Marvel Studios’ Hall H panel might have been the talk of the SDCC floor on Saturday, but another comic book movie was also on my radar: Hellboy: The Crooked Man. Director Brian Taylor and Hellboy creator Mike Mignola were at a panel to discuss The Crooked Man with Jack Kesy, the latest actor to don Hellboy’s horns. Rounding out the panel were Adeline Rudolph and Jefferson White, who play Bobbie Jo Song and Tom Ferrell.
The panel opened with moderator Coy Jandreau asking the audience if we wanted to see a trailer. After a massive round of applause, the official trailer played, and it was creepy as hell. The main plot for The Crooked Man, based on the Hellboy story of the same name by Mignola and the late, great Richard Corben, takes Hellboy to a small village haunted by witches and a disturbing figure known as the “Crooked Man”. Footage showed a raccoon crawling into a woman’s mouth, and that woman’s limbs snapping and twisting around as well as a figure suspended in the air, shaking horribly. In true Hellboy fashion, the trailer ends with him loading up his trusty revolver, the Good Samaritan – and using it to blow evil away.
Mignola and Taylor expressed their excitement for The Crooked Man; Mignola said it was his favorite Hellboy story. Taylor also discussed his approach to the material, saying “I wanted to adapt this in the same way someone would adapt Stephen King.” To prove it, Taylor even showcased stills from the film that match panels of the Crooked Man comic. Mignola reflected on how Hellboy was first teased at a San Diego Comic-Con in the 1990s, feeling that The Crooked Man brought things full circle.
When asked about preparing for Hellboy, Kesy admitted it was a learning curve. “I had to get used to seeing myself in the mirror,” he said about donning the prosthetics. He did say that he got calls and tips for Hellboy fans, and he was grateful for it; he even snuck one of Hellboy’s lighters off-set for a friend. Taylor also told the audience about how he apparently witnessed Kesy smoke and literally inhale a cigar during the audition process, and later Kesy compared himself to HB: “I chain smoke, I’m a little cynical but I also have hope for the future.”
The biggest emphasis for The Crooked Man, at least in Taylor’s eyes, was using practical effects (he even joked about using “tons of lube”.) He also wants the film to stand alone. “I hate it when folks try to do a movie and sell you a whole franchise…if the first one’s good, I’m coming back.” The cast (and Mignola) were open to a ’60s-era Hellboy movie if The Crooked Man is a success.
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