The cast and crew of The Punisher enjoyed (almost) everything about filming in the Tampa Bay area, including the cooperation and goodwill of (almost) everyone they encountered.
By STEVE PERSALL
Published April 15, 2004
[AP]
Thomas Jane, who plays the Punisher, says the cast and crew worked every day during the shoot: “We were shooting five days, but on our days off we were rehearsing or going over the script or getting together with the stunt choreographer working out the stunt sequences.”
[Times art: Don Morris]
Map of major locations used in The Punisher.List and map
Related review: 'Punisher' has one fresh element: us
You've seen this movie's violent-revenge fare before. But you haven't seen the Tampa Bay area, where filming was done, provide such a good-looking backdrop.
Mobsters and a vigilante killer roam the streets of Tampa. Two of Pinellas County's loveliest beaches now belong to Puerto Rico. And exactly who is going to clean up all that debris from explosions, shootouts and car chases?
Just keeping telling yourself, Tampa Bay area residents, it's only a movie.
Yet The Punisher, debuting nationwide Friday, is more than just the run-of-the-thrill action flick it will be anywhere else. It marks our community's highest visibility on theater screens since Burt Reynolds' 1993 comedy flop Cop and a Half.
The R-rated violence and profanity of The Punisher isn't exactly chamber of commerce material. Tourists aren't likely to plan visits around these movie locales, as they romantically did for Tarpon Springs' Sponge Docks after Beneath the 12-Mile Reef a half-century ago or for the Coliseum dance club in St. Petersburg after Ron Howard's Cocoon in 1985.
But as calling cards go, The Punisher is a slick one. Word gets around Hollywood when a community's assistance, public cooperation and crew resources enable a $34-million film to look more expensive.
First-time director Jonathan Hensleigh estimated that 70 percent of the crew was hired locally, eliminating a lot of lodging costs. City and county permits to shut down streets, sidewalks and parks for filming were issued for free. Rental fees for private homes and buildings were nominal. Metered parking spaces in downtown Tampa were blocked for a mere $5 per day each. Fans were welcomed to watch production and politely stayed out of the way. Stars John Travolta and Thomas Jane occasionally signed autographs to return the goodwill.
By all accounts, the 11-week timetable of The Punisher, from August through October 2003, was remarkably smooth by Hollywood standards. The 53-day shooting schedule was shorter than usual to produce a nearly two-hour action film, as was the movie's six-month postproduction and marketing period before release. The film's budget was nearly $30-million less than the average cost ($63.8-million) of all films produced by major studios in 2003.
An estimated $20-million of that budget stayed in local pockets, said Tampa film commissioner Edie Emerald. The bulk of that windfall went to salaries, hotel accommodations, transportation and food, mostly in Hillsborough County.
Now begins the afterglow of such a mutually beneficial endeavor. Emerald said a few studio representatives who have seen The Punisher have requested files on possible locations for films.
"I think we're going to be quite busy the week of the 19th (of April)," said Emerald, who recently resigned to pursue a career in real estate, effective April 23. "We are anticipating a lot of leads and scripts that will come in after the movie opens. It will be a great thing for the new person to start on."
Producer Gale Anne Hurd, whose 23-year career includes the Terminator series and Aliens, was impressed, with only one reservation.
"I have to say the experience of shooting in Tampa and the Clearwater-St. Pete area was unprecedented," she said during a publicity tour in Los Angeles.
"What they don't tell you in Tampa - which we renamed "Dampa' - is that it's the lightning capital of all the cities in the United States. In L.A. it's raining, but you can keep shooting. Well, you can't in Tampa because you'll get killed. If you have your lights up, they become the tallest thing around, especially if you're shooting on the beach.
"For a first-time director, you can imagine how difficult that is. Those kinds of problems are something I never encountered before. I hope I never do again."
Hensleigh said: "There were times when we'd start shooting in the morning under a bluebird sky, then in the afternoon it would be kind of gray, then the thunderclouds would come in looking like Armageddon was approaching."
Does that mean Hurd wouldn't work in Tampa again?
"Oh, I would absolutely consider Tampa again," she said. "Just not in August."
However, area residents shouldn't get hopes raised for hosting the Punisher sequel being planned. In the comic book series, the character's vigilante nature, and pursuit by both sides of the law, keeps him moving around. Jane expects those movements to take the Punisher someplace like Detroit or Philadelphia. Hensleigh hasn't begun writing the script, so he wouldn't venture a location guess.
It's fair to assume that at least one Tampa Bay area resident won't be involved with the sequel. Screenwriter Michael France (Hulk, GoldenEye, Fantastic Four) of St. Pete Beach shares credit for The Punisher's screenplay with Hensleigh after writing the earliest draft. The credit was settled by Writers Guild of America arbitrators after Lions Gate Films and Marvel Films submitted Hensleigh's name to receive sole credit.
"I don't want to denigrate Mike France or undermine whatever," Hensleigh said. "The Writers Guild of America accords the credits, and there's a great deal of weight placed on the effort of the original writer. But I didn't use any of his material."
The filmmaker said some passages, such as a torture-by-Popsicle scene, were in France's version but have origins in the comic book series.
Hensleigh bristled a bit when asked if the shared credit is fair.
"I'm not going to touch that one," he said. "I don't want the controversy. It's nothing to do with Mike France and me. Mike just gave an interview to Comic Book Resources I read online (www.comicbookresources.com) that I did take issue with, but I'm not going to get into the specifics."
In the interview, France told contributing writer Dave Richards that he had "absolutely zero contact" with Hensleigh for the movie and, although the beach scenes are a 10-minute bicycle ride from his home, he didn't feel welcome on the set and didn't visit.
When contacted at his home, France said it shouldn't be considered a big deal.
"I didn't have any contact with him, but that's not unusual," he said. "I wouldn't want to diminish Jonathan's contributions to the movie and hope he won't diminish mine."
Though most of the filming occurred in Tampa, production of The Punisher stretched to Pinellas County's Honeymoon Island state park, Fort De Soto Park and the home of former NBA star Matt Geiger, whose estate became the mansion of Howard Saint, played by Travolta. The parks doubled for Puerto Rico in scenes depicting the family reunion massacre that ignites the Punisher's vengeance.
Those locales had plenty of parking for production vehicles and cast trailers. Security measures were easier to employ, and the only complainers were a few fishermen whose favorite piers were closed for set construction and filming.
Production was more complex in Tampa, where some city streets were blocked off for hours at a time but always with prior announcements from the production staff. Construction of sets and conversions of buildings, such as Tampa's "beer can building" at 400 N Ashley St., changed a few pedestrian routes. Jane recalled a few particularly loud nights of filming that prompted some telephone calls to the police.
"There were a few nights when the neighbors were calling the cops because we were blowing up 40 (miniature) cars or something," he said. "So, we're sorry about that. But it pays off in the film."
However, The Punisher production didn't spur local outrage, as Bad Boys II did in South Florida two years ago. That $130-million production angered commuters because of unexpected highway closings, residents because of neighborhood invasions by film crews and environmentalists because of a boat chase that could have endangered manatees.
"We've heard stories about the Bad Boys (II) shoot that was just a nightmare," said St. Petersburg-Clearwater film commissioner Jennifer Parramore. "(The Punisher) was just the opposite of that.
"One thing this movie company did - and not all of them are smart enough to do it, believe it or not - was plan ahead. Their location manager was a pain when it came to dotting I's and crossing T's, but that's a good thing."
Hensleigh was equally precise about what he wanted to accomplish at those locales, rarely doing more than two takes before setting up the next shot. "Thank God I had a crew that was aerobically fit," he said.
"We worked seven days a week on this thing," Jane said. "We were shooting five days, but on our days off we were rehearsing or going over the script or getting together with the stunt choreographer working out the stunt sequences.
"Everything had to be planned in advance. We just had to do it that way if we were going to accomplish all the stuff we wanted. We couldn't go on the set and just (fool) around and let it come to us. We had to know exactly what were doing days before we got there. That way we could get it there, hit it hard and get out."
That much of The Punisher was filmed at night reduced traffic problems and made everyone's job easier.
"You have the world more to yourself when you're shooting outside at night," Jane said. "During the day, there's traffic and people and all kinds of stuff to contend with. At night you can really focus and concentrate on what you're doing. Shooting at night helped us work a lot faster."
For Travolta, accepting a role in The Punisher was sealed by its locale, a short airplane flight from his home near Ocala. Travolta flew that route on weekdays for six weeks in his Gulfstream II jet, storing it at Tampa International Airport and getting a ride to work.
"That thrilled me to no end because I commuted from my home in my plane to the set every day," he said. "I can't tell you the joy I got out of it. It made me love coming to work every day."
The 50-year-old actor sounded almost as positive about working in the Tampa Bay area.
"It's awesome," he said. "Everyone went out of their way to make us happy on that movie. They made it economical, they made it possible, they gave us the best sites in the city, they opened up the doors to everywhere for us. It's really the place to do a movie."
Jane said: "You guys aren't so jaded down there. You let us come in and take over your city for a short period of time. It was very gracious."
