Quor'toth Con Report, Friday and Saturday
Jun. 30th, 2005 06:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccaelizabethStarfury Quor'Toth
24-26 June 2005
Thistle Hotel, Heathrow, London
Okay, writing this up a week after the event. Was tired. I couldn't stay at the Thistle this time because the stupids lost my room, so there was much extra stress and moving around. But I had a great time anyway.
Anyone I was rude to this weekend? Not on purpose. I mean I always put a blanket apology in at the top of these things, but I think I did okay this time. But in case I totally annoyed someone without noticing, apologies. I do my best but I never quite get the hang of normal. Which is among the reasons I like conventions, there's such a wide range of normal to choose from.
And finally, this is just what I remember. I don't guarantee the accuracy. I didn't take any notes on the guest talks or anything else. And on Sunday I discovered that I could make kind of a cave with my warm wrap and sit in a nice dark space listening, so I technically didn't watch the talks much. I'd look up, get the visual equivalent of a snapshot, and hide again.
Yes, I'm strange. But as I said, having fun.
So -
Friday night – autographs, and opening ceremony, and party.
I'm sure I was at the opening ceremony. I probably even cheered... I know when I saw Vladimir Kulich I was suddenly all *facepalm* because I do actually know him. Same with Dennis Christopher. Vladimir was in 13th Warrior, a film I have on DVD and really like, and if I'd known that I would have brought it to be signed. DC had a handy t-shirt with Cyvus Vail on the front, so we could see who he was. Very useful. Is the trouble with all the heavy makeup, even the other actors don't know what people look like under the makeup.
Autographs went great. I got an Illyria picture, and the one with puppet!Angel with the sword over his shoulders, and one of Dayne Johnson's makeup pictures that kind of works as a group shot of all the gang plus the best monsters. Amy signed that one on the Fred section, not Illyria. Vladimir signed it on Spike *frowny* but then signed The Beast when I pointed it out to him. Later DC signed Vail, AH signed Lorne, and I got Dayne to personalise it to beccaelizabeth. I like that sheet now, is very cool.
Then there was much partying. I had to wimp out at 2am because I'd been feeling ill all... well, week actually, but I had many hours of fun before that. I mean the parties start at about 9pm and go on until 3 or 4, there's actually more hours of party than of guest talks. Which might be why I remember more from the parties. Or it might just be the relative amounts of skin and shiny showing. Somehow that tends to focus my attention. Also saw some really nice tattoos this weekend. Hot weather is good for that. Except the main hall AC was on so high I was actually cold all weekend. Preferable to boiling, but still strange.
I wore a little red t with 'what are you staring at' on it (in about the size letters you're likely reading this in on screen) and a little flippy black gauze skirt, with fishnet leggings. Call it a cheerleader outfit, is the closest I get. And it fitted way better than I expected. Apparently I've lost a lot of weight without noticing.
Saturday -
Had to get up early to see Illyria. (I say early, I mean in the actual a.m. Mornings. Nasty things.)
Dayne had done Amy up in proper real Illyria makeup. It was awesome. I've got the picture but I can't share it because of the rules, but it is really cool. The coolest, and strangest, part was watching between photos. Amy would be being all smiley happy nice lady and then click, straight to Illyria face. It was cool and not a little scary. Also seeing the Illyria face on top of regular clothes (with a black poncho) made me even more aware of how much wardrobe contributes to a character, because the effect was quite different. It was a very cool, very fun experience and entirely worth getting out of bed for (and at conventions I do not say that lightly ;) ).
Then I sat around in the main hall until the talks started. The schedule said it would be tv shows, but it was tapes from End of Days. So now I have in my head that convention almost as much as this one. Odd. But it was funny to watch.
Sarah Thompson, Jenny Mollen & Clare Kramer
Eve, Nina and Glory
Okay, I was there. I was in the hall. I listened. I... completely can't remember a word they said.
I think someone asked about getting Angel naked. And about Glory and her minions, were they fun. And possibly about boxing... two of the ladies boxed, both at the same place in Hollywood with the same trainer. I think I'm blanking mostly because it was stuff I'd heard before. I mean everyone asks about Angel, and the answer always involves giggling. Someone asked about practical jokes. DB pulls them, often. In the scene with him naked behind the couch one time he stood up with something unexpected, er, there. Another time, not exactly a joke, but they were filming the scene with Nina and Angel in the car outside Nina's place, and they were taking longer to set up than DB liked, so he drove off. Just up and drove off into LA, with Jenny in the car, who hadn't really met him before and was wondering what she'd gone and gotten into, and yet couldn't make too much of a fuss because hey, Angel, star and all. So that was funny when she told it. And... Someone asked Clare who would win in a fight, Illyria or Glory. She said Glory of course.
I think someone asked Jenny about who should Angel end up with. And as a fan she's a B/A shipper all the way, but as an actress she kind of was rooting for her character's relationship to work out.
ST didn't know much about her character to start with. She was told to play mysterious. Just that. And she didn't know about Lindsey, about her character having a love interest even, until the episode we viewers knew.
There was probably more said but my memory is quite wrung dry. Sorry.
Vladimir Kulich
As many questions were asked about 13th Warrior as about the Beast.
Most of the Beast questions were about the makeup. It was difficult to wear, very heavy at the horns and hoofs, but helped with the character because once it was on the whole physicality changed, the way he could move changed, there were layers between him and the world. Just the contacts, once they were in, put him in like a shell of The Beast, put the character on him. So it was really helpful. But still his favourite bit of the day was when he got to take it all off again.
And he didn't specifically know when he went for the part that it would be in a full body makeup. He kind of could guess, because it was for Angel, and it is that kind of show. But he wasn't told until he was all signed up for it.
When The Beast eats that black ball and puts out the sun, they had a half a dozen balls of black gelatin lined up, ready for him to eat them. And he had to eat the ball and say a line. They said 'just put it in your mouth, it'll melt right away'. But it didn't. Every take, big gooey ball of jelly in his mouth, and he had to try and say the line. Funny impression of him with mouth full of the stuff.
The more flying bits of fights he didn't do, but the stood on the ground bits he did some of.
13th Warrior was originally titled Eaters of the Dead. Vladimir had been hanging around not getting any work for a while, so he fired his agent. About a week after that, they phoned him up and said “listen, I know you fired us, but there's this silly little movie, it's called 'Eaters of the Dead'. Interested?” So he went to audition for that. And at the time he had no idea about the budget or the locations or how it was actually anything but little. But he went and he got the part.
He said that Antonio Banderas was... ack, can't remember the phrase, so it'll be less funny. Something like “Very serious actor, for a pretty man.” He said pretty. Idea being he was professional and serious and took the others seriously too, no Ego stuff.
For 13th Warrior they did some training before the film. They had to learn how to speak Norse, so everyone got sent on a language course. Including the guy who actually was from Norway. Being sent to learn his own language. So he just turned up drunk. Bit of a waste of time. Vladimir had one line in the language in the film, and he can still remember it. And he said it about right, according to the Norwegian lady who was asking after the language stuff at the mic.
When Vladimir tried out for the role they asked him could he ride. So he, of course, said yes. So he gets the role, and they are trying to find the right horses for the characters, so they sit them all up on horses and tell them to walk them, and to start with he manages fine. But then they were supposed to head off to the other end of the area, and all the others went there no worries, and he was stuck there because he couldn't get his horse to go. And they were calling back to him and he just couldn't get it to move. And then the horse got spooked. And took off. And it was heading for freedom, and Vladimir was trying to get it to stop, and people were yelling to pull on the reins and he was like 'reins?' and he started pulling on stuff and it broke, and he started sliding off, and the horse was heading towards the fence and it was coming up at him and then bam, he fell right off into the mud. So, lying there, nothing much injured but his pride. Someone comes up and says 'You said you could ride!' and he looks up at them and says “Yeah, bikes!”
(That anecdote amalgamated from both talks, I think. And there were other horse stories in the weekend. So I might be squishing stuff together what don't belong.)
13th Warrior had something of a conflict between Producer and Director. They had different visions. Which at one point meant the actors ending up filming both versions. They'd be going back and forth between different sound stages and each would say not to tell the other what they were doing. It sounded insane and crazy making. Apparently the major difference was in their understanding of the nature of the Bad Thing. One thought that the Bad Thing should be a big huge matriarchal woman, all fat and round and dirty, big eater monster. The other thought she should be sexy, sexy fight scene. Vladimir said the version that didn't get in the film would have been much better.
When it came to his death scene, he was asked if he wanted to die with his eyes closed or open. And he said “being an egotistical actor, I said open”. Well, as a fan of the film, I have to say that was a detail that really made that scene work for me. It was right for the character. So he might chalk it up to ego, but I say it was really just right. ANYways, what he hadn't thought about was the rain machine. Lots of rain. Lashing down. And he has to sit there with his eyes just open. So they do the shot, and it is a fairly distant shot, and then they say cut, that's done. So he asks, when does he get his closeup? How will people know the guy is dead without a closeup? And they say don't worry, his dog will start to cry. Well, they hadn't established a dog, they hadn't had a dog before, so he didn't really think that would work. And sure enough later, after they'd finished filming the first time I think, they asked him to come back and do his closeup. And he said, joking, “Oh just tell them to get the dog to cry louder.” But then he went back and did it of course, and now that scene really works.
Come to think there may well have been more questions about the film than the Beast. I can't really remember any more about the Beast.
I'm probably amalgamating answers from both sessions. I'm better at who than when, so unless it involved interacting with the other person from the Sunday talk I'm likely to just put it all in here.
Vladimir's family acted, in (I'm going to spell this wrong) Czecheslovakia. They all left when he was a kid but until then they acted in theatre there. And apparently there are differences in style between that theatre and western theatre, let alone tv. It is more physical. I think he meant larger movements, because he said on tv if you were that large no one would believe you. I'm not sure I'm getting that right though. So, his first job was when he was a kid, he used to fetch a pitcher of beer to take back stage in the interval. I think he said that was when he was six. Been acting a long time, but he took a break after they moved to Canada. He got back into it because he was running a white water rafting company and it got used by the people from “21 Jump Street”, which at the time no one much had heard of, but now it is known as where a bunch of people got started. So the guy from that said to him to come down to LA and they'd have a small part for him. And Vladimir reckons a lot of Canadian actors don't go to LA because there's nothing to fall back on. Canada has more social assistance (? I think that's like benefits, government money for unemployed people) and Canadians aren't willing to leave that safety net. Could go to LA and starve. But he decided he wanted to act, so he would go to LA and risk it. So he did, and he got parts, and it worked out.
Was it him that had the two girlfriends and a play story? I think it was. And I think it was on Sunday. There was definitely someone else on stage to comment on all the girlfriends in his stories. And I think it was this him.
Ack, memories. I remember the funny story without who told it :eyeroll:
okay, next
Dennis Christopher & Stacey Travis
Cyvus Vail and that nasty politician from Angel season 5
They did talks together on both days, so I'm liable to get the day mixed up again.
As I mentioned, DC had a t-shirt with CV on the front, so we would know who he'd been. Nice trick. That much makeup, nobody knows who is under it. And there were many stories about that makeup. Apparently when he auditioned, all the other guys there were genuinely old. Actually old, retired and older, and one guy even had a walker. And he was like, give the part to them, they should have the part. But the first time he spent four hours getting that makeup put on he realised, if they'd cast that guy in the walker, he'd be dead by the end of it. He'd be sitting there in the chair nice and still for the makeup and then when they want him to get up he'd turn out to be dead. (It was funny the way he said it.) So that was why they cast a young guy to play the old guy. And the makeup wasn't just difficult to put on, it was hard to wear too. It was hot, and you couldn't get out of it all day, and it had those messed up teeth with it. He had to eat his lunch through a straw, and not much lunch neither. He lost a whole bunch of weight just shooting those episodes.
Stories like that make me glad not to be acting. And also make me think a bit harder about writing that stuff. Things that are real easy to write are not easy to make up.
DC reckoned that it would have been interesting to bring CV back to explore the relationship between him and Connor. Kind of a Father's Day episode, with Connor's three fathers, the adopted human one, the biological one, and the one that wrote his memories.
And around then I got a major plot bunny attack, because yeah. Interesting. Good one. And they were saying how it would be tricky because he is dead now, but on Angel who ever stays dead? So plot bunny again, how to bring him back? Becca thinks keyword: Backup copy.....
So, I didn't quite track for a bit then because I had stories in my head.
He also said how they had to set Vail up as a really nasty piece of work, had to make that whole thing with Wesley really nasty, so when Vail gets his head exploded that is a really satisfying payoff. Build him up and then blow him up.
That wasn't his head in there when it got blown up. They don't pay him enough for that.
Death scenes and cut scenes – Stacey Travis filmed a heck of a lot more of that last scene with Gunn than we get to see on screen. That last episode was so full with so many stories that they had to cut it down a lot. Originally Gunn walked in and the vampires get in the way, there's a big fight and the politician lady is totally ignoring it because the vampires are taking care of it, and then there's the axe. A much bigger, busier scene. Be likes the way it played on screen, because it was just so... Gunn got it done so fast, just hyper competent, and that woman never saw it coming. I liked that. But to film, there was a lot more work. And she had to wear an appliance with a screw in it to hold the axe on her head, only it didn't quite work, and there was a lot of sitting around with an axe half screwed on to her head trying to get it all set up right for that whip pan across and her jerking her head back to sell that the axe just hit her. Lots of work, very very quick on screen.
The politician lady was not meant to be Hilary Clinton. There was much discussion about that even on the set at the time. Because she was written pretty much Republican, with the smear campaigns, but the image and wardrobe went very Hilary Clinton, and that was sort of problematic either way. But they stayed away from naming what party she was supposed to be, totally didn't specify. But she wasn't meant to be Clinton. She thinks the image ended up that way because that is the trend in Washington power dressing right now, that is the image of a powerful woman in politics right now. In a few years it might be Condoleeza Rice instead. They tangented into politics, about how long until a woman President, and how CR might be being groomed as not just a woman but a woman of color, and... I tend to lalala through political discussion. Depressing. But it went kind of serious and political.
Someone asked what one thing either one of them would change, undo, from the past, and that went serious.
DC said he knew someone that was on the first plane on 9/11, and he was in New York. Much depressing.
So that part I also can't remember in detail. Sorry.
I think the rest of what I remember goes in Sunday.
Amy Acker, Andy Hallet & Dayne Johnson
So, the Andy hour. Yeah, the other two were on stage, but really, once Andy gets talking? You won't get to the other end of the anecdote for an hour. I think Mark Lutz is the only guy I've seen him on stage with that could actually get equal time, and that may have been helped by how hung over Andy was.
ANYways, mostly the stories this weekend were about – Amy's wedding, running out of Amy's wedding to go to a convention, Amy's wedding presents, the video of Amy's wedding that Andy has been editing for her since 2003 and still hasn't got for her, the present for the new baby (who isn't so very new any more), how Andy still hasn't *met* the baby despite only living a little bit away, the people crashing at Andy's place since their respective romantic breakups, the people who have borrowed Andy's truck to move since he got a truck, the reason Andy still hasn't an album (see video, 2003, not finished yet), Andy's neighbours who might be to do with the Manson family, definitions of the Manson family, Andy's friend who thinks the neighbours are (etc), the reason he thinks that which is mainly because they tend to just walk in and treat Andy's house as their own, and Andy's phobias. And possibly some of Andy's other friends. And the way Andy lately has been using 'can we just hit the reset button' when he wants to bail out of a conversation he's talked himself into a dead end in, but that this doesn't work well on bank staff. And the number of phones and phone handsets Andy has lying around (all of them with the batteries flat). And possibly about the one and only Angel fic he read, and who sent him to read it, and why (tho that might have been on the video). And probably some more too.
But the other thing about how Andy talks is he never *finishes* an anecdote. He wanders from one to the next in the middle of a sentence – which he probably won't finish either – and he says that lately when Dayne comes to talk to him he makes him keep a pad of paper and write an actual numbered list of what topics he's started. And it works out reall well, because then he has to write something down whenever he wants to start a new thing, and he can remember what the previous topics were, and that works real well for him. And on the sunday, Dayne was keeping count on his fingers. Until he ran out of fingers.
Andy can really, endlessly, talk.
It was fairly amusing to listen to, but to transcribe? Forget about it. I've written a few thousand words here already, to write an Andy story down would waaaaaay more than double it.
The parts that were to do with Lorne: the wedding presents, and the phobias
The wedding presents are matching bathrobes, which Amy and her husband actually wear, with little embroidered logos about Lorne Convention Wear, because they're always teasing Andy about how many conventions he goes to. So she joked he should have a whole range of products to go with, and he made these bathrobes. And then there was a baby, and he wanted a matching baby sized robe, but that isn't easy to get in complicated embroidered form. He had to get one from rich people land, Beverly Hills I think, and it cost way more than both the other robes combined, and it was just this tiny little thing. And they wrapped it up fancy. And then it got stolen. He swears to god! (Andy says a lot, “I swear to god!”, because a lot, his stories wander into territory that sound too soap opera for words.)
And then we got a complete rundown and personal history on who he thinks might possibly have stolen it.
The phobias are funnier.
Andy is scared of Illyria. Which I can understand. But it makes it real hard for him to be in scenes with Illyria. He just gets so freaked out by her. Except for the one time, in the room with all of them lying there pretending to be dead. He got pretty relaxed there. In fact they had to stop filming because he was snoring so loud.
He is also afraid of the peepee demon. Yup, the mostly naked guy, with the collar and the leash and the little leather shorts. And the plug in his arm. And listening to Andy explain this is so funny, because he just puts so much 'arrgh!' into his voice, like you can hear him shudder, and is just this little peepee demon. And Andy couldn't even look at him. He had to cheat his eyeline to pretend to look at him, he couldn't look right at him. And the actor that plays him in a great guy, but Andy can't look at the scary peepee demon.
So, having discovered this, his fellow actors were of course sympathetic. /sarcasm
DB picked the guy up and dumped him on AH's lap. And Dayne got a photo of Andy's reaction. And then turned it into the company Christmas card. :)
The other thing that gave Andy the creeps was the Angel puppet. But when he was walking down the corridor carrying Angel they couldn't figure out how to keep the puppeteer out of shot, so they wanted to get Andy to put his hand in and move the puppet. So, eventually, reluctantly, he started to put his hand in. Just as Alexis comes in. So AD gets his phone out and calls, “Andy's fisting Angel!” So then the joke becomes, oh that's how he got the job.
I hate writing down funny stories, they're never so funny when they're in writing. To hear them tell these, very funny.
Amy said... some things? Said her part of the story with Andy snoring through the fight scene.
When she was in Illyria makeup to start with everyone suddenly treated her different. All the behind the camera people, all the people on set, they went from being friendly and chatty to suddenly not talking to her at all. And she was all 'aargh, I must have been horrible, why are they not talking to me?' And then a while after she started being Illyria someone came up to her and asked are they allowed to talk to her now. And she's all 'allowed?' And they were 'we didn't want to get in the way of whatever you were doing here'.
Someone asked about diverging career paths and was it a blessing in disguise that she stopped being able to do ballet, but I don't remember question or answer clearly. I think she said she wouldn't have had a career in ballet anyway, she'd be doing science. I think.
Dayne was asked about creating makeups, and he said at first he didn't create them, but Andy and Amy called him on that, because he does create a lot, he created the whole color scheme for Lorne, and Illyria was basically all his. Lorne was initially intended to be all pink and veiny. Illyria was only specified as blue. All that detail work, all the stuff with her, that was designed by him. So they get a lot of stuff sent over, the appliances are sent over, but how to color them is more his thing. I think Dayne's point though is that it was a very big team effort.
Amy says whenever Dayne couldn't do Lorne then Andy spent all day complaining about how his makeup wasn't right, worst nose ever, stuff like that.
Really, Andy talked. A lot. Probably even more than that.
Then it was the rest of the autographs (got the lot, very happy) and back to the other hotel to grab some food, sleep, and clothes. I managed food and clothes. I got some quality lying down with my eyes closed for about an hour. Then I headed back for the fancy dress.
This year fancy dress featured Illyria, Illyria and Illyria. Various degrees of skill in the clothes and makeup. There was also 'werewolf Nina', with a mauled puppet Angel. There was a very very small Harry Potter (about knee high, walked around the floor by someone holding their hand. I think their name was Ethan. Mini wizard Ethan. :) ) There was someone with a katana and someone else in a swooshy dress. There were the three 'mmmm, Angel' ladies. There was Pylean Angel and Fred, Chewtoy and, er, Kitten? Nice makeup, the version of Angel with the green and pointy. And there were a bunch of other people too. I never remember everyone. Was fun to watch.
I decided I want to try this costume competition bit. I could be a cyber-ninja. That way no part of my face or form is showing.
Yeah, clothes pretty, audience... tricky.
I honestly don't remember who won, sorry, but they were cool.
And then there was party.
For those that care (likely!) I was wearing red sequin shiny top, so shiny that I made reflections from the disco lights. And also a black under that top that was more or less a dress, but induced the dance of I thought this skirt was longer all night. And wrapped around that was a red thingy I bought as a cloak but was probably meant to be a skirt, all open up the side. Very elegant. Unfortunately I spent most of the night stretched out with my feet up on a chair because my shins decided I'd done something very mean to them the night before and felt like I'd shoved knitting needles right up them. But I still danced. Just, sort of gingerly, after many painkillers.
On into the small hours, a very drunk Andy sang. This was notable mainly because he couldn't remember word one, and kept getting random fans to sing 'with' him.
I'm sure he's having fun, but drunken wordless karaoke is not an art form I find improved much by celebrity.
Sunday... can wait a bit, because I seem to have written 5100 words and my fingers would like a break now. Plus I forgot to plug the laptop in and the battery wants feeding.
24-26 June 2005
Thistle Hotel, Heathrow, London
Okay, writing this up a week after the event. Was tired. I couldn't stay at the Thistle this time because the stupids lost my room, so there was much extra stress and moving around. But I had a great time anyway.
Anyone I was rude to this weekend? Not on purpose. I mean I always put a blanket apology in at the top of these things, but I think I did okay this time. But in case I totally annoyed someone without noticing, apologies. I do my best but I never quite get the hang of normal. Which is among the reasons I like conventions, there's such a wide range of normal to choose from.
And finally, this is just what I remember. I don't guarantee the accuracy. I didn't take any notes on the guest talks or anything else. And on Sunday I discovered that I could make kind of a cave with my warm wrap and sit in a nice dark space listening, so I technically didn't watch the talks much. I'd look up, get the visual equivalent of a snapshot, and hide again.
Yes, I'm strange. But as I said, having fun.
So -
Friday night – autographs, and opening ceremony, and party.
I'm sure I was at the opening ceremony. I probably even cheered... I know when I saw Vladimir Kulich I was suddenly all *facepalm* because I do actually know him. Same with Dennis Christopher. Vladimir was in 13th Warrior, a film I have on DVD and really like, and if I'd known that I would have brought it to be signed. DC had a handy t-shirt with Cyvus Vail on the front, so we could see who he was. Very useful. Is the trouble with all the heavy makeup, even the other actors don't know what people look like under the makeup.
Autographs went great. I got an Illyria picture, and the one with puppet!Angel with the sword over his shoulders, and one of Dayne Johnson's makeup pictures that kind of works as a group shot of all the gang plus the best monsters. Amy signed that one on the Fred section, not Illyria. Vladimir signed it on Spike *frowny* but then signed The Beast when I pointed it out to him. Later DC signed Vail, AH signed Lorne, and I got Dayne to personalise it to beccaelizabeth. I like that sheet now, is very cool.
Then there was much partying. I had to wimp out at 2am because I'd been feeling ill all... well, week actually, but I had many hours of fun before that. I mean the parties start at about 9pm and go on until 3 or 4, there's actually more hours of party than of guest talks. Which might be why I remember more from the parties. Or it might just be the relative amounts of skin and shiny showing. Somehow that tends to focus my attention. Also saw some really nice tattoos this weekend. Hot weather is good for that. Except the main hall AC was on so high I was actually cold all weekend. Preferable to boiling, but still strange.
I wore a little red t with 'what are you staring at' on it (in about the size letters you're likely reading this in on screen) and a little flippy black gauze skirt, with fishnet leggings. Call it a cheerleader outfit, is the closest I get. And it fitted way better than I expected. Apparently I've lost a lot of weight without noticing.
Saturday -
Had to get up early to see Illyria. (I say early, I mean in the actual a.m. Mornings. Nasty things.)
Dayne had done Amy up in proper real Illyria makeup. It was awesome. I've got the picture but I can't share it because of the rules, but it is really cool. The coolest, and strangest, part was watching between photos. Amy would be being all smiley happy nice lady and then click, straight to Illyria face. It was cool and not a little scary. Also seeing the Illyria face on top of regular clothes (with a black poncho) made me even more aware of how much wardrobe contributes to a character, because the effect was quite different. It was a very cool, very fun experience and entirely worth getting out of bed for (and at conventions I do not say that lightly ;) ).
Then I sat around in the main hall until the talks started. The schedule said it would be tv shows, but it was tapes from End of Days. So now I have in my head that convention almost as much as this one. Odd. But it was funny to watch.
Sarah Thompson, Jenny Mollen & Clare Kramer
Eve, Nina and Glory
Okay, I was there. I was in the hall. I listened. I... completely can't remember a word they said.
I think someone asked about getting Angel naked. And about Glory and her minions, were they fun. And possibly about boxing... two of the ladies boxed, both at the same place in Hollywood with the same trainer. I think I'm blanking mostly because it was stuff I'd heard before. I mean everyone asks about Angel, and the answer always involves giggling. Someone asked about practical jokes. DB pulls them, often. In the scene with him naked behind the couch one time he stood up with something unexpected, er, there. Another time, not exactly a joke, but they were filming the scene with Nina and Angel in the car outside Nina's place, and they were taking longer to set up than DB liked, so he drove off. Just up and drove off into LA, with Jenny in the car, who hadn't really met him before and was wondering what she'd gone and gotten into, and yet couldn't make too much of a fuss because hey, Angel, star and all. So that was funny when she told it. And... Someone asked Clare who would win in a fight, Illyria or Glory. She said Glory of course.
I think someone asked Jenny about who should Angel end up with. And as a fan she's a B/A shipper all the way, but as an actress she kind of was rooting for her character's relationship to work out.
ST didn't know much about her character to start with. She was told to play mysterious. Just that. And she didn't know about Lindsey, about her character having a love interest even, until the episode we viewers knew.
There was probably more said but my memory is quite wrung dry. Sorry.
Vladimir Kulich
As many questions were asked about 13th Warrior as about the Beast.
Most of the Beast questions were about the makeup. It was difficult to wear, very heavy at the horns and hoofs, but helped with the character because once it was on the whole physicality changed, the way he could move changed, there were layers between him and the world. Just the contacts, once they were in, put him in like a shell of The Beast, put the character on him. So it was really helpful. But still his favourite bit of the day was when he got to take it all off again.
And he didn't specifically know when he went for the part that it would be in a full body makeup. He kind of could guess, because it was for Angel, and it is that kind of show. But he wasn't told until he was all signed up for it.
When The Beast eats that black ball and puts out the sun, they had a half a dozen balls of black gelatin lined up, ready for him to eat them. And he had to eat the ball and say a line. They said 'just put it in your mouth, it'll melt right away'. But it didn't. Every take, big gooey ball of jelly in his mouth, and he had to try and say the line. Funny impression of him with mouth full of the stuff.
The more flying bits of fights he didn't do, but the stood on the ground bits he did some of.
13th Warrior was originally titled Eaters of the Dead. Vladimir had been hanging around not getting any work for a while, so he fired his agent. About a week after that, they phoned him up and said “listen, I know you fired us, but there's this silly little movie, it's called 'Eaters of the Dead'. Interested?” So he went to audition for that. And at the time he had no idea about the budget or the locations or how it was actually anything but little. But he went and he got the part.
He said that Antonio Banderas was... ack, can't remember the phrase, so it'll be less funny. Something like “Very serious actor, for a pretty man.” He said pretty. Idea being he was professional and serious and took the others seriously too, no Ego stuff.
For 13th Warrior they did some training before the film. They had to learn how to speak Norse, so everyone got sent on a language course. Including the guy who actually was from Norway. Being sent to learn his own language. So he just turned up drunk. Bit of a waste of time. Vladimir had one line in the language in the film, and he can still remember it. And he said it about right, according to the Norwegian lady who was asking after the language stuff at the mic.
When Vladimir tried out for the role they asked him could he ride. So he, of course, said yes. So he gets the role, and they are trying to find the right horses for the characters, so they sit them all up on horses and tell them to walk them, and to start with he manages fine. But then they were supposed to head off to the other end of the area, and all the others went there no worries, and he was stuck there because he couldn't get his horse to go. And they were calling back to him and he just couldn't get it to move. And then the horse got spooked. And took off. And it was heading for freedom, and Vladimir was trying to get it to stop, and people were yelling to pull on the reins and he was like 'reins?' and he started pulling on stuff and it broke, and he started sliding off, and the horse was heading towards the fence and it was coming up at him and then bam, he fell right off into the mud. So, lying there, nothing much injured but his pride. Someone comes up and says 'You said you could ride!' and he looks up at them and says “Yeah, bikes!”
(That anecdote amalgamated from both talks, I think. And there were other horse stories in the weekend. So I might be squishing stuff together what don't belong.)
13th Warrior had something of a conflict between Producer and Director. They had different visions. Which at one point meant the actors ending up filming both versions. They'd be going back and forth between different sound stages and each would say not to tell the other what they were doing. It sounded insane and crazy making. Apparently the major difference was in their understanding of the nature of the Bad Thing. One thought that the Bad Thing should be a big huge matriarchal woman, all fat and round and dirty, big eater monster. The other thought she should be sexy, sexy fight scene. Vladimir said the version that didn't get in the film would have been much better.
When it came to his death scene, he was asked if he wanted to die with his eyes closed or open. And he said “being an egotistical actor, I said open”. Well, as a fan of the film, I have to say that was a detail that really made that scene work for me. It was right for the character. So he might chalk it up to ego, but I say it was really just right. ANYways, what he hadn't thought about was the rain machine. Lots of rain. Lashing down. And he has to sit there with his eyes just open. So they do the shot, and it is a fairly distant shot, and then they say cut, that's done. So he asks, when does he get his closeup? How will people know the guy is dead without a closeup? And they say don't worry, his dog will start to cry. Well, they hadn't established a dog, they hadn't had a dog before, so he didn't really think that would work. And sure enough later, after they'd finished filming the first time I think, they asked him to come back and do his closeup. And he said, joking, “Oh just tell them to get the dog to cry louder.” But then he went back and did it of course, and now that scene really works.
Come to think there may well have been more questions about the film than the Beast. I can't really remember any more about the Beast.
I'm probably amalgamating answers from both sessions. I'm better at who than when, so unless it involved interacting with the other person from the Sunday talk I'm likely to just put it all in here.
Vladimir's family acted, in (I'm going to spell this wrong) Czecheslovakia. They all left when he was a kid but until then they acted in theatre there. And apparently there are differences in style between that theatre and western theatre, let alone tv. It is more physical. I think he meant larger movements, because he said on tv if you were that large no one would believe you. I'm not sure I'm getting that right though. So, his first job was when he was a kid, he used to fetch a pitcher of beer to take back stage in the interval. I think he said that was when he was six. Been acting a long time, but he took a break after they moved to Canada. He got back into it because he was running a white water rafting company and it got used by the people from “21 Jump Street”, which at the time no one much had heard of, but now it is known as where a bunch of people got started. So the guy from that said to him to come down to LA and they'd have a small part for him. And Vladimir reckons a lot of Canadian actors don't go to LA because there's nothing to fall back on. Canada has more social assistance (? I think that's like benefits, government money for unemployed people) and Canadians aren't willing to leave that safety net. Could go to LA and starve. But he decided he wanted to act, so he would go to LA and risk it. So he did, and he got parts, and it worked out.
Was it him that had the two girlfriends and a play story? I think it was. And I think it was on Sunday. There was definitely someone else on stage to comment on all the girlfriends in his stories. And I think it was this him.
Ack, memories. I remember the funny story without who told it :eyeroll:
okay, next
Dennis Christopher & Stacey Travis
Cyvus Vail and that nasty politician from Angel season 5
They did talks together on both days, so I'm liable to get the day mixed up again.
As I mentioned, DC had a t-shirt with CV on the front, so we would know who he'd been. Nice trick. That much makeup, nobody knows who is under it. And there were many stories about that makeup. Apparently when he auditioned, all the other guys there were genuinely old. Actually old, retired and older, and one guy even had a walker. And he was like, give the part to them, they should have the part. But the first time he spent four hours getting that makeup put on he realised, if they'd cast that guy in the walker, he'd be dead by the end of it. He'd be sitting there in the chair nice and still for the makeup and then when they want him to get up he'd turn out to be dead. (It was funny the way he said it.) So that was why they cast a young guy to play the old guy. And the makeup wasn't just difficult to put on, it was hard to wear too. It was hot, and you couldn't get out of it all day, and it had those messed up teeth with it. He had to eat his lunch through a straw, and not much lunch neither. He lost a whole bunch of weight just shooting those episodes.
Stories like that make me glad not to be acting. And also make me think a bit harder about writing that stuff. Things that are real easy to write are not easy to make up.
DC reckoned that it would have been interesting to bring CV back to explore the relationship between him and Connor. Kind of a Father's Day episode, with Connor's three fathers, the adopted human one, the biological one, and the one that wrote his memories.
And around then I got a major plot bunny attack, because yeah. Interesting. Good one. And they were saying how it would be tricky because he is dead now, but on Angel who ever stays dead? So plot bunny again, how to bring him back? Becca thinks keyword: Backup copy.....
So, I didn't quite track for a bit then because I had stories in my head.
He also said how they had to set Vail up as a really nasty piece of work, had to make that whole thing with Wesley really nasty, so when Vail gets his head exploded that is a really satisfying payoff. Build him up and then blow him up.
That wasn't his head in there when it got blown up. They don't pay him enough for that.
Death scenes and cut scenes – Stacey Travis filmed a heck of a lot more of that last scene with Gunn than we get to see on screen. That last episode was so full with so many stories that they had to cut it down a lot. Originally Gunn walked in and the vampires get in the way, there's a big fight and the politician lady is totally ignoring it because the vampires are taking care of it, and then there's the axe. A much bigger, busier scene. Be likes the way it played on screen, because it was just so... Gunn got it done so fast, just hyper competent, and that woman never saw it coming. I liked that. But to film, there was a lot more work. And she had to wear an appliance with a screw in it to hold the axe on her head, only it didn't quite work, and there was a lot of sitting around with an axe half screwed on to her head trying to get it all set up right for that whip pan across and her jerking her head back to sell that the axe just hit her. Lots of work, very very quick on screen.
The politician lady was not meant to be Hilary Clinton. There was much discussion about that even on the set at the time. Because she was written pretty much Republican, with the smear campaigns, but the image and wardrobe went very Hilary Clinton, and that was sort of problematic either way. But they stayed away from naming what party she was supposed to be, totally didn't specify. But she wasn't meant to be Clinton. She thinks the image ended up that way because that is the trend in Washington power dressing right now, that is the image of a powerful woman in politics right now. In a few years it might be Condoleeza Rice instead. They tangented into politics, about how long until a woman President, and how CR might be being groomed as not just a woman but a woman of color, and... I tend to lalala through political discussion. Depressing. But it went kind of serious and political.
Someone asked what one thing either one of them would change, undo, from the past, and that went serious.
DC said he knew someone that was on the first plane on 9/11, and he was in New York. Much depressing.
So that part I also can't remember in detail. Sorry.
I think the rest of what I remember goes in Sunday.
Amy Acker, Andy Hallet & Dayne Johnson
So, the Andy hour. Yeah, the other two were on stage, but really, once Andy gets talking? You won't get to the other end of the anecdote for an hour. I think Mark Lutz is the only guy I've seen him on stage with that could actually get equal time, and that may have been helped by how hung over Andy was.
ANYways, mostly the stories this weekend were about – Amy's wedding, running out of Amy's wedding to go to a convention, Amy's wedding presents, the video of Amy's wedding that Andy has been editing for her since 2003 and still hasn't got for her, the present for the new baby (who isn't so very new any more), how Andy still hasn't *met* the baby despite only living a little bit away, the people crashing at Andy's place since their respective romantic breakups, the people who have borrowed Andy's truck to move since he got a truck, the reason Andy still hasn't an album (see video, 2003, not finished yet), Andy's neighbours who might be to do with the Manson family, definitions of the Manson family, Andy's friend who thinks the neighbours are (etc), the reason he thinks that which is mainly because they tend to just walk in and treat Andy's house as their own, and Andy's phobias. And possibly some of Andy's other friends. And the way Andy lately has been using 'can we just hit the reset button' when he wants to bail out of a conversation he's talked himself into a dead end in, but that this doesn't work well on bank staff. And the number of phones and phone handsets Andy has lying around (all of them with the batteries flat). And possibly about the one and only Angel fic he read, and who sent him to read it, and why (tho that might have been on the video). And probably some more too.
But the other thing about how Andy talks is he never *finishes* an anecdote. He wanders from one to the next in the middle of a sentence – which he probably won't finish either – and he says that lately when Dayne comes to talk to him he makes him keep a pad of paper and write an actual numbered list of what topics he's started. And it works out reall well, because then he has to write something down whenever he wants to start a new thing, and he can remember what the previous topics were, and that works real well for him. And on the sunday, Dayne was keeping count on his fingers. Until he ran out of fingers.
Andy can really, endlessly, talk.
It was fairly amusing to listen to, but to transcribe? Forget about it. I've written a few thousand words here already, to write an Andy story down would waaaaaay more than double it.
The parts that were to do with Lorne: the wedding presents, and the phobias
The wedding presents are matching bathrobes, which Amy and her husband actually wear, with little embroidered logos about Lorne Convention Wear, because they're always teasing Andy about how many conventions he goes to. So she joked he should have a whole range of products to go with, and he made these bathrobes. And then there was a baby, and he wanted a matching baby sized robe, but that isn't easy to get in complicated embroidered form. He had to get one from rich people land, Beverly Hills I think, and it cost way more than both the other robes combined, and it was just this tiny little thing. And they wrapped it up fancy. And then it got stolen. He swears to god! (Andy says a lot, “I swear to god!”, because a lot, his stories wander into territory that sound too soap opera for words.)
And then we got a complete rundown and personal history on who he thinks might possibly have stolen it.
The phobias are funnier.
Andy is scared of Illyria. Which I can understand. But it makes it real hard for him to be in scenes with Illyria. He just gets so freaked out by her. Except for the one time, in the room with all of them lying there pretending to be dead. He got pretty relaxed there. In fact they had to stop filming because he was snoring so loud.
He is also afraid of the peepee demon. Yup, the mostly naked guy, with the collar and the leash and the little leather shorts. And the plug in his arm. And listening to Andy explain this is so funny, because he just puts so much 'arrgh!' into his voice, like you can hear him shudder, and is just this little peepee demon. And Andy couldn't even look at him. He had to cheat his eyeline to pretend to look at him, he couldn't look right at him. And the actor that plays him in a great guy, but Andy can't look at the scary peepee demon.
So, having discovered this, his fellow actors were of course sympathetic. /sarcasm
DB picked the guy up and dumped him on AH's lap. And Dayne got a photo of Andy's reaction. And then turned it into the company Christmas card. :)
The other thing that gave Andy the creeps was the Angel puppet. But when he was walking down the corridor carrying Angel they couldn't figure out how to keep the puppeteer out of shot, so they wanted to get Andy to put his hand in and move the puppet. So, eventually, reluctantly, he started to put his hand in. Just as Alexis comes in. So AD gets his phone out and calls, “Andy's fisting Angel!” So then the joke becomes, oh that's how he got the job.
I hate writing down funny stories, they're never so funny when they're in writing. To hear them tell these, very funny.
Amy said... some things? Said her part of the story with Andy snoring through the fight scene.
When she was in Illyria makeup to start with everyone suddenly treated her different. All the behind the camera people, all the people on set, they went from being friendly and chatty to suddenly not talking to her at all. And she was all 'aargh, I must have been horrible, why are they not talking to me?' And then a while after she started being Illyria someone came up to her and asked are they allowed to talk to her now. And she's all 'allowed?' And they were 'we didn't want to get in the way of whatever you were doing here'.
Someone asked about diverging career paths and was it a blessing in disguise that she stopped being able to do ballet, but I don't remember question or answer clearly. I think she said she wouldn't have had a career in ballet anyway, she'd be doing science. I think.
Dayne was asked about creating makeups, and he said at first he didn't create them, but Andy and Amy called him on that, because he does create a lot, he created the whole color scheme for Lorne, and Illyria was basically all his. Lorne was initially intended to be all pink and veiny. Illyria was only specified as blue. All that detail work, all the stuff with her, that was designed by him. So they get a lot of stuff sent over, the appliances are sent over, but how to color them is more his thing. I think Dayne's point though is that it was a very big team effort.
Amy says whenever Dayne couldn't do Lorne then Andy spent all day complaining about how his makeup wasn't right, worst nose ever, stuff like that.
Really, Andy talked. A lot. Probably even more than that.
Then it was the rest of the autographs (got the lot, very happy) and back to the other hotel to grab some food, sleep, and clothes. I managed food and clothes. I got some quality lying down with my eyes closed for about an hour. Then I headed back for the fancy dress.
This year fancy dress featured Illyria, Illyria and Illyria. Various degrees of skill in the clothes and makeup. There was also 'werewolf Nina', with a mauled puppet Angel. There was a very very small Harry Potter (about knee high, walked around the floor by someone holding their hand. I think their name was Ethan. Mini wizard Ethan. :) ) There was someone with a katana and someone else in a swooshy dress. There were the three 'mmmm, Angel' ladies. There was Pylean Angel and Fred, Chewtoy and, er, Kitten? Nice makeup, the version of Angel with the green and pointy. And there were a bunch of other people too. I never remember everyone. Was fun to watch.
I decided I want to try this costume competition bit. I could be a cyber-ninja. That way no part of my face or form is showing.
Yeah, clothes pretty, audience... tricky.
I honestly don't remember who won, sorry, but they were cool.
And then there was party.
For those that care (likely!) I was wearing red sequin shiny top, so shiny that I made reflections from the disco lights. And also a black under that top that was more or less a dress, but induced the dance of I thought this skirt was longer all night. And wrapped around that was a red thingy I bought as a cloak but was probably meant to be a skirt, all open up the side. Very elegant. Unfortunately I spent most of the night stretched out with my feet up on a chair because my shins decided I'd done something very mean to them the night before and felt like I'd shoved knitting needles right up them. But I still danced. Just, sort of gingerly, after many painkillers.
On into the small hours, a very drunk Andy sang. This was notable mainly because he couldn't remember word one, and kept getting random fans to sing 'with' him.
I'm sure he's having fun, but drunken wordless karaoke is not an art form I find improved much by celebrity.
Sunday... can wait a bit, because I seem to have written 5100 words and my fingers would like a break now. Plus I forgot to plug the laptop in and the battery wants feeding.
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Date: 2005-07-01 01:07 am (UTC)I didn't know Clare Kramer was going to be there - sweet! (I have a fondness for Glory. ;-)
Info about Vail and Beast make up was very interesting. And I am very jealous about you having the chance to see Amy become Illyria, change back, change again, etc. right before your eyes. Most cool.
Andy is certainly the rambly story teller, isn't he? I mean, alway funny, but it's good to just go with the flow and not be expecting a lot of . . . organization. **still giggling over his fear of the peepee demon and puppetAngel** Too cute for words! Illyria, I can see but the little collared shorts wearing peepee demon?! **giggle**
Glad to hear you had a good time!
Lola
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Date: 2005-07-01 06:01 pm (UTC)photos are cool, plus I'm going to send the spare of the group shot to my Grandma. I'm the only one in it she'll recognise, but she hasn't had a picture of me since very long before, so I can send her that one :)
Clare Kramer is always at Starfury events as the MC. Gets along well with the guy that runs them.
Andy... talks. And amuses, so that works out.
And I had a great time, as usual :)