Ron Perlman Still Fighting For Hellboy 3

Speaking at the world premiere of his latest film in London’s East End Film Festival, Hellboy star Ron Perlman told Red Carpet News how he really feels about the long hoped for final chapter in the franchise.

The big screen adaptation of Mike Mignola’s iconic comic series and its 2008 sequel Hellboy II: The Golden Army was intended to set up a trilogy. However despite vocal enthusiasm from director Guillermo Del Toro and devoted fans, production on Hellboy 3 has been tragically stalled for many years.

Though critically well received and adored by fans, Hellboy II ‘underperformed’ at the box office, due in large part to opening alongside The Dark Knight. Unfortunately it evidently seems to have put Universal off gambling on a spectacular big budget conclusion to the series.

With last year’s release of Pacific Rim there was excited speculation that Legendary Pictures may have an interest in making Hellboy 3 if all the relevant rights issues could be resolved with Universal. But given that the studio hasn’t even sanctioned a Pacific Rim sequel yet, such hopes seem increasingly unlikely.

However, during a rare visit to the UK, big red himself Ron Perlman shared his continued and emphatic determination for making Hellboy 3 a reality. Here’s exactly what he had to say:

“I’d like to finish it. I’d like for there to be a third film because the first two films were set up for this huge resolve and he (Guillermo Del Toro) already understands what that resolve will look like. He never gave me the nuts and bolts of it, but he gave me a rather broad strokes sketch of what the third film would look like and it’s so epic and so deserved by the fans that hung in there for the first two that I really feel as though it’s essential that we make it. So I fight for it every day. Sometimes I’m the only voice and sometimes there are others, but I’m never going to stop trying to get Hellboy 3 made!”

Perlman’s inspiring enthusiasm for the project may help fans keep alive faint hopes of finally seeing Del Toro’s grand vision for the series become a reality.

Full Length 6 Minute Interview below:

 

Del Toro Won’t Direct Beauty And The Beast

Guillermo Del Toro has officially dropped out of directing Warner Bros Beauty And The Beast in the wake of the recent news that Disney are planning their own live-action imagining of the tale as old as time. Warner Bros will now turns to another director to helm the project based the current draft of Del Toro’s script and presumably with star Emma Watson still attached.

While Del Toro will produce the new film, he is currently working on a speculative script for a potential Pacific Rim sequel and has haunted house horror Crimson Peak due out next year.

Sigourney Weaver & Stephen Lang Join Avatar Sequels

Sigourney Weaver and Stephen Lang are apparently going to feature in all all three Avatar sequels, despite both of their characters being emphatically killed off in the first film. Explaining the unlikely casting news for Weaver Director James Cameron said:

“We’re good friends who’ve always worked well together, so it just feels right that she’s coming back for the Avatar sequels. Her character of Grace Augustine, as fans know, died in the first movie, so she’s playing a different and in many ways more challenging character in the upcoming films.”

Cameron also discussed the subject of Lang’s return and potential status as principal villain for the entire franchise in another recent interview:

“Steven was so memorable in the first film, we’re privileged to have him back. I’m not going to say exactly HOW we’re bringing him back, but it’s a science fiction story, after all. His character will evolve into really unexpected places across the arc of our new three-film saga. I really look forward to working with such a gifted actor, who’s also become a good friend.”

 

Bryan Singer X-Men Future In Doubt

X-Men Days Of Future Past may be riding high at the box office, but perhaps unsurprisingly given recent high profile sexual assault allegations against him, it’s being reported that Bryan Singer’s position as Director of sequel X-Men Apocalypse is now in doubt.

Various online sources are alleging that studio Fox may be considering pushing Singer back into a producers role for the next installment of the lucrative mutant franchise, as a way of avoiding production delays or adverse publicity surrounding any potential court case.

Singer had previously been replaced as director by Brett Ratner and Matthew Vaughn for X-Men Last Stand and First Class. He took over directing duties for Days of Future Past after Vaughn stepped way to focus on passion project Kingsman: The Secret Service.

The position is made more awkward by the fact that Singer’s return for Apocalypse had already been announced with contracts signed in advance of the recent unwelcome media storm.

Should Singer once again be pushed into a less prominent producers role it remains unclear whether the studio would favour bringing Matthew Vaughn back to complete he trilogy he started or would turn elsewhere.

Spielberg & Cranston set for TV Miniseries

Steven Spielberg is set to turn Tony winning play All the Way into a new mini-series. The play focuses on Lyndon B. Johnson and originally starred Bryan Cranston as the American president during its initial Broadway run. The Breaking Bad star is expected to reprise the role for the small screen adaptation.

It remains to be seen which network would play host to the series, given Spielberg’s past affiliations with HBO and Cranston’s long running relationship with AMC.