NYCC '08: HELLBOY 2 MOVIE PANEL

[MichaelDoran]

Report by Anthony Duignan-Cabrera

If Guillermo del Toro’s movies are larger-than-life, it’s easy to see why. The portly Mexican native stormed the stage of New York Comic Con Saturday and it didn’t take him long to set the tone of the 30-minute Hellboy 2 panel: “It’s my privilege to introduce some cool mother-fu**ers!” he bellowed as Ron Perlman (Hellboy), Doug Jones (Abe Sapien), Luke Goss (Prince Nuada), Selma Blair (Liz Sherman), and Hellboy comic creator Mike Mignola took the stage.

Dark Horse publisher Mike Richardson was also on hand, in the audience but not on the stage, probably to make room for the cast of monsters from Hellboy 2 that appeared on the stage after they showed the latest trailer for the movie.

“This is Comic Con security,” joked del Toro.

The news for die-hard Hellboy fans was the announcement of the voice of favorite character Johann Kraus.

“We looked for Johann everywhere,” del Toro explained. “I originally thought of an actual German actor but the vocal quality was terrible. It sounded like a prolonged stomach cramp or fart.”

“I kept looking for someone, then on one good day I had an idea that (Family Guy creator) Seth McFarlane is the voice of Johann,” he explained.

Asked if it was easier to make the sequel, del Toro admitted it was “much more difficult to shoot this one. I have gained weight and I am older. The first movie was ambitious. It got to be $60 million after rebate. We knew we wanted this one to be two to three times bigger.”

However, del Toro said that after much wrangling he only got an $85 million budget: “That took a toll on my gonads.”

A fan asked how the cast and crew got along returning for the sequel which led to a slightly uncomfortable exchange where Perlman said it was “fine”, Jones commented that it was like a family and that “families do have issues” to which Blair said they “didn’t have any issues. No, it was love.”

del Toro lamented that due to time and budget constraints he was unable to create a three-headed bulldog licking its privates. He wanted it for the background of a scene, but he did promise to upload the sketches and a maquette of the cunning canine in the next few weeks.

Perlman lamented the usual discomfort of acting in full prosthetics but it “was a small sacrifice. I was so eager to get to the set every day. Sometimes I got a little impatient … I lost my temper.”

“He kicked me,” del Toro said. “He kicked me hard. “

del Toro was asked what his next projects were going to be. He wants to do the two-part Hobbit movies but legal issues stand in the way.

“It is my personal belief in the next four or five days it will be like watching the ending of American Idol with a very fat singer,” he said. “I can assure you very soon we will know I hope I get to do it I hope so.”

Like a lot of independent-minded visionaries, del Toro didn’t hide his disgust for “big Hollywood” but knows he has to play the game.

“The only thing I can control is smaller movies,” he said. “I have other (projects), but these things (Hellboy 2, Blade 2) need huge financing.”

He said he wants to do one final movie looking at children and horror following Pan’s Labyrinth and The Devil’s Backbone.

“It’s called Saturn and the End of Days and it’s about a kid watching the Rapture coming,” del Toro said. He described it as a film about a boy watching the world come to an end while he is out doing his chores. “I will be doing a small movie I will control that no one will do.”

“The small movies you have much more control. If I say this is the design of the fawn and the girl is going to do this or do that, that’s me. In Big Hollywood movies, you get a 50-page memo. It’s horrible. Independent filmmaking is like drawing a comic book, the Hollywood movie is like having five hands holding your hand while you’re drawing the comic book.”

[JLAJRC]

I hope the second movie is just as good as the first.

First!

[blind3rdeye]

From what I've seen, this movie looks spectacular!
The first one blew me away, and this looks set to do the same.

[albatross]

Seth McFarlane? INTERESTING. i'm not "worried" though because he's got several voices he can do.

i'm so ready for this movie. i love hellboy. and i know the movies are NOTHING like the comics but they're just a great addition to the mythos! i'm so ready.

[rwe1138]

Originally Posted by MichaelDoran

del Toro lamented that due to time and budget constraints he was unable to create a three-headed bulldog licking its privates. He wanted it for the background of a scene, but he did promise to upload the sketches and a maquette of the cunning canine in the next few weeks.

Yet another reason I love del Toro.

[TheNoirPI]

Seth McFarlane? I hope he's kidding.