[[APARICIONES PUBLICAS-MEDIA]] Hellboy II The Golden Army Premiere Red Carpet arrivals

• Video de como le sacan fotos
  

[[LIFE]] About Selma Blair

Selma Blair at the Pretty Persuasion at the ArcLight Cinerama Dome. (Photo: Frazer Harriso / Getty Images)

In 2002, Vanity Fair magazine anointed Selma Blair as one of Hollywood’s next wave of stars, an honor bestowed to the acting elite. Fearless and versatile throughout her career when it came to choosing her film projects, she played everything from a ditzy prep school student to a big-breasted stripper. Blair even made an icy law student seem likeable in the comedy “Legally Blonde” (2001), the film in which audiences first took notice of her. Seven years after her blockbuster debut, she still had everyone laughing in “Kath and Kim” (NBC, 2008- ), a remake of a popular Australian sitcom, where she co-starred with TV funny gal Molly Shannon and continued to enthrall fans with her quirky beauty and comedic gifts.

Born Selma Blair Beitner on June 23, 1972 in Southfield, MI, the actress was the youngest of four girls. Her parents, Elliot and Molly Ann Beitner, divorced when she was 23; after which, she legally dropped her father’s name. “I have nothing to do with my father,” she said. “He is out of my life.” Her mother introduced her daughters as “the brain, the athlete, the klutz… and then there was Selma – the manic-depressive.” Blair said she really was not that troubled, although her mom gave her a necklace with a smile on one side and a frown on the other to reflect her quick-changing moods. She attended a Jewish day school and then Cranbrook Kingswood school in Bloomfield Hills, MI before attending Kalamazoo College her freshman year, where she acted in a play titled “The Little Theater of the Green Goose.”

Blair moved to New York City to pursue photography after graduating magna cum laude from University of Michigan in 1994 with a degree in photography and a minor in English, but she soon took interest in a different field – acting. Her training at the Stella Adler Conservatory of Acting and Column Theater helped her land a few small roles in the early 1990s. She auditioned for the title role in “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” (WB, 1997-2007; UPN, 2001-03) in 1997, but lost out to her future co-star Sarah Michelle Gellar. That same year, she had an uncredited role in “Scream 2” as Gellar’s character’s friend. Unfortunately, she did not receive any screen time, as it was merely her voice used during a phone call scene.

In what was regarded as her breakout role, the actress appeared in the 1999 film “Cruel Intentions,” based on the classic novel, Les Liaisons Dangereuses and the Stephen Frears-directed “Dangerous Liaisons” (1988). The movie starred Reese Witherspoon, Ryan Philippe and Gellar, whom Blair shared a passionate onscreen lip lock with. The scene where Gellar’s mean queen taught Blair’s naïve Cecile how to French kiss won the MTV Movie Award for “Best Kiss.” The wheels started turning faster for the star when she was cast as Zoe Bean in the twenty-something TV series “Zoe, Duncan, Jack and Jane” (WB, 1999-2000). The show, unfortunately, failed to connect with the audience and only lasted two seasons.

Blair formed a close friendship with her “Cruel” costar Witherspoon. They worked together again in the hilarious “Legally Blonde,” playing law school archrivals. Their brunette vs. blonde clash onscreen was comical and entertaining in a Betty vs. Veronica kind of vein. "She's a little wacky," Witherspoon said of her raven-haired co-star. "But wacky in that great way, (like) a Mary Tyler Moore sort of personality. She’s just one of the great comediennes of her generation.” Blair continued starring in more girl-power movies in the early millennium, acting alongside Cameron Diaz and Christina Applegate in the sometimes vulgar comedy “The Sweetest Thing” (2002), and playing a preppie girl about to get married in “A Guy Thing” (2003).

Even though Blair could have taken on strictly mainstream projects and been successful, she also chose cutting edge roles in critically praised independent films, such as “Kill Me Later” (2001) with Max Beesley. She took the offbeat step further in the controversial “Storytelling” (2001) from director Todd Solondz, where her troubled character was described in the movie as “a spoiled, suburban white girl with a Benetton complex.” The movie’s first scene took off with a bang, with Blair having raunchy sex with her onscreen boyfriend who suffers from cerebral palsy.

By the mid-2000s, Blair was one of the busiest and most in-demand actresses in Hollywood. She took on the role of Liz Sherman in Guillermo del Toro’s “Hellboy” (2004). She reprised the role four years later in “Hellboy II: The Golden Army” (2008), also directed by del Toro. Yet playing a girl with pyrokinetic powers in the “Hellboy” films did not compare to her role in “A Dirty Shame” (2004). In the John Waters’ comedy, the actress wore humongous prosthetic breasts to play stripper, Caprice Stickles.

Despite acting alongside a who’s-who of Hollywood leading men – from Topher Grace in “In Good Company” (2004) to Edward Burns in “Purple Violets” (2007) to Greg Kinnear in “Feast of Love” (2007) – Blair’s personal life was never a hot topic in tabloids, compared to other actresses of her time. She married actor and musician Ahmet Zappa, the son of the late singer-songwriter Frank Zappa, in January 2004, but they divorced in 2006. However, Blair’s fashion forward style was closely followed, not only by Hollywood cameras, but also by young fashionistas who looked up to her as one of its hipster princesses. Experimenting with different looks in short periods of time, she sported everything from a Mohawk, a pixie cut and a Louise Brooksesque bob, stating that she had “no fears when it comes to my hair and clothes.”

Aside from the short-lived “Zoe, Duncan, Jack and Jane” and a 2002 holiday-themed episode of “Friends” (NBC, 1994-2004), Blair’s big screen work had filled up the majority of her resume. However some of the better parts – particularly for actresses – were becoming increasingly found on television by the turn of the millennium. So like many of her fellow film “It” girls, Blair turned her attention back to the small screen, with “Kath and Kim,” co-starring with the hilarious Molly Shannon. In the series based on an Australian TV show of the same name, the twosome recreated the dysfunctional duo of a foxy 40-something mother (Shannon) and her childish and celebrity-obsessed daughter (Blair). Interestingly enough, Shannon was only eight years older than her onscreen daughter. Critics had their knives sharpened for any successful television overseas import that has been Americanized, but it was one of the more hotly anticipated series of the fall 2008 season.

[[HELLBOY]] Interview to the game Hellboy Science of Evil

Selma Blair who interpreted Liz Sherman on both Hellboy movies gives an exclusive interview to the game Hellboy Science of Evil of PSP.

Selma Blair, la atriz que interpretó a Liz Sherman

[[PHOTOSHOOTS]] No Hair or Clothing Fears

[[ARTICLES]] Tank Girl Makes Her Directorial Debut With Gritty Life Story

TANK GIRL star LORI PETTY has turned her tough Iowa upbringing into a new movie, and cast SELMA BLAIR as her mother.

Petty wrote and directed The Poker House, staging a lengthy casting call to find the newcomer who would play her as a child, Jennifer Lawrence - and called on the Hellboy star to play her mum.

Perry's autobiographical directorial debut, about her poverty-stricken teenage years, will premiere at the upcoming Los Angeles Film Festival.

A film insider says, "It's a ravishing portrait of poor, small town life in Iowa, circa 1976 - Marvin Gaye, seedy bars, and the ever present allure of illicit activities and substances."

Blair plays a mum of three daughters in the film. Her eldest, Agnes, is inspired by Lori herself.

The film includes Petty's "pimp father figure, and a memorable assortment of dangerous yet colourful gamblers, thieves and johns."

Petty says, "This is a movie that had to be made, so it showed up uninvited as my adolescence. The movie is the eldest daughter, me, realising between a heartbeat, that things may happen to you, but they don't happen to you forever unless you let them."

[[ARTICLES]] Has She or Hasn’t She – Selma Blair and Botox

Thirty-five year old actress, Selma Blair doesn’t feel she is at that age yet where she can justify getting Botox for wrinkles. According to an in-depth interview published online, Blair said, “I wanted to get Botox once to make me feel younger. But I don’t really have to justify it yet.”

The star of the Hellboy movies and The Fog also said that she was not ruling out having plastic surgery later on, but it wasn’t something she has given much thought to.

Blair also revealed that as she gets older she prefers the less is more application of makeup as she does not want “to feel like my face is cracking from too much foundation”.

[[PHOTOCALLS]] Kath and Kim

[[TV APARENCES]] Selma Blair on Regis and Kelly (Video)

[[PROJECTS]] For YouTube "The Big Empty"

Esta muy bueno, es un corto de un poco más de 20 minutos, es fantasioso, donde dentro del utero del personaje de Selma Blair, hay un propio ecosistema formado.
Lo tenes que ver!!

• Video
  

[[ARTICLES]] Selma no necesita Botox

Selma Blair isn’t wrinkled enough for Botox or plastic surgery, she says

by Colin Stewart

Photo: Actress Selma Blair, age 35, visits the NBC Universal Experience at Rockefeller Center on May 12, 2008. (AP Photo)

Survey: Does anyone disagree with Selma Blair and think she already needs cosmetic work?

Actress Selma Blair tells In Style magazine in its June edition that she’s not yet ready for Botox or plastic surgery, but she doesn’t reject them.

“I wanted to get Botox once to make me feel younger. But I don’t really have [enough wrinkles] to justify it yet. As for going under the knife, I can’t say I wouldn’t, but I haven’t thought too much about it,” she said.

She co-stars in the movie Hell Boy II: The Golden Army, scheduled to open locally next month.

Blair said she isn’t interested in breast implants. “I wore huge prosthetic boobs for a John Waters movie. They were glued on every day by a really handsome guy, but ripping them off every night was definitely outside my realm of comfort. After those bosoms, I didn’t mind being flat-chested anymore!” she said.

As for skin care and cosmetics, she said, “I go to a spa in L.A. called Kinara for its Skin Care Boot Camp. You go once a week for 12 sessions and they’ll look at your skin and tell you how to get it in better condition. They really helped me a lot. I also stay out of the sun.

“Egyptian Magic cream is my saving grace for everything. It works for my friend’s baby’s bottom, and I can also use it instead of Chapstick.”

Survey: Does anyone disagree with Selma Blair and think she already needs cosmetic work?

Photo: Actress Selma Blair, age 32, at the nominations for the 20th IFP Independent Spirit Awards Nov. 30, 2004, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo)

Photos: Left: Selma Blair in 2002, age 29, at Oscar party. Right: In January 2008, age 35, at Chanel “A Night of Diamonds” dinner in New York. (AP Photos)

Does Selma Blair already need cosmetic work?

• I agree with her: She doesn’t need it yet.
  10149% of all votes
• I disagree: She needs it.
  105% of all votes
• She should always refrain from Botox and plastic surgery.
  3818% of all votes
• What a gorgeous person. Stay natural!¹
  5728% of all votes

Total Votes: 206 Started: June 2, 2008

[[MEDIA-VIDEO]] Trailer: 'The Poker House'

[[CANDIDS-MEDIA]] Selma in NY sacandose fotos con la gente (Video)

[[CANDIDS]] Selma picks up a coffee with a friend in LA

[[INTERVIEWS]] UP CLOSE WITH SELMA BLAIR

The 'Hellboy II' hottie talks about her flame-throwing role in the sequel, shacking up with the Demon of the Apocalypse and the rumors she's playing Neil Gaiman's Death!

By Andy Serwin

WIZARD: Four years have gone by since the first movie; did you think you'd get to play the pyrokinetic Liz Sherman again?
BLAIR: I hoped that I would. I kind of thought that it was never going to happen, but ["Hellboy" and "Hellboy II" director] Guillermo del Toro just didn't give up. When he gave me a call at 11 o'clock one night to tell me that they had the financing, I was really relieved. It was something that I had been waiting and hoping for and this does feel like we're back with family even though it's a whole new amazing experience. The first one was such an introduction to Hellboy that I always thought the meat would be in the second and third, at least for Liz, because in the first one she was afraid to take a step. She was a zombie, not wanting to own up to her power and not having the memory of what she'd created in her life. So I was really eager to come and play Liz with a little more vibrancy.

How much has she changed since the first movie?
I thought I would get here and already know this girl, but I realized that I don't know her at all because I don't know her as a woman. It seems like such a straightforward role, but it's really been a challenge for me not to suck the energy out of Liz because that's kind of how I played her in the first one, like she was in a vacuum.

Was the haircut something that Guillermo suggested, or something that you came up with together?
It was together. My hair, I basically went nuts and shaved my head. There was actually a girl who wanted my hair and I'm a giver. So I gave her my hair. [Laughs] I did that to make a wig for a child, but then I just made it a fashion thing that I had this strangely shaped head. But I thought, "Oh, God, Guillermo is going to kill me." But he saw the short hair and I think he really wanted it. I think that it's a little anime inspired.

How has Liz's relationship with Hellboy developed since the first movie?
Well, it's worked out about as much as my marriage in real life. [Laughs] [EDITOR'S NOTE: Blair divorced musician Ahmet Zappa in 2006.] That's terrible to say. We're very good friends. It's difficult living with someone, especially a guy that takes up as much room as Hellboy, with as many cats as Hellboy has. So we are very happy together, but there's trouble with spending so much time with someone that you love after you're used to being alone and having your way. Between my fire and his little-boy sloppy behavior, we're a mess—a lovable mess.

You're packing heat in addition to your fire powers this time around; why are you carrying a gun?
Talk to Guillermo about that. It's really embarrassing too. I wouldn't pull this out if it weren't completely rubber, but it's really embarrassing. I spend so much time in this movie holding this gun up and I'm like to Doug [Jones, aka Abe Sapien] next to me, "Jesus Christ, don't I have fire for this?"

You did the voice of Liz in the animated movies; has there been talk of any more of those?
I know that one was nominated for an Emmy, and I'm glad that that one person who nominated it bought it because that's about the only copy that I know of. I don't know if anymore are going to happen, but one of them was really beautiful. [Laughs].

Has the cast dynamic changed with the addition of psychic Johann Kraus?
I had just one scene with Abe Sapian that was really touching in the first one. That was actually really my only scene where I felt like a person communicating with someone, and in this one, he's my buddy and we're together all the time. So I feel closest to Doug in this and always Ron [Perlman, aka Hellboy]. I live next to Ron in real life, so he's just someone that I'm really close to and have kept in touch with. Then John Alexander and James [Dodd], the couple of people that play Johann, I think the more the merrier—the more people that can suffer in their costumes and I can make fun of them because I don't have one. I bedevil them. It's awful. They're sweating and dying and can't breathe and I'm like, "Oh, my God, this cotton tank top is just really too much. I don't know how you guys do it.''

Del Toro is also producing the film adaptation of Neil Gaiman's Death: The High Cost of Living. That seems right up your alley. Are you jockeying for that?
I've wanted to play Death for a long time. On the set of the first ["Hellboy"], people would see me and say, "You have to play Death. Oh my God, you have to do it." I didn't know he was doing "Death" at the time. He knew for sure that he'd be teaming up with Neil on that and he said, "Yeah, you'd be good for Death." Then it's been crickets. I think he definitely has his eye on someone, and I would know if it were me and it's not me. [Neil and I are] good friends, and that still didn't get me the job. [Laughs]

[[ARTICLES]] Role Player (Vogue Men's)

Selma Blair has shone in dozens of films, inhabiting a gamut of characters from the frothy to the seedy. Now she's not only a leading lady — she's got her own action figure. By Michael Walker

Selma Blair has Charlotte Rampling's eyes, Dorothy Parker's precision-strike wit, and sufficient acting chops to blow better-known actresses off the screen with a toss of her bangs. Having shone in all manner of movies, from lightweight fare like Legally Blonde, The Sweetest Thing, and Cruel Intentions (in which she famously twisted tongues with Sarah Michelle Gellar) to darker indie films like Kill Me Later and Todd Solondz's Storytelling, the 36-year-old native of the Detroit suburbs has lately been trading up her character-actress cred for a fatter slice of the cultural pie.

"Part of me would love to have been a leading lady, because there's a lot of glamour that goes with that, and a lot of applause," she says, nursing a coffee in a West Hollywood patisserie. "But I've been very blessed. I'm not one of these girls who has to fit into a mold. I'm a working actress able to make choices based on characters rather than what I 'should' do for my career."

Blair, the youngest of four overachieving sisters, was born in Southfield, Michigan. "I was always kind of the storyteller," she recalls. "I remember being in the schoolyard when I was six, and I'd make up stories about how there was a huge carnival behind my house and then get in trouble because everyone wanted to come to see it. I had to become a recluse at a very young age so my story wouldn't be found out." After she graduated magna cum laude from the University of Michigan with a bachelor's degree in photography and a minor in English ("I was mostly writing about despair, grief, loneliness...the usual William Styron type of stuff," Blair laughs), a stint at the Stella Adler Studio in New York City nudged her into acting.

These days she does dark, light, and pretty much everything in between. She portrays a young woman avenging her rape and torture in the just-released thriller WAZ; in the upcoming The Poker House, she plays a prostitute who's the ultimate bad example for her 14-year-old daughter. In the franchise-building department, look for Blair to reprise her role as Liz Sherman, the pyrokinetic heroine of Guillermo del Toro's Hellboy II. ("I have my own action figure," she says proudly.) With Molly Shannon, she'll star in the upcoming NBC comedy series Kath & Kim, based on the hit Australian television show about a dysfunctional mother-daughter relationship. (For the record, Blair adores her real mother back in Ann Arbor, with whom she corresponds by handwritten notes.)

Divorced in 2006 after two years of marriage to Ahmet Zappa — "a lovely man" whose ring she still wears — Blair cops to bouts of melancholy despite the wind filling her sails as never before. A voracious reader, she finds comfort in books like Elliot Perlman's novel Seven Types of Ambiguity, in doting on her one-eyed Jack Russell mutt, Wink (adopted from a Los Angeles animal shelter), and in the prospect that her career may finally reach critical mass.

"I think it's been confusing for people because I haven't had a linear career," Blair says. "People who watch WAZ aren't going to see Legally Blonde. So even though I've done 27 movies, people think I've probably only done three. I'll always be indebted to Guillermo for giving me my shot at being a leading lady. It's such an unlikely leading lady, so maybe it makes sense that an unlikely leading lady would play it."

[[CANDIDS]] Selma goes shopping

By Laurelle Gilbert

Summer's newest denim hues have the A-list hooked as they shrug off dark indigo and black in favour of paler, retro shades like stone wash, faded out grey and almost white jeans. Team with a cute tee, shrunken jacket or blazer and bright accessories, just like these celebs have and you'll have the look the stars are loving right now.

[[CANDIDS]] Selma on the town

[[ARTICLES]] Selma Blair caught getting cozy with another man

Hollywood star Selma Blair split with her boyfriend after he found her getting cozy with another man, according to U.S reports.

Model Matt Felker walked into the couple's Hollywood home to find the Cruel Intentions star allegedly sitting in another man's lap, it has been claimed.

"He forgot his wallet and came back unexpectedly to the place they shared in Hollywood, an insider told the New York Daily News. "He found her sitting on the guy's lap. It was like a Lifetime movie moment."

The pal of Blair's says Felker got the wrong impression and that Blair is eager to reconcile, but he wants none of it.

[[NEWS]] Selma Blair playing lesbian teacher in comedy

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - Selma Blair is in final negotiations to play a lesbian high school teacher romantically involved with a student in the indie black comedy "Driving Lessons."

Madeline Zima, who plays David Duchovny's underage fling in Showtime's "Californication," has enrolled as Blair's love interest. It won't be Blair's first Sapphic screen excursion. She shared quality time with Sarah Michelle Gellar in "Cruel Intentions," winning an MTV Movie Award for best kiss.

"Driving Lessons" revolves around a woman (Hope Davis) given a second shot at her unhappy marriage after losing her memory. It conveniently helps her forget an interracial affair with her burly neighbor Simon (Chi McBride). Dermot Mulroney plays her husband, and Max Thieriot her religious, right-wing son.

The project, which marks the feature directing debut of Finnish commercials veteran Vivi Friedman, is set to begin principal photography next month in Los Angeles.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

[[ARTICLES]] Selma Blair's mom has job in waiting

Washington (ANI): American actress Selma Blair's mom keeps on asking her when she will be returning home to work in Dunkin' Donuts. The 35-year-old actress, who has been a movie star for more than a decade, talked to the British newspaper The Independent about how her mom feels about her career choices, including her role as a disturbed rape victim in 'Waz'.

"She thinks I'm awful in most things... [When I showed her a pre-release version of the film] she said: 'Oh god, Selma, I can't see a thing!' Then she made me turn it off," the New York Post quoted her as telling The Independent. Blair also revealed why she blames the paparazzi for her double chin, and what she's got in common with Tom Cruise.

"If I was looking good and someone happened to take a picture, I'd probably be quite pleased anyone was paying attention to me at all... I don't look especially good in paparazzi shots. A lot of the people they snap, they're kids. They look good... without makeup or anything. But... I need a little Photoshop. Inevitably, I'll turn away and have a horrible, startled look on my face... All I can think is that this is going to break my mother's heart, because she's going to have to see her baby with a double chin and people writing rude comments," she said.

When asked about why photographers seek her out all the time, she blames it on her resemblance to Tom Cruise. "I look like Tom Cruise, don't I? [Or] Katie Holmes. Katie Holmes with Tom Cruise's haircut," she added.

[[MEDIA-VIDEO]] Elle Cheat Sheet

1'11''

[[CANDIDS]] Selma leaves restaurant

[[INTERVIEW]] Selma Blair for Hellboy

I think deep down I was secretly hoping that Selma Blair would turn out to be a horrible person who hates candy and puppies, if only so I could starve off my crush on her long enough to complete this interview without stuttering like an idiot. Unfortunately for me, Ms. Blair turned out to be really cool, incredibly down to earth and not at all intimidating (until she whipped out the gun attached to her belt). And despite a successful career ranging from mainstream fare like LEGALLY BLONDE to arthouse stuff ala STORYTELLING, she was very open about her professional and personal life; no BS and no pretension.

When she sat down to talk to us about HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY, she was in full character as Liz Sherman; all black leather outfit, the aforementioned holstered gun, and a brand new haircut. And don’t worry; I’ve edited out all my stuttering and drooling.

Selma Blair

Did you ever think you’d be playing Liz again?

I hoped I would. The first one was such an introduction, you know, to the story of Hellboy. And I always thought the meat would be in the second and third. At least for Liz, because in the first one she was afraid to take a step. She was completely a zombie; not wanting to own up to her power and having the memory of what she created in her life. So yeah, it was really good to come play Liz with a little more vibrancy.

Did it take much time to get back in the role?

Well its taken four years… [laughs] I thought it’d be so simple; I just come and I know this girl, but I realized I didn’t know her at all. Because I don’t know her as a woman and she’s a woman in this one and she’s not just moping around. And that’s kinda just in my cell memory as a person, my preconceived idea of what Liz was in the first one. And it seemed like such a straightforward role, but it’s really been a challenge for me not to suck the energy out of Liz. Because that’s how I played her in the first one; she was like in a vacuum and so it would really, really ruin the movie if I played it that way. So it’s been a little bit of a challenge for me.

Was the haircut something he suggested or…

You know, it was together. I basically went nuts and shaved my head. [laughs] I didn’t go nuts at all. There was actually a girl who wanted my hair. And I’m a giver, so I did that to make a wig for a child. But I just made it a fashion thing and I had this strange shaved head. And so I thought, ‘Guillermo’s gonna kill me.’ But I was wigged in the first one. I had short hair then too. So he saw the short hair and he really wanted it, but I think he thought it would look like Liz had a bit too much of a moment in the four years since we saw her. I think it’s a little anime inspired—that was kinda Guillermo. It’s a little stronger. And I think the first one brought my face down. Literally. It was really a gravity type of thing and we didn’t want that as much.

So you’ve shacked up with Hellboy. How’s it been working out?[sighs] Well, it’s worked out about as well as my marriage in real life. [laughs] No, no, no. We’re very good friends. It’s not that sad a thing. You know, it’s difficult living with someone. Especially a guy who takes up as much space as Hellboy, with as many cats as Hellboy has. So we’re very happily together, but you know, there’s trouble with spending so much time with someone you love after you’re used to being alone and having your way. And I use my power a little more in this one. So between my fire and his little boy sloppy behavior we’re a mess. A lovable mess.

Why are you carrying a gun? Isn’t the fire enough?

You’d think so. Talk to Guillermo about that. And it’s REALLY embarrassing. [Pulls out the gun] I wouldn’t pull it out if it weren’t completely rubber. But yeah it’s really embarrassing that I spend so much time in this movie holding this gun up and I’m just like, to Abe, you know, Doug, “Jesus Christ, don’t I have fire for this?” You know, it’s just a lot of time in the background with my gun drawn. Like I’d just blow ‘em up! I’d just blow em up, but I guess the movie would end. So there’s the gun.

Have you been involved in the New York fight we saw…the set outside?

I’m standing behind my man there. I’m not involved with it. I’m just kinda cheering him on and there to hold his hand when it’s all over.

You could do some destruction yourself. Why not just let you in there?

I don’t want people to see me. Hellboy really likes the limelight. And Liz doesn’t. She feels very uncomfortable under the scrutiny of people. So she’s really not gonna break out with her fire. This is between Hellboy and the Elemental. [Note: Elemental = a big ass monster.]

So she’s really in control of her powers this time around?

Mm-hmm. I mean, I imagine if there was a third one it would be stronger or she wouldn’t have to use them at all. But yeah she can start it and stop it on her own, and is game to be part of the BPRD now.

Have you noticed any discernable difference in Guillermo post-PAN’S LABYRINTH. Has he gained any confidence?

I do. Guillermo…you know, I heard from Ron when he started CRONOS, Guillermo was kind of tentative, but he always had such a strong point of view of what he wanted and the things that made him light up. He does; he has more confidence. This is the most demanding set I’ve ever been on and that’s because Guillermo can. You know, he has the vision and he’s so specific and I think each time he wants to tell a better story than the last and keep going and he has a lot, probably I imagine, to live up to in a lot of people’s minds. So I imagine this is a strange one to follow up something as kinda precious and dark as PAN’S LABYRINTH. But you know that’s just my imagining, you know that’s just my conjecturing that it would be something very difficult to follow through. He has a preconceived idea of Hellboy and I think he wants to make this bigger and mythological and mythical, you know, in nature. But he’s very specific about what he wants. Sometimes I don’t understand, but he does. So that’s what matters.

Were you familiar with the comic books?

Not before the first one. No I just got a call from my agent saying Guillermo wants you for this movie and I had known DEVIL’S BACKNBONE and I loved it. So of course I signed on sight unseen and it’s been the greatest adventure. I’m so grateful he saw something he wanted.

It’s been four years since you made the first one. After two years and they still hadn’t done it, did you think “Oh they’re just not gonna do it?” Were you surprised that the sequel happened?

I was really hoping and…you know, when we started doing the animated ones that didn’t have anything to do with Guillermo, but did have to do with promoting Hellboy, just as a franchise I guess you’d call it. But then I started getting hope that I would be able to finally do my garden back home. [laughs] Gonna be able to pay the bills!

But, yeah, I kinda thought it never was gonna happen. But Guillermo didn’t give up and when he gave me the call at 11 o’clock one night and said that they had financing it was really a relief. And it was something I was waiting for and hoping for and it does feel like back with family. It’s a whole new experience. It’s amazing.

You voice the animated version of yourself also.

[With a hint of sarcasm] Yeah, what a delight that is. That’s like Daria doing the voice of Liz.

[laughter]

Do you do that at the same time? Like when you’re not shooting?

Yeah, I mean, there were just a few animated ones. And honestly when you do a voice of something, you’re just in the studio for a few hours at a time. And then they’ll do another pass. I was doing that at home before we started this, six months ago

Has there been talk of any more animated films?

You know, I know one was nominated for an Emmy, and I’m glad that one person who nominated it bought it. Because that’s about the only copy I know of. But one of them was really beautiful, I think SWORD OF STORMS. I don’t know. I haven’t seen them to be honest.

[laughter]

How has the team dynamic changed with the addition of Johann to the group and what’s the dynamic like with all the players in the BPRD now?

It’s been a really different dynamic, because I never really had scenes with Abe, really. There was just one—that really touching scene for me in the first one. That was my only real scene where I felt like a person really communicating with someone. But in this one he’s my buddy. We’re together all the time and all the characters he’s playing. So I kinda feel closest to Doug in this. And always Ron. You know, Ron’s my neighbor. I live next to Ron in real life. So Ron’s someone I’m just really close to and kept in touch with and that feels normal. And John Alexander and James, the couple people that play him [Johann]. I think we’re happy, the more the merrier. And the more people that can suffer in their costumes and I can make fun of them, because I don’t have one. I bedevil them, it’s awful. They’re like sweating and dying and they can’t breathe and I’m like “Oh, this cotton tank top is so…it’s just really too much. I don’t know how you guys do it.” I don’t think most people get my humor, so it’s been a little rough.

What is Liz like mentally in this film? In the first one she’s got this bundle of neuroses and now she’s shacking up with Hellboy; does it mean she’s 100% A-OK? Is she banged up a bit spiritually at this point? Or is she starting to get her life straightened out?

I think she’s really getting her life back and looking to the future much more and things are happening in this one that she just has to buck up. She can’t be a kid anymore and she can’t feel sorry for herself. I think she is strong and I think Guillermo’s really noticing moments where it’s lacking and we go back and shoot—you know, Liz needs this moment where she saves the day for a moment or she advises someone to do something, to really just try to pump it up. Because I think even though I’m not at all a girl in real life, I think I can come off as just part of my own energy and I can come off as younger than I really am, not by looks necessarily, but just by my presence. So you’re dealing with this young girl, who we last saw as very damaged, and now she’s with this guy and all these people around her. So we’ve really had to step up a strength and a confidence in her so she doesn’t look like the little baby kid sister tagging along.

How many fire things are we gonna see in this one? Is she like barbecuing dinner?

No, there’s a few moments of that, but Liz doesn’t cook. So there’s no barbecuing. There’s nothing really too comedic with it. But, you know, I don’t know because Guillermo could add that in post. I could be having a scene where I think I’m fully on it, having a normal dramatic scene and there could be flames coming out of me in post. That changes everything, so I don’t know.

Is your average day just standing around waving like this? (mimics shooting a fireball)

There’s some moments where Guillermo’s had to say, “Now, you’re going to feel really self-conscious but you just have to…” And then after I give it my whole like [screams loudly]—he’s like “Seriously, take it down. That’s really embarrassing.” But I just try to let it rip. And everyone is so understanding of that, But yeah, sure, I look like a complete moron. And we’ll fix a lot in ADR.

HELLBOY is very male dominated, but this time you have Anna [Walton, who play’s Princess Nuala] also. Have you bonded with her at all or had any scenes together?

We have, really, one second together where I grab her hand outside and usher her away. But yes, we get along great. She’s beautiful. I hope to do all my press with her because she’s just—it’s so great—I want to show people that this isn’t just a guy movie. This has another woman in it who’s a hero. You know, Biddy [Hodson, who played Rasputin’s mistress Ilsa] was in the last one. She was lovely, but she was the villain so they don’t kind of promote the movie as much. But she’s gorgeous, Anna. She’s a wonderful leading lady and I wish she weren’t so pretty. I’ve been trying to tell Guillermo to make her clothes really lumpy so that I would feel cuter. But it didn’t work out; she’s pretty perfect. And we are friends. We went to Vienna together and I hope we really get to promote this movie together to get a more female audience—that there are real strong women in this film. And they’re cute like Anna. And they’re short and brown like me.

Guillermo said he has an idea where he wants a sequel—a third movie—to go. Does he share that with you and did that impact your performance, knowing what happens?

Yeah, he has shared it with me. I’m just praying that he’ll do it. I’m praying that the third one will come, because for me that would be the strongest one for my character. So selfishly I want that, but I also think that the story of the third one would be so haunting and such a major story that I think it would be such a shame to cheat it and just end with the second. So I hope a third one is made. I know that it’s been exhausting.

SPOILER WARNING!

Is that what’s being hinted at in the scene we saw filming?

Yeah, the scene we’re filming now really hints at the direction of what would happen to Liz…inferring that she would suffer the most and that this choice is going to come at a high price. I mean, that’s a pretty huge lead up to a third movie. How could Liz suffer the most with this choice? And if the Angel of Death swears that the destruction is about to happen, then what could that choice be? And I think that for two people in love and two people with powers it’s a really dramatic third story.

END SPOILERS!

In the third movie you’ll have to wear a lot of makeup and a huge outfit.

Yeah, that’s how they’ll get me back. I’ll be wearing a red prosthetic suit. No, I hope we do make it.

Speaking of the future, you know Guillermo is going to be producing DEATH, THE HIGH COST OF LIVING. And I don’t know about anybody else but I can’t help but look at you and think that that is so right up your alley.

I’ve wanted to play Death for a long time. On the first one, people would see me and say “Oh my God, oh my God, you have to play Death.” And Guillermo, I didn’t know he would be doing DEATH at the time, and I don’t think he knew for sure that he would be teaming up with Neil [Gaiman] for that or helping Neil out. And he’d say “Yeah, yeah. Good, Selma, you’d be good for that.” And then “cricket, cricket.” So I think he definitely has his eye on someone and I would know if it was me, so it’s not me. So I’ll give it up. But it’s something I’ll see. I love that character. That’s kinda really right up my alley, so I’ll be first in line to see it, but sadly it definitely won’t be me because I would know.

Did you get to talk to Neil when he was here?

Yeah, yeah. I’m good friends with Neil. And that still didn’t get me the job. [laughs] I’m reading Stardust right now and it’s beautiful.

They already did that one…

I know, I know. So no pressure, so I don’t have to fight. But I love it.

You mentioned in passing some of the stuff that had happened back home not too long ago. Did that sort of lend a certain appeal to leaving LA behind for a bit and just sort of going off to a different country and putting things on hold for a bit and just concentrating on doing a cool film for a while?

Well, when I went through some personal changes I actually went away to Belfast, the most depressing place in the world to shoot W DELTA Z. So I got away and made kind of a really chilling movie and it made coming back home something to look forward to. [laughs]

But you know this just happened. I just signed this…I still don’t think I have signed a contract for this movie, to tell you the truth. We kinda knew it was going like two days before I flew out here. But actually Ahmet [Zappa, ex-husband] and I are really close. He’s been out here and been with me. And he loves Guillermo very much. He’s still the closest person in my life. So, no, there’s nothing too dramatic I want to get away from back home.

So W Δ (DELTA) Z, who’s in that?

Stellan Skarsgård and Melissa George.

Right, so is that coming out next year some time?

I’m not sure. February?

Who do you play in that?

I play a girl who went through uh, a really, um…hard time. [laughs] I was attacked by a gang of guys. It’s kinda woven in to the story, but Stellan and Melissa are figuring out. It’s great watching them work. Stellan is wonderful and Melissa is always great. But Stellan is one of my favorite actors in the world, so just to be near him was very satisfying.