4. Hellboy
Fair enough, this is an easy one and you probably saw it a mile off, but a valid one nonetheless. Im gonna be totally honest with you, my comic book credentials are mostly a sham. While I can blag my way through comic book folklore and I do own the odd graphic novel, Im no expert on most characters, even the big ones, so as you can probably guess, I was somewhat unfamiliar with the source material. This was the first time that I had met Red, and to be fair, I wasnt exactly the only one. It didnt matter though; I liked him and enjoyed the movie, as did the movie going public. The film blended the ingredients of action, fantasy and humour with a touch of cleverly sprinkled fanboy treats into one big cup that was lapped up by newcomers and die hard comic book fans alike. It proved to be a big enough financial success to warrant a sequel which I believe is arguably superior in every way. Getting the casting right for this type of movie is paramount. Select the wrong lead and the film tanks. Its that simple. Ask Joel Schumacher. Guillermo Del Toro was right on the money picking our Ron. As legend tells, when Del Toro met with Hellboy creator Mike Mignola, they both said his name out loud when they decided to share their thoughts. However, the studio needed a little more time convincing; not a long amount of time really, only around
8 years. Eventually Del Toro swayed the deal by showing the studio execs footage from Blade 2 to highlight Perlmans charisma and ability, and thank the stars; imagine a world where somebody else played the part. Vin Diesel!? Thats who the studio wanted!? Yeah, I dont want to live in that world either. Perlman is as synonymous with Hellboy as Christmas is with presents, or peanut butter is with jelly. The movie(s) propelled the actor back into the world of the leading man, (albeit with the familiar surroundings of prosthetic paraphernalia), and a new generation of people got to see his acting chops for the first time. Everyone else who was old enough to remember Beauty and the Beast and his other work were once again reminded of how great he is when given a larger, more significant role. For more info on that particular casting choice, check out Brendan Foleys superior HellBoy contribution
here.