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A demonic superhero with blood red skin, hacked off horns, a stone fist, and Nazi origins? Forget about Happy Meal tie-ins with this kid, Guillermo Del Toro is back in comic-book land with cult favourite Hellboy
Since breaking onto the international scene with 1993's arthouse horror hit Cronos, Mexican director Guillermo Del Toro has been blowing hot and cold, alternating Hollywood work (Mimic, Blade 2) with more personal, intelligent fare, such as his acclaimed Spanish-language ghost story, The Devil's Backbone (2001). With Hellboy, however, it looks like he may finally have found the project that will allow him successfully to fuse his commercial and artistic instincts.
Based on the comic by Mike Mignola, it's the story of a hellfire demon conjured into the world by occult Nazi scientists during the dying days of World War II. Rescued from Hitler's evil clutches by American GIs, he's shipped to the US and raised to fight evil as an investigator for specialist government agency, the Bureau For Paranormal Research And Defence.
Though basically an origins film, Hellboy doesn't look like a standard superhero flick. For starters, the title and Satan's spawn protagonist don't exactly lend themselves to family-friendly product placement. Then there's the participation of Hellboy creator Mignola in the creative process. Though the artist-writer gave Del Toro his blessing to tell the story as he saw fit, Del Toro insisted on remaining true to the comic and the pair have been collaborating for the last six years to make Hellboy a cinematic reality.
In fact, the two men seem to have been on the same page from the outset, and both independently concluded that Del Toro regular Ron Perlman would be perfect for the lead role. Studio bosses had a different idea: worried about the 53-year-old's low marquee value, they briefly courted Vin Diesel, but Del Toro stuck to his guns, casting Perlman in what amounts to his first leading role.
For his part, Perlman had to endure six hours of make-up a day to turn him into the hulking crimson demon whose key features include the stumps of horns, a stone-like fist and a prehensile tail - all courtesy of Oscar-winning make-up artist Rick Baker. If the photos popping up on the net are anything to go by then it was certainly worth the effort.
Indeed, confidence is high for the $60 million adaptation. The Prague shoot went smoothly. Footage screened at the 2003 San Diego Comic Con was rapturously received. There's a decent cast (Selma Blair plays Hellboy's pyrokinetic love interest Liz Sherman, while John Hurt is on board as occult expert Professor Trevor Bruttenholm, Hellboy's surrogate father figure). And Del Toro has been keeping fans happy by communicating extensively with them through the film's official website.
He's also stated that, unlike Blade 2, Hellboy will concentrate on character and plot and not just be wall-to-wall action. Such a promise might set a few alarm bells ringing in an industry still reeling from the under-performance of The Hulk, but if he gets the balance right - and there's sure to be a few monster pummelling contests - this could become the fanboy favourite by which all others are judged.
Alistair Harkness
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