Hulu’s Hellraiser Film Premieres in October with Transgender Lead
Sleepless nights approach as Hulu’s awaited Hellraiser reboot prepares to premiere on October 7 with a twist on the iconic villain, Pinhead, and new Cenobites, you know … those sadistic, hellish beings that are summoned when one of the Lemarchand’s boxes is solved.
The original 1987 film, written and directed by Clive Barker, made quite the impression on David Bruckner, the new Hellraiser director. “It was so visceral and so impactful,” he tells Entertainment Weekly (EW). “It was a movie that really really scared me. It’s digging into things that are so troubling that I was almost afraid of the people that created it!”
Now, he is one of the people creating it with Barker at his side as one of the film’s producers. However, Bruckner’s vision is a little different than the childhood classic he enjoyed, “This is not a remake,” he tells EW. “This is a new story in the Hellraiser universe… We didn’t want to do a Doug Bradley impression; we just didn’t think that’s possible to do. There will be suffering, but you’re going to get a sense of what Pinhead’s desires might be in a way that hits a little different.”
This fresh perspective of Hellraiser starts with casting the lead antagonist, Pinhead, as a woman. Transgender femme actress, Jamie Clayton—who is best known for her roles in The L Word: Generation Q and Sense8 according to Pride—will bring new depth to the character, allowing audience members and horror enthusiasts to interact with the villain in a new way.
View this post on Instagram
“We knew we wanted Pinhead to be a woman,” Bruckner says in an interview. “Jamie was just the right person for the role. A person’s identity can be really exciting for a role in many ways, but I have to emphasize that Jamie absolutely killed, that’s how we got there.”
Chaos is guaranteed as a struggling young woman, played by Odessa A’zion, tampers with the dreaded puzzle box and meets Pinhead along with other Cenobites familiar and new, such as The Masque. In case this new chaotic telling leaves horror feens wanting more Bruckner says he would be happy to continue raising hell.
”Should the fans and the movie gods allow, I would love that idea,” Bruckner says in response to returning to the franchise if the film is successful, “… I feel like I speak for our whole team, the SFX, the VFX, the production design, we learned a lot on this. It is tempting to think we’d have an amazing grip on it going forward, should there be an energy and an appetite for it.”
Photos Courtesy of Jamie Clayton’s Instagram
