One of the very few recurring villains in the Punisher story line is Jigsaw (The Punisher is known to render his adversaries… well… dead a lot… so there aren’t a lot of main stays). Jigsaw (aka Billy Russo) is much like a Batman villain. A crime thug, an assassin for the mob type… but he’s also physically like another Batman character, Two Face, in appearance thanks to Punisher putting him through a big happy piece of glass face first.
Anyway, it appears the studio have found their man to play Jigsaw. Paddy Considine (who was one of the Andy’s in Hot Fuzz) is claiming he’s been offered the role as the big bad guy. The folks over at ComingSoon offer up this:
Actor Paddy Considine (The Bourne Ultimatum, Hot Fuzz) has revealed here that he has been offered the role of villain Jigsaw in Lionsgate’s Punisher: War Zone. He said he’ll be reading the script today. To be directed by Lexi Alexander (Green Street Hooligans), the new film will be set in New York, where Frank Castle runs up against a mobster. Ray Stevenson takes over the Castle roll from Thomas Jane.
You know… my first reaction to hearing this was “pishaw… this guy isn’t physically intimidating in the least”… but then I thought about it for a moment… and Ben Foster (Angel in X-Men 3) looks like a total pansy and scared the freaking crap out of me in 3:10 To Yuma… so if he plays the part right that won’t be a problem.
Unless I’m mistaken, this would easily be the biggest role Considine has ever has in his career, so even though he’s saying “I’m reading the script today”, don’t think for a second that he didn’t accept the role the moment they asked. Here’s how the conversation went:
STUDIO GUY: “Hey we think we have a role fo….”
PADDY: “YES… DEAD GOD YES!”
