[[PHOTOCALLS]] Camera given to: Selma Blair

PERIODICAL GUIDE On the Prague set of the horror thriller ''Hellboy'' (April 2004), Blair shows off a magazine that keeps her busy during downtime

Photograph by Selma Blair

[[INTERVIEWS]] Selma Blair of "Hellboy"

By Sean Chavel in Los Angeles / Intro by Thomas Chau

Selma Blair is known to be a great person to interview and when she sits in a room of reporters, she becomes every publicist's nightmare by talking about anything and everything.

But you would probably need someone with a great sense of humor to star in such a wickedly dark action comedy such as "Hellboy." Selma stars as Liz Sherman, a woman with the powers to start fires, in Guillermo del Toro's film adaptation of Hellboy comic books. Liz is the object of Hellboy's affection but distances herself from Hellboy as well as humans, as she constantly struggles to figure out which world she belongs to.

Selma recently talked to Cinema Confidential about her role in "Hellboy" and below is what she had to say.

Q: So Selma, after winning the MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss with Sarah Michelle Gellar, do you think you'll get a nomination this time for your kiss with Hellboy?

SELMA: I don't think kissing a devil man is racy enough for MTV. I think you have to do something more outrageous to get an MTV best kiss. I think it was a very hot kiss. Maybe a nomination. I think we didn't have enough tongue for an MTV kiss.

Q: Was there tongue?

SELMA: So strange, but I... There was tongue! I tongued Hellboy! It was so gross looking back. We didn't know and Guillermo was like, 'What are you two doing?,' and we're like, 'We're making out.' He's like, 'Stop!' It was just so horrifying. In the moment, we're really in love. It's a kiss. You go for it. But you have the teeth and the blaaahh.

Q: Was it weird kissing the fake tongue?

SELMA: Yeah, they did an amazing job with that make-up. The tongue was tongue colored. This is a very important conversation, make sure you get all of this. No, his tongue was all wrong. It was amazing, I don't know. We did a couple takes with a little bit more MTV style and then I think Guillermo's like, 'Yeah, you can just chill. This is not necessary.' And we're like, 'Okay, thanks. This is awfully awkward.' But he's sexy. I thought Hellboy was incredible sexy.

Q: How was the atmosphere on set, especially with someone like Guillermo?

SELMA: I have never felt so at home on a movie set. I love Guillermo so much. I think everyone that meets or speaks to Guillermo has to love him. He's so passionate and loving and generous and just, he's just, God for this type of movie, I think. He was the most mellow man on set too because I think he was so confident that he could do everything and he'd been working on this movie, such a labor of love, for so long, he comes in so prepared, his sketches are leaking out. His journals are like the Sistine Chapel. It's just amazing what he does that is just scrap paper that gets thrown away at the end of the day that would be considered my greatest achievement. He's amazing.

Q: Did you spend any time in Prague while filming?

SELMA: I did. I was offset, I actually had like a month in there where I was left to my own devices. Kind of on-call and not being used but not able to go home. Prague is gorgeous. Incredible place to visit, so beautiful in the spring time and one of the darkest, loneliest places I have ever been. And, I probably smoked four packs of cigarettes a day hoping for the good lord to take me away. It was so spooky, really spooky. The people I met there can just drink a hell of a lot. I had joined them on a couple of instances. I don't make it a habit to ever drink around work time just so you always feel fresh and I have dark circles enough to combat.

Q: The movie deals with questions of what makes someone "human" and so how do you feel your character fits in that, even though she's physically more human than Hellboy?

SELMA: Liz looks normal. She just obviously has a tortured past, a tortured mind, doesn't know how to make a step in either direction, embrace the freak world, but she doesn't feel like she even has enough control. And she sees [Agent] John Meyers, who's a real boy close to her age. This is my opportunity to be normal but she's not. She only feels comfortable with Hellboy, but she doesn't want to live in that world and, yeah, I think she's really torn because she's both worlds where as Hellboy is obviously just one.

Q: Did you ever relate to Liz in regards to "not fitting in?"

SELMA: I think we all feel like misfits when we open our mouth sometimes, you know? My mother dressed me always very conservatively. Preppy's your best best and was very... Definitely my outer appearance was always very conservative and very preppy and classic and I'd open my mouth and it was just a nightmare. It was more off-putting than if I would have just put a sign on saying “I'm a freak.” But my sensibility is always very much towards the classic and the beautiful and then there'll be a truck driver that comes out so I understand kind of not fitting in.

Q: Is there a plan for a sequel?

SELMA: Mmm, hmmm. We'll see how it does, I guess. I mean, I hope it does well.

Q: Would you go back to that world?

SELMA: Yes. I'm much better equipped.

Q: Are you ready for comic book geeks to start worshipping you?

SELMA: I'm ready. I'm waiting. I went to one of these comic book conventions and they could care less about me. It was all about Ron because he has such a following with them. And to be Hellboy, who's gonna care about Liz Sherman when they have Hellboy there?

Q: You got married recently in January so how has that changed you?

SELMA: I think getting married gave me a focus. It gave me a focus and direction I want to have in my life. And I think having another person that you make such a purposeful bond with has given me the opportunity to see how that can be with all the other aspects of my life. I think it's coming along very nicely, having kind of a mirror, choosing to have a person in your life all the time, you can see your own behavior and appreciate there's. I think I've become a lot more mellow and accepting. I was an incredible snob before I met him and he just doesn't have any room for that behavior. He doesn't believe in that at all. He is joyous, loving and free and I would have laughed at that.

"Hellboy" opens in theaters April 2nd.