The news that Hellboy was getting a reboot/fresh start came as something of a surprise. We’d just about come to terms with the fact that Guillermo del Toro wouldn’t be making the third film in his planned trilogy, although we were still really hoping that it wasn’t true, but the fact that the ball is already rolling on a new take on the character starring David Habour, directed by Neil Marshall and co-written by creator Mike Mignola was, well, surprising.
Since then, there have been a couple more details and a couple of reactions, so let’s catch up.
First off, Silver Screen Beat caught up with co-writer Andrew Cosby who gave them some idea of the film’s tone.
“I can’t really talk about specifics with regard to the story, which they’re keeping a pretty tight lid on at the moment, but I can say that this is a darker, more gruesome version of Hellboy,” Cosby said.
“Neil said from the very beginning that he wanted to walk a razor’s edge between horror and comic book movie, which was music to my ears, because that’s what I was shooting for in the script, and precisely what Mignola does so well with the comics.”
Mignola has already promised that the new film will be rated R, and going darker does seem like a reasonable way to set these two versions apart, as del Toro’s Hellboy films frequently featured bursts of comedy, especially when the relationships deepened in The Golden Army. At least, that’s what we hope the rationale is, rather than “Didn’t Logan do well?” We’re big fans of Neil Marshall and blending horror and comic book movie seems like it would play to his strengths.
However, not everyone is impressed with the fact that Mignola is pursuing a new vision. The great Jeffrey Tambor, who played Manning in the two del Toro movies, tweeted his feelings.
@artofmmignola Mike: I may be unvail–
nice on the loyalty to Ron and Guillermo, btw— Jeffrey Tambor (@jeffreytambor) May 9, 2017
Following a lot of fan interaction (and clearly some professional interaction), he went on to say that it was the lack of acknowledgement of del Toro and Perlman’s work on the franchise which he found to be unprofessional.
Number of nudges via email to go easy on Mikey this am. .
Mikey shud thank Ron and Doug and Gbt In his press releases as a preface.B amensch— Jeffrey Tambor (@jeffreytambor) May 10, 2017
All Mikey had to do was a one sentence thank u 2
Guillermo Ron and Doug
its all context, guys.and professionalism
Manning “Out”–I mean,out— Jeffrey Tambor (@jeffreytambor) May 10, 2017
However, it wasn’t all shade. Selma Blair responded to David Harbour’s tweet about preparing to play the title role with this tweet.
Another story is told. have the time of your life my cupcake eating bad ass friend. X selma https://t.co/A7B0dAjDSG
— Selma Blair (@SelmaBlair) May 9, 2017
And the love between Perlman and del Toro shows no sign of fading:
Gettin alotta twitter love 2nite. Feelin it. Diggin it.
Much obliged, you, the faithful…
— Ron Perlman (@perlmutations) May 9, 2017
I LOVE you too Perl- https://t.co/94ljKRb6VI
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) May 9, 2017
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