David Harbour Was The Only Actor Considered To Play The New Hellboy

While two highly-anticipated superhero events — Avengers: Endgame and Shazam! — are releasing in theaters less than a month from now, there is a third movie sitting in the shadows. Years after filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro made two movies based on the Dark Horse Comics character Hellboy, Lionsgate is releasing a new reboot starring Big Red next month. Unfortunately for fans of Del Toro’s unique spin on the half-demon superhero, however, Ron Perlman will not be reprising his role but instead will be replaced by David Harbour.

The star has had a solid career in Hollywood, one that was only elevated tremendously after featuring as Jim Hopper in the hit Netflix series Stranger Things. During a recent set interview, Hellboy director Neil Marshall said that his crew had their eyes set on Harbour as the leading role far before the actor’s days playing the chief sheriff of Hawkins, Indiana. In fact, the filmmaker claimed that he never even considered anyone else to play Big Red.

“You know, I’ve been a fan of David’s for many, many years before he did ‘Stranger Things’,” Marshall said. “And again, that certainly didn’t hurt. But David’s been doing amazing character work and just amazing performances throughout his career. And he’s a force of nature. He’s an incredible presence and it doesn’t hurt him that he’s like 6’5” and he’s a big fella and he’s just an amazing voice and those eyes that just like, captivate you immediately.

He is a force of nature, and you feel that through the character. So it was like, once that name came into the mix, there was never anybody else considered. It was like, of course. He’s so right for it. And it was just from there on, it was like, that was our goal, get David Harbour.”

After placing all of his bets on Harbour, it seems like Marshall has no regrets with his decision. The director went on to say that when Harbour was on set, he fully embraced the character of Hellboy and kept his makeup on for the entire day of shooting the film.

“He’s just giving such a great and original take on the material that I can—I mean, the thing is, I very rarely see him without all his makeup on,” Marshall said. “You know, he comes in in the morning and goes straight into makeup, he turns up on set in makeup and he leaves in makeup and then I don’t see him again. He comes in with all his makeup on. I’m like, I haven’t seen you in ages, how are you doing?

So oh yeah, you were on set all day. So he’s become this character. And when he walks onto the set, he is Hellboy and I don’t see him as anything but Hellboy. Now it’s like it’s so difficult to get past the fact that it’s okay, I don’t see makeup anymore, I see Hellboy walk onto set. And he’s living and breathing that character until he leaves at the end of the day. So but his performance is just remarkable, absolutely remarkable.”

While there isn’t an overwhelming amount of hype surrounding the upcoming Hellboy reboot, these comments certainly support the idea that the flick could be great. Both trailers have looked gritty, entertaining and dark, and if there’s any indication on whether or not the film turns out to be any good, look no further than David Harbour. Even if there are weaker elements that end up bogging down the movie as a whole, it’s very likely that the star will deliver a kick-ass and compelling performance when Hellboy releases in theaters on April 12th.