The One Ring Celebration
January 20-22, 2006
Pasadena, CA
Day 2, Saturday
My overall impressions of this years ORC convention are that it seems to be much smaller than last year. Less people and what seemed to me to be a lower turnout, less vendors than last year. One good thing I found was that there seemed to me to be fewer events which was actually nice you didn't have to run from one thing to another. I did, however, hear some grumbling from others about the number of guests and events going on throughout the weekend. They also had some major sound problems in the main auditorium and the mics kept cutting out. This was really annoying and even Elijah Wood made mention of it during his panel.
First thing in the morning there was a panel with the filmmakers from RINGERS: LORD OF THE FANS which including several people who worked on the film, including TORN's Cliff Broadway. The entire film was screened for attendees in the evening.
The first celebrity of the day was John Noble (Denethor). John is a really lovely man and so unlike the character he plays in LORD OF THE RINGS. Very energetic and so passionate about his craft, he displays the same genuine-ness that I have found in so many of the LOTR's family, especially those from Australia and New Zealand. Below are some of the interesting comments John had to share:
*He teaches acting and really enjoys it as he likes to be able to see the results he is helping to create in his students.
*John is from a small country town in Australia and growing up he didn't know that you could be an actor as a job. When he went to university, he met some people and got thrown into the local theatre scene.
*During LOTR, John said he had the most fun off-set. Most of his scenes were quite dark and moody. He would come to the set in the morning very cheerful and as they began to put his makeup on, he would begin to become more brooding and the character would come out. At night when they would take off his makeup, he would go back to be his normal happy self.
*John is in the new film called RUNNING SCARED starring Paul Walker playing a Russian bad guy who buys it in the end. It is a violent and viscous crime noir film. He jokes that all of his characters die violent deaths but that they are quite fun to play. In this film, he suffers a massive chest wound and they put a prosthetic on his front and he was required to be shot and then fall over a couch onto an airbag which he said was quite a bit like being an actual stuntman!
*He loved doing the final episode of STARGATE last year and says that everyone connected with that show are really great to work with and a real family.
*John has directed some student theatre productions he very much enjoyed.
After a short break there was an auction of signed and unique memorabilia that seemed to raise quite a bit of money.
In the afternoon was the panel with Elijah Wood and Sean Astin. Both looked very healthy and happy and were in quite a good mood - joking and laughing with each other for the entire panel. As both tend to be quite verbose, the panel ran over again this year, but no one really seemed to mind. Sean and Elijah almost seemed to be talking to each other a lot of the time and made each audience member that asked a question feel at ease. Here are some of their responses to a few questions they were asked:
Do they watch LOST and if so who is your favorite character?
Elijah said he is a huge fan of the show and has watched if from the first episode. He originally watched the pilot episode to support Dom but he quickly became hooked. He said that he was out of town for the last three episodes but he has them on TiVo and is going to sit down and watch them one right after the other. About his favorite character he said "Not Charlie - he really hasn't been in it much lately" and said he probably most liked Locke. He said one of the things he really liked about the show was how each character had a sort of duality to them, they appear to be one thing sometimes and change to something else at others. He also really liked the fact that Walt was talking backwards in the times that he has been appearing to other cast members in recent episodes.
Sean said that he remembers having a conversation with Dom about a month before he got signed on to do LOST. Dom was pretty depressed because he had come to America and hadn't gotten any work for about a year and a half and Sean was telling him to hang in there because Sean knew that Dom would get just the right thing for him in the near future. About a month later Dom got signed onto LOST.
If you had the time to learn something that you always wanted to do, what would that be?
EW: Play an instrument
SA: Piano
EW: I used to play piano but don't anymore. Guitar, Bass, Drums....
SA: Pilot the Space Shuttle
EW: Learn a foreign language. He is a bit embarrassed that he doesn't speak any other languages so he would like to learn how to speak at least two others. He considers himself a student of live and is always trying to learn something.
SA: Latin
EW: (much later in the panel, when they were on another topic) Photography I would like to learn Photography.
Sean said that they did a couple of takes in the scene in RETURN OF THE KING where Sam gives Frodo back the ring. The first one they did had Sam just giving Frodo back the ring with no conflict over it. The second time they did it they shot the one the ended up in the film where Sam is conflicted about giving it back to Frodo and contemplates keeping it for himself.
Do you watch your own films?
Elijah said he usually watches them 2 times when they are finished, usually at a pre-release screening and at the premiere, but then he is usually done with them and doesn't watch them again. Except for LOTR, which he says he often catches on TV and will watch them.
Asked about his SIN CITY role Elijah said that he was familiar with the graphic novels by Frank Miller before getting involved with the production so he had a basic knowledge of his character. Having Frank Miller on set was really helpful and would offer suggestions on his character. they asked him if he had done any wire-work before and he said a little bit, and when he got to set to shoot it was a full out Martial Arts wire scene!
Sean recently narrated a documentary about California Sea Lions which is available at Rio Films. (There is a trailer with a voice over by Sean.)
Elijah was asked about his work on the FACULTY:
He really enjoyed living and working with in Austin and still considers it one of his favorite places. He is still friends with most of the actors from that film although he hasn't talked to many of them recently.
Elijah was asked about video games and he said that the trailer for the upcoming film based on a video game SILENT HILL (starring LOTR alum Sean Bean) looks excellent and looks like it was made by people that have actually played the game, whereas recent films based on video games like RESIDENT EVIL and SUPER MARIO BROS. were clearly not made by people who had ever played the game.
At the end of the panel, Sean and Elijah brought a man up on stage who had just gotten back from Iraq and was recuperating from a gunshot wound. The man said that they sent them movies to watch while in Iraq and one of these was LOTR. A nice way to end the panel.
The day ended with a short screening of Bloopers that Phil Jackson had sent through New Line Cinema, which were quite entertaining.
