Selma Blair is one of the only characters in the Hellboy movies who gets to appear as herself. Liz Sherman doesn't have any unusual outward appearance. She just creates fire, which can easily be added to her in post-production. At least we still get to see her pretty face. Hellboy II: The Golden Army picks up where you might imagine a relationship between a hellspawn and a firestarter might, in bickering arguments.

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Crave Online: What was important to you to do with this character, when you knew that Hellboy II was a go?

Selma Blair: I knew that we left Hellboy I, and Liz obviously had taken some control of her power. I mean, she saved the day at the end of Hellboy I, and did embrace Red at the end of that movie. So there was only one way to go, which was to move forward and leave her sad sack of a life behind her, and become a more functioning, stable woman. So it was interesting to go and move forward with Liz, and play her differently. I kept wanting to play her as the Liz I knew. It was difficult for me to play her as a more stable girl. The Liz I thought I knew was really so much more hesitant and afraid but it was great to play her as a more engaged woman in life.

Crave Online: How much have the fire effects changed in four years?

Selma Blair: They changed a lot. I was surprised. Originally when I played Liz the first time, I got to choose her fire, and it was blue, and I loved that. This time I noticed the fire was orange red. That, Guillermo said, she’s matured and so has her fire. It’s different and I guess they just didn’t want to have her engulfed in a big blue flame. It would have looked strange. I didn’t really know that I would be on fire so much, which I think is a really cool effect. I thought it looked really beautiful.

Crave Online: You didn't know? So they just add to whatever you're doing?

Selma Blair: There were some times that fire was near me, and I knew when I would be on fire but I thought it would mostly be contained in my hands. So I didn’t know. Guillermo had added it later, that it was actually kind of all over my body.

Crave Online: How much more confident were you in this movie, in dealing with the special effects and the mythical creatures that you have to confront in this film?

Selma Blair: Well, what was so incredible about Guillermo is that you don’t have to deal with very much CGI. I mean, just the Golden Army, really, was the main CGI thing. That was the only thing that wasn’t really there. And thank God, because once you create the Golden Army, you’re doomed. So thank God that was all in the computer, wah wah. No, I’m so lame, I’m embarrassed. Okay. The thing about Guillermo that’s so wonderful, is, these are real monsters that were created. I mean, they were puppets that were there. Everything was there. Everything in the troll market was really there. So you’re not acting against someone in a suit, like a green suit or a tennis ball. The goblin in the trolley is really there, and the old lady that eats the kittens, that’s a real old lady. It was impossible to find! No. But, you know, when she turns into the troll, that’s a real monster, little troll. All those things were really, really done. It was pretty amazing.

Crave Online: During the tumor baby scene, is there just a puppeteer under the set, reaching up and doing that?

Selma Blair: No, there’s a man in that suit, completely, and there’s a hand inside the baby. Then there’s a lot of controls that are remote controlled, people off in the wings. Tons of people off in the wings controlling all these things. Yeah, there’s a man sweating profusely inside that tumor baby man.

Crave Online: But for you, you’re just reacting to the baby. It’s not a whole process with you.

Selma Blair: Right. No, I love that tumor baby. I love that tumor baby. I don’t want one, God. I don’t want one of those. But I love it.

Crave Online: You’ve also done the voice for Liz in the animated films. So do you have a preference for just coming and doing the voice, or getting onto the makeup and the costume, and do to the live action?

Selma Blair: I like the live action. I like being with Hellboy. I mean, the animated ones, it’s great to come in, and you can be wearing your sweatpants and just be a mess and all that fun stuff. But that wasn’t Guillermo’s Hellboy. That was a different person. It’s fun still being in the Hellboy world, and having anything to do with Hellboy but Guillermo’s world is kind of the best one to be in. You get to walk on those sets. That’s the fun because Guillermo really creates it. It’s so much larger than anything I could ever imagine.

Crave Online: Does doing a movie like that remind you of why you became an actress, this whole idea of being immersed in this world of fantasy and make-believe?

Selma Blair: I mean, this is one of the good ones. This makes me really grateful to get to work with a director like Guillermo, and to be in a film like this, that people, I hope, are in awe of, and will watch many times and pick out things over and over again that amaze them. I’m just really grateful to be a part of this story.

Crave Online: What challenges are you facing, trying to continue to find the kinds of roles that you love to play?

Selma Blair: God, I don’t know. Guillermo spoils you so much. I mean, everything’s going to seem pretty mundane after you walk off a Guillermo Del Toro set. I don’t know. Like, how do you then go to sitting in a living room, reciting regular lines, after you’ve been on the set of The Golden Army, or walking through Bethmora, or something. But I’m actually going to go do a TV show on NBC called Kath and Kim.

Crave Online: That was an Australian show, so how is your Kath and Kim going to be different?

Selma Blair: Well, we’re actually adapting it to a US version. I play Kim. I play the daughter. Molly Shannon plays the mother and no, it doesn’t have to make sense mathematically. The original version, Gina and Jane, they are the same age. It’s like a satire. They’re comedians. It doesn’t have to be accurate. We’re actresses. I play this very self-absorbed – that’s not very difficult – daughter, who is obsessed with tabloids and celebrities, and all that stuff. It takes place in Florida.

Crave Online: Does she get married in your version?

Selma Blair: Yeah. I’m married to a great actor, Mikey Day, and he works at the Best Buy. I’m a trophy wife, I think.

Crave Online: So it’s typecasting?

Selma Blair: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I still wear my clothes from when I was 13. I think I’m a really big deal. I’m not. Everything’s too tight on me. I think I’m gorgeous. I’m not. It’s similar to the Australian one but definitely just middle class America.

Crave Online: What’s the tone of the show?

Selma Blair: Well, we just shot the pilot. It’s kind of shot almost documentary style. It’s kind of shot like The Office or Arrested Development. It’s strange. I think it’ll take a couple episodes for people to catch on to the tone. I don’t know if you’re going to get it the first episode. It’s funny but a little dry, a little weird.

Crave Online: Is it as satiric as the Australian one or is it more sitcom-y?

Selma Blair: No, it’s satiric. I mean, it’s like the Australian one. It’s not sitcom-y. That’s why I think it might take a minute for people to get it. It’s not so in your face but there’s a lot of love. The mother and daughter really love each other. They’re really close but my character’s a bit demented, I have to say.

Crave Online: Whiny too?

Selma Blair: Very whiny and very loud. I’m very loud and it’s based on someone I know very well. I really drew it on someone, two people that I know very well.

Crave Online: Do they know this?

Selma Blair: No. Well, one person knows. So it’s really based in reality for me but it’s a very quite annoying character. So we’ll see. I’m going to have to adapt it to make it so people can stand watching me.

Crave Online: Were you looking for something on television? Are you worried about being out of the movie game for nine months a year?

Selma Blair: No, I’m okay. I’m okay with it. I was in Budapest shooting Hellboy II, and I kind of thought, “You know, I think I’ve had it with locations for a while.” It was pretty lonely being away, even though I love everyone on the movie so much. But it’s like, “God. I’d like to kind of lay some roots down in one place for a while.” I’ve been traveling so much, I feel like such a gypsy, and kind of just wanted to get settled. So I was kind of looking for a TV show.

Crave Online: Do you feel comfortable with comedy?

Selma Blair: I do. I really love comedy. I‘m not very good with sitcoms. I get really nervous in front of big crowds.

Crave Online: But you’re an actor.

Selma Blair: I know. I’m supposed to be, but I do. I get really nervous, and I’m always a bit uncensored, and I say the wrong things too often. I’m just going to get in trouble on a sitcom. Things are going to end very badly. So it’s best I just don’t put myself out there every week in that way. So this was perfect. This show, I had heard about it, and I really fought for it. I really had wanted to do it. They didn’t want me for it. No one thought I was right for it.

Crave Online: Why didn't they want you and why did you fight so hard for it?

Selma Blair: I don’t know. I think they just had a different idea of what Kim was going to be. I don’t know exactly, but I just don’t think I was anyone’s idea of it. So I just really fought for it. I thought it was amazing writing and I think Ben Silverman picks amazing projects that he brings over, that he adapts. I really wanted to be part of it and there are so few roles that are amazing women character-driven pieces. It’s really difficult to find and I really wanted in on it. I just wanted to grab that one. That was kind of the first time that I really went after something because I just don’t usually have that kind of drive. But it paid off. I was really happy to get it. So I kind of made myself a little sloppier. It was important that Kim thinks that she’s such a big deal, has the confidence, but she’s not really.

Crave Online: You mean at the audition you went in wearing sloppy sweats?

Selma Blair: No, I put on some weight. I think that was a big deal. I don’t want to make this such a weight issue thing but it was important, a confidence thing that was an issue that a lot of people had. “Oh, God, Selma can’t play this, because she’s a skinny Hollywood girl, and it’s so important that Kim doesn’t have those qualities. Middle America’s not like that.” So we just played it a little more middle of the road. But now I’m back at the gym, and the weight’s not coming off.

Crave Online: So if you want to take a break from location shooting, does that mean you don't go to New Zealand to be in The Hobbit?

Selma Blair: I dare say I probably won’t be in The Hobbit. I think that’s pretty much a boy’s game anyhow. I’m not sure. Yeah, no, I don’t have an invitation to go to Australia. Sadly.