The movie may suck but the Punisher has roots near me...

[minutekev@50]

Article from my hometown local newspaper....Brundidge is a small town just 8 miles south of Troy, Alabama.

 

'Punisher' has roots in Pike County

 

By Jaine Treadwell, The Messenger

Actor Thomas Jane will play the role of "The Punisher" in the movie of the same name which opens nationwide on Friday.

 

The name, Thomas Jane, may not ring a bell with any except the most avid movie goers, but many Pike Countians will know him as a member of the Shiver family of Hamilton Crossroads.

 

Jane is the grandson of the late Ezra and Ann Shiver and the son of Cindy Shiver Elliott.

 

The Elliott family makes their home in Baltimore, Md. but Thomas Jane is still considered a hometown boy around the Hamilton Crossroads and Brundidge areas and by all of those who know his mom, a Pike County High School graduate, and other family members.

 

Janet Benton, a second cousin to the actor, knows him well.

 

She is several years older than Jane, who is about 36, so she played the role of guardian when he visited his grandparents at the Crossroads as a youngster.

 

"I would ride Tom on the horse and kind of watch after him," Benton said. "What I remember most is the way he would slip off and get in the water barrel. We tried to keep him out of it, but he'd get away from us every time."

 

Benton said she never imagined that the little boy in the water barrel would one day have his name in lights. The only indication that she saw that he might have any kind of stage ability was in his ability to tell fibs.

 

"He could really tell them," she said, laughing.

 

Even as a little boy, Benton said Jane had the movie star good looks that have helped push him along in his movie career.

 

"When Tom was about 18 years old, he went to India to work on the set of a movie," she said. "He would do anything he could to be around movie making. He then moved to Los Angeles and did any kind of work that he could find to keep him around the business. He even flipped hamburgers waiting for a break."

 

Jane, who bears a striking resemblance to the late movie idol, James Dean, appeared in a few television commercials, including Miller High Life and began to land minor roles in movies and make his way up.

 

He has appeared in "Faceoff" with John Travolta, "The Sweetest Thing," "The Deep Blue Sea," "Dream Catcher," "Stander" and played Mickey Mantle in "61."

 

"There was a private showing of '61' in the White House screening room and Tom and Cindy were there to watch the movie with President Bush. Tom was able to invite one person and he invited his mother."

 

Benton said Jane had to learn to hit a baseball like a pro to play the role of the great Yankee slugger.

 

"He's had to gain weight to play roles and lose weight and he's had to go to speech coaching school to learn different accents," she said. "There is a lot more to acting than we might think."

 

Benton said she has seen almost every one of Jane's films and plans to see "The Punisher" as soon as it comes to a nearby theater.

 

"It's based on the old comic book character, 'The Punisher' and there has been a lot of publicity about it," she said. "This is a real opportunity for Tom. I think that he is going to have a long career in the movie business. He is very talented and he is getting better and bigger roles."

 

Seeing her cousin on the big screen, is quite a thrill for Benton and for others who know Jane or his family. And, knowing that 'The Punisher' has roots in the Pike County community might make the movie more interesting for local people, Benton said.

 

"Tom is a down-to-earth kind of guy who has worked really hard to get where he is today. He is very deserving and we're all very proud of him and all that he has accomplished."