Hellboy: The Crooked Manwill be the latest adaptation of the comic book franchise created by Mike Mignola, which starsJack Kesyin the role previously played on screen by Ron Perlman and David Harbour. While there are plenty of fans still longing to see Perlman take on the role one more time in a belated sequel, this new version is a very different take to the previous movies, and it seems this is something that finally makes the creator happy.
The new adaptation looks to be a chilling and faithful rendition of the iconic comic series of the same name by Mignola. Mignola has been thoroughly involved in the process, and you can tell by the very first frame of the trailer that his style has rubbed off on the production, which should give fans what they have been looking for; horror. While reactions to the first trailer for the movie were very mixed, it seems that Mignola has never been particularly positive about the previous screen versions of his material. Mignola spoke during SDCC about his thoughts on the films, saying,
" Every one of them has been a very different experience, but as somebody who’s had mixed feelings about the earlier films, the one lesson I learned is if I can get in at the very beginning, and at some point, you know you’re gonna lose. I mean you never have control but you feel like you have control at the beginning, and then you hope that somebody doesn’t take apart the thing you built. That happens."
Hellboy: The Crooked Man
Hellboy: The Crooked Manis set in the 1950s, complimenting the spooky tone of this particularHellboyAdventure. The film finds the character, Cambion, trapped in rural Appalachia, where he becomes caught up in a local conspiracy involving witches and a malevolent figure controlling them. The movie is a very detailed adaptation of one of Mignola’s most beloved runs with the character;The Crooked Man. It happens to be Mignola’s favoriteHellboyarc, merging elements from two different stories while adding some backstory.
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Unlike previous entries, Mignola’s deep involvement in the project has been crucial to maintaining the film’s accuracy. At SDCC Mignola said,
“So often I would come in late on projects where somebody else had already put the pieces together in a way that didn’t quite fit. And this time, I got a chance to say, ‘We’re going to do The Crooked Man, we’re going to stick to that story.’ We need to add a little bit of backstory. So we borrowed it from one other story so we didn’t have to make up new stuff. And this time, I got a chance to say, ‘We’re going to do The Crooked Man, we’re going to stick to that story.’ We need to add a little bit of backstory. So we borrowed it from one other story so we didn’t have to make up new stuff.”
A Director Who Understands the Vision
Brian Taylor, the director ofHellboy: The Crooked Man,seems to understand how to work in the system. Brian Taylor is mainly known for his work on theCrankseries. However, he is showing his horror props with the footage released so far fromThe Crooked Man. Taylor’s absolute love for the source material is clear in his approach to the film. At SDCC Mignola gave Taylor some praise, saying,
“When we first talked, Brian said, ‘Let’s just go back to the way the real story was written.’ So you think you might be in good company when that happens.”
This shared vision between the two surprised Mignola. He added,
“This is the only movie where I wasn’t on set at all but the only movie where I’ve actually seen dailies every day so it was about one day behind where they were shooting. Almost every day was amazement of, ‘Oh my god that looks like that, this looks like this. Oh my god, they used the same angle for that shot.’ It really was that amazing thing of seeing your work brought to life.”
As fans await the 2024 release,Hellboy The Crooked Manlooks more promising day by day, proving that with the right creative team, the magic of Mignola’s original work can be captured on film. We will see whether it resonates the same way with fans later this year.
