Hellboy filmed on Bulgarian sound stages

Comic book movie Hellboy filmed largely on sound stages at Nu Boyana Studios in Bulgarian capital Sofia.

Directed by Neil Marshall and co-produced by Millennium Films, the movie follows David Harbour’s demon hero Hellboy as he confronts sorceress the Blood Queen, who is resurrected in the modern day from England’s Dark Ages.

Marshall and his team built more than 20 sets at Nu Boyana Studios.

The facility has 13 stages, as well as underwater filming resources and standing sets that include modern New York and London streets, Roman buildings and an ancient village.

Millennium Media owns Nu Boyana with Nu Image and so regularly shoots its bigger-budget productions at the facility.

The Hellboy production team created Mexican and UK story settings on Nu Boyana’s back lot. Key exterior settings that were created on stages included Pendle Hill, which in the real world is in north-west England.

“There are some scenes viewers might expect would be shot on a set, but when Hellboy’s standing on a hill with the Blood Queen, you don’t imagine the landscape has been created,” says Paul Kirby, the film’s production designer.

“Sometimes you want to feature design, knowing that people are going to see it and relate to it as such. But sometimes you want design to be invisible. You don’t want people to question, ‘Is that a real tree? Is that a real rock? Is that on a stage?’ You just want them to enjoy the story.”

Scenes were also filmed on location in and around Bristol in south-west England, with the city’s Bottle Yard Studios used as a production base and Bristol Film Office assisting with the shoot.

Key locations included 1960s-era council estate Waring House in Bristol and Wells Cathedral, 20 miles south of the city.

Bristol has developed into a production hub for films and TV shows looking to access locations in the west of England and in Wales. Urban Myth Films shot scenes for a contemporary-set drama version of War of the Worlds in February.

The Bottle Yard itself is currently home to ITV’s period drama Sanditon and has recently hosted Poldark and Fortitude. A selection of service companies are based on-site at the facility, with Set Smith, Studio Cars, MRU Services, TR Scaffolding and Video Europe all involved with the Hellboy shoot.

Marshall’s Hellboy movie marks a reboot for the character after director Guillermo del Toro made two films in 2004 and 2008. Those productions were based in the Czech Republic and Hungary.

See KFTV's production for more on filming in Bulgaria.

Image: Lionsgate