Another macho man has made the obligatory leap into the kiddie pool. This time it's Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson who has gone and starred opposite a child in this weekend's new release The Game Plan. Could it damage his potential for further tough guy roles? Does he care? He's already signed on to another kid friendly part in Witch Mountain, so perhaps he's no longer worried about audiences accepting him as a muscle man with attitude.

The Rock, like Vin Diesel before him, may have jumped the gun on doing a Disney family film before securing an iconic place next to Schwarzenegger, Stallone and other action hero types. His movie may therefore lack that necessary extreme between the character we associate with The Rock and the character he must take on for the movie -- like the type of contrast that made Kindergarten Cop so funny.

But there are worse things he could do. Other action stars and macho actors have made some pretty terrible mistakes that had nothing to do with working with kids, and many of these mistakes were career altering. Let's just hope Dwayne Johnson never has to suffer such ideas as these:


1. Junior (1994, Ivan Reitman)

For a macho guy, finding out you have a kid is domesticating, but finding out you're pregnant is emasculating. Nothing says an action hero has gone soft like giving him a bun in the oven, and it's no wonder that Arnold Schwarzenegger had difficulty maintaining his image in action movies for the next decade -- until Terminator 3. I'm certain that if The Rock tried doing a movie in which he's with child rather than with a child, he'd cause far more problems for his career. At least Schwarzenegger had just a few months earlier released True Lies, and fans likely held onto the hope he would be back on top one day.

Recently, when Paddy Considine was being considered for the role of the villain Jigsaw in The Punisher: War Zone, a fan questioned why the movie would cast a Brit as an Italian mobster. That fan will probably continue wondering, because, according to The Hollywood Reporter, Lionsgate has finally announced the actor who won the part over Considine, and it is another English actor, Dominic West. If you remember, Considine was offered the role when the first choice had to pass, but then that first choice ended up taking it after all. So, West must have been that first choice. Funny, I was expecting someone more well-known, but I guess with recent appearances in 300 and Hannibal Rising and a recurring part on the popular television series The Wire, West is still more famous than Cinderella Man's Considine (personally, I can only place West in 28 Days, while I've seen much of Considine's work). For those unfamiliar with the comics, Jigsaw has a torn-up and re-stitched face, so it isn't like audiences will be recognizing West's own mug anyway.

Joining West is a more familiar actor who has also just been cast in the movie. Everyone's favorite conniving fat man, Wayne Knight (Seinfeld's "Newman"), will play Microchip (aka Linus Lieberman), the lone confidant who works with The Punisher, supplying him with guns and ammo -- think James Bond's Q meets Batman's Alfred, says Wikipedia. Because we can expect nothing less from Knight, though, I have to assume he also stabs The Punisher in the back and then gets eaten by dinosaurs. West and Knight join Ray Stevenson, as The Punisher, and the recently announced Dash Mikok (Romeo + Juliet's "Benvolio"), as Detective Soap, Colin Salmon (Resident Evil), as Agent Budiansky, and Doug Hutchison (The Green Mile) as LBJ (aka Looney Bin Jim). The comic adaptation will be directed by Lexi Alexander and may be released as early as late 2008.

Either somebody at Lionsgate is reading Cinematical, or we just happen to think alike. Earlier this month, when the studio announced the next Punisher movie was a do-over, I suggested going with the stand-alone title The Punisher: War Zone. Well, they didn't completely go with my idea -- they left off the The -- but according to ComingSoon.net, they came pretty close. Of course, a million or so comic book fans could have come up with the same thing, since the title is the same as one of the many Marvel series starring the popular anti-hero. However, even the comic book title was a little bit different -- it had the The but featured no colon. The Punisher War Zone ran for a somewhat skimpy 41 issues (plus two annuals), from 1992 to 1995, and as far as I know had no specific distinction from the main Punisher series. Lionsgate could have also gone with the longer-running title The Punisher War Journal, which was a series from 1988 to 1995 and is now also a new, current series. Anything would have been a better choice than what the IMDb currently has listed -- The Punisher: Welcome Back, Frank.

As I mentioned, Punisher: War Zone will be a totally isolated movie, with no connection to the previous adaptations from 1989 (the Dolph Lundgren one) and 2004 (the Thomas Jane one). The franchise reboot will be directed by Lexi Alexander (Hooligans) and will star Ray Stevenson (HBO's Rome) as the vigilante Frank Castle, aka The Punisher. All that is known about the plot is that it will be set in New York City and involves Castle's pursuit of a mobster. Personally, the whole time I was reading comics, I thought this was the only plot ever in the Punisher titles. I have to admit, though, that aside from The Punisher Meets Archie, I never even flipped through a Punisher book. Still, my ignorance and expectations aside, I'd much rather watch any comic book movie set in the Big Apple than set in Tampa, so at least that factor has me interested in this latest version.

Without Thomas Jane returning for The Punisher 2, Lionsgate Films has decided to reboot and go for a fresh start. Of course, the studio is hoping for a new franchise with this new effort, so hopefully Ray Stevenson, who we previously learned is the new Frank Castle/Punisher, will want to or will be contractually obligated to stick around for sequels. Also, the fans will hopefully be satisfied with the new incarnation of Marvel's popular anti-hero, who will now appropriately be in pursuit of mobsters in New York City rather than Miami* Tampa (the setting of Artisan/Lionsgate's 2004 effort). The decision to reboot could also be because Lionsgate didn't officially greenlight the last film -- the studio only acquired it when it bought Artisan -- and wants to redo it their own way. Because we all know it isn't uncommon to produce a sequel in which the main character is played by a substitute actor.

The thing that makes this reboot more interesting is that the 2004 film was already like a replacement for the 1989 version, which starred Dolph Lundgren. So technically this is the third attempt to get the character right. Some might liken it to next year's The Incredible Hulk, which is a reboot of 2003's Hulk, itself somewhat a replacement for the 1977 TV-movie/pilot, The Incredible Hulk. I wonder, though, what Lionsgate could possibly call the new Punisher movie without confusing audiences. At least the new Hulk movie has added "The Incredible" to the title. Perhaps Lionsgate will drop the "The" and just go with Punisher? Or will it go with a completely new title a la The Dark Knight or at least a subtitle, say The Punisher: War Zone? Whatever the title, the movie better be filled with plenty of martial arts, since former world kickboxing champ Lexi Alexander (Hooligans) is directing it. If you remember, he** she took over when John Dahl dropped out, claiming the studio wouldn't spend enough on the film and the script was no good. I'm not sure if Lionsgate has retooled the screenplay since then, but Variety now credits it to the writers Nick Santora (TV's Prison Break), Kurt Sutter (TV's The Shield), Matt Holloway (Iron Man) and Art Marcum (Iron Man) -- formerly it was Sutter with Stuart Beattie and Jonathan Hensleigh.

* This was just an ignorant mistake, sorry about that.

**sorry about the typo, I knew she is a she

A very reliable source at Latino Review is reporting that the new Punisher has been cast. It looks like it will be ... drumroll please ... Ray Stevenson. Latino Review expects this information to be confirmed at ComicCon later this week or possibly before. Stevenson's biggest film role so far was probably as Dagonet in 2004's King Arthur, but he's likely best known as Titus Pullo on HBO's very entertaining (and of course, canceled -- damn you, HBO!) Rome. Thomas Jane played the Punisher in 2004, Dolph Lundgren played the part in 1989. Former World Karate and Kickboxing Champion Lexi Alexander (Green Street Hooligans) will direct The Punisher 2. The villain will be Jigsaw, whom I faintly remember from my days of collecting comic cards to fit in at junior high school.

I somehow managed to miss both film versions of The Punisher, but I've heard they kind of live up to their names. Was John Travolta as ridiculous in the 2004 version as he looked in the previews? I can't say the thought of this new one is thrilling me, either. I was intrigued when John Dahl was going to direct it. But as Jessica told you last month, he decided the script, written by Stuart Beattie, Jonathan Hensleigh and Kurt Sutter, was "not that good." Yikes. A little wikipedia research reveals that what little I remember about The Punisher is accurate: he "considers killing, kidnapping, extortion, coercion, threats of violence and torture as acceptable crime-fighting tactics." Hey, whatever pays the bills. Ray Stevenson is probably a better choice than Thomas Jane, but don't you think a perfect selection would be Henry Rollins? How has that guy not been considered?

Having never seen the Thomas Jane's incarnation of The Punisher, you can't blame me for failing to gather much enthusiasm for Marvel's vigilante after what Dolph Lundgren did with the character. Back in May, Scott had brought us the news that John Dahl could be taking over directing duties for The Punisher 2. Well, here we are almost a month later and Dahl is no longer interested in going ahead with the film, despite some early enthusiasm for the project. In an interview with UGO with Dahl while he was out promoting his latest film, You Kill Me with Ben Kingsley, the topic of Punisher 2 came up. Dahl said: "I actually thought I could make a better movie. But then when I really started thinking about what it was and the fact that the studio kind of didn't want to spend a whole lot of money, it was like "Do I want to do an action movie in 40 days? With a massive second unit?" Dahl goes on to state that the script "was not that good" -- Which is probably bad news for fans that were worried the studio was toying with the idea of turning the film into a straight to DVD cash grab.

Talk of a sequel to the 2004 film began to heat up back in December, with promises of a new direction for the movie that was going to correct the mistakes of the past. But the loss of Dahl is the second hit the project has taken since Jane dropped out back in May. Dahl seems happy to be off the hook for the film and instead is going to focus on independent projects. For now, it looks like The Punisher 2 is not only in the market for a new star and director, but they might have to go back to the drawing board all together.

Okay, honestly, there isn't a whole lot of new information here, but I was just so darn pleased to hear somebody talking about The Punisher 2 flick again. Yeah, I know the first movie didn't play so well, but I absolutely love the character, and actually enjoyed the flick, so I'm excited to see what Tom Jane will do with a second chance at the franchise, especially now that the team has learned what did and didn't work out the first time around. Lots of room to improve, right? Good old Tom Jane recently sat down with BigFanBoy's livecast (apparently, the guy is making the rounds), and chatted with them about the direction of the new flick.

Jane (odd to refer to him by his last name only, since it sounds like I'm talking about a girl) told BFB that action is finally happening again on the project, and a new script writer has been brought on board to offer a treatment. This is good in the sense of "hey, at least something is finally happening," but it is always a dangerous sign when scriptwriters keep replacing one another. You're teetering on the edge of development hell eventually, especially when you are the sequel to a flick which was not amazingly popular. Jane also echoed the recent sentiments of others involved with the project, saying he wanted to move away from the goofy humor of the first film: "... just straight noir, drama, with the inherent blood and guts in it." So, do you suppose a second movie holds great promise, or are you already writing off another sequel attempt from Hollywood -- land of no new ideas?

Geek news I found while packing spices for a weekend cooking trip:

• Oh baby, is there a lot of news about The Punisher's extended DVD at Newsarama. Read it all here, but be warned, if you're a Marvel fan it is going to make you want to shell out some extra bucks for the DVD. I, personally, am very excited to have a look at it.
• For those among us who like reading novelizations for their favorite movies, you can pre-order your copy of Spider-Man 3, the movie novelization, at Amazon. The only movie novels I tend to read are the Star Wars ones, but I'm sure the Spidey books are fun, too.
• Guillermo Del Toro answers some questions at EW. In his fanboy dreams, he wants to cast Bruce Campbell for a role in Hellboy 2. While this is admittedly unlikely to ever occur (at least for more than a cameo), it still makes Del Toro all the more awesome.
• Neat looking storyboards from a deleted X3 scene. Really, they look like a lot of the rest of the movie -- cars flying through the air, people with shocked expressions on their faces, and things breaking into pieces. If I had to title the flick, I would have given it the same subtitle my friends and I bestowed on the X-Men: Legends video games ... X-Men 3: X-Men Break Your Stuff.
• Hey, Ghost Rider minimates are coming. These toys promise to "deliver all the action-packed excitement of the film with every 2 inch figure." I know that's supposed to suggest the figures will be packed with action, but I can't help but interpret it to say "there's so little action in this film, we could fit it in two inches."

A quick one-two punch regarding upcoming sequels to two Marvel titles...

• Speculation continues to run rampant regarding the durability of the X-Men franchise.  There's no doubt that if the films continue to be successful, the Suits will continue to be interested- but will the actors? Without the return of key characters, any sequel hopes could be dashed. The lastest news on this front comes from Vinnie Jones, the man behind Juggernaught, who discussed his contract on an Irish television program recently.  According to Vinnie, he has signed up for episodes 4, 5, and 6...which at least leaves open the obvious possilities for more films. 
• Slightly less noteworthy to the general masses (but slightly more interesting to yours truly) is a comment left by a recent poster on ThomasJane.com's message board. According to the poster, he and a buddy were lucky enough to meet Tom himself in a hotel lobby recently. The poster says Tom was incredibly nice, and informed him that shooting for The Punisher sequel was set to begin this summer.

 

• BlueTights.net has a first look at Lex Luthor's house (pictured right) from the upcoming Superman Returns.
• With Transformers screenwriters Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci heading to Rome and start working on J.J. Abrams' Mission: Impossible 3, DreamWorks and Paramount have moved the Transformers movie back from November 17, 2006 to July 4, 2007.
  
• DeadPool claims to have read the screenplay for the Punisher sequel, which he says is titled The Punisher: War Zone. He talks about the details in his blog, but beware of possible spoliers.
• Majesco Entertainment is creating a video game based on the Ghost Rider movie for PlayStation 2, Xbox and PlayStation Portable platforms. The game will see release in summer 2006 and comic scribes Garth Ennis and Jimmy Palmiotti are writing the game's story, which will pick up after the events in the upcoming film.
  
• MovieWeb has your first look at some character profiles from the upcoming Disney adventure, Sky High.
• TheForce.net has the first Star Wars report from the show floor at Comic-Con.
  
• SHH scooper Inthegame has an unconfirmed description of a possible Superman Returns game teaser which will be included with "Madden NFL 06".
  
• In Roger Ebert's review of War of the Worlds, he took the Tripod's design to task claiming the "Three legs are inherently not stable." Well, in this weeks Movie Answer man column, Ebert asks a Ph.D. candidate at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab to see if he was correct.
• Previously on cinematical:
• Pictures from Comic-con