For some, it would be an entire dream career; for Jon Bernthal, it was July. This month alone, the actor ended his debut Broadway run in “Dog Day Afternoon,” played Spartan king Menelaus in Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” (on track for $1 billion in box-office revenue and the current best picture frontrunner), and brought his gun-wielding antihero Frank Castle (aka the Punisher) to the big screen in Destin Daniel Cretton’s “Spider-Man: Brand New Day.”
It’s moments like these that make Bernthal remember the “endless days of pounding the pavement and going to my agent’s office, looking in that mail bin. ‘Do I have any auditions today?’ ” the actor tells us. “I know what it feels like, that hopelessness, and to grasp onto any little possible sign that there might be some hope around the corner.”
Here, Bernthal breaks down the challenge of the Punisher’s PG-13 debut, early audition tapes alongside Tom Holland, and the valuable lessons he’s learned from this career high point.
You’ve talked a lot about how you helped Tom Holland with his “Spider-Man” audition, and vice versa. When you think back to that first tape, what about your first crack at Frank Castle is still there today?
When you make those tapes, often they’re dummy sides. Tom, he didn’t just help me, he was in the tape with me. It was about a father and son going hunting for the first time and dealing with this young boy’s hesitancy and appetite to take a life. The father is talking to him about how sometimes it’s necessary. I think the misconception with Frank is, through all the coldness and the darkness and how much he’s reeling from his loss, there’s this absolute dedication to his family and to service and to his unit. That’s very much still a part of who he is. I think it’s a huge misconception that those who are capable of unbelievable violence and service and action are somehow not capable of deep, deep care and love, and being able to sacrifice for their families. That’s very much in the core of the iteration of Frank that I play.
You’ve played Frank for a number of different directors and creative teams. Is there a note or piece of direction you got in this version that felt new, or unlocked something different in the character?
It was a real concern and focus for this project. I love Tom, as I’ve talked about before, and it’s a huge honor to be a part of this thing. But the concern was, how do you get a character like Frank Castle, who I’ve played only in a TV-MA tone, [into an MCU movie]? My version of him, I’m enormously protective of it. I did not want a version that would seem unbelievable or would fly in the face of the Frank that so many people have worked so hard to portray.
How does Frank fit into this PG-13 “Spider-Man” world? I really feel, as a creative team, we dove into that fully. [Producer] Amy [Pascal], Destin, Tom…totally accepted the challenge. How do we make it believable that Frank could walk off “One Last Kill” and on to “Brand New Day”? And how could he walk back? Is it the same character? They were really open to all of my ideas to make that possible while also genuinely respecting that this is different tonally.
Colton Hill, who’s a Green Beret that I work with very intimately in terms of training and psychology…was present in England on set for every single frame that I was in. We really created this together. Destin and Tom were not just considerate but hungry to dive into that issue and explore it fully. And not to avoid it. In lesser hands, that would’ve happened.
You finished your run in Broadway’s “Dog Day Afternoon,” played Menelaus in Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey,” and brought the Punisher to the big screen in the same month. Do moments like this make you think differently about the time in your career when you just wanted a job?
First and foremost, I’m a father and husband, and I always look at everything through the lens of: What would I tell my kids? I think in life, it’s so important to always challenge your perspective and look at what the world is putting in front of you right now. Joy is a tricky thing, especially as an actor. I’ve seen people get caught up in, “Wow, look how great I’m doing.” That can be a danger.
I’ve also seen people get caught up in the everlasting trap of just always wanting more, never being content. Doing “Dog Day Afternoon” on Broadway, I really felt like I was honoring my 18-year-old self. Theater saved his life. That kid would have never believed I’d get to star in a Broadway show and have that challenge and fight every single night for over 130 performances. That really inspired me to give everything I could every single night, to honor this thing that set the course of my life and allowed me to have a family and provide for them.
Just today, when I walked up to get my hair and makeup in this big hotel suite in New York, looking over the panorama of the city, I remembered all those days when the dream was so enormously far away, and it all seemed so impossible. The nights when I had nothing to fall back on, and I didn’t know where my next paycheck was going to come from. Crying into my pillow [that] this thing was not going to happen. The endless days of pounding the pavement and going to my agent’s office, looking in that mail bin. ‘Do I have any auditions today?’ I know what it feels like, that hopelessness, and to grasp on to any little possible sign that there might be some hope around the corner.
If anything, [my advice] is to remain temperate and steady and sturdy. Always remember why you’re doing it in the first place, and that’s because you love it. If you truly love something, you gotta treat it as sacred. I believe that about my work. I believe that about my family. You give it your all. It doesn’t matter how tired you are. It doesn’t matter how run-down you are. It doesn’t matter if you feel like you can’t do it anymore. You give it your all. You give every single thing you possibly can, always. I’m enormously grateful for this moment, but I also remain totally humbled by it. Totally hungry, totally excited about what’s next. And, first and foremost, totally aware of the sacrifices that my wife and kids make in order for me to be able to do this.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
