David Harbour on Hellboy Reboot: “We Did Our Best, But…”

To say Hellboy had a helluva’ time at the box office this year. After the franchise confirmed it was rebooting itself on the big screen, fans kept a close eye on the series as it made its way to theaters, but Hellboy failed to impress. Now, star David Harbour is opening up about the film, and Hellboy himself admits there were issues going on beyond his control.

Recently, Harbour sat down with Digital Spy during a recent appearance at MCM London, and it was there the actor got real about Hellboy reboot.

“We did our best, but there’s so many voices that go into these things and they’re not always going to work out,” the actor said.

Continuing, Harbour said he did what he could on set to help Hellboy along, and he’s proud to have done as much.

“I did what I could do and I feel proud of what I did, but ultimately I’m not in control of a lot of those things.”

Of course, some of these reported problems on set did come to light after Hellboy made a dismal entry into theaters. The film debuted on Rotten Tomatoes to 9% but has since climbed to a meager 16% to date. The film’s rough reviews did not endear audiences at all, but Harbour believes those negative notes were in part due to some unfair comparisons involving the MCU.

The problem that I have with comic book movies nowadays is that I think, and it’s a result of the power of Marvel stuff, it’s like chocolate, it’s a flavour,” Harbour said.

“I sort of want a world where there’s more flavours than just comparisons to chocolate. So in that way when Hellboy is viewed on the chocolate spectrum, it does very poorly. That being said, it also has major problems.”

With fans wanting to move past Hellboy, Harbour’s comments come as a reminder of what can go wrong with an outwardly promising project. The film faced opposition from the start as diehard fans of Hellboy simply wanted the franchise continued under Guillermo del Toro’s banner rather than rebooted entirely. When that failed, reports have suggested warring influences on set between the film’s producers, directors, and actors led to lots of discord. From start to stop, Hellboy had fate working against it, but its stars aren’t too worried about all its hubbub. In fact, Milla Jovovich believes the movie will be viewed as a cult classic in the years to come.

“All I’m going to bed is this: all my raddest films have been slammed by critics,” Jovovich wrote on Instagram. “It’s f**cking hilarious. Dazed and Confused? Seriously? Classic movie. The Fifth Element! You would have thought that was the worst movie ever made if you read the reviews in like ’98. Zoolander? Slammed. Joan of Arc? Disaster. Resident Evil? Let’s not even go there.

“Anyway, every one of those films is now a cult classic,” the actor continues. “EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. And this [Hellboy] will be too. Mark my words. Why? Because of the actors…They are all so damn wonderful and talented, the movie is worth seeing just because they’re in it, especially one that’s so much fun to experience as this is.”

So, what did you make of this Hellboy reboot? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!