Guillermo Del Toro: MSN Interview

Q. So how do you feel now that you’re almost at the end of the process for Hellboy II?

 

A. Very tired! My nights and weekends have been eliminated until this comes out on 20 August. We’re working twenty-four hours, seven days a week and its taking its toll. I’m becoming fatter and paler than I’ve ever been!

 

Q. What’s your reaction when Hellboy is compared to the other big summer comic book movies like Hulk and Iron Man? How do you think it stands out?

 

A. I think it’s very different from those. I hope that it proves to be for the best but frankly I made it to be its own creature. You know I tried not to craft it for an audience. I tried to craft it to be happy myself. So the movie is very quirky, much more insane and beautiful than perhaps a summer movie has a right to be. We have been creating crazy creatures and crazy worlds. There are far more beautiful and intimate character dynamics than there were in the first one. We just went for it!

 

Q. Do you think audiences will be attracted by the different style of the film?

 

A. You know I really don’t know. Movies and audiences are like blind dates, you have no idea how it’s going to go. All you can do is spray some mint stuff in your mouth and go out.

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Q: How involved was (comic book writer) Mike Mignola this time around?

 

A: You know in a strange way I think he’s been more involved. He was there from the beginning. We spent three days driving around used book stores looking for material at one point. Then a week or two passed and he spent a couple of afternoons in my back yard drinking lemonade and just chatting. After that we went and pitched our ideas to the studio. When I was shooting Pan’s Labyrinth I was writing Hellboy 2 and when I finally turned it into a screenplay there were many surprises for him. He has been very involved.

 

Q: They said that Hellboy II was going to be based more on fairytales and folklore than the first one. How much is drawn from the comic as opposed to your own personal creativity?

 

A: I think this one is definitely more of what we’ve created. The movie is more fun and slightly more insane than the comic book. On the second movie I kind of assume my interpretation of the character so I get it out of the closet and say, “yeah this is the Hellboy movie Hellboy!”

 

Q: What was the biggest technical challenge you faced during the production?

 

A: The construction of the Golden Army was massively difficult because you essentially have hard-shell creatures. Three different designers spent eight months just solving mechanical issues of the creatures. They move very slowly but are very precise. They are not in a hurry. It reminds me of a line from Goodfellas - “Pauly moves for no one” - which gives him great power. I think these guys are like that.

 

Q: You said before that you make one film for the studio and then one for yourself. Have you been able to combine the two with this one?

 

A: I’ve said before that I try to make a big one and then a small one. But I’ve never done one for a studio. I have and never will do a movie that doesn’t excite me. You’ve got to do your f****** job everyday and destroy your life - you can only do it for something you love. Hellboy I definitely love. I love the Hellboy in the movies and I love the Hellboy in the comics and I love Ron Perlman. So I have three in one really!

 

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