I step out of my wife’s car and face the Egyptian theater, located in the heart of Hollywood on Hollywood Boulevard. A strained hamstring prevents me from driving myself. But as I head into the sacred building amongst filmgoers, my limp disappears. There’s even a spring in my step. Because tonight, I get to see the one and only Guillermo del Toro introduce a trio of his films as part of the Beyond Fest at American Cinematheque’s “From Sketch to Screen” series. On the docket? Hellboy 1, Hellboy 2, and Blade II. My nerves are practically buzzing.
Once inside, I skip right past the concessions and to my seat. Trailers for other del Toro films, such as Pan’s Labyrinth, Cronos, and Crimson Peak, play while the audience waits. And then the screen goes blank. The moment has finally arrived. Our host enters and, after a showering of well-deserved compliments for the filmmaker, invites del Toro on stage. Cheers erupt as Guillermo appears with a delighted wave. The audience responds by giving him a standing ovation. Guillermo del Toro isn’t just a phenomenal filmmaker. He’s a great man, too. Everyone in the theater knows it. The applause, the cheers, the admiration in each individual’s eyes…this is what he means to film fans everywhere.
The Mimic Experience
Del Toro released his first feature, Cronos, in 1993 in his birth country of Mexico. A vampiric tale that beautifully blends fantasy and horror, it displayed all of the heart, wonder, and terror that his films have become known for. Cronos eventually caught the attention of Hollywood, and del Toro was brought on to helm the 1997 creature feature, Mimic, for Dimension Films. Not only was the movie a box office dud, but it marked the worst experience in making a film that del Toro has ever had.
“More money means less freedom,” he remarks on the lesson he learned from Mimic. The failure of the film left him unemployed for years, he tells us. After all, producers Bob and Harvey Weinstein basically ran the industry back then. It was del Toro’s word against theirs as to what happened on the production. Not many were willing to take the side of a new filmmaker who had just delivered his first bomb.
During the nightmare of shooting Mimic, del Toro was already thinking about the next film he wanted to make: Hellboy. “Hellboy the comic sustained me through Mimic,” says the director, adding that he had followed creator Mike Mignola for years during his DC days. “I thought I would love to adapt that.” But it wasn’t to be. Not yet. Because of Mimic, the director would once again have to prove himself.
Blade II and the Road to Redemption
It would be four long years before del Toro released his next feature, The Devil’s Backbone. Another excellent film in Guillermo’s filmography, Hollywood again came calling. But not for Hellboy. New Line wanted del Toro to sink his fangs into Blade II. It’s that age-old story. He would have to do one for them, so that he could do one for him. The dream of Hellboy would have to wait. This time, though, the filmmaker would apply lessons learned from Mimic and make the movie for less than others. More money, less freedom.
Ultimately, “I had a blast,” says del Toro on making the sequel to a hugely successful Marvel property. Audiences did, as well. Blade II more than tripled its estimated budget at the box office and received rave reviews from critics. Guillermo knew that if he was ever going to get the chance at making Hellboy, it would come within a week of Blade II’s opening weekend. That call arrived just days after the film’s release. The time to make his dream project had arrived.
The Rise of Hellboy
Created by Mike Mignola and published by Dark Horse Comics, Hellboy revolves around the titular half-demon character, summoned from Hell by a group of Nazi occultists. The summoning is interrupted by Allied Forces, and Hellboy is taken into the United States Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense (B.P.R.D. for short). Raised by the creator of the bureau, Professor Trevor Bruttenholm, Hellboy is trained to battle dark forces, including Nazis, monsters, and other supernatural terrors.
Easy to see why del Toro was attracted to the series. The two go together like demons and pyrokinetic lovers. But who would play the hammer-fisted hero from Hell? Turns out, the filmmaker already had that figured out years beforehand.
Born to be Red
While visiting the comic shop Golden Apple here in Los Angeles with his friend, Ron Perlman, del Toro promised the actor then that he would give him the role of Hellboy. “I said, there’s only one actor who can play Hellboy”, claims the director. The two first worked together on Cronos, in which Perlman took on the villainous role of a violent man. During that production, the money ran out, and del Toro feared he would be unable to pay Perlman.
Yet, the actor stuck with the project because he, as the filmmaker claims, believed in what del Toro was creating. They remained close friends after that, and del Toro fought tooth and nail to get him the part as Hellboy. The studio would pitch him big names like Nicolas Cage, only for the director to respond each time with a counter of Ron Perlman. The actor wasn’t a big name at the time, so the studio had cold feet at the idea of handing him a leading role. Guillermo stuck with it, though. “Ron was born for Hellboy,” he tells us.
Watching Hellboy, it’s difficult to disagree with that sentiment. Perlman has always had a rough-around-the-edges presence that he brings to his characters. The type of man who may be your best friend or your worst enemy, but is most definitely someone you do not mess with. That persona shines straight through the heavy red makeup of Hellboy.
The demonic hero simmers with a frustrated attitude towards the world. He’s a character constantly told who or what he is and made to perform that role to a T, whether he likes it or not. B.P.R.D. treats him like a child who must be babysat. The Nazis and evil sorcerer, Rasputin (Karel Roden), want him to fulfill a destiny of bringing about the apocalypse. Hellboy just wants to eat piles of food, smoke cigars, and spend time with the love of his life, Liz (Selma Blair). Through it all, Perlman’s rough yet soft on the inside performance lights up the screen like hellfire.
Don’t Judge a Book by Its Cover
The other side of what makes Hellboy so empathetic as a character is del Toro’s tendency to explore the souls of his “monsters”. From Cronos to Hellboy to The Shape of Water and his upcoming take on Frankenstein, the filmmaker treats creatures like the complex beings they are. He’s a storyteller who asks us to judge a book by its contents, never the cover. He does so by putting as much of himself as possible into the work. “Every movie I write, there’s something deeply biographical…I wrote Hellboy as me”.
A man of Mexican heritage making movies in America in the year 2025, del Toro knows a thing or two about being misjudged. Around the time of making Hellboy, he found himself dealing with the same issues that plague the title character. Everyone was telling him he was one thing, saying what he could or could not do. During this portion of the on-stage interview, del Toro offers some thoughtful words on the theme of identity prevalent in most of his films and especially Hellboy. “You are who you become. Many of us are born and we’re told what we are…we are not that. We are who we are. [Hellboy] is about the identity of being first who you’re told you are and becoming who we choose to be”. After Mimic, del Toro was told by some that he couldn’t make movies. But del Toro refused to give up.
That is who del Toro is, and why his films depict sparkling worlds not just of horror, but wonder and imagination. He reminds the audience that now, more than ever, it is important to let imagination guide you. To dare to dream. “Dreaming is a highly political position. Hope…that’s not weakness, that’s strength.” In telling a fictional story, we reveal who we are. Our beliefs. Fears. Desires. Authoritarian regimes ban stories with views or perspectives they don’t agree with, because they fear what those ideas will inspire in the people. Through stories such as Hellboy, filmmakers like del Toro encourage us to wish for a better world…and believe that it is achievable.
The Continued Relevance of Hellboy
Del Toro certainly couldn’t have predicted where we’d be in America now, way back in 2004. Yet there’s some timeliness to Hellboy. A tale about Nazis returning to wreak havoc on the world. A hero ridiculed over where he’s from and the color of his skin. Near impossible to destroy creatures multiplying at a shocking rate and spreading through the streets like a wave of hate. And the group of those determined to fight back, despite the odds being all but against them.
Hellboy is much more than an excellent superhero film filled with jaw-dropping production design, elegant costumes, and glorious practical makeup effects. It’s the result of never giving up on a dream.
Connecting Through Shared Dreams
The success of Hellboy would lead to Hellboy II: The Golden Army just four years later. Typical for a sequel, the filmmaker aimed to go bigger with the next entry, meaning more monsters. “I tried to make it into a Harryhausen movie,” says del Toro, adding, “It’s one of my favorite movies”. In crafting the film in a way that reminded him of a Ray Harryhausen picture, the legend behind many stop-motion fantasy epics such as Clash of the Titans, del Toro did something special with Hellboy 1-2.
Looking out at the audience, del Toro tells us that he made Hellboy as something that would be that childhood film that kids could grow up with, the way he grew up with films that were special to him. Seeing all of us sitting there, he says, “This movie meant something to you. It was a chance to have a relationship with you guys”. Mission accomplished. The beauty of film is that it allows us to peek into the very soul of others. To share, if even for a brief moment, a connection that pierces through to the heart and perhaps even changes us. For that second, that minute, that hour…we dream together.
Thank you, Guillermo del Toro, for sharing so many beautiful dreams with us.
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