The scene observed on my visit to the Hellboy set in Bulgaria featured the trophy room belonging to The Osiris Club, a secret society tasked with watching over mankind with ties to the B.P.R.D., of which Hellboy belongs. This round room was adorned in hunting trophies, but they weren’t the typical animal heads hanging on the walls. No, the beasts in this trophy room were far more exotic and dangerous. The Osiris Club members, if this brilliant set piece by production designer Paul Kirby was any indication, are very adept at hunting giants. Let that sink in. Giants. Not only did we explore various locations of the Osiris Club, but we met with high ranking members featuring in the film.

Of the Osiris Club itself, Kirby explains of his concept, “It starts out as a sort of strange British country house and as you go through the corridors, we sort of crank it up a little bit. It gets stranger and stranger.”

Meaning a grand sprawling country house of high society that slowly devolves into the strange supernatural, as indicated by the massively scaled Giant heads encircling the trophy room, looking down in menacing expressions. For eagle-eyed fans of the comics, look for portraits of Mike Mignola himself hanging on the wall.

As to what the Club’s purpose is actor Alistair Petrie (Rogue One, Victor Frankenstein) clarifies on his role and the Osiris Club, “I play Lord Adam Glaren, who is the senior member slash head of the Osiris Club, which is sort of an off shot that was set up for Heliopic Brotherhood of Ra. Which I suppose was an offshoot set up to keep an eye on and protect the secret history of England but also keep an eye on the bad stuff that’s going on. They also have an ultimate protector role, which essentially is for the future of mankind, not to put too fine a point on it. So it’s quite a responsibility. They take it extremely seriously. But what I love about him, in period terms, is that he sort of crosses timelines in a way.  He’s not immortal, per se, but their sort of existence rate has been slowed down to a snail’s pace. He’s a contemporary character but from an interesting period.” More specifically, Petrie expands on what Lord Glaren’s relationship is with Hellboy and Hellboy’s adoptive father Professor Bloom, played by Ian McShane.

“My character goes back a long way with his father, with Broom.

“There’s obviously a natural history there, which we sort of reference. So I think it’s longstanding. The thing I rather like about the relationship, internationally, I love the fact that Mike included a sort of U.K. U.S. thing, which I rather enjoy in contemporary terms. So there’s a long evolved history there between Glaren and Broom. They have a sort of working relationship, sort of similar goals. But it is an offshoot, because Osiris is an offshoot. There’s a bond, and it’s a personal bond, which I like as well. Broom was at the first Wild Hunt in, well, I forget the year, but yeah, there’s a personal bond which is quite interesting,” Petrie muses.

With a closer relation to Hellboy than first expected, Petrie was asked on what it was like working with David Harbour as Hellboy. He shares, “He’s a force of nature. The first time I saw him was actually in the full Hellboy look, and of course having done a film recently with lots of prosthetic stuff, it’s very odd because what people do is stare past you. He is an actor born to place this part. I mean, he really is. He’s got the weight. He’s got the humor, and he’s got this kind of drawl. I mean literally, as soon as he opened his mouth to say the first line of the first scene we shot, he’s just perfect. He’s perfect. It also seems effortless, and when you see an actor be effortless in a certain part you know that’s taking an awful lot of work. He’s an incredibly committed actor as well. I think if you’re playing the ultimate leading man there’s an enormous amount of pressure and David deals with it brilliantly, because I think David is a fantastic leading man. He leads from the front. He’s an incredibly hard worker, and we all follow in that sort of happy slipstream. I genuinely think from the first time he opens his mouth the audience is going to be in for an absolute treat. It’s a perfect piece of casting. It really is. It’s a privilege to work with him and to be on screen with him.”

The Osiris Club also has a big asset when it comes to filling their protector role, and that’s Lady Hatton. Played by Sophie Okonedo, she describes her character, “She has a gift of insight so she kind of sort of tells them where to go and what to do. Or what might happen if they do go down that path, so their resident seer.” Lady Hatton seems to be having a very rough day during the scene observed, and it doesn’t help that David Harbour’s Hellboy is extremely agitated by a betrayal. On why Okonedo wanted to be involved with Hellboy, she explains, “I normally do lots of theater and low budget films where we’re running around doing lots of different things, so this is quite exciting to be in something that’s actually really loved. Hellboy has been loved before, because a lot of my friends are just absolutely crazy about it. It’s been interesting to be a part of something like that. This is a fun part. It’s not boring.”

Lady Hatton’s role as a seer means she’s surrounded by the supernatural. We pressed Okonedo on what kind of horror that might entail and why she was drawn to the script. She speaks about director Neil Marshall’s horror approach, saying, “Yeah, it’s pretty gory, actually. The thing that struck me as I was reading it is that it’s a real page-turner. I really laughed, and I wasn’t bored. These are good things you want when you read a script. I just thought well, I’m enjoying it, and this character is great. But it’s pretty gory. I wouldn’t be able to watch this because I’m too squeamish.”

Touring through Kirby’s various set pieces as well as seeing storyboards of sets yet to be constructed, it’s clear that the practical effect-driven nature of Hellboy means audiences are going to be in for something spectacular. As a viewer, a practical effect driven horror film is a rarity these days. It’s clear that it’s something that actors appreciate as well. Petrie discusses what it means to be able to step foot onto the Osiris Club on set and what it’s like to work with Marshall, “It’s a filmmaker’s eye really. I think the design of the piece is really, really crucial and the filmmaker brings it to life. He’s so well versed in the world. As actors, you never know your first day what a director is going to be like, but I think the great thing about Neil is that he’s not a tyrant. You’ll get some that are micromanaging but Neil’s not like that. He has a clear vision of how he wants to tell the story and all these other departments come together to build the world. The design on this is astonishing. I don’t just mean the sets, but the props and the costumes. The detail. I think you have to be detailed with something like this because there are so many fans. But you can’t be constrained by that and I don’t think Neil is constrained by that. I don’t think he feels the weight of it. I think he takes the responsibility of it very seriously. He’s been heavily involved in all aspects of production.”

It’s not only the ability to be able to interact with a tangible set. Petrie concludes, “Audiences are really smart. They don’t want to see CGI heavy, because it’s easier to do. More and more, you’ll hear them say, ‘Oh don’t worry about it, we’ll fix it in post.’ You hear that quite a lot. What’s great is to work on something you shoot as much live as possible, so the special effects don’t become just a callous add-on. They’re there to inform the story. That’s exactly what’s been happened, what it’s been like to work on this film. Which is really important, because audiences are really smart and they’ll see through CGI. CGI has been used to sort of smudge over plot holes and things. I think what Neil and the team have embraced, which is really exciting to be part of.”

Every element of Hellboy shows a thrilling promise of one hell of a reboot. If it’s even half as good as what was witnessed on set, audiences are in for something special.

Hellboy returns on April 12, 2019.