Late Monday night the news broke that the HELLBOY franchise was getting the reboot treatment with David Harbour starring in the lead role and Neil Marshall directing. Needless to say some people had some light commenting to do, but no matter what the movie seems to be heading to us fast. To make that point clear one of the screenwriters has come out to speak about the vision and tone of the film, and how it could be like nothing we’ve seen before.
Andrew Cosby, a writer on the current draft of the script, spoke with Silver Screen Beat recently to briefly talk about the reboot of HELLBOY, and the writer brought up how this will be a truly “gruesome” film that walks the line between horror and comic book movie:
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. 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. The script is done, but work will continue as we move forward, always trying to make it the best it can be.
The movie is under the current working title HELLBOY: RISE OF THE BLOOD QUEEN, with Christopher Golden and Mike Mignola credited on the script with Cosby. With R-rated comic adaptations all the rage right now, it’s no wonder why the team behind this reboot would wanna go big (and red) to give fans an adult HELLBOY movie.
Given the series focuses on a big, red demon fighting other demons as part of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense, making the movie have a strong, aggressive horror angle is easily possible. Whether it will be more grounded, or more fantastical is up in the air, but the team seems to have a clear vision for the film, which may or may not instill confidence in fans of the Toro/Perlman versions. Let the commenting continue!