You may have heard that I love Punisher: War Zone. I’ve been buzzing about the film for the last twelve hours. A huge, huge part of what makes that film work so magically is the direction of Lexi Alexander, who is now up on my Directors to Watch list.
Last night at the premiere afterparty, Lexi said that after dealing with Lionsgate the last few months she wasn’t sure if she would want to do another studio film. But that’s the kind of thing you say before a check gets waved in front of your nose, and there may be a check coming her way from Warner Bros. The script for Jonah Hex is sitting right on her desk right now.
El Guapo from Latino Review talked to her about that film at the press junket today, and she had to admit that she liked the script. ‘I like it even more that Mr. Josh Brolin is still attached. Who knows
if he’ll stay, but it’s more exciting than I thought,’ she said. ‘You get a story
like this you think, “Oh God, I’m going to be doing the same thing over
and over again.” but it’s really, really interesting.’
Lexi directing Brolin in a Jonah Hex that draws heavily from the Neveldine/Taylor script? Short of N/T themselves directing, I couldn’t think of a much better possibility. Here’s hoping that Brolin, who has been exerting a lot of muscle on this project, sees Punisher: War Zone and gets it. Judging by his comments on loving the ridiculousness of the Hex script, he just might.