'Deadpool' actor Ed Skrein is booked to play an American Japanese member of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense.
- Aug 23, 2017
AceShowbiz - Despite numerous backlash over white-washing Asian characters in Hollywood, "Hellboy" remake chooses a white actor for a Japanese role. The Hollywood Reporter learns that English actor Ed Skrein ("Deadpool") is set to portray Major Ben Daimio in the upcoming movie rumored to be titled "Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen".
In the "Hellboy" graphic novel, Daimio is a former marine who works for The Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense. His grandmother, Yumiko Daimio, was a Japanese spy and infamous war criminal better known as the Crimson Lotus. The Japanese-American member of the B.P.R.D. posseses powers turn into a jaguar.
The reboot will be directed by Neil Marshall ("Game of Thrones", "Constantine", "Hannibal"). "Stranger Things" actor David Harbour is attached to play the male lead originated by Ron Perlman in the Guillermo del Toro films.
Sasha Lane is expected to play Alice Monaghan, a woman saved by the titular hero from fairies. Ian McShane is added as the demonic hero's adoptive father Professor Trevor Broom, and "Resident Evil" star Milla Jovovich joins the cast members as the villanious Blood Queen.
The revamped movie hasn't got a release date, but it is planned to go into production in September. The project was announced after attempts to follow up Del Toro's original two movies fell apart. The threequel had been in development for a long time before it was killed off due to budget issues.
The first Hellboy movie came out in 2004 and quickly gained a cult following. A sequel called "Hellboy II: The Golden Army" was released four years later.
"[Hellboy] is very rich," Harbour recently said. "I think the films did a certain thing, the comics do a certain thing. Hellboy is kind of a neurotic, messed up individual who's destined for a horrible fate. He's destined to become the beast of the apocalypse. Whenever he shows up and does the right thing, people throw beers at him and show up with pitchforks and he still manages to do the right thing. I think it's funny and it's sweet and it's weird and hopefully I can bring that to it as well."
