An Interview With Ron Perlman
Ron
Perlman has appeared in a slew of films and TV shows. He is best
known as the beast Vincent in TV’s Beauty and the Beast.
Of course back then you couldn’t recognize him because most
of the time his face was hidden in make, but Perlman has also
appeared under heavy make-up in films like Quest for Fire, The
Island of Dr. Moreau and Star Trek: Nemesis. This Friday he plays
the lead for the first time in Hellboy. I recently had the opportunity
to meet the big man in which he discusses the joy of playing different
characters in the sci-fi market as well as his relationship with
Hellboy director Guillermo Del Toro. Below is what he had to say.
 In
speaking with producer Larry Gordon, he said there was another
actor that they were talking to that was more famous than you
but he said “LIFE IS TOO SHORT, RON PERLMAN WAS RIGHT. WE
DECIDED TO GO WITH HIM BECAUSE HE WAS THE RIGHT GUY” did
you ever think maybe I shouldn’t do this movie?
RP: Turn this down? What
are you out of your mind? [Laughs] This is what you work a lifetime
for. You work a lifetime to have that moment at the top of the
mountain. Whether it last or not you have no control over, I mean
try playing Hellboy for a day, you’ll have the coolest time
you’d ever have in your life.
So it was fun?
RP: Oh man, it was as
tripped out of an experience as I ever had and probably ever will
because a lot of it has to do with the fact that how hard it was
for Guillermo [Del Toro] to pull off to get the movie made on
his terms with his actors and it took 6 years. I’ve been
friends with Guillermo for 14 years now, he’s somebody who
I adore and love as a brother, have an amazing working relationship
with. He has an incredible heart and he has exquisite great taste
in filmmaking. And then he created this character that’s
like delicious, delicious to be. Even for a moment…what
for 6 months, I wish I could go back and do it all again. I had
that much fun being this guy.
Why do you think we’re
watching so many comic books made into movies?
RP: Well you know, the
universe of a comic book character is somewhat fantastical, it
springs out of a place that is a jumping off point from reality
into a world that just loans itself to cinema, its kind of a no-brainer.
And to put your imprimatur on something that’s already realized
in an incredibly fantastical and sort of innocent and naive kind
of way the creation of a new universe, which allows for the existence
of BATMAN, SPIDER-MAN, SUPERMAN, THE PUNISHER, THE HULK, HELLBOY
and Guillermo is as point in articulating what attracts him to
this as anyone I ever heard, which is our monstrousness’
that we get a sense of our humanity. And it’s a great way
to discover ones humanity is to just oppose to what’s most
monstrous in us.
 How
was it to work with Rupert Evans?
RP: Beautiful kid, just
as nice a person as you’re ever going to find. Sweet generous
warm beautiful person, I hope that he has a huge success off of
this cause he deserves it. His heart is totally in the right place.
Do you ever wish you
could stop traffic like Hellboy does?
RP: I have [Laughs]
What was the most
enjoyable scene you did for this film?
RP: Everyone of them,
my absolutely favorite moment in the scene is when I’m writing
Liz a love letter and I can’t get it right, and she actually
comes in the middle of that and I have to like hide the papers.
And my second favorite is the sequence on the roof with the kid.
 And
what was the hardest scene for you to do?
RP: The scene with Selma,
when I say, “I understand what you don’t like about
me, what makes you uncomfortable about me” and I actually
express that I wish I didn’t look like this. That was a
terribly important scene to get right because that defines what
we don’t know about Hellboy, which is that he is capable
of profound self-loathing and that he pays a price of his price
for his existence, it’s a steep price but he longs for most
is for her to just love him. That to me the reason to do the movie.
What led you to become
an actor?
RP: I was a student at
George Washington High School in New York City, which is where
I grew up and I’m on the swimming team, doing laps, and
the whistle blows, and the teacher says, “Perlman, get outta
the pool.” I then go, “What did I do?” He goes,
“You see this guy standing right next to me, he’s
the Drama Coach They are having auditions for the school play.”
I then say, “What does that have to do with me?” “Well,
35 girls showed up for the audition and no boys” Again I
asked, “What does that have to me?” “Well, you
can do the drama dept. more good there than you could on the swimming
team.” This was a direct order to go audition and so they
manage to get three guys as you can imagine. Of course, all three
of us got lead roles and there was a chemical response for me
and the audience and I never looked back.
 How
did you feel knowing that Guillermo wouldn’t do this film
without you?
RP: He had downplayed
that me. He announced to me the moment he achieved the rights
from Mignola to adapt the comic book to the big screen that in
a perfect world it would me but we both saluted the fact that
we live far less than a perfect world and that’s pipe dreams.
The film by nature had to be a studio monstrous machine and possible
franchise kind of thing. That wasn’t with a realm of possibility.
What I didn’t realize was the campaign he mounted over the
course of 6 years. He really could have made the film on 20 different
occasions if he had used this actor or that actor or this actor.
The list was long and varied according to who was the hot thing
at the moment. He didn’t want to include me in this battle
of his simply because he didn’t want to blow smoke or get
my hopes up and depress me on the feedback he would get when he
mentioned my name in a room full of executives. Of all the things
I have prepared myself for as a professional of some 30 years
now, the one things I could have never imagined was the degree
a human being would sacrifice himself at a project for the sake
of another human being and I don’t say that lightly and
I don’t say that because it’s an interesting press
story. It’s the most generous gesture I have ever witnessed
and certainly been the recipient of. Something characterized this
project that was unique and singular and very humanistic.
Can you talk about
the difference between the human qualities versus superhero qualities?
RP: Well, all you play
is the human qualities, and the rest of it is, “Whom am
I punching?” and “Where’s the camera”.
The beauty of the way Hellboy fights is that he’s closer
to John Wayne than Bruce Lee. There’s nothing elegant or
certainly steep in discipline about him. He’s a brawler.
I didn’t have to do any preparation. It’s not like
I’m like Tom Cruise going to shoot “The Last Samurai”
with 6 months of sword lessons and classes. With me, all I had
to do was put my shoes on and show up on the set. But the real
lack of adjusting came in was the character that he created was
so accessible and so recognizable, and so human, and there were
places where he and I vastly intercepted that Hellboy is a lazy
underachieving kind of guy, who much rather hang out on his bachelor
pad drinking beer and smoke cigars and watch Marx Brothers movies
than go out and save the world. When he does ride to the level
of his amazing potential, it’s reluctantly and tongue and
cheek and trashing talking all the way through it. Those are things
that you don’t have to research to play. You just learn
the lines in a superficial way because you want to stay as close
to your instincts and spontaneity to play with Scotty. Having
done lots of roles where there are months and months of research,
reading and learning new skills, this is as far from that as you
could imagine.
 Can
you talk about working Guillermo Del Toro?
RP: This is our third collaboration.
I worked on his very first film called “Cronos”, which
was really guerilla filmmaking. It was really low budget. He says
it was $2 million but it's all lies. I was there so I know. The
joy of being around Guillermo is seeing how much he’s changed
and how little he’s change. He still applies himself to
the exact same degree with the exact same compendium of characteristics
that makes him unlike anybody I have ever worked with. First and
foremost, from the moment we met, even before we started shooting
“Cronos”, there was this instant friendship. Regardless
of whether we ever worked together or will work together in the
future, this friendship will endure. So, working with your best
pal on something that you both are such geeks over, which is moviemaking
and cinema in general is as good as it gets. There’s no
downside to it.
Was there ever an
age issue with you in playing the lead?
RP: In fact, if we do
Hellboy 3, God willing, I did the math, I’d be 62. Thank
God I healthy and in decent condition, and was able to handle
it. Talk to me after Hellboy 3. That will be your superhero in
a walker.
Were you a fan of
the comic book?
RP: Well, I’m a
film geek, never so much a comic book geek. He and I are alter
egos and the alter part comes in where comic books come in. I’m
not a high tech guy and Guillermo is, but our level of enthusiasm
for the media that we are so graced to work in is quite comparable
and I think w e both thank God everyday that we have to do that;
to make movies. I couldn’t possibly articulate the impact
that movies had on me in the course of my life. It’s one
of those few things that make life worth living. It’s being
able to see something that blows your mind. It resonates inside
of you because it’s the human condition that’s the
medium is celebrating.
 Did
you do a Hellboy crash course before shooting began?
RP: No, there was little
adjusting to play this guy. I thought it was important to read
every single comic and study every singe frame that Mignola created
because clearly we were not trying to use Mike Mignola’s
Hellboy as a jumping off point. We had to totally immerse ourselves
in his vision of Hellboy. That’s my source material. I want
to see how he holds his head and what his shoulders feel like.
You can see that by his art. I wanted to see what his walk was
like and what his attitude is. You want enough of Mignola’s
vision to make it second skin.
What’s your
interpretation of Hell?
RP: Doing something for
your whole life that you hate or you really don’t like or
get anything out of. That’s hell.
With as many films
that you have in the sci-fi genre like Blade 2, Star Trek: Nemesis,
Cronos, and a few others, do you have any love for it?
RP: I wish I could say
that I had any control over the roles I have done. I was always
the guy who had trouble paying the rent. Any job that comes along,
I take. So, the entire shape of my career, if there’s one,
is purely by chance or coincidence and having said that, there’s
an awful lot of about it that were really tripped out with incredibly
ridden individuals who were determined to do something of good
taste and high caliber intellect along the way. There have also
been these year and a half gaps were the phone doesn’t ring,
so during those times, if someone comes along with a really piece
of shit exploitation movie, I have to take it cause the rent’s
due. So, there’s a lot of stuff there that I’m not
proud, but I don’t apologize. I’m raising kids and
putting them through school and you got to do what you got to
do. You take the good with the bad.
What personality traits
do you share with Hellboy?
RP: Hellboy has clearly
decided that since he is so limited in his ability to participate
in society that he is owed the right to entertain himself in the
way that he sees fit. He’s chosen to do with this rapier
sense of humor that he has. Everything that he does, he processes
it as something humor or fun, and I think it’s more for
his own enjoyment than anyone else’s cause he could give
a shit what anyone thinks, which is also part of his charm. The
first time I ever asked a girl out on a date and she thought I
was kidding and laugh, that when humor became an important buffer
between me and the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. There’s
that, and there’s this underachiever, lazy, kind of hedonist.
If he wasn’t in such good shape, I would be 700 pounds eating
bon buns. That’s his psyche. So, we share that as well.
 Can
you talk about the makeup?
RP: It seems to be like
a running theme. The very first film I did, I spent 4 hours under
makeup, which was “Quest of Fire” and the second film
I did, “In the name of the rose”, and the third is
what led to “Beauty and the Beast”, and there’s
4 or 5 in between, and now this. Luckily I happen to see incredible
positive aspects of creating a character that I’m just not
creating, that other artists are creating with me. In this case,
it’s Rick Baker. He’s a genius; unequivocal genius.
The guys who work for him are genius, so they have the first shot
of who Hellboy is going to be. I have to find my humanity and
meet him somewhere in the middle and that’s a collaboration
that gets my juices flowing. It engages me in a more interesting
way than if it were just me and a character. I have always felt
that from the very first time I put the stuff on. Luckily, because
I have doing this stuff so much. It would be horrible if I did
it and hated it and it was just a living.
What’s next
for you?
RP: Well, I’m directing
my first film in the fall. We’re looking at actor to cast
the film. It’s a beautiful little movie that probably resembles
in scope a small film called “You Can Count on Me”,
which starred Mark Ruffalo and Laura Linney. It’s the ultimate
low budget film. It’s a film that you shouldn’t shoot
for more than a million and a half and more than 24 days. I’ve
been in 22 movies like that so I can recognize when you’re
in something that lends itself to low budget. This does and it’s
something that I’ve been interested about. It’s an
itch that I’ve never really quite scratch. So, I’m
excited about that. I also want to play Tevye one day. That’s
the character from “Fiddler on a Roof”. People look
at me like I’m nuts but that’s a role I really want
to sink my teeth into. Other than that, the things that have happened
to me far exceed the things that I have ever dreamed about so
I stop aspiring and I’m here to see what God has in store
for me.
HELLYBOY OPENS APRIL 2,
2004
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