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Ron Perlman: What Hellboy did next

The actor Ron Perlman is best known for the Hellboy movies, but as he tells James Mottram, he likes all sorts of roles

July 24, 2020 11:25
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By

James Mottram,

James Mottram

4 min read

When Ron Perlman published his autobiography back in 2014, he called it Easy Street (The Hard Way). You couldn’t wish for a better title for this American actor (and now producer), famed for playing the demonic, cigar-chomping comic book character Hellboy. If he’s found his way to easy street — he’s happy to voice animations, video games, you name it — he really has done it the hard way.

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“It just comes down to… I like acting,” he says, gruffly, when we speak over Zoom. “I like acting in all forms. Every single time you’re given a character to play, it’s a different challenge. If you’re into crossword puzzles, you just do them as much as you can. For me that’s like acting. Whenever it comes my way, if it’s a character that I find cool and interesting and has a compelling set of qualities, I say yes!”

Wearing a black T-shirt and silver chain, perfectly offsetting his white hair, Perlman turned 70 in April, but there’s no sense of retiring quietly. He started up a company Wing & A Prayer Pictures back in 2013, producing indie pictures like Run With The Hunted and Pottersville. The latest is crime yarn The Big Ugly, which came to Perlman via his British co-star, and old friend, Vinnie Jones.