MSZ: And then the Angel’s teeth remind me of the Pale Man’s.
GDT: That’s exactly right. I like really narrow, small teeth that are long. I think they are very threatening. If the only makeup you use on an actor is just changing the teeth, it’s already super creepy. And it’s very subtle. People don’t read it at first.
The angel’s faceplate, absent in the original design, was developed during the sculpting process.
NOTEBOOK 4, PAGE 24B
–A thing like that, if nature didn’t put it there, then it had a purpose. Somebody did. Somebody wanted it there. there are things in these woods that are older, and meaner than us. They have been here before any of us and hate us.
–The land, the soil of our land calls our name, the rocks and the roots dream of us, await our return. Call our name. Call us back. (True name). The earth of our land dream of us.
–Mirror Helmet for J. TO AVOID REFLECTION/SET. Plus TORSO J to establish it at the start of the film
–That’s a long sword, your highness, overcompenseting?
Arno [?]
4:35 28/11/06
–The prince needs to show his sister ONE room just like things were in their splendor.
“The worst”
–A character called Mr. Knuckles–
–A 1,000 people could save the earth.
–We are a race of shitbags protecting their turf and this young, [?] of shits. How about that??
–December 15, 2006, Stephen King writes in E.W. “…the best Fantasy Film since THE WIZARD OF OZ… you will SEE This movie…” I am happy. They nominated us for the Golden Globes.
–Lynch: It’s about the idea.
–Emilio: It’s about the story.
–Lynch: I’m a classic avant-gardist.
–The community moves slower than the images.
–Lynch: “revealing the sickness…”
–Making films different than media.
–Emilio: You know who counts at 3.06 a.m. in a set. The west—FUCK OFF!!
–Bargen, LAST Name, German. Pronounced like “Bargain”
GDT: I just found it disturbing—the idea that in a Lovecraftian movie a character could raise their arm and you would see a bunch of tentacles moving. It’s an image I would like to use one day.
Below it is a sketch I did of the council of the elves on both sides of the throne, which ended up in Hellboy II in a different way. It says “The worst” because the prince says, “And for that I will call upon the help of all my people and they will answer. The good, the bad, and the worst.” He’s including “the worst” in his oath, which is the Golden Army. And I was playing with the idea that the train of the king’s robe was also the carpet leading up to the throne. But I didn’t use that either.
MSZ: Let’s talk about this portrait of the king [opposite].
GDT: I like the idea of a creature having ornamental elements that grow out of their body—of ornaments that are biological. You know, when you see a stick insect, it looks like a design. Or if you look at a flower or a vegetable, there is a symmetry and an elegance to the inside that is completely natural, organic. For example, when you slice a tomato, the veining is beautiful.
And this was especially important for the king of the underworld because he is related to trees and all the stuff they don’t have anymore. The idea is that the culture that was given the forests is now living in an abandoned, rusty train station, next to a boiler room. And yet, in their nature, they’re still wood. They’re still the evocation of nature. The elves in Hellboy II are really a displaced tribe. Mignola and I always talked about the prince being like Geronimo, and the elves having received the shittiest reservation thanks to their deal with mankind.
NOTEBOOK 4, PAGE 30A
–URIA HEEP, CHEVY SLYME, Mr SPPITLETOE, NICKELBY, Mr PECKSNIFF, TOM PINCH, Scrooge, PIP, FAVISHAM, PICKWICK, SMIKE, Newman, Maggi GNOTI SEAUTON–
Bouderby.
GHOST
Liz’s invasion of H.B.’s space is reflected by an overwhelming increase in shoes and clothes that he’ll never wear.
–She confronts the public in order to save him.
King Balor.
–The clothes worn by royalty should be full of fabric, with several layers and shapes, too.
NOTEBOOK 4, PAGE 32A
A gnome, seen behind the expo of H.
–Jane Eyre has arrived at Sharpe’s mansion without [?], calm. Blessings and congratulations and good fortune for your future.
–The Crimson Peak mansion “breathes” for the children.
–The Alchemical principle of “dissolve and coagulate” as part of the supreme creation can be applied to the processes of the soul/body.
–Wink’s fight is restricted by the space between the columns of the T.M. and I need to use the vertical space above. The problem is that the roof is made of solid stone too. I’ll ask Steve to build a machine that grinds the flesh and bone of the cats in the T.M./ without blood
–THE NUMINOUS
–Leather cowl.
Angel in Castle in Budapest
–King Balor’s visual “motif” should be a circle of Light in the past and in the present.
–By what mythology do we live by? I believe that TAO, HOMEOPATHY, ALCHEMY and JUNG are the 4 pillars.
“The Bone Crusher.”
Mignola left me this card on the tiny desk in the Hotel Sofitel in Budapest after we finished the storyboards for the Golden Army sequence for the film HBII April 8, 2007. This week Dona, Scott, Mike and David came to discuss the proposal and he took 2 weeks. 3 million dollars in key departments. Ydig was lost and we must kill my beloved Wink in the middle of the film instead of doing it at the end.
NUMINOUS, INSCRUTIBLE, INDIFFERENT, MYSTERIOUS, RECONCILIATION, TRANSMUTATION.
–It is the power of art to reconcile us with life and to seduce us with mistery. Or perhaps the other way ’round
–“The decisive question for man is this: Is he related to something infinite or not?” Jung asked himself this in his writings and man combats the void and Cosmic indifference looking for the answer.
Ron Perlman (Hellboy) and del Toro in front of the final machine on the Troll Market set.