Jon Bernthal has opened up about his preparation for The Punisher and how it impacted his family.
The 46-year-old played the role of Frank Castle a.k.a. the Punisher in Marvel's The Punisher series - first released onto Netflix in November, 2017.
In the Marvel series, Castle seeks revenge for his family who have all died, but ends up uncovering a much bigger conspiracy than he could have ever first anticipated.
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In 2017, on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Bernthal revealed that he often stayed in character - even off screen - during filming.
The actor explained: "It's a lot of isolation and not having too much fun. I think, you know, he lives in a world of darkness so I think my job is, kind of, to embrace that. It's terrible. It's not fun - it's the opposite."
However, with the Punisher having lost his family, did Bernthal stick so closely to the character that he avoided his own?
On The Howard Stern Show, Bernthal addressed the rumours he ignored his wife and three children to prepare for his role as the Punisher.
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Stern questioned Bernthal: "Are you really such a method actor like on Punisher you go into full character and no one's allowed to address you as anybody else? [...] Here's this thing I hear. I hear that you don't talk to your wife and kids when you're in character for months."
The Walking Dead actor responded: "Look, I isolate myself that's for sure. I do talk to my wife and she's sort of the only person that I talk to.
"But I just wouldn't feel right about being out and about and going to restaurants and going to bars and s**t and then sort of showing up and playing this guy who lost his family."
Bernthal explained his children were allowed to see him while he was preparing for his role, however, he didn't 'want to be that guy' around them.
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"I love them with every fibre of my body and all I really want to do is be with them," he said.
Ultimately, Bernthal had a 'job to do' and 'diapers to buy' - with the actor joking that kids are 'f***ing expensive'.
However, Bernthal does have his limits when it comes to method acting.
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In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter in April 2022, he explained he feels the word 'method' has been abused.
He continued: "Having studied in Moscow at the Moscow Art Theater, I guarantee you that making everybody call you by your character name and not showering for eight months was not what Stanislavski had in mind with the Method.
"But at the end of the day, these sacred seconds between action and cut, that’s all we got. So that means that I got to stay in proximity to that role, close to those sacred seconds, that I’m not on a cellphone or eating Chinese food or making plans for the evening. But if I’m talking like Wayne and I’m acting like Wayne, because it’s going to help those seconds, I think you got to do that. And sometimes that’s a day, sometimes it’s a week, sometimes it’s five minutes.
"But I think this idea of Method acting where George was only allowed to call me Wayne, I don’t roll like that. I don’t see any benefit in that."
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