Hellboy Set Visit, Day 2
BY DAVID SERVER
Finally, Perlman wrapped shooting for the day, and went off to his makeup trailer to get de-Hellboy-tized, and it was time for his stunt double, Todd Bryant, to step in and take his place for the rest of the night. When Perlman returned some time later, he was back to his human form (which looked pretty strange and kind of wrong to me, as I had only seen him Hellboy-style so far during my trip), and he had brought a cake with him. ?Happy 50 Redboy!? it said, in bright red frosted lettering. I was later told that this was Ron?s 50th day in the Hellboy makeup. After much festive eating (?Eat more cake, puny mortal!? del Toro jovially prodded me), we were all full and exhausted.
With Perlman wrapped, it was Todd Bryant?s (his stunt double) turn to step in and get in on the action. They reshot some of the train footage, now with an actual train coming at Hellboy?s head (or at least a big train replica that ran up and down the tracks). And while the train wasn?t going full speed, for something that big and heavy coming at your head, it was going fast enough for unpleasantness to ensue if great care were not taken. So, after much meticulous preparation to make sure the train would work as planned, they proceeded with the shot. Now, I?m telling you, Todd rolled out of the way at the *last* *possible* *second* without getting hit! Like, the train must have been fractions of a centimeter from this guy?s head! If you see a great shot in the flick where HB is almost hit by that train, remember stuntman Todd Bryant, because that is a Man Without Fear, right there.
After the excitement of the train shot and just before shooting wrapped for the evening, a box of copies of ?Seed of Destruction?, the Hellboy story which the movie is loosely based upon, arrived in a big cardboard box from Diamond Comics. Guillermo cheerfully signed copies for the crew (and myself) between takes. Finally, about half an hour later (and half an hour past schedule), the shoot for the evening had wrapped, and the crew all applauded with relief. We all said our goodbyes, I hopped in the Hell-Bus with for my nightly ride home with the Guillermos, and prepared for more sleep before another day of action-packed Hellboy fun.
Quote from Todd Bryant:
?I rehearsed this and really wanted to make it a close call with the subway train so the audience would feel the danger. The producer was worried that the train was coming too close to hitting my head, but I assured him that I would get out of the way in time. Well, when I saw that big subway train replica coming at me at a fast speed, I knew the danger involved and if I didn?t move out of the way in time, I would possibly be decapitated. My whole upper torso was hanging onto the tracks in the path of the moving train. I had two stuntmen holding onto my feet so that I could basically do a ?situp? to get out of the way of the train. And when the train got as close as I could let it get to my head? I performed the fastest ?power situp? ever! That train came within inches of my head, but I trust my sense of timing, and was well rehearsed, and I made it out of harm?s way. The feeling relief on set was tangible. I looked over at the producer and he was basically turned away from the monitor with his hands over his eyes!! People close to him later told me that they thought he was going to have a heart attack right there! So I walked over to him and reassured him that I was never in any danger (unless the stuntmen holding my legs let go, of course). Everybody was applauding through this. But I don?t think that the producer got much sleep that night.?

Stunt Coordinator : Todd Bryant