DOUG JONES (HELLBOY, RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER, PAN’S LABYRINTH)

When I spoke to Doug, I really put my foot in it. Doug and his Publicist John I both consider friends, for a couple of years now, I’ve kept in touch with both of them on and off and I hate the feeling I may have said something that left Doug with a bad impression of me. Now and then I don’t think about what I say. When we spoke about Quarantine, which he starred in, the way I spoke about it, it really came across as me trashing the crap out of it.

Now, I’ve never ever been shy about being honest on my opinions, my interview with Uwe Boll a couple years back, I told him exactly what I thought (politely) and he was grateful for my honesty given I watched his movies then judged his work. With Dougs situation, he was the man in the attic at the end of Quarantine, the sort of remake of [REC]. To clarify, I DO like Quarantine, I think Dougs work in it is very creepy, very eerie, and all due sincere heartfelt apologies to Doug if I at all gave him that impression! Much love Doug!

So now that’s been said, let’s skip straight to it. To those who haven’t read how I do my interview, I like to keep them sectioned and to the point. Enjoy:

On Hellboy 2:

Steve: Hellboy 2, I loved it.

Doug: Thank you!

Steve: I hope to god there’s a Hellboy 3. Because even if it didn’t do The Dark Knight numbers it did well, and it’s got a great home on dvd and has a cult following. Where would you like to see it going? Any ideas?

Doug: As far as plot twists and turns I have NO idea! That would be like asking genius Guillermo Del Toro to listen to my little ideas! ‘Hey Einstein! I have a different relativity theory to discuss with you!’ *laughs*

Steve: We learned this summer in TF2 that Shia’s smarter than Einstein! *laughs*

Doug: Yeah! It could happen! But seriously I’d like to see perhaps, the continuation of perhaps what the Angel of Death was talking about with the destiny of Hellboy, bringing about the destruction of the earth? Um, that was a line of mine as the Angel of Death that I’d love to see! You know, with Liz Sherman and the huge choice she’d have to make, ‘The time will come my dear and you will suffer more than anyone!’ I wanna SEE that! The twins, she’s carrying two babies at the end of the film, she’s carrying two babies! What’s gonna happen with that? I imagine that these children of Hellboy will have something to do with a part 3, the continuation of the story. Do we watch them grow and become opposites. You know, opposite foes of each other, or do we watch them be a team? I dunno. Also, what kinda, a little hope of mine, I’d love to see Abe Sapien find a way to go back to the Golden Army chamber with some sort of magical secret fluid or potion or something to bring that marble statue of Princess Nuala back to life.

Steve: It was so tragic, I mean you understand why…

Doug: Oh of course! I was heartbroken! I was in tears filming that scene!

Steve: Yeah! The thing is, a lot of people know Luke Goss (Prince Nuada) from BROS, the boyband back in the 80s/90s.

Doug: Right!

Steve: I’ve seen him in I think one other movie where he wasn’t under the guidance of Guillermo. But Guillermo manages to get some sort of performance out of him that you just cant… I mean look at him in Blade 2, he was fantastic. In Hellboy 2 as Nuada, he was unbelievable! The guy, I couldn’t believe… how do I put this. Was he doing most of his own martial arts and stunt work???

Doug: It’s a bit of a combo platter. I tell you he, I’ve never seen an actor as dedicated to becoming a character as Luke Goss. He, the training he did, the diet he kept himself on to keep himself as ripped as he is. The martial arts training, he worked with those guys for over a month before we started filming and then during his downtime filming during those six months, he was with the stunt team with sticks and swords in his hands, spinning, flying, tumbling… the man was unstoppable!!! I knew as soon as that film was over, I can only IMAGINE the cheeseburger , the size of it he would’ve been eating!

Steve: Recently you had Hellboy 2 come to fruition in a way, we just had the Chainsaw awards!

Doug: Yeah! Oh yeah!!!

Steve: Hellboy 2 did really well, care to tell people what you got?

Doug: Do I care to??? I want to shout it out my window to the neighborhood what I got! *laughs*

Steve: Would you literally do that???

Doug: I would! I would! I’ve been nominated for a few awards before, but this is my first win. Fangoria Chainsaw awards honored me with “Best Supporting Actor: Hellboy 2”.

Steve: That’s fantastic.

Doug: Yeah I’m tickled pink with it! Not only that but they also, and this is a voted on type of award from the readership. They also had the chance to nominate, the readers could nominate someone for the hall of fame! So Fangoria Chainsaw Awards Hall of Fame, sees 3 inductees this year, myself being one and I’m absolutely beyond belief, ticked and humbled by that response from the united media and from the readership.

Steve: To put that in perspective for people a bit, I was reading the other night, Im sure it’s right, not even Boris Karloff or anyone else like that is in there yet. I think so… [doublechecks the fangoria site].

Doug: Wow, when it comes to names like that, that’s… that’s mind boggling. Another mind boggling moment I had, was Empire magazine in the UK, we did a countdown of their top ten favorite performances under prosthetic makeup of all time, and they ranked me up at number 2 under Boris Karloff for Frankenstein. It was for my performance as the Faun in Pans Labyrinth. I was absolutely tickled pink beyond belief. Seeing Lon Chaney listed at number four I was like ‘ARE YOU KIDDING ME! ARE YOU JOKING ME???’

Steve: Yeah found the comment here from Fangoria… seems that Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi and Anthony Perkins and others of their like haven’t been inducted yet.

Doug: Is that right!?

Steve: Happy to see Forrest Ackerman and Roger Corman got in. To me that’s a MASSIVE deal!

Doug: A MASSIVE deal!!! The gravity of it has indeed just hit me. I’m well and truly, truly humbled!

Steve: Not that you don’t deserve it though.

Doug: Yeah I’ve put in my time. I feel I’m only half way done with my career. I don’t want to ever find any of this kind of recognition to be a plateau. I don’t wanna ever find a resting place. I do want to keep going onward and upward, finding new challenges, finding new characters to play that can surprise an audience or tickle them, scare them again.

Steve: Oh hell yeah. Definitely.

(Briefly) On the Hobbit, serving Gollum drinks and surfing moths:

Steve: Just to satisfy peoples cravings for news about The Hobbit and Frankenstein. All I require is a one word answer from you… *laughs*

Doug: Oh.. oh dear! *laughs* If Im inspired to give more words can I or not?

Steve: Of course! No Doug you can’t! *laughs*

Doug: *laughs*

Steve: Now, there is NO new news on either project is there.

Doug: That is correct! Oh shoot! That’s three words isn’t it! Wait… yes… wait that would imply there is! I mean… correct!!!! *laughs* I’m not good at these one word games am I!

Steve: *laughs*

Doug: Now by the same token I don’t want people to think I’m sitting here in a huff with my arms folded, thinking ‘Don’t ask me that at all!’ I’m actually very very tickled and very ah, excited myself at whatever prospect jobs in the future, and the fandom and those who want to watch these two movies. Of course they’re excited and I’m glad they are. I’ve never had movie projects this talked about this far in advance of actually filming them EVER!!! Again, I’m saying filming them as if I’m doing that, but still, I have no confirmation of if or what I’m doing.

Steve: How would you feel about working with Andy Serkis?

Doug: Oh my god I’m fanning my face! You know I’ve never met Andy Serkis but we both get asked the same question. I think we’ve both got the same response each time which is ‘I CANNOT WAIT TO MEET HIM!!!!’ I just wanna, I just hope some of it rubs off, whatever, the mans a genius and um, I would love to work with him, if we could even do a scene together where I’m a troll waiter I’d be the happiest guy! I’d be waiting on Gollum as a goblin! I’d be so happy ‘Can I get you any more ale!!!’

Some fans ask some questions and get some (abridged) answers! (Only slightly)

Steve: We have some fan questions now…

Doug: Oh great!!! I love these!

Steve: Ok the first is from Mickey…

Doug: Hi Mickey!

Steve: Mickey asks “Have you ever been in a weirder situation filming a movie than having to have a moth wrangler keep a moth alive in your mouth so you could spit it out in Hocus Pocus… what was it like?”

Doug: Ohhhh my word… Yes but I’d say that ranks right up there with something I never dreamt of as a child!! I never thought one day I’d be in a movie called Hocus Pocus with a moth Wrangler arranging that very thing you just described and trying to keep the moth dry and alive when I coughed him out. We did Hocus Pocus before CG is what it is, now they could do it later, but we had to do it take after take making sure the moth flew in the right direction, with the right flutter… it took a LOT of work!

Steve: How did you feel having a moth inside of your mouth!?

Doug: I had a sheath in there, like a thin piece of latex to keep them or my tongue separated because if it got moist at all, it wouldn’t fly. They’re very dry, so if they get moist at all, they can’t fly. So they glued my metal stitches together, so I had to do the whole action like, pop open the stitches and cover my mouth, cough out dust and those moths and say my first line of dialogue in the film! We got everything set, the cup that held the dirt was in my mouth, the sheath was on my tongue to keep the moisture off the moths, oh god, when you feel a live being fluttering in your mouth you have to go ‘Its not there!’. So they glued the stitches together and were about to call ‘ACTION’ and then a light blew out! It was like ‘Oh no what happened!’ So I’m sitting there and my saliva glands are working overtime as they do right! So I could feel the water level rising, and it’s like I’m thinking ‘theyre not gonna get those lights fixed in time’ and sure enough when they did, I cut open the stitches and coughed out a cup of mud and a couple moths surfing on a string of drool!

Steve: Eeeewww!!!

Doug: Aaaaand CUT! So what you saw in Hocus Pocus WAS take two!

Steve: Ok so the next question comes from Daniel Uribe. He asks ‘Some of your recent roles involved heavy special effects which basically defined the character as much as Andy Serkis’s character Gollum did in the LOTR trilogy. These kinds of roles will become more common in the future thanks to CGI and motion capture. How do you feel about playing them, as opposed to prosthetic?’

Doug: That’s a great question, I can only say, unbeknownst to most people, I have not done much motion capture. Everything you’ve seen me in in feature films has been prosthetic makeup. The only time I did motion capture where I wore a leotard with dots on it, and they did a thing that moved over me later, was for a tv commercial. It was for some sort of mattress company like fifteen years ago. Other than that, even when I did the Silver Surfer, that was a technology that wasn’t what you would really call motion capture, I was in makeup, in a costume that looked like the Silver Surfer was sculpted by Jose Fernandez over at Spectral Motion Creature shop and then WETA digital did a combo platter together, where they did layers of coding over the silver surfer that combined effort with practical and visual shots, made the Silver Surfer the stunning beauty that he was. When the Surfer was powered down, and was more tarnished looking in captivity, that was the practicle effects makeup on me. That’s what you were looking at with some cg on the eyes to take the blue away. So when it comes to this question, I don’t have enough experience with mocap to have a very, prophetic and ah, opinion on the future of it, but I love what Andy Serkis has to say about it and I think you’d agree that any actor plays a part. Period. Wether you are wearing a light dusting of powder and a tshirt and jeans for that role or if you’re playing a monster on all fours in a heavy costume suit or a leotard with dots on it, the… you still have to find the heart and soul of that character to do it, period. If your makeup is applied before, or after you film, you’re supposed to give an acting performance, the heart and soul does not change really, it’s the same wether youre wearing makeup or dots. That’s basically what I think.

(There are many more questions, believe me it goes for over an hour and would take the length of a book to scribe it all down guys, We’ll have links up and running soon with the files so you can hear them!)

Steve: Heres one from Guy Barton from London, currently residing in Scotland… Guy would like to know ‘Would you say you were personally drawn to the darker type of role as a lot of your roles seem to teeter on that kind of area?’

Doug: Hmmmm… am I DRAWN to them? Or do they just come and find me… I think it’s the latter honestly. But once they do come and find me, here’s what I love about them, my favorite kind of character is one who hints at both darkness and a hopeful light. When you look at a character like the faun from Pans Labyrinth, there’s a primo example for me. A character where you didn’t know if he was good or bad til the very end. That gives me a LOT to play with as an actor. Another character might be something like say, there’s a tv series here in the states called ‘Fear Itself’ its like ‘Masters of Horror’ if you’re familiar with that. My episode was called ‘Skin and Bones’ and I played a regular guy who went away camping and came home possessed with a Wendigo spirit in him! So he wanted to cannibalize his whole family.

Steve: As you do!

Doug: Well yeah ! They were yummy!

“There’s love!” – Doug Jones.