Hellboy (April 2nd, 2004)

[Last Updated: 02/17/04]

Born in the flames of hell, and brought to our world in a pagan ritual, the fierce red hero, Hellboy (Perlman), was saved by his friend and mentor, the benevolent Dr. Broom. Raised in Broom's Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense, Hellboy joins the likes of the "Mer-Man" Abe Sapien (Jones), Liz Sherman (Blair), the woman he loves who can psychically control fire, and Myers (Evans), the FBI agent who is his rival for Liz's affections. Together, our heroes must come to terms with fantastic powers that prove to be both a blessing and a curse. In the process they discover that their abilities serve to benefit mankind but may also keep them forever isolated from the society that only they can protect. The movie debuts this April, and the press machine is gearing up. The first trailer is out there now, on the front of Last Samurai, The Missing, and Bad Santa. A second trailer, which focuses more on Hellboy and less on the B.P.R.D., should be coming soon. Del Toro is wrapping up editing, Dark Horse is wrapping up a book highlighting the art of the movie, and Mignola is wrapping up his promotional obligations, and getting ready to begin work on the next Hellboy comic, The Island.

See also: Ron Perlman, Selma Blair You may also like: Batman: Intimidation, Blade II

02/17/04

Hellboy & Dawn of the Dead Q&A's

On February 7th and 8th Bruce Schwartz held his monthly convention. Fans filled the seats to hear the comic book writers and artists of the SIMPSONS and FUTURAMA talk about the books and the show. Also previewed was the Cartoon Network’s TEEN TITANS. But what the fans were really waiting for was Universal’s DAWN OF THE DEAD and Columbia Pictures HELLBOY. Cinescape was there with some highlights from both panels and the questions all came from the fans. Here are just a few of the questions: Q: Will the use of shadow correspond with Mike Mignola's? Guillermo: Mike himself has admitted to cheating this. He'll draw HELLBOY in shadows even if he's in the middle of a well lit room, but this is basically impossible to recreate on film. There will be scenes in an urban setting that weren't in the comic, so the lighting can be expected to be different. The color pallet for the movie is taken from the comics. Q: Any other influences? Guillermo: Expressionistic lighting. Harry Howsing fight scenes. This movie is very different than most. Q: Any more comic movies? Guillermo: THE COFFIN. I want to do it 3D. Hollywood judges you on your last movie. They looked at MIMIC and CRONOS and said I couldn't do action. Making BLADE II got me HELLBOY. Hellboy comes out April 2nd, 2004 / Dawn of the Dead March 19th, 2004.

[an error occurred while processing this directive]081402172219 [an error occurred while processing this directive]Comic Con Hellboy Video Panel [an error occurred while processing this directive]The Official Hellboy website posted some QuickTime video from the San Diego Comic Con featuring director Guillermo del Toro, star Ron Perlman and creator Mike Mignola. [an error occurred while processing this directive] [an error occurred while processing this directive]081402162505 [an error occurred while processing this directive]Hellboy Pre-Production News [an error occurred while processing this directive]Coming Attractions has a little bit of inside info to share with us about del Toro's Hellboy:

"My brother works for an effects company that is looking into doing work on this picture.

"It seems that several artists and designers have been working with the director for the last few months (they started pre-production design work around the first of June).

"At least three of the designers who have made contributions to this picturen also worked on Blade 2. Mike Mignola (the creature of HELLBOY), Wayne Barlowe (a creature designer who designed the reapers) and TyRuben Ellingson (who designed Blade's weapons).

"The new effects company created for the film by Del Toro called SPECTRAL MOTION INC. has been doing amazing models of several charactures in the film, including Abe Sapion and Hellboy.

"All in all my brother reports that this will be one kick ass movie."

For fans at Comic-Con International, it was Hellboy heaven. After some five years of development of a Hellboy live-action, director Guillermo del Toro, star Ron Perlman and creator Mike Mignola conducted a panel to signal the film going into production.

Set for release in 2004, the film was recently green lit. In addition to the panel, Dark Horse provided 2,004 Mignola-drawn movie posters -- to make the release year -- to fans at its booth.

The panel was fast-paced and spirited as del Toro professed his desire to make the movie and love of Mignola's work, Perlman gave his take on the character and Mignola provided a glimpse into the movie's story.

Casting is due to begin in July. Ron Perlman, of course, has landed the role of Hellboy. Del Toro said he favors Kevin Spacey or Steve Buscemi as the voice for Abe Sapien. "Now that I've finished the rewrite I think definitely Spacey would be the best for that voice," Del Toro said. "I think the perfect Rasputin would be Jean Reno or Gary Oldman. The perfect professor Bruttenholm would be John Hurt."

Del Toro said the success of Spider-Man has not affected his film. "I got a green light before that, but now I wish I had got a green light after it, because we would have gotten a little more money. But, hey!" He also said that he felt no pressure to live up to Spider-Man's legacy. "They're different movies," he said. "X-Men didn't give me any pressure for Blade II. This one shouldn't give me any pressure for Hellboy." But Del Toro did say that he had to fight to get Perlman as his star. "I did five years of convincing." Hellboy is in preproduction. [an error occurred while processing this directive] [an error occurred while processing this directive]050202170911 [an error occurred while processing this directive]Hellboy Interview w/ Del Toro [an error occurred while processing this directive]Blade II director Guillermo Del Toro talked with Countingdown about the current status of the comic adaptation of Hellboy. "We've been experimenting. We have about 6 months of R&D on Hellboy, and what we're gonna do is we're gonna have Hellboy when he is shirtless and walking around, it will not be human. I mean, people will leave a wet-stain in their fuckin' seats". What about further casting? "The ideal voice for the Abe of the comics is, without a doubt, Kevin Spacey...If we find out that Kevin Spacey is a big fan of the comic and he wants to do it for the money, then we'll do it. But, y'know, I'm not gonna spend $2 million in hiring Kevin Spacey that I'd rather spend on more special effects. But the rest of the cast, I've been thinking possibly Jean Reno or Gary Oldman for Rasputin". Del Toro hopes for a X-mas 2003 debut but considers its likely not going to happen till March 2004. Due to his schedule, including the H.P. Lovecraft feature At the Mountains of Madness, he'll not be available for Blade 3 either. [an error occurred while processing this directive] [an error occurred while processing this directive]042102144632 [an error occurred while processing this directive]Hellboy Greenlit! [an error occurred while processing this directive]Ain't It Cool News has revealed, along with Variety, that Mike Mignola's Hellboy comic has been greenlit to become a Guillermo Del Toro feature film. Guillermo Del Toro signed on with Larry Gordon and Lloyd Levin in August of 1998 to write and direct Hellboy. It's been a long road, but it's finally set to roll staring Ron Perlman as Hellboy. [an error occurred while processing this directive] [an error occurred while processing this directive]032602210753 [an error occurred while processing this directive]New Hellboy Info w/ Director del Toro [an error occurred while processing this directive]Director Guillermo del Toro told SCI FI Wire that his upcoming supernatural movie Hellboy will differ from his latest film, Blade II, though they are both based on comics. "It's going to be a great comic-book movie, but it's going to be much more personal and very character-oriented, although it will have a big portion of action," del Toro said in an interview at the Blade II premiere.

Where Blade II has fast and furious martial-arts battles, del Toro promises a unique tone to Hellboy's action scenes. "Very different, because Hellboy is not an agile, fast guy," del Toro said. "He must weigh 650 pounds of muscle and rock because of the hand. So it's basically a completely different direction."

As for casting, del Toro said, "All I know is Hellboy is Ron Perlman." [an error occurred while processing this directive] [an error occurred while processing this directive]030902120036 [an error occurred while processing this directive]Perlman Agrees to Play Hellboy [an error occurred while processing this directive]According to Cinescape, director Guillermo del Toro ("Blade 2" / Mimic) hopes that "Hellboy" will be his next project.

"['Hellboy' I wrote and I will direct," says del Toro. "I would hope to do that and then you will see a movie that, for me, combines two universes. A movie that is as big and as fast and as full of sound and fury as 'Blade', but is also personal to me. I mean, 'Blade II' says nothing about the world as I see it. I tried to bring a little bit more nobility to the [vampire] characters of Nyssa and Nomak and create visually interesting stuff, but with 'Hellboy' the great thing about it is, thematically, it's my autobiography."

The trade goes on to say that if "Hellboy" is greenlit, Ron Perlman has already agreed to star. [an error occurred while processing this directive] [an error occurred while processing this directive]022202181618 [an error occurred while processing this directive]Del Toro Talks About Hellboy [an error occurred while processing this directive]Blade 2 Director Guillermo del Toro recently sat down with SCI FI Wire and talked about his long in development comic adaptation Hellboy.

The director is still keen to bring Mike Mignola's demonic hero to big-screen life. However, he made some interesting comments about last year's casting buzz, which had Vin Diesel as a real contender for the title role.

In spite of Diesel's rising star, Del Toro said that he wants Ron Perlman for the role "or nobody."

"We have toyed with other ideas, which were good, like Vin Diesel, but the whole project was written by me with Ron in mind," del Toro told SCI FI. "Undoubtedly I would [get a bigger budget if Diesel were cast], and I think Vin would be a great alternative. I think Vin was also born to play Hellboy, but when I first met [Hellboy creator] Mike Mignola, we looked at each other suspiciously across the table, and we said, 'There's only one actor who can play Hellboy.' I said, 'I don't want to give up on the idea,' and Mike said, 'Neither do I.' We said, 'Let's say it together.' And it was, 'One, two, three, Ron Perlman.' So I think Ron is the guy. I'd rather not do the movie than do it wrong."

Del Toro said he is adamant to see that a movie version of Mignola's vision be "exactly the comic book." [an error occurred while processing this directive]

Links

Hellboy.com Hellboy - The Movie Hellsite (Add a link)