Last week Marvel and Artisan announced that Roy Scheider had been cast in an unspecified role in "The Punisher."
Comics2Film/CBR News has learned that Scheider will play Frank Castle's father in the movie. Our source was unsure if the lead character would interact with his father in present day or in flashback.
Scheider is a veteran actor with almost eighty credits to his name. He played tough guys in movies like "The French Connection" and "Marathon Man" in the 1970s. He also commanded the futuristic sub-marine "SeaQuest DSV" on TV in the 1990s. He's best-known for the role of Police Chief Martin Brody in "Jaws."
In other "Punisher" news, ComiX-Fan interviewed Garth Ennis whose successful run on the comic book is, in part, basis for the storyline of the movie.
"I'm kind of tickled they used some of my characters, but I've got a bit of a 'wait-and-see' attitude to movies these days," Ennis told ComiX-Fan. "A nice, brutal, fast-paced, well-plotted action movie would be a welcoming break from most of the stuff coming out at the moment - the key to the whole thing is Frank's character, of course. Soften him or tone him down and you've got just another vaguely edgy anti-hero, but get him right and you can have some very dark fun indeed."
Of the casting, Ennis commented, "Thomas Jane is a good choice [to play Frank], I think; he has a good enough range to suggest he knows how to handle something like this."
Ennis also added, "I hope it's good, and I hope they have the courage of their convictions. And I hope there's a fantastically successful Mr. Bumpo spin-off movie that makes me about a billion ******* dollars, that would be kind of nice.
"Failing that, I'll settle for a good, entertaining action film."