Hello everyone. Here is something Nomad found and was kind enough to allow me to post. It is a message from Lexi to Global Punisher Army. Here you go!
http://www.globalpunisherarmy.com/gpaboards/index.php?topic=2951.0As written to the Global Punisher Army on 23 January, 2009:
Hey GPA,
What's up my friends?
I haven't been browsing this site for a while. After the opening weekend I needed a few weeks off from anything Punisher and when I wanted to return to the site Kevin had me blocked!
(No, just kidding, the truth is I couldn't remember my password).
I have been catching up on all the new posts and opinions here and I'd like to comment on a couple of things.
First, the dvd director's cut petition, while I am very touched and flattered by the support & loyalty, the truth is that my original director's cut was not that much different from what we ended up with on the screen. Yes, fans of the film would probably enjoy the few minutes of extra footage that I had to cut, but it won't make a difference to those who hated the film.
This is a very specific film with a very specific take on the material and from what I gathered through reviews and fan mail I get, people either really, really hated it, or really, really loved it.
That's good, actually that's great.
I hated Benjamin Button and I don't understand why it was nominated for any award let alone thirteen Oscars. My husband loves the film and thinks I'm nuts.
My favorite film of 2008 was Ricky Gervais' Ghosttown, which sold about as many tickets as PWZ did.
What I'm saying is, stories are a matter of taste. As a filmmaker you score big when you tell a story with huge mass appeal, well that was challenging from the beginning since you all know quite well as longtime Punisher fans, this source material is not for everybody. We're not talking man pretending to be bat or man pretending to be spider here, we're talking man with skull on chest starts mass murdering.
I know some of you would have liked to see a more realistic version of the Punisher. While I understand that, neither I nor Ray Stevenson would have made this kind of film. In Ray's first meeting with Marvel and the studio he said that he doesn't want to make a vigilante film that'll make some angry teenager go out and shoot people. I really admired him for that and of course I agreed. To us and to many of PWZ's fans, the joy of reading a Max Punisher comic book lies in the "holy *beep* I can't believe this just happened " moments.
A friend of mine forwarded me a review written by a very talented comedian named Patton Oswalt. I would say, of all people out there... he really, really got what we were trying to do. You should check it out sometime, I think it's on his blog.
We wanted to make people laugh out loud, and have their jaws drop as our boy Frank shoots some *beep* and kills people in his larger than life ways.
What we definitely did not want to do is compete with The Dark Night, 'cause trust me, we would have had quite a big disadvantage...to be more specific a three hundred million dollar disadvantage.
I also have read some posts from people who think it was all the studio's or the writers fault. Hey, while I'm the first one to bitch about *beep* studio behavior, in this case, they are not to blame. Other than the music, it really was my film that ended up on the screen. Nick Santora, Matt Holloway and Art Marcum provided us with great material, but they are not responsible nor do they have any kind of control of what story ends up on the screen.
So, if you want to blame anybody, blame me...well and maybe the marketing department that gave us an opening date, which I found out later is historically known as the worst boxoffice weekend.
Filmmaking is not half as glamorous as it seems. William, my young GPA friend, are you sure you want to continue studying film? :-)
So I hadn't even thought about anything Punisher since before Christmas, but the dvd people at Lionsgate called and asked if I wanted to do a commentary. At first I didn't, but my good buddy and cinematographer Steve thought it would be a good idea. He is convinced that PWZ will forever be a huge cult hit. Bless him.
So we ended up at a place called Margarita mix to tape the commentary, which to my surprise did indeed serve Margaritas. Oh my, oh my. After two of those, I had no control over what I was saying and you can probably hear me slur my words half way through. You will also get to hear some pretty honest stuff. Ha, ha, ha.
Well, that's all I have for now. To the GPA crew who came out to the premier: I adore you guys, email me or call me anytime you're in town. I consider you my friends and I mean that!
Best,
Lexi
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