Pro wrestler Kevin Nash complained about his character from 2004's "The Punisher" being recast in "Deadpool & Wolverine," and his replacement hit back with some strong words.
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00:00Pro wrestler Kevin Nash complained about his character from 2004's The Punisher being recast
00:05in Deadpool and Wolverine, and his replacement hit back with some strong words.
00:09When Wesley Snipes' Blade lines up a bazooka that once belonged to the Punisher in Deadpool
00:13and Wolverine, Deadpool rightly asks, which Punisher?
00:16There's been, like, five of them.
00:18He's close, but the number is four.
00:20In official live-action releases, at least.
00:22Dolph Lundgren portrayed Frank Castle in the 1989 Punisher film.
00:26Ray Stevenson put on the skull in 2008's Punisher Warzone.
00:29Jon Bernthal has been in the role since first appearing in the Netflix Daredevil series
00:33in 2016.
00:34But perhaps the most underrated Punisher is the one played by Thomas Jane in the 2004
00:39movie, which features an unforgettable fight scene between the Punisher and the hulking
00:43beast known as the Russian, played by Nash.
00:46It's less a fight and more of a mauling.
00:48For the most part, it's just the Punisher getting bounced around the room, and through
00:51several walls and doors, by Nash's comically overpowered slab of pure Russian muscle.
00:57There's a moment in the fight where the Punisher stabs the Russian in the chest, only for the
01:00giant to not even flinch.
01:03Apparently, because of a mix-up involving the knife props, Jane actually stabbed Nash
01:07in the chest there.
01:09Both actors have spoken about it since.
01:10I take one in the collar, mom.
01:12So you know what made it worse?
01:14Because he was so nice about it.
01:16He just sat there, looked at the knife, looked at me, shook his head.
01:22Nash only appears in that one scene, but it's highly memorable.
01:26The variant of the Russian played by veteran stunt performer Billy Clements in Deadpool
01:29and Wolverine doesn't get showcased to the same extent, but he does get to go toe-to-toe
01:33with Channing Tatum's Gambit for a bit.
01:36Nash has made his feelings known about the choice to cast Clements in the role he had
01:3920 years earlier.
01:40He doesn't like it.
01:41On his Click This podcast, the former WWE world champion commented on the situation.
01:46That looks nothing like the character I played.
01:50That looks nothing like the Russian.
01:51It looks like they gave somebody a favor.
01:56Nash added that he was not trolling for movie roles at the age of 65, going on to list all
02:00the things he hates doing on movie sets.
02:02Nash was apparently not directing his ire specifically at Clements, either.
02:06His podcast co-host, Sean Oliver, misidentified the actor playing the Russian as Canadian
02:10WWE star Kevin Owens at first.
02:13Nonetheless, Clements, a prolific stunt performer whose previous credits include Dune Part II,
02:18Tenet, and Fast X, understandably took issue with Nash's favor comment and responded in
02:22a video posted to Instagram.
02:24The British stuntman and actor, who also appeared in the movie as the driver of Pyro's Mad Max-like
02:29Void Vehicle, began by praising Nash's take on the Russian.
02:32Firstly, I thought your character was amazing in your scene.
02:35The way you played it, I thought it was brilliant.
02:37I've seen it a hundred times.
02:39As for his own version of the character looking different, with brown hair and a beard instead
02:42of Nash's more comics-accurate peroxide blonde-do, Clements explained that there are variants
02:47of Wolverine who don't look like Hugh Jackman, and who are played by other actors.
02:51He said that his character is simply a different variant of the Russian.
02:55Moving on to why the dismissive comments had hit him so hard, Clements explained,
02:58You know, I really worked hard to get that role, you know?
03:01I trained seven years, started from an extra, just at the bottom of the pile, you know?
03:06Clements said finally landing the role of the Russian after doing every audition he
03:10could was an honor, and that he was so proud to be playing a genuine Marvel character.
03:14He also revealed that he spent three months learning Russian and gained 32 pounds to really
03:19bring the intimidation factor to the role.
03:21While the Russian comes off worse for wear in his fight with Gambit, Clements could always
03:25return somewhere down the line as another variant.
03:27Nash could, too.
03:29Maybe these two Russians could resolve their differences on the screen.