‘Punisher: War Zone’ Writer Despises New Film

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It would seem that the biggest enemy The Punisher faces is not the criminals of New York and villains of the Marvel Universe, but ... Hollywood scriptwriters? Punisher: War Zone is due to hit theaters in September 2008, already bearing the scars of development hell. Thomas Jane dropped out of reprising the title role, reportedly because of script problems. Ray Stevenson of HBO's Rome stepped into the combat boots, much to the skepticism of fans. Paddy Considine was dismissive about the five minute offer he received for the part of Jigsaw. Early stills failed to inspire much excitement.

Now, Kurt Sutter, one of War Zone's writers, has elected to take his name off the project. Over on his blog, Sutter claims that not only does he not deserve credit, as his original script has been rewritten out of existence, but he no longer wants credit or any association whatsoever with the project. In fact, he has few kind words for the film whatsoever. In his words, War Zone is a "simple story, very obvious dialogue and the inclusion of as many characters from the anthology that a movie will allow." It's a very tight script, he notes, but not very unique and not something that he could take any pride putting his name on. Sutter's dismissal of the current script earned him the ire of Punisher fans, though it is a bit perplexing as to why ducking out of WGA arbitration should earn you a death threat. Perhaps it was the seeming dismissal of comic book films and fans in general, or the implication that Jane left the project because of his draft.

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