Hey folks, Harry here... And folks, there ain't much point of me saying shite, cuz the widdle lad hath done and found himself in a shitload of coolness... bask in the coolness about Quint...
Ahoy there, squirties. Quint back atcha with Day 3 of the San Diego Comic Con. This is the big one. Lots of goodies hidden in this here report. Let's get started, shall we?
Saturday morning was the earliest I've had to wake up so far. There was an early panel that Warner Bros. was hosting that was supposed to be premiering some Harry Potter footage. Me, being the Harry Potter whore that I am, wasn't going to miss this for the world.
The panel started with the guys behind the internet cartoons for WB, like Gotham Girls and the new Looney Toons stuff. That was nice and all, especially the Gotham Girls episodes, but I did not want to see that stuff right now. Then they replayed that Powerpuff Girls movie promo thingy I mentioned in the last report. Again, not what I wanted to see. Then they showed what I wanted to see.
There were about 6 minutes of clips from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, from various places in the film. We got a peek at Harry at home, getting his first letter from Hogwarts. "Who would write YOU a letter?" It then moved on to the shot we saw in the first trailer of all the Hogwarts letters falling on the family and Harry jumping up and grabbing a few of them, then his narration of what the letter says.
We saw some more trailer footage of Hagrid rescuing Harry from his evil family, new footage of Harry and Hagrid talking on the subway trailer, Hagrid imposingly huge and getting the evil eye from an old lady on the train. Harry was reading off his list of supplies needed. "Can we find any of this in London?" he asks as they're walking down a London street. "If you know where to look," Hagrid answers. Then there's the introduction to Diagon (I think I fucked that one up, sorry) Alley, a slightly longer trip through Gringotts. In this new footage we got to hear a Goblin speak. He sounded surprisingly mean.
Then there was the scene that made me smile... They showed about a minute of the scene where Harry gets his wand. The old wand selling wizard hands him a wand and we see that great shot that was in the second trailer of Harry taking ahold of the wand and getting slightly illuminated from above while the dust in the air swirls magically in the air. The old wizard then says, "Curious. It's curious that you're matched with that wand." "Why?" asks Harry. "Because its brother gave you that scar," he answers. Something like that. Give me a break, they threatened castration if they found anyone recording the footage in any way whatsoever.
The scene played magically, just like I had hoped it would while reading the book. We were introduced to Malfoy in the next new footage. He was introducing himself to Harry in this scene, making fun of Ron's shrubby clothes and telling Harry he should choose who he hangs with carefully. The kid they got playing Malfoy feels perfect. He's a mean little bastard and I know what mean little bastards look like because I've seen them up close. I was tormented throughout my elementary school years. This kid playing Malfoy is very realistic.
Speaking of perfect casting, the next scene that jumped out at me was Alan Rickman's Prof. Snape walking briskly into his classroom, muttering some nastiness and then turning around to Harry and you get that scene that was in the trailer. "So, you're the new celebrity..." There was also some of Harry learning about Quidditch.
I cannot wait for this movie, personally. I was sitting next to Palpatine from chat and we hadn't read the books, but loved the footage. He said it looked like Columbus might actually pull this off. I have to agree. I'm dying for this film. The more I see of it, the cooler it looks and the more I want them to hurry up and start doing the sequels. Goddamnit!
Anyway, that happened and after the footage (and the huge applause, especially from the row in front of me, which was full of... well, witches... Harry Potter characters) they handed out some exclusive Comic Con t-shirts. I was sitting in the corner of the room that got the Ravenclaw t-shirt. Not that you care, but I told you anyway.
The next big thing was the Lord of the Rings showcase. Even though Elijah Wood had been spotted at the Con, he wasn't there "on the clock," just to hang out and have fun like the rest of us. Gordon Paddison, super cool Interactive Marketing Exec. at New Line, introduced the clips we got to see. Now, we didn't get any footage from the film, both of the clips were behind the scenes stuff that'll be premiering at the official LOTR website in the coming months.
So, the showcase a bit disappointing to us who wanted to see some of that Cannes footage that redheaded bastard got to see and has been talking nonstop about since he fucking saw it that bastard motherfucker! Um.... ahem... I mean... Uh...
So, they showed 2 documentaries, one all about Hobbiton, the landscape, the "people," the design of the hobbit holes, the hobbits themselves. The second one was about the Nazgul, which was pretty fucking spiffy. Apparently the first shot of the production was the Hobbits on the road, feeling a Dark Rider approach and jumping into that rotted log, as the Dark Rider hunts around for them... Neat... but it's no Mines of Moria... mumble, grumble...
The coolest thing about the showcase was some introductions and shoutouts filmed in Cannes. There was one with Christopher Lee, Ian McKellen and Ian Holm sitting and greeting us at Comic Con. McKellen specifically said how he wished he could be at the Con because he had so much fun last year (when he popped up during the LOTR panel unannounced, the weekend after X-Men was released). Then there was a goofy little intro by all the Hobbits. They did seem to have pretty damn good chemistry together, even if they did seem a little punch drunk from all the press they were doing in Cannes when they filmed this segment.
Anyway, the LOTR stuff came and went. I finally got to introduce myself to Gordon, whom I've emailed back and forth a few times and can say he's a super nice guy in person, too. Again, like you care, but I'm the one typing, so you have to put up with it.
So, all these super showcases were going on today. Harry Potter, LOTR, Planet of the Apes and Spider-Man were all in the same room. They weren't clearing out the rooms in between panels, so I opted to sit through a panel I could give a shit about so I'd have a pimp seat for Spider-Man. That panel was a Q&A with Buffy creator Joss Whedon. Now, I've only seen one or two episodes of Buffy, have never seen any of the spin-off shows, comics, anything. I liked the show, but I'm just not a regular TV watcher.
Joss was a really cool guy, though. He was really funny, he had a sharp wit and an even sharper tongue, but all in good fun. He made the hour he had go by like nothin'. He did spill some stuff about his upcoming Buffy related crap. At least I think he did. For all I know this is common news, but here's what he said: As of yesterday, the Buffy animated series was a go and a guy by the name of Jeff Lobe (probably misspelled) is "running the show." That seemed to be a good thing, for the audience cheered.
He said that the Buffybot was most definitely returning. He said that in a few months he's going to concentrate on a couple of screenplays he's writing for feature films, non-Buffy related. He also talked about a show he's doing with the BBC set around the Giles character. When asked what it was about, the responded with: "It'll be mysteries with monsters. Not kickboxing demons, but classic ghost stories." He's got my interest peeked. I do love me a good ghost story or two.
Anyway, hope something up there is of use to you folks. The next panel was on Planet of the Apes. They showed some behind the scenes documentaries, but most of what they showed can be downloaded from the official POTA website. The only thing new I learned from that POTA showcase was that Chuck Heston was playing Tim Roth's father in the movie. I knew Chuck was an ape, but I didn't know he was playing the villain's father. Cool beans.
The big surprise though was the premiere of the From Hell trailer. Astounding. The movie cannot come out soon enough. The final line in the trailer is incredible. Jack the Ripper (off camera, of course) saying, "One day men will look back and say I gave birth to the 20th Century." Chilling! Heather Graham was hot as usual. Johnny Depp looked like... Johnny Depp and the look of the film is perfect. I cannot wait! The trailer is supposed to be on Planet of the Apes this weekend.
OK, so now on to the Sony showcase. It started off with the trailer for The One, which blew me away. Can Jet Li get even more badass, you ask? Well, he gets shot at (in slow motion of course) and what does he do? Does he jump out of the way, all pussy style, or dodge the bullet like Keanu? Hell no! He brings up his pistol and uses the side of the barrel to deflect the bullet. There was some fantastical kung fu action in that trailer the likes of which we haven't seen in this country... well, the likes of which we haven't seen COME OUT of this country. It looked great.
Morgan and Wong (X-Files writer guys that did Final Destination) came out and talked a bit about the movie. It's about this guy who can jump into alternate universes. He finds out that there are different versions of everybody in these universes, but each one of them, in each alternate universe, shares a common life energy. When one person dies, the energy is distributed to the survivors. The guy who can skip into alternative universes decides he will become all powerful if he kills every alternate universe version of himself, thus getting all the life energy. So, it's evil Jet Li going after all sorts of Jet Li's and meeting his match with good Jet Li in this universe.
It was originally written for THE ROCK, but his agent made him say no, so they got Jet Li instead. Can you say "Dodged the bullet?" I knew you could! So, they talk for a bit and the audience starts getting a little restless. The order for the Sony presentation was thus: The One, with Morgan and Wong doing a Q&A, John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars with Carpenter and Joanna Cassidy doing a Q&A, then Spider-Man with Raimi hosting a clip from the film.
So, the audience, being the comic geeks that they were, of course wanted to see Spider-Man, not Jet Li, not John Carpenter. When Morgan and Wong finished their talk, the Con people played a new Ghosts of Mars trailer. None of the Ghosts of Mars trailers have been cut fantastically, but they're not complete shit, either. Carpenter was running a bit late, so the Con guy asks if we want to see the Ghosts of Mars trailer again. By this time Joanna Cassidy and a surprise guest, the baddie of the film, Big Daddy Mars, had shown up, in full makeup no less. The Con guy asks, "So, do we want to see that trailer again?" and about 60% of the audience shouts, "NO!!!! SPIDER-MAN!!!!"
I was like, "You heartless fucks." But I kept my mouth shut. Before Carpenter showed up, Joanna and Big Daddy Mars took the stage and started fielding questions. People asking the questions were taking jabs at them and it didn't help the cause that Ms. Cassidy, who I'm sure is a nice person, wasn't a very good public speaker... well, at least under these inhospitable circumstances. She looked like she wanted to leave, then Carpenter walked onstage to applause.
He sat down and you could just see the relief in Joanna's eyes. Carpenter asks the audience if they've seen the trailer. They shout, "Yeah!" Then he asks, "What'd you think?" There was a smatter of applause and some iffy noises coming from the audience. I was shocked at how rude these people were. Did they not realize the number of truly great genre films this man has given us? It was crazy. It was like the audience was out for blood.
The people getting up to ask Carpenter questions were mostly cool, but there were some sly remarks and cheap jabs thrown into some of the questions that just made me embarrassed to be part of this crowd. I really could not fathom the level of disrespect in the room. It was like the room had suddenly turned into a real life version of talkback. You'd have the few cool people who might have problems with some of this man's movies, but respect him enough not to fucking knock him. Then you have the assholes who felt it was their duty to stir shit up because they wanted to see Sam "The Man" Raimi sooner, goddamnit!!!
Well, Carpenter left the stage shortly thereafter and I'm sure he was glad to get out of that room. The sad thing is, having read the script, if Carpenter shot the script I read and did it like he did Prince of Darkness, They Live!, The Fog, Escape From New York... Big Trouble.... Anyway that is a little gritty and grimy... you'll have these same geeks coming back next year with Ghosts of Mars posters for him to sign. Again, that is if he shot the script I read like I saw it in my mind.
So, they try to play the Spider-Man trailer. It doesn't work. A couple of the audio tracks were missing, so no music, no soundtrack. Just dialogue. People boo. Raimi walks in. People cheer. Raimi took the stage like a live walking one person 3 Stooges act, playing with the chairs, his necktie, etc.
Then the clip... THE CLIP from Spider-Man... was... what you ask? To quote Vin Diesel, "I want you to remember this moment, how it could have gone and didn't." Bitch at me in talkback all you want (especially after that Jay and Silent Bob review, I know I got some shit comin' now anyway)but I don't have to type this shit for you! But I will because I love you all... except for Massawyrm. He blows donkeys for quarters.
Anyway, the clip from Spider-Man shown was from the BIG scene in the film where Peter Parker gets bitten by a radioactive spider. It was a nice 5/6 minute scene. It was Parker walking with the Osborn kid on a field trip to this place with radioactive spiders, one of whom we find out has escaped. Parker is telling the Osborn kid how much he loves Mary Jane Watson. The Osborn kid ends up making the moves on Mary Jane, using the info he stole from Peter, no less, who shrugs them off. The whole time the tour guide is talking about spiders in the background. About how certain species can jump amazing distances, how others blend in with their surroundings, etc.
Parker asks Mary Jane if he can take some pics of her for the school paper. As he's snapping pics of the babe, we see the spider is right about Parker. It slowly descends and lands on his arm. Mary Jane walks away and then he feels the bite of the spider. In the background as he's looking at his wounds, a monitor observing an incomplete strand of DNA suddenly clicks together, giving us a complete strand. From the monitor, the words SPIDER-MAN explode through the monitor loudly, getting a great audience reaction. Then there's a really quick cut from the trailer of Spider-Man swinging through the buildings of New York.
Awesome. I got my Spider-Man hat, got my The One T-shirt after the panel and then went to introduce myself to Ted Raimi, who, turns out, is a fan of this site. Look for a possible interview with Mr. Teddy Raimi sometime in the near future... hopefully... Do you hear that TED!?!? TED RAIMI!!!! You promised me!!!!
Hehehe, after all that goodness I went to the dealers room and looked around a bit more. Found those Big Trouble In Little China toys, made by N2, the people who made the Matrix toys. They have all the figures I mentioned before there, along with a few I left out... like Leon carrying his plant. Like Robert DeNiro, mohawk and all, from Taxi Driver and Jet Li from Kiss of the Dragon.
Pretty sweet, but not as sweet as the WETA Booth I stopped in. That's right, WETA, the guys behind the effects and makeup for Lord of the Rings are there with Sideshow toys, showing all the busts from the film... and set pieces. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. I want now... I even met one of the real life WETA guys, New Zealand accent and all. He was really cool.
And so was this booth. Not only did they have about 30 Lord of the Rings things there, but they also had Sideshow's other toys. I nearly shat myself when I saw the Young Frankenstein set of three toys: Igor, The Monster, Fredrick Fronkenstein. They also had two Dark Crystal toys, Jen and Kira. Also on display at this booth was a set of 6 guys from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Not to mention the Spinal Tap toys or the 12" TALKING R. Lee Ermey figure, decked out in military garb.
But nothing compared to the one sculpture of the Dark Rider.... fucking incredible. So, there you have it. I'm about to pass out from exhaustion...literally. Talk to you later, squirts. Keep yer eyes on the horizons. I got lots more comin'. Farewell and adieu.
-Quint
