Formerly a teen heart-throb of British popular duo group Bros., Luke Goss is almost unrecognisable as Prince Nuada in the upcoming sci-fi/action film Hellboy II: The Golden Army, scheduled to be released in Malaysia next month.

AS part of the pop duo Bros, Luke Goss was one of the biggest pop stars of the late ’80s with 13 hit singles and three albums.

After five successful years in the music industry he wrote his first book I Owe You Nothing, which spent several weeks in the top 10 best sellers list and was reprinted three times. He then moved into acting and accepted the lead role in the musical play Plan 9 from Outer Space, based on an Ed Wood screenplay.

In February 1997, he starred in the touring musical What A Feeling, which played to full houses all over the United Kingdom. He then starred as Danny in the stage version of Grease and has made the transition into film in 2000.

In 2002 he scooped an award from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror films for his performance in Blade II, where he first worked with Guillermo Del Toro, and last year he won a Character and Morality in Entertainment Award (Camie), for One Night with The King, where he starred with Omar Sharif and Peter O’Toole.

Q: So in Hellboy II: The Golden Army you play Prince Nuada, who’s in rebellion against his father, King Balor. Is that right?

Luke Goss: In one way. To be truthful, in a deeper way he’s quite beautifully hoping his father will understand his views. He’s hanging in there to try and see. “Hey, please, see this something as how I see it” but unfortunately, he doesn’t. It’s not so much a rebellion. It’s almost like a tragic goodbye to his father.

Q. Sounds vaguely reminiscent of The Lord of the Rings?

LG: I love The Lord of the Rings. Yes, I’m a geek now. I’ve been baptised by fire with a Guillermo (Del Toro) torch. I’m into all that stuff but the thing that I love about the evolution of genre movies is that all the purists say this is just another great blockbuster movie with loads of cash.

But here’s an Academy illuminated director who’s bringing all his talents to something fantastic, quite beautiful, mystical and magical. All those purists out there who are foaming at the mouth have to grow up and accept that the movie is an art form and it’s a genre that is wide as our periphery. It really is.

Q. Do you have a lot of make up when you’re in character?

LG: Yes and no. It’s primarily face scarring and stuff like that. It doesn’t change any form but because like any scars that are convex or concave they have to go into the skin so the only way to achieve this is to raise the surface of the skin a tiny bit. It’s five to six hours of makeup, at the beginning it was seven hours. With my shirt off, my whole body has to be painted in seven to eight-hour process before I can do even one frame. It’s gruesome.

Q. How do you find working with Guillermo?

LG: He is very caring, loving, and has a childlike enthusiasm for things. He is the expert on genre movies. His enthusiasm is the same as when he was a young man. The only difference now is that he knows he’s on top of his game. He certainly knows that he’s on his A game and his choices now, well, he never guesses.

There’s never even a flirtation with the word guess. His decisions are based 100 per cent on what he knows he wants, which is always great to be around. So many directors do not have that gift. He’s under a great deal of pressure and when he wants something done it’s very, very direct. I have a great friendship and so you just have to strap in and stay with him.

Q. You seem to trust him very much. Will you sign with him whatever he asks you to do?

LG: I wouldn’t want to play multiple roles. I would not want to do that. I have no interest in doing a bunch of roles.

Q. Like Doug Jones (who plays multiple roles — as Abe Sapien, The Chamberlain and the Angel of Death in Hellboy 2) ?

LG: Yeah. Doug’s a wonderful guy. He’s a really beautiful spirit and he has a great heart and I don’t want to be that nice. It would be exhausting. To be that kind and nice all the time, is so exhausting. I’d shoot myself in the head. He’s a really gifted actor and he understands make up and what that entails more than anyone I’ve ever met and he’s prepared to put up with it more than anybody else.

Q. How were you cast? Did Guillermo just call you?

LG: It was kind of like that, yes. I have the script and it still has the scribbles on it. Last year, around September-October, I got the script. Then in about March I was in my car in Los Angeles and I got a call from him. I said I’d really missed him and he said ’I’ve written this thing’. He was glad I’d responded to the part. I said I hadn’t responded to the part per se, I was more like a kid, excited about working with him, not so much responding. I’m just excited that I’m going to be part of the story. Yes. It was just a phone call. He wrote the part for me. It’s still kind of strange that he did do this, especially as he could choose whomever he wishes. It’s a great compliment.

Q. What is it that you think is so special about (the film) Hellboy?

LG: (The character) Hellboy’s not special (laughs). I think women find him charming. He’s not arrogant. He is boyish. Guys like him because as bad*** as he is, he’s flawed. Watching a ripped dude with a six pack isn’t cool; we don’t want to see perfection everyday. We all have our insecurities and there is something wonderfully flawed about this character.

I played Frankenstein a few years ago and the concept of prejudice and the way someone looks or sounds is such a flawed idea. Prejudice by design is flawed. It sucks. The great thing when you look at Liz and she digs a big red dude it doesn’t add up. But when you see them actually on a train they are the only two who can embrace each other and there’s poetry. It’s right there in front of us and I like the fact that you can have entertainment and that kind of poetry mixed together. It’s really an exciting concept. — Courtesy of UIP International Pictures