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Catch Up With All My Posts From Comic-Con!

BuzzSugar — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 05:30:52 -0700

I'm finally recovered(ish) from my busy weekend in San Diego for Comic-Con! A ton of the festival's action took place on Friday and Saturday, so just in case you missed it, here's a handy-dandy guide to all of my write-ups:

Assorted Goodies
BuzzSugar at Comic-Con: Day One!
Comic-Con Round-Up

Song of the Day: Kristin Chenoweth's Comic-Con Performance

BuzzSugar — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 10:34:22 -0700

As I mentioned in my writeup of the Pushing Daisies panel at Comic-Con, one of the greatest moments was getting to hear an impromptu song from Kristin Chenoweth upon the request of one very cute, very young fan.

I was able to pull the song off my recorder, and so now, you can check Chenoweth's gorgeous rendition of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" for yourself. The audio isn't perfect — I wasn't expecting to be recording a Tony winner (and Emmy nominee and onetime Miss Oklahoma runner-up!) when I woke up on Saturday — but even with some fuzz, you'll get the idea.

The recording starts with the fan's request — then you'll hear some applause (which was even louder in the room!) and then the start of the song. To check it out, just

A Chat With Spaced's Simon Pegg, Edgar Wright, and Jessica Hynes

BuzzSugar — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 09:30:45 -0700

Hands down, one of the highlights of my Comic-Con experience was getting to meet Simon Pegg and his Spaced cohorts, despite the brevity of our interaction. I sat down for a quick roundtable interview with Pegg and his costar on Spaced, Jessica Hynes, along with Edgar Wright, Pegg's frequent partner in crime (Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead) and the director of Spaced.

In the British comedy, Pegg and Hynes play Tim and Daisy, who rent a flat in London under the pretense that they are a couple. The show is filled with pop culture references and surreal experiences, and if you haven't already, you ought to get ahold of the newly available Spaced DVDs. For now, check out some of the highlights from our chat.

Q: There are a lot of horror references in Spaced. How did that come about?

Edgar Wright: I think that really is my default setting of shooting everything like it was a horror film, for no apparent reason. I mean, there were definitely a lot of references in the script already, particularly to The Shining . . . The whole style of the show is very stylized and sort of kinetic because the characters are so drenched in pop culture, it’s almost like, if they ever had to describe their mundane lives, this [a horror movie] is what it would look like. So it’s almost like, you’re watching them recount their lives, rather than the actuality.

Simon Pegg: Yeah, 'cause they’re like, "I went to work in a kitchen and it was like One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest." Or, "I walked into the room that time and it was like the f---ing Evil Dead," you know? And that’s what you actually see. All three of us love the idea of taking very mundane things and turning them into slightly more grand, cinematic things. Which we took forward into Shaun of the Dead as well after having learned that on Spaced. Jess and I certainly wanted to have this world that was defined by popular culture, shaped by it.

The trio expounds on this and other things (like their intense admiration of Arrested Development), so

EW's Television Visionaries Talk Sci-Fi and Pies

BuzzSugar — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 05:30:36 -0700

Yesterday, I told you about the rowdy panel of filmmaking greats I attended at Comic-Con. Today, I've got some notes from the television "Visionaries" event, which brought together showrunners Josh Schwartz (Chuck and Gossip Girl), Josh Friedman (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles), Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse (Lost), and Bryan Fuller (Pushing Daisies). Here are just a few of the highlights:

A running joke throughout the panel was teasing Josh Schwartz about Gossip Girl in any way possible. At one point, when the show came up in a question, he said he thought that mentioning it was "a little verboten at Comic-Con," which led the — considerable! — GG fans in the audience to make their presence known. Later, in response to a question about so-called "genre" shows getting lots of buzz over the past few years, Schwartz quipped: "Serena is now a cyborg."
On a related note, plenty of people (rightly) saw the Q&A portion of this panel as their best chance to ask questions of the Lost producers before the mad crush of the Lost-specific event the next day, prompting one panelist (I unfortunately couldn't see which one, as I was on the other side of the huge line) to point at the questioners and count them down, saying, "Lost, Lost, Lost, Piemaker, Piemaker, Lost . . . [mooney voice] Gossip Girl!"
Bryan Fuller is just a big bundle of cotton candy and flowers and goodness. Some various quotes summing up the sweetness: "I am a very sensitive soul. I couldn't do a series like CSI or Criminal Minds where you have to be in a negative headspace all the time. I just wanted to cram a show with as many things that make me smile as possible, like puppies and pie." And, later, "I think we need more awe."
Also, why is the piemaker not, say, a cake baker? "Cake is dry," Fuller said.

To find out which of these guys likes Project Runway, just

EW's Filmmakers Panel With Smith, Apatow, Snyder and Miller

BuzzSugar — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 14:30:03 -0700

Entertainment Weekly held a few "Visionaries" panels at Comic-Con that brought together some of the greats in the TV, movies and comic book worlds. At the filmmakers panel, it was mostly a kick to see Kevin Smith, Judd Apatow, Zack Snyder and Frank Miller all at one table. It turned into the Smith-Apatow comedy hour, but that seemed to suit the audience members (myself included) just fine. Check out some of the highlights below.

The whole panel was super bawdy and raunchy, mostly due to Smith and Apatow making dirty jokes about each other. And then there was the smiling, friendly-faced Zack Snyder, who awkwardly bumbled out an answer to a question, after which there were about three beats of silence before Smith said, "Thank God your visuals are so strong, man." Smith later marveled at how awesome Snyder's Watchmen looks, saying he could die once he sees that movie.
Apatow talked about his raunchy comedies: "You have to find out: how much penis can you show in a movie without clearing an entire room?" Meanwhile, Smith nodded, deadpan, like he totally understood.
Smith: "I go with my gut, but my gut has lied to me in the past, like, when my gut said, 'Yeah, Jersey Girl's a great idea!'"
Frank Miller: "Very early on I learned I was incompetent at anything else. So I started to make comic books."

More on comics, geek culture, and how comedians differ from rappers (according to Apatow), if you

First Look: Chuck Season Two

BuzzSugar — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 12:40:46 -0700

It's one thing to hear all about the twists and turns coming up on the second season of Chuck. But it's another thing entirely to get to see them — and that's exactly what happened over the weekend when Josh Schwartz, Zachary Levi, and the rest took the stage at Comic-Con. While there's no official version of the almost 7-minute trailer, E!'s Kristin Dos Santos, who moderated the panel, got her spies out to capture the video from the big screen. (So what I'm saying is: Agent Casey, blame her, not me!)

Among the wonderful things to be glimpsed in the trailer: a shot of the Nicole Richie shower fight, Tony Hale dressing down the Buy More crew, more than one Chuck/Sarah kiss, and the first appearance of Jill! I'm so psyched, so to see if the season looks like you were hoping, just

Cows — and Roberto Orci — Promote Fringe in San Diego

BuzzSugar — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 11:30:16 -0700

A herd of cattle grazing in a parking lot probably isn't the weirdest thing I saw during Comic-Con, but it's not too far off. The dozen or so cows had a purpose, though, serving as a clue along the way during a Fringe-related scavenger hunt in San Diego.

If you've seen the Fringe pilot — which several thousand more people now have seen following the San Diego screenings — you'll get the cow thing, which also came up at TCA; if not, stay tuned for Fall. But cute (though smelly) as they were, the cows weren't the best thing I found in the parking lot. Nope, that would be Roberto Orci, Fringe (and Star Trek) writer and executive producer, who chatted with me briefly about what Comic-Con has meant for Fringe. The entire show actually has its roots in the convention, so to hear about that, just

Comic-Con Round-Up

BuzzSugar — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 07:30:05 -0700

I've been reporting from Comic-Con these past few days, but here's a hodgepodge of random extra bits and pieces from my weekend.

There was a panel I basically happened to attend by accident, which ended up being for this spooky-looking movie The Wolf Man, due in theaters April 3, 2009. Then, to everyone's surprise, the stars of the film, Benicio Del Toro and Emily Blunt, came onstage to talk about it. I'll post the trailer soon, so more on the movie itself later, but for now, how cute is this picture?!
The writers of The Office spoke to a packed house on Saturday, and while the 11 people on the panel (12 if you count moderator Rainn Wilson) felt like a few too many, there were plenty of funny moments, especially from BJ Novak, Michael Schur, and Mindy Kaling. I particularly liked this part of Novak's answer about why he likes writing for Michael Scott: "It's so interesting to see someone with authority be so innocent and so wrong."
Also a winner from that panel: Schur's description of how Dwight would act in the event of an actual robot invasion. "He would cross his arms in the middle of the street as the robots marched down the street, shaking his head and saying 'I told you so!'"
Yeah, the Heroes screening and Hugh Jackman appearance were cool — but one of my other favorite panels of the weekend was much, much smaller. On Friday, I got to hear some of the original voice actors from the classic Peanuts specials talk about what it was like to put together shows like A Charlie Brown Christmas and Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown. Several of the specials will be out on remastered, special-feature-laden DVDs this Fall, and I can't wait! Eventually, they're hoping to bring all the specials (more than 40 of them!) to DVD.
Also, some of the best trivia of the whole weekend came out of that panel: Did you know Fergie was once the voice of Charlie Brown's little sister, Sally? (For more Peanuts trivia, check out today's Brainteaser!)

To find out Seth Rogen's latest dirty comment and to see Zachary Levi's hand in a compromising position,

Pushing Daisies Delightfully Teases Season Two at Comic-Con

BuzzSugar — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 14:00:00 -0700

Daddy issues, daughter issues, mommy issues, half-brother issues — there's going to be a lot of family drama when Pushing Daisies returns in October, the show's cast and crew revealed over the weekend at Comic-Con. But fans of the whimsical series need not despair: If anything, the Daisies folks promised, the show is overall lighter and even more delightful this year.

Creator Bryan Fuller and executive producer Barry Sonnenfeld also revealed the first footage from season two — after a brief snafu in which the video for the pilot started playing instead, prompting the two to run out to the podium early to apologize — and teased what's going on in the land of Coeur d’Coeurs when we return Oct. 1. To hear about what's coming up (plus some other highlights and a ton of pictures from the panel), just

Lost Producers Say Seasons Five and Six Will Be Rewarding

BuzzSugar — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 12:43:26 -0700

I'd expected the Lost panel here at Comic-Con to be as intense, fan-wise, as the Heroes one was, and there were certainly lots of fans in the audience, but the whole vibe of the thing was a little different — totally playful and fun. Executive producers/writers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse sat onstage fielding questions from the audience and giving out gifts to each person who asked a question. The gifts were chosen based on what the topic was that the fan was asking about, so for example, a young man who looked a lot like Hurley was awarded a large tub of Dharma-issued ranch dressing. The producers also claimed that Dharma was sponsoring the panel here at Comic-Con.

They also chose a few of the people who took the tests at the Dharma recruitment booths on the exhibit floor to come onstage and then leave with a Dharma recruitment guy, Hans von Egan. They gave one of these chosen people a camera with which to "secretly" capture what went on when Egan took the group to a booth where they were shown a scratchy Dharma video of Marvin Candle who revealed that his real name is Pierre Cheng. In the video (which Cheng said was filmed 30 years ago), there was a screaming baby in the background until Cheng instructed someone to take the baby away. He implored the viewer to "complete the research." He said the Dharma Initiative "must be reconstituted" and he mentioned Einstein's field equations.

His most clear message was this: "Time is not just of the essence, it is the essence." In typical Lost form, the person running the camera eventually said that making the video was pointless, and the footage cut out as Cheng protested that they should keep taping.

So, there was that. From all the fan questions, we got a few more tidbits, though nothing too juicy. There was also no real footage to show, of course, since they haven't started shooting yet. Still, it was so much fun to be in a room full of Lost nerds who got every reference and insider joke. To see some of the little things we learned from the panel,

First Episode of Heroes Season Three Screened at Comic-Con

BuzzSugar — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 15:15:03 -0700

And I got to see it! The Comic-Con started off with executive producer Jeph Loeb profusely thanking all the loyal fans and all the Comic-Con attendees from a couple years ago for getting the word out about Heroes. The whole cast came onstage, followed by Tim Kring whose wrist was handcuffed to a metal briefcase, which he referred to as "a big giant thank you to all of you." The cheering was deafening (I should add that there were some die-hard fans who had camped out overnight to be first in the convention center for this panel; the crowd was enthusiastic, to put it mildly) as Kring pulled out a DVD which he said contained the whole first episode of the next season.

And I don't think I was too influenced by all the intense excitement generated by thousands of Heroes fans when I say that I was really impressed with the season premiere. The writing is just better, the pacing is exciting without being way too much stuff at a time, and there aren't like, 64 new heroes. I was sometimes frustrated with the last season, for various reasons, and this episode totally wiped the slate clean. In fact, I have a newly bolstered respect for Heroes. I really think they'll deliver an awesome season, if the premiere is any indication.

I won't reveal anything specific about the plot but if you want a tiny taste of what we got to see this morning,

The Spirit Looks Good, Watchmen Looks Freaking Awesome

BuzzSugar — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 22:33:41 -0700

Yeah, another dispatch from Comic-Con today but I just had to share because I attended the panels for Watchmen (see: photo below) and The Spirit today and both were so exciting. The one for Watchmen in particular was not only coolest in terms of the footage we got to see, but also because of the funny, laid-back vibe of the panel. I think Zack Snyder with his friendly, boy-next-door ways pretty much set the tone for that.

More on that later. First, some thoughts on Frank Miller's film version of Will Eisner's The Spirit:

There are two things that I really loved about The Spirit footage we saw and the panel itself. For one, the movie truly looks like a comic book, and it's a lot of fun to watch. Jaime King described it as visually "intoxicating," which I could see. Secondly, Samuel L. Jackson was at the panel and he was a great interviewee. He chuckled when the topic of his Spirit character's Nazi costume came up. "That was awesome. I was a Nazi! Nick Fury became a black skinhead."
That said, there was something about both the movie and the panel that was a little empty and detached. Miller completely admits that if a woman is in his movies, she's gonna be hot and wearing tight clothing. And that's fine. His choice, etc. But there's a line between making an artistic choice and objectifying women, and Miller skates that line.
Finally, there's the issue of the Spirit himself, played by Gabriel Macht. I think Macht is an incredibly cute guy. And the character of the hero of the film is an important one to cast. On this topic, Miller mentioned that Hollywood has many fine male actors, but "not many men." Which is why, he says, we hold onto the Bruce Willises and Harrison Fords and Clive Owens (his examples, all). And then. . . he chose Gabriel Macht to be his manly hero? I thought the footage they showed us from the movie would explain this a little more, but not so. Onscreen as the Spirit, Macht is likable and funny and cute, but he's not the heroic "man" that Miller referenced earlier, which struck me as odd.

For some of my thoughts on Watchmen sneak peek,

First Look: Dexter's Third Season

BuzzSugar — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 12:30:26 -0700

I was lucky enough to be in the room yesterday at Comic-Con when Showtime debuted a first look at Dexter's upcoming third season. It's just two minutes long, but it includes a bunch of fantastic teases for some of the upcoming action, including the appearance of Jimmy Smits as attorney Miguel Prado, who becomes a friend of Dexter's.

A friend? Really? Yup, Dexter may be becoming a bit more emotionally full this season, and his evolution (along with "family values") will be one of the season's main themes. "Dexter's playing catchup," said executive producer Clyde Phillips, "and he may be catching up faster than he may have planned." He's also going to set some major events into motion in the season premiere that will change him forever — at least one of which is hinted at in the trailer below. And is that some Rita/Dexter lovin' I see? (There were lots of cheers when that part of the trailer aired at Comic-Con.) To check out the trailer for yourself, and see a couple of other tidbits from the panel, just

Lucy Lawless Tells Kevin Smith What's What at Comic-Con

BuzzSugar — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 11:30:22 -0700

I would have wanted to attend a panel on women in the sci-fi, horror, and comic book genres anyway, but the fact that it was moderated by Kevin Smith just sealed the deal. And I didn't realize I was in for such a comedy show. Smith was, as one might expect, hilariously droll, sarcastic, kinda bitter but not quite hostile. But that Lucy Lawless (you may know her as Xena, and/or D'Anna Biers on Battlestar Galactica) is sassy! She's gregarious and smart and has an incredibly cutting sense of humor that she used to repeatedly take Smith down. It was informative, but also one of the most entertaining panels I've attended yet.

In addition to Lawless, the other panelists included Jaime King (Sin City, The Spirit) Pia Guerra (the awesomely smart and creative illustrator of a comic that I'm slightly obsessed with right now, Y: The Last Man) and producer Gale Anne Hurd (Terminator, Punisher: War Zone).

Smith asked each of the ladies some prewritten questions (not written by him, and clearly not questions he was happy asking) about their experiences as women in such fanboy-dominated universes. To see what they had to say,

True Blood Sucks In the Enthusiasm at Comic-Con

BuzzSugar — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 10:30:33 -0700

If you combine small-town drama and sexy vampires, the result would be True Blood, the forthcoming HBO series from Alan Ball, the man behind Six Feet Under. The show's cast and creator — along with Charlaine Harris, who wrote the Southern Vampire book series on which the show is based — showed up at Comic-Con on Thursday to explain to a cheering crowd what makes their show different from other vampire stories.

True Blood, which premieres Sept. 7, is the story of Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin), a telepathic waitress in a Louisiana town who meets a vampire when he walks into the bar where she works and she discovers she can't read his mind. The trailer we watched showed a mix of vampire effects (spiky teeth, bite marks) and small scenes of family life that would look familiar to any SFU fan — I could have sworn one dinner scene was shot in the Fisher family kitchen.

Ball promised the show would be free of "vampire cliches," which he defined as "blue light, contact lenses, and opera music." Instead, "we're trying to keep the magic as mundane as possible," he said, showing how it's just a regular part of the universe where the characters live. In this world, vampires have come back to live among humans now that a synthetic blood substance can keep them satiated, but (as Sookie learns) that doesn't mean there's no danger.

To meet the main characters, and to hear about some of the viral marketing HBO is doing for the show (including setting up a vampire/human dating service),

BuzzSugar at Comic-Con: Day One!

BuzzSugar — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:43:25 -0700

Greetings from sunny San Diego! And I'm not kidding about the sunny: Though I'll be spending most of the weekend indoors, I at least got to bask in the rays (or, OK, sweat next to other sweaty people) while waiting in line for this morning's 20th Century Fox panels.

Frankly, it's been a pretty insane trip so far. The morning's big events (panels for Max Payne and The Day the Earth Stood Still and surprise appearance by Wolverine himself!) were delayed because of collapsing curtains and rods. I did have some time to wander the floor, as well as to catch a Disney panel where some of the studio's storyboard staff took us through the creation of a sequence from the upcoming Bolt, which looks like it could be pretty clever. You can check out some of my initial observations — and a whole lot of photos from the floor, including a super-geeky sequence with this year's special Comic-Con My Little Pony — if you

Comic-Con Surprise — Hugh Jackman Shows Up With Wolverine Footage!

BuzzSugar — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:10:54 -0700

Ho-ly smokes, people, this has been a ridiculously exciting day. More on the Max Payne and The Day the Earth Stood Still panels later — it's what immediately followed the Max Payne panel that is blowing my dome right now!

As soon as the panel was over, Hugh Jackman — looking freaking fine — appeared onstage and the crowd. Went. Wild. First off, as I said, he looked amazing. He's got some long-ish wavy locks, a lovely tan and distractingly shapely arms. Anyway, he started off (in his adorable Australian accent) thanking the fans of comic book movies, without whom, he thinks he would not have a career (ha!). Then, he bounded down the steps (amid super high-pitched screaming from attendees, many of whom have gotten to the hall early so they could get good seats for the Twilight panel later today) to shake the hand of Len Wein, the person credited with co-creating the character of Wolverine. It was a really inspiring moment, actually. Jackman leaned over a bunch of people and shook Wein's hand.

There was another little speech from Jackman about the next X-Men movie, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and then — roll footage! We were treated to a bunch of scenes from this Wolverine movie, which isn't due in theaters until May 9, 2009. But from what we saw — so far, so awesome. To find out some of the stuff I spotted,

I'm So Psyched — I'm Going to Comic-Con!

BuzzSugar — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 14:33:20 -0700

Holy geekfest, Buzz readers! I'm heading down to San Diego to attend this year's Comic-Con! I'm a Comic-Con virgin, so this will be my first time at the exciting comic book/sci-fi/fantasy event (though it's become mainstream enough to include some random stuff, like that Rainn Wilson movie The Rocker?) and up until now my understanding of Comic-Con has been vaguely based on that scene in Chasing Amy when Holden (Ben Affleck) goes up to Alyssa's (Joey Lauren Adams) booth where she's signing copies of her new comic book, and he hands her his. . . Oh, man, now I have to go watch Chasing Amy again.

Speaking of Chasing Amy, Kevin Smith will yet again be on hand at Comic-Con, mostly to promote his next comedy Zack and Miri Make a Porno, starring Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks. Smith's also moderating this panel I hope to attend called "Scream Like a Girl" which, OK, is being held by Spike TV, but includes a bunch of ladies who are going to discuss what it's like to be a woman working in the fanboy universes of comic book, sci-fi, fantasy and horror films. I think it sounds pretty cool, and with any luck, I'll be able to interview Smith after the panel. And will try not to swoon or gush. . .too much.

To see some of the other stuff I'm angling to check out,