Ron Perlman Talks ‘Crave,’ ‘Sons of Anarchy’… and How We Need ‘Hellboy 3’

Actor Ron Perlman of “Sons of Anarchy” and “Hellboy” fame, talked with ExtraTV.com about his latest indie film “Crave,” in which he plays a cop who befriends a troubled young man (Josh Lawson).

Perlman gave some insight into why he likes to take chances with his film choices. He also discussed how hard it was to say goodbye to the hit FX show “Sons of Anarchy” [SPOILER! His character Clay Morrow was recently killed off] and whether a third installment in the “Hellboy” series is in the future.

On “Crave”:

“What affected me about 'Crave' was my character, a lawman, who lives in this ordered world and this kid who seems pure and vulnerable but troubled. So the relationship intrigued me, the father and son or older brother, younger brother thing, where I feel like I have to take care of him and help him maneuver his way through his existence.”

“Josh Lawson works very much like me, very much an instinctive player. He loves to work from the gut and not make a lot of decisions prior to coming to the set. To see how things would play out. There was a spontaneity that characterized the set. It made it for a very happy set, which made [director Charles de Lauzirika] feel good, too. He could just lay back, let us do our thing while he concentrated on the visuals. When I finally saw it, I was blown away by how much visual style Charlie had injected into the story telling. It made it much more of an importance piece of cinema than I thought it would be.”

On saying “yes” to a movie:

“I had the pleasure of working for a first-time director named Guillermo Del Toro, so I've been saying yes to first-time directors, like Charlie, hoping that lightning will strike again. Whenever you say yes to a movie you're rolling the dice. I don't care if you're Brad Pitt working with Sidney f**king Lumet, there's going to be clinkers. You're never going to know where they come from or why because so many pairs of hands touch a movie that it could wrong in a million different ways. And I'm wired for that, ready for it to suck. When it plays really well, that's the exception to the rule.”

On leaving “Sons of Anarchy":

“I'm not going to lie. It's taking some time of adjusting. I say that in all humility. This was a major cultural milestone for me. First of all, I've never been involved in anything that lasted six years, and secondly, I've never been involved in anything that garnered such controversy, love and support in the universe. This was not just a job, which I kept trying to treat it as. I'm the guy who is very good at coming and going, getting emotionally involved but good at saying goodbye. But after almost seven years with ['Anarchy'], it became a lifestyle. It became a part of the shit you take for granted. The world we were depicting, we all deeply inhabited it, full immersion. For better or worse, in good times and bad. The rumor is there's only one more season after this, so I have a little bulletin for all my compadres: It's going to be tough for you guys, too.”

On the possibility of “Hellboy 3”:

“I'm single-handedly keeping the conversation going. They are asking me to keep it down. I said to Guillermo, 'If there's ever a debt that needs to be paid, it's the debt of knowing whether the Oracle is true.' This is a guy with an un-negotiable destiny, but he's been raised to beat the devil. Is it possible? So you have to see that third film to see how it plays out. I feel like we owe a debt to our fans, so I'm going to keep saying that until I die or they make the movie.”