2007 has gone without one word on
The Punisher 2 which I think probably should have indicated to us that Lionsgate were having trouble with their Marvel franchise. The movie was greenlit back in October, but here we are in May... still without a director, and now without it's lead star.
AICN have received a letter from
Thomas Jane himself, who tells the site that he has dropped out of the sequel, mainly because of fears he has about the direction the sequel was pushing towards. It's a mighty long letter, which you can read in it's entirety by
clicking here, but here are the main jists of Jane's writings...
Im writing to tell you that I regretfully and painfully had to pull out of P2. I cant tell you how completely broken up I am about it. What I won't do is spend months of my life sweating over a movie that I just don't believe in. Ive always loved the Marvel guys, and wish them well. Meanwhile, Ill continue to search for a film that one day might stand with all those films that the fans have asked me to watch.
AICN claim that Lionsgate have been desperately running around trying to find a director for their picture, but apparently no-one wants to touch it because of it's terrible script. I believe the deal is that if Lionsgate don't find a director and get this movie off the ground soon, then the studio lose their rights to the picture, and bangs goes their potential big-pay day. This can only lead to trouble. A rushly found director and a movie pushed into filming before it's ready can only be a bad thing. Personally, I hated
The Punisher movie. Thomas Jane wasn't bad as Frank Castle, but the movie was dull from where I sat. Without Jane, I'm not hopeful for this.