Warning: this article contains spoilers of Daredevil: born again Season 1, episode 4.
Matt Murdock meeting with Frank Castle on the fourth episode of Daredevil: born again is not exactly hot. In his pursuit to find the one who killed Hector Ayala (Kamar de Los Reyes) with a ball sporting the insignia of the Punisher skull, Charlie CoxThe blind lawyer racket the Punisher himself – who almost hits his head with an ax. (And hello to you too, old boy!)
Because as hostile as the scene began, marking Jon BernthalThe first time in the role since Netflix The Punisher I started streaming in 2019, Bernthal considers that this “just a toe dip” of a reintroduction of the character. “It was like, let’s see if it works,” said the actor Weekly entertainment In an exclusive interview. “Let’s see if there is a real opening and hungry to let Frank be what Frank is, which is dark enough to have the courage and the audacity to turn your back and make it difficult, make it extremely psychologically complex and move away from any kindness or humor and really sink.”
It already seems to work. In addition to Daredevil: born again Season 2Marvel gave Bernthal the green light to write and play A special autonomous Punisher TV in the vein of Night Wolf-Garou. So, even if his big moment of episode 4 lasts only one scene (at least for the moment), Bernthal admits: “I have the impression that it opened the door to get closer to Frank’s castle that I really want, really portray.”
Bernthal’s own meeting with his character was not as volatile as that of Mr. Murdock, but he was a time when he felt on a trembling floor. It is no secret that Disney + Daredevil: born again underwent a significant overhaul After shooting six episodes. Bernthal was approached with this first incarnation of the show, which looked more like a procedure and less connected to the mythology of the original Daredevil Series on Netflix. “In the end, I did not see it. I did not see Frank’s version, and what they wanted from Frank (I did not) really logical for me and I did not think of fans and would not be congruent,” explains the actor. “It was not something that I was really interested in doing. So we had to move away.”
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After having hired new main writers and brought to Bernthal’s The Punisher Scribe and executive producer Dario Scardapane as a showrunner, Marvel returned. And this time, they were more collaborative with Bernthal to develop the character. “They really brought me into the conversation,” he said. “We are really specific to the place where Frank is psychologically, where Frank is physically.”
Bernthal attributes Scardapane; The director of the second unit Phil Silvera, who, he says, “helped define Frank’s physics” on Netflix Daredevil; His double blow, Eric Linden; And Nick Koumalatsos, a sea raid which, according to Bernthal, was “instrumental” “both” in training and psychologically “. This combination has given way to Frank whom Bernthal wanted to deliver, who is the character he has seen resonate over the years through the communities of comics, military and application of the law.” Sometimes you must be very clear with your intentions. He said. “You can’t confuse with how much you like, how much you like to play something, how much you want to do something. You have to make sure you serve it. You must make sure that you do justice to the people who believe in it and justice to the iterations presented to you. ”
In Daredevil: born againFrank becomes the devil on the devil’s shoulder. Although he was able to mutilate some corrupt cops in his pursuit of justice, Matt Murdock fights to keep his inner demons in check. So here is the Punisher, who barks for Daredevil to come back to play.
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“There is a little Frank in each of us; I really believe that,” said Bernthal of this scene. “Like this line,” we are all a bad day to be me. “I think Frank sees himself in Matt, and Matt knows that he sees Frank in himself, and there is a joy. Knows that he is right.”
Bernthal is now impatient to do much more with this character. He reinstalls himself with director Reinaldo Marcus Green, who is at the head of the Punisher TV special for Disney + after the two collaborated on King Richard And We have this city. The actor also says that he brought Koumalatsos back to consultation. Although Bernthal has worked quietly on a series on Shreveport, Louisiana, as well as “another thing” to come, this special Marvel will be the first work produced on the basis of something he wrote.
“I followed the process,” he said. “I entered, I launched, I gave an overview before even putting the pen on page, and I felt like I did not want them to give it to me. And they kept me responsible for each step along the way. I really want to win this and I really want it to be good. The story that we have decontaculated, I think, really special. Praiserable and without restraint.
Bernthal does not know how much he can say about his future as Punisher, but it is grateful to have a hand on the steering wheel. “What I really appreciate with these guys is that they have their vision,” he adds, “they have an idea of where they want him to go and the world in which they want to exist. But they really give me an agency on the way in which we take it there and make sure that it is honest and authentic and truthful.”