Ron Perlman has tended to play gruff characters throughout his career. Appearing at New York Comic Con to promote his new book, it's clear that there is a certain element of art imitating life. With a packed room featuring fans wearing "Sons of Anarchy" shirts, Hellboy cosplay and some other characters from Perlman's past, the actor pulled no punches while speaking his mind and pushing hard for everyone to buy his book.
Titled "Easy Street: The Hard Way," Perlman explains that many see his success and assume he's had an easy path to stardom, but that wasn't the case. Many anecdotes he gave throughout the 45 minute panel, were prefaced by saying you'd need to read the book to get the full story. His bout with depression was addressed as well as the loss of his father and his brother.
Not everything he said was serious though. Perlman joked about how good looking he was on the large screen projected next to the stage. When his role in "Pacific Rim" was brought up by a fan, he complimented his own performance and compared director Guillermo Del Toro to Buddha.
With the high pitched techno beats of a neighboring anime panel echoing through the walls, Perlman touched on many of the audience's favorite topics. He talked about how his work in prosthetics toward the beginning of his career helped him since he was uncomfortable in his own skin at the time. He would later, of course, earn loads of fans as Hellboy, with many prosthetic features. He got big cheers when admitting that he is pushing for a Hellboy 3 in the future.
Notably absent from his discussion was "Sons of Anarchy." (Spoiler Alert) Perlman's character, Clay, had an epic fall from power though out the show up until the character's death in season six. It's clear Perlman is not okay with that. The very mention of show creator Kurt Sutter seemed to anger him. But after a number of very short comments when fans asked about the show, he did give some insight into the show's rise to popularity. But it had the tone of fond memories about a relationship before a bitter breakup.
Ultimately, the panel proved to be one with its fair share of tension, a healthy amount of swearing and a lot of Perlman pushing the book. Even so, it was still interesting to hear about his inspiration from his father and classic actors like Burt Lancaster. Also, if you can believe it, he's claimed to quit smoking. Both Hellboy and Clay Morrow, cigar fans, wouldn't be happy about that.
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