I'm into spleens today kid...
Ron Perlman is a certifiable CHUD favorite, and possessor of a mug like no other in Hollywood. He’s the kind of man that can shoot you a look and and without a word you’re surrendering whatever organ he’s in the mood for. He’s a brute. A lover. He’s also Hellboy from time to time and he talked about that and more in an interview with i09 about his prominent role in Season of the Witch (witch which witch I see tonight in order to warn or encourage).
I will say, in reference to Season of the Witch, the interview did it’s job as Perlman discussing his chemistry with Nic Cage, the grotesquery of the plague effects, and Christopher Lee’s icky appearance have me fairly interested to give the film a chance. More importantly though, he discusses the role Guillermo Del Toro has written for him in At the Mountains of Madness…
“The movie takes place in the North Pole, and so I’m on board as this sort of dog sled dude. I spend my entire life with these dogs. So I’m a rough guy, among all these scientists. I’m a contrast to the deeply intellectual world that’s being explored. I live outside all the time, I live in the elements. I’m a no-bullshit kind of guy in a world of guys who just live in their heads. So it’s a beautiful role to play, given that backdrop. I kick some butt I hope we get a chance to do it.”
He’s quick to caution fans that scheduling is still a major concern, as At the Mountain of Madness still has yet to get a firm start date, and he’s got a tricky TV schedule to weather.
UPDATE: Along with Perlman’s comments, we now also have a well-timed statement or two from producer James Cameron from FearNet- he starts off saying the same things we’ve heard before about how he got involved with the project (longtime friend of Guillermo, right time and project, etc.) but he reiterates that his role is a producer, not a writer or co-director…
“He’s got a real vision for the film. It’s very, very well-developed in his mind. You know, I’m just there to facilitate his vision. I don’t have any strong sense of authorship; zero sense of authorship. I’m just there to try to get it made and help him do the movie that’s in his head.”
As for the status of the project? Things are going smoothly, although as Perlman mentioned, there’s no set date. There’s still plenty to figure out, no matter how many great creatures and effects have been designed.
“Oh we’re very, very actively pre-producing the film right now with Universal. The design work is phenomenal, both the three-dimensional and two-dimensional design work, the physical maquettes, the CG test scenes; the artwork is phenomenal. The fans certainly won’t want for a visual feast with this film. But there’s a bunch of number-crunching and “How you gonna do it?” and “How you gonna make it?”; “Where you gonna do it?” All that stuff.”
But even more tricky to schedule? A third Hellboy film. He comments on the pair’s habit of blaming the other for the minimal activity, even though it’s clear there’s no financial demand, and the relationship with Mignola’s source comics have gotten kind of sticky (the comic artist isn’t too keen on a film beating him to his ending). That said, it’s obvious Del Toro and Perlman both want to finish out what has obviously always been seen as a long-term story that requires an ending.
“Yeah he’s blaming me and I’m blaming him. I know it’s kind of like Laurel and Hardy, Martin and Lewis, or Abbott and Costello. Hellboy 2 was not an easy shoot. Both of us walked away very tired and very beat up. But a lot of time and lot of water has gone under the bridge, I’m well healed – and just knowing what his idea was for the third installment of the trilogy and how epic and theatrical and powerful a film it would be, it’s got to be made. I really feel like its got to be made. It would be a great disservice to the first two films if you don’t see how they wind up.”
As for what a third film would cover?
“The only thing I can share with you is we have this demon who is a victim of this Oracle, which is not negotiable. He’s been summoned to the Earth for the destruction of mankind, and that’s non-negotiable. This whole notion that his nature, is the demon of destruction — against the way he’s been nurtured by his father, John Hurt’s character, to be kind and in the service of mankind. Those things are going to be in play in the third one. Then of course you have Liz pregnant with twins at the end of the second film. So you don’t know what those two offspring are going to be? Are they going to be more human? Are they going to be more demon? Are they going to be a combination of the two? And how is that going to play out, in terms of Hellboy’s destiny. Which I say again is non-negotiable. So that’s the backdrop for the third film…”
Frankly, I want it. As fun as all of Hellboy II was, nothing was more interesting and striking than the Angel of Death’s appearance and promise of the doom to come. I’m not usually one to demand unnecessary darkness from my entertainment, but I want to see Guillermo turned loose on a full-on hellish apocalypse- the kind the opening and climax of the first film could only tease. I have no problem quietly crossing my fingers that Madness succeeds on the kind of scale that would allow Guillermo to finish out his trilogy, and finish it out in style.
i09 has the rest of his elaboration and some more Season of the Witch quotes that you can check out, but this should be plenty to get you talking on the new CHUD MESSAGE BOARDS or down in the comments below. Let us know how much (if at all) you’d like to see the apocalyptic end to the Hellboy series.