Ryan Reynolds Gave David Harbour ‘Sweet’ Advice After ‘Hellboy’ Flop: ‘Am I Going to Survive This?’
Samantha Bergeson
David Harbour didn’t shy away from having a “Strange” conversation with Ryan Reynolds.
The “Stranger Things” star revealed to GQ UK that he reached out to Reynolds following the “flop” of “Hellboy” and asked Reynolds about how his career survived starring in the critically panned comic book installment “Green Lantern.”
Harbour played the titular antihero in the 2019 remake; Reynolds led the DC film “Green Lantern” in 2011 and infamously live-tweeted his first time watching the film a decade later after having “fear” over how bad it was. The “Deadpool” actor has also spoofed his “Green Lantern” appearance multiple times. So, Reynolds was the right person for Harbour to reach out to once Harbour knew “Hellboy” was off to a rocky start.
“I know him a little bit. I called him and I was like, ‘Hey man, I just need to know something. You know ‘Green Lantern?’ Huge flop for you. What the fuck is that like, because I think I’m going to hit that right now,'” Harbour recalled asking Reynolds the day “Hellboy” was released in theaters. “‘Am I going to be OK? Am I going to survive this?'”
Harbour added that Reynolds was “sweet” about answering his questions. However, Harbour himself was heartbroken over the film’s downfall.
“It was a very difficult experience because I wanted a lot out of it. I really like [Mike Mignola, ‘Hellboy’ creator], I like that character,” Harbour explained. “And then immediately when it began, even when it was announced, I realized that people did not want that character reinvented. I was very naive and optimistic about what we were going to do.”
Guillermo del Toro first brought the live-action “Hellboy” to the big screen with the 2004 film of the same name. Ron Perlman portrayed the titular demon, also appearing in the 2008 sequel “Hellboy II: The Golden Army.”
Harbour’s “Hellboy,” directed by Neil Marshall, only made $55 million worldwide on a $50 million production budget. Harbour previously said that the reboot was “unfairly bludgeoned” by del Toro fans.
“I think it failed before we began shooting because I think that people didn’t want us to make the movie,” Harbour said in 2020. “Guillermo del Toro and Ron Perlman created this iconic thing that we thought could be reinvented and then [fans] certainly — the loudness of the internet was like, ‘We do not want you to touch this.’ And then we made a movie that I think is fun and I think had its problems but was a fun movie and then people were just very very against it and that’s people’s right but I learned my lesson in a lot of different ways.”
The biggest lesson? Always ask Reynolds for advice.
