After over a decade away from the big screen, Big Red is making a comeback in 2019. Hellboy is getting the reboot treatment – and while fans of the Guillermo del Toro films might be disappointed that his trilogy-capper never materialised, a new take from director Neil Marshall and comic creator Mike Mignola promises to spin the material back towards its more horror-inflected roots. As well as leaning into an R-rating, the titular character is getting a gruffer, grittier makeover with Stranger Things’ David Harbour underneath the horns. And this time, he’s more brutal.
“There’s really a sense that you’re actually killing things, even if they are giants or monsters,” Harbour tells Empire in the new Ultimate 2019 Preview issue. “You’re chopping their heads off, you’re bathing in their blood and you’re feeling the complex feelings of actually cutting the heart out of another thing. We’re taking the time to deal with the fact that Hellboy is a killer. He’s a weapon.”
Here’s an exclusive image of Harbour’s Hellboy with Ian McShane as his father figure Professor ‘Broom’ Bruttenholm, previously played in the del Toro films by John Hurt.
Read much more about Hellboy in the February 2019 issue of Empire, hitting newsstands on Thursday 27 December.
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