I'm certainly not unique in this regard, but I've carried a fairy sizable crush on Milla Jovovich ever since THE FIFTH ELEMENT, which had led to the watching of several flicks I wouldn't ordinarily view based purely on her involvement. Although I'm still a little bummed that we won't get to see Guillermo del Toro close out his HELLBOY trilogy, I was definitely planning on checking out Neil Marshall's upcoming HELLBOY reboot anyway, but Milla Jovovich joining the cast as the main villain has certainly sweetened the deal.
Deadline reports that Milla Jovovich is in final talks to play the Blood Queen in HELLBOY, which is set to star David Harbour (Stranger Things) as Hellboy and Ian McShane (American Gods) as Professor Trevor “Broom” Bruttenholm. The reboot will find Hellboy "squaring off against a medieval sorceress who seeks to destroy humankind." Production is expected to get underway this September in both the U.K. and Bulgaria. The majority of Milla Jovovich's roles have seen her fighting for the side of good, so it will be quite interesting to see what she can do when she's given free rein to embrace her dark side; plus, we know that she can handle the physical side of things as well. I've got my fingers crossed for some hard-hitting epic battles between Hellboy and the Blood Queen.
I've got a lot of love in my heart for Guillermo del Toro's HELLBOY movies, but with the chances of another del Toro sequel now laid to rest, I suppose I better get used to witnessing a new take on the HELLBOY story. Neil Marshall has said that he wants to give his remake a "stamp of its own" in order to set it apart from del Toro's movies, adding that he's been "working very closely with Mike Mignola to keep it close to the origins of the characters, but also the world and that kind of thing." HELLBOY is also being planned as a "darker, more gruesome version of Hellboy" which will be R-rated, which Marshall has said will allow him to take the cuffs off and fully embrace Hellboy's bloody nature.
We’ve been granted permission to do it R-rated, which for me is just like taking the cuffs off. It’s like, okay, so now we can just make the movie we want to make. It’s not like I’m going to force it to be R-rated, but if it happens to come out that way, just because of my own sensibilities, then fine. And nobody’s going to stop us. So, that’s the main thing. And I’m sure, obviously, the success of things like Deadpool and Logan have not hurt that cause. But, also, when you go back the original material, it is kind of bloody, so I’m going to embrace that.
How do you feel about Milla Jovovich facing off against Hellboy?