Punisher 2 Writer Gets Death Threats?

Posted by: Scott

I am pretty stoked for Puniser War Zone. I honestly at first was not at all and that is probably why I wont be the first on the studios list for an invite to screen the sequel. Hopefully Sheila will be though. Today while doing my rounds I found something that irritated me. Apparently the writer of Punisher 2 decided for a variety of reasons he did not want to be credited on Punisher 2 War Zone. He blogged about it, this is what he had to say;

I took my name off the movie for a few reasons. The obvious reason is because I didn't deserve credit. There was very little of my draft that stayed in the shooting script. The one big one they kept, was the set piece where we see how Russo becomes Jigsaw. It's pretty brutal. Glad they kept that.

The other reason I removed my name is because I didn't want credit. My pitch, my vision, for the Punisher franchise was something much different. I tried to rip Frank Castle from the comic book world and place him in the real streets of NYC. Castle is the only superhero without powers. He's a tortured, highly skilled soldier with a really bad anger problem. I always felt we should see Frank in some place uber-real and gritty. I threw away the first draft written by Nick Santora and did a page one rewrite. I changed the locations, the characters, the story. I dropped Frank in a real New York City with real villians, real cops, real relationships. To me, the Punisher deserved more than the usual comic book redress. It shouldn't just follow the feature superhero formula.

Kurt Sutter makes some good points and points I thought that all fans of the Punisher series could respect. He is saying the movie will still be a good movie, its just not his movie, and since he had such a SMALL part in the final script he didnt want credit for it. The blog is not what irritated me. The THREATS of physical violence are what boggle me. He posted an update on his blog after getting threats over his earlier post.

Man, I forgot just how intense the comic book underground is. I've already gotten hate mail and car-bomb threats

Why on earth are people threatening Kurt? I respect his choice, and his honesty in the posts he made in his blog and dont see why anyone would hate on him for it. I also think just like he posted on his blog that Lexi at the helm is a good thing. My view on Kurt is even if they only use small portions of his script for the final movie its all good. Kurt has done alot of work on one of my all time favorite gritty, ass kicking dramas, The Shield. If only 10% of his writing talents from that show make it into The Punisher its going to be a strong push in a VERY good direction. I feel bad for Kurt. He didnt want credit, he explained why, and now hes getting threats.

On a side note when Michael from our site interviewed Lexi the director late last year about the film she really came across as a big geek delivering a geek movie ( Lexi Alexander Punisher WarZone Interview ) Deep down inside I just dont understand why people are upset that the writer has asked his name not appear on the script... much less sending him threats. At the end of the day we will still without question get a better film then the first one, with or without Kurts name on the credits. So long as his writing is in it, we as fans all win.