Posts with tag DougJones
Posted Jul 11th 2008 6:03PM by James Rocchi
Filed under: Action, Universal, Interviews, Comic/Superhero/Geek
Speaking with the press in Beverly Hills,
Guillermo del Toro casually tossed off a line that sums up the spirit of his most recent film,
Hellboy II: The Golden Army and the tone he and his cast achieved: "When you go see a movie called "
Hellboy," already there's an implicit, assumed certain sense of goofiness; you have to then say 'Look, we know we're pulpy, we know we're different, but we take ourselves seriously, and we want to entertain." Mike (Mignola, creator of the
Hellboy comics) said it: He's not the Hell Knight, he's not the Hell Spawn, he's not the Hell Lord, he's the Hellboy. ... "
Much of the pleasure in the
Hellboy series comes from the mesh and mix of the sensibilities of del Toro and Hellboy's creator Mike Mignola; I asked del Toro about the challenge of adapting someone else's material. How much of it is a struggle, and how much of it is a pleasure, to find ways to make someone else's creation yours? "I said in the past that, obviously, no matter how respectful you are of the material there's a moment ... I made the analogy that it's like marrying a widow; you have to be very respectful about the late husband, but at some point, you're going to get in bed, and the late husband is not gonna matter anymore, or it better not. And I think it's the same with material; there's a point where you go "I have only my instincts to guide me through this section ..." But, it's co-exploring. In the case of
Hellboy, I've been blessed with a guy like Mike (Mignola), who is the most generous landlord of the
Hellboy real estate; he says, essentially, move in, decorate as you want and make it yours."
Continue reading 'Hellboy II' Interviews -- Ron Perlman, Selma Blair and Mike Mignola
Posted Jul 10th 2008 9:02PM by Jette Kernion
Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, New Releases, Universal, Theatrical Reviews, Comic/Superhero/Geek
Imagine one of the Star Trek crews transported to Tolkien's Middle Earth, or Buffy and her Scooby gang whisked away into the heart of Narnia. That's how
Hellboy II: The Golden Army can feel, as you watch a cartoonish-looking, cigar-smoking demon fight gorgeous creatures right out of ancient folklore (and one Miyazaki-esque nature deity). Your reaction to such a contrast -- as fascinating, jarring or downright repellent -- will likely influence your feelings about the latest film from
Guillermo del Toro, a sequel to his 2004 adaptation of
Mike Mignola's graphic novels. The writer-director's previous film,
Pan's Labyrinth, was a
favorite of mine, and while
Hellboy II doesn't quite measure up to that film's richness of character and story, it is still visually extraordinary.
I came into this film entirely ignorant of the
Hellboy universe ... much like with
Sex and the City, although it seems bizarre to compare Mignola's characters to Candace Bushnell's. I haven't read the graphic novels and I hadn't even seen the first movie (it was impossible to find a rental DVD of
Hellboy in Austin last week, which may bode well for the popularity of the sequel). And yet, unlike
Sex and the City, I didn't feel as though I must have missed something in order to fully appreciate the film.
Hellboy II gives us virtually no backstory on its main characters, but that's not necessary, as the setup becomes obvious almost immediately. Sure, there were a few scenes where the comic-book fans were laughing and I didn't get the joke, but it didn't bother me and I never felt lost or confused.
Continue reading Review: Hellboy II: The Golden Army
Posted Apr 3rd 2008 12:02PM by Erik Davis
Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Fandom, Movie Marketing, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels, Images
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A whole crop of new
Hellboy II: The Golden Army photos have popped up over at
Yahoo Movies. Like, a lot of them. There's also the promise of a new trailer premiering tomorrow, so make sure you head back there for that.
Hellboy II: The Golden Army, of course, is the sequel to
Hellboy -- and it's directed by the always-nutty Guillermo del Toro. Starring Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Doug Jones and Luke Goss,
Hellboy II once again follows the planet's toughest, roughest superhero as he goes to battle against a merciless dictator and an unstoppable army of creatures. This just has awesome written all over it. You can check out another image below, then click on either to check out Yahoo's gigantic gallery.
Hellboy II: The Golden Army hits theaters on July 11.
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Posted Nov 29th 2007 11:02AM by Monika Bartyzel
Filed under: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Images
Granted, it's not like
Selma Blair's Liz Sherman is some strange creature covered in prosthetics, but I find it amusing that the first picture we're getting of her, which has gone up on the
Hellboy II: The Golden Army website, is just of her face. Well, her face and neck, so you can see her necklace. Selma looks great, serious, and a good deal of tough, but I wish we could see more of her -- something recognizable from the
Hellboy universe, instead of just digitally-created smoke. Without the environment, and clothing, she's just Selma Blair, not Liz Sherman. Fortunately, this is only the beginning of the images coming our way this week. In the next few days, Universal will be releasing pics of Abe Sapien and Hellboy. Stay tuned!
Posted Oct 26th 2007 12:32PM by Christopher Campbell
Filed under: Horror, Fandom, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels
We could really use a new adaptation of Mary Shelley's
Frankenstein. It could be a faithful film, which would have certain relevance in a time when genetic research and other culturally debated scientific progresses, medical or not, continue to mark us as a God-aspirant species. Or it could be an updated or altered adaptation, to make the relevance more obvious. I think
James Whale's films about the doctor and the monster are terrific, and we already have the greatest variation -- Mel Brooks'
Young Frankenstein -- but I'd personally like to see a new take on the original novel. Well,
according to JoBlo, the guy who would most like to take the reigns on that idea is
Guillermo Del Toro. During a visit to the set of
Hellboy 2: The Golden Army,
JoBlo's Jason Adams quoted Del Toro as saying he "would kill to make" a faithful "Miltonian tragedy" version.
Apparently when
Kenneth Branagh tried to do this 13 years ago with his
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, there was an unshot version of the script by
Frank Darabont. Del Toro claims that draft was, according to Adams, "pretty much perfect." I admit I never bothered with Branagh's film. I'd rather watch "Johnny 5" play the monster than
Robert DeNiro (or at least watch the robot read the book, as he does in
Short Circuit 2). So, I can't directly say what didn't work about the adaptation. All I know is that it seems to have been pretty much disregarded by everyone. That said, I'm also not the biggest Del Toro enthusiast in the world. I'm not going to exclaim that he needs to make this and that he would deliver the best
Frankenstein ever. I would, however, love to see him make the attempt.
Continue reading Guillermo del Toro Wants to do Frankenstein
Posted Apr 15th 2007 2:01PM by Ryan Stewart
Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, New Releases, Fandom, 20th Century Fox, Movie Marketing, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels
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Eight weeks before Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer hits theaters, a number of Youtube videos have popped up featuring a giggly fat man in silver body paint and bald cap who walks around what looks like Venice interacting with the locals and declaring himself to be the real Silver Surfer, as opposed to the toned figure on the billboards. "I wanted to play myself and they said 'no.' I wanted to play Mr. Fantastic and they said 'no.' Racism. It's because of my skin color." I'll say this for Fox's viral marketing department -- at least these clips are mildly amusing. The best one features the chubby Surfer actually attempting to surf. "It's a beautiful morning," he says, chatting up a guy next to him who is also about to go out. "Kind of reminds me of the great deepness of space, you know? Kind of goes on forever." He then takes a running start at the water and freaks out because the water is too cold.
The other three videos aren't quite as good as the surfing one, and the one where he offers "surfing lessons from the Silver Surfer" on the street corner cuts way too fast for us to discern anything about what's going on. Fox should hire a cameraman who knows the principles of comedy a little better. Nevertheless, like I said, it's pretty funny if you're looking for something to watch on a rainy day, as it actually is today. I'll close by reiterating the point of the whole thing -- Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer opens in theaters on June 15.
Posted Jan 8th 2007 8:32PM by Mark Beall
Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, RumorMonger, Fandom, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels
Like any good movie fan, I have my own fully developed set of pre-dispositions when it comes to certain actors/directors/writers, etc. You know how it is -- there are some people you just inherently
trust to provide you with quality work. Likewise, there are similar characters which immediately instill feelings of fear and disgust. This doesn't mean you can always predict the quality of a film brought to you by one of these folks (for instance, I love
William H. Macy, and dude is in some
awful movies), but it does give you somewhere to start. For me,
Doug Jones is very near the top of the list, despite his somewhat atypical body of work. I can't speak to the quality of every film Jones is in, but I can almost categorically promise that I will love his performance in it.
Delightfully, Jones has signed on to
two of my very favorite comic book franchises, landing major character roles in both
Hellboy and
The Fantastic Four. Jones has recently completed work on
FF2, and is gearing up for work on
Hellboy 2, and in the downtime chatted just a bit with
IF Magazine. He said to expect a lot more screen time for Abe Sapien in the
Hellboy sequel, and a great buddy role with Hellboy. Of the
Four he said very little, because he wasn't sure what he was allowed to discuss. He did, however, note: "I'm going to play it safe and say that it would be difficult to introduce the Silver Surfer without Galactus having some kind of presence in the film."
Posted Dec 22nd 2006 10:02AM by Mark Beall
Filed under: Action, RumorMonger, Fandom, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels
Geek news I found while taking a break from Wii Sports, as the game suggested:
- Let's start things off on the right foot with a quickie from the 300 team: Soundtrack.Net, a site rarely referenced here in the Geek Bytes, has a nice little piece on the scoring of 300 by Tyler Bates.
- Have you been by the Transformers: The Movie website lately? I have, sorta by accident. It appears as though they've added quite a bit of stuff.
- CBR, a website which is frequently linked here in the Bytes, is running with some weird exclusive about Wonder Woman casting. There's really very little to the story so far, except the name Blythe Metz and a crappy MySpace. Stay closely tuned to Cinematical for full coverage of this rumor if any actual news surfaces on this front.
- Sci Fi Wire says the fantastic Doug Jones is done being the Silver Surfer for now. With any luck, we'll all see him back again for the certain third film in the franchise.
- Interested in the Fantastic Four trailer, but not interested enough to shell out some bucks and watch Night at the Museum? No problem, just swing by the SHH message boards, and read a brief, exciting play by play.
Posted Oct 3rd 2006 2:02PM by Mark Beall
Filed under: Action, Fandom, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels, The Geek Beat
Some stray thoughts I've been pondering while not caught up in the NFL and NCAA football seasons or Marvel's Civil War:
Are you following the events of Marvel's Civil War summer crossover spectacular? Was I the only one to get an instant mental picture of Robert Downey Jr. and Tobey Maguire slugging it out upon hearing the Iron Man casting information shortly after reading the latest Amazing Spider-Man? And who else is getting tired of the Iron Spider suit? I suppose that's all good and well, since he's getting a costume change soon enough anyway.
Speaking of, what do you make of the Robert Downey Jr. casting? Is it wrong that one of the first thoughts which crossed my mind was "let's see, Tony Stark has been an alcoholic struggling with inner demons in the past, while Robert Downey Jr. has been ..." See where I'm going?
Continue reading Mark Beall's Geek Beat: Marvel Musings
Posted Sep 30th 2006 12:02PM by Mark Beall
Filed under: Action, Casting, Fandom, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels
Among True Believers, there are very few Marvel characters more universally respected and loved than the Silver Surfer. When fans heard the
Fantastic Four sequel would heavily feature the hero (so heavily they named the film after him), we rejoiced mightily. The first flick was slightly sub-par, but promise of the Silver Surfer on the silver screen was enough to give anyone hope for the future of the franchise, particularly because it will draw heavily from a classic Lee and Kirby collaboration. To complete the excellent news, it was eventually announced that geek favorite
Doug Jones would bring the Surfer to life.
And Jones, it seems, is quickly learning to share fans' devotion and respect for the character he'll be portraying. After reading up and doing his homework on the Surfer, Jones had nothing but praise: " As my research into this character continues, I am falling more and more in love with him ... his valiance, his nobility, his stance for truth, hope, faith, and his history of self-sacrifice. So I fully understand why his fans are talking so much about his introduction appearance in this sequel, and why they would be concerned with who plays him." As far as I'm concerned, they've picked the perfect man for the job.
[via
The Doug Jones Experience]
Posted Sep 16th 2006 7:04PM by Mark Beall
Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Casting, Fandom, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels
If you've been reading Cinematical for any length of time, you probably know I'm an unabashed
Doug Jones fan. Part of this dedication comes from his performance as Abe Sapien in
Hellboy; he did a fantastic job bringing a rather odd character to life. Like many fans, I always felt bad for the guy because he didn't get his voice in the film. I understand director
Guillermo Del Toro had
David Hyde Pierce in mind from the beginning, and that worked out just fine, but since then Doug Jones has signed on to do the voice for Abe Sapien in animated
Hellboy action.*
Recent news from creator
Mike Mignola, however, suggests this issue may be remedied for the second
Hellboy go-round. The exact quote, in fact, is "I believe Doug is going to do the voice in
Hellboy 2," which is about as direct as you can get. Mignola also said he'd be fine with a smaller budget on the second flick, although Del Toro still wants to do a big budget blowout. Whichever way they go (most likely dictated by the studio), I eagerly anticipate the flick, and I'm sure they'll do an excellent job on it.
*Creating the rather humorous circumstance of being a body but not a voice in one instance, and a voice but not a body in the other.Posted Aug 22nd 2006 12:01PM by Mark Beall
Filed under: Action, Deals, RumorMonger, Celebrities and Controversy, Fandom, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels
Doug Jones has been making ridiculously thinly veiled hints about taking on the role of the Silver Surfer in the upcoming
Fantastic Four sequel. Due to ongoing contract negotiations,
Jones has been unable to officially announce his role in the film, but he sure has been suggestive about the part. The general consensus from the geek community is very positive regarding the potential appointment, and
director Tim Story himself commented on it recently, but even he was not straightforward about the deal.
A tipster to
AICN met our boy Doug at his local comic book store, and asked Jones about the part. Jones told the tipster contracts were being signed and he would be in Canada in three weeks to begin shooting. No clever wordplay or disguised comments anymore, just an up front acknowledgment of the role. So we can
finally stop pretending like it isn't official, and just call Mr. Jones the Surfer. Keep in mind, this just means he'll be doing the bodywork for overlaid CGI effects from WETA, there's no promise yet of voice work as far as I am aware. But at least he's in there, and putting Doug Jones in your geek movie -- especially teamed with WETA -- gives it an instant boost in my opinion.
Posted Aug 2nd 2006 12:04PM by Mark Beall
Filed under: Action, Fandom, Scripts, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels
Okay, for the purposes of my happiness we are going to ignore the rather pressing fact that
Hellboy 2 currently has no studio to finance/produce it and is thus quite a ways away from coming to a theater near me. The current news on
Hellboy's script continues to be good, and I want to focus on this instead. Like most comic book aficionados (and unfortunately unlike most of the rest of the general public) I adored the
Hellboy flick. If I had to list the areas I'd like to see improved -- and it would be a short list -- right near the top would be more Abe Sapien, and it sounds like I will get my wish when the sequel finally finds funding.
Doug Jones, the man behind Abe Sapien, had this to say to Now Playing Magazine about his role in the upcoming film: "Abe's going to have much more of a storyline than he did in the first one, and I think the buddy part of the relationship between he and Hellboy is going to be played up more." Jones said this relationship was his favorite part of the first film, and I'd have to agree with him. Every ounce of information I hear about this film only increases my excitement.
Posted Jul 31st 2006 1:06PM by Mark Beall
Filed under: Action, Casting, Celebrities and Controversy, Fandom, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels
If you don't know who
Doug Jones is you should be ashamed, because the man is fantastic. Mostly, he pops up in geek genre films; he's beloved for his role as Abe Sapien in
Hellboy and he's the title character in
Pan's Labyrinth. And, during the madness which was Comic-Con 2006, there was
very strong rumor (mostly instigated by Jones and his agent) suggesting he would be joining the
Fantastic Four team as the Silver Surfer. This made a lot of sense to anyone familiar with Jones, and we all just nodded our heads and said "yeah, that's a very strong choice." Then Jones started dodging the rumors he himself had created, and backed away from a promise to make a major casting announcement, leaving us all with the feeling someone above him had told him to keep his trap shut. Since then, Jones granted an interview to Now Playing but refused to confirm anything. He did, however, did drop several large hints:
- He waved a silver ring he was wearing, and said he thought the color looked very good on him. He also said he planned to wear a lot more of the color in the future: "I actually found an outfit in this color recently when I was shopping and I absolutely loved it. It looked perfect on me. Nobody else is in line behind me to buy it, so I'm now kind of waiting for the store to approve my credit card."
- He said he owns the first 18 issues of The Silver Surfer, and finds the character to be very inspiring.
- Filming will begin in August, and according to Jones: "I would hope sometime around then that any other passing news regarding that film would be announced."
My two cents? Whoever is in charge of this decision at the studio needs to move on this with all haste; Jones is the perfect man for the role.
Posted Jul 21st 2006 12:02PM by Mark Beall
Filed under: Action, Casting, RumorMonger, Scripts, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels
Doug Jones promised us a major announcement this week at Comic Con. Rumor strongly suggested he'd be declaring himself to be the Silver Surfer in
Tim Story's Fantastic Four, but nothing has been confirmed yet. Some people, it seems, couldn't wait for his official announcement and used a
Pan's Labyrinth panel to ask Jones outright about the part. Jones said he had no comment, but then made the following two seemingly contradictory points.
- Jones said he does not plan to do any green screen or motion capture work for any film in the near future. This would seem to take a role in Fantastic Four right out of the running, as the role has been said to be a largely green screen/motion capture one.
- Jones just happened to be wearing a shiny silver shirt, and said he really liked the color. In fact, he said he had a whole suit picked out in said color, and was just "waiting for my credit card to get approved." Obviously, this would seem to be a not-very-subtle reference to the role of Silver Surfer.
I continue to strongly support the idea of Doug Jones as the Silver Surfer, and so I'm choosing to believe the latter of these two statements. I imagine we'll find out the truth very, very soon.
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