Jonathan Hensleigh Reveals 'Punisher' Homages

[Wednesday, April 14th, 2004]
The Punisher director Jonathan Hensleigh says he has paid homage to many action movies while working on the visuals for the movie. "There are certain visual references that I've used that are quite obvious," Hensleigh told Sci-Fi Wire. "I'm an enormous fan of George Miller. I liked the first two Mad Max pictures very much, and that's an obvious reference, an homage."

About the references to James Bond, he said, "There was definitely a reference there. In fact I showed the Jaws fight, and there's an earlier fight between Bond and Robert Shaw in the railway car [in From Russia With Love] that has savagery and violence, but also a wit to it. They were definitely things that I showed my department heads."

Hensleigh also revealed that he's added Shakespearean references. "The plot line doesn't come from anything other than the obvious one, and that's Othello," he said. "The irony, of course, was that while I was inspired by Othello, ... in Othello the bad guy, Iago, is the instigator of it. And I made the protagonist in The Punisher the instigator of the jealousy which leads to murder."

The Punisher opens nationwide April 16th.

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