Hellboy
Short description
Hellboy is a half-demon who works for the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense, hunting supernatural threats under the guidance of his adoptive father, Professor Trevor Bruttenholm. In this adventure he travels to England, where the ancient witch Nimue, known as the Blood Queen and once linked to Merlin, has returned from the dead. She intends to unleash destruction on humanity, and the fight against her carries the risk of setting off the end of the world, something Hellboy tries to prevent. He is joined by the medium Alice Monaghan and the soldier Ben Daimio.
Neil Marshall directed the film, working from a screenplay by Andrew Cosby. It came after Marshall's earlier features, including Dog Soldiers and The Descent, and was followed by The Reckoning. David Harbour plays Hellboy, with Milla Jovovich as Nimue, Ian McShane as Bruttenholm, Sasha Lane as Alice, Daniel Dae Kim as Daimio and Thomas Haden Church as Lobster Johnson. The production, mounted by companies including Lionsgate and Millennium Media, involved 57 credited cast members and 211 credited crew.
Released in April 2019, the film ran 121 minutes. Against a budget of about 50 million dollars, it took in roughly 55 million worldwide, a result that fell short of its cost. Reception was weak across the board: it holds 5.3 out of 10 on IMDb from around 107,000 votes and 5.6 out of 10 on TMDB from roughly 3,800 votes, while the critics' rating stands at 3.9 out of 10 from 222 reviews, leaving audience and critical responses closely aligned at a low level.
What's left behind the scenes
- In the middle of 2012, Ron Perlman endured another four-hour makeup application in the process of transforming into Hellboy, this time at the request of a six-year-old boy suffering from leukemia. Spectral Motion, a special effects studio responsible for Hellboy's look in the two previous films about the comic book hero, transformed Perlman into Hellboy (and then transformed the sick boy into Hellboy as well), and the actor and the sick child spent the whole day together. Perlman’s act touched Guillermo del Toro so much that he decided to return to the long-postponed project of the film “Hellboy 3”. However, considering that del Toro had not worked on this franchise for some time, focusing on other projects, the studio management turned to Neil Marshall. It was decided to reboot the franchise, so “Hellboy 3” was canceled, and work on the reboot began shortly after.
- Preparing for the role of Hellboy, David Harbour actively worked out to get in shape.
- According to Neil Marshall, agreeing to make this film was a mistake, and the filming process itself was a complete nightmare. He hadn't been able to secure funding for his cinematic ideas for several years and immediately accepted the offer to work on this project, assuming it would be a standard horror film. From the beginning, he found the script somewhat convoluted, with disparate plotlines interwoven (which works well in comics, but creates plot holes and inconsistencies when adapted for the screen). Unfortunately, the producers were completely uninterested in his opinion, wouldn't allow him to make changes to the script, and wouldn't permit him to introduce any elements of the horror genre.
- At the beginning of the battle scene with Hellboy and the giants, his Right Hand of Doom briefly becomes his left in several frames.
- The film's artists deliberately tried not to use images from Guillermo del Toro's films, instead drawing inspiration from the comics. Makeup artist Joel Harlow tried to stay true to the source material and constantly consulted with comic book author Mike Mignola (who was an executive producer on the film).
- An adaptation of the Hellboy stories "Wild Hunt" and "Storm and Fury", in which Nimue, or the Lady of the Lake, becomes the Blood Queen, and her battle with Hellboy triggers the Apocalypse.
- The original stated that Baba Yaga tried to summon the spirit of Stalin, but in the Russian dub it was replaced with the spirit of Hitler.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
