Hellboy (Ron Perlman) and Liz (Selma Blair) are ready to do battle in HELLBOY II:THE GOLDEN ARMY(2008).
© Universal Pictures
Fire In a Crowded Theatre: Hellboy's Selma Blair
By: Josh GordonDate: Thursday, July 17, 2008
In part three of our Hellboy II series we got to sit down with Hellboy’s pyrokinetic significant other, Selma Blair (Liz Sherman). She’s stunning when she walks into the room and like many actors there seems to be a tad of hmmm, let’s just say: mystery. Self-effacing, and exuberant, she’s an interesting person who takes her work seriously. She’s a crucial part of team Hellboy and her character has become exponentially stronger since the last film. A complex person with much to say, let’s have a peek, shall we?
Q: I’ve got a question
Selma Blair: I’ll bet
(SPOILER ALERT)
Q: I’m going to cut right to the chase. You make a choice at the end of the movie to save Hellboy’s life at the expense of humanity at some point in the future. One: would you make that same choice in real life and two: what was your character’s thought process in the few seconds you had to make that choice.
SB: Yeah. The Angel of Death Scene is actually my favorite scene. It was such an incredibly beautiful creature to work with. I mean, watching that creature brought tears to my eyes. Guillermo actually had to tell me to stop crying, that Liz was stronger than that. It’s a huge moment; that’s a question that, hopefully in this world, no real person will ever have to answer; that one person would have that much power, you know? Would you save the one person you love at the expense of bringing the apocalypse to the entire world? (Laughs) Some people would like to think they have that power, I’m sure. It’s a staggering question, obviously but Liz couldn’t imagine life without Hellboy. I think she’d give up her own life readily but not without the love of Red. It’s a very selfish thing that she would do this, obviously. I don’t know, she will deal with the consequences later and I just don’t think she could believe it would be real, she just couldn’t say goodbye to Hellboy. It’s kind of a sickening thought; what will happen in Hellboy III, what she will suffer and what will happen to the world.
(END SPOILER)
Q: And so there’s going to be a Hellboy III?
SB: God only knows. Guillermo will be very busy with The Hobbit but it does set up Hellboy III as a very, very sad piece of material.
Q: What was important for you in trying to do more with this character when you know that Hellboy II was a go?
SB: Yeah, when we left Hellboy 1, I knew that Liz obviously had taken some control of her power. She saved the day at the end of Hellboy 1 and she did embrace Red at the end of that movie so there was only one way for her to go which was to move forward and to leave her sad sack of a life behind her and become a more functioning stable woman. It was interesting to move forward with Liz and play her differently. I wanted to play her as the Liz I knew; it was difficult for me to play her as a more stable girl. The Liz I thought I knew was so much more hesitant and afraid but it was great to play her as a more engaged woman.
Q: How much had the fire effects changed in four years?
SB: It’s changed a lot! I was surprised. When I played Liz the first time I got to chose her fire and it was blue and I loved that and this time I noticed the fire was orange/red but Guillermo said that she’s matured and so has her fire. I didn’t know that I would be on fire so much but I think it was a really cool effect; it looked really beautiful.
SB: What’s so incredible about Guillermo is you don’t have to deal with very much computer graphics…Just the Golden Army; they were the main CGI thing. They were the things that weren’t really there. And thank God because once you create the Golden Army your doomed. Thank God that was all in the computer (she adds: wah wah wah and everybody laughs. She then exclaims that she’s embarrassed herself with her own joke. Her humility is sweet and ice breaking – is she married?). The thing that so great about Guillermo is that these were real monsters that were created. There were puppets, they were there. Everything was there. Everything in the troll market was really there, so you’re not acting against someone in a suit, like a green suit or a tennis ball. The goblin in the trolley is really there, the old lady that eats the kittens is really there. (She slips back into her silly but awfully cute sense of humor) That was a REAL OLD LADY, she was IMPOSSIBLE to find and when she turned into a troll, which was a REAL monster! (Inside I’m lamenting the fact that once this junket ends she will completely forget that I ever existed while I, on the other hand, will remember her for the rest of my life.)
Q: You’ve also done the voice for the animated films. Do you have a preference for the animated films or the live action?
SB: I like the live action. I like being with Hellboy. With the animated one’s it’s great. You can be wearing your sweatpants and be a mess and all that fun stuff but that wasn’t Guillermo’s Hellboy. It’s fun still being in the Hellboy world and having anything to do with Hellboy but Guillermo’s world is kind of the best one to be in; you get to walk onto those sets; it’s so much larger than anything I could ever imagine.
Q: What challenges are you facing trying to find the kind of roles that you love to play and what’s going on with you in terms of future projects?
SB: I don’t know, I mean, Guillermo spoils you so much that everything’s going to seem pretty mundane after you walk off a Guillermo del Toro set.
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