Exclusive Interview: Tim Bradstreet

Posted by Brian C. Gibson (brian@filmschoolrejects.com) on November 21, 2006

Recently I had the pleasure, nay the honor, of interviewing Tim Bradstreet. To say that I was excited to be speaking to the man who has so eloquently shaped and illustrated the mystique of some of my favorite comic book heroes, would be a landslide of an understatement. If you have not heard of this man, this legend, this merchant of cool…then I pity your soul because you are missing out. Tim Bradstreet has been illustrating covers for The Punisher, Blade, and Hellblazer (You movie fans might know him as the nicotine junkie named Constantine). Soon I will be reviewing The Punisher: Extended Cut DVD and Tim has been one of the major players in this re-release, and this is what he had to say

Film School Rejects (Brian Gibson):Welcome Tim, I just wanted to tell you that it is really nice to meet you and that I consider you a legend.

Tim Bradstreet: Oh you sweetheart

[Laughter]

FSR: I guess my first question would be then, what is it like to be considered a legend in your field?

TB: Well it kind of goes in one ear and out the other, because my legends are still working in the field. So I consider myself to be that same guy that got into this in the beginning. It’s interesting to hear that, but you always take it with a grain of salt.

I thank you though, I totally appreciate it. It’s always strange to hear that type of stuff.

FSR: Well Tim, it’s not a bad thing to be modest.

TB: [Laughter] Well I try to maintain a level of that because there are still illustrators out there, that I am still a fan of just as much as anyone else. I spent alot of time on the other side of the table, at those conventions. Standing at the tables with my mouth agape, waiting for my comics to be signed. Asking for people to please look at my artwork and tell me what you think. I got treated pretty harshly by some premadonna type artists when I was coming up. So I swore to myself that if I ever got into comics and realized my dream, that I would not be that guy.

FSR: So you still consider yourself a fan?

TB: Very much so. And that I’m lucky to be working in this medium that I love.

FSR: So since alot of people consider you a mystery in the comic world…

TB: Yeah I’m the guy who is out of place, an illustrator that works in comics.

[Laughter]

FSR: Well alot of people want to know, where do you get your photo-realistic style from?

TB: It developed back when I was doing role-playing games and when I was doing this book called Shadowrun. Oddly enough, Alex Ross was a no-name guy back then who had already generated some artwork for this book. He had done photo-realistic stuff. So I thought that stuff was incredible, and If I was to have any hope of standing toe to toe with anyone on this book then I would have to do something along a similar vein.

It helped me realize a vision that I had. For me it was a way to realize what I had in my head. I couldn’t draw it myself, so photos became that tool. One thing that I think I brought to it was, and the way that I made it my own, was the dramatic lighting and the heavy use of black.

FSR: With you still considering yourself a fan, which character got you the most excited to see up on screen?

TB: Well there is always Star Wars, and if you want to go way back Twighlight Zone and Star Trek really inspired me. But the thing that really, really inspired me…was when I saw The Road Warrior. When I saw that movie, I just about lost my mind. It was right in the wheel-house of my sensibilities. It was the iconic imagery, bottomline that’s what it is. Mel Gibson in that leather outfit, with his double barreled sawed-off shotgun. Movie posters too, with their iconic imagery. You have one frame to tell the story, and as an illustrator that really appeals to me.

FSR: Which one of your characters were you most excited to see up on screen?

TB: I actually started doing Blade, after the movie. I wasn’t involved with Constantine at all, but being made part of the family on The Punisher was definitely the single strongest example of that. The director embraced me. The star embraced me. It felt like the reason that they decided to do this movie, was because they saw my covers. They thought to themselves, he’s not a guy running around in spandex, they could already realize him as a real guy.

FSR: What makes The Punisher Extended Cut, a good buy for fans of you and the film?

TB: For fans of myself, there is alot of stuff in there that was produced specifically for the extended cut DVD. 17 illustrations were generated for an animated sequence, and they also let me do a new movie poster image. I don’t know what format that image is going to be in, but I would have liked them to have done a one sheet advertising the DVD release.

FSR: So what is next for Tim Bradstreet? More involvement in films?

TB: It’s coming up Brian…It’s in the plans. It’s been in the plans for for a decade, before I ever got my foot in Hollywood it has been in the plans. Ever since I was a kid, it was my goal to work in comics. I got into comics in 1990 and from there you start to realize new goals.

The next thing I’m going to do, is that I’m going to art direct and or production design a couple movies for Tom Jane. There’s this thing he’s doing called The Amateur Kind, and then another called The Dark Country. That’s my next step

FSR: It seems like you have developed a pretty good professional relationship with Tom Jane, especially with your involvement on Bad Planet.

TB: The cool thing about Tom is, Tom is just a comic book fan. He’s not doing comic books because he wanted to make movies out of them. Tom wants to do comics, he’s already doing movies. Bad Planet came from a nightmare he had. It’s a wonderful science fiction horror tale.

FSR: Since alot of your fans primarily consider your work underground, could you ever see yourself working with any mainstream Marvel or DC characters?

TB: Yeah definitely. But, i tend to favor less spectacular characters. In other words, I don’t see myself doing The Hulk, and I have been asked to do it before as a cover artist. I have been asked to do Wolverine, and I would have loved to but things just didn’t work out at that time.

I tend to favor characters more like Nick Fury… stuff that’s rooted in the real world. In a sense, I’m a slave to what I can shoot. Like for The Hulk, it would be really hard to find a model for The Hulk.

FSR: Are you going to be involved with The Punisher 2 at all?

TB: Certainly. Avi pretty much promised me that I’d be doing the movie posters again. With Tom Jane in my camp, he carries alot of weight. He’s the reason I ended up doing the theatrical posters on the first movie.

Hopefully on this film, is work conceptually and pre-production with the new director. That’s what I wanted to do on the first one, but the consensus was that I had done all these covers, and what would they need me for? I had a great idea on how to do Howard Saint.

FSR: How was that?

TB: I wanted him to have like grey silver hair, and maybe have a blind eye. Just to make him visually a bit more evil and exciting, without going out of control. As soon as Travolta got cast, that got thrown out the window.

FSR: I know this is the question that anyone involved with the film would hate to hear, but what’s up with the villain in The Punisher 2? Is it going to be Jigsaw?

TB: Yeah. It’s straight from Tom’s lips so you can bet that Jigsaw is in it. That’s where I want to come in conceptually, because Jigsaw is going to have to be re-imagined for this film. I want to have enough of that character from the comics, so that the comic fans will be like “cool”.

FSR: That’s the hot question, and I know it’s just word of mouth rumors but I have heard concepts of taking Howard Saint’s character and his mangled body and making him into Jigsaw.

TB: I would not put too much stock in that. I would only say that because that is very much a rumor. I’m pretty close to the situation and I have heard nothing like that. However, I don’t know if fans will want to claw my eyes out for saying this or not, but I think that sounds really cool.

FSR: Yeah, I love comic based movies because I am a comic fan. I was happy with The Punisher, and even happier to find that they are making a sequel and can’t wait to review it for our readers.

TB: So is FilmSchoolRejects.com your baby?

FSR: My friend Neil and I started it up together.

TB: When Lions Gate gave me your information, I was like “what is that?”. [Laughter] I’m not familiar with your site, but hope to be. I’m very intrigued.

FSR: Yeah we get alot of compliments on the name of the site.

TB: [Laughter] I think it rocks man. I think it’s genius.

FSR: Just our attempt to get back at “the man”.

TB: [Laughter] And you will end up being just like the hippies and embracing “the man” in the end.

FSR: Is there anything else you’d like to tell our readers concerning The Punisher Extended Cut?

TB: I think it’s a whole new movie with the 17 minutes put back in, with a highlight on the Kuwaiti sequence. I’m just like you, I’m not always happy when they come out with a special edition DVD. Sometimes though, there is something really good there. Case in point would be Kingdom of Heaven. It’s a far superior film than the theatrical version. When The Punisher came out, even with the fans there were people who loved it and people who hated it. I think this version can bring some of the haters back…back to the lovers camp. This is my impression as a fan, I already got paid.

[Laughter]

FSR: I have to say this has been one of the most entertaining interviews I have done. Tim Bradstreet is my hero.

TB: [Laughter] Cool man. You flatter me sir.

FSR: Yeah, that’s my job.

TB: [Laughter] That’s good stuff.

Well rejects. Make sure to check out The Punisher Extended Cut DVD, and Tim Bradstreet on his website.