'Hellboy' embraces its R-rated comic book roots

HOLLYWOOD (KABC) -- This year marks the 25th anniversary of the dark comic series, "Hellboy." In writer Mike Mignola's original graphic novels, the character "Hellboy" faced dark and bloody battles with all kinds of monsters. Director Guillermo del Toro's vision of the character tamed things a bit back in 2004, enough to earn a PG-13 rating.

"Hellboy" is back, with a new director, and a team that embraced the horror genre...and an R rating. Director Neil Marshall and the stars of "Hellboy" welcomed the challenge of doing something different with a re-incarnation of "Hellboy," and that meant making an unquestionably, uncompromising R-rated film.

"I really like the fact that they went there and I was surprised," said David Harbour, who plays "Hellboy." "There's certain things when you make the movie where they'll have a sequence in the script where it says 'the apocalypse happens,' or something like that. And then to see it, it was a lot bigger, and more extended, and gorier, and more horrific than I ever imagined. And I'm very pleased with that."

"It's in a way liberating because it's close to the source material," said Daniel Dae Kim, who plays Major Ben Daimio. "Mike wrote graphic comic books with a lot of humor, with dark comedy and a lot of blood. So there was a freedom in making this movie because it has an R rating."

"The original 'Hellboy' novels were very bloody and violent, and you know, they're made for grownups," said Milla Jovovich, who plays Nimue. "Definitely I'm not gonna let my 11-year-old watch this movie and that's OK. There are movies for big people to have fun."

"Hellboy" is in theaters April 12.