HELLRAISER First Look Photos Feature Jamie Clayton's Pinhead and a Cenobite!
Several new photos have been released for Hulu’s upcoming Hellraiser film giving us our first real look at what’s in store for the film. These photos feature Jamie Clayton as Pinhead, a creepy looking Cenobite, and Odessa A'zion as the star of the film.
In Hellraiser, “a young woman struggling with addiction comes into possession of an ancient puzzle box, unaware that its purpose is to summon the Cenobites, a group of sadistic supernatural beings from another dimension.”
We also have additional details to share on the film, which comes from director David Bruckner, screenwriters Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski, writer and producer David S. Goyer, and producer Keith Levine. During an interview with EW, the director makes sure to point out that this is not a remake:
"This is not a remake. I just didn't think you could ever remake the original Hellraiser. It's too much its own thing and it would be, I think, perilous territory for filmmakers, because how do you top that? This is a new story in the Hellraiser universe."
When talking about the story, Bruckner says: "It's the tale of a young woman, who's struggling with addiction and compulsive behavior, that comes in contact accidentally with the box and unfortunately begins to dabble with it. And chaos ensues." A big chunk of that chaos will come from the Cenobite leader Pinhead, and when talking about this new version of the hellish character, he went on to say:
"We felt a kind of anticipation around the fans to reimagine the character. We knew we wanted Pinhead to be a woman. Jamie was just the right person for the role. A person's identity can be really exciting for a role in many ways, but I have to emphasize that Jamie absolutely killed, that's how we got there.
When talking about Doug Bradley’s version of the Pinhead, the filmmaker said:
“What Doug Bradley did with the character is so iconic. We didn't want to do a Doug Bradley impression, we just didn't think that's possible to do. There will be suffering, but you're going to get a sense of what Pinhead's desires might be in a way that hits a little different."
As for the new Cenobite, it’s explained that he’s called “The Masque” and he “is one of my favorite Cenobites and it's just a tease of really what's to come as far as the Cenobites are concerned." There will be other Cenobites introduced in the movie.
When discussing Clive Barker’s involvement with the movie, Brukner said: "Clive's been very involved. Clive came on before the shoot, when we were in prep, and was really just a wonderful resource for me. He was really generous with his time, and very welcoming of the idea that this was a new group of artists, and that they were going to run with this and land in different places with it. He was very supportive of that."
The director also hopes that he gets to continue to play in the world of Hellraiser in a series of sequels, saying: "Should the fans and the movie gods allow, I would love that idea. Hellraiser is a unique challenge, I think, for a group of filmmakers because, you know, it could be a guy in a mask, but it's not, it's inter-dimensional demons that shoot chains at you from an endless labyrinth. It's complicated and not just conceptually but also logistically. I feel like I speak for our whole team, the SFX, the VFX, the production design, we learned a lot on this. It is tempting to think we'd have an amazing grip on it going forward, should there be an energy and an appetite for it."
The ensemble cast includes Odessa A’zion (Fam, Grand Army), Jamie Clayton (Sense8), Adam Faison (Everything’s Gonna Be Okay), Drew Starkey (Outer Banks), Brandon Flynn (Ratched, 13 Reasons Why), Aoife Hinds (The Long Call, Normal People), Jason Liles (Stereoscope, Rampage), Yinka Olorunnife (The Transporter), Selina Lo (Boss Level), Zachary Hing (Halo), Kit Clarke (Leonardo), with Goran Visnjic (The Boys) and Hiam Abbass (Succession, Blade Runner 2049).
Hellraiser will debut in the U.S. exclusively on Hulu on October 7th. I really hope that this ends up being a good movie!