Jon Bernthal Talks about Diving into the Darkness of DAREDEVIL Season 2
This past weekend we learned that Marvel and Netflix are developing a solo Punisher series. The character will be introduced in season two of Daredevil, and apparently the executives like what is being done with this character so much that they’re ready to give him his own show.
During a recent interview with EW, Jon Bernthal talks about his character explaining that he went to as “dark of a place as possible” to bring The Punisher to life. When talking about Frank Castle and how he sees the character, Bernthal says:
“As a man who put his on the line and really went through the ultimate sacrifice for this country in his involvement in the military. He’s a guy who brought the war home with him [in] the worst possible way. There are a lot of iterations of this character and in all of them it’s a man who’s gone through this unbelievable trauma and what’s interesting about our take on him is how this trauma reshapes his own philosophy. I can’t give too much away, but what’s interesting is the way [showrunners Doug Petrie and Marco Ramirez] have made his story a slow burn. It’s interesting to find this guy at the point we find him. You want an evolution and a process. He starts in one place and will end up in another.”
I’m a fan of the slow burn kind of stories and character development. I think it makes things a lot more intense and lets you get to know the character better. He goes on to talk about preparing for the role, explaining:
“The training and physicality is extremely important in whatever I do. Luckily I know guys in the military branch he was in. I trained with them and trained a lot with weapons. But with Frank, what was important was the emptiness inside him. He’s dealing with this unbelievable loss. There’s unbelievable anger and hatred and shame. There’s a sense of responsibility and as a father and husband, if I were to lose my family on my watch … I had to put myself in as dark of place as possible the last six months.”
Bernthal is a method actor, so he really got into the role. He also speaks about isolating himself and trying to shed any outside influence of joy to get into the head of Frank Castle. He then talks about what he wants audiences to take from his character:
“One of the things I’m most excited for is I’m hoping the audience will go back and forth. There are things you can identify with and get behind,and there are things when the character pushes it and you can’t get behind him anymore. And that’s what I want. I think that’s the nature of the character. This is a guy who pushes the envelope. He’s brutal, but he’s coming from a place of unbelievable hurt. And the best thing about the character is he just doesn’t care. It’s a highly personal mission he’s on and if he offends you, it’s completely unimportant to him.”
The actor also discusses the effects that the other characters in the series will have on him, and also says that Daredevil's second season is going to to a whole new level of darkness.
“Obviously secrecy is key to Marvel. I can tell you that this guy, horrible tragic things happen, and we will see how he goes through that. The effect the other characters have on him will push him certain directions. I think once you see these characters collide, it’s tremendously interesting and emotionally gripping as well. It’s going to be a special season. If you thought last season of Daredevil was dark, we’re going to a whole new place.”
Daredevil premieres on Netflix on March 18th, 2016!