Hellboy: The Crooked Man Casts Jack Kesy as the New Hellboy

Hellboy: The Crooked Man has found its Hellboy in actor Jack Kesy. Kesy is best known for FX's The Strain, and for playing Black Tom Cassidy in Deadpool 2; he will be the third actor to play Hellboy in the last two decades. Sons of Anarchy star Ron Perlman first played Hellboy in Guillermo del Toro's 2004 Hellboy film and its 2008 sequel The Golden Army. Stranger Things and Marvel's Thunderbolts star David Harbour played Hellboy in Game of Thrones director Neil Marshall's 2019 reboot (which ultimately flopped). 

Hellboy: The Crooked Man is being directed by Brian Taylor – best known as one half of the extreme directorial team "Neveldine and Taylor," who made Crank and Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance. It will be R-rated, with big horror overtones. 

A new synopsis for Hellboy: The Crooked Man reveals the following story premise: "Stranded in 1950s rural Appalachia, Hellboy and a rookie BPRD agent discover a small community haunted by witches, led by a local devil with a troubling connection to Hellboy's past: the Crooked Man."

"I pitched an R-rated folk-horror movie and the team here at Millennium have been nothing but supportive. It's a great group of people, and they love horror," Taylor revealed to Collider. "We've definitely had a discussion of, you know, it doesn't really serve anybody to make something R for R's sake. To say it has to be R so we have to add A, B, and C. But this material, this original material is dark and scary and violent and adult. So in order to really embrace that, we just don't wanna have any handcuffs on."

Hellboy creator Mike Mignola is involved with writing the script, along with Christopher Golden.

"We started with a draft by Mike and Chris Golden," Taylor added. "Funny enough, a lot of what I'm doing is trying to bring it even closer to the original comic book than what they did. A comic book will never directly translate to the screen, but I will tell you that my intent in the movie is to really honor and bring to life the original comics."

As for how Taylor and co. plan to succeed with a third attempt at Hellboy: by going back to the character's younger days, for more of a horror procedural than superhero blockbuster: 

"Some of the comics [creator] Mike [Mignola] was doing at the time had a very different feeling. More lean and mean, creepy, folk horror. A younger Hellboy, wandering the dark corners of the world... Paranormal investigator, night stalker... The Crooked Man in particular is just such an iconic book," Taylor said, adding that "For me, it's my favorite version of the character. So the appeal of this one, to me, is to go back to that and do a real reset, and really give us that version of Hellboy, which I just don't think we've seen yet."

Jack Kesy will definitely have the look and build of the 'leaner, meaner' Hellboy Taylor described.

Hellboy: The Crooked Man Announces Jack Kesy As The New Hellboy

Millennium Media announced today that The Crooked Man has its Hellboy. Jack Kesy (12 Strong) will star as Hellboy. As previously announced, Brian Taylor (Crank) will be directing with a script penned by Hellboy comic book creator Mike Mignola and Chris Golden.

The Crooked Man will be the first film in the Millennium Media partnered development slate with leading German film and TV distributor, Telepool, a division of Westbrook Inc.

Stranded in 1950s rural Appalachia, Hellboy and a rookie BPRD agent discover a small community haunted by witches, led by a local devil with a troubling connection to Hellboy's past: the Crooked Man.

"Jack Kesy is a dynamic actor who has the ability to morph into his roles. His talent and stature are perfect for this younger Hellboy. I was very impressed with him while working together on The Outpost." Co-President of Millennium Media, Jonathan Yunger stated.

Jack Kesy can currently be seen starring in the Lionsgate feature DARK WEB: CICADIA 3301 opposite Alan Ritchson. He most recently played 'Sgt. Josh Kirk' in the Millennium feature THE OUTPOST, opposite Orlando Bloom and Scott Eastwood as well as the role of 'Thunder' in Tom Clancy's Amazon feature WITHOUT REMORSE alongside Michael B. Jordan. Jack's upcoming films include Paramount feature SHEROES and Netflix feature THE KILLER. Jack starred in the AMC feature MOSQUITO STATE and in Sony's PEELopposite Emilie Hirsch. Other work includes DEADPOOL 2, Paramount Pictures' BAYWATCH, 12 STRONG for Lionsgate, Eli Roth's DEATH WISH for MGM, and JUGGERNAUT directed by Daniel DiMarco. In television, Jack starred in the series CLAWS produced by Rashida Jones and Will McCormack and THE STRAIN for Guillermo del Toro.

Millennium Media bought the rights to Hellboy in 2018. The Eisner Award-winning Hellboy: The Crooked Man comic debuted in July 2008 to correspond with the cinema release of Hellboy II: The Golden Army.

Millennium Media presents Hellboy: The Crooked Man in association with Dark Horse Entertainment – A Nu Boyana Production in association with Campbell Grobman Film. Producers for The Crooked Man include Dark Horse Entertainment's Mike Richardson, and Millennium Media's Jeffrey Greenstein, Jonathan Yunger, Les Weldon, Rob Van Norden, and Yariv Lerner. Mike Mignola, Millennium Media's Avi Lerner, Trevor Short, Boaz Davidson, and Tanner Mobley, Campbell Grobman Films' Lati Grobman and Christa Campbell, and Telepool's Michael Muellner and Julia Muentefering are among the executive producers. Sam Schulte will co-produce on behalf of Millennium Media.