Dolph Lundgren recalls his badass 1989 Marvel film THE PUNISHER

In 1989 Dolph Lundgren played Frank Castle in an early Marvel movie, The Punisher. This was actually a pretty badass movie, but it’s also one of those movies that a lot of people seem to have forgotten about. It’s also a film that the younger generation doesn’t even know exists.

In the film, Frank Castle’s story begins as a respected police officer dedicated to eradicating mob influence, “until the mob responds with a lethal car bomb that decimates Castle’s family. Now, filled with rage and presumed dead from the horrific explosion, Castle travels to the underground tunnels of the city’s sewers to bring his brutal brand of vigilante justice to the streets and exact revenge on those who murdered his family.

During a recent interview with Film School Rejects, Lundgren talked about acting in this film and what it was like to shoot a comic book movie like this back in the day. She began by saying:

“I didn’t know the Marvel Universe then. I wasn’t a huge fan of comics, and in those days it was a bit shady to play a comic book character. It was risky. Now, of course, once you win that Oscar, the next thing you’re playing is a Marvel character. That’s the way it is these days.

Speaking about his experience making the film, he said:

“I thought it was a fun film to work on. We shot in Australia and there was Louis Gossett Jr. He was amazing, and we had really good stunt people, and a lot of the guys were from Mad Max: The Road Warrior. I enjoyed it for sure.

Lundgren went on to talk about Robert Mark Kamen’s original film script and recalled how it included the horrific event of Castle’s family being brutally murdered. The film did not include him in the film after the script was rewritten by Boaz Yakin. But the actor used what he read in the original script to guide him as he made the film. He said:

“In the original script, there’s a long sequence at the beginning with the family being killed. You see Frank Castle as a cop and as a happy family man. Then the family is finished and he becomes the Punisher. This entire section was cut by New World Pictures. They were failing at the time the film was produced. They took out the old section and I think there’s a little flashback now. Yes, there was a lot more than what ended up in the picture.

He went on to talk about bringing his character to life and what he was looking for, saying:

“If you play a tough guy who’s too tough, people just – yeah, you can watch him, but I like characters like the Gladiator lead. Or, if you take the Godfather series, you get to know their inner life and that makes you understand the violence.

“At the time, I didn’t have much experience. I had done Rocky. I worked a lot on that character. He also has some inner qualms when told what to do by the Soviet state. Drago has to kill Apollo Creed. He doesn’t want to do it, but he does it anyway. So, I’d sort of played it once before…it was something I’d really held on to, the fact that [Frank Castle] did he lose his family and what would he do to someone.

I’m a fan of Lundgren’s The Punisher and during a previous interview with Comic Book Couples Counseling, longtime Punisher writer Garth Ennis said that Lundgren gives his favorite Punisher performance. He said:

“It’s the most honest attempt to capture The Punisher because – like all the others – there’s no backtracking, there’s no compromise, there’s no attempt to sugarcoat him a bit and take him away from what’s so obvious. In that movie, every time Frank pulls a gun, he doesn’t put it away until a dozen people are dead. He never doubts.

Check out the original trailer for The Punisher below and let us know what you think of Frank Castle’s take on Lundrgen!