Trivia / Hellboy (2019)

• Author's Saving Throw: Ed Skrein was originally cast as Daimio, causing a massive backlash for casting a white actor in a half-Asian role. Skrein hadn't known Daimio is half-Asian in the comics, and upon finding out he promptly withdrew in favor of Korean actor Daniel Dae Kim who was accepted (despite not being biracial either). In turn, the casting of Daniel Dae Kim was criticized for not being Japanese.
• Awesome, Dear Boy: Milla Jovovich, according to her Instagram, wanted to work on the movie due to being a fan of both Stranger Things and Deadwood, both of which had David Harbour and Ian McShane, respectively.
• Box Office Bomb: Budget, $50 million. Box office, $21.9 million (domestic), $43 million (worldwide). The following weekend saw it drop between 68 to 73%, and then dropped 91% in its third. This is mostly attributed to the poor critical reviews and general lack of interest in the reboot, and the release of Avengers: Endgame shortly afterward. When David Harbour hosted Saturday Night Live several months later, he made a crack about the film clearly expecting a crickets reaction, and said he was surprised when several people actually applauded.
• Channel Hop: This film is produced and distributed by Lionsgate, whilst the previous Hellboy film was from Universal Pictures/Relativity Media.
• Creator Backlash: Director Neil Marshall didn't enjoy directing the film, and thats a understatement. As elaborated by him, Marshal faced a lot of difficulties:
  • Marshall signed on the idea of a darker, horror version of Hellboy, only to find the script was terrible and it wouldn't improve before the movie started filming, despite many attempts to re-write it.
  • He consistently faced loads of Executive Meddling from the producers interfering and contradicting his creative vision all the way to post-production, with all creative control stripped from him at several points.
  • In the end, Marshall regretted his decision to make the film. He concluded that "You can't polish a turd, no matter how much you try" and called the film "god awful" and the worst professional experience of his life.
• Dueling Dubs: There's two Latin American Spanish dubs: One dubbed in Mexico exclusively for that country, handled by Imagem Filmes, and another one done in Argentina, handled by Digi Cine.
• Dyeing for Your Art: David Harbour, who'd never worked out before, did extensive training to get into shape to play Hellboy. He also created his own makeshift costume out of sports equipment so he'd be ready to better handle the extensive make-up and prosthetics he'd have to wear.
• Fake Brit: Daniel Dae Kim, Milla Jovovich, and Sasha Lane are all Americans playing Brits (albeit Jovovich has dual U.S.-British nationality through her marriage to Paul W.S. Anderson).
• Flip-Flop of God: Mike Mignola initially said he enjoyed the movie and was amazed at moments that came straight out of his comics, and also said he doesn't care about the critical backlash it received. Though after the film was released he walked back some of his comments (he praised the actors, but criticised the tone and some story choices), implying that the Troubled Production mentioned below also involved cutting any input from him.
• Not Screened for Critics: Critics had to wait until the film's opening day to review it, and they were unfavorable to say the least.
• Release Date Change: The film was previously scheduled to be released on January 11, 2019. It was moved to April 12, 2019.
• Role Reprise: In the Argentinian Spanish dub, Mario De Candia, who voiced the titular character in the second dubbed version of the 2004 film, reprises the role once again.
• Stillborn Franchise: Although the film sets up several Sequel Hooks, it got awful reviews from critics and general audiences and majorly bombed at the box office, and it was eventually announced in early 2023 that the next Hellboy film adaptation would be another reboot unrelated to this film.
• Troubled Production: According to insider report, there was a lot of on-set clashing between director Neil Marshall and several of the film's sixteen producers, most prominently Lawrence Gordon and Lloyd Levin. As noted above, Marshal himself confirmed many of this reports to be true in a later interview.
  • Partway in production, Sam McCurdy, Marshall's go-to cinematographer, was fired and replaced for undisclosed reasons, with an alleged claim that Gordon and Levin "were trying to send a message to Marshall that despite being the film's director, Marshall was not in charge" (though Levin's attorney denies this).
  • Several on-set reports claimed that Levin frequently interrupted Marshall during actor rehearsals, seemingly as an attempt to override him as the director. Two insiders also claimed that David Harbour repeatedly walked off set, refusing Marshall's requests for more takes, though this was also denied by Levin's attorney. Marshall himself said "I would have all creative control taken away from me to extreme levels" when directing the film.
  • The script went through several rewrites during production, with some allegedly being done in part by David Harbour and Ian McShane themselves.
  • Numerous dispues between Marshall and the producers ensued, including a prolonged one between Marshall and Levin about whether a "surreal tree" featured in the film was to be symmetrical or not, with claims that it began as realistic and asymmetrical to Marshall's vision, was overruled by Levin and became symmetrical, then became asymmetrical again during post-production.
• Uncredited Role: Gary Martin as the voice of the Giants.
• What Could Have Been:
  • The movie originally began production as a sequel to 2008's Hellboy II: The Golden Army, but Creative Differences led to Guillermo del Toro and Ron Perlman both leaving, thus causing a long hiatus until it was decided to reboot following the rise of R-rated superhero movies.
  • Ed Skrein was originally cast to play Ben Daimio, but dropped out when he learned that his character is of Asian descent in the comics and didn't want to whitewash his role. Daniel Dae Kim took his place.
  • Doug Jones was offered a cameo but was unable to participate due to commitments to Star Trek: Discovery.
  • Had the film managed to be successful enough, a sequel would have introduced a very different, thug-like Abe Sapien, according to make-up artist Joel Harlow.
• Working Title: The movie's title was Hellboy: The Blood Queen initially, before reverting to simply Hellboy.

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