The Big Picture

The new Hellboy installment is set in 1950s rural Appalachia and introduces a sinister Crooked Man character.
Director Brian Taylor aimed to faithfully adapt the original Mike Mignola comic book for an authentic Hellboy experience.
The cast, including Jack Kesy and Adeline Rudolph, faced challenging yet thrilling action sequences while filming.

Hellboy is back! This time, Jack Kesy (12 Strong) steps into Hellboy’s horns as he confronts nightmarish creatures and a sinister force lurking in the hills. The latest rendition to the franchise, Hellboy: The Crooked Man is set against the spine-chilling backdrop of 1950s rural Appalachia. Stranded with a rookie BPRD agent, played by Adeline Rudolph (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) uncovers a small town plagued by witches and led by the sinister Crooked Man (Martin Bassindale).

With anticipation building for the latest installment, Collider’s Steven Weintraub chatted with the cast and crew of Hellboy: The Crooked Man during San Diego Comic-Con 2024. Co-stars Kesy, Rudolph, and Jefferson White (Yellowstone), who plays Tom Ferrell from the comics, join their director and co-writer Brian Taylor (Crank) to discuss their characters and what fans can expect from the reboot. Taylor shares his inspiration and desire to honor Hellboy creator Mike Mignola. Check out our interview with the cast and crew in the player above, or read the full conversation below.

Hellboy: The Crooked Man Hellboy and a rookie BPRD agent get stranded in 1950s rural Appalachia and discover a small community haunted by witches, led by the eponymous Crooked Man.Release Date September 19, 2024 Director Brian Taylor Cast Jack Kesy , Jefferson White , Martin Bassindale , Adeline Rudolph , Leah McNamara , Hannah Morgetson , Joseph Marcell , Nathan Cooper Writers Christopher Golden , Mike Mignola

COLLIDER: What is it like walking around Comic-Con after being on a show like Yellowstone, which everyone has watched?

JEFFERSON WHITE: It’s amazing. It’s so fun because it’s cool to see where the following of Yellowstone intersects with this. Yellowstone isn’t necessarily a Comic-Con-style show, but it’s so fun to see the intersections. It’s so fun to be approached by someone in a Star Wars shirt who also watches Yellowstone. It’s really cool.

Image via Paramount

When did you realize that Yellowstone was popular?

WHITE: It started every time we headed out to places like Texas or Montana because the audience of the show is really heavily based in the western states. So, walking through the airport at Dallas Fort Worth was when I first realized, “Oh wow, this is a really, really popular show.” That’s such a miracle, and I’m so grateful for it.

Sabrina, your show definitely crosses over with Comic-Con. What’s it like for you?

ADELINE RUDOLPH: Yes, I’ve done a couple of projects that have been in this world, like Resident Evil, [Chilling Adventures of Sabrina], Mortal Kombat 2. It’s all in this world. It’s my first time at Comic-Con, so it’s just fun getting introduced to it.

‘Hellboy: The Crooked Man’ Has Only One Reference: Mike Mignola
“If Mike Mignola feels like this is his Hellboy, then I feel like we succeeded.”
Image via Ketchup Entertainment

Let’s talk about why you guys are here. Brian, how is this version of the movie different from the ones people have seen before?

BRIAN TAYLOR: It’s completely different. We didn’t go into this referencing any of the other movies. We went into it referencing absolutely one thing, and that is the original Mike Mignola comic book. We wanted to take The Crooked Man and adapt it faithfully. That means it’s a period piece, it’s a younger Hellboy, and it has no relation to the other films. It’s sort of that much-loved by myself and other fans folk horror, almost procedural kind of Hellboy. He’s like a wandering nightstalker. He’ll just end up in your town for some reason, you’ve got a haunting, you’ve got some problems with dark forces, and he’s a plumber, and he’s gonna solve it for you. That’s the kind of Hellboy that we really like. My approach was to have an audience of one. If Mike Mignola feels like this is his Hellboy, then I feel like we succeeded.

How did it feel getting the call from Brian, like, “Hey, you’re gonna be the guy?” And what is it like doing those first makeup tests? It’s a two-parter because it’s one thing to get the call, and it’s another thing to be like, “Oh, I have to do this every day.”

JACK KESY: I was dropping a friend off at the Detroit airport,and I got a call from one of the producers, and it said, “How do you feel about playing Hellboy?” It came totally out of left field, and I pulled over my car, and I said, “What do I have to do?” We jumped through some hoops, Brian ticked off on it, and it was totally exciting. I couldn’t believe it.

Let’s talk about the first time you realized what you were gonna have to do to be in costume.

KESY: I had a little bit of anxiety because I’ve done a little bit of a version of prosthetics before, and I know what it takes. I didn’t know what was in store, but I was excited. I was ready for it. Whatever it took. I love Hellboy, so to be a part of a rendition of Hellboy was very exciting.

‘Hellboy: The Crooked Man’ Introduces a New Character
Image via Ketchup Entertainment

For fans who don’t know the comics and don’t know your characters, how do you guys want to talk about them?

RUDOLPH: Mine’s actually not in this comic, specifically in The Crooked Man, in this edition. She’s a new creation which I believe Mike was heavily behind creating. She’s a BPRD agent, who lives in this world, and follows Hellboy on this journey. She’s young, curious, maybe a little naive, brave. She kind of goes through her own journey while going on this fieldwork trip.

WHITE: One of the first things I did when I first heard about this project was read the book, and one thing I love is when you experience this world for the first time alongside this character. Tom is a pretty normal guy who basically stumbles into all of this crazy, inexplicable witchery and crazy sort of paranormal phenomena. At a young age, he sort of intersects with this world, with the world of witches and this sort of folk horror, Appalachian, terrifying underbelly. Then he spends the rest of his life trying to get out of it, and happily encounters Hellboy and Bobbie Jo, who sort of give him a way out of this nightmare that he stumbled into.

That’s such a cool thing as an actor because you’re sort of experiencing this terrifying shit alongside the character. My first time encountering these characters is also the character’s first time encountering them. It’s such a gift as an actor. It’s a very immersive experience.

You see the shooting schedule in front of you. What’s the day that you are like, “I cannot wait to film this,” and what’s the day that you’re like, “How are we going to film this?”

TAYLOR: Day one is the answer to both questions. [Laughs] This production was a rough one because we were really under the gun. We were very ambitious about what we wanted to do, and we were doing it on a very tight indie schedule with a lot of limitations. But we were very ambitious about what we wanted to be, and we really wanted to do justice to this comic book. We wanted to do justice to all these things. We wanted to use a lot of physical effects and practical effects because it just felt more organic to the world. This is not a world of CGI. Obviously, we’re using some CGI, but we wanted to really hang our hat on practical. We wanted to hang our hat on it being—it’s a weird thing to say for a character with sawed-off devil horns and a tail that I had to deal with in every shot— a little bit more grounded. The creatures, the monsters, they’re all based on real animals. It’s not like a purple space creature with 25 eyes. It’s a snake, it’s a spider, it’s a crow. They may be different sizes than the ones that we normally see, but that’s what we wanted it to be.

I really wanted it to feel of this world, which is easier to say than to execute. So, it was very ambitious, and we kind of knew from day one. It was very quick prep, and we landed on day one and started shooting. It took us about 10 seconds to realize, “Dude, we are fucked. We’re really fucking in for it!” But it was a lot of fun. These guys were warriors, all three of them, and the ones who aren’t here. The cast was up for anything, and it’s the only way we were able to get through it.

Shooting ‘Hellboy: The Crooked Man’ Brought Jack Kesy to Tears
Image via Ketchup Entertainment

What ended up being the toughest shot or sequence in the movie with the limitations you faced as actors?

KESY: I need about 10 seconds to think about it because, honestly, like Brian said, it was go-time from day one to the last day. I worked every day. There were no days off for me—first one there, last one to leave. When we wrapped, I burst into tears. I was so exhausted. It was a lot. [Laughs] But it was also tears of joy. [The toughest shot] was maybe getting my head through the drywall towards the end a couple of times.

TAYLOR: For him, everything was hard. Because just spending the four hours in the morning… I’ve worked with characters who were in a lot of prosthetics before, but never this much and never every single day. I didn’t realize how impactful it is on an actor. He would have sweat accumulating in this suit that you could pour out and fill a bucket with by the end of the day. And this was every single day. And we wanted a performance from all of these actors. We wanted real performances with nuance, emotion, soul, and gravity. We wanted that. And to be able to do that with everything that he was dealing with, it was hard.

KESY: But it was awesome.

I’m really looking forward to seeing it. What about for you guys?

WHITE: In the book and in the script when I first read it, there are some incredible action sequences. Those days in the church, when the shit hits the fan… I’ve been a fan of Brian’s for years, and I think he is a true action auteur. I think nobody moves the camera or shoots action [like him.] So, that’s something I was extremely excited about from the beginning.

There’s this insane sequence in a church where bad guys are coming from every direction, there’s some magic happening. Everybody’s there. The entire cast is there. There’s some really exciting action sequences, and those were very challenging as an actor because Brian also shot a lot of this movie on these really wide lenses, so there’s nowhere to hide. These action scenes are playing out in real-time with practical effects, with stuff exploding, amazing stunt performers flying all over the place. Those sequences were really exciting, and also challenging. Doing that over and over again for days and days, I think we did five days in that church—exhausting and thrilling in equal parts.

RUDOLPH: The thing that I was most intimidated by was there is a sequence in the mines, and it’s where Bobbie is a little bit on her own. Acting on your own can be a little strange. It’s always fun acting off of someone else, and you’re taking from their energy. But it’s probably one of my favorite sequences that I got to share with Brian, and I feel like we had a really wonderful day on set that day. It was just the two of us kind of getting into it.

TAYLOR: It might be my favorite sequence in the movie.

RUDOLPH: It was such a fantastic day, but I was intimidated by it, and it was also the first week. I was like, “Fantastic, we’re getting that out of the way.” [Laughs] Then I get to have fun.

TAYLOR: You never know with an actor. It was our first time working together. You take one look at her, and you’re like, “Wow. Well, I hope she’s up for the dirty stuff.” You know what I mean? You never know. This role required her to really go there and let it rip. You won’t believe the emotion and the intensity for a first-week thing that she gathers for the performance. She’s ripping the paint off the walls. Immediately, it’s like, “”Okay, we got a good one here. This is gonna work.

We’re at Comic-Con, and I love learning about what people collect. If you have time to go on the convention floor, what would you be looking for?

RUDOLPH: A mini Hellboy.

KESY: Strange, unheard-of comic books.

WHITE: I really love House of the Dragon. I’m a big Game of Thrones and George R.R. Martin fan. Walking around, those are some of my favorite cosplays I’ve seen and that’s some of the stuff I’m excited to see while we’re here.

Talk a little bit about editing this movie. When you see your assembly cut, do you feel like jumping out of the widow, or do you feel like, “Oh, okay, I got this?”

TAYLOR: Oh, you always jump through the window. Every movie, every time. There’s a story about Polanski going to the screening of his first rough cut of Chinatown. He said he wanted to walk into traffic. “It’s the worst movie ever made.” He said, “My career is done.” I’ve never made anything like Chinatown, you know what I mean? [Laughs] So, I have that sort of semi-suicidal feeling every time I watch the rough cut. Then you get in there and you just start bashing it out. It was such chaos for this concentrated and intense period of time. You can’t even breathe. You really don’t know what you have, and so it’s kind of cool to go in and be like, “Oh, that was gold! Look at that. I didn’t even know we had that. Oh, that didn’t really work at all. I wonder if we can get around that one. But we have something else that works even better.” So, it’s fun. Editing’s just a really fun part of the process. It’s where you find out if all the stuff you hoped would work actually does.

‘Hellboy: The Crooked Man’ Is Eyeing a Fall Release Date

I’m the type who’d be a kleptomaniac on set and be borrowing whatever I can—hypothetically. I would return it, just not anytime in the next few years. When you were on set, or before you left, did you, hypothetically, borrow something that you have every intention of returning?

WHITE: I took a little shard of wood from the church. In this insane fight sequence, there was dust going everywhere and splinters. I have a little piece. I would theoretically have taken a little piece.

TAYLOR: What happened to Hellboy’s hand?

KESY: I wanted it, but I never got it.

RUDOLPH: I wanted the tail. I really loved it. I thought it was so cute.

TAYLOR: If I had got that tail, I would have burned it.

RUDOLPH: No! [Laughs]

KESY: I took a Hellboy lighter and gave it to my neighbor. She’s a huge Hellboy fan.

TAYLOR: I did take one of Tom’s jackets.

WHITE: They’re kind of stylish. Very Bushwick.

TAYLOR: I always try to abscond with a jacket from the wardrobe.

Did you really try to get the Hellboy hand? What happened?

KESY: I was told I could have it but never followed up. I kind of gave up, but I might go look for it again.

TAYLOR: One thing we did in this one is, in the push to do things more practically, in past movies they’ve CG animated that hand so it would articulate properly. We didn’t do that. We actually made an articulated hand. We went old-school, and he uses a real hand in the movie every shot.

I would definitely follow up on the hand. Do you know when the film’s coming out?

RUDOLPH: In the fall.

TAYLOR: Sometime in the fall. September, I think. I don’t have an exact date.

Like they said, Hellboy: The Crooked Man is reportedly hitting theaters this fall.