Hellboy: The Crooked Man will be the fourth live-action movie featuring the Mike Mignola-created superhero. Recently, the reboot has come under fire for reportedly using AI to design its creatures, a claim that the movie's director Brian Taylor has publicly debunked.

The Motion Picture Association recently published a discussion with Jonathan Yunger, President of Millennium Films, at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival, which quoted Yunger as stating that he had used AI to replace a character that was shot practically: "I was able to make 3000 creature designs in an hour. So now I can start to cherry-pick and edit those and then send it to visual effects." Yunger's comments were not received favorably by the Hellboy community, with many expressing disgust at the forthcoming reboot for replacing a practical character with AI. However, Taylor has now released a statement claiming that Yunger was misquoted.

In a post on the social media platform X, Taylor wrote, "to be clear: there is exactly *ZERO* AI used on hellboy: the crooked man. both characters - hellboy and the crooked man - were created and shot 100% gloriously practical, as the movie gods intended, with no cgi enhancement... and look AMAZING." In another post, he explained that Yunger "was misquoted" and that "the comment was referring to a different film," The Offering, adding, "rest assured there is zero AI used on [Hellboy: The Crooked Man] and our gloriously practical hellboy looks phenomenal."

Jack Kesy Is the New Hellboy

Jack Kesy (Deadpool 2) stars as Hellboy in the upcoming reboot movie, Hellboy: The Crooked Man, which is based on the 2008 Eisner Award-winning comic of the same name. He is the third actor to portray Hellboy in live-action, after Ron Perlman in Guillermo del Toro's beloved duology and David Harbour in the 2019 film reboot. In addition to Kesy, Hellboy: The Crooked Man stars Jefferson White (Yellowstone) as Tom Ferrell, Adeline Rudolph (Resident Evil) as Bobbie Jo Song, and Leah McNamara (Vikings) as Effie Kolb. Joseph Marcell, Hannah Margetson, and Martin Bassindale have also been cast in undisclosed roles.

What Is The Crooked Man About?

The Crooked Man is the first Hellboy movie to have Mignola involved in a creative capacity, with the beloved creator co-writing the screenplay with Chris Golden. The upcoming reboot finds Hellboy and a rookie Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense agent stranded in 1950s rural Appalachia. The two will discover a small community haunted by witches and led by The Crooked Man, a local devil with a troubling connection to Hellboy's past.

Production on The Crooked Man began in March 2023 and wrapped the following May in Bulgaria. The movie is expected to receive an R-rating from the MPA, with Taylor explaining in February 2023 that the project was pitched as an R-rated film, explaining that they couldn't "have any [PG-13] handcuffs on" if they wanted to do the source material justice. The Crooked Man will be the second R-rated Hellboy movie after Millenium's 2019 reboot. The del Toro movies were both rated PG-13.

Hellboy: The Crooked Man does not yet have a release date, but will be distributed by Ketchup Entertainment.

Source: X