How The Cast Of The 2019 Hellboy Movie Should Really Look

Writer-artist Mike Mignola had already been working in comics for a decade when the first Hellboy story was published in the second issue of San Diego Comic-Con Comics in 1993. The following year, Dark Horse comics published Hellboy: Seed of Destruction, the first installment of what would become the extensive "Mignolaverse," spanning not just the Hellboy series, but also B.P.R.D., Abe Sapien, Lobster Johnson, Witchfinder, and many other spin-offs, one-shots, and story collections. 

Aside from being numerous, though, Mignola's works are distinct. With his heavy inks and sharp angles, frequently paired with superb moody colors by Dave Stewart, it is impossible to mistake Mignola's work for anyone else's. And his universe of cryptids, mythical beings, and Nazi-punching heroes is rich and elaborate, drawing in readers even 25 years after its initial run.

There have already been two Hellboy films, starring the stony-faced Ron Perlman and helmed by visionary director Guillermo del Toro. On April 12, 2019, audiences will be treated to a new big-screen interpretation, one that seems to delve into Hellboy's origins more than previous adaptations have. And as with every new adaptation of literature, there is some question as to whether or not these new cast members fit the bill for the discerning fan. Let's investigate.

Professor Trevor Bruttenholm (pronounced "Broom") is Hellboy's adoptive father, as well as the first director of the B.P.R.D. He was the one to rescue Hellboy from the clutches of Rasputin and the Nazi occult leaders who brought him into our world. He treated Hellboy like any other child, raising him as his own son after legally adopting him in 1946, two years after the demon-child was summoned to Earth. Bruttenholm is a kindly scholar, depicted as thin and bearded and, by the time Hellboy is fully grown, he's an elderly man with thinning white hair and liver spots on his head.

Ian McShane seems like both an odd and an appropriate choice, by turns. He is best known for playing duplicitous rogues and anti-heroes, but his most recent work as Mr. Wednesday in the Starz adaptation of American Gods shows him blending those qualities with more fatherly tendencies. He does appear a bit too young and spry, with dark hair and a full, chiseled face. But it will be interesting to see what kind of interpretation McShane, with his incredible acting prowess, will bring to Hellboy's beloved only family member.

Alice Monaghan first meets Hellboy as a fairy-abducted infant. Even once she is rescued, Alice remains attuned with the fairy world, and her youthful visage is a testament to that continued link. She is of Irish descent, and it shows in her stereotypically red hair and freckled face.

Aside from her youth, Sasha Lane seems to be completely different from the traditional depiction of Alice in just about every way possible. Lane is an American actress of African-American and Maori heritage, who got her start in film playing opposite Shia LeBeouf in the 2016 film American Honey. For the film, she wears her hair in long locks, in deep contrast with the character's rust-colored waves in the comic. And while Alice is an actual love interest for Hellboy in the source material (unlike Liz Sherman, who filled that role in the previous movies), Lane has divulged that she is not a romantic lead in this particular interpretation. It will be very interesting to see what new dimensions Lane brings to this fae-touched woman who is so close to Hellboy's heart.

In Arthurian legend, and indeed in the Mignolaverse, Nimue is also known as the Lady of the Lake, and she is an extremely powerful witch, lauded as the greatest of all of Britain's witches. Having been dead for centuries, she was resurrected after Hellboy's banishment of Hecate to become the leader of the witches. Also known as the Queen of Blood, she is frequently depicted as red-skinned and donning a warrior's helmet, having declared herself not the Queen of Witches, but rather the Goddess of War.

From the brief glimpses we've gotten of Milla Jovovich's interpretation of the character, it is clear that she will be able to bring the rage necessary to the role. The team seems to have gone in a very different direction with her image, though, leaving her entirely humanoid in every respect, and opting to show some skin instead of burying her in crimson fabric like her comic counterpart. Still, in the new Red Band trailer we can see that she's at least donned a red cloak and doused in blood in what looks to be a very dramatic moment of seduction.

He may not look like it, but Gruagach is one of the fairy folk, doomed to reside in the body of the giant Grom, who is essentially a boar who walks upright. Believing that his horrible fate is Hellboy's fault, Gruagach was the one who nominated Nimue to be the new Queen of the Witches, against the advice of nearly everyone else involved. It is he who unleashed her terrible evil on the world, so it would be impossible to tell this story without him.

For the purposes of this film, Gruagach is played by two actors: Stephen Graham for his voice, and Douglas Tait for his physical performance. Tait has many stunt credits to his name, and he is accustomed to working in special effects makeup, as with his many roles in series like Grimm. Since Gruagach is rendered with computer graphics, it was easy to make him exactly what he is: a giant, bipedal boar, of whom we can only get a glimpse in the Red Band trailer. What remains to be seen is how effectively Graham, who has played varied roles such as Scrum in two of the Pirates of the Caribbean films and Baby Face Nelson in Pubic Enemies, can bring the appropriate voice performance for this vengeful fae.

Lady Hatton is a seer and mystic for the Osiris Club, a secret society founded in 1866. This club believes that Hellboy is a prophesied king, and they approach him in a couple of instances to assess whether or not this is the case. Lady Hatton is depicted as an elderly woman in a modest dress with her hair under a kerchief. For the film, she is being portrayed by London-born actress Sophie Okonedo. 

While Okonedo is not quite the shriveled old seer from the comics, she knows how to play women of gravitas and stature. Perhaps best known for her part in Hotel Rwanda, Okonedo's most recent film role was as the elegant Cleopatra in the 2018 adaptation of Shakespeare's Antony & Cleopatra. She provides the voiceover at the beginning of Hellboy's new Red Band trailer, and we get a brief glimpse of her, looking lovely in a white fur coat, with a perfect white coif and blanked-out white eyes. The look is reminiscent of some combo of Storm and Emma Frost from the X-Men, so at least some comic imagery is being referenced, even if it's very different from the actual source material.

Leni Riefenstahl is an odd character to show up on the Hellboy cast list. Not a comic book character, but rather a real-life woman, Riefenstahl was Adolf Hitler's film propaganda director, one who received quite a lot of acclaim in her day, especially for her 1935 film Triumph des Willens and 1938 documentary Olympia. While it is impressive that such a young woman in the 1930s was able to rise to such artistic prominence, her skill will be forever overshadowed by her subject matter. She denied ever having known about the actual Holocaust atrocities as they were occurring, despite her close working relationship with Hitler. 

While Hellboy has direct ties to Nazis, having been summoned by a group of them in the first place, it remains to be seen how Riefenstahl will fit into the picture. She will be played by Kristina Klebe, herself half-German, who has a varied acting career in television, film, and video games. With a little bit of '40s glamour applied, there is no reason Klebe couldn't be a very good likeness for the Fuhrer's favorite filmmaker.