 Director Guillermo del Toro (qv) for years considered this film a  dream project and had always wanted to cast Ron Perlman (qv) in  the lead, but could never secure a budget or studio approval. After  the massive success of _Blade II (2002)_ (qv), del Toro was offered  _Blade: Trinity (2004)_ (qv) or Hellboy, and though he briefly  considered trying to schedule both in, he chose Hellboy.