by the beast, then detonates a belt of hand grenades and destroys it from the inside. He whispers something in Liz's ear and she is revived. When she asks how her soul was returned, Hellboy replies that he said "Hey, you on the other side, let her go, because for... for her I'll cross over, and then you'll be sorry." Liz and Hellboy share a kiss. Cast Production Del Toro and Hellboy creator Mike Mignola envisioned the film as a Ray Harryhausen film. The film was shopped and rejected by various studios for years due to studios disliking the title, script, and the fact that Perlman was cast as Hellboy. Del Toro invited Harryhausen to teach the film's animators what made his effects techniques unique but declined, feeling that modern films were too violent. Writing While writing the script, Del Toro researched occult Nazi philosophies and used them as a reference for the film's opening scene. In an early version of the script, the gyroscope portal was described being made out of rails that formed into pentagrams, hexagrams, and inverted stars to illustrate the film's magic and occult elements. Del Toro chose to alter the origin from the comic to give main characters interconnected origins. Labyrinths became a motif for the film to represent Hellboy's conflict of "choosing the right path." This was reflected in the film's opening titles. Del Toro felt that labyrinths represent the film's themes regarding "choices and taking different turns and choosing different destinies," Del Toro stated, "A labyrinth, it is said, is not a place to be lost, but a place to find yourself." Del Toro chose to add context to the BPRD logo by rooting the film's version in Catholic mythology by adding archangels in Broom's office. Del Toro wrote Hellboy's dialogue with Perlman in mind for the role, prior to casting him. Del Toro noted that he tried to emulate Jack Kirby and Harryhausen's action style for the film's action scenes. Hellboy's gun was given the name "Samaritan" for the film to illustrate the BPRD's techno-magic. Del Toro approached the love story with a reverse Beauty and the Beast approach, stating, "I wanted the beauty to turn into a beast in the end to fully assume her mortal gifts... and when she accepts herself for what she is, a monster, then she can love the monster [Hellboy]." The idea of Hellboy spying on