Hellboy
Short description
In the closing days of World War II, Nazi occultists attempt a ritual intended to turn the tide of the losing war, but an Allied raid interrupts the ceremony. What comes through is not the force they hoped for but an infant demon, rescued by the soldiers and raised by Professor Trevor Bruttenholm, who founds a secret bureau for paranormal research and defense. Decades later, that child has grown into Hellboy, a red-skinned, horn-filing agent who works for the bureau alongside Abe Sapien, an amphibious psychic, and Liz Sherman, who can generate fire. When the ritual's master returns to finish what he started, Hellboy and his colleagues must stop him. The film adapts Mike Mignola's Dark Horse comic series.
Guillermo del Toro directed and co-wrote the screenplay with Mignola and Peter Briggs. It was his fifth feature as director, following Blade II in 2002 and preceding Pan's Labyrinth in 2006. Ron Perlman plays Hellboy, with Selma Blair as Liz, Doug Jones as Abe Sapien, John Hurt as Bruttenholm, Rupert Evans as John Myers and Jeffrey Tambor as Tom Manning. Roughly 51 cast members and 206 crew are credited.
Made for about 66 million US dollars, it took in around 99 million worldwide. Audiences are moderately positive: on IMDb it holds 6.9/10 from some 369,000 votes, and on TMDB 6.7/10 from over 7,600 votes. A critics' rating of 6.9/10 from 204 reviews places it at much the same level as the audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- Interestingly, the voice acting for young Hellboy, Samael, and Kroenen was done by the film's director, Guillermo del Toro himself.
- After meeting with the producers, Guillermo del Toro was asked to make a number of changes to the plot concept. One idea was that Hellboy was actually an ordinary person who only transformed into a superhero in moments of rage. Another suggestion was similar – Hellboy did indeed come through the gates of hell, but in everyday life is a perfectly normal person. Fortunately, del Toro vehemently rejected such attempts at pressure and managed to convince the production team to accept his point of view.
- At a meeting between the director (del Toro) and the screenwriter (Mike Mignola), it was decided that the actor Ron Perlman, who also played him, would voice Hellboy.
- The film's main creators can be seen in small episodes. Mike Mignola appears as a knight among a crowd of people in disguise threatened by Samael. Guillermo del Toro can also be spotted in this crowd – he is in a dragon costume.
- Guillermo del Toro deliberately inserted 45 seconds into his film, during which we can only observe a black screen with a complete absence of sound. Many distributors found this very strange and cut this 45-second scene, considering it the director's madness.
- During Liz's flashback scene, one of the buildings in the frame is named "Mignola Plaza," paying tribute to comic creator Mike Mignola.
- Director Guillermo del Toro nurtured the idea of creating this film project for many years, and throughout that time, considered his longtime friend Ron Perlman the ideal candidate for the lead role. However, the studios were rather reluctant to cooperate with the zealous director and either refused him funding or simply considered the project potentially unsuccessful. Only after the commercial hit "Blade II" was released was Guillermo offered the opportunity to prepare one of two projects for release – “Hellboy” and “Blade 3: Trinity.” Initially, Guillermo wanted to shoot both films simultaneously, but realizing he wasn't a superhuman, he decided to focus on “Hellboy.”
- The film's plot is based on the comic book of the same name by Mike Mignola. The main storyline is taken from one of the comics in the series called "The Seed of Destruction." Some details were borrowed from "The Right Hand of Doom" and "The Evil Box."
- At the very beginning of work on the film, the artists and makeup artists wanted the Giant Stone Hand to be the left hand of the actor playing Hellboy, to give him full control over his right hand. However, Ron Perlman easily managed all the complexities of the filming process and his awkward left hand. In the end, they achieved complete fidelity to the original, and the "Right Hand of Doom" was preserved in the script.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
