'Hellboy: The Crooked Man' Director Talks Working With 'Hellboy' Creator Mike Mignola at Comic-Con | THR Video - video Dailymotion

The Hollywood Reporter

'Hellboy: The Crooked Man' director Brian Taylor and stars Jack Kesy, Jefferson White and Adeline Rudolph chat with THR at San Diego Comic-Con and discuss their new film, working with 'Hellboy' creator Mike Mignola and more.

Transcript

00:00I'm not a fan of two and a half hour movies. I like movies to be short.

00:02You know, every movie I've ever made, it's like, I'm very happy to get in and out of there in like,

00:06you know, 90 minutes if I can. I've made movies that are 87 minutes long.

00:11That's more than enough time to take out of someone's life in the theater.

00:14You know, I don't need it to be an epic.

00:17See, but Deer Hunter would have, at 87 minutes,

00:19just imagine how much Deer Hunter would have cooked. You know what I mean?

00:25We are the cast and director of Hellboy the Crooked Man,

00:28and we're here with The Hollywood Reporter at Comic-Con 2024.

00:31Hellboy creator Mike Mignola said of the movie,

00:33if fans have been waiting for a Hellboy film that is actually an adaptation of one of my stories,

00:39I think they are finally going to get one.

00:41Why do you think Hellboy fans are going to love and enjoy this movie?

00:46Well, I mean, our whole intention going into this thing was,

00:49it has nothing to do with any of the other movies.

00:51My thought was like, let's make this movie with an audience of one.

00:55Mike Mignola, if he's happy, then we're happy.

00:58And if he feels like we've got the authentic character for the first time on screen in his eyes,

01:03then we've succeeded.

01:05So that was the way we went into it.

01:06We went back to the source material,

01:08and this is a true adaptation of really one of the most beloved and iconic

01:13pieces of comic book literature, which was the original Hellboy the Crooked Man.

01:17And that's what we set out to do, and hopefully we did it.

01:20Mike has called the Crooked Man his favorite of the Hellboy stories.

01:24Why do you think this particular story is so special?

01:28I think it's dark.

01:29I think it's scary.

01:30I think it's grimy.

01:31I think it's grounded.

01:32I think it's less, I don't want to say caricatury.

01:36Maybe that's mean.

01:38But I think it's not to be too vague, but it's very different.

01:44It's rated R, I believe, from what I know, right?

01:48That's what I heard.

01:48Yeah, so grimy.

01:51You know, it's a bit dirty and dark, and it's a new spin.

01:57I think it's my favorite, not to be biased, but I'm looking forward to it.

02:02Did you study the other film portrayals of Hellboy at all before taking on the role,

02:06or did you just focus on making it your own?

02:09I did see the original, I guess you call it,

02:12the original Hellboy that Guillermo del Toro did a long time ago.

02:15But no, I kind of take it as it comes.

02:17I get the script, I work with the director, and we just keep moving forward day by day.

02:23He actually really didn't need to reference any other versions of Hellboy,

02:26because he sort of is Hellboy.

02:29In his audition, the first thing he does is he lights up a rolled cigarette and eats it.

02:34That happened, and I was like...

02:36That was my last strike.

02:37Yeah, I'm like, he's kind of the guy.

02:40He kind of looks like Hellboy, he's sarcastic, he's sort of annoying,

02:44but he also is sort of like, I mean, look at him.

02:47How is this film different from the other Hellboy movies we've seen before?

02:53I mean, the story is different.

02:54It's a period piece.

02:55It's very focused.

02:57It's very intimate.

02:59It really sort of leans on the Southern Gothic genre.

03:04I think down to its very bones, it feels like handmade in a way that the comics do.

03:10I think something that people really respond to with those comics

03:13is that Mike sees them all the way through.

03:16He's like a real auteur.

03:17And I feel like Brian is also a real auteur.

03:20The way this movie is lit, the harsh contrast, the shadows.

03:24I was amazed when the teaser trailer came out, I was so delighted

03:27because fans were taking frames from the comic

03:30and putting them side by side with frames from the trailer.

03:34And that was so...

03:34I didn't even realize that.

03:36You were like recreating comic frames directly.

03:40So it's so cool.

03:41Yeah, I think that's a really...

03:42That contrast, I think, is going to be really apparent.

03:45And yeah, I love the other Hellboy films.

03:47I really do.

03:48Like Hellboy 2, The Golden Army, is an incredible, spectacular film.

03:55It's a beautiful, massive...

03:57The scale is huge.

03:59This is a very different movie.

04:02It's a very different story.

04:04But they do share some common DNA in, I think, a way that's really gratifying.

04:10And maybe just to add to that, I think this movie is much more stripped back.

04:14It kind of leans more into the horror aspect of the comics,

04:18kind of how they were more intentioned in the comic books as well with Dark Horse.

04:21And so, yeah, there's just this element of...

04:24I think fans were excited about that too.

04:26It's less action-packed per se.

04:28Not to say that there isn't any action.

04:30There's definitely some action.

04:32But it really focuses on this journey that Hellboy goes on,

04:36meeting these very weird and creepy and fantastical creatures along the way.

04:41Well, another way is one's different from the other ones is you.

04:45Oh, yeah, I exist. Yeah.

04:46No, you're a new character.

04:49Yes, so I'm not...

04:50My character, Bobby Jo Song, isn't in the original comic book.

04:55But she is a BPRD agent that's a rookie,

04:58excited to go on this journey with Hellboy.

05:00And I'm really excited that I got to bring her to life.

05:03Yeah.

05:04Also, I want to add, I think it's specifically set in,

05:09I want to say the 50s.

05:10Late 50s.

05:11And we definitely pulled some elements out of the 50s and try to keep it in.

05:15So essentially, it's kind of a period piece.

05:18Definitely.

05:19And that was kind of fun.

05:20And we see Hellboy, essentially, he is a younger version of what Hellboy usually is.

05:26And I think we get to see a Hellboy who's kind of trying to be just a young man.

05:31But unfortunately, he doesn't really resemble one.

05:33So he has that kind of neurosis of just want to be a guy,

05:37but don't kind of look like a guy.

05:39I just want the girls and the music.

05:41But I've got a destiny to fulfill and save humankind, which sucks.

05:44But I got to do it, you know.

05:46Anyway, I'm done.

05:48Brian, how did you bring the 50s to life on screen in this film?

05:52Well, it's interesting, because this is like a folk horror.

05:54It's a cabin in the woods kind of movie, right?

05:56So there's not 50s cars and 50s signage and things like that you can lean on.

06:01So it was a bit of a challenge sort of evoking the 50s.

06:05And some of it is in dialogue.

06:07People talk a little bit different.

06:08We tried to get as much 50s vernacular and slang in as we could that felt authentic.

06:13Music was the way we did it.

06:16Set design, to some extent.

06:18But it really, you know, it's just sort of a buy-in, you know.

06:25One great thing about that is you don't got to deal with cell phones,

06:28which just ruin every single movie, you know.

06:30So it was kind of nice.

06:31You know, the comic book was set in the late 50s.

06:33And there was some talk early on about, like, maybe this should be contemporary.

06:37And I pushed back very strongly about that.

06:38You know, it's like, no, this is the Crooked Man.

06:40This is Mike's comic.

06:41And it should be set the way the comic is set.

06:43There's a lot of reasons why it's that way.

06:45And we're going all in.

06:48The film has been called a return to Hellboy's indie horror roots.

06:51What's your take on that description?

06:53Yeah, well, that's sort of like, I'm a big, I'm a comic book guy.

06:57And I actually think, no exaggeration, I mean, I feel Mike Mignola is a genius.

07:03I mean, how many people, how many people have created an entire comic book

07:08universe that is part of the zeitgeist and it's a household name?

07:12But they're not part of Marvel.

07:13They're not part of DC.

07:14They're unaffiliated.

07:15He's a total indie.

07:16It all came from the brain of one guy.

07:18That's really, really special.

07:20So I have a ton of respect for him as a creator.

07:23And the whole thing going in was like, again, we want to honor him.

07:28And what he was doing with those books, it was a different feeling.

07:33It wasn't a big spectacular, right?

07:35It was sort of like a, almost like a procedural.

07:38It was like a folk horror night stalker kind of thing of Hellboy is this, you know,

07:42sort of wandering soul, you know, who stumbles onto these hauntings and dark forces.

07:47And he's a plumber.

07:48He's going to do something about it if you need him.

07:50And that to me is like the sort of essential Hellboy.

07:53And I think this is the first time we've really seen that version of Hellboy on screen.

08:00I know Mike was really excited about it.

08:02There's been some talk online about the runtime of the film.

08:05Can you share what the runtime is and what went into that decision?

08:10Like what kind of talk?

08:13Some talk that it's like less than two hours.

08:15Some people were saying that maybe it's kind of short.

08:18Oh, yeah.

08:18I mean, we, yeah, I don't know how to respond to that.

08:22We, we used what we shot, you know, I, you know, I got to say personally, like,

08:29I'm not a fan of two and a half hour movies.

08:31I like movies to be short.

08:32You know, every movie I've ever made.

08:33It's like, I'm very happy to get in and out of there in like, you know, 90 minutes if I can.

08:39I've made movies that are 87 minutes long.

08:41That's more than enough time to take out of someone's life in the theater.

08:43You know, I don't need it to be an epic.

08:47See, but Deer Hunter would have at 87 minutes.

08:49Just imagine how much Deer Hunter would have cooked.

08:51You know what I mean?

08:51So, uh, yeah, it's, uh, I don't, I, I, this is not a sprawling epic.

08:58You know, this is not a, this is not a space opera.

09:00This is a small story about, um, um, you know, uh, sort of normal people that are in over

09:06their heads with trouble that they didn't deserve.

09:08And Hellboy is going to help them get out of it.

09:10And I, I, I think the movie is the correct link to tell the story we were trying to tell.

09:15There are too many three hour movies now, to be honest.

09:18It's like, we don't want to sit in the theater for three, three and a half hours.

09:21Yeah.

09:21I need two bathroom breaks in a movie like that.

09:26You got to scroll.

09:26That's true.

09:28I mean, I'm like smuggling a sandwich into the theater.

09:30I can't do it.

09:31It's like three hours.

'Hellboy: The Crooked Man' Director Talks Working With 'Hellboy' Creator Mike Mignola at Comic-Con | THR Video

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