Why did Hellboy fail? The crew quarrels were more exciting than the movie

The new version of Hellboy has not been released yet, but negative news has been coming one after another. After the word-of-mouth ban was lifted, the film was widely criticized by the media. After the Rotten Tomatoes website collected feedback from more than 90 media outlets, the film's freshness was still only 12%, and the average score was as low as 3.56. A film critic directly vented his dissatisfaction with the film in an article, writing: "The new Hellboy should go straight to hell!"

Insiders exclusively revealed to Hollywood media TheWrap the chaotic situation during the production of the film. Director Neil Marshall's partner was fired, the director's power was undermined by the producer, and the disagreement between the producer and the director caused the male lead to refuse to reshoot repeatedly and angrily leave the set many times... The behind-the-scenes drama of the new "Hellboy" crew may be more exciting than the movie itself.

Two people familiar with the matter revealed that the original cinematographer Sam McCarty was fired for simply following the director's instructions. The decision to fire the cinematographer was made by producers Lawrence Gordon and Lloyd Levin, who wanted to send a signal to director Marshall to let him know who was the real controller of the crew.

McCarty is Marshall's long-term photography partner, and the two have collaborated on many classic American TV series, including "Blackwater", one of the most classic episodes of "Game of Thrones". Gordon and Levin are the owners of the film rights to "Hellboy". They have co-produced the previous two "Hellboy" movies with Del Toro, and are currently serving as producers for the HBO comic adaptation "Watchmen".

Levine's lawyer told TheWrap that this was not the case. He responded in an email: "My client will not comment on why Sam McCarty was fired because it is a private matter. Please note that this was a team decision and there was no 'information' that Mr. Levine wanted to release to Neil Marshall." The email also accused Marshall of directing a play: "The whole story is a one-sided gossip constructed by Mr. Marshall to try to discredit Hellboy and my client." Director Marshall and producer Gordon both declined to comment.

Since the filming of "Hellboy" began, the struggle between the director and the producer has intensified. Three anonymous crew insiders told the media that Levine often interfered with Marshall's work in front of the entire crew. When Marshall tried to guide the actors in rehearsal, Levine would issue completely different instructions to the actors.

But Levine's lawyers countered in an email: "In fact, Mr. Levine would talk to Marshall after rehearsals to discuss issues with him."

Two people familiar with the matter said that the male lead David Harbour had walked off the set several times because of these disagreements and refused Marshall's request to reshoot more scenes.

In response, Levine's attorney said: "My client remembers that this never happened. Quite the contrary, David Harbour gave more than the crew asked during the filming of the film."

During the filming of "Hellboy", the script was repeatedly rewritten, and even the leading actors David Harbour and Ian McShane intervened in the rewriting of the script.

Levine responded to this by saying: "During filming, only a few scenes in the script were rewritten, and David Harbour and Ian McShane were not involved in any script rewriting at all. During the filming of a movie, specific scenes of the script need to be rewritten. This is a very common thing in the entertainment industry. Directors, actors, screenwriters, and producers may be involved."

A whistleblower pointed out that they had a long argument over the design concept of a virtual tree in the movie. The tree played an important role in the play, and Marshall wanted it to be realistic and not symmetrical. But Levine overturned Marshall's setting and insisted on making a symmetrical tree. As a result, in post-production, Marshall changed it to an asymmetrical shape. When Marshall completed his final cut, the producers took over and redid it.

Levine responded that Marshall was never promised final cut, and that "the design of the tree, like the hundreds of design elements in the film, was a laborious, evolutionary process".

Hellboy's producer Lionsgate, starring actors David Harbour and Ian McShane, and fired cinematographer Sam McReady all declined to comment on the controversy.