Up close: Mike Mignola

Wizard Universe had this exclusive interview with Hellboy creator, Mike Mignola:


UP CLOSE: MIKE MIGNOLA
The ‘Hellboy’ creator dishes on the movie sequel, stepping behind the camera and working with the ‘infectious’ Guillermo del Toro

By Andy Serwin

Posted December 4, 2007 4:10 PM

WIZARD: How would you describe your involvement in the making of “Hellboy II: The Golden Army”?

MIGNOLA: I co-wrote the story, which means that [director] Guillermo [del Toro] and I basically spent a few days together at his house talking about what we wanted to do. We came up with the story together and then he ran off and did the screenplay and I made my comments as he went along.

I spent a couple of months doing preproduction on this as I had done on the first picture. I did less actual design. I did a lot of rough early concept stuff that was immediately handed off. A lot of the ideas were mine, but a lot more of the actual designs and finished-drawing stuff was done by other people.

Even though this is an original story, are there any beats or moments pulled directly from the Hellboy comics?

MIGNOLA: I don’t think there’s as much of that on this movie as there was on the first one. It seems like we referenced the comic less on this one. I think because it was an original story, in a way we were looking toward the future of the comic in that the subject matter that we’re dealing with here is the subject matter that I’m currently doing in the comic.

You spent some time on set in Budapest. What were your general impressions of what you saw over there?

MIGNOLA: I was there for a couple of weeks before we started filming, and I just couldn’t get over how much bigger this picture was and how much better it looked. Selma [Blair] has a different haircut and her costume design works better on her, and Abe [Sapien]’s costume looks great. I spent a lot of time on this one set that was sort of a throne room and the scale of it was so huge. It’s such an odd thing with Hellboy and Liz and [new B.P.R.D. member] Johann [Krauss]—you put [them] into this giant set and it really looked like something out of “The Wizard of Oz.”

How would you compare the respective ways in which you and Guillermo see Hellboy?

MIGNOLA: Certainly I see things much simpler, and he likes a lot more moving parts. You can see it in the design of the Johann character. Guillermo likes mechanical parts more than I do. It was a really interesting process on this one because none of the characters were actually based on characters in the comics; they’re pretty much his creatures.

How would you describe the way the character dynamics have changed between Hellboy, Liz and Abe?

MIGNOLA: The Hellboy/Liz relationship was established in the first picture, so this is a logical extension of that relationship. I won’t say it’s Abe’s movie. Hellboy definitely has his particular storyline, but Abe’s storyline is as strong as Hellboy’s on this one. What goes on with Liz is also escalated quite a bit. The beauty of a second film is that you’ve already done the origin, and so you can now focus on who these characters are.

Based on your feeling and what you’ve seen, is it easy to imagine a third movie?

MIGNOLA: Yeah, but [Guillermo] and I have never really talked about the third one too much. Basically, every stray idea there was, he was like, “Yeah, that goes in the third one.” You think, “Well, gee, if we take everything you said would be good in the third one, that’ll be like 36 hours long.” It’s very strange for me at this point because the characters have developed so far in this different direction from the comic, and so I don’t know what a third film would be. It would clearly be up to Guillermo.

A lot of guys from the comic world like Frank Miller and Neil Gaiman are starting to get more involved in Hollywood. Would you have any interest in directing at some point?

MIGNOLA: People have asked me about that, and I have no interest. I like sitting next to the director for a few weeks and watching what the director does, but it’s a really hard job. So for me to spend time next to Guillermo only makes me realize how much I don’t want that job. Guillermo has clearly been thinking about how to make movies since he was 12 years old. I’m 46, and I feel like it’s a little late in the day for me to suddenly say, “Hey, you know what, that might be fun.” I’ve got 6,000 different things going on. We are working on a film adaptation of [my novel] Baltimore and I’m co-writing the screenplay for that which I’ve never done before and that’s kind of interesting. At the end of the day though, I’m not a filmmaker.

Go to hell with Hellboy when the movie opens on July 11, 2008.


Yeah! GO TO HELL with Hellboy! Haha!

Set visit preview: "Hellboy II: The Golden Army"

Lots of stuff today!

The first Hellboy movie was absolutely awesome and I can't wait to watch the SECOND one.


SET VISIT PREVIEW: ‘HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY’
Catch up with the cast and crew in Hungary as they enter their sixth month of shooting

By Andy Serwin

Posted October 29, 2007 4:45 PM

Universal Pictures unleashed hell on Wizard Universe last week when it invited us to the set of “Hellboy II: The Golden Army”—set for release on July 11, 2008, and based on Mike Mignola’s monster-hunting comic book from Dark Horse!

Nestled in the out-of-the-way Korba Studios in Etyek, Hungary, about 45 minutes outside of Budapest, the “Hellboy II” team was hard at work in its sixth month of production, and was in the midst of a grueling but mind-blowing night shoot when Wizard Universe arrived on set.

While there, Wizard Universe snagged interviews with director Guillermo del Toro, the Academy Award-nominated helmer of “Pan’s Labyrinth”; the brunette bombshell Selma Blair, who plays the fiery pyrokinetic Liz Sherman; and Doug Jones, who once again dives in as the merman called Abe Sapien (as well as two other major creature characters). Earlier in the day, we’d also gotten a chance to sit down with new castmates Luke Goss (Nomak in “Blade 2”) and newcomer Anna Walton, who portray the Elven brother and sister combo Prince Nuada and Princess Nuala, respectively, to talk about their parts in the film, as they play central roles in the supernatural war waged in the sequel.

We also toured the production offices with production designer stephen Scott (“Hellboy”), who showed us the behind-the-scenes work on set designs and character creations, and provided in-depth looks at the creature workshop, the impressive location sets like the one constructed inside the Kiscelli Museum, a converted church built in 1743, as well as the soundstage sets like the foreboding lair of one of the film’s central figures. Afterwards, we walked on-set of an enormous re-creation of a downtown Brooklyn city street—complete with demonic destruction!

Keep your browser set to Wizard Universe and check out Wizard magazine each month for all the latest on what to expect from this highly anticipated sequel, which should be one of the most hellacious superhero movies of the summer!


Haven't even watched bloody Stardust and ALREADY I'm thinking of the next comic book movie! Haha!

Comic Book Movie Poll

Wizard Universe has got a fabulous comic book movie poll! Go log onto their site and vote for your favourite answers!

I'll be commenting on which my selections would be within the post.

COMIC BOOK MOVIE POLL
Best actor? Sexiest heroine? Worst movie? Tell us what you think about your favorite (or least favorite) comic book movies!

Posted October 8, 2007 11:45 AM

Here at Wizard, our favorite types of movies are, of course, those based on comic books. We can be the biggest critics, but now, we’d like to hear what you think! We’ve assembled a few questions about comic book movies that have come out already and would like to know your opinions! Check for the results in the next Wizard Movie Spectacular issue, on sale Dec. 5th in comic book shops!

Of the following, which male actor gave the best performance as a superhero in a movie based on a comic book?
Hugh Jackman as Logan/Wolverine in “X-Men”
Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker/Spider-Man in “Spider-Man”
Ron Perlman as Hellboy in “Hellboy”
Welsey Snipes as Blade in “Blade”
Christopher Reeve as Clark Kent/Superman in “Superman”
Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman in “Batman Begins”

This is a tough one. A VERY tough one. I'd have to think long and hard before actually voting for this one. I love Maguire's turn in Spider-man, just like I loved Jackman's role as Wolverine. But because Christopher Reeve preceded them a good 20+ years ago, that would have to be my vote.


Which of the following female actors gave the best performance as a non-superheroine in a movie based on a comic book?
Natalie Portman as Evey in “V for Vendetta”
Lena Headey as Queen Gorgo in “300”
Hope Davis as Joyce Brabner in “American Splendor”
Rachel Weisz as Angela/Isabel Dodson in “Constantine”
Thora Birch as Enid in “Ghost World”

Not much choice, eh? I really like Thora Birch in Ghost World, but this one would easily be Natalie Portman. And no, I'm not biased or anything. :p


Who is the hottest movie superheroine?
Helen Slater as Supergirl in “Supergirl”
Halle Berry as Storm in the “X-Men” movies
Famke Janssen as Jean Grey in the “X-Men” movies
Pamela Anderson as Barb Wire in “Barb Wire”
Jessica Alba as the Invisible Woman in the “Fantastic Four” movies
Alicia Silverstone as Batgirl in “Batman and Robin”

Ugh. Who's the hottest movie superheroine or who's the hottest out of all these women who HAPPEN to play a movie superheroine? Ask me ten years ago, I would have easily answered Alicia Silverstone. I didn't like Alba's bimbo-esque Sue Storm though, so I'm giving this to Famke Janssen, just because I loved her interpretation of Jean Grey...though Jean could have been so much hotter.


Which of the following is the best movie based on a Dark Horse comic book?
“Sin City”
“300”
“Hellboy”
“The Mask”
“Mystery Men”

Close one between Sin City and 300. And I really loved Hellboy too. But I think I'll go Sin City.


Which of the following has done the best job directing a comic book movie?
Sam Raimi (“Spider-Man” movies)
Christopher Nolan (“Batman Begins”)
Zack Snyder (“300”)
Guillermo del Toro (“Hellboy”)
Bryan Singer (“X-Men” and “X2”)
Robert Rodriguez/Frank Miller (“Sin City”)

Bryan Singer for sure. Not only did her predate the rest of the directors for comic book movies, he almost singlehandedly revived the genre with the success of X-men, after Batman and Robin pretty much crippled the comic book movie market. Plus Sam Raimi gets knocked down a few rungs because of certain scenes in Spidey 3.


Which of the following was the coolest shout-out to die-hard fans in a comic book movie?
The Fastball Special in “X-Men: The Last Stand”
Sentinel head in “X-Men: The Last Stand”
Stan Lee not being able to get into Sue and Reed’s wedding in “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer”
Uncle Ben telling Peter, “With great power comes great responsibility” in “Spider-Man”
The appearance of a dormant Roger the Homunculus in the BPRD headquarters in “Hellboy”
The appearance of Willie Lumpkin the mailman in “Fantastic Four”

Stan Lee not getting into the FF wedding was hilarious. Uncle Ben's speech to Peter was poignant and fantastic...just a classic moment. I hated the Fastball special. But I think, to answer the question, the coolest shout-out for comic book fans had to tbe the Sentinel head.


Which of the following comic book movie moments gave you the biggest goose bumps?
Christopher Reeve as Clark Kent ripping his shirt open to reveal the big “S” on his chest in “Superman”
Christopher Reeve as Superman heralding his return by saying, “General, would you care to step outside?” in “Superman II”
Hugh Jackman as Wolverine baring his claws for the first time during the fight in the seedy Canadian bar in “X-Men”
Michael Keaton as Batman saying, “I’m Batman” in Tim Burton’s “Batman”
The first time Nicolas Cage as Johnny Blaze transforms into Ghost Rider in “Ghost Rider”

The comic book movie moment that gave me the biggest goosebumps isn't one of the choices...it was in X-Men 2 when Colossus "armoured up" for the first time. But that isn't one of the choices, so I'll go with Christopher Reeve ripping his shirt open. Such an iconic image.


Of the following, which was the best one-liner in a comic book movie?
“You’re a d--k.” –Wolverine to Cyclops in “X-Men”
“What do they call you? Wheels?” -Wolverine to Prof. X in “X-Men”
“I’m giving away money, and where is the Batman? He’s at home, washing his tights!” –Joker to henchman in “Batman”
“Do you know why the number 200 is so vitally descriptive to both you and me? It’s your weight and my I.Q.” –Lex Luthor to Otis in “Superman”
“That’s a cute outfit. Did your husband give it to you?” –Spider-Man to Bonesaw McGraw in “Spider-Man”

"Wheels!" Easily, out of the other choices. There are so many more classic one-liners though, and I've got so many other favourites than those listed here.


Which superhero looked best in their panel-to-screen translation?
Daredevil in “Daredevil”
Ghost Rider in “Ghost Rider”
Superman in “Superman”
Batman in “Batman Begins”
Spider-Man in “Spider-Man”

Spider-man. Superman did look kinda cheesy in his costume even though he made everyone believe a man can fly. And while Batman really looks awesome, it's gotta be Spidey, simply because of the acrobatics involved when swinging around in New York City and the breathtaking camera angles.


Which is your favorite comic book movie city?
New York in “Spider-Man”
Gotham City in “Batman”
Gotham City in “Batman Begins”
Metropolis in “Superman Returns”
Sin City in “Sin City”

Sin City comes close, but let's go with the ONLY city listed there based on a real city: New York.


Which is your favorite headquarters in a comic book movie?
Xavier’s Mansion (“X-Men”)
Matt Murdock’s apartment (“Daredevil”)
Fortress of Solitude (“Superman” and “Superman II”)
BPRD headquarters (“Hellboy”)
The Batcave (“Batman”)
The Baxter Building (“Fantastic Four”)

Xavier's Mansion. Because we got to see so many cool cameos within the mansion. Plus, Danger Room!


Which of the following is the coolest comic book movie vehicle?
The Fantasticar in “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer”
Ghost Rider’s motorcycle in “Ghost Rider”
The Tumbler in “Batman Begins”
The X-Jet in “X-Men” and “X2”
The Batmobile in “Batman”
Green Goblin’s rocket sled in “Spider-Man”

I thought the Tumbler would look ridiculous before actually seeing the movie, but it came off really well. So that's my coolest comic book movie vehicle...mainly because that really could be something that could be developed in real life. For a long time, I thought the original Batmobile from Burton's Batman was awesome though. I still do...Tumbler edges it out though.


Which of the following comic book movies had the best special effects?
“X-Men: The Last Stand”
“Spider-Man 3”
“Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer”
“Ghost Rider”
“Hellboy”

I'd actually have gone with X-Men 2. But since those are the choices...I think I've got to go with Spider-man 3 because of Venom!


Which is the best series of comic book movie films?
“X-Men,” “X2” and “X-Men: The Last Stand”
“Superman,” Superman II,” “Superman III” and “Superman IV: The Quest for Peace”
“Batman,” “Batman Returns,” “Batman Forever” and “Batman and Robin”
“Spider-Man,” “Spider-Man 2” and “Spider-Man 3”
“Fantastic Four” and “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer”
“Blade,” “Blade II” and “Blade: Trinity”

OoOo...tough one. The first two Superman movies are perhaps the most iconic comic book movies of all time. But III and IV were just poo. I liked Batman, but being lumped with Batman and Robin means it's out of contention. Only watched Blade and not the other. Fantastic Four was ok...nothing spectacular compared to the rest. Even though X-Men 2 is probably my favourite comic book movie of all time so far, I'd have to go with the Spider-man series.


Which of the following theatrical releases was the worst movie based on a comic book?
“Howard the Duck”
“The Punisher” (1989)
“Superman IV: The Quest for Peace”
“Batman and Robin”
“Steel”

What, you mean there's a choice? Batman and Robin wins hands down EVERY TIME.


What is your favorite straight-to-DVD animated movie from the past two years?
“Hellboy Animated: Sword of Storms”
“Hellboy Animated: Blood and Iron”
“Ultimate Avengers”
“Ultimate Avengers II”
“The Invincible Iron Man”
“Doctor Strange: The Sorcerer Supreme”
“Superman Doomsday”

Really hard to choose, since I've only watched Ultimate Avengers I and II. I'll go with Ultimate Avengers though.


Who’s your favorite X-Men movie villain?
Sir Ian McKellen as Magneto in all movies
Vinnie Jones as Juggernaut in “X-Men: The Last Stand”
Brian Cox as Stryker in “X2”
Aaron Stanford as Pyro in “X2” and “X-Men: The Last Stand”
Tyler Mane as Sabretooth in “X-Men”
Rebecca Romijn as Mystique in all movies

Geez, the deck is stacked in this choice. Obviously Magneto.


Who’s your favorite Batman movie villain?
Jack Nicholson as the Joker in “Batman”
Liam Neeson as Ra’s Al Ghul in “Batman Begins”
Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman in “Batman Returns”
Jim Carrey as Riddler in “Batman Forever”
Uma Thurman as Poison Ivy in “Batman and Robin”

As much as I liked Jack Nicholson as the Joker, Ra's Al Ghul, portrayed by Liam Neeson, wins hands down.


Who’s your favorite Spider-Man movie villain?
Willem Dafoe as Green Goblin in “Spider-Man”
Topher Grace as Venom in “Spider-Man 3”
Thomas Haden Church as Sandman in “Spider-Man 3”
Alfred Molina as Doc Ock in “Spider-Man 2”
James Franco as the new Green Goblin in “Spider-Man 3”

VENOM! Actually, no, because he wasn't given that much screen time. Topher Grace was awesome as a big jerkoff though. I'd vote for Dock Ock for this one.


Which was Stan Lee’s best cameo?
As a security guard in “Hulk”
As a hot dog vendor in “X-Men”
As a man dodging debris in “Spider-Man”
As Willie Lumpkin in “Fantastic Four”
As himself in “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer”

Hot dog vendor! I suppose his most SIGNIFICANT role would be as Willie Lumpkin, but hot dog vendor was the first classic appearance.

Hellboy 2 Update

OoOo! Oooo! I had forgotten that Hellboy 2 was going to be out in theatres next year too.


‘HELLBOY 2’ UPDATE
Mike Mignola gives a behind-the-scenes scoop from the set in Prague and talks about his upcoming horror novel

By Andy Serwin

Posted August 28, 2007 9:20 AM

Hellboy has conquered comics, animation and Hollywood, but the spotlight falls on creator Mike Mignola when his first prose novel—Baltimore, or The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire, co-written with Christopher Golden and courtesy of Bantam Books—hits bookstores today.

The fledgling novelist just returned from a trip to Prague and Budapest, where filming for “Hellboy 2: The Golden Army,” directed by Guillermo del Toro and starring Ron Perlman as the eponymous hero, is under way. He opened the book for Wizard Universe on what he saw behind the scenes of the movie and talked a bit about his first foray into prose fiction with the Gothic vampire thriller (which, by the way, is a must-read for Mignola fans and lovers of authentic horror in the vein of Bram Stoker’s Dracula).

WIZARD: You just got back from your time in Budapest on set of “Hellboy 2: The Golden Army”; how’d your trip go?

MIGNOLA: It was great—and you pronounced “Budapest” correctly, which I usually don’t do. I’m constantly amazed at what del Toro’s doing. The film really looks two or three times bigger than the first picture. And since he doesn’t have two or three times as much money, I have no idea how he’s doing it. But everything looks better. The funny stuff is funnier; the creepy stuff is creepier. It’s just a beautiful-looking movie. It’s very odd, but it’s a beautiful movie.


How much of the production has been completed?

MIGNOLA: They’ve been shooting for a couple of months now, and they’re going until December, so they’re about one-third through. But I saw a lot of footage, because he edits as he goes, so I saw some kind of put-together footage. And the fact that the stuff looks as amazing as it does without all the creature effects and the CG stuff added, it’s really quite amazing.

Any plans on heading out there again before shooting wraps?

MIGNOLA: I would love to be able to go again, but I’ve got such a pile of Hellboy stuff that I’ve got started that needs to get finished that I don’t think I’ll be able to bring my head up for air before the end of the year.

What was your professional capacity on set this time around?

MIGNOLA: Mostly taking up space. Trying not to get in people’s ways. It’s always one of those things where everybody’s really nice to you, but once you leave, they’re thinking, “Thank God, one less guy who’s taking up space.” It’s so much like an army camp—everybody’s running around, everybody’s doing stuff, and you’re sitting there going, “I serve no purpose here whatsoever except to say, ‘Wow, that looks so cool.’”

Okay, let’s switch gears and talk about the book: How did Baltimore come about?

MIGNOLA: This one came about very different than most things I’ve done. This is gonna sound weird. I was actually watching a really boring movie, my mind wandered and I made up probably two-thirds of this story in five minutes. Between the time I got bored with the movie and the time my wife and I walked out of the movie, I had made up most of the story. The movie took place in this Italian village, so it had these beautiful villas with amazing architecture with great old stone crumbling walls. And I thought I wanted to do something cool in that setting. And it just…thwppp…came out.

Within a couple days, I’d hammered out the rough spots of the story. I wanted to do it as a graphic novel, but it became real clear as a couple of years went by that I was never gonna have the time to do it as a graphic novel; the story just got too big. It just kind of sat there in the back of my head. I thought it would never get done. I got so frustrated one day, so I spoke with Christopher Golden, who’d written some of the Hellboy prose novels, and talked about collaborating on it as a novel. There’s one chapter in there that was as a Hellboy story, but the ending didn’t work for Hellboy. When we came up with the format and structure of the book, each of the characters would tell his own story, and I wanted that rambling feel in a lot of old Gothic horror stories, where one character walks in and starts telling this meandering story that seems completely unrelated. I said, “Well, I can take that Hellboy story that doesn’t work and give it to one of the main characters,” and that left me with two holes to fill to tell their experiences with the supernatural. So I handed it off to Chris and told him, “I used my puppet story here, now you go in and make up stories for the other characters.”

What was the process like putting the illustrations together?

MIGNOLA: Because I planned it as a graphic novel, I knew what visuals I wanted in the book. At first I thought I’d want about 40 to 50 illustrations, but as I went through the first draft of the book and made notes, suddenly I had a list of 250 illustrations. So there was two situations I was dealing with: If I only did 40 or 50 illustrations, they were going to disappear into this book and not really give the atmosphere I wanted. But I also wasn’t going to survive doing 250 illustrations. So I did as many as I could, and wound up with 150. But I wanted enough illustrations in the book to create this mood, so that the illustrations would remind you, “Hey, we’re in the woods now” or “We’re in this Italian village now.” I didn’t want illustrations that took away from the reader’s imagination. It’s almost like laying in a soundtrack that would establish the mood.

How did you end up landing with a major book publisher like Bantam?

MIGNOLA: Dark Horse wanted to publish the book, and they were getting their book publishing division up and running. But I really wanted to go outside my comfort zone. I didn’t want to take them for granted and say, “Well, if no one else wanted the book then Dark Horse would publish it.” But I really wanted to see if we could get a major publishing house interested in this amazingly odd story. Chris Golden said to let him send it to all the publishers he usually deals with, and we had four major publishers who were interested in publishing the book. You just never know if anyone’s going to be interested in it unless you throw it out there. It was a great experience for me to see that book publishers wanted something that I had come up with.

After your success with getting Baltimore published, will we see more prose novels out of you in the future?

MIGNOLA: Chris and I hadn’t spoken since we got printed copies, but when he did call, he didn’t call to talk about the book—he called to talk about the next book. I see the beauty of this format, and I’ve got some other ideas floating around. I want to do some odd, experimental stories, but I don’t have the time in comics. I have at least one other giant graphic novel idea that’s floating around, and it’s never been cannibalized for Hellboy. The minute I sold Hellboy to Hollywood, I had to have a backup in case it got poisoned or wrecked, and this is what I came up with. That’s been sitting on the shelf for a while now, and we’re getting started on it for the next book.