Deadpool star Jack Kesy says he didn’t feel any pressure taking on Hellboy in new version: "The supporters, the haters, bring them on"
Aug. 9, 2024Exclusive: New Hellboy actor Jack Kesy tells us that he loves a “good challenge”
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Hellboy is getting reinvented once again in the new reboot, Hellboy: The Crooked Man. Based on one of Mike Mignola’s best comics, the R-rated movie casts a new leading man as the iconic demon, Jack Kesy.
He follows in a long line of stars playing the character, including Ron Perlman and David Harbour. However, theDeadpool 2star says he didn’t feel pressure from the previous performances stepping into the role.
“You know what, I love a good challenge, I’ve always been like that so I was excited to take it on,” he told GamesRadar+ at San Diego Comic-Con. “Everyone, the supporters, the haters, whoever, bring them on. You know it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. You always get an opportunity to play people similar to yourself but when do you get a chance to be in full prosthetic, playing iconic characters? The excitement topped everything.”
The only weight he felt was doing justice to the beloved character. “Just excitement and a little bit of creative pressure, like, ‘How am I going to do this?’ I’ve never worked in prosthetics,'” he continued. “But we collaborated with the director [Brian Taylor] and it was one day at a time, one scene at a time.”
Hellboy: The Crooked Man is based on the limited series of the same name written by Mignola. Set in rural Appalachia in the ‘50s, the new reimagining sees Hellboy stranded in a community haunted by witches, all under the power of a local devil called The Crooked Man.
Kesy wasn’t familiar with the comic book history of the character, but he told us he’s been welcomed by fans with open arms. “[I was] definitely not a comic book guy but I definitely learned on the job and I had fans reach out to me right away and they’ve been telling me things that I didn’t know about comic books.”
He added: “I love the Hellboy fans. I’ve actually known them now for over a year, I still write them back mostly through some social media and they send me little facts and little photos and just little stuff that I may have overlooked. I’m excited with them.”
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I’m the Deputy Entertainment Editor here at GamesRadar+, covering TV and film for the Total Film and SFX sections online. I previously worked as a Senior Showbiz Reporter and SEO TV reporter at Express Online for three years. I’ve also written for The Resident magazines and Amateur Photographer, before specializing in entertainment.
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