Director Zack Snyder and co-creator Dave Gibbons are joined by the Watchmen: Malin Åkerman (Silk Spectre II), Billy Crudup (Dr. Manhattan), Matthew Goode (Ozymandias), Jackie Earle Haley (Rorschach), Jeffrey Dean Morgan (The Comedian), Carla Gugino (Silk Spectre), and Patrick Wilson (Nite Owl) at Comic-Con 2008.

Zack Snyder: Watchmen has been knocking around Hollywood for a while. I was in post on 300 and got a call from Warner Bros. asking me if I would be interested in making this into a movie. And I said yeah…. seems like a crazy idea. Once they asked me, I kinda felt responsible; even if I said no, they would’ve moved on and then whatever happened to the movie I still would’ve had my chance and if I blew it… Read the rest of this entry »

The hilarious, affable and sincere key holder to the Tolkien film franchise discusses Hellboy, Halo, Weta, The Hobbit, how Pan is a fraud and why he’s on edge when having tea with Doug Jones!

Guillermo Del Toro: Thank you very much, here I am to answer anything you want to ask or throw shit at me, whatever you want. I’m here. Thank you very much for coming, and let’s proceed. Read the rest of this entry »

As I read through the running tributes to Stan Winston on aintitcool, with words about the man– from the likes of Jim Cameron, Jon Favreau, Rick Baker, and Richard Taylor, to those who knew him even more closely– I remembered my own experience with this pioneer of cinematic special effects, as nothing more than a fan.

Back some years ago, I was at an event here in Los Angeles where Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines was being promoted. Arnold Schwarzenegger himself was there, which perhaps alone was worth the price of admission. Stan Winston was there too, along with director Johnathan Mostow, Nick Stahl (John Connor), and Kristanna Loken (T-X).

Actually, aside from Stan and Arnold, I couldn’t say for certain who was there and who wasn’t. I had to google it to confirm that my memories matched reality. There was a Q&A and maybe some clips shown, but I recall little of it.

The show organizers could not pin down which of the guests would be hanging around with us poor fans for a promised autograph session after the main presentation. It was sort of like, whatever happens, happens. The soon-to-be Governator jetted out of there promptly, which of course was a disappointment to all present, but at the same time you could hardly say it was unexpected. I believe the other cast members stayed along with the director, and Stan.

For a while, anyway.

By the time my and my brother had made our way through the long queue, they all had left too (not that I particularly minded, in this case). But Stan stayed. When it became apparent that he was the last panelist remaining, he assured us that he would stay, to meet and greet, and sign, and pose for photos. I wish I could remember his quote word for word, but he yelled out something to the effect of “I wouldn’t be here without you guys”.

No doubt you have read by now a plethora of wonderful things about Stan Winston these past few days. Here’s just one more personal confirmation that he cared about and respected us, the fans.

Thanks, Stan, we’ll never forget you.

Midnight Special Bookstore, Santa Monica | September 1, 2002

On one of the most intolerably humid and sweltering days of the summer, close to two hundred people crammed into a poorly ventilated, frightfully un-air conditioned room. Willingly.

They came in groups. They came alone. They came to see Viggo Mortensen. The crowd, composed of mostly women, converged on the busy busy area of the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica. The Midnight Special Bookstore was the venue. The Midnight Special folk managed admirably considering the size of the crowd. From the microphone-equipped podium, the staff dispensed to us “the rules”– again and again. And again just for good measure: “No photography, or any other kind of recording devices of any kind!” “He will only sign Viggo Mortensen books! No Lord of the Rings items!” There was a “don’t spill your drinks” plea too, prompted by someone who had already done so. After various workers came in to announce the same rules once or twice more, it was show time.

As Viggo entered, he was met with cheers and roaring applause from the sitting, the standing, and the squished. He took a few moments to gather up his books from his bag, and finally in response to the warm reception said, “I don’t think I can top that”. He went right into one of his poems. He would occasionally give bits of background, stating where the poem was written and so on. The works Viggo read ranged from one of the first poems he ever wrote at a workshop, to unfinished works in progress read from his yellow notepad. Included too was material from his new book. He would also read from other authors, including various New Zealand and Native American poets, keeping everything moving at a brisk pace throughout the entire session.

He appeared a little nervous and reserved at first, but eased into it eventually. Not taking himself too seriously, he would joke with the crowd and was actually a bit playful. After reading a particular poem of his which met with no applause (probably because people didn’t know if he had finished), he said “hmm….need to work on that one”. At one point he stopped to thank the people who had given him some Argentine beer, taking a swig from the bottle. As he was setting it down on the floor, there was a bit of a spill. So much for that “no drink spilling” rule. When he slurred a little on one of his passages later, he remarked, “that’s the beer talking”. It was particularly interesting when he explained that poetry readings were beneficial in the creative process. That something that happens when the words leave his mouth and reaches the audience’s ear that can maybe assist him in writing or “changing” his work.

Viggo had already broken one of the bookstore’s rules that night, and he continued that trend by letting the “he’ll only sign Viggo Mortensen books” rule fly out the window by signing anything and everything. As always, Viggo would only sign personalized, which is a fine way to deter people only interested in profiting off his signature. I had met him once before at another appearance and was not let down in meeting him again. I ended up somewhere near the back portion of the signing line because the people who got to be a part of the poetry reading had to line back up behind those who didn’t. Fair enough. Third Street was a river of people by now. We made it to him after about two hours. At this point he looked pretty tired, but soldiered on admirably. Viggo asked if we knew about “the one coming out in November”, referring to the extended DVD– “it’ll be even better”

“Thank you for waiting,” he said as I presented him my copy of “Signlanguage”. I asked if he’d be going back to New Zealand anytime soon. He said “yeah I think sometime next spring, to finish the third movie” I told him that I enjoyed his reading more than I thought I would, which I think he appreciated. I then asked if he would sign my painting of him, and gave him my gold marker. He asked, “did you do that?” to which I replied, “yeah”. He turned it over to examine the back, a blank standard green color common with illustration boards, which I’m sure he recognized. He must have asked me if I had painted the thing about two more times, I must admit there are probably a dozen more interesting responses, but I just kept saying “yeah”. I thanked him when he said it was very good. He proceeded to turn it horizontally and sign along the edge. Now he did this last time too, as he is being courteous and doesn’t want to “ruin” it. I had planned all along to tell him to sign nice and big, right next to ‘Aragorn’s’ head, but of course I got nervous and didn’t say anything. But it’s just as well, he definitely added his touch.

I’ll leave you with a thought from Mr. Mortensen, which he announced very responsibly during the poetry reading between sips of beer: “I’m not advocating the consumption of alcohol. I’m just doing it.”

The One Ring Celebration, Pasadena | January 14, 2005

Daniel Falconer is possibly the nicest person you’ll ever meet. As a guest of the inaugural One Ring Celebration, his appearance at the convention was hosted by Weta’s then-very chummy partners, Sideshow Collectibles. Read the rest of this entry »

Book Soup, West Hollywood | December 11, 2004

By good fortune, the book tour appearance with Alan Lee winded its way towards Hollywood- one of many cities across the US fortunate enough to see Mr. Lee’s visit. This was his last stop, and his fans from sunny California and beyond gathered at Booksoup to show their admiration for this extraordinary artist. Read the rest of this entry »