While many Mike Mignola fans may be excited to see David Harbour’s portrayal of Hellboy, I myself am really stoked for Milla Jovovich’s character, Nimue the Blood Witch in the remake.
Arguably best known for her heroic role as “Alice” in the Resident Evil film series, Jovovich brings out her evil side in the part. When The Knockturnal sat down with her to talk about the movie, she was all laughs and smiles…You would never guess she could play an evil witch trying to end mankind.
The Knockturnal: You’ve always played these hero type roles, and now you’re playing a villain. How is that, to switch?
Milla Jovovich: You know it’s funny, I know she’s written as a villain but I never looked at her like a villain I feel like she has such admiral ideals and she’s the queen of the monster world, she loves her people, she feels like they’re marginalized that they are made to hide in the dark and she wants to bring them into the light. She wants peace between humans and monsters and I think that’s a beautiful vision to have you know? I think the fact that she’s a strong intelligent woman that’s kind of being bullied and put down by men is a very relevant topic especially today and her character is very relevant to who we are and the fight that women are having to have again to exert their equality and exert their rights.
The Knockturnal: Reading the script, did you have any visions for the character and what was the collaborative process with Neil?
Milla Jovovich: Well the most important thing for me with this was the British accent because of course I’ve never done a British accent on screen before and I knew that no matter what I bring to the character if the accent wasn’t good I knew it’s just going to destroy it. So I worked for months and months and months just every day with my coach going over it and over it and over it. I knew that everything else would come naturally if I could get the accent correct, because just having that accent changes the way you speak, changes the tenor of your voice, changes the way you move, the way you sit so I knew that if I could just get this accent done the character would sort of come together naturally.
The Knockturnal: And speaking of the character, how do you relate to her. You say that she’s not a villain but she’s dark, how do you relate to that?
Milla Jovovich: I relate to the elements in her that are -she’s a leader, she’s incredibly intelligent, she’s powerful, she’s independent and of course that scares all the men around her. So I felt like you know what yes, by the end of the movie she’s plaguing people with her magic and this and that. But you know she’s had her head chopped off, she’s been speared in the heart, she’s had her body parts in boxes for the last five thousand years..I mean, c’ mon, give a girl a break *laughs*
The Knockturnal: How was it working with the special effects, even though you don’t see them when you’re acting, how was that?
Milla Jovovich: Special effects have always been a department that I work very closely with because obviously their such an integral part of making these kind of movies come to life. I’m very aware when I’m doing something to ask them “is that okay?”, “what is that going to look like after the fact?”, “Maybe I can help you”, especially in the scene where my body parts were all kind of scattered, it was like – maybe I should have my arm a bit like this, and a bit awkward..the more you can do as an actor to help the special effects with your own self. When I woke up my movements were a bit erratic you know? It was almost like dancing or modern dance in a way. When I was walking I just tried to be a bit jerky about it, because I knew, later on, they would add their touches but they would have something to work with that there was a good strong base of something kind of off and creepy to work with.
The film hits theaters this Friday!
Malaise Dans La Civilization: A Surreal Comedy of Infinite Possibilities