US actor Jack Kesy (36, "Deadpool 2") will take on the lead role in the reboot "Hellboy: The Crooked Man". This is reported by several media, citing the film studio Millenium Media. The 36-year-old has previously appeared in supporting roles and has appeared in "Deadpool 2" and "Baywatch" (2017), among others.
"Jack Kesy is a dynamic actor who has the ability to transform into his roles. His talent and physique are perfect for this younger Hellboy. I was very impressed with him when we worked together on 'The Outpost'." , Jonathan Yunger, co-president of Millennium Media, is quoted as saying by "Deadline".
Kesy was last seen in the lead role in the cyber thriller "Dark Web: Cicada 3301" (2021) alongside Alan Ritchson (40, "Reacher"). In the military drama "The Outpost - Survival is Everything" he played the soldier Sgt. Josh Kirk alongside Orlando Bloom (46, "Pirates of the Caribbean") and Scott Eastwood (36, "Cash Truck").
In the planned reboot, Hellboy is stranded in rural Appalachia in the 1950s with an agent of the BPRD, a secret FBI agency. There they discover a small community haunted by witches, led by a local devil who has a disturbing connection to Hellboy's past: the Crooked Man.
Brian Taylor ("Crank") will direct, the screenplay was penned by "Hellboy" comic author Mike Mignola (62) and Chris Golden, reports "Deadline". Filming is set to begin in the coming months.
Director Neil Marshall (52) had already tried to reboot the "Hellboy" series in 2019. But the film adaptation did not come close to "Hellboy" (2004) or "Hellboy 2: The Golden Army" (2008) by Guillermo Del Toro (58) with Ron Perlman (72). "Hellboy - Call of Darkness" just barely recouped its budget of around 50 million US dollars. The main actor at the time was "Stranger Things" star David Harbor (47).
Harbor sees the failure of the 2019 reboot as being due to the cult status of the first films, as he explained to "Screen Rant" in March 2020. "Guillermo del Toro and Ron Perlman created this iconic thing that we thought could be reinvented," said Harbour. But the fans wouldn't have wanted that. "And then we did a movie that I think is fun," the actor said. But people simply had too many reservations.
