Doug only had one scene in HELLBOY as Abe Sapien in which he actually got wet. A wounded Abe crawls out of a cistern to escape the 'Sammaels', the hounds of Hell played by Brian Steele. Surprisingly, the make-up stood up well to being immersed in water - although Doug wasn't quite so lucky. On the first take he smacked his right knee down hard on some broken tiles, putting a deep, corner-shaped gash into the flesh. With blood running everywhere, he was duly patched up and went back to complete several more takes and finish the scene.

The famous 'Rubik's Cube' scene in HELLBOY was filmed on Doug's birthday. He spent most of the day suspended upside-down in a hip harness - which was pulled excessively tight to stop him slipping out, due to Doug's slender build. By the end of an excruciatingly painful day the harness had broken the skin and caused severe pressure sores. Ah, what one does for one's art ...

Not only is Dougie a fine actor, mime and contortionist, but he is also an accomplished singer/songwriter.

The famous scene in HOCUS POCUS where Doug's character, the floppy zombie 'Billy Butcherson,' cuts the stitching on his mouth and spouts wonderfully earthy 17th-century epithets at the wicked witch 'Winnie Sanderson' (Bette Midler), was originally intended to have somewhat different dialogue. Doug didn't think the language was appropriate for a children's film and asked to re-write his little speech. That dialogue has become the most-quoted from this classic Halloween film.

Doug's much-lauded performances in Guillermo del Toro's Spanish-language film PAN'S LABYRINTH meant that not only was Doug working under extreme prosthetics in his dual roles of Pan and Pale Man, but also that he had to learn huge amounts of dialogue in archaic Spanish, a language he doesn't speak. He did it perfectly.

The make-up for Pan took approximately five hours. Doug's near six-feet-four height was built upon by brilliant Spanish FX team DDT Efectos Especiales, and Doug ended up balancing on eight-inch leg extensions, which were later digitally tweaked to create Pan's extraordinary goat-legs. As if that wasn't difficult enough, the complicated head design included servos to work the ears and some upper facial expression, and the whine of the servos was so loud that Doug couldn't hear anything else. So during his scenes with Ivana Baquero (Ofelia) he learned her lines as well as his own, timing the dialogue so he could cue his own lines.

The grusome Pale Man in PAN'S LABYRINTH, perhaps one of film's creepiest creations, was also one of the most difficult for Doug to work on. Consisting of mainly glue-on prosthetics that took up to six hours to apply, the headpiece had no eyes. Doug could only see (and barely, at that!) through the nostrils, but it made him cross-eyed.

What does Doug do to relax? Well, another of his many talents is cutting hair, which he happily does for friends and family.

While filming THE WAGER in the summer of 2006, Doug enjoyed himself immensely doing all of his own stunt-driving.

The role Doug has most wanted to play throughout his career is that of an angel ... guardian or otherwise - and no, the Angel of Death doesn't count. He would love to play a Heavenly Angel of the wing-flapping kind.

 

Keep checking in, for there will be more trivia -
as soon as The Doug Jones Experience can wangle it out of Mr Jones himself ...