Hellboy is heading back to the big screen! Last month, it was confirmed that the Mike Mignola-created property is being rebooted yet again following David Harbour’s turn as Hellboy in 2019. So will follow as the third live-action Hellboy following Harbour and Ron Perlman’s time in the role during the 2000s? That question has finally been answered.
Jack Kesy, who has previous comic book movie experience playing Black Tom in Deadpool 2, has been tapped to play Hellboy in Millennium Media’s new Hellboy reboot, which is called The Crooked Man. The upcoming movie is being directed by Crank’s Brian Taylor, and Mike Mignola wrote the script with Chris Golden. Millennium Media co-president Jonathan Yunger said the following about Kesy’s casting (via Deadline):
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
Millennium Media was one of the production companies behind the 2020 movie The Outpost, which was met with a lot of positive reception and saw Jack Kesy acting opposite Scott Eastwood, Caleb Landy Jones and Orlando Bloom, among others. Kesy’s other film credits include Baywatch, 12 Strong, Death Wish, Dark Web: Cicada 3301 and Without Remorse, but he’s arguably better known for his TV work. The actor played Gabriel Bolivar, who later became a host body for The Master, in The Strain, and he starred in Claws’ first three seasons as Roller Husser.
As indicated earlier, this next Hellboy reboot will be a film adaptation of The Crooked Man, the three-issue miniseries published in 2008. The movie will follow Jack Kesy’s Hellboy being stranded in rural Appalachia with a rookie agent from the BPRD (Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense). The duo discover a small community that’s being haunted by witches, and the devil leading them, the title Crooked Man, is connected to Hellboy’s past. Although previous Hellboy movies have flashed back to show how Hellboy was brought to Earth during World War II and showed other key moments from the past, this will be the first period piece of the bunch rather than be set in contemporary times.
Now that Jack Kesy has been selected to play Hellboy, the reboot has begun additional casting, so hopefully we’ll learn about the other actors joining him in the coming weeks/months. Principal photography is expected to begin in the next few months, and Millennium Media is working on the project with Telepool, the German film and TV distributor owned by Will and Jada Pinkett Smith. Given how poorly the last Hellboy movie fared critically (CinemaBlend gave it 2 out of 5 stars) and at the box office, which resulted in plans for a sequel introducing Abe Sapien being scrapped, fingers crossed that the Jack Kesey-led reboot fares better.
While we wait for more news about Hellboy: The Crooked Man, look through the 2023 new movie releases to plan which cinematic entertainment you’ll check out this years in theaters and on streaming.
