Guillermo del Toro will fight hard for what he believes in. Freaky monster sex, Harry Potter, and, apparently, Ron Perlman.
Perlman, talking on PeopleTV’s Couch Surfing, explained how del Toro worked for years to get a Hellboy movie greenlit, with the specific and unchanging proviso that Perlman would star as the big red lug himself.
“I said to him from the get-go, ‘That’s a great idea and god bless you, I love you for entertaining the idea, but it’ll never happen,’” Perlmant said, as transcribed by Entertainment Weekly. “Sure enough, for seven years he’d go to these meetings at these studios, and he’d say, ‘Ron Perlman.’”
And del Toro kept doing that until, after Blade II was a surprising success, del Toro finally got enough pull to get what he wanted.
“Blade II opened to like $US40 [$55] million on the first weekend, and everybody wanted to do Guillermo’s next movie, and he said to himself, ‘If I’m ever going to get Hellboy done with Ron, it’s going to be this week,’” Perlman said. “Sure enough, somebody said to him, ‘How do I get in the Guillermo del Toro business?’ and he said, ‘Well, I really want to do this movie Hellboy.’ They say, ‘Any conditions?’ and he says, ‘Yeah, Ron Perlman,’ and they go, ‘Hmmm… OK.’”
Perlman’s reign as Hellboy may be over, but its existence is a triumphant reminder that you do not get in the way of Guillermo del Toro. That man has a way of getting what he wants.
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9 responses to “Guillermo Del Toro Fought For Years To Get Ron Perlman As Hellboy”
How the hell was that even an argument? Perlman has the voice, clearly had the face and the build, what were they baulking at?
The story seems super vague, perhaps Ron had a run-in with one of the execs or whatever, you know, that Hollywood weirdness.
Probably failing to understand the nature of the material. It wouldn’t surprise me if they wanted a big star in the title role, not realising that they’d be covered in tons of makeup and prosthetics.
“OK, so the devilboy character… does he HAVE to be a little scaly and red? Also, we’re concerned about the hand. It looks like it would make Tom feel a little awkward.”
“Tom?”
“Cruise. We love him for this. He’s really hot right now after the last ten titles we put him in – gotta squeeze that juice while it’s fresh!”
Exactly how I imagined conversations with the execs going.
Probably with;
“So who is his love interest? They gotta look good together in their nude scenes.”
He was one of the few actors who wouldn’t put up with Harvey Weinsteins crap.
https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/ron-perlman-peed-on-his-hand-before-harvey-weinstein-handshake/
Woah. I did not know that.
Ha that’s cool.
But wow, Ron is looking old these days. I suppose it shouldn’t be surprising, but it is.
Ron Perlman was great as Hellboy, but that hand in both movies looked terrible – it looked like a cheap foam cosplay.