Hellboy creator Mike Mignola has always had a specific creative vision for the iconic character, one that clashed with 2008’s Hellboy II: The Golden Army. Guillermo del Toro’s adaptation of Hellboy starring Ron Perlman received rave reviews and overall acclaim, but the filmmaker never got to finish his trilogy for a variety of reasons. 15 years later, Mignola co-wrote a vastly different Hellboy reboot named The Crooked Man, set to hit theaters later this year.
During an interview with Screen Rant for The Crooked Man, Mike Mignola reflects on Guillermo del Toro’s The Golden Army and his personal issues with the project. According to Mignola, he felt like his work on the film, which took three months of his career, was a waste as none of it appeared to impact what hit theaters. “I like being left alone to produce work that I can control,” Mignola states. He does not specify what aspects of the film bother him, but Mignola recognizes that his problems with The Golden Army stem from his personal experience working on it, not necessarily representing how audiences viewed the film.
“I came off that and was really unhappy with the second movie. That’s my own problem. I have no good perspective on the film. I just had my problems with the film, and coming off that film, I remember thinking, ‘Man, if I had spent those three months that I did in pre-production in my studio, I would’ve produced a comic or two that would be exactly what I wanted them to be.'”
Hellboy Creator Is Doing His Own Movie
Based on his comic of the same name, Mike Mignola closely worked on the upcoming, small-budget reboot titled Hellboy: The Crooked Man for Millennium Media. He co-wrote the film alongside director Brian Taylor and author Christopher Golden.The Crooked Man carries a much different tone than del Toro’s trilogy, opting to focus on the horror aspects of the story instead. The movie’s star, Jack Kesy (Deadpool 2), previously described The Crooked Man as the most faithful Hellboy project yet.
“It’s definitely very horror. It’s more faithful to Mike Mignola’s comics than anything before, so Mike’s very excited. You know, it’s literally pulled from the comic book almost frame by frame… It’s grounded, it’s darker, it’s rated R, it’s spookier, it’s grimier. It’s what I think Mike intended for it to be.”
The official trailer alone makes it clear Mignola has a much different, grounded vision for Hellboy than del Toro’s more fantastical version. The horror aspects are elevated, accompanied by a more grounded world-building approach. Granted, the production quality and overall tone seem like a step-down, a byproduct of it having a much smaller budget and a creator determined to make the project as different as possible to what audiences have grown accustomed to. That said, if the Hellboy creator feels like there has not been a faithful adaptation of his work, then maybe The Crooked Man could surpass admittedly low expectations.
Hellboy: The Crooked Man
is set to be released in theaters in 2024.