Selma Blair: Hellboy's "Hottie"

Four years ago, petite brunette actress Selma Blair starred as pyrokinetic Liz Sherman opposite Ron Perlman's big, red superhero Hellboy. She's back again in Hellboy II: The Golden Army. This time Liz and Big Red have hooked up bigtime, are living together and having the usual couple squabbles. Liz is better at controlling her "firepower" and is now a major part of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense (B.P.R.D.) where she kicks evil, supernatural butt with her man and the rest of the good guys.

Selma, who stars this Fall in a new NBC comedy series called "Kath and Kim" opposite "Saturday Night Live's" Molly Shannon, met with us in Beverly Hills and revealed that she loved doing more action in "Hellboy 2" and, although she's pretty good at a shooting range with a real gun, she "sucked" at firing a "pretend" one on set. We also learned that, in the first film, she was unsure about how to work with a "prosthetic boyfriend".

Picture the classy actress in black walking shorts and jacket over a white tee and wearing very, very high stiletto heels. Her huge, solitaire diamond drop earrings and short, coal-black hair made for a striking silhouette.

TeenHollywood: What was your reaction when you saw the final film?

Selma: I thought the film was pretty epic. I thought [director] Guillermo del Toro really made an amazing film. I can't believe how successfully he covered all the bases. Everything is in the film; love and death and amazing action sequences and war and monsters. It's incredible.

TeenHollywood: How was it playing the pyrokinetic girlfriend again?

Selma: It can't be bad. It was good working with Guillermo. It's great working with Ron [Perlman] and he's funny. Both of them. It's great. I don't want to be on fire in real life. It's not very practical in California [we laugh].

TeenHollywood: In this film, Liz seems to come into her own as a full member of the team.

Selma: Yeah, Liz did. In the first one, she had some hang-ups. She had some baggage, mostly under her eyes, apparently [laughs], looking back at that. But she was really sad. Her powers led to a lot of destruction and in this one, she matured and she could use her power and she's a really capable, functioning woman...still a little bit brooding but, definitely, she's stronger. I thought I knew Liz and I thought 'oh, this will be a cakewalk. I'll just go back and I know Liz already' but it was strange playing her with a little more confidence. I kept wanting to go back to the hesitant Liz I knew.

TeenHollywood: Your director Guillermo said he modeled some of the arguments between Hellboy and Liz on his own life with his wife. Did he talk about that with you?

Selma: [laughs] Yeah. I know that his relationship with Lorenza is so special. It's such a beautiful, beautiful thing. I'm sure they also have come through many little arguments so I can only imagine. Yeah, they've had little quarrels. I think that there's a lot of Hellboy in Guillermo as well.

TeenHollywood: You are pretty much the only identifiable human on screen for a majority of the film. Was that something you thought about consciously? You are the closest thing to an ordinary person with whom we can sympathize.

Selma: Yeah, I didn't realize it until we were halfway through the movie and I was like 'wait a minute. I'm the only [human] 'face' here'. I don't know what that says about me but I didn't even notice it until we were doing the Golden Army scene. The monsters were actually created so there's stuff to look at [on set] and I'm like 'where are you guys looking?' And everyone's kind of like 'oh, it doesn't matter. No one can see our eyes' and I was like 'oh my God, everyone can see my eyes and it really matters where I'm looking, what I'm doing. Oh my God, I have a face you guys' [we laugh] so there was a moment of terror like 'oh my God. I'm gonna be the one that's gonna cr*p all over this movie if it's bad. I'm gonna be the mess'.

TeenHollywood: Do you find it helpful as an actor to have the real, practical creatures there on set and not all CGI?

Selma: Of course. It adds such a sense of reality and, when you're making such a fantastical movie like this, it can only help. I mean, to really have Hellboy dressed up so realistically every day, it makes it so real.

TeenHollywood: And Liz is attracted to him. They've got a relationship.

Selma: When we did the first [film], the first moment I stepped on set with him, I thought, 'how am I gonna...do I touch this thing? Does it make a noise? Does it pop if I try and caress it?' [Uh, she's talking about his sledgehammer arm, guys!] I didn't know. I'd never worked with a prosthetic boyfriend [more laughs]. That doesn't sound right. I'm sure I have after all. I didn't know what to expect but Guillermo has put such love and effort into this monster-making that, after that first scene was done, I completely bought my love story with Hellboy. It made sense to me. After that scene, it never seemed weird. I never once questioned this person in a suit. It never seemed like that.

TeenHollywood: What was the most challenging scene for you?

Selma: Probably the most challenging sequences were some of the ones with the guns in the auction house. It was very embarrassing. Even though I'm actually really good with a gun, my sister was a cop for twelve years, so she always taught me a lot of gun safety and everything and they were around the house, but I've never pretended to shoot a gun on camera because you actually don't have bullets of course. You'll do a couple with blanks but the rest you're really just miming it and it's such a strange thing to shoot a gun and pretend like there's kickback. So, I'm not a very good mime. I'm the pits, actually. I just had to admit I'm not a very good action star. Doug [Jones who plays the amphibian Abe Sapien] and I... Guillermo called us 'Selma and Louise' because he looks like Barbarella in the background. We were on the floor laughing at what little girls we looked like in the background with the guns. Guillermo just thought he'd never get through that scene.

TeenHollywood: Sounds like fun. What's the atmosphere like on a Guillermo set? Is it kicking back between scenes?

Selma: It's funny. There are so many different languages being spoken. It's pretty crazy that way. We still have this Mexican crew. There's Spain, Mexico and Hungary and there's some Czech crew people there from the first Hellboy so there's all these different countries being represented on the set, and American and British. Guillermo is hysterical and then we always have Jeffrey Tambor [who plays B.P.R.D. boss Tom Manning] singing and then we have Hellboy singing all the time.

TeenHollywood: What are they singing?

Selma: Singing like Frank Sinatra songs and old show tunes. It's so surreal to look over and there's Hellboy crooning with a cigar. It always blows my mind. It's really fun. It was an intense work schedule though; six day weeks, mostly nights so then I'd be off shivering in a corner somewhere and none of them would be cold because they always had on the prosthetics and they were usually sweating so they were grateful when Winter came around. Summer, they were hating life. We were in Budapest the whole time.

TeenHollywood: [WARNING: This question is a spoiler!] Since you know that Liz is carrying twins, did that effect the way you played her this time around?

Selma: I always thought of that. I'd always want to go to tears all the time, for every scene and Guillermo would say 'don't cry, don't cry. Your character is stronger than that'. He always had to kind of keep me from crying and I'd go [to Jeffrey Tambor] 'God, Jeffrey, why do I want to keep crying in this scene?' and he'd say 'because you're carrying babies' and I was like 'oh, yeah, I guess so'. But we didn't want to bring the whole energy of the movie down by having Liz dropping tears all over the place because that movie's just not really like that. You just don't need to cut to me with a gun like [she demonstrates heavy weeping] wha, wha.

TeenHollywood: Is there a certain job security knowing that in four years Guillermo will want to do Hellboy three?

Selma: Yeah, God bless. I hope it happens. I guess I'd better take my Geritol. We haven't really talked about it. We've talked about what the storyline would be like in Hellboy Three which excites me and I think Liz would have unendurable pain that she would go through. [In this film] the Angel of Death pretty much assures her of that which is kind of thrilling because Guillermo is such a master of raising the stakes. So, I would love to see what that is but I don't know. It depends on the success of this movie.

TeenHollywood: Did you have a favorite creature or monster in the film?

Selma: I didn't see it at the time, but I loved it when I watched the movie. I really liked that tumor baby. What's wrong with me?[laughter]. I don't want one! I'm not putting it out there but my God, why do I think that was the cutest thing? It was really funny.

TeenHollywood: And, a favorite set?

Selma: The troll market. Everyone was blown away. I didn't realize how nostalgic I was for an actual set that had all these monsters and animatronics and puppets. I didn't realize how much we miss that because everything is done in CGI now and there really is a difference. You really feel a difference between something that's tactile 3-D and something that's created digitally. We just know. Our brains can sense it. I just had that sense of wonderment that I had when I saw the Star Wars cantina scene. It really was like, 'oh my God. I want to rent it. I'll go see this over and over so I can pick out my favorite stuff'. It really is a kid-in-a-candy-shop feeling and I haven't had that in a long time in a movie. So, this is definitely a movie that I'll watch over and over.

TeenHollywood: Did you have an input into your costumes or like anything in particular that Liz wore?

Selma: Yeah. I loved the necklace that Guillermo made. He designed it himself and he was really proud of it. It was articulated. [note: She's talking about the cross necklace].

TeenHollywood: He does everything!

Selma: I know! He does everything. He's really working on all cylinders. He uses all of his brain. I don't work like that and he impresses me no end but I felt really special wearing that necklace. That was the final thing that I put on every day in my trailer and it was the thing that completed Liz.

TeenHollywood: Did you get to keep it?

Selma: No. He actually wants it and they can't find it. He wanted to buy it for Lorenza [his wife].

TeenHollywood: That's a bummer! Tell us a bit about your new TV show.

Selma: it's called "Kath and Kim" and Molly Shannon plays Kath. I play Kim, mother/daughter NBC, starts in October, 9:30 after "The Office". See what a good saleswoman I'm getting to be? I'm a real team player. NBC has taught me well now. It's based on an Australian show of the same name.

TeenHollywood: What kind of relationship do they have?

Selma: They love each other very much. My character is bordering on demented. She's so annoying, which is fun to play. It surprises me how naturally it comes and how it does not leave me when they say 'cut' so now I have an excuse. She's loud and whining but really loves her mother but is self-absorbed, tabloid-obsessed. It takes place in Florida. Mom is really positive and great and moving on with her life. I recently married but moved back in with my mom because my husband expects me to do things like microwave a dinner every once in a while but I fancy myself as a trophy wife even though he works at the Best Buy [laughs]. I'm a little bit delusional. I think I look as good as I did when I was thirteen and I still wear the clothes to prove it even though I shouldn't be at all.

TeenHollywood: Sounds hilarious. How is the transition going from film to TV?

Selma: I'm not used to learning so many lines. I have to tell you, it's a lot of work! I like acting but not that much [laughing]. Geez. It's amazing. I'm so grateful to have a great job for a woman. There wasn't a lot of good material out there. I didn't realize how little material on TV there was, a comedy for women. I didn't realize how lucky I was to get one of them. I don't want it to go anywhere. I wanna stay on that thing. It's a good transition. I'm happy to be in L.A. for a while and I'm happy to be working with Molly on a show that I think has great writing, really, really good. So, I'm enjoying it a lot.

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Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter.