Talk:Hellboy (2004)

Hi Guy's I think I had better put you right on several points about the guns used in Hellboy as you have made some basic assumtions and got several things completely wrong. Firstly, the Gun I gave to Kroenen was a fully practical and real PO8 9mm Luger and it did indeed fire, many, many times in difficult circumstances on set. I often either modify the magazine or put a closer round in the bottom of the magazine so that the slide (or in this case the Toggle) doesn't lock to the rear. The reason for this is that over the last twenty years I have learned that when the editor cuts the film together they often don't understand guns and how they work, so I don't give them the opportunety to get it wrong with the slide locking back in one scene and it being forward in the next, as you noticed with Clay's Gun. They often cut out the Magazine reload scene's to save screen time and who am I to argue! Part of the reason that you can't see any empty cases being ejected or the bolt toggle moving is that we spent two weeks in a Prague Quarry filming night's at -5 to -10 degrees, with Monsoon and rain stands throwing thousands of gallons of water over the whole set and us, which promptly froze several minutes later. The deluge understandably kills some of the muzzle flash and depending on the frames per second that the DOP and Cameraman are operating at might miss completely the muzzle flash with happens in a hundreth of a second while generaly filming at 24 or 25 FPS. Next time you watch the scene in your nice warm, dry and comfortable sitting room, remember that the Luger ejects it empty cases upwards and over your head, not to the side!!! and try freeze framing it and forwarding it frame by frame, you might be suprised. Also I have to correct you that Meyers gun was also a real fully practical H&K USP Compact and was as came out the box as standard from the factory. It to fired blank ammunition throughout the film and the ammunition used actually flashes white / blue, but also don't forget what I have said above that if the camera misses the muzzle flash the editor will put it in, in post production and cut scenes. I can tell you that I didn't make Hellboys Revolver, it was made by a Model Making Company in London, but I did repair it from time to time (there were two) and made up all of Hellboys and his emany's weapons including Kroenen's blades and the fully practical flame throwers for the Meyers gang with the help of my good freind the SFX Supervisor Nicky Alder who I have worked with on many films over the years. I hope this is of interest to you and I ask and trust you to respect my privacy and not give out my email address to the world on your site as in the past I have been overwhelmed when callsheets have been sold on ebay for the Bond Pictures and Underworlds ect with my email and phone numbers on and I will never help you again.

All the best

Jon Baker Armourer Supervisor Hellboy

Cool info, thanks. --Sidewinder Forge 11:16, 31 August 2010 (UTC)