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Welcome to Unfilmable.com's "Hellboy" news page. While Hellboy is not a Lovecraft adaptation, it has been described as very Lovecraftian by many of it's fans. Some of the early character sketches and production artwork have a strong Lovecraftian feel to them. Director Guillermo Del Toro is set to direct the straight Lovecraft adaptation "At the Mountains of Madness" after it's release. Please submit news and links here. Past news is archived below. Caution: This page contains spoilers! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ August 28: Hellboy Products Coming to Sideshow Collectibles Sideshow Collectibles just sent out this press release announcing their upcoming Hellboy movie products! Sideshow Collectibles Secures License to Produce Wide Range of Products For Upcoming HELLBOY Film Westlake Village, CA --- August 2003 It seems only natural that director Guillermo Del Toro would feel at home partnering with Sideshow Collectibles to release collectible products based on his upcoming film, Hellboy. Both Del Toro and Sideshow began their entry into movies through the makeup and effects aspects of movie making. Born and raised in Guadalajara, Mexico, in 1964, Guillermo Del Toro, learned about makeup and effects from The Exorcist's Dick Smith. Del Toro executive produced his first feature film at age 21 and formed his own makeup and effects company in the early 80's. He also co-founded the Guadalajara-based Mexican Film Festival and that city's Film Studies Center. Remarkably, he was named one of Time magazine's 50 Young Leaders for the New Millennium before he made his third film. Del Toro's films include Cronos (1992), Mimic (1997), The Devil's Backbone (2001), Blade II (2002) and Hellboy, to be released in 2004. He has received the critic's prize at the Cannes Film Festival, and served on the selection committees for the Sundance Film Festival and the Independent Spirit Awards. He has been recognized at many international film festivals in several categories, including Best Direction, Best First Work and Best Screenplay. He is credited with contributions to various films in the areas of directing, special makeup effects, writing and screenwriting, executive producing and acting. Hellboy was originally created by artist Mike Mignola and published by Dark Horse Comics. The film version is scheduled for release in April 2004 as a Revolution Studios production. Six-time Oscar winning effects artist, Rick Baker, will transform Ron Pearlman, into Hellboy. Del Toro made the commitment early on to stay true to the comic book character, which is one of his favorites. He stated that he envisioned Hellboy as "The Last Emperor" of monster movies, emphasizing his desire to simply tell the world about the comic book creature that he loved and the story he cared about. Hellboy, now the world's greatest paranormal investigator, was originally brought to Earth by Hitler's team of demonic scientists in 1941. On October 9, 1944, during a battle between a brave battalion of Allied forces and Hitler's agents of chaos, the world nearly ended, consumed by the flames of Hell. The battalion had a secret weapon, Trevor Bruttenholm, "Broom," an expert in the mysteries of the occult who headed up the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense (BPRD). Just as the Allies claimed victory, an infernal rift broke open in the ground, and Broom was delighted to discover a horned red devil baby among the brimstone. It smiled at him and he smiled back. The Allied soldiers, the BPRD and the world had a new friend - Hellboy. "He was born a demon - we must do our best to make him a man," declared Bruttenholm. Mike Mignola's artistic vision will be brought to life on the big screen by Guillermo Del Toro and then again in collectible form by Sideshow. Sideshow Collectibles has secured the licenses to produce a wide range of products including 12" and 18" figures, 1/3 polystone busts, film study maquettes and prop replicas, as well as framed collectibles. Sideshow will be working closely with Spectral Motion, the effects facility responsible for creature and make-up effects for the film. As part of Sideshow's 12" figure line, the company will be producing Hellboy, Abe Sapien and Kronen figures. These figures will be limited editions and average $40 to $50 in suggested retail price. In addition, Sideshow will be creating a deluxe version 18" figure of Hellboy that will be extremely limited and retail for more than $200. Working from the maquettes created by the artists of Spectral Motion, Sideshow will create one-third scale polystone busts of Hellboy and corpse, Abe Sapien and Samhael. The busts will be mounted on polystone bases and feature the official BPRD logo. The projected price range will be $60 and $80 with a limited edition size of 1,000-2,000 pieces. Because the weaponry is such an intricate part of the Hellboy story, Sideshow plans to include functioning 1:1 scale metal replicas of the Hellboy revolver and a Kronen Nazi sword and knife display as part of its line of props to be offered. These replicas will be highly detailed and authentic representations of what was used on the film and will be produced in extremely limited quantities. Working directly with Mike Mignola, Sideshow will create framed collectibles that will incorporate actual design illustrations as well as production photographs. The framed collectibles will be in edition sizes of 250 to 400 pieces with a suggested retail price of $300 to $450. As a special tribute to Guillermo Del Toro, Sideshow Collectibles will also be releasing a very rare statue and DVD set based on the critically acclaimed Del Toro film, "The Devil's Backbone." Gary Hunt of Weta Workshop has beautifully captured the melancholy expression of one of the more captivating and gruesome characters of the film, "Santi," a boy murdered at the haunted Santa Lucia School for orphaned boys who reappears to its current inhabitants in ghostly form. This item's release will coincide with the introduction of the products from Hellboy, which will present collectors with a unique opportunity to own products from both Del Toro properties. (Thanks to http://www.superherohype.com/) PRAGUE, Czech Republic — With the swinging turnstiles, busy newsstands and passengers rushing to and fro, it was a day in the New York subway like any other — were it not for the giant red beast doing battle with a slimy green monster and the fact that the real New York City was an ocean away. It was the set of "Hellboy," the forthcoming comic book flick from "Blade II" director Guillermo del Toro, inside an old Prague warehouse convincingly made to look like a New York subway tunnel, complete with tracks and an upper mezzanine. And standing around in red makeup, filed-down horns, faux stone hand, large trench coat and floppy tail, Ron Perlman looked devilishly like the comic book's wisecracking hero. "Hey, chunkface!" Perlman yelled in character at his foe, who growled in response. "C'mon, you can do better than that, big monster like you," Hellboy taunted, tearing a pay phone off the wall in a flash of electrical sparks and then smashing the slobbering villain with it. "See? It hurts!" Hellboy yelled. "You shouldn't hit people." Before it was over, the two battling titans would end up smashing through a pane of glass and landing on the upper mezzanine. Hellboy would swing Sammael around by his tongue — which, like his feet, would be digitally enhanced later — and pause to save a box full of kittens before besting his opponent, all as a crowd of Czech extras dressed as New Yorkers looked on. "The great thing about Prague," Perlman said between takes, "is that, because the socialists were here for 40-some-odd years, there are all these abandoned factories and warehouses — these huge open spaces the size of airplane hangers that are at our disposal for building the kinds of magnificent, huge set pieces one needs to do a movie of this scope. This is the second film I've done here. 'Blade II' was also shot here, [and] I don't think we ever used a movie studio [lot]." Guillermo del Toro has wanted to bring "Hellboy" to the big screen for a long time, and he was pleasantly surprised to learn that "Hellboy" creator Mike Mignola — whose "Seed of Destruction" story provided much of the basis for del Toro's script — had the same actor in mind to play the title character, a demon raised by humans who works as a paranormal investigator. "Guillermo let me read the first draft of 'Hellboy' four years ago and told me that his dream would be that we would be doing it together," explained Perlman, who in addition to his villainous turn in "Blade II" is probably best known for his starring role in the 1980s television series "Beauty and the Beast." "It's very difficult to get a movie as big as this [made] with a guy who's not a bankable movie star," he acknowledged. "I'm not ashamed to say I've never been a bankable movie star. I'm just a character actor. And that's probably one of the most amazing aspects of this — that [del Toro] was able to pull it off. It's a huge gamble for a studio to raise the amount of money that you need to do a picture like this without having, you know, a Tom Cruise." And while Tom Cruise is indeed nowhere to be found, Perlman certainly isn't alone in the "Hellboy" cast. He's joined by Doug Jones ("Men in Black II") as the amphibious Abe Sapien, while Selma Blair ("Legally Blonde") plays pyrokinetic Hellboy love interest Liz Sherman. "I'm a fire starter," Blair explained to MTV News earlier this year (see " 'Hellboy' To Be Played By Former Beast, Pyro Selma Bliar Helps With Baddies"). "I'm this tragically flawed superhero, in a way, when I'm taken in by the government to help them with their research on paranormal phenomena." The "Hellboy" cast also includes John Hurt ("Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone"), Jeffrey Tambor ("The Larry Sanders Show") and Karel Roden ("Blade II"). Shooting began in February and is scheduled to wrap this month, with producers eyeing an April release. For a look at other comic book movies that might be around the corner, check out the feature "Box-Office Bang: Which Superhero's Next?" For more Hollywood happenings, check out MTV's Movie House. (Thanks to Ryan J. Downey and http://www.mtv.com/) From Countingdown.com: There also are films that were set for next summer, but that aren't going to surface then. Revolution Studios and Columbia's action adventure sci-fi horror film "Hellboy," set during World War II, is directed by Guillermo del Toro ("Blade II"). It stars Ron Perlman in the title role as the demon child of Satan, born from a Nazi experiment that's gone awry and results in him becoming a force for good not evil. At one point "Hellboy" was penciled in for a May 21 release, but it's now set for April 2. That looks like a very smart move when you consider how well Fox did earlier this year with its Feb. 14 release of the superhero action thriller "Daredevil" starring Ben Affleck. "Daredevil" opened to $45 million for four days and went on to gross $102.5 million domestically. 'Set during World War II'?!?! Oh, come on guys...do your research! But anyways, nice to see people confident in the release shift. Hit the link below for the full article! Source: The Hollywood Reporter (Thanks to http://www.countingdown.com/) August 27: Sideshow Signs Hellboy Movie License! Sideshow Collectibles has secured licenses to produce a wide range of products for the upcoming Hellboy movie, including collector busts, statues and prop replicas, as well as frame collectibles. Stay tuned to Superhero Hype! for future updates on these products and sneak peeks at the items to be released! (Thanks to http://www.superherohype.com/) August 27: Perlman on the Expressive Nature of his Makeup From Countingdown.com: Ron Perlman, who plays the title character in the upcoming supernatural film Hellboy, told SCI FI Wire that he had no problem getting used to the heavy makeup and prosthetics required for the role of a giant red demon. "I realized from the get-go that I didn't need to make any adjustment," Perlman said in an interview during shooting in Prague. "Because the mask absolutely mirrored everything that was going through my mind and what was going through my heart. It's just a question of playing Hellboy at that point." In Hellboy, which is based on Mike Mignola's Dark Horse comics series, Perlman plays a superhuman paranormal investigator who works for the federal government. Perlman attributes the quality of the makeup effects to the skill of Oscar-winning designer Rick Baker and his team of artists. "They just have this way that is absolutely impossible for me to fathom of turning inanimate objects into living, breathing, three-dimensional forces of nature that have a life force of their own," he said. "The very first screen test we did when this makeup was completed, I could see what I was thinking without doing anything." Hit the link below for more! Source: Sci-Fi Wire (Thanks to http://www.countingdown.com/) August 27: 'Hellboy' Important to Revolution Studios From Countingdown.com: In 2004, Revolution is delivering eight pictures, including a moderately budgeted drama entitled ``Willy'' that will be directed by Roth. Ice Cube will star as a Louisiana junior high school custodian who becomes a basketball coach. The most expensive of those films, a comic book adventure called ``Hellboy,'' will be budgeted at about $60 million. The average production cost of the slate is expected to be roughly $40 million, far less than the industry average and well below the $75 million that went into each ``Hollywood Homicide,'' ``Anger Management,'' and ``Tears of the Sun.'' Hit the link below for the full article - thanks to Comics2Film for the heads up! Source: The Detroit Business News (Thanks to http://www.countingdown.com/) Countindown.com's post an interview with Doug Jones, the man behind Abe Sapien's mask. CD: For all the 'Hellboy' newcomers
out there, could you give us a little background on who Abe Sapien
is exactly, like his personality, his history, and his powers? Check out the rest here. (Thanks to http://www.countingdown.com/) Selma Blair, who plays pyrokinetic government agent Liz Sherman in the upcoming Dark Horse Comics film adaptation Hellboy, told SCI FI Wire that her character's storyline was expanded for the movie. "Liz doesn't figure very prominently in the comic," she said in an interview during a day off from shooting in Prague. "And [creator Mike Mignola] would kind of joke around like, 'Well, I don't know how to draw pretty girls. I draw monsters. I nearly killed you off.' ... I don't think there was too much of a pre-conceived notion of what Liz was, so I had a little bit of freedom. She's more in the movie than in the book." The film will deal more with Liz's struggle to gain control of her powerful fire-starting abilities. Blair said that all of the fire effects in the film will be added digitally in post-production, a process that presented both advantages and disadvantages during filming. "There's not too much danger for me," she said. "But I feel like a complete drip on set acting like I'm on fire, and there's nothing there. It's funny. I kind of thought, 'God, I'd really like there to be some effects on set, because I feel very self-conscious, acting as if I'm burning up the world.'" Visit this link for more! (Thanks to http://www.superherohype.com/) August 7: Doug Jones on Abe Sapien's Movement and Makeup! From Countingdown.com: CountingDown recently had an exclusive interview with the man-behind-the-fish in 'Hellboy', Doug 'Abe Sapien' Jones! Here's a clip... CD: So the character in the comic books, and this is reflected in the makeup, doesn't tend to be very expressive, especially facially - with the big bug-eyes and no real eyebrows to speak of. Does this make your job as an actor a lot harder? DJ: Oh right...And I have visited the Hellboy movie message board and I've seen that comment come up quite a bit...My own facial expression wasn't able to come through the top half of the face. So that was a bit of a challenge for me. So with the physicality that I ended up giving the role, I had to add more, with my head gesturing, and whatever I could do with my mouth without being cartoony. I tried to do what I could, but the eyes are going to be computer graphics [augmented], they're gonna blink and look around some. The eyes will read more than what you see in the pictures. CD: In your movement, did you try to move or act like a fish...? DJ: Can I tell you where I get my character study? I have four goldfish in a tank, and I watched 'em. I just watched 'em! And seeing how their heads would dart, same with their eyes...but then the rest of their body flows fluidly behind that jerky head. So that's kind of how I handled Abe. His head was more poppy jerk movements, but then the rest of him flowed fluidly behind. Hit the link below for the full interview! Source: CountingDown (Thanks to http://www.countingdown.com/) From Countingdown.com: From an interview with Ken F. Levin, who helped Mike Mignola bring Hellboy to Hollywood: But Ron Perlman isn't a huge name, though after Hellboy I suspect he may be - that movie does have a sane budget, and we were fortunate enough to be in a situation where Mike Mignola has been able to have significant input, and I just know in my gut that what Mike and Guillermo del Toro come up with is going to blow the doors off theatres come May. Hit the link below for the full interview! Source: Newsarama (Thanks to http://www.countingdown.com/) Yahoo! Movies reports that Sony has moved up Hellboy 7 weeks from May 21 to April 2... With more movies being scheduled for May releases, Sony has decided to bump this movie up several weeks, out of summer contention altogether, to April 2nd, 2004. The good news is that its competition will probably now be a lot less daunting. The down side is that the movie suggests a slight change in confidence in the movie (though I doubt anyone at Sony would say that). Anyway, this new date is now just two days off from Del Toro's original estimate of March, 2004. (Thanks to http://www.superherohype.com/) In a press release from Silicon Graphics, Inc, they announced which companies are using their equipment. Here's the bit on Tippett Studio... Tippett Studio, the renowned Northern California film effects facility, is currently completing production on Matrix Revolutions and beginning work on Stepford Wives, Hellboy and Starship Troopers 2. To store and manage the massive amounts of data expected to be generated in creating these special effects, Tippett purchased a storage area network (SAN) solution from SGI comprising 14TB of SGI TP9500 storage, two four-processor SGI(R) Origin(R) 350 metadata servers and two 16-port Brocade Fibre Channel switches. Tippett was able to leverage its current SGI infrastructure and add it to the SAN under the control of the SGI CXFS shared filesystem, SGI(R) Performance Co-Pilot(TM) performance monitoring system and SGI FailSafe(TM) high-availability software. This infrastructure included a recently purchased SGI Origin 300 fileserver that manages Tippett's tape robot, an Origin(R) 2100 server being used as a backup metadata server and SGI TP9400 storage array. (Thanks to http://www.superherohype.com/) Originally Hellboy was breaking into Memorial Day weekend with guns blazing on the 28th. Now news has come down the Corner pipeline that Hellboy is locking and loading…a week earlier and will now be released May 21st. (Thanks to http://www.creature-corner.com/) August 2: New Hellboy pics! The Movie Box has posted some new photos from the latest issue of Wizard Magazine, including our first look at 'Ilsa' along with more shots like these [see site] of our main characters in this comic adaptation shooting in Prague. (Thanks to http://www.darkhorizons.com/) August 2: EXCLUSIVE: Hellboy Set Interview #1! From Superherohype.com: SHH! crew member Scott Chitwood recently visited the set of Columbia Pictures and Revolution Studios' Hellboy in Prague (read his 7-part report starting here) and we now have up an exclusive video interview from when Scott chatted with the film's stunt coordinator, Monty Simons. You can check out the almost 6-minute long interview by clicking the link below - and stay tuned for more from the set! Click here for the Exclusive Video Interview. (Thanks to http://www.superherohype.com/) August 2: Mezco ComiCon pic Mezco had some great stuff on display of yours truly. Click here to see the pic. (Thanks to http://www.creature-corner.com/) August 2: Hellboy: Weird Tales Hellboy: Weird Tales #5 32pg, $2.99 avail. 10/15/03 This great Anthology series continues with offerings from Haden Blackman & JH Williams III, Ron Marz & Jim Starlin, and Scott Morse. John Cassiday's increasingly wacky "Lobster Johnson" serial is worth the price alone... (Thanks to http://www.creature-corner.com/)
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