HB II:Set Visit Oct 2007

Oct 21, 2007

http://www.ugo.com/ugo/html/article/?id=18184&sectionId=7

By Kyle Braun

It was clear from the get-go that Guillermo Del Toro, chosen as the man who would bring the Hellboy comics to life, was anxious to get back to the burgeoning live-action Dark Horse Comics franchise. The first film in 2004 put Hellboy on the mainstream map, but Del Toro’s second foray into the Hellboy world was plagued by defunct movie studios and questions over the rights to the characters. Somehow, through all of the adversity, the Pan’s Labyrinth director persevered and Hellboy II: The Golden Army finally got off the ground in the hills above Budapest, Hungary.

Luckily, in October 2007, we were on hand for a few days to sneak an inside peek at what fans can expect from the live-action sequel, which hits theaters on July 11, 2008.

After soaking in the view of the Danube River, which divides Budapest almost perfectly in half, the real work was about to get underway. The sun had set, and the small clique of reporters were taken to dine Hungarian-style. But before we were able to sample the local fare, we were graced by the company of the newest additions to the Hellboy franchise. First up at the table was newcomer Anna Walton, for whom Hellboy II marks the beginning of her acting career. Next was rock-star-turned-actor Luke Goss, the other new face to the series. While Anna is transformed into the benign royal of Princess Nuala in the upcoming film, Goss counters with Prince Nuada, Nuala’s twin brother and the newest villain in the franchise. It’s their close but conflicted relationship that injects valuable supporting substance to the story.

As Goss revealed, the dynamic between the on-screen twin brother-sister relationship is oddly familial yet interestingly layered on a deeper, more personal level, “For me, it’s really a great dynamic. There are a few… but there’s a dynamic there, we’ve made sure, as far as I admire her, revere her almost, but there is an incestuous relationship that’s not maybe overly obvious to everybody. But some people, hopefully, will pick up on the fact, certainly from my direction towards her. She’s the recipient most definitely of a very appreciative brother.” As for Walton, despite the sensitivity of the subtext within their relationship, the young actress understands their bond, “… we both picked up on it, the incestuousness, from him to me not from her to him. He can’t differentiate between this sexual feeling and protection. And the way I see them is that they’re almost the same person. He’s the dark side and she’s the light side and they’re pulled apart and pulled back together again and she’s trying to get away because she knows there is something she has to do. He can’t let that go and they can’t really do anything without each other, so it’s a really interesting thing.”

As dinner came to a close, with the newbies fully interviewed, it was onto a bus headed for the outskirts of the city. After a good 20 miles, passing tiny villages, highways and a picturesque mountain, the bus came to a halt atop a foggy hill. Where the hell(boy) were we? It soon became obvious that Korda Studios was no ordinary production studio. Sound stages were under development, expansive fields were lined with construction equipment, and the entire place had a state-of-the-art feel. Sure enough, as we soon discovered, Korda Studios in Etyek, Hungary is one of, if not the newest, film studios in Eastern Europe. Incidentally, Hellboy II: The Golden Army was the first project to set up shop. After the film takes flight this summer, who knows, maybe they’ll name a studio after Guillermo.

After sneaking on to one of the sound stages, we were then treated to a feast: filming was about to get underway, and Guillermo Del Toro himself arrived to give us a heads up on what was about to go down. “It’s a scene with Hellboy and The Angel of Death,” Del Toro set-up. “It takes place in Bethmora, which is a dead world, the world of magic, the world of death. In between his lair, there’s a little goblin in the background who has no legs in the pantry of death.” But that wasn’t ALL that was happening. Hellboy was right there, front and center in the scene, and Liz Sherman was about to get involved… in a very big way. To say anything more would spoil a good deal of the film, but it’s definitely the emotional heartbeat of the movie. Given the time-crunch on set, chatting with Del Toro was sporadic at best. At 1:00am, it was clear he was dedicated to the craft…. and the budget.

By far, the best part was the make-up on the Angel of Death. Imagine an eyeless face, punctuated by razor-sharp teeth, a vertical crack spanning the length of the face, and wings adorned with eyeballs, blinking a horrific sound. Looking back, the Angel of Death was one of the most masterfully created creature effects on-set, but you’ll have to wait for our chat with the man behind the mask, Doug Jones. It’s well worth the wait since he plays three different parts in the sequel.

Next it was back outdoors to a cold, gusty, fog-laden hilltop only a few hundred feet from the sound stages. Though scaffolding was all that could be seen from the rear, a vibrant spectacle awaited on the other side: New York City. A small neighborhood underneath the Brooklyn Bridge, recreated in the frozen Hungarian wilderness. The re-creation was strikingly uncanny, to say the least – post boxes on each corner of the intersection, a movie theatre, an auto wrecker, and a cross that read “Sin Will Find You Out”. A massive section of road was in ruins where a big brawl took place. We’ll all have to wait until the final film to see how it all went down.

Next we we took a look at series of conceptual artwork for sets, and more importantly, the creatures. From what we could see, each set and set piece had their own unique appeal, from a set built entirely in a rock quarry to the final showdown set that was suspended from a hockey arena. But, like I mentioned, the real goodies were the creature stats. The title characters, the Golden Army, stand at 12 feet tall when unfurled while the real-life props of the compacted soldiers stand just over 6 feet. But, in the grand scheme, they’re the small fish. The blueprints called for a 45 foot tall Stone Giant, and an Elemental that stood somewhere in the neighborhood of 60 feet. As we discovered, the set got appropriately bigger and bigger for a big movie.

After touring what we could, the next stop was the talent. First up was Selma Blair. As one of the few actresses who looks a lot hotter in real life than on-screen, it was cool to listen to her chat about re-visiting the role of Liz Sherman and stepping come back to the Hellboy universe. Next was creature man Doug Jones, still fully garbed up as the Angel of Death. Not only does Jones take on the villainous Angel role, but he also plays Abe Sapien (in his own voice), and the character of Chamberlain as well, which easily earned him the title of the hardest-working man on set.

Look for our full interviews to roll out individually throughout the week.

After chatting with Blair and Jones, the moment we had been waiting for… never came. Before we could get to Hellboy Ron Perlman, he was crippled by the flu. Given the rigors of filming until 5 am on top of a mountain 20 miles outside Budapest, it wasn’t a surprise. To ease the pain, Guillermo Del Toro met with us one last time on the New York City set where we were treated to one last surprise: Hellboy’s firearm – The big daddy, the Revolver from Hell. And with that plus a quick stop at the effects department, at whatever ungodly hour it was, Guillermo Del Toro bid us farewell and our Hellboy experience was mostly over.