dodo. You gotta give a shoutout
to Dodo here.
Our B camera operator, Dodo,
was absolutely fantastic and--
Dominique, and actually did
just a incredible job for us.
We would have the first camera set up
and have, you know, the hero sh*t.
Then, she'd search around
with her B camera...
...and find something incredibly
interesting practically every time.
-Don't you think?
-Absolutely, l totally agree.
And, you know, we kind of were talking
our DaVe Crone story here over--
-An important scene.
-Over the flashback scene.
And I just wanna say that this was
not actually planned as the scene...
...it was planned as a photo sh**t,
if you remember...
...that you later on see
in Soap's office.
And Steve said to me:
"We're already out there.
We might as well roll
the damn camera."
And I said,
"All right, well, whatever."
I wasn't actually that enthusiastic
about it.
It wasn't planned.
It wasn't in the script.
And then my editor, William,
put it in--
Put this altogether,
this flashback scene.
And l started crying
when l saw them.
L'm like,
"Thank God, we rolled the camera."
I thought that was really great.
--Know what I mean.
I've got my men trying to find out...
Now the police station
was the Bibliothèque.
-The library.
-Correct.
An ancient library.
And there were a lot of rules.
We couldn't paint the walls, remember?
So they were kind of salmon colour,
if you look behind him and see it there.
Right.
Well, this was very interesting.
I have to tell the story here.
Do you know what story
I'm about to tell?
Yeah.
The extras we had, for some reason,
were fairly challenging.
And in this scene, Colin here says,
"Who's the FBI guy?"
Starts arguing
with these local detectives...
...and basically says right now:
"This is bullshit."
And, "You Krispy Kreme
m*therf*ckers." And--
He says all these,
and the extras would never react.
Now, l was really sick,
if you remember.
And this was the day
I was the most sick.
Like I did the take...
...and then l laid back down next
to the camera and slept with a fever.
And then l got back up
and did another take.
But I started noticing
that these extras wouldn't react.
So I got myself up, and I said,
"l got to do this right now."
And I pulled Colin aside...
...and pulled Saffiotti aside
and pulled all the extras aside...
...and I said,
"We're gonna fake fight now.
And we're not gonna tell anybody."
-And l think l told you, didn't I?
-Yeah.
I told you and I told my first AD...
...and we started fighting,
where l came up to them and I said :
"Can't you say your lines?
You can never say your lines."
They started yelling at me,
then Colin started yelling at the actors.
And all of a sudden,
we had the extras...
...all thinking they're in the middle
of a Hollywood scandal.
And we finally got the reaction.
--Every step for the last five years.
They were good sports about it,
the actors.
I think they did a good job.
Here we're in Soap's oftice.
On this day,
there was a 50-mile-an-hour wind...
...and it was snowing
outside of those windows.
It's actually on the third floor
rather than in the basement...
...of what it appears to be
in the film.
And those lights that you see
coming in are on lifts.
And, unfortunately, due to the weather,
we had to lower the lifts.
Remember that?
I also remember, for some reason,
it was our Friday night.
I don't know if it occurred on a Friday.
We don't sh**t Monday to Friday--
I don't know if it was night or day
with my fever, hanging out in the back.
I have no idea.
I just remembered
it was the end of a week.
And we had a few drinks afterward.
-Yeah, little one.
-But also, you know--
This was an existing location...
...that Andrew, you know,
put these amazing files into it.
It looked exactly like we described it,
we imagined it would be.
But the thing about it is this:
Both Dash and Colin are very tall men.
I mean, they're not like
the usual small actors.
They're both over 6 foot.
I mean,
Colin is something like 6-foot-4.
He's a giant.
Look, watch him stand here.
He has to hunch over, see?
He couldn't stand up straight
the entire time.
And then Dash, for the first time,
starts laughing. He said :
"l always have to crouch down
to the other actors.
This is one movie
where l'm actually smaller...
...than the main guys, you know?"
Ray, of course, is as tall.
-Look, he can't stand up straight.
-Not at all.
It was a great-looking place,
wasn't it?
Yeah, fortunately, I'm only 5'3",
so I have no problem with that.
-Stock sh*t.
-Stock sh*t.
-Stock sh*t.
-Stock sh*t.
But a good one.
That one worked, actually.
Well.
That was second-- Our second unit.
That's right.
Well, here comes Wayne.
Wayne Knight.
Oh, my God,
Wayne Knight's such a great sport.
Such a great actor. Such a great--
Just a great soul.
You know, l didn't know this
until I worked with him.
But he comes from,
like, proper Broadway theatre.
-He's done a lot.
-Yeah, and...
Yeah, I don't know. He just--
It's just when you work
with actors like that--
He comes, he knows his lines.
He's a professional.
He shows up.
He asks
when he wants to change something.
When he does make a suggestion...
...it's not something that makes him
bigger or better.
It's something that makes total sense
and makes the movie better.
I mean, he's a real pro.
A real pro.
This was the first time Ray spoke,
by the way...
...which was a big deal afterwards
in the press, wasn't it?
That he didn't speak for 25 minutes,
which l thought was cool.
--AIl make mistakes, Frank.
You're fighting a w*r...
I loved that light.
That-- You know I was in love
with that orange light you put in there.
Yeah, that big...
Whatever it was,
spotlight of some sort.
Andrew actually placed it in there,
but we put the colour gel on it...
...just so everything wouldn't be
monochromatic in there.
It's very easy when you have
a scene that's, you know...
...a wash of colour like this blue...
...for it to become
almost like a black and white.
Just a monochromatic.
Ray looks-- Look at this.
This is, like, straight out
of the comic book.
There's no doubt about it.
We pulled these sh*ts
out of the comic book...
...and then we copied them directly.
You know, great production design,
great cinematography.
I think we really achieved
the look that we wanted.
I'm very proud of it.
-So am I.
-This is our little homage.
-Yes, to Mr. Bradstreet.
-Yep.
-Stock sh*t.
-But it's augmented.
There's a little digital work there
to create the orange glow.
-Correct.
-So it justifies that.
You know I love that look.
See, l love everything
about the cinematography.
I n case you haven't heard that
from me before.
Thank you very much. This is, what?
On the 22nd floor or something
of a building?
Which is also not incredibly easy
to light through the window.
Yeah, well, for those of you
who are not too familiar...
...with how the film work--
Filmmaking is actually done...
...is you don't tend to go out
on real locations for stuff like this.
You try to get stuft like this
done on-stage.
Because obviously, it's--
How you gonna get all the lights...
...and cranes
and all of that stuff in there?
And so being in existing locations
was definitely challenging.
But you know what?
It also gave us something special.
Like in terms of the atmosphere.
I always felt like--
You know, the actors and the crew,
we were this--
We were like in a battle.
And we were all sticking together
and getting through it.
And with each d ifticult locations,
we got better and better.
Andrew, our production designer,
did me a great favour here. Those--
The little pictures that you see
in this aesthetic clinic...
...in the background.
This is actually someone's oftice,
and they have a mineral collection...
...that are in tiny little portholes
in the wall.
And they're lit with tiny little lights.
Well, when we came and scouted
the locations a day before...
...to see what Andrew was doing...
...he came up with the idea
of putting light in those boxes...
...in order to backlight
the photographs.
It really helped a great deal.
Yeah, I remember us asking.
Andrew would say:
"Wouldn't it be great
if this plastic surgeon...
...has photos in there all over
with good-looking, perfect people?"
Then you have--
Oh, Dodo sh*t, by the way, right there.
That is Dodo sh*t.
Yeah, and then you have J igsaw
with his messed-up face.
And I felt that turned out great.
I mean,
I don't know if people catch that...
...in such a quick moment,
you know, but...
I need to talk to my doctor alone.
Yeah. Yeah, of course, Billy.
I really did think that orange light...
...made it just really, really unique
and interesting.
And then this
was a throwaway scene for us.
And then that turned out
looking so great too, you know?
Well, this-- A green glass door
is nice to have.
Now l have to be honest about this.
I'm not a big fan.
You know, sometimes you just have
to make compromises as a filmmaker.
And originally, this scene was written
with children in a clinic...
...where a child sees him.
And all the children start screaming
and run away except one.
One kid. And J igsaw asks,
"Why are you not screaming?"
And the kid says, "Because
you look like my jigsaw puzzle."
And, you know, sometimes,
you just have to cut things.
I was asked to cut it
and make the script smaller...
...and to get this film done,
which is okay.
Every filmmaker has to do it.
And that scene went because kids are,
you know--
It's expensive to work with kids.
You can't work with them all day.
It was just a scene that had to go,
but I was never--
It's like the thorn in my eye.
It's that stupid billboard,
and this whole--
This is how he got his name.
-This also is a thorn in my eye.
-This is--
-Yeah. We didn't do that.
-Not this, but the one before.
You know, you can't get everything.
I'm sure every filmmaker
watches their films and goes:
"Oh, I wish l could've fought
for that harder."
Well, we strive for perfection.
It is an art form, so--
Yeah.
You know, I mean, who knows?
Does any filmmaker ever--?
Is any filmmaker
ever completely satisfied?
I don't think so.
But that is a great sh*t.
Not Loony Bin Jim, not LBJ.
I thought Jigsaw's makeup, to me,
turned out really great.
Because, again,
we have source material.
It's a comic book,
and Jigsaw was established in there.
And he had a big, cartoony eye.
And we didn't like it.
And we didn't think
that was the right way to go.
And we've tried a lot of looks.
We had a makeup test,
if you remember...
...where we also tried
a lot of gels and--
And l thought Bob Short did
incredible work here with his makeup.
Bob Short, our--
He's kind of like
most valuable player.
-Yeah.
-Guy for everything.
Bob Short hung in there with us.
You know, we wanna point out
that we tried also...
...in addition to the wardrobe,
the cars.
-We limited the colour of the cars.
-Correct. Yeah.
If you, like, see these scenes
where there's all these cars...
...and they're all silver,
that was purposely done.
You also see the kids
have the same wardrobe.
I mean, we just really wanted to Iimit
our colour scheme.
Now I see-- This is another thing.
It's like this guy
was a real man before.
He was a good-looking, you know,
handsome, happy guy.
I thought that flashback
was really great.
I'm really pleased.
There was a little discussion
if it should be in the film or not.
And for the Iongest time, it wasn't.
And then, Iuckily in the end,
it was put back in.
That is a still sh*t
that I took of a location...
...that they animated
and made into a locations.
This is one of my favourite scenes.
I really enjoy this.
This is Dave Crone
doing his Steadicam magic.
He's really great with Steadicam,
isn't he?
Yes, he is.
And then Andrew
kind of built this room.
It didn't exist.
And this is
a water-processing facility.
Yeah, and wasn't it
one of those bizarre locations...
...where you had to have--?
-You couldn't have a criminal record.
-That's correct.
-So half of our crew couldn't come in.
-A large part of the crew, yes.
All of a sudden, you had all this people
who wouldn't be there.
-"Oh, I don't wanna be there."
-I don't think they let Andrew in.
I'm not sure why, but--
He kept saying,
"An indictment is not a conviction."
I mean...
That is not true.
Steve is being a joker.
Poor Andrew.
But there were a few people missing.
And then later,
I was, like, "Where is this one?"
And later on, l was explained
that a couple of people had--
Had a few kind of spots in their past.
-Oh, you know, my favourite.
-Yeah.
This gentleman right here:
He's not an actor, the doctor.
He's a stuntman.
And so this is why he won't be mad
if l mention this story.
But for the first three, four takes
that we did this, he kept smiling.
And I thought, no, you have a criminal
behind you with a g*n.
J igsaw, he's kidnapped you.
You're not smiling.
And all of a sudden, the door opened,
and he made this face.
Like this face of fear
that was so overacted...
...that I literally dropped oft my chair
laughing tears, and everybody--
-A great moment. Had to be there, but--
-Blooper reel.
-Blooper reel.
-Correct, correct.
Now, Doug Hutchison is a genius.
He truly, truly is.
I wanted to work with Doug.
I followed his career forever.
And l wanted
to work with him foreVer.
And he passed on this role, at first.
And then l called him up
and told him, you know, for an hour...
...why he couldn't pass,
and I told him.
I said, "Look, I'm thinking something
special for this character."
I think it's like, you know,
Hannibal Lecter on speed.
And he took it, and he went there.
And all of this stuft, this whole, like:
"Yummy, yummy, yummy
in my tummy."
That's all him.
He brought everything to this part.
I think he's a genius.
I really didn't have that much
contact with him on set...
...because he was so
into character.
When l was flying back from Montreal
to Los Angeles...
...he was in the seat in the plane
next to me.
And for a few minutes,
I was terrified.
I didn't know
if he was gonna eat my Iiver...
...but then he opened up and he's--
-What a wonderful guy.
-He's a total gentle guy who--
He teaches acting,
and he teaches something...
...called the art of stillness,
and it cracks me up.
But he can go anywhere, I mean--
See, l also think
he can do a lot of other parts.
And not always the evil guy.
But, of course, he's so good at it...
...that that's what he's getting
right now.
It was fall
when we started this movie.
It was not in the middle of winter,
like when we ended it.
Those are actual Ieaves falling.
-Correct.
-And it was raining.
Which you could actually hear
on the soundtrack.
I remember the people on that street
weren't too happy we were there.
It's a pretty big show
coming in there.
I love this here because, you know...
...the script said, she's--
The girl says, "You're in my light."
And then he steps out of her light.
And l didn't really know
how you're gonna do that.
-But that worked perfectly, didn't it?
-It did.
We fooled them again.
--Next time
someone gets in your light.
She's a great girl.
Stephanie. Adorable.
Way beyond her years.
Mom, that's a dad--
Julie.
She's a hottie.
Well, I'm not gonna call her a hottie.
I'm gonna call her a great actress.
She's a great, great sport and--
You know, l'm always--
Oddly enough...
...I'm always more nervous working
with female, you know, actors...
...because l always think that
what you read--
And they're gonna be
more dramatic.
You never heard Julie complain.
You never heard anything from her.
She just came and did her job and--
I said shut up.
And l thought that scene
worked out really well.
What's this?
She's a pro. Dexter.
She's fabulous on that...
No, you don't get to do that.
...and very pleasant to photograph.
And, you know. I mean, it was cold.
And these actors didn't always have--
You know, we were standing there
in our Canadian Goose jackets.
And these actors didn't--
l mean,
look at her wardrobe, you know.
And, you know, people forget
you have to do the scene a few times.
And you have to rehearse,
and you have to figure it out.
-Change the lighting.
-Correct.
You know, l mean,
people come running with a big jacket.
But essentially,
you're gonna freeze your butt oft.
And there are some
that are pros about it...
...and some that are not,
and we got really lucky, I think.
I agree with that.
I think we complained more
than they did.
I know.
I know I did.
-You did not.
-"I'm freezing."
Squeeze...
Let's say something about Montreal.
Isn't Montreal a fantastic city?
-Oh, yeah, I love it.
-It's so beautiful.
Well,
I remember we arrived in summer.
And I said, "I want to move here."
Because I feel
it has the best of North America...
...and the best of Europe.
It really is. It's like mixing Europe
and North America and taking--
And then people said there--
All those crew members we had
were Iocal ones.
They said, "You're gonna
change your mind in winter."
L'm like,
"l will never change my mind.
I will move here,
and I will forever Iive here."
And then winter came and I was like,
"Okay, I'm never going to Iive here."
U nless you Iive underground.
You know, remember the malls?
-Yeah.
-The underground malls?
I wasn't digging
those underground malls.
I got a little bit claustrophobic there.
It was like this weird
underground world I didn't d ig.
I had this, you know,
vision of an earthquake...
...and we're all gonna be
buried there.
It's a little scene with the flashlight.
Made me laugh because
some people didn't get that, and...
You know, we were kind of impatient
in the editing room...
...turning around
to the people and saying :
"He gave her a flashlight.
She's giving him a sign.
How difticult is it?"
Stock sh*t.
Long stock sh*t.
I love this sh*t too.
-Is it yours?
-Not yet.
OId Cesare used to rent it
to screw hookers.
Was I talking
about Mark Camacho yet?
-I don't think so.
-Who plays Pittsy.
-Now's a good time.
-Yup.
Well, Mark Camacho plays Pittsy.
He comes first in front of Jigsaw.
I nk's father, Keram's father
and Iocal Montreal actor.
I love him. He's another one
I absolutely adore and love.
What's the matter, Billy?
I think I have to say...
...that maybe that was one of my
favourite things about this movie...
...is that we just got--
We just-- Between crew and cast
of what we had out there...
...it was just amazing, I thought.
Had to fire a few people
in the beginning but then...
Oh, well.
--Gonna be all right.
Great Iobby Andrew found for us.
It's funny, Andrew is a--
You know, he's a true artist.
Andrew Neskoromny,
our production designer.
Great artist and also, though,
a real perfectionist.
And that didn't always
make everybody happy...
...including my buddy Steve here.
Oh, l love him to death.
Are you kidding me?
It's just the Iate-night scouts
that he wants to do at midnight.
"Come on, I found a bank.
Let's go look at it."
Okay, well, our first AD, you know,
was annoyed by it once in a while.
Because, you know, Andrew is there
to basically make my vision come true.
Much like what you're doing and--
And, you know, he's gonna try to find
the thing that l describe.
And the best-looking, you know.
And he found it there.
-But it's not always easy, you know.
-No, it was--
It's not always easy locations
to be in but--
I mean, I adore him for that,
you know.
I love him to death.
Yeah, we gotta reunite at some point.
All of us.
Love that car.
What a great car that was, hu h?
Talk about the plastic New York
maybe for a second.
I think we gotta talk about
the red place here.
You're probably right.
-We should bring plastic New York up.
-We'II get back to that.
Well, you know, obviously,
yet again...
...another great colour scheme,
colour design.
Both Andrew and Steve
did a great job here...
...in terms of the look of this film...
...and did exactly
what l've asked them to do.
And, you know, I get a lot of fan mail
right now about this film.
There's people, despite its--
You know,
it didn't do so well at the box office.
There's people who absolutely
obsessively adore this film...
...and this is a scene
they always mention in the letter...
...of how much it looked
like in the comic book.
And l always said I don't know
if the comic book has three colours...
...in each frame because it's cheaper
to print or if that's purposely a look.
I never found this out to today.
But the point was,
we wanted to emulate it.
And this was one of those scenes
where we really achieved it.
You know, it was a red room.
And the guys wore black...
...and there's nobody sitting there
with a cream shirt that stands out.
It just has a very specific look to it.
Odette, as well,
once again, an amazing job.
I think Doug is really brilliant here.
I love his laugh.
I love that Mexican standoff.
I like the weird-- You know,
they showed it on the l nternet...
...and there were just fingers.
Right, because they're not allowed
to show g*ns.
It's some weird rules.
Were those actual fingers
or did they Photoshop fingers in?
I think they did it, right?
We didn't sh**t without g*ns.
Did you see he looked like that
on his hands?
Oh, he's a scene stealer.
There's no doubt about that.
-Oh, yeah, Doug absolutely is.
-Oh, yeah.
Dark Water man.
And David Vadim right here
as Cristu Bulat.
The Russians play heavily
in a lot of The Punisher.
Right.
It has to be 1 2 million.
Now, Dominic did a great job,
where he brought this character, and--
You know,
let's just be straight about this.
You know, I was very clear
about making a very over-the-top...
...campy, let's-go-out-there...
...let's-be-like-the-comic-book
kind of movie.
I think we were compared to some
of the bigger comic-book movies...
...of that year, which wasn't
what we were going for.
And Dominic often questioned :
"Are you sure you want me
to go that far?"
And, you know, absolutely.
I mean, I think he could have definitely
understated this part much more...
...but I wanted him to go over-the-top,
because, you know, let's be honest.
He's a dude in New York
with horsehide in his face.
That's over the top.
How serious can you actually play
that part?
And it was a choice.
You know, you gotta make choices.
You have to have a vision
and make choices.
And some people didn't like it.
Some people I think wanted him
to be more like the, you know...
...another famous
comic-book character with a mask.
-Yeah.
-And that was just not what we did.
But I also, you know,
get a lot of comments...
...about the fact that people really got
what we were trying to do...
...and bring, like,
the good old action movies...
...from the '80s back a little bit
and just really go there.
-This is another practical locations.
-Correct.
-Very high up.
-I don't remember where that thing was.
-Where was it?
-Those two rotten old buildings that--
-Were condemned.
-I know. Now I suddenly flashback--
Condemned apartment buildings.
And, you know,
throughout the movie...
...because I used an excessive amount
of backlight in this, it--
I used smoke in order to help show
that backlight a great deal.
I think Wayne had a little bit of allergy
or something to the smoke...
...and we really pumped it in here.
You could see it there.
You see the light coming through. See
the fingers of light coming through.
There's so much smoke in there.
And the joke got to be--
I would look at Wayne. I go,
"Hey, how is the smoke, Wayne?"
There's a smoke machine next to him,
I couldn't even see him.
It's just billowing up around him,
he's like:
-I love Wayne.
-Yeah, but he didn't complain.
-No, no.
-He's a good guy.
Oh, he's great.
He knew what I was going for.
As Iong as she's got
her cooking shows...
Yeah, I adore him.
You know, he came in to read,
which is an amazing thing anyway.
Once again, that shows you
what a proper actor is...
...because a lot of the English actors
that I worked with...
...on my previous film were like that.
Like they never understood
why actors don't come in and read.
You know, they--
A lot of British actors take it...
...like if they would have
any other working-class job.
And they say,
"These Hollywood meetings.
Why do you want me
to sit down with you...
...at, you know, at some fancy
restaurant and chat with you?
I'm an actor. l read for you.
I come in, l read, l go home."
And, you know, Wayne has a lot
of that proper-actor thing, like:
"I'm not here to have Iunch with you.
I want to come in
and read for this part.
And if I'm the right person,
you hire me.
And if I'm not, you don't," you know?
And so, of course me, you know,
I was like, "Oh, my God.
Wayne is coming to read.
I can't believe he's reading."
And of course he was, you know,
phenomenal in the audition...
...and l was very pleased
that he wanted to do this with us.
You don't think
he's gonna go for revenge?
It's not a question of if,
it's a matter of when.
And I love Carlos as well.
Carlos, whose real name is Carlos.
-Pull a couple of Berettas.
-For what?
Three...
I don't know when we came u p
with that weapons thing...
...but I thought Andrew did a good job
there as well.
The drop-down thing?
It was pretty cool too.
Like, basically, in the other side
of the apartment is the mother...
...who Iives in this, you know,
like, sweet little apartment...
...and yet he's got, like,
a weapons arsenal in there.
--Stuft over the roofs.
That is such a small space
that we photographed.
You have to imagine, that is a small,
small one-bedroom apartment.
-Oh, my God, there was just--
-We got 40 people in that room.
You know, who you're not seeing
are the makeup people...
...and the sound people,
the camera, two cameras...
...myself, Lexi.
-Monitors.
-The first AD.
All the monitors and the lights.
Yeah. You know, existing locations
are really challenging.
-It's my birthday.
-Correct, that was your birthday.
And Gale Anne Hurd's birthday as well.
What do you know?
Oh, this is the bar,
which also was an existing location.
We were striving to do red, green
and yellow here, I think.
Correct. Correct.
Lots of neon lights.
Again, you know, there's a series...
... in the MAX Punisher series
called "Kitchen l rish"...
...which Andrew completely
imitated the look of.
So you see that little clover--?
Clover Ieaf? Is that what it's called?
And all of that
is out of the comic book.
I love that sh*t.
I don't know when we did the sh*t.
I can't even remember it.
I remember seeing it
in the editing room, going :
"Oh, my God. This is great."
-That was on my birthday as well.
-Right.
-We partied afterwards.
-Correct.
All night we partied.
And we still worked on time.
Let's go through the back door.
Raining once again.
This was, again, "Kitchen I rish."
Yeah, it's the outside
of that very bar.
Complete shoutout
of the comic book right here as well.
-That was a real I rish pub, wasn't it?
-Yes, it was.
And also like here, we had Ray a lot
in the corner of the frame...
...with his colours next to him
out of the comic book.
This is...
Right there, in the market that was--
-Vancouver.
-Correct.
That is actually in Vancouver.
It's a funny story in that market,
by the way.
We had all a whole new crew
because this was re-sh*ts.
And I walked into the market...
...that was obviously our props
and our set design...
...and l took a couple
of chocolate bars...
...which were props,
but I took them anyway.
And this PA ran after me and said :
"You bring this back.
You're not allowed to take it."
He didn't know I was the director.
He thought he was fired immediately.
I've seen that in your rider,
you're allowed two bars a day.
I know. He was very cute, though.
He really almost peed his pants...
...when he found out
he was yelling at the director.
Here's a pivotal moment in the film.
Correct.
Now, l've heard
from all over America...
...that this was a big, big laugh-out
moment in the movie theatre.
I get a lot of mail about it.
And l just wanna give you
a shoutout...
...to all of those people
who wrote me about it.
It was supposed
to be a big laugh-out moment.
We're glad it worked out.
Obviously, we were aware of the fact
that the Parkour guys...
...are in every film,
we were also sick of them.
So you know, I came up with the idea
of, "Hey, what would The Punisher do?
The Punisher would blow them apart
in midair."
It's also something
that Morteys electronics sign...
...in the previous sh*t...
I don't know if you remember this.
I asked that the electricians...
...turn oft the Y and S
so it said morte.
Morte, which means death. Correct.
-Hey, you already know.
-Yup.
On the fly.
--That FBl rat bastard.
T.J.
You know, Maginty, you know,
he has an I rish accent.
You know, l think at this point,
I should bring up...
...that I wished a lot of critics
would have picked up in research...
...the source material because a lot
of people were confused by--
About why a black guy
with dreadlocks had an I rish accent.
And they wrote about it too.
And I'II tell you why.
Because in the comic book,
it's like that.
There's, you know, a black guy with
dreadlocks who has an I rish accent...
...and there's also one issue
that explains...
...that he doesn't have a proper I rish
accent, that he just pretends to be.
So, you know,
I think that's the risk you take...
...when you go completely
for source material...
...because the people
who don't pick it up...
...of course think
you went out of your mind.
Here, once again, like...
There's this funny review I wrote
that somebody e-mailed me...
...where some woman said
that Lexi AIexander...
...has a violent fantasy
that she should go to prison for.
Now, I actually thought
that was a great compliment.
But here's the truth.
I did not come up with this
right here, okay?
With this whole, like, on the fence
and stamping his face.
Again, that's out of the comic book.
You came up with that sh*t.
I did come up with that sh*t.
That's correct.
That one was my homage
to Reservoir Dogs.
-It was fun.
-I think I made the crew work overtime.
And they weren't too happy about it.
And it was a funny thing,
because once they saw the sh*t...
...everybody
kind of forgave me for it.
All right,
let's talk about this locations...
...and my love for it.
We had a fight in there, Steve.
-Do you remember that?
-No.
I only remember good times
with you.
I will tell people all about it,
actually.
All right, you tell them then.
Well, this was all fine still.
Again, an existing locations,
it was actually next door.
It was also an abandoned
apartment complex.
And it was right next door to...
-The place where we found--
-M icro's apartment.
M icro's apartment.
And, you know,
I mean, it had to be painted.
These were all, you know, old buildings
that nobody's been in there forever.
We have to talk about the alley
because we cut there now.
The skull especially.
Volga and all of that stuft...
...all of that neon stuff taken directly
from the comic book--
Real Punisher fans will know exactly--
They immediately picked it up...
...that this was all an actual frame
taken from the comic book.
And then,
I've talked about this a lot before.
There is a skull in there,
in the background.
We see it right here behind Ray.
I don't know if we have another sh*t
going down this way.
-When he cufts him, you see it.
-Right.
No, here we don't see it.
-You'II see it when he cuffs him.
-Right.
Anyway,
there is a skull in the background...
...and none of us had planned that.
It was a complete-- l mean,
I don't think there are coincidences.
I think, right back there,
right behind Ray...
...that skull in the background,
that was a coincidence.
Yeah, it's an 1 8K H M l blasting through
that building from the opposite street.
And then there's a chandelier
that's hanging down in that archway...
...that makes the teeth of the--
The nose and the teeth of the skull.
I thought for the Iongest time,
you were pulling my Ieg.
That you planned it, and you were just
pretending that it was an accident.
You know, but it is an accident
because it was one of those...
...very last-minute lighting tweaks.
Where I had them tilt the light up
to go up in those upper windows.
-There it is.
-I was standing to the corner--
To the side of it so l couldn't see
the way that the skull Iined up.
I just saw it lit up the top window.
I had no idea.
Mommy.
We had a great crew in Montreal,
I have to say.
Yeah, I thoroughly enjoyed myself
there.
With my key grip too, Michel.
Oh, he's fabulous.
Good guy.
Yeah. Here comes the cops.
I got a little bit of heat
from some of my friends...
...who are cops
or former Iaw enforcement.
They said,
"You made us look dumb in there."
And I said,
"Well, some of you really are.
But it's also a comic-book movie."
You know, of course, sometimes,
you have to take a little bit...
...of, you know, poetic Iiberty here,
you know?
Would they just go and follow him
like that?
Or would they go ahead of him?
Probably not,
but it was necessary for this scene.
Also, you know,
I mean, look this whole film...
...was, you know, far-fetched,
and some people call it campy.
I'm not sure if that's the right word.
I never quite understood that word.
But it was definitely
supposed to be fun.
It was like laugh out Ioud,
have a good time in an action film.
You know, just take it
to as far as you could go.
I nk, you know, Keram here
had a great idea for a Iine.
Because obviously, he studied
all about the character of I nk.
And the Iine was:
"So the sword is mightier
than the pen."
Because the story about I nk is that
he k*lled his first victim with a pen...
...and that's why they call him l nk,
not because of tattoos.
But I wasn't allowed
to keep that Iine in there.
Maybe it will be in the director's cut...
...which will be the next DVD
you'II be buying.
One of the reasons that I really, really
didn't like this locations was the yellow.
Nothing against Andrew,
but we had the yellow light outside...
...and then we had yellow walls
on the inside.
-No!
-Where is my f*cking money?
You know,
those are some of the details...
...that I think you see more
than I see.
Okay.
I was upset
because they put the special effects--
-What do you call them?
-Breakaway.
The breakaway stuft
in the wrong locations.
I told them to put them in one thing and
they put them in the complete opposite.
I remember that.
I love this sh*t of Frank in the back.
Well, once again
I think there's a lot of sh*t--
Frames and drawings
in the comic book...
...where, you know, Frank sits
in the car just like that...
...and the whole idea is that
he's almost too big for every car.
And we imitated that, you know,
just as if it was a drawing.
It was a bit exciting also
as we were going along to see Ray...
...starting to get really excited
about what we were doing too.
Correct. Oh, yeah.
But, you know, he got it right away
from the beginning.
This was, you know,
one of my favourite scenes...
...where we come to find out
that Soap is actually not that stupid.
And that Soap is actually in cahoots
with The Punisher.
Now, he had a couple of other lines
in there...
...that, again, I didn't get to keep in
because you gotta compromise...
...and, you know, they wanted
to show the cut, you know, I...
I wish we could have kept that in.
It was, you know, he was arguing
with him about not letting him go.
And said, "You know how I look. I look
like an idiot in my social environment.
You don't understand because
you don't have a social environment."
Or something like that.
It was very funny but had to go.
I kind of let them do
what they wanted to do up there.
Now, this was not directed
and planned.
He just asked--
Dominic said,
"Can I destroy everything?"
And I said yes.
Scared me
when he threw the television.
-I was 3 feet from him.
-He scared everybody.
He's a proper actor too,
he went there--
I love the doll part.
If you look closely, one of the
special-effects devices in the dolls...
...actually catches on fire, though.
That's correct, and one didn't go...
...and we actually fixed that
in visual effects.
He's got a great look, Keram,
doesn't he?
Yeah, he's very unique-looking
individual, very talented.
You know what?
I really, really cast him for that.
He did a good reading,
but when I saw him on the videotape...
...I thought, God,
he looks so interesting.
And this is one
of my favourite scenes, because...
You know, I mean...
...if you understand the essence
of The Punisher, that's it.
And it's far-fetched,
and it's, you know, it is how it is.
I mean, he just mows all over people,
you know.
Poor Keram, though. lt took him
almost a week to recover from that.
-He was in horrible shape.
-It was a doll.
-Don't believe a word he's saying.
-It was?
Yeah. And again, here,
I actually, you know...
This one was the biggest laugh
next to the grenade sh*t.
There was the biggest laugh
in the movie that it got.
And just so everybody knows...
...The Punisher, the girl actually
is not the real girl over his shoulder.
It's a doll.
So she wasn't there
when this was sh*t...
...but in any case, it is something
that The Punisher would do, you know?
Give me your f*cking g*n.
I love that.
Dash is, you know, he can do anything.
This is where we had the fight.
Do you remember that?
Okay, so a little back-story.
My-- Eames, my gafter.
-He got very ill a few days before this.
-Oh, right.
And I Iost him, and my dolly grip
became very ill on the set...
...and fell out on the floor.
We thought he had a heart att*ck.
So I was working with my best boy
as my gaffer...
...and someone else
as my dolly grip...
...and I was under great duress,
and we were in cramped spaces.
And they said, "You gotta go.
Don't worry about how it is.
We just gotta go."
And no one wants to hear that.
It's okay.
No one has come up to me and said :
"That yellow scene
is the ugliest thing I've ever seen."
You're just like Andrew.
You're a perfectionist in what you do.
That's why this movie looks as great
as it does, you know, in all aspects.
And of course, you know, me,
I get everybody coming to me.
Every actor wants another take,
you know.
Every-- Sometimes,
the DP wants another take...
...and the annoying first AD
wants to moVe on.
And I think as a director...
...you just have to keep an overall
vision of what is important.
Do we need to move on?
Or do we need to do another take,
you know?
And, you know, I asked
another director friend of mine...
...if he's ever gotten through a movie
being popular with everybody.
He said it's impossible.
You just can't, because you have
to make so many decisions...
...and say no or yes so many times.
And it-- Just by default,
you can't do it.
But I think you and I,
I mean, we're like brother and sister.
We laughed about it a second later.
Oh, yeah.
I did forget that Eames
was actually out.
A lot of people got sick, like--
I mean, we joke about it now,
but this, l'm not joking now.
This was brutal, you know.
It was--
-Our key grip was--
-Michel, yeah.
He's, like, a 6-foot-5 man,
200 pounds.
I mean, he's a proper, proper guy.
And he was out for a week.
He tried to come back to work.
And he, like, passed out
or started puking or something.
Had to go back down
for another week.
I mean, people got seriously sick.
I was seriously sick.
Key gafter was out.
I mean, people dropped like--
We actually made a joke about that,
jokes about that.
We said people are dropping like flies
on this set.
It was definitely brutal, you know.
I think that's, you know,
why I really wanted to do this.
You know,
I wanted this film to do well...
...because people gave a lot for it,
you know, like, people--
Here's the world's smallest jib arm.
I ordered a jib arm
for this overhead sh*t...
...and they delivered a 1 0-foot jib arm
to the set.
So a big overhead sh*t...
...that we had to crunch
all the vehicles close together.
And everybody--
"You, step to the Ieft a foot.
Okay, you're in the frame, good."
This right here is--
This whole, like, looking to his brother
and rolling his eyes...
...and then laughing, you know,
basically, that was after the scene.
This was kind of their improvisation.
And l kept it in,
because l felt it was hilarious.
But that was just, you know,
them screwing around.
Dominic's really fantastic, you know.
I kept teasing him, because I actually
love the movie Rock Star.
He was the bass player for the band.
-Correct.
-Remember that?
-Yeah.
-I kept harassing him.
He's like, "I didn't know anyone
loved that movie."
-I'm like, "Oh, it's great."
-Yeah.
Because l'm a, you know,
sad, failed rocker myself, so--
Wow, here's one of my favourite sh*ts
of your artwork.
The famous mirror sh*t
where we see his face.
I mean, the whole thing about,
you know, Jigsaw...
...was that his face was shattered.
And that his brother,
out of love to him...
...promised that he'll never have
to see his image again.
So this is truly an-- You know,
I can say that pretty much everybody...
...loved that sh*t in the mirror.
I'm a patriot. Just like you.
You know,
here is an interesting back-story.
I n this speech
that he's giving right here...
...Jigsaw actually says,
"You're gonna have to explain, Wolf--"
No, who was it?
-"Tim-f*cking-Russert.
-Right.
How you knew this about the w*r:"
And then I'm in the editing room,
and I hear Tim Russert passed away.
So now, l mean, obviously,
I didn't want it now anymore...
...so we had to come up
with a different name...
...to basically ADR over it, you know.
But it also had to be something
that fit his Iips.
So somehow we had a Iist,
and we tried one name after another...
...and then Wolf-f*cking-Blitzer,
you know, matched.
But it was an interesting kind of thing
to go through.
I love that sh*t.
There's just one other little thing.
I think that was kind of
like the last days.
You know we sh*t in there, like,
the last days of our entire sh**t, huh?
Yes, it was.
That was a nice little touch
right there through the...
I don't know.
That's one of my favourite sh*ts
in the film.
With all that foreground
going on, it's...
Love foreground.
You know, that really--
I mean, that was a great locations.
That's a stock sh*t right there.
Yes.
Though we coloured it in the DI...
...to try and make it match
as much as possible.
You know, we never talked...
...about the exterior
of the Russoti factory.
It actually looked pretty cool.
I thought it came out really great.
There was something like--
For those of you
who are cinematography-oriented...
...there's something like
25 Maxi-Brutes hitting the windows...
...and somewhere
around 1 6 large H M I's...
...and xenon lights
painting the outside of it.
And for those of you
who are not cinematography-oriented...
...I don't know
what that means either, just FYI.
A hell of a lot of lights out there.
Every light we had.
Especially in this,
the black helicopter, who knew?
Oh, my God, Steve.
Do you remember?
Do you remember the battle it was
to get that damn helicopter?
Yeah, well, first of all,
he had to land in an area...
...that was just within the minimum
of the rotors.
I mean, just Iegal
that he can Iand in, so--
But not only that,
they cost a lot of money...
...and, you know, sometimes,
you know, people--
You know, the director sometimes...
...doesn't necessarily agree
with the producers.
They have to protect the money,
I have to protect the sh**t...
...so you know, it becomes like a battle
of what is more important, you know?
And that was really important.
I kept saying every day.
I kept going to the oftice saying :
"Helicopter, helicopter,
I need helicopter."
And it's only in for two seconds...
...but it just makes the film bigger,
you know, it just does.
People don't just drop in
on bicycles...
...when they're from Home Security,
you know?
Of course, they took our rental cars
away for the rest of the sh**t.
Steve, what are you talking about?
They took our food away.
Suddenly, craft service
looked very rare.
It used to be carrots and celery.
Then it became celery only,
and then it was only the dip.
That's the best one to get.
Well, you know what? I haven't really
talked about Ray much, have I?
No.
You know, there's so much
to say about him, but, you know...
...I think he really, really embraced
and embodied this character...
...like no other actor ever would.
He read so much about this chara--
I mean, he read more comic books
than I did, and I read a lot.
But, you know, some of the best lines
in this movie are from him...
...that he's written himself, came to me
and said, "Can I say this and this?"
And he had them-- A lot of them,
he had directly from the comic book.
And...
You know,
he was really very serious.
You know, he's not necessarily
somebody who jokes around on set.
And, you know, he's not somebody...
...you know, that makes sure
that the crew is entertained.
And l have to say,
I have a lot of respect for that.
I've worked
with actors before that's...
It's important to them
to play the class clown...
...and the crew laughs about the jokes,
and that's not him.
Like, he is there to do a job.
And he's very intense
and very serious, and I like that.
These guys, on the other hand...
Oh, my goodness gracious, he wanted
to have Rob Zombie played there.
"All right, I need Rob Zombie
for the scene."
And I say, "l don't f*cking want
Rob Zombie, okay?"
And he wanted Rob Zombie.
What does the Music Department...
...in the end, put over this,
but Rob Zombie.
He was laughing about me.
He's like, "Did you put it out there?"
I'm like, "No, I was fighting
against it, then...
...and I was fighting against it now."
Ofter a hundred grand
towards a college education...
...they'II never get and promise
nobody ever has to go to I raq.
That was my little Iiberal nod
right there...
...that went over everybody's head,
which I was surprised.
Well, l was glad it went
over most of the executives' head...
...because l thought
they would cut it out for sure.
You know,
we had Wayne laying around...
...and sitting around in positions
for a very Iong time.
That one wasn't so bad, but,
in the finale, we'II point out, for days--
Oh, look at that g*n.
That's a big 500.
Or is it the 450 or 500?
-I think it's the 500.
-We need J. B. right now.
-Smith & Wesson, right?
-You know what? I think--
I went sh**ting with him the other day,
and we sh*t a 500.
And he explained to me that the one
in the movie was actually not a 500.
Oh, okay.
I think it must have been
like a 450 or something.
That it was just--
I don't know, whatever.
You know him and the g*ns,
it's like--
You know what he reminds me of
sometimes?
Jonathan Barton, our tech adviser,
reminds me of that guy...
... in Forrest Gump that talks
about shrimp all the time.
-Except, he talks about Magnum...
-Bubba Gump.
...Barrett, Magnum 500, Magnum 450.
But he's great.
We could have not done it without him.
That spinning sh*t that you just saw,
I tried handholding that several times...
...to spin around and end on Doug
when he said, "Boo," remember?
-Right.
-I kept ending up pointing at monitors.
When you spin around three
or four times with a 60-pound camera...
...you try and end up on a little guy
going, "Boo." lt's pretty tough.
Guess I'II have to axe it again.
He...
Doug, once again,
you know, he came in...
...with the improvisation of this whole
like, "I axed you a question."
That was all him. I'm a big fan of--
You know, when actors
bring something to the point...
...bring something to it, I'm not one
that says, "We have to go by script."
Like, you know, improvise and,
you know, add as much as you want.
This is the famous finale hotel.
But we also wanted to talk a little bit
about plastic New York.
Oh, yeah, we're gonna see some of that
in the background, especially, when--
I think we just did
when he was crossing the street.
Are we seeing something later?
You're gonna see it
when they're all Iined up.
Now this sh*t and the one before,
where he's stopping by, we just--
You know, a lot of that...
Those are great stylised sh*ts,
and everybody loved them.
But the truth is,
a lot of them were done on the fly...
...because we didn't have
any more time, you know.
Where are they?
Oh, my God, I have to--
Remember, that poor guy, Carlos,
he had to Iay in there...
I mean, I've already spoken 1 0 times
about how cold this place was.
So he had to Iay there for hours...
...with half of his body
under the stone, right?
Because it was supposed
to be cut off.
Man, I'II tell you right now,
this guy never complained.
I mean, you know,
John McKeown, our first AD...
...you know, came to me several times
and said, "I'm really concerned."
Like, this kid's been sitting down
for a Iong time...
...on the stone ground
with half of his body...
...and he never complained,
and we'II forever remember that.
And he's wet from all that fake blood
and stuff too.
Correct, I mean, this--
If you could imagine the worst,
you know, atmosphere to be...
...in that location,
it was what he was going through.
Never. Never once complained
about it.
Let's talk about Eames.
Let's talk about our gafter
and the magnificent job.
I have to do the music.
There you go. That was our music
for great locations.
This turned out to be one
of the more beautiful scenes.
And, frankly, it was one of the more
comfortable scenes in the film...
...because we're actually inside.
Correct, although it was not super sure
if we were sh**ting that scene.
Oh, yeah.
Once again, I have to give shoutout
to my buddy, M ike Paseornek...
...over at Lionsgate, who I kept calling
every day. I said, "l need this scene."
It wasn't in the script,
we didn't have the money for it.
And, you know, he came through,
and he said :
"You know what?
She's right, we need that scene."
And l then said to Steve,
"l want it to look--
I think I want it to look like
in Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet.
I want it to have a real...
...like, surreal look to it,
as if it would be in the comic book."
There is actually a series
about Castle and a priest.
But, man, what you guys did there,
I was just in awe.
There's three large balloons inside...
...and there's two 7K xenons hitting
a 4-foot-diameter mirror ball...
...which is what creates
all the highlights on the walls.
H undreds upon hundreds
of candles...
...in difterent coloured votives.
Dozens of Kino FIo fluorescent lights
with coloured tubes.
That's a xenon light
that's crossing the frame right there.
And, also, those statues
that you see...
...I said to Andrew right there,
you see, I said to Andrew:
"l need plastic statues
that are lit up.
You see them in Mexico sometimes.
They try to sell them to you."
You know, it wasn't that easy.
He looked everywhere.
In the end,
I think he created them himself.
If I remember right...
I could watch this over and over again,
just because of the way it looks.
I really do, I--
Dave Crone helped a lot
with that particular sh*t of Ray...
...as well, sliding things around.
We all-- It was a rush
to get all of this in one day.
We were in this place one day.
Right, it's the best day we had.
Lexi, I remember you running around
with all the candles in the background.
You were rushing back there
and moving candles...
...and running back to the monitor,
rushing back.
It was a group eftort, you know?
Well, I think we didn't quite plan
on sh**ting certain angles.
And then when we did sh**t...
...it was, l think, more angles
than we basically planned for.
And when that happened...
...I kept just moving neon signs
and moving any, you know--
When the director starts moving things,
everybody has a heart att*ck...
...because they all think
they're not doing their job right...
...and, plus, they all think
I'm gonna fall and break my neck.
But I kept moving things
from one side to the other...
...and I'm so glad I did that.
L'm so glad
you guys managed to get this.
I couldn't have described it better,
like--
You know, it's so hard sometimes
for a director to explain to people...
...what's in your head.
And then look at this.
It's just beautiful.
And then your crew actually delivers
something to you...
...that's better than anything
you could have ever imagined.
Yeah, Eames is an extraordinarily
talented gafter.
Yeah.
Now this is what l call
the recruiting scene.
And it is a spoof, actually.
I wrote this entire recruitment scene
as a spoof...
...of M ichael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11.
You know, when the two guys
go recruiting to all the high schools...
...and, basically,
tell these high school kids...
...that they can get everything if
they just, you know, go join the Army.
So this was my spoof of it.
Now people have pointed out
how great it is...
...that they're in front
of the American flag.
That was never planned that way.
It was supposed to be they
where in all those different locations.
Once again,
we didn't have the money...
...for all those difterent locations,
so I kept thinking and thinking.
They asked me to cut this.
I said, "We can't, it's a recruiting
scene. It's gonna be great."
So what I ended up coming u p with is,
it's all basically in the same room...
...except of their colour
and the furniture changes...
...and the people change,
but they were always standing...
...in front of background.
And the probably saved us what?
Fifty thousand, a hundred thousand?
It was the only way to get this done.
But, you know, people think...
...there was this great,
big genius idea behind it.
-But it was just being cheaper.
-There's your plastic New York.
Now l know what you're talking about.
You mean--?
-The exhaust-pipe things. Yeah.
-All right.
So during prep,
we had one weekend off...
...which was
the Canadian Thanksgiving.
And I went to New York
to visit a friend of mine.
New York, very close to Montreal.
And I saw these things in the street
that they have everywhere...
...which, they in New York
call plastic New York.
And I took a picture of it,
and they're orange in New York.
I took a picture of it,
showed you guys...
...showed Andrew,
my production designer.
I said, "We need this,
but ours have to have different colours.
And we need them everywhere."
And we did.
We had them everywhere.
It looked great.
Effects had the smokers in them
at all times.
You know one thing?
The eftects guys there...
All the background smoke and fog
and stuff that we needed...
...it was constantly there.
-It's really well done.
-Yeah.
Yeah, a lot of smoke.
-There, smoke, smoke. Look, smoke.
-Yeah, great.
I'm glad I went that weekend
to New York.
I mean, basically,
I got that out of it...
...the plastic New York idea
and $5000 credit-card debt.
Yeah, I gotta say,
I got a really nice jacket out of it.
Thank you very much.
New York breaks your bank, man.
I'm never going there again.
Come on, now.
Let's go this weekend.
-But, hey, plastic New York was great.
-Yeah.
This also came out of--
This was planned somewhere else.
And this whole--
Them running into each other...
...was also out of necessity,
turned out great.
We just didn't have time for more
than walk and talk, hand--
What was it? Was that Steadicam?
-That was Steadicam, yeah.
-Steadicam sh*t.
That was another Eames genius
right there.
That flickering light behind there,
wasn't it?
The Russian centre.
Those were all real Russians.
It was amazing.
Like, I mean,
it really was like it was the Russian...
...you know, recreation centre.
-All of them were talking, you know.
-Drinking, I think--
Probably drank
their own real vodka too.
I wouldn't doubt it.
Oh, l love this guy's face.
He pulled a g*n on me
after we sh*t actually.
-No, you Iie.
-Okay.
Sorry, then.
You know, they actually did a lot
of improvising here...
...that I actually would've loved
to see.
Oh, we gotta talk about the flare.
About them, it's not in there.
Maybe it will be on a blooper reel
or something.
But, they did a lot of, like, you know,
acting...
...as if he was, you know,
peeing his pants in the back there...
...because of all the Russians.
Aubert was his name.
Aubert Pallascio was Tiberiu's name.
Great face, great actor.
-Second unit.
-Yes.
Great stuft.
Great stuft there, all the gangster.
Readying the hotel for mayhem.
Mayhem.
I don't know how this idea
actually developed...
...that it should be all in one hotel.
Those great writers, Holloway--
Marcum, Holloway...
...who wrote this first.
Which I thought was a great idea,
because we hadn't seen it.
Like, you know, you end up--
What is your climax action scene?
And then you start trying to figure out,
and I thought...
...that was something really new.
Oh, boy.
-That cost us a lot of money.
-The depth, yeah.
That didn't make producers happy,
the whole looking-down-the-street.
You have to explain to people
what it means to look down the street.
I n order to light--
These are very large blocks.
Talk about lighting, this has
an incredible amount of lighting...
...coming in those windows
in order to light.
So 99.9 percent of the light
in that room...
...is coming through the windows.
I n order to see
several blocks down the street...
...and illuminate it properly,
it takes a great deal of light.
And, you know,
it was a bit of a wrestling match...
...to get all of that.
Lexi and Mike Paseornek...
...backed me 1 00 percent.
Gave me the tools
that I needed to deliver.
But it was easy for me.
I didn't have to write the cheques.
-Yeah, well, Mike--
-A little hard for Mike, but, you know.
He really came through for me.
There was a point
where he stopped me in the hallway.
He's a filmmaker kind of guy,
you know.
He really truly is.
He gets a filmmaker, he gets it.
He stopped me in the hallway,
and he goes:
"All right, you're getting
all the lighting you want."
-Oh, did he? I never knew that.
-He did.
I became very nervous
when he said that.
I know, I remember him
coming to my oftice.
"Can you really promise me
you can make all of your days?"
That's why l started yelling
at everybody on the first day.
"We need to make our days.
I promised him."
I think we did too.
Well, you kind of feel
like a Boy Scout, a Girl Scout...
...who gave an honourable promise
and signed it with blood...
...when he talks to you, you know.
Only day we didn't do
1 00 percent...
...of what was on the call sheet
was when we got the blizzard.
-Yeah.
-What are you gonna do?
You know what? I have to say.
Come on, we got through this
incredibly well.
Also, because, you know,
all the actors were prepared...
...they all helped out.
I told them, "Come on set prepared.
Don't f*ck around with me.
Don't start discussing things."
Most of them stuck to it.
There's an example
of seeing down the street.
Look how small the trucks are
in the distance.
That's at least three blocks.
Love that scene.
Thanks, Frank.
You know he's gonna take it out on me
when he wakes up.
If you don't hear g*nf*re...
You know, Dash ended up--
That Detective Soap character
became incredibly popular...
...like, during the screenings.
Did you get that?
Like, he was really, really...
Like kind of audience favourite,
I've noticed.
Jean Frenette,
one of my stunt coordinators...
...is one of the Russian g*ng members,
who's gonna now get sh*t.
And I think throughout that day--
He is the little guy with the hat on.
There, right here.
Great story about Jean Frenette,
because l met him when I was 1 5.
He's a world karate champion...
...and l used to follow him
when I was still doing karate.
Going around everywhere
he gave a seminar or tournament.
I was a stalker of him.
And then I come to Montreal,
and it turns out...
...he's a stunt choreographer,
so I hired him.
Great guy. He got sh*t
about 1 0 times in that hotel.
AIways disguised as somebody else.
Okay, you need to mention
Pat as well, huh?
Well, Pat, when did
if I ever not mention him?
I think he's in every interview
I ever gave about that film.
Pat Johnson, who was the number-one
stunt choreographer on this movie...
...has worked with me on my first short,
from Johnny Flynton...
...has worked with me
on Green Street Hooligans...
...and of course l've always coaxed him
into doing this film.
He is-- He was the captain
of the Chuck Norris team.
He's a world kickboxing champion.
He won something sick,
like 268 fights in his career.
He also gave me
my first job in Hollywood.
I was Princess Kitana
in the Mortal Kombat: Live Tour...
...and did a bunch
of stunt work for him.
And now we work together,
and, you know, he's a good guy.
-He's like everybody's dad, isn't he?
-Yeah.
-A good man, a good man.
-You know, he really made me happy...
He's the sort of person
that when he'd walk onto the set...
-...everybody would wanna hug him.
-Because he wants to hug everybody.
-He's like a cat, you know?
-That's true, he's fabulous.
"Steve, l love you,
I was thinking about you yesterday...
...and I thought
what a great man you are."
"This is the best day l've ever been
alive. This is gonna be a great day."
And when you ask him,
"Oh, how are you today, Pat?"
And he goes, " If I'd be any better,
I'd be the both of us."
He's a good man.
I'm so used to working with him.
I mean, that's the thing.
Like, I can't imagine, you know...
...ever being on a movie
where he isn't, you know?
We should say something
about all the bloodletting...
...because there's quite a bit.
Yeah. Well, you know,
a lot of that wasn't us, quite honestly.
A lot of the climax was second unit.
We pretty much followed Ray
down the hallways with a Steadicam.
And got all his coverage
in every direction he was sh**ting.
And then second unit came and
sh*t other people getting blown up.
Well, if we ever needed more time
and more days, it was in that hotel...
...because, you know,
you have to imagine...
...that the finale
had to be sh*t there.
The big--
Between, like, "Let's play a game"...
...the big LBJ bathroom fight
with Castle and LBJ, all of this.
So first unit, when first unit
has four days in there, that means--
If we really want some acting
actually on our footage...
...we have to race through that.
So you know, the truth is...
...we basically followed the main actor,
that is correct, you know.
And the rest, Doug and Brian
provided us with...
...and once again, you know,
I mean, we didn't--
I didn't ask him for as much
as they ended up providing us.
A lot of things as a filmmaker you
come up with because it's necessary.
This used to be a scene
on the second floor...
...where sh*t happens everywhere,
you know?
And, "No, we can't do that.
We don't have time."
"Okay, what could you do
with one room?"
So I said,
"What if they all, you know, wait--
I n one room, all together,
thinking he's gonna storm in...
...and they're all gonna have
a sh*t at him."
And this turned out,
and this basically became this sh*t.
And then J. B., our Marine, told me...
...that in lraq,
they used these things called--
I think they're called room cleaners
or something like that.
Where they sh**t this grenade,
and then it blows up...
...and it basically,
the shrapnel hits everywhere.
And that's what we used.
I have to say the Marines
all dig this movie.
So I'm very happy about that...
...but that's because J. B.,
you know, made us look good.
Oh, for f*ck's sake.
Fat I rish guy.
Here, right now, that was
a big laugh from people. You know...
...some people who've never heard
of The Punisher wrote reviews...
...said, "l can't believe
they had this guy's head blow up."
It's once again taking
a direct comic-book frame.
This is what's in every frame
in the comic-book movie, you know.
-Some great stunt work here.
-Yeah.
Oh, LBJ had the greatest stuntmen,
didn't he?
-He did, he looked just like him.
-My God.
I know, but he's also like--
He's amazing.
It's the only time I allowed anybody
to do some kind of martial-arts stuff...
...because he was just so good at it
that it would've been sad if he doesn't.
But I also thought the fact
that Castle...
...actually has a valid opponent
in somebody--
This is, here's the martial arts,
a butterfly kick.
The fact that Castle
has an evil opponent...
...that's actually become dangerous
to him, who is that small...
...a lot of people thought
it would make it really interesting.
And it did,
it did turn out really interesting.
It's just a different kind of,
like, not strength, you know.
He doesn't match him in strength
and physical appearance...
...but more in like his evilness.
H is evilness is so bad
that he does get to him.
Perhaps we should mention the toxicity
of John Abbott College.
Should we really?
-Lionsgate's gonna get sued for that.
-No.
Wha-- Somebody's getting cancer
in five years.
I don't know
what you're talking about.
Where we taped it--
First of all, we did have it tested.
-Apparently, it was tested, right?
-Yes, of course, always.
And it turned out--
It said, "Okay, it's not toxic."
This is an abandoned,
big, university building.
And they tested it,
and they said it's safe.
But of course they tested it
when it was all quiet.
They didn't test it when 200 people
are moving equipment through this.
So all that sh*t came oft the floor
and all that.
And we were all standing there in these
nuclear suits and these masks on.
But, you know, when you're the head
of the department or an actor...
...you can't be with your mask on.
Most of the time you have to talk,
and you get kind of sick of it.
Putting the mask back on.
So there was
a lot of coughing going on.
There was a lot of, like, black stuff
coming out your nose and ears forever.
But it looked really good on film.
Hey, you know,
that's what we live for.
Now, there's Wayne, again being
extremely patient for several days.
Well, one day with first unit,
and four, five--
-Second unit, correct.
-He's sitting there.
You know, l think he had some--
He did have some kind of injury.
Which I didn't find out until later,
because once again he's a pro.
That something with his back...
...and this sitting there forever
on the cold ground really hurt him.
He never said anything to me.
Never, never complained.
Let's play a game, what do you say?
And, you know, Ray and Dominic
worked a lot on this one too...
...because we, you and l in first unit,
could hardly sh**t that dialogue.
I mean,
we just had to race through that...
...and they had to come back for
several days to do this in second unit.
And:
I mean, I don't think I could have done
one more day in there.
And they had to do
twice the days we had, you know.
Without masks, because the actors...
...you can't put masks on them,
you know.
You know, this was also--
This scene was not planned.
It was one of those things
where it was written as a simple fight...
...between Castle and Jigsaw.
And l remember, it's like
one of those moments that you have...
...like 1 0 days
before we start sh**ting.
I'm looking at the script and...
I think it was the middle of the night
when I woke up and thought:
"Oh, my God.
This is completely anticlimactic."
He can't have a fight with LBJ
and then have a fight with Jigsaw.
That doesn't even
top the fight with LBJ.
It's bad, it's bad writing,
it's bad filmmaking, it's bad everything.
And that's-- If you remember,
last minute...
...I rewrote this whole scene
and added Micro into it...
...and did this whole thing about,
"Let's play a game," you know?
Which, my God,
thank God we did that...
...because...that would have been
really bad.
And it's right in front of your face,
and you can't see it...
...until, you know,
it's almost too late.
Also Dominic had a great stuntman.
God--
That's the centerpiece.
-Looks like a Turkish bath sort of thing.
-Correct.
Was built out of plywood
and 2-by-4s...
...in such a way
that you couldn't get underneath it.
And apparently the Art Department
and Special Effects...
...hadn't gotten together
on what they were doing with it...
...with the flame
in the center of the room.
And so if you look closely
on the floor...
...you'll see a big curtain cloth
laying down there...
...and that's actually
covering the gas line...
-...that had to feed the fire.
-I remember that.
I think people were fighting over that,
didn't they?
Oh, I was...
I know that there were all kinds
of fights going on in this room.
Yeah, that was tough.
-See the thing on the floor?
-Yeah.
Yeah, that's covering the gas line.
It's fabulous.
f*ck you.
Let me put you out of my...
You know,
Ray came up here with the--
He came up with almost
all the lines in that last scene.
"Let me put you out of my misery.
This is just the beginning.”
You know, when he said: "Sometimes
I'd like to get my hands on God."
These are all lines from the book
that he put in the right moments.
And I was really proud of him
for doing that.
This was, by the way,
I have to mention...
...that was a stuntman
actually really on fire.
Some guy in Canada
invented some new stuff...
...that you can put on your skin
and really burn.
I'm glad I'm not
a stunt woman anymore...
...because l can tell you that
you just can't pay me enough, okay?
I'm not trying it out, but needless
to say this stuntman really was on fire.
-God knows how many takes.
-I don't know.
I didn't wanna be around with them.
"Good luck."
Frank.
Frank, are you okay?
You better get out of here.
Yeah...
I thought that was a great,
great moment here because...
My husband...
It was just a group
of really great actors...
...that we like out there,
we loved this location.
We loved the way it looked.
All right, some critic said
something snide about, you know...
...there's a little girl who this guy has
just k*lled her father and all that stuft...
...but he also just saved her life
numerous times...
...and, you know,
went to battle for her family.
Yeah, I don't know.
I'm not keen on the critics right now.
You now what?
Here's what l have to say.
At the very least, go buy a comic book
and look at the source material.
Here's the thing,
this is exactly like the comic book.
You know, that frame we had
with him and the little kid.
He's in one frame,
he's with the little child...
...and the next frame
with a little child in his arms...
...he's sh**ting somebody's head oft,
you know, l mean...
Okay, this here right now
where it says "Jesus saves"...
...is actually, l don't know
if even you know this...
...this is how I got the job.
I came in with this picture,
pitching, you know, this area.
With the neon lights
and this and that, and I said :
"Well, you know,
I kind of see The Punisher...
...after all he's done, there's a church
that says 'Jesus saves'...
...and then the 'Jesus' blinks out
and extinguishes...
...and The Punisher skull comes up."
And I think the people at the studio
really liked the idea.
I had some pictures
that I demonstrated this on.
And l liked that we--
It was actually Marvel who said :
"Can we please finish on a light tone,
like, on something lighter?"
Not dark, like something fu nny,
and I added this scene with Soap.
"Now I got brain splattered
all over me," you know?
But essentially
it was more about "Jesus saves"...
...you know, and the Jesus
being replaced by The Punisher skull.
And that's pretty much it.
Go buy another DVD for your cousin
in Alabama who hasn't seen this yet.
We really enjoyed
making this movie for you.
We did indeed,
and thanks for watching it...
...and have a good time and be safe.
-Thanks, Lexi.
-Thank you.
-Bye-bye.
-Bye.
Punisher: w*r Zone (2008)
Moderator: Maskath3