Hi folks!I've been trying to get this report written for the past week, but when you've been away from home, even for just one week, there seems to be so much to catch up on when you get back. Anyway, as some of you already know, I recently had the fantastic opportunity to visit the set of "Hellboy II: The Golden Army," in Budapest, and just wanted to share some of my memories with you.
It was an incredible experience, and to be honest, it still seems like a dream, but it all came about thanks to the overwhelming kindness of Mr Doug Jones, who, as you all know, plays Abe Sapien in both Hellboy movies. I went along with Helen Chavez, webmaster (or should it be webmistress?) of Doug's official website, The Doug Jones Experience, and we were there as Doug's invited guests.
As well as being a great website designer, Helen is also a very talented writer, and is doing a marvellous job of describing our Budapest adventures on Doug's "Hellboy II" blog. She already has the first two days of our trip, Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 written up there, so rather than me repeating it all, and probably not doing half such a good job of it, go in and check out Helen's blog here.
I'm sure Helen will be adding the next installment very soon, but in the meantime, here's a few of my own memories of our first day on set.
Monday, September 24 (Day 81 of filming)
We were picked up at 8am outside Doug's hotel by his driver, Gabor, (who is just the sweetest person with a really cute smile and warm sunny nature), and driven out into the Hungarian countryside to the location of THE TROLL MARKET set. After a quick bowl of cereal from the massive craft tent, (brunch was being served later in the day), we headed over to Doug's makeup trailer where we were invited to sit and watch Doug being transformed into Abe Sapien by the extremely talented Thom Floutz and Simon Webber, and not forgetting their lovely young assistant, Nora, who had the unenviable task of removing glue from a number of previously used pieces. Nora lives in Budapest, and loves working on Hellboy II. She told me she's dreading the time when the movie wraps and they all pack up and leave.We weren't sure how Thom and Simon would feel about having a couple of strangers watching their every move, but they were terrific. So kind and welcoming, and made us feel completely at home.
In fact, the words kind, friendly, welcoming, are ones I could use over and over again to describe absolutely everyone we met on those film sets. Although this has been a long, gruelling shoot, and they're all very tired, everyone we met had a smile and a greeting for us. They really are like one big family, and I guess they all draw strength from each other, and from the boundless energy of the great maestro, their Director, Guillermo del Toro. Guillermo himself, in a message on Del Toro Films described it as being a brutal shoot, and that's probably because the scope of this movie is so much greater than the first Hellboy, but the size of the budget doesn't really reflect this, so consequently they're all working long, hard hours to make it happen and bring Hellboy II to life for us.
When Doug's makeup is finished he waits in his trailer until he's called to the set, so Helen and I wandered down the winding track that led to the old limestone quarry which houses the Troll Market. Just outside the caves we met up once again with John Alexander, who plays Johann Krauss, and his lovely wife, Angie. We'd spent several very pleasant hours in their company at brunch the previous day. We were also introduced to Ron's dog, Nigel, a cute Jack Russell Terrier who was sitting on the lap of his dog handler, watching all the comings and goings around the cave entrance with avid curiosity, and probably looking out for his master. He's a really friendly little fellow, and as Helen and I approached him, he wagged his tail and licked my hand. He's certainly got a will of his own though, as we spotted him several times later in the day, taking his handler for a walk, tugging at his lead, determined to go in his own direction.
We left Nigel sitting in the bright afternoon sunshine, and followed John and Angie down into the shadowy depths of the Troll Market, not quite knowing what to expect, and I have to tell you, this phenomenal subterranean world just took our breath away! John and Angie led us through a side entrance off the main tunnel, so the first area we entered was the map vendor's shop, which just has to be seen to be believed! The size of the room, the detail, and all the wonderful paraphernalia it contained was astounding. Filming in the map shop had been finished the previous week, so there were no cameras or crew in this area, we had it all to ourselves. It all felt so real, not like a film set at all, and you almost expected some gnarled little troll to appear from the shadows, challenging your right to be there. Back in Scotland, Helen is an archivist for a museum, and she was in her element in that room, wandering around in an ecstatic daze, trying to take in every detail.
There is a very good description of the Troll Market by Devin Faraci of Chud.com, who had visited the set a few days earlier along with Kelvin Chavez of Latino Review. These guys were both there in an official capacity sanctioned by Universal, so they also got interviews. Be sure to check out their sites in the coming weeks.
Leaving the solitude of the map room we suddenly found ourselves in the midst of a hive of activity. Lights, cameras, crew members of varying descriptions, and scores of raggedy-costumed extras all milling about, and right in the centre of it all was Guillermo del Toro, who welcomed us with open arms and big hugs. He was just about to supervise the rehearsal of a fight scene between Hellboy, who in this case was Ron's stunt double, Max White, and a seven foot troll called Wink, played by the inimitable Brian Steele, who also played Sammael in the first movie. For the next ten minutes or so we watched with total delight as this latest scene (just a few seconds long) was rehearsed several times and then shot several times more, hearing GdT's voice booming out "ACTION!" and then "CUT!" over and over again, until he was completely satisfied with it. Once that scene was done, there was a buzz of activity while the next sequence was being set up, with people dashing about everywhere, so we hastily moved out of the way and joined John and Angie for a quick sit down in some of the cast's chairs that were close by. Ron's chair bore the name Anung-un-Rama, not Hellboy.
We asked John why he wasn't in his Johann outfit, and he said they weren't sure when (or if) they would get to his scenes that day, but he needed to be on-set, just incase. As we chatted away, I suddenly looked up, and there was Ron, in full makeup, coming in our direction. This was the moment I'd been waiting for... to see Ron in all his Hellboy glory! And I certainly wasn't disappointed! The makeup is incredible, even close up, and he looked absolutely magnificent. He came over to say hi to us all and stood chatting for several minutes. I've been fortunate in having met Ron on several occasions over the years, and each time has been a real pleasure, but I never dreamed I'd be on a film set, chatting to him as Hellboy, and getting the opportunity to see him work. I felt like all my birthdays had come together!
I suddenly realised I was sitting in Ron's chair, (well, you have to grab these opportunites while you can, don't you?) so I immediately apologised and started to get up so he could sit down, but he shook his head and said, "Nah, you enjoy it, I've got to be going anyway." And with a "see ya later," he went off to start on his next scene, replacing his stunt double in the fight sequence with Wink. ( Wink, incidentally, is named after Selma Blair's sweet little dog, who only has sight in one eye).
The next part of the afternoon seemed to fly by as Helen and I watched Ron work his scenes with Wink. The rapport between Ron and Guillermo is very evident, and indeed between Guillermo and everybody else for that matter. Although it's been a tough shoot and they were all feeling the strain, everyone seemed to work together in complete harmony, and patiently worked scenes again and again until the maestro was satisfied with each one.
Ron's photo double, Atilla Molnar from the Czhech Republic, who was also Ron's photo double for the first Hellboy movie, was also on set that day, and at one point during the afternoon I turned round to see not one... not two... but THREE Hellboys all standing together, watching the playbacks on the monitor. That was pretty surreal!
I also had the pleasure of meeting Ron's makeup artist, Mike Elizalde of Spectral Motion, who does such a spectacular job of Ron's makeup.
Around 6pm we headed up to the suface and back to Doug's trailer to see how he was doing. As he hadn't been needed that afternoon, Doug had taken the opportunity to catch up on some much needed shut-eye. It was now dinner time, and one of the set runners, a sweet young lady named Meshi, kindly brought Helen and I a menu so we could choose our meal and eat with Doug in his trailer. The food was terrific, and there was plenty of it too.
After dinner, Doug still wasn't needed, so Helen and I strolled back down to the film set. It was pretty quiet when we first got there, as many people were still at dinner, so we went for another browse in the map vendor's shop, and also took the opportunity to explore other parts of the troll market. In one corner there was a maze of pipes of all shapes and sizes, and this immediately made me think of Pascal's Pipe Chamber in "Beauty and the Beast." Mike Elizalde, and a couple of other people were sitting near this area, so we stopped to chat to them, and then Ron came along with a bar of Suchards chocolate, which apparently is one of the little treats they leave in the side pocket of his chair for him. He very kindly offered each of us a piece, and then handed me the remainder for Helen and I to finish, saying he didn't want any more. I mentioned to Ron how the maze of pipes reminded me of Pascal and BATB, and he nodded and said "it's a shame we didn't have this sort of budget on that show."
Gradually the whole area became flooded with people, and filming started once again. For a while Helen and I stood just behind GdT and Cinematographer, Guillermo Navarro, and we watched the scenes played out on the monitors. We watched Ron do part of a scene, then walk back to watch it on the monitor, discuss it with GdT, and then go back and do it again, and again, until they both felt it was right. Once again the time whizzed by, and when we looked at the time and realized it was 11pm, we decided to head back to Doug's trailer and see what was happening with him. Not long after we got there, Meshi knocked to ask Doug to go to the makeup trailer next door to get his makeup touched up, so Helen and I decided to have a quick snooze while we waited for him. We were really surprised when about half an hour later, Doug came back totally devoid of makeup and said he'd been released for the night as he wasn't needed after all, and sweet driver Gabor was waiting to whisk us back to our hotels.
And so ended our first day on the set of Hellboy II, and I'd like to thank EVERYONE who made it such a fantastic and unforgettable experience for us. And we still had another set visit to look forward to! But that's all for this time, and I'll write part two as soon as I can.
Part Two
(Sorry for the delay but I had to go away for a few days unexpectedly. So here's part two, and Helen will fill in any extra details in her blog here)
We took the opportunity to do a little sightseeing on Tuesday, and started with a leisurely boat trip along the Danube, enjoying some of the wonderful architecture gracing it's banks, such as the impressive Castle quarter on Castle Hill which incorporates the Royal Palace, the stunning neo-Gothic Parliament building which is apparently the largest building in Hungary, the 700 year-old Matthias Church where royalty was once crowned, and much more. We also spent a few pleasant hours exploring Margaret Island which lies in the centre of the river, and then headed back for an early dinner at the wonderful 'Spoon' riverboat restaurant we had visited with Doug on our first evening in Budapest.
On Wednesday, Doug discovered he wasn't needed on set, so we got to do some sightseeing with him, and we also had the pleasure of Gabor's company for a while before he had to head back to the studio.
There is so much to see in Budapest, so many magnificent buildings in a huge variety of architectural styles; monuments, museums, art galleries, churches, the list is endless. The afternoon just flew by, and we suddenly realised it was coming up to dinner time and we were all quite ravenous, so we ended the day with a delicious meal at a lovely Italian restaurant just a short walk from our hotels which Doug had visited several times before. A perfect end to another wonderful day.
Thursday, September 27th (Day 84 of filming)
And so, on to Thursday and our next set visit. Gabor collected us outside Doug's hotel at 2.15 in the afternoon, (and this was for a night shoot!) and once again we drove across to the Buda side of the river, and out into the Hungarian countryside. The Troll Market scenes were finished, so today we were heading for the brand new Korda Studios where Hellboy II is the first movie to be filmed.One thing I forgot to mention in the first half of this report is that the use of unauthorised cameras and cell phones was strictly forbidden on set, and as we were there as Doug's guests we certainly didn't want to do anything to rock the boat. So the only pic I have to share with you (apart from the wonderful sights of Budapest) is a quick snap I took of the Hellboy sign in the window of Ron's trailer. No pics of Ron this time, sorry.
Ron's trailer
On this second visit we were more familiar with the routine - a bowl of cereal from the craft tent, and then along to Doug's makeup trailer where we were warmly greeted by Thom, Simon, and Nora. Today it was just Thom working on Doug, while Simon and Nora went off to collect a new batch of appliances, and as Thom worked his magic we watched with total absorption as Doug disappeared and Abe Sapien once more came to life. It was a remarkable process to behold, and I felt very privileged to be there. (Helen was allowed to take a few pics here, and you'll find them in her blog).
Helen and I went off to have brunch in the craft tent around 6.15 pm and by the time we got back, Doug was all ready to go to work. As we left the trailer we spotted Selma Blair coming towards us, and Doug immediately introduced us. Helen and I had met Selma briefly at a couple of autograph sessions during the promotion of the first Hellboy movie back in 2004, but it was lovely to meet her properly in more informal surroundings. We chatted for several minutes, mainly about the two animated Hellboy movies, before heading off to set.
The New York street set built on a backlot at Korda Studios really is a sight to behold. This was a totally different experience to the Troll Market, but just as amazing, and very, very exciting! We strolled around a corner and suddenly we were in New York! Well, not quite, but it certainly looked like we'd just encountered a film crew working in a back street of the Big Apple, with big bright lights, cameras, and lots of people milling about... and there right in front of us was the garbage truck! As any Hellboy fan knows, this isn't any old garbage truck... this is the special BPRD garbage truck, used to transport Hellboy and Abe around the city.
While we were waiting for the action to begin, we met and chatted to various people including Bart Mixon, makeup artist to Luke Goss on this movie, who we were delighted to meet. Helen had previously been in contact with Bart by e-mail, and discovered that he had worked on a couple of Ron's previous movies, so I was keen to hear more. Bart told us he'd worked on the baboons in "Primal Force," particularly the great big feller that Ron fought with at the end of the movie, and he also did some of the Reman makeup on "Star Trek: Nemesis."
While we were chatting to Bart, I noticed some activity going on around the garbage truck, and realised they were about to start rehearsing, so I moved forward to get a closer look. This scene included several of the major characters - Liz, Abe, Johann (at last we were seeing John Alexander in costume), Tom Manning, and of course, Hellboy himself, plus a few BPRD agents. I managed to get right up front, and had an excellent view of everything that was going on. It was SO exciting, being right there in the middle of it all, watching this scene being rehearsed again and again until Guillermo felt they were ready to start shooting it. Then we all had to move back to the opposite side of the street because they were bringing the cars in. Any New York street scene needs traffic, right?
So the cars begin to move, the cameras start to roll, Guillermo shouts "ACTION!" and we watch with total fascination as this latest scene is played out. Then it's "CUT!" - "STOP THE CARS!" - and the playbacks are checked out on the monitors. This sequence of events is repeated many, many times over the next few hours, and while it's probably all run-of-the-mill stuff for most of the people around us, it's all so new and exciting for Helen and I.
During one of the breaks between filming, Ron strolled over to say hi, and I took the opportunity to ask him about the Memorabilia convention he's scheduled to attend in Birmingham, UK, over the weekend of November 24 & 25 this year. Ron said that unfortunately he doesn't think he'll make it to that event now, due to the fact that they're running late with filming. They were hoping to be finished by the end of October, but it now looks like they'll be there until the end of November. At the moment Ron is still listed as a confirmed guest for this convention, so anyone who planned to travel to Birmingham for the sole purpose of seeing Ron, the only advice I can give is to keep checking the con's official website here.
Helen asked Ron if there was any news on "Wooden Lake," the movie he'd planned to direct, but regretfully, due to a number of reasons, Ron said he's had to shelve that project indefinately, but he still hopes to make it happen sometime in the future.
We also talked briefly about "I Sell the Dead" with Dominic Monaghan and Larry Fessenden, which Ron goes to work on immediately after finishing "Hellboy II." Ron said that he thinks this movie is 90 to 95% finished, and that they're just awaiting Ron's presence to finish his scenes, then it's done.
I had hoped to ask Ron about "Standing Down," which is another movie he's meant to be starting as soon as this shoot is finished, but he was being called for the next lot of filming, so I never got to ask him about that. But as he was about to leave us, I did tell him that so many of you out there were sending best wishes and lots of hugs, and I asked if maybe later I could get to pass on a hug? "Oh, you can do that now," he said, and immediately opened his arms, so I got a smashing Hellboy bear-hug! As he was walking away Ron said, "you're here all night, right?" "Oh, yes," I replied. "Yeah, me too," he said, with a wry grin, and off he went to start work again.
It felt so amazing just to be there, watching everything going on around me, having the opportunity not just to see Ron work on a live set, but to see him as Hellboy. I really did feel like a child on Christmas morning!
While we watched the filming someone came by with a tray of steaming hot beverages and invited us to take one. It turned out to be a delicious honey tea, which definitely hit the spot. We later discovered a craft table nearby where we could get a top-up, along with a tasty cheese and ham roll from one of the huge trays which held a variety of savoury goodies.
Everyone breaks for dinner around midnight, so we headed back to the trailer with Doug, where the lovely Meshy once again brought Helen and I a menu to choose from so we could eat with Doug. One thing I have to mention here; although Doug had been in makeup and costume when we ate dinner with him at the Troll Market set on the previous Monday night, because he wasn't sure when he would be needed, he wasn't wearing the eyes - those large oval lenses which turn him completely into Abe. But tonight he was, and that made a huge difference to his appearance. It really was a strange sensation sitting chatting over dinner, because the person chatting to us across the table was Doug, but the person we were looking at was Abe Sapien! Yet another surreal experience to add to the many we'd had over that week.
After dinner we'd settled back for a bit of a rest while waiting for Doug to get his call back to the set when we heard a couple of loud crashing noises. We wondered what on earth was going on outside, until we saw huge flashes of light and then more crashing, and we realised it was thunder and lightning. Heavy rain started drumming down on the roof of the trailer, and for the next 15 to 20 minutes we had a terrific thunderstorm, then it passed off as suddenly as it had come, but I was certainly very thankful that we were all inside on a dinner break when that happened!
I guess we must have dozed off after that, because I woke up with a real start when someone knocked at the trailer door. It was Bart, offering to take Helen and I across to see some of the other sets for the movie. We were delighted to accept, so we followed Bart across to the soundstages, where we saw the Lair of the Angel of Death, which looked very impressive, and several others sets, some of which were still under construction. I wouldn't have missed that opportunity for the world, and I'm so very grateful to Bart for thinking of us, and taking the trouble to seek us out and show them to us. As well as being a talented makeup artist, Bart is one of the nicest guys you could ever wish to meet. If you want to find out more about Bart's work you can check out his website at bartmixon.com.
A short while after we got back to the trailer, Doug got a call to go to and have his makeup touched up before going back to the set, so Helen and I settled down to wait for him. This was about 3 am, and about half an hour later Doug returned devoid of all makeup, and said that he wasn't needed any more that night. Apparently Guillermo was working on scenes that just included Jeffrey and Selma, so we gathered that Ron was probably finished for the night too.
Helen and I had taken over goodie bags for Doug, Ron, and Guillermo, mainly things like English fudge, Scottish shortbread, and a few other bits and pieces. Doug had his , but we'd been waiting for the right opportunity to give Ron's and Guillermo's, so now we weren't sure what to do as this was our last set visit before we went home. I knew we could probably leave them with someone but I had hoped to see Ron again before we left, just to say goodbye.
Ron's trailer was just in front of Doug's, and I'd just taken a peek outside to see if there was any sign of life over there, when I spotted Ron coming along from his makeup trailer, and now he was Ron again with all traces of Hellboy removed. I called out to him, and asked if he could come over for a minute as we had something for him. He seemed really pleased with his goodie bag and gave us both a big hug, and one of those gorgeous Ron smiles. We wished him lots of luck with the rest of the shoot, and I told him those sentiments were echoed by all his loyal fans out there who check in regularly at the PP website. Ron asked me to say hi to everyone, and sends his thanks and best wishes to you all.
Guillermo was still busy filming so sadly we never got to say goodbye to him, but we left his goody bag in the very capable hands of 2nd AD Ben, who gave us both a goodbye hug. Then we headed for the car, where Gabor was waiting to whisk us back to our hotel. It was sad leaving everyone, knowing that we probably won't see many of them again, but we had some really fantastic memories to take with us.
We reached our hotel at about 4.15 am, and then came another sad moment when we had to say goodbye to Gabor. We had a small gift for him too, because he'd definitely helped to make our trip more special with his kindness, and his face lit up when we gave it to him. Doug told us he'd be round to see us on Saturday to say goodbye, so after a final wave we headed inside to our beds, where we both lay wide awake for a long time, playing all the wonderful events of the past fourteen hours over and over in our minds.
So, we now come to the end of our amazing experiences on the set of "Hellboy II" in Budapest. Friday we had a relaxing day, just strolling around the Emke area where our hotel was situated, and finishing the evening with a lovely meal at a local restaurant. Then before we knew it, Saturday had arrived, and it was time to go home. We sat in the hotel lobby waiting for Doug, and when he arrived about 1.30 pm he told us Gabor had dropped him off at his hotel around 6 am that morning, and was picking him up at 2.45 pm to go back again. Our cab was also coming at 2.45 to take us to the airport, and all too soon it was time for one last BIG Dougie hug, and to say goodbye to the darling person who had made this trip possible for us.
There are so many people to thank for making us so welcome, and for making our visit so special. All the people I've mentioned above, plus many more who's names I never discovered, but the greatest thanks of all goes to Doug. I hope he knows how very grateful we are, and how much this trip meant to us. It truly was a dream come true, and an experience we'll treasure always.
Sorry the second half of this account took so long to finish, but I hope you've all enjoyed reading it.
Take care,
Pat.
