David Harbour Was Hesitant on Taking ‘Hellboy’ Role From Ron Perlman

In but a matter of weeks, David Harbour officially takes over the Hellboy mantle from Ron Perlman when the Hellboy reboot hits theaters. When the actor was first talking with director Neil Marshall and producer Lloyd Levin about the role, he was initially hesitant about taking the role because of the large void left by Ron Perlman, the previous actor who served in the capacity if both of Guillermo del Toro’s fan-favorite films.

When journalists visited the set of the film last year, Harbour explained his initial hesitance around the role, only signing on board when he realized the reboot was going to have a completely different tone over the past two films.

“So it excited me, and I like sort of went back and forth for a long time on it because part of the trepidation was that those films have a certain rabid fan base, the Guillermo del Toro ones, and certainly Ron Perlman did a terrific job and is a great actor,” Harbour said of his predecessor. “And so, I knew that stepping into this would be like—I was scared that people would feel like it was a f**k you to those guys and what they’d done. And so, I was nervous about that.”

“And then, in terms of the re-imagining, I sort of hate the term reboot, but because you know, like when I watch guys play Hamlet, like I’ve seen a million dudes play Hamlet, and I love everybody’s take on that particular character, and they bring out something unique.”

Harbour continued by contrasting his take on the character from Perlman’s, saying it’s an all-new take that hasn’t been seen on-screen before.

“It has to be totally different and it has to be something that I, first of all, am drawn to, and secondly, something that I can excel at as an actor,” Harbour continued. “Which is a much different thing than Ron does. And so, the fact that they were really into that and they wanted to bring new life and sort of a wildly different take on that, I was like, all right, then I’m in. This sounds really great.”

Hellboy hits theaters on April 12th.

What do you think of Harbour’s Hellboy so far? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below or join the conversation online by hitting me up on Twitter at @AdamBarnhardt to chat all things Hellboy!

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