It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster ride for Hellboy fans lately. Several months ago, Guillermo del Toro got our hopes up by saying that a third instalment in his series was looking likely. That didn’t last too long, however, as a month later the director announced that despite his best efforts, it just wasn’t going to happen. Thankfully, then, some bittersweet news arrived in May when we learned that the character would be coming back to the big screen, just in a different form.
As you no doubt know by now, Hellboy is being rebooted under the title Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen, with director Neil Marshall at the helm and David Harbour playing the titular hero. It was an announcement that came out of left field and while it wasn’t the same as getting a third outing from del Toro, fans were just happy that Red was going to see the inside of a theatre again. Plus, the R-rating and darker and more gruesome take on the character which we’ve been promised is definitely exciting and has us looking forward to seeing how this reboot turns out.
In fact, that’s something which Marshall touched on in a recent interview, saying that having the R-rating is like “taking the cuffs off,” allowing him to “make the movie he wants to make.”
“We’ve been granted permission to do it R-rated, which for me is just like taking the cuffs off. It’s like, okay, so now we can just make the movie we want to make. It’s not like I’m going to force it to be R-rated, but if it happens to come out that way, just because of my own sensibilities, then fine. And nobody’s going to stop us. So, that’s the main [difference]. And I’m sure, obviously, the success of things like Deadpool and Logan have not hurt that cause. But, also, when you go back the original material, it is kind of bloody, so I’m going to embrace that.”
Elsewhere in the interview, the director spoke about using practical effects, promising that he’ll try to keep things as real as he possibly can, which will no doubt please fans.
“It’s definitely going to be as practical as we can possibly make it. I love to do stuff in camera whenever I possibly can, and use CG as the amazing tool that it is, to enhance or expand upon the world, but not to use it to replace reality, when you can do it [for] real.”
Pitched as a darker and more gruesome take on the unruly hellspawn, Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen will likely be summoned in front of the cameras come September ahead of a theatrical release in 2018. Promo artwork for Marshall’s long-rumored revival reared its gnarly head at Cannes Film Festival late last month, which tells us that the reboot is further along than initially thought. As always, watch this space for more!
Published: Jun 26, 2017 11:05 pm