Milla Jovovich is used to being the hero. Over the past two decades, the actress has made a name for herself as someone we can root for in sci-fi movies from The Fifth Element to Ultra Violet to all six Resident Evil films. But in her next sci-fi role, Jovovich will be turning to the dark side as the villain in the upcoming Hellboy reboot.
The star joins the production as the titular Blood Queen in Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen (see update below) and her involvement should further assuage the fears of fans who aren’t so crazy about the idea of a reboot for the franchise. The addition of Jovovich to a cast that already includes Ian McShane as Professor Broom and Stranger Things star David Harbour as Hellboy actually has us thinking that this reboot isn’t such a bad idea after all, as does the idea of director Neil Marshall (Game of Thrones, Westworld) pursuing an R-rating for the film, which would be a first for the franchise.
As for the Blood Queen, AKA Nimue, she’s a character from the comics with a pretty, um, interesting background. A witch who lived during the age of King Arthur, Nimue was a contemporary of Merlin, who taught her the ways of magic. She then turned on him and imprisoned him for eternity, and without his guidance she went mad with power. She was so insane, in fact, that the other witches of the era killed her and chopped her to bits, sealing her parts beneath the earth to keep her from reforming, which is a thing that she apparently does. She eventually does reform in the present day, and we’re guessing that’s what will happen in the film (hence “Rise of the Blood Queen”), assuming the movie doesn’t alter the comics’ story too much.
The thought of an evil undead witch played by Jovovich squaring off against Harbour’s presumably punch-happy Hellboy sounds awesome, and while reboots are often deserving of ire and skepticism, it’s pretty hard not to get excited over this one.
Update: While Mila Jovovich will still be playing the Blood Queen, a new report reveals that her character will no longer be in the movie’s title. According to MovieWeb, Lionsgate has revealed that they are going to drop the longer form of title in favor of a more straightforward banner.
“The official title is just Hellboy,” a Lionsgate rep told the reporter. “The film is considered a reboot of the 2004 Hellboy, and is going by the same name.”
Well, that’s not particularly inventive, is it?
