Phelyx
Active Member
I've been encouraged by a friend to share this prop story that might be interesting to some Hellboy fans.
I was hired by a good pal of mine to make a few props for the first Hellboy movie back in 2003, and I did just enough work on the film to score a crew jacket.
A few things I did were featured pretty clearly, which is nice. It always feels good to see your work in a good movie, instead of barely glimpsed in the shadowy corners of a terrible movie.
So there was this one prop that I was asked to design and build... the "Corpse Finder" for the scene in the old graveyard where Hellboy says, "Find me a talker." Originally it was going to be based on a Mike Mignola design. I built a few prototypes using a drawing he did, but we couldn't get it to look enough like a "locator;" something that might point towards something or somehow indicate proximity, etc... It was decided that it should be some kind of ancient compass type of thing. Like 8,000 years old. Something that was ancient technology, but predating anything else like it - sort of like the Antikythera Mechanism. Hinting at an early, advanced civilization that disappeared. We figured the compass (I always like to have a backstory for the stuff I make) was unearthed and repaired by HB who discovered it had the ability to point towards corpses with greater resurrection potential, then a resurrection amulet would be used to wake them up.
I spent some time doing drawings, making a couple of prototypes and sending them to the location in Prague where the crew was enduring freezing rain and other issues related to being very far away from the Hollywood Infrastructure.
After everyone was happy, I made multiples and sent them off to Prague. If I'm remembering correctly I made 2 "static" versions. These were lighter and more durable than the hero ones, and they didn't open or do anything. They were made just in case they decided they wanted it hanging from HB's belt or tossed around or rough stuff. The other ones were a bit more delicate, but could open and the center dial could rotate, etc... According to rumor, of the 2 functional hero versions, one was kept by the director, and the other was given to the "Ain't It Cool News" guy.
I've see one of the static ones online in a prop collection. It's being called "Hellboy's Mystic Compass."
Sadly this mysterious prop isn't seen very clearly in the film. You can barely spot it in HB's hands, but it does manage to locate a "talker" for him.
So anyway, I was compelled by a hypnotic demon (prop collector friend) to break out the ancient molds and make one for him after all these years. It's made exactly the same way I made the ones for the film - at least as close as I could get from memory. And I figured some folks here might want to see it. Sort of a "first look" at a prop from the shadowy corners of a cool movie.
I was hired by a good pal of mine to make a few props for the first Hellboy movie back in 2003, and I did just enough work on the film to score a crew jacket.
A few things I did were featured pretty clearly, which is nice. It always feels good to see your work in a good movie, instead of barely glimpsed in the shadowy corners of a terrible movie.
So there was this one prop that I was asked to design and build... the "Corpse Finder" for the scene in the old graveyard where Hellboy says, "Find me a talker." Originally it was going to be based on a Mike Mignola design. I built a few prototypes using a drawing he did, but we couldn't get it to look enough like a "locator;" something that might point towards something or somehow indicate proximity, etc... It was decided that it should be some kind of ancient compass type of thing. Like 8,000 years old. Something that was ancient technology, but predating anything else like it - sort of like the Antikythera Mechanism. Hinting at an early, advanced civilization that disappeared. We figured the compass (I always like to have a backstory for the stuff I make) was unearthed and repaired by HB who discovered it had the ability to point towards corpses with greater resurrection potential, then a resurrection amulet would be used to wake them up.
I spent some time doing drawings, making a couple of prototypes and sending them to the location in Prague where the crew was enduring freezing rain and other issues related to being very far away from the Hollywood Infrastructure.
After everyone was happy, I made multiples and sent them off to Prague. If I'm remembering correctly I made 2 "static" versions. These were lighter and more durable than the hero ones, and they didn't open or do anything. They were made just in case they decided they wanted it hanging from HB's belt or tossed around or rough stuff. The other ones were a bit more delicate, but could open and the center dial could rotate, etc... According to rumor, of the 2 functional hero versions, one was kept by the director, and the other was given to the "Ain't It Cool News" guy.
I've see one of the static ones online in a prop collection. It's being called "Hellboy's Mystic Compass."
Sadly this mysterious prop isn't seen very clearly in the film. You can barely spot it in HB's hands, but it does manage to locate a "talker" for him.
So anyway, I was compelled by a hypnotic demon (prop collector friend) to break out the ancient molds and make one for him after all these years. It's made exactly the same way I made the ones for the film - at least as close as I could get from memory. And I figured some folks here might want to see it. Sort of a "first look" at a prop from the shadowy corners of a cool movie.
