Richard sat down with “Hellboy” star David Harbour to talk about how he prepared to play Big Red.
“Because the [Hellboy] outfit is so extraordinary, the latex mask and the body is so big, I needed something to rehearse in. They can’t apply it [for rehearsal] because it requires however many thousand dollars a day to apply that makeup. So I went to Paragon Sports in New York and made myself this homemade Hellboy outfit. I bought a wetsuit and all this hockey padding. I sewed together two big catcher shin guard things and put a hockey glove on the end of it. Then I got a wig, put some coffee cup holders for my horns, and put little weights on my face so that I could feel the tension that. It was a whole sports rig.”
A weekly feature from ctvnews.ca! The Crouse Review is a quick, hot take on the weekend’s biggest movies! This week Richard looks at “Hellboy” starring David Harbour as Big Red, the stop-motion animated “Missing Link,” the Ethan Hawke bank heist “Stockholm.”
Richard has a look at the new movies coming to theatres, including the reboot of “Hellboy” starring David Harbour as Big Red, the stop-motion animated “Missing Link,” the Ethan Hawke bank heist “Stockholm” and the kid-friendly “Mia and the White Lion” with CFRA Morning Rush host Bill Carroll.
How does the new, rebooted “Hellboy” differ from the Guillermo Del Toro films that introduced the hell spawn character to filmgoers? The title character looks basically the same, red skin, sawed-off-horns and wise cracks his way through battles with supernatural creatures, just like the older movies. What is different is the attitude. Del Toro’s films were idiosyncratic action adventures with a supernatural twist. The new movie, directed by Neil Marshall, feels more like playing a game of Dungeons & Dragons as Judas Priest blares in the background.
This time around “Stranger Things” star David Harbour plays the wise cracking half-demon, an employee of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense (B.P.R.D.), an organization founded by his adopted father (Ian McShane) to combat various occult threats. Several battles with undead English giants, a vampiric Lucha libre wrestler and a massive, angry pigman lead him to the world’s biggest threat, Nimue the Blood Queen, played by Milla Jovovich. From her Big Red learns of his true origins as she tries to convince him to embrace the dark side and help her bring on the apocalypse.
“Hellboy” Mach 3 feels more down-and-dirty than the other films. It plays up the “boy” part of Big Red’s name as he comes of age. He’s a motor mouth with a devil-may-care attitude. “I met [Egyptian deity] Ra once in the underworld,” he says. “He was a close talker.” Beneath the bluster—and his giant stone arm—however, is a more complicated guy, someone born a monster with noble aspirations. Covered in layers of make-up, Harbour hits the right mix of smart aleck and conflicted guy, giving the character an aura that falls somewhere between grandeur and silliness, superhero and supernaturalhero.
But the movie is not all Sturm und Drang. Marshall makes sure Big Red is frequently raising hell and often covered in buckets of blood. “Hellboy” gory and grimy, loud and proud, more horror than fantasy. It’s fun, if a little wearing after the ninety-minute mark.
Richard sits in on the CJAD Montreal morning show with host Andrew Carter to talk the new movies coming to theatres including the reboot of “Hellboy” starring David Harbour as Big Red, the stop-motion animated “Missing Link,” the Ethan Hawke bank heist “Stockholm” and the kid-friendly animal flick “Mia and the White Lion.”
“The Wild Hunt” takes place in the world of LARP. No, that’s not a place like Middle Earth or Oz, it’s an acronym for Live Action Role Playing. Imagine Dungeons and Dragons outdoors and with elaborate costumes and you get the idea. Players create a mythology, don costumes and physically act out their characters’ actions. “The Wild Hunt” examines what happens when the real world collides with fantasy land.
The film starts simply enough. Dumped by his girlfriend Evelyn (Tiio Horn), lovesick Erik (Ricky Mabe) follows her to a LARP event where she now wears the pelts and crown of a Viking princess. Also attending is Eric’s wacked-out brother Bjorn (Mark A. Krupa) who takes his role as a Viking warrior a bit too seriously. As the Viking showdown with the Celts approaches Eric realizes he must carry a foam sword and play along if he hopes to leave with Evelyn on his arm. Here the story deepens. Eric’s outside interference is unwanted, not just by Evelyn but also by the evil Shaman Murtagh (Trevor Hayes). Eric’s presence throws off Murtagh’s plan to “sacrifice” Evelyn in The Wild Hunt ceremony. Before you can say “Pass me the mead,” bona fide violence erupts and the line between fantasy and real life blurs.
“The Wild Hunt” is a strange beast. Set against a backdrop of Viking mythology, complete with battles, elves and some real violence, it is by turns amusing, engrossing and horrifying. The tone of the film darkens as the running time ticks by. The violence—both mental and physical—becomes more realistic as the LARP spins out of control, but none of this would matter much if the characters weren’t as well developed as they are.
Both Eric and Bjorn have story arcs that exist in real life and fantasy land. Eventually as the two meld the brothers discover what really makes each of them tick. It’s interesting stuff, and even if the tone is a little uneven, “The Wild Hunt” remains one of the most intriguing films of the year so far.
Richard sat down with “Hellboy” star David Harbour to talk about how he prepared to play Big Red.
