Ron Perlman reflects on role of HELLBOY and tackles new reboot

Ron Perlmann it was so damn fun to watch as hellboy in the movies that Guillermo del Toro direct. He’s definitely my favorite take on the character and I don’t see how any other actor can top what he’s brought to the character. David Harbor was fine in the role, but his Hellboy movie was awful. Then, there is Jack Kesywho will play him in the upcoming film Hellboy: The crooked man. I have no idea what to expect from him.

During a recent interview with CB, Ron Perlman spoke about his time playing Hellboy for del Toro, saying:

“I was very happy with the version that Guillermo and I got involved with. I thought I killed it, we knocked it out of the park.”

Which they totally did! Fans would have loved to see the third Hellboy movie made, but unfortunately they never got the chance. I think they would have knocked that story out of the park as well. But the franchise has moved forward with reboot attempts.

The next reboot, Hellboy: The crooked man, is generating a lot of interest from those involved, and creator Mike Mignola has even said that it is the most faithful adaptation ever made. Perlman was asked what he thought of the latest attempt at a Hellboy movie, and this is what he had to say:

“What happens with the character and the franchise on the periphery of it all is none of my business. I’d rather dwell on just the feeling of continuing to play him and play him for one of the great directors.”

Good answer! Mignola and Golden Chris wrote the script for the new film and the story is based on the comic of the same name, and in that story, Hellboy teams up with a rookie BPRD agent named Tom Ferrell, and they find themselves stranded in rural Appalachia in the 50s. “There they discover a small community haunted by witches, led by a local devil with an unnerving connection to Hellboy’s past: the Crooked Man.” The story “will expand the world of Hellboy through one of the most beloved issues of the comic series.”

Brian Taylor (Crank, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, Player) is directing the film and speaking earlier about the director, Mignola said:

“His intention is to make a horror movie, so that’s going to be nice. It will be interesting. Yesterday I read the new draft of the script, and yes, it’s definitely R. It’s the first Hellboy script I’ve read, and I said, “Oh, it’s a horror movie,” which is what I wanted. Taylor doesn’t have a reputation as a director of horror films. But, so far, we’ve had two horror film directors make Hellboy movies and we’ve never gotten a horror film.

“For years, we’ve said, if you’re going to make a Hellboy movie, make it small. And the perfect story to do that with is my favorite, ‘The Crooked Man’. I think it’s one of the best things I’ve ever written. It’s beautifully illustrated by Richard Corben and is a solid story that doesn’t involve a million different characters. Everyone agreed from the start, ‘Yeah, we want to do that.’ Budget-wise, that’s okay because it’s a lower-budget story. It’s not Hellboy’s origin. It’s not Hellboy saving the world. It’s not huge. It’s a subtle, dark, popular little horror story.

Hellboy: The crooked man has completed filming and will get an R rating. Speaking of that rating, the director said, “We’ve definitely discussed about, you know, it really doesn’t serve anyone to do something for R for R’s sake. To say it has to be R, so we have to add A, B and C. But this material, this source material is dark and scary and violent and adult. So to really accept that, we don’t want to have handcuffs.

The project recently wrapped production and after it wrapped, Mignola said, “If fans have been waiting for a Hellboy movie that’s actually an adaptation of one of my stories, I think they’re finally going to get one.”

Perlman can later be heard voicing Optimus Primal in Transformers: Rise of the Beasts.