Mike Mignola had a bit of a guiding hand in Guillermo del Toro‘s ‘Hellboy‘ films though seems to be standing back a bit on the rebooted series. Mignola was heavily involved in the “pre-production and design” of the first set of movies but doesn’t plan on doing much of that going forward. At least, not for the first film. We’ve already known that director Neil Marshall is planning on taking ‘Hellboy’ in a completely different direction than the original film released back in 2004 and it sounds like it could mean that it will be truer to the comics in some regards.
So how involved does Mignola say he’ll end up being? While speaking to The Verve, he explained:
“I’m a weird kind of co-executive producer. I’m not actually sure what my title is, but unlike the del Toro movies, where I was active in pre-production and design, I’m not doing that this time around.”
This lack of involvement could be worrisome for some fans. However, that doesn’t mean Mignola was completely hands off as he did provide some initial guidance that will help shape what we’re going to see:
“When the decision was made to do another movie, I got involved, basically saying, ‘If you’re going to do that story, don’t do this, or that, change this, and that.’ I helped to steer it.”
Not only that, but he was also intimately involved with how the reboot even came into being as:
“Christopher Golden and I did write a couple of drafts of the screenplay and got it on track, and then the decision was made to do a reboot. I really just get questions about how things work, and while I’m not doing a lot, I’ve been talking with the creature-design guy and the makeup guy to get the look of Hellboy and his hand, and things like that.”
Since we’re going to get an R-rating this time around that does open up the franchise for some of the darker material which Mignola has penned or had shown on paper over the years as:
“It’ll lean in the horror direction, more so than the fantasy direction del Toro was doing. When [director] Neil [Marshall] came on, we decided to go for an R rating, so he doesn’t have his hands tied, and so he can go as dark and as tough as he wants to go. I was a fan of his, and when he came onboard, I thought it was terrific: now it’s really going to be an action-horror film.”
I have a feeling that means we’ll see some of the cosmic Lovecraftian horrors showcased a bit more front and center. However, we won’t know until more news from the film starts to surface.
Are you looking forward to a reboot of ‘Hellboy’? Do you think that Mignola stepping back a little will help or hinder the final product? Share your thoughts below!
