Set Visit: We talk to David Harbour and director Neil Marshall for Hellboy!

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

While visiting the HELLBOY set in Bulgaria last year, we had the opportunity to sit down and talk with the majority of the film's stars, as well as the filmmakers. While many were tight-lipped with how much they could share, we got plenty of good nuggets to share about the upcoming new adaptation that may tickle your comic book fancy. First up, we talked to David Harbour, who we witnessed filming a scene in full HELLBOY costume, looking and sounding every bit like the snarky, badass demon we've come to love. I was at first taken aback when I heard his voice, as I realized how similar it actually is to Ron Perlman's. Harbour is an imposing presence in the costume and it was amazing to see the scene being filmed almost entirely practical, which took place at Osiris headquarters where someone has been killed and Hellboy is conversing with a spirit to find out just what happened. Giant troll and monster heads are hung on the walls like trophies and there's a ton of paintings hung on the wall that represent historical events that the society has documented (including an Easter Egg painting of Hellboy creator Mike Mignola).

We sat down with David Harbour to talk about taking on the role and everything that goes along with it. Sadly, he was out of costume by then, looking more Sheriff Jim Hopper than HELLBOY, albeit with completely red hands. Harbour was especially enthusiastic and his natural baritone voice echoed through the set as he dished all things Hellboy to us, starting with how he was cast for the role.

"I got a call like almost completely randomly. We were shooting the second season of “Stranger Things”. I think it was very early in the shooting process. And I got a call from my agents just saying they want to remake “Hellboy” and they want you to be the new “Hellboy” and here’s the script. And the movie wasn’t completely like, green lit. It wasn’t completely like, we didn’t have a studio, we didn’t have, blah, blah, but it was just Lloyd Levin and Larry Gordon had this script, they wanted to re-do the whole thing, and they had Neil Marshall at that point and they were all very keen on me doing it. And I read the script. So they sent it to me, and I was like, very confused and terrified at that prospect and excited. I mean, like who the fuck am I? You know what I mean? I’ve been like a character guy for years doing these little things, and then sort of “Stranger Things” came out, and I think that Neil, Lloyd and Mike Mignola, I guess they all had sort of watched it around that first month.

And upon watching it, I think they all called each other and like, 'Wouldn’t David Harbour be a great Hellboy?' And like, I was like, ah, that’s very flattering and very horrifying that you guys would think that I would be like this angry demon, but it seems to fit. So yeah, so I read the script and it was a very early draft of the script. And it was like not terrible. And I was like, really excited about that, because the script has gone through a lot of iterations. We’ve done a lot of work on it, but to me, I have the super hero mythos is so big in our culture now, and I of course, want to be a part of that. I mean, I almost consider it like the Greeks had Achilles and Agamemnon, like we have like, Captain America and Iron Man and like, it’s the same shit, right?"

Harbour had an almost mythological approach to the material and saw HELLBOY as an opportunity to go down a darker path, especially now that it was becomine more common practice.

"But like, whereas Aeschylus and Sophocles were maybe writing “The Avengers” movies, here you have Euripides coming in with this darker version of “Electra” or something that is like nastier and gnarlier. And so when I read the script, that’s what excited me, and it wasn’t like those Marvel movies that we see. It was very different, but it had a very compelling story and it was very in line with the graphic novels that I had been introduced to in like, my early 20s. So it was a lot darker and it was a lot scarier than those super hero movies are in general that I see. Although, like again, there are exceptions. Certainly “Logan”, even “Deadpool” and I mean, there sort of are inspirations, there are “Logan”, “Deadpool” and the Chris Nolan sort of Batman universe."

There was still plenty of hesitance in taking on the role, however, and Harbour was very aware of what came before him and how he had to live up to that, while still making it his own.

"So it excited me, and I like sort of went back and forth for a long time on it because part of the trepidation was that those films have a certain rabid fan base, the Guillermo del Toro ones, and certainly Ron Perlman did a terrific job and is a great actor. And so, I knew that stepping into this would be like—I was scared that people would feel like it was a fuck you to those guys and what they’d done. And so, I was nervous about that. And then, in terms of the re-imagining, I sort of hate the term reboot, but because you know, like when I watch guys play Hamlet, like I’ve seen a million dudes play Hamlet, and I love everybody’s take on that particular character, and they bring out something unique.

So my whole thing was like, we’re not going to try to compete with what those guys did. We’re not even going to sort of play in that ballpark. We’re going to do something just completely different and we’re going to highlight a different aspect of this guy. And so, as an actor, that was exciting because I was like, I can’t do what Ron Perlman does. I think he’s sort of a genius at what he does, like this very dry machismo sort of thing. And so, in terms of approaching the character like, I was like, I have to do it my own way. It has to be totally different and it has to be something that I, first of all, am drawn to, and secondly, something that I can excel at as an actor, which is a much different thing than Ron does. And so, the fact that they were really into that and they wanted to bring new life and sort of a wildly different take on that, I was like, all right, then I’m in. This sounds really great."

But, HOW different is this HELLBOY than the one that came before? Harbour explains:

"The terrible version of it is angsty, and the great version of it is tortured, I would say, is that in the original “Hellboy” movies, I feel like you know, he’s very much a guy that has a sense of humor and goes about his job and does his thing and sort of deals with the demons and the evil in the world. And in our movie, he’s very much dealing with his own being ostracized from society. There is kind of a Frankenstein element to it. There’s, I think a lot more self-hatred. You know, although those movies did explore certain aspects of that, ours is just a lot darker in terms of a character piece, in terms of like, who he is. Like he’s a much more tortured guy, who in the end, has to do the right thing.

I mean, he is destined to be the beast of the apocalypse. And I think one of our goals is to justify the temptations of that destiny in terms of the creation of a world, where you know, as a demon, he might be accepted, and as a monster, he might be accepted, that he doesn’t feel in this world. The other thing that we explore somewhat is—I mean, one of the interesting things to me about the Guillermo del Toro movies was that he had like a love interest, right? And she was like a fire starter, and but I just think that Hellboy can’t have a human being. He probably can’t have sex with a human being because it would probably end disastrously, because of his demonic parts or whatever.

So I just feel like what I wanted to explore was that loneliness, and you know, there’s the temptations that you have to, if you do create a darker world as the beast of the apocalypse, you can have sex. You can have a girlfriend. You can live your life. But to live in the human world and to protect humanity, you have to sacrifice some of your nature, and your actual nature, as opposed to this concept of destiny, just that your actual nature somewhat gets sacrificed."

Not only is HELLBOY different than the Perlman version, but so Is Professor Broom, originally played by the late John Hurt and now portrayed by Ian McShane:

There’s a lot more drama dynamic that Ian McShane brings as well, in terms of Broom is a very differently structured character in our piece, and Hellboy’s relationship with Broom is very different. And then, on the other side, Guillermo del Toro created this fantastic, very colorful world. And our world is created by Neil Marshall, and so, it’s a darker, more gothic horror world. And it’s brutal, you know, like in terms of the fights. I’ve never had to do such intense stunt work in my whole life."

In terms of action and violence, Harbour explains that things certainly get "bloody".

"Like the fights are crazy. This guy Markus like, sculpted all of these incredible fights, and they’re bloody and there’s really the sense of that you’re actually killing things, even if they are giants or monsters or whatever, that you’re chopping their heads off, you’re bathing in their blood and you’re feeling the complex feelings of actually cutting the heart out of another thing. We’re taking the time to deal with that, the fact that Hellboy is a killer, like he’s truly, he’s a weapon. And I think we spent a little more time on that, as well."

While some are understandably attached to the style and vision of del Toro's films, Harbour feels that this new version has a more comics-accurate aesthetic.

"Just in terms of the colors and the look of it and even, you guys have seen one image at least, or two, because I leaked something on Twitter that I apparently shouldn’t have done. But you’ve seen a couple images of Hellboy on social media aspects. And so, he’s darker. He’s more muscular. He’s more intense. He’s more angular. The color palette is, in my mind, a little more to the comics. We bathe it in a lot of blue light, a lot of yellow light, and the color itself of the suit. He’s sort of the only red object in the frame a lot of times. So it has an aesthetic that is really interesting to me, and sort of feels a little more of the Mignola comic than the Guillermo del Toro fantastic universe. So in that way, it’s different. Yeah, I’ve forgotten the question."

In del Toro's films there was a definite romance between Liz Sherman and HELLBOY (Sherman does not appear in this film, nor does Abe Sapien), Harbour says it was important to him to make sure that it was known that HELLBOY cannot have a sexual relationship with a human, particularly in his relationship with Alice, played by Sasha Lane.

"Yeah, it’s an avuncular relationship [with Alice]. I mean, it’s funny because in an earlier draft, there was the temptation to do that, and I was very adamant to the fact that Hellboy cannot have sex with human women. Like I don’t want that to ever be an issue, and I want it to be known for him, whereas this is this Blood Queen Witch in the movie, right? So there is a world that he can exist sexually in, but it is not in our human universe. And Alice is, even though she has sort of a witchcraft thing to her, she is a human being. And so, I think Hellboy is very, you know, it’s much more of an avuncular relationship. He would never, yeah."

HELLBOY creator Mike Mignola has been heavily involved in the production, even writing an early draft of the film and has helped the cast and filmmakers understand and grasp the vast world of the character from the start. Harbour gleaned a lot from Mignola about who HELLBOY is and where his creation took root.

"We talked a lot early on when I was sort of working on it. And I would just like text him kind of all the time, just like random questions. He told me that he talked a lot about his dad, that Hellboy was a combination of him and his dad, that his dad was sort of this working class, I forget what actual job he had, but some like longshoreman type guy. And so, this sort of rugged kind of job mentality was very much his dad. But the humor of Hellboy was much more Mike. Mike is like a weird kind of funny dude, like I am a weird, funny dude.

So yeah, and then I would get into—because the funny thing about a comic is you have a framework or a structure where characters are doing things, they’re taking actions and you’re sort of like—it’s almost like ballet or something. Like you’re thrust into a framework of like, I am hitting these things, right? Like Hellboy looks a certain way, he sounds a certain way. It’s not something where when I read something like Chief Hopper on the page, I’m able to interpretively give you that. We don’t have a Chief Hopper comic, right?

But with Hellboy, we have a comic. And so, he does certain things. He has certain gestures. He has certain looks. And I was very—studied like, all the comics and I have a whole book with just certain things that he does, just like jaw things that he does and different gestures and different ways he moves his body, ways he carries himself and stuff. And so, part of my job was to have that framework structure, but then for me to go deeper and to go into—I sort of approached it from the outside in, which is something I kind of rarely do, but it was very broadening as an artist for me, because now you have a framework and now you have to go back in and you have to find these things, where they’re justified sort of in a person’s psyche. Even though he’s a demon, I have to consider him human. He’s half-human, but I have to consider him psychologically like a human, right?

So one of the big questions I had was like, when did he start shaving his horns? Like how old was he? I know he’s immortal and whatever or whatever, but he was spawned when he was like, I’d say you know, he’s like a baby, he’s like two or three and he ages up in the movie. And like, at what point was he with Broom and he was like, you know what? I’m going to start chopping these things off and I’m going to start like, sanding them down because I’m embarrassed? So that was a big question for me."

While the cat has been let out of the bag in terms of HELLBOY's hero, Lobster Johnson, potentially making an appearance in the film (reportedly played by Thomas Haden Church), Harbour found some real depth in how to integrate HELLBOY's identity with his idolization of Johnson, both in manner and dialect.

I talked to a language coach about this, and he was talking about kids learn dialects from the people that they grow up with. They don’t learn dialects from their parents. So if you have a Spanish mother or something and you grow up in the United States, you speak like an American kid. So part of the thing for me in terms of finding his voice was that he idolized Lobster Johnson. And like, in my mind, he also idolized kind of, even the trench coat sort of plays into this idea of like, this James Cagney sort of like—and I imagine him in the, you know, he was spawned in ’45 or something, right? So I sort of imagined him in the 50’s, growing up with these black and white movies of like “Double Indemnity” and you know, movies where guys were—I don’t know, 'Double Indemnity’s' probably before that. But like, men who were private eyes and who went out and solved things.

And so, he sort of fetishizes this whole image of himself as like, and you know, in terms of being a demon, one of the things he wants to do is fit in. And so, he wants to be like, a private eye who like, goes and solves crimes. And he is the best BPRD agent. He’s the best paranormal detective the world has ever seen. So like, he takes great pride in his job and he takes great pride in this persona. And that persona is a lot based on his favorite super hero, is Lobster Johnson."

With comic book films these days typically looking at ways to expand and continue into sequels and spinoffs, Harbour says the idea with HELLBOY is to simply make a great film and see how it does before trying to put a stamp on multiple follow ups.

"If we make money. I mean, if people come see the movie. No, I don’t like to think like that. I mean, look, to me, one of the pitfalls that I think we all kind of agree on is this, I mean, it’s one of the things that I read critically about THE MUMMY that they got upset about was this idea that you spend half the movie setting up a universe as opposed to just making the greatest movie you possibly can. And then, if people want to see more of it, sure, we can do more of them. But like, we’re not going to dole out little snippets of what you’re going to see later. We’re just going to make one movie that’s awesome, and then if people love that movie, then we’ll make more of them. But there is no doling out of a universe. It’s like, we’re just trying to make the best Hellboy movie you’ve ever seen, and that’s all we want to do. And if people love it and they want more of it, I think most of us would be happy to do it. But we’re not spending time setting up a universe."

Becoming HELLBOY was more than just psychological for Harbour, however, as the prosthetics and stunts make up a huge aspect of playing the character. For his part, Harbour is quite frank about his approach to stunts and his own limitations, while championing the big push to use practical effects as much as possible.

"I’m wildly out of shape. And I don’t like doing things physically except sitting on the couch and eating donuts. No, I did do training before. After we wrapped on season two, I did actually do like 10 weeks of intense like, kind of power training and stuff. I couldn’t do that much actual—I started to eat a lot because the prosthetics and stuff are fitted to my body that it was at the time, so I couldn’t change my body, but I did get a lot stronger and a lot more limber and a lot more powerful and stuff. So I actually did a lot of work beforehand to get strong for the shit that I had to do. But even when I showed up here, the shit that I had to do was like, I was like, holy shit. This is beyond what I thought I would have to do. But you know, I have two stunt doubles and a horse riding double who were terrific.

And they do like the really hard stuff. And I don’t have any machismo around doing my own stunts. If you can put the guy in, he’s better at it than I am. But I do find that what was really interesting, and I’ve been doing a lot of work with second unit, too, is like, what’s really interesting about Hellboy is that we, first of all, a lot of it is not CGI. A lot of it is practical. Like the whole suit is practical. The whole look is practical, and a lot of these fights are practical. I mean, there’s some bigger spectacle things that are going to have to be CGI, but even when they do that, most of the running around that I’m doing is me. And so, and one of the things I like about him is that he’s a really messy fighter."

Harbour elaborates that he didn't want this version of HELLBOY to be so highly trained that he can't make mistakes and likened him more to a "pub brawler" than a highly trained paranormal detective:

"But in that way, I wanted him to be strong, but I didn’t want him to be a trained like, MMA guy. He doesn’t have a lot of training as a fighter. He’s just big and strong and scary and almost like a pub brawler. So one of the things about the fights that have been really fun is that he messes up a lot. And one of the things that’s fun with me, because I really enjoy that aspect of the fights, is like, we’ll go in and the stunt guys will do it perfectly, and then I’ll come in and be like, we’ll get tighter stuff, where I’ll just be like, slipping and falling, and you know, and coughing up shit and like, so it has a real feel to it that’s like, very, very messy, which is something that I like.

And you know, part of the thing that I have problems with in the CGI world that we live in now is like, things feel very inconsequential, like a car blows up on a guy and then he runs up a wall and then he falls back on the car. And you’re just like, what’d that do to your spine, man? So one of the great things about this movie is, even though he does have tremendous regenerative powers and he’s a lot stronger, we have moments where it hurts. And that’s one of the fun things about Hellboy, is like he does have those moments where it’s like, oh fuck. Like you know, and it hurts my spine and my knees are going. And even as we did this stunt thing, one of the fun things about an artistic process is that I have a toe issue where my toe was like fucked up because I banged it. And I was like, this is kind of great.

After one of these fights, Hellboy’s toe or his hoof is like, just completely messed up. And so, incorporating these elements of a guy who fights like hell, but also is very messy was very fun. But it’s also, it’s actually more taxing than just doing the fights because you’re actually having to slip and fall and like, spring back up and do all of this different stuff. But it’s been exciting because Markus, who’s doing the fights, is very much a character guy and the fights are very character-based. They’re not just like spectacular fights. They’re very much like Hellboy fights, which means moments of real grandeur and spectacularness, and moments of like, oh crap, you know, moments of silliness as well. So hopefully, we find the balance between those two."

We also had the opportunity to talk with director Neil Marshall, who has made waves not only in features, such as DOG SOLDIERS, THE DESCENT and CENTURION, but on TV as well, with credits to Game of Thrones, Westworld, Hannibal and Netflix's Lost in Space. As a bonafide genre filmmaker, Marshall feels like the right kind of director to tackle the material and he shares how he became involved with the project, what it's been like bringing it to life and how he's separating it from Guillermo del Toro's previous efforts.

"I mean, I’ve been attached to this for over two years, maybe even longer now, been talking about it. And I was first approached to do the possibility of doing a HELLBOY 3, and my response to that was, 'Well, you know, that’s somebody else’s terrain and I don’t want to step on that turf.' So I was like, but if you were thinking of doing a reboot any time, then I’d love to do that. And so, you know, a little bit of time passed, and it was like, it became more apparent that they wanted to do a reboot and came back to me and was like, great. Let’s do it. And you know, it’s a tough act to follow. Going back to the source material, it’s a tough act to follow of what’s already so well established and so well performed. To then step into those shoes is a bit of a deal, for sure. So yeah, and I think it was a responsibility as well, taking on a big responsibility to the fans, to Mike, to Dark Horse, to everybody involved, to [producer] Lloyd [Levin] and [producer] Larry [Gordon] who’ve carried the torch of this for quite some time."

So, why would Marshall want to even attempt to take on a project like HELLBOY in a reboot form? He explains:

"Well, I think, well, part of it was that challenge of filling those big shoes, of taking something that’s so well established and so what can we do that’s going to reinvent it some way, where that isn’t radically deviating from the source material, but in some ways, being more faithful to the source material. And I don’t know, I like a challenge, or maybe I’m just a sucker for punishment or something, but yeah, that was a big part of it. And then, I just saw so much potential in a darker, you know, more 'R-rated; version of the material. And you know, and instantly kind of, Mike Mignola connected with that concept as well, and then everybody else came on board to it. It was like, okay, so let’s go dark with it."

Marshall says there was freedom in going down the R-rated route, although they didn't chase that rating just for the sake of a rating.

"I think it’s no accident that we’re going down that route following the success or proven success of those kind of films that you can do that, you can do this kind of movie aimed at, you know, the adult audience, that in some ways it was always intended for, especially with this character and this material. So that didn’t hurt us, for sure. But it was never a case of like, it was always a case of when in doubt, go back to the source material and not go running wild and start throwing things in that didn’t belong to that world. So it was never a case of like, hey, we’ve got freedom to do whatever we want. But what it did feel like was, and you know, when they said it was good to do the R-rated thing, it just meant we weren’t making it with handcuffs on, in a way. It was like making it without limits, but not treating it as limitless, if that makes any sense."

In terms of this version of HELLBOY having more horror-like roots, Marshall agrees that approach is what he wanted.

"Yeah, it certainly has its roots more in that world of gothic horror, and I think that’s part of the texture of the film as well. Quite a bit of it’s set in the UK. And it ties in, it’s got a little bit of kind of like “Hammer” Gothic, you’re sitting in this amazing kind of old country house kind of thing. And it’s taking “Hellboy” out of his comfort zone, in some respects, and putting him into this different world that we’ve not seen him in before. But it definitely taps into kind of gothic horror sources and roots and all that kind of stuff that I love so much."

Marshall says that getting David Harbour to play HELLBOY was the only choice ever considered and the reasons for that took shape by way of some "Stranger Things", but that he had been a fan for a long time already.

"You know, I’ve been a fan of David’s for many, many years before he did 'Stranger Things'. And again, that certainly didn’t hurt. But David’s been doing amazing character work and just amazing performances throughout his career. And he’s a force of nature. He’s an incredible presence and it doesn’t hurt him that he’s like 6’5” and he’s a big fella and he’s just an amazing voice and those eyes that just like, captivate you immediately. He is a force of nature, and you feel that through the character. So it was like, once that name came into the mix, there was never anybody else considered. It was like, of course. He’s so right for it. And it was just from there on, it was like, that was our goal, get David Harbour.

He’s just giving such a great and original take on the material that I can—I mean, the thing is, I very rarely see him with all his makeup on. You know, he comes in in the morning and goes straight into makeup, he turns up on set in makeup and he leaves in makeup and then I don’t see him again. He comes in with all his makeup on. I’m like, I haven’t seen you in ages, how are you doing? So oh yeah, you were on set all day. So he’s become this character. And when he walks onto the set, he is Hellboy and I don’t see him as anything but Hellboy. Now it’s like it’s so difficult to get past the fact that it’s okay, I don’t see makeup anymore, I see Hellboy walk onto set. And he’s living and breathing that character until he leaves at the end of the day. So but his performance is just remarkable, absolutely remarkable."

Bringing in Milla Jovovich to play The Blood Queen offered the chance for HELLBOY to have a believable and strong villain to contend with and Marshall says she did not disappoint.

"Well, then you need somebody as brilliant as Milla to come and hold her own against that. And it is difficult because he’s such a presence, he’s a huge, great, red demon guy. And Milla comes in and just…next to him and still like, not drown him out, but you know, she’s there and a total presence and you feel it at every beat and every word she says and every moment and every look she gives him. And it’s like, okay, he’s got his work cut out for him, dealing with her. And she’s just amazing. She’s been so much fun to work with, such a pleasure and delivers this absolute powerhouse performance. And I wouldn’t say it took us by surprise, but it certainly put big smiles on our faces. You know, we knew she was going to be great, and she delivered tenfold. It was just fantastic."

While they did consider other villains, Marshall states that he kind of just wanted a female villain to "kick the shit" out of HELLBOY.

"It kind of went in a circle as though we absolutely started with the Blood Queen story, and then we kind of went, well, you know, is it the right one to do? And then we looked at some of the stories, and eventually came back to the Blood Queen as a great kind of opponent or nemesis for Hellboy in this particular story. And I think also for us just like having a female villain just felt good. It felt right and it was good that this woman comes along and kicks the shit out of Hellboy. Yeah, that’s cool."

With a heavy lean on practical effects for this new version of HELLBOY, Marshall says that was always the goal, but that CGI is certainly used to enhance those effects where needed.

"I think in an ideal world, it would just be great to do everything practical, as far as I’m concerned, anyway, because I love that. I come from the school of practical filmmaking wherever possible. It’s just—it isn’t always practical to do practical all of the time. It’s time consuming, and just some things are awkward, and even poor Gru is like, he’s beautiful and I love him, but it’s kind of awkward for Dougie to see out of the thing. And so, it does kind of have its limitations, which is always slightly unfortunate, especially if you want to get into elaborate action sequences or something. So you know, we’re trying to take the best of both worlds and do as much practically as we possibly can, and then let CG step in, if necessary, to either enhance or manipulate or something like that. I think for me, CG is so much better until you ask it to create a life. But it’s great at enhancing stuff that’s already alive or already real. And so, I think with Gru, you know, we’ve been using the practical as much as possible, but then, we’ll do some CG work on the eyes and making the mouth move a bit more fluidly for the dialogue and things like that, just to make him real. But the textures that you get on him and the way the light hits him is like, that’s what we want. That’s the real Gru. And that goes for several of the other characters as well that we’re doing this wherever possible, practical."

While there's been plenty of controversy over making a new HELLBOY without Guillermo del Toro, Marshall says he ultimately had an exchange with the director of the previous films and explained how it would be very different from his take, to which del Toro was cool with.

"I didn’t have a conversation. I had a very, very brief exchange because Guillermo and I have been good friends ever since, I don’t know, he was a fan of “The Descent” and we met at a few conventions and things like that. So it was always the case that I didn’t want to step on his toes and didn’t want him to get his nose put out, adjoined by this. So as soon as it became official that I was on board, I got in touch with him and just said like, you know, this is very, very different and I just want to make sure you’re cool with that. And he was like, you know, I’m totally cool with it. Totally magnanimous about it."

Marshall has spent a considerable amount of time working in TV as much as film, which he says is a great experience for a filmmaker, particularly when staying in the mindset of a director.

"You know, as a director, you think about it for two or three years, and then you get like a few weeks to actually do it, and then you have to just think about it for another two or three years. You can’t really practice it. You just have to do it. So TV is a great way for me, has been a great way for me to do more regular jobs and do two or three shows a year that just gets me on set and just gets me thinking in that mind space of being a director and trying to come up with ways to block scenes and ways to, you know, get shots and things like that. So I wouldn’t say it’s practice, because each one of those has been an amazing job in itself. But experience, more than anything, just a wonderful experience."

With the pressure of delivering a new iteration of the famed character, Marshall would simply like audiences to walk away from HELLBOY with a new take, rather than a comparison to what came before.

"I would love them to walk away having seen from their point of view, an original “Hellboy” movie. And some people just inadvertently kind of refer to it as HELLBOY 3. And I desperately want to avoid it. I don’t want it to be seen as that. It’s a successor to that thing. We’re not following on. So I’d just like people to see it in its own right, as a new take on “Hellboy”, and hopefully an amazing one."