HELLBOY Creator Mike Mignola Talks About The New Movie and Says it Will Be "Less Like a Superhero Film"
It's been awhile since we've heard anything regarding director Neil Marshall's upcoming Hellboy reboot. But, creator Mike Mignola recently talked about the film and what we can expect from it. One of the main things he says about it is that they are looking to do something very different and that it will feel less like a superhero movie. While talking to io9, he explains:
"Well, I mean, if anything, we’re trying to do something very different. Basically, there’s no part of Hellboy that was ever going to be like other superhero movies. And the more Marvel stuff there is, the more DC stuff there is, Hellboy never really feels like—even in the [Guillermo] del Toro things—a superhero movie. It’s so much “big teams of guys, in costumes, running around and saving the world from big cosmic menace stuff...” I believe the new movie will feel even less like a regular superhero thing. The idea with this one was to make it play much less like a superhero film, to downplay the superhero elements even more than del Toro did. This one is much more folklore/mythology/horror, and not “big team rushing into to do battle with whatever kind of stuff."
I like that approach. I think it's great that they are looking to explore mythology and horror aspect of the character more. Their approach will definitely set it apart from Guillermo del Toro's Hellboy films.
David Harbour is playing the title character and he looks great in the role. Now, I'm looking forward to seeing how he ends up playing the character. When asked about the conversations that Mignola had with Harbour regarding how to play the character, he said:
"It was really interesting with David, because we met very briefly for 20 minutes when he was in town. Then he would text me questions periodically with questions, like, 'Are there any animals you thought of in the way Hellboy moves?' And we were texting back and forth one night a lot about crazy stuff like that, and I finally said, 'Dude, I am tired of typing, just call me.' We must have had this two-hour conversation where we got into the way I grew up, what my brothers were like, and all this stuff that fed into what Hellboy is. The attitudes, the characters, and stuff like that… and hopefully it didn’t fuck things up, because it was way more information and backstory to the creative process than anyone would ever need. But it did make for an interesting, long phone call. And I know David has his own ideas about how to interpret the character, but it was really nice that we had this one, really long conversation about where this stuff came from."
Hopefully, we get a trailer for the film soon so that we can see what Harbour version of Hellboy will be like. The movie also stars Ian McShane as Professor Broom, Milla Jovovich as the Nimue, Blood Queen, Sasha Lane as Alice Monaghan, Penelope Mitchell as Ganeida, a witch who has decided that the Blood Queen's wrath has gone on for too long, and Daniel Dae Kim will play Major Ben Daimio.
The film is about Hellboy going to England, where he must defeat Nimue, Merlin’s consort and the Blood Queen. But their battle will bring about the end of the world, a fate he desperately tries to turn away.
The movie will be released on January 11th, 2019.