Wondercon report 3/3

Wondercon report 3/3


rhoboat.livejournal.com


March 4, 2007



by rhoboat




WonderCon report, 3/3

I had to work this morning until 12:30 pm, but I work only a few blocks away from the convention center. I got there at about 12:40 pm and encountered a huge line to get tickets. Suckers! I already paid for mine online, so it didn't take long to get my badge and head for the main ballroom where the biggest panels were being held. My friend got there super early and was able to save me a fantastic seat in the fourth row, very near the center. She text messaged me while I was still at work, and wrote that she was sitting next to a bunch of female Gerry Butler fans who were waiting for the 300 panel later that day. =D

I got inside the ballroom at about 12:45 and caught the tail end of the Pixar panel for Ratatouille featuring director Brad Bird (The Iron Giant, The Incredibles) and voice actor Remy Oswalt. I didn't really get what they were talking about since I was still looking for my friend. The only thing I really caught was the trailer which was super cute.

During the mini break between panels, I finally grabbed the seat next to my friend. At about 1:00 to 1:30, they showed trailers for upcoming films. I think pretty much all of the trailers are already available online, so I won't rehash them here. The most memorable ones to me though were for the Die Hard sequel, Harry Potter, The Simpsons Movie, Transformers and Hot Fuzz (though I had to look up the title again, I liked the trailer enough).

After the "Trailer Park," Warner Bros. held a panel for The Reaping and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. For The Reaping, producer Joel Silver, director Stephen Hopkins, and stars Hilary Swank and Idris Elba were there. During the Q&A, Joel Silver got asked by one fan about why he won't bring back Joss Whedon to do Wonder Woman. He pretty much danced around that one and didn't really answer. *shrug* On a more positive note, the Speed Racer project was brought up, and Silver calls that film the first Wachowski Brothers family film. =D I'd never heard of Idris Elba, but he's apparently English. Hilary Swank was really sweet and super gorgeous. I don't have much to say about the TMNT panel other than like at last year's SDCC, the director just kept rambling on and on and wasn't really all that entertaining. He even admitted so himself and said we should just watch the cool footage. The footage was pretty cool. If the reviews are good, I may actually see the movie.

Up next was the event most people in the room seemed to be waiting for. Well, at least those women around me and my friend were most interested in this event. =D Anyway, the 300 panel did not disappoint, although the energy in the room was not nearly what it was for last summer's SDCC. Hall H in San Diego with 6500 seats is probably three times bigger though. LOL Director Zack Snyder was there first, and he talked for a bit, then he introduced a taped speech by Frank Miller who wrote the 300 graphic novel. After that, stars Gerard Butler and Lena Headey came on stage. They showed an awesome clip of the movie, and now I'm just a bit jealous of the people who got to watch the movie early. This panel like the others I saw today was pretty much all Q&A again, with very little moderation. I hate, hate, HATE it when people ask stupid personal questions or go on and on about themselves or God knows what. The boos from the audience should be a clue, y'know? I'm always amazed at the ability of the folks on stage to maintain their composure.

Anyway, some of the good questions for Zack Snyder included one about The Watchmen. He was pretty vague about it all. Still, I'm in the middle of reading the Alan Moore graphic novel, so I'm a bit excited about that. Lena Headey very few questions, and she looked a little bit bored after awhile. I don't blame her. She is also super gorgeous, but in a very tough girl kind of way. The bulk of the questions were for Gerry Butler. That man is FUNNY, and I hope he's able to film the one thing he said he wanted to do which is comedy. Probably the funniest part of the whole thing was when he finally realized that his hair was sticking up, and he made a big show of trying to smooth it down. It's probably one of those "you had to be there moments." Still, he got asked lots of questions about how he prepared for the role, what it was like to film with the effects, how this role compares to previous roles, etc. Besides being funny, Gerry likes to ramble, so I can't really tell you exactly how he answered the questions because he would go on and on, and then sometimes he'd forget what the original question was. LOL I did tell my friend that if I were to ask a question, I'd ask Gerry to tell the audience how heavy the capes were because at SDCC, he complained that the capes were heavy and got tiresome after long days of shooting. After that, the rest of the guys (Zack Snyder, Frank Miller, and David Wenham (a.k.a. Faramir in LOTR) kept making fun of him. The line was already too long, so I missed my chance there. Still, the panel was good fun. =)

After that, my friend and I wandered the dealer floor for a couple hours. We didn't feel like staying for the Resident Evil panel, and we also didn't mind that we missed the Spider-man panel since we went last summer, and there weren't as many major guests planned. (We wanted to see the 300 just because we had so much fun at the last one, and today's, although not nearly as energetic, did not disappoint at all.) My friend looked for comics and art that she likes, while I searched the floor for Doctor Who merchandise. As I said in a previous post, there wasn't much, and what little there was, there wasn't much of that left either. =( I did leave today with some minor swag (buttons, bookmarks, etc.). I also bought a Captain Jack (as in Johnny Depp ;-)) poster and a comic book that my friend suggested. I basically tell her that if I'm going to what's mainly a comic book convention, I need to leave with at least one comic book. Last summer, I bought the Astonishing X-Men Vol. 1 trade paperback with writing done by Joss Whedon. This year, we both got a comic book which basically has rewritten fairy tales. It also has some beautiful artwork in it by various artists. It's called Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall written by Bill Willingham.

Looks like this post ended up taking me longer than I thought it would, 'cause now it's past midnight. LOL

ETA: I LOVE Gerry Butler Scottish accent, which my friend and I agree was more pronounced this year than it was last year.

Anyway, I've finished uploading most of the pictures I took which can be found at my website in the image gallery. I'll finish adding the video clips later, because I need to go to bed. =)





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