THE PUNISHER - 1989

Director: Mark Goldblatt
Cast: Dolph Lundgren, Louis Gossett, Jr., Jeroen Krabbe, Kim Myori, Nancy Everhard.

DOLPH'S THOUGHTS:
It was based on a comic strip and it was the first time I played a darker heroic character. The movie was shot in Australia. I went to school there, on a scholarship to the University of Sydney in 1982, so it was interesting to come back there starring in a movie. I hooked up with some of my old friends there, We still stay in touch, even after 20 years.

The character was a Martial Artist also, so I brought in two fighters from my old karate school in Tokyo. One of them turned out to become a world champion years later. Both of them were very good, the problem was that they didn't quite realize that it was only a movie, they thought they had to fight for real, so every time we did a scene, it was quite tough. They have this Japanese code of honor. If they didn't perform well enough, then their honor was at stake. Performing well meant beating me up, so I had to fight for real at times. The upside was that the fight scenes looked very violent, these men where not stunt men, they where real contact fighters trained for the world title in Tokyo.

An added plus in this picture was to work with Louis Gossett Jr, who is a great actor and an academy award winner. He gave me a lot of good advice and a lot of support during the shoot.