Guillermo Del Toro is just about the busiest man in the movie business, producing what he can’t personally direct and longingly expounding on what he can’t produce. It seems like the man always has about six different plates spinning at once and more at the ready should one of those fall and break.
Well now you can add yet another plate to the pile – after years of claiming that he didn’t have the heart to finish Helllboy’s cinematic story the way it had been set up to resolve, Del Toro has changed his tune and now gone on record with this: “I can say publicly that now we are together in trying [to do Hellboy 3].” That of course in no way means it will ever actually happen, and indeed he hasn’t even approached Hellboy creator Mike Mignola yet, but the idea is now out there in the universe.
What changed Guillermo’s tune? It’s all due to how Ron Perlman recently worked with the Make A Wish Foundation to meet a six-year-old boy with leukemia who said that his big wish was to “meet and become Hellboy.” The Foundation got in touch with Perlman, he showed up with some people from Spectral Motion (the special effects company), and went through the 4+ hours of make-up in order to help this kid’s dream come to fruition. “[He] also ordered a Hellboy sized meal of burgers, shakes, and fries for Zachary and his family and the entire Spectral crew to enjoy.” Which is in part due to the pretty plain fact that Perlman is a level of boss until himself.
And when Del Toro heard about this, it struck something deep inside him. “I’ve encountered a lot of kids who are fans of the movies, but to hear the story of this kid who was watching the movies while going through treatment, it really just moved me a lot. We’re going to make an effort to do it. I hope it happens.”