David Harbour understands if movie-goers don’t realize he’s the star of the new “Hellboy.”
“I was kind of stunned. It’s quite a transformation. I didn’t even recognize myself,” the “Stranger Things” star recalls about seeing himself for the first time as the half-demon superhero. “And as the process went on I started to actually fetishize it. I actually liked looking at it a lot more than my own face. So, I got into it after awhile.”
Harbour stars in the reboot alongside Daniel Dae Kim.
“It’s weird to see someone in that kind of make-up and just talking about how their day is,” Kim told Variety at the movie’s premiere on Tuesday night in New York City. “It got to the point where I would see him more in that than out of make-up, so I started to associate his voice with his character. After the movie it took me a moment to kind of recalibrate and remember that’s actually David.”
CREDIT: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP/REX/Shutterstock
Harbour’s take on the character will undoubtedly be compared to Ron Perlman’s works as the original big screen Hellboy. “I think that the character of Hellboy is bigger than any one of us,” Harbour said. “Coming from the theater I have seen like 20 people play Hamlet. Nobody is going to capture the entire essence of Hamlet. I think Hellboy has the same omnibus and the same threat…He is a large architect of which you can fashion different things. I certainly considered it a daunting task.”
After the screening, guests headed to the Bowery Hotel for a party featuring candelabras and a fireplace mantle covered with plastic skull decorations. The evening was capped off just after midnight when Harbour was presented with a cake to celebrate his 44th birthday.