'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.
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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.
05:10Late 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.
05:18Definitely.
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.