Comic Con: Boneman's Report 3

Posted By:	The Boneman
Posted On:	Thu Jul 27th, 2006

Day 3

300 Panel

This was a day that was going to bring surprises, strange disappearances and heroic acts of brevity. It got off to a good start as Jerry's kids got what they came for when Zack Snyder came out and introduced the revered writer of the Graphic novel 300 the hottest property in Hollywood Frank Miller. Hot on their heals were the stars of the show Gerard Butler, and LOTR's David Wentham. I'll have to say I was right away caught up in Jerry fever – the man was charming, funny and his enthusiasm for the project bordered on child-like. They opened with the teaser clip and as neither actor had seen any finished footage both Butler and Wentham went over and sat on the floor before the monitor to watch. They were as impressed as the rest of us were. The script showed off Miller's terrific wordplay, and I'll just say this one has all the earmarks of a big winner. True we've been witness to plenty of films of this ilk, Troy, Arthur, Alexander, the one with Orlando Bloom – it'll come to me – still and all this one tells the story of perhaps the most legendary fighting force in history – the few, the proud, the Spartans.

Butler and Wentham discussed the lengths they went to to prepare for their roles – the physical training, the research, the steroids. You might laugh, but how do you think Brad Pitt got so big in Troy? Come on, that's not Wheaties, don't be naïve. It's not like his acting career is going to carry an asterisk now. Why do you think they went to Namibia to have the baby – just in case it came out wearing a codpiece. That's a joke, there's no evidence to suggest that steroid use leads to birth defects, or Governor Ahnold would have to keep his brood locked in the basement. "Honey, did you feed the . . . things" Maria would ask. "No honey I forgot," as he heaves a side of beef calumphing down the stairs. "Bon apetite boys." Speaking of codpieces, Gerard did a fair share of complaining about that part of the shoot. At one point during the Q&A someone asked if this were going to be a historically accurate portrayal, meaning were there going to be any Greek on Greek action? To which Miller quickly quipped, "No – this is a work of fiction." What with all the faint-hearted Jerry's kids swooning at his every expression it was a fun panel. One audience member asked something about how much tweaking was necessary to take a graphic novel and make it ready for film and Zach Snyder promptly replied, "Graphic novels don't need to be tweaked, they just need to be filmed." One of the more cute things that happenes was that the crowd clamored to see the teaser again and before it was over they screened it 3 times, and each time Butler and Wentham walked over to a spot on the stage and sat down on the hardwood so they could get another look – it was as if no one could get enough.

Grind House

Grind House has been all over the internet lately, people keeping track of each new cast member as they're added, reporting on the progress of Rodriguez' Planet Terror. Rosario Dawson, Sydney Poitier, Rose McGowan, Marlee Shelton and Mary Elizabeth Winstead joined Quentin and Robert on the panel to report on how much fun it was to work with the dynamic duo. The trailer clip they showed us was a compendium of Planet Terror as well as the faux trailers that the two shoot that will show between films. One starred Danny Trejo as some sort of vigilante killing force – it was all kind of smashed together like a dream Tarantino probably has every night but it was damned exciting and certainly got me pumped to see it.

Tarantino wanted to dispel any mistaken notion that these were just half-assed short films that they were just tossing off as a side project, "Death Proof is my next movie and Planet Terror is Robert's next movie and they're going to kick ass." The two film share one actor Michael Parks, and boast the talents of Rosario Dawson, Sydney Poitier (the daughter) Michael Biehn, Freddy Rodriguez, Marlee Shelton and Rose McGowan and many more. The big reveal of the day in case you haven't heard is that Tarantino's killer Stuntman Mike has been cast and is none other than Snake Plissken himself, Kurt Russell. Tarantino also spoke of the great symbiotic relationship that exists between he and Rodriguez, "he's talented, I'm talented, and no we don't always agree on everything, but they are the best of friends. He likened it to his relationship with Uma Thurman, we'd bump heads once in a while, but at the end of the day we were on the same page and ready to have a drink together.

Broken Lizard's Beerfest

By the end of comic Con I'd seen two separate presentations for Beerfest, one was accompanied by a full panel the other just two of the lizards on the Sunday and quite honestly, this really doesn't look like that funny of a film. It was a long teaser, and they pretty much gave away the entire movie in it, I'm just hoping this wasn't the funniest stuff this film has to offer or the busted reptiles are in for a huge flop. I liked Super troopers and Club Dread, but this thing seemed to have all the zip of a pitcher of beer left outside overnight in a rain storm. I hope I'm wrong, but I did see the footage twice.

Will Eisner's Spirit

We saw a lot of Frank Miller at this years Comic Con and I can't complain he has a wonderful laconic sense of humor and in his straw hat he looked like a cross between David Strathairn and Bob Dylan. Miller was the most animated during this panel that included studio exec Debra del Pete and Michael Uslan, he spoke candidly about the things that he didn't like and didn't think worked about Spirit, yet he spoke of Will Eisner in deferential tones and vowed to keep it true to the man's inspired vision. There wasn't a lot for them to talk about as Miller has yet to script the film and no one has been cast thus far. Later during the panel he was asked about possible sequels to Sin City and he responded by saying as long as we can put together compelling stories and the passion is there "Hell, I'd like to see it go to 5." Bravo to that.

Disney Presentation

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

This was a fairly disappointing presentation, director Andy Adamson sent a pre-recorded message where he discussed that fact that they were taking the Narnia series out of sequence, explaining that it was the only way to make it work without having the children end up being too old, by the time they got to this installment. He stated that Prince Caspian was the only logical sequel to Lion, Witch, Wardrobe. Sadly there was no footage and the film will not be released until 08. Adamson did promise a spectacle that would eclipse LW&W, but was unable to offer any further details.

Kevin Smith gets Stuck on the 5.

After last years hilarious appearance where he all but stole the show, Kevin Smith's appearance was one of the main reasons people were lining up in great numbers to get into Hall H. However when it came time for his entrance, Comic Con moderator Gary Sossaman was left with the unpleasant task of informing the crowd that Kevin was caught in traffic and it may be 20 or more minutes before he rolled in. So wait we did, confident in the knowledge that Kev would make it more than worth the wait. La deed a, La deed um, after about 20 more minutes the audience was rescued from it's thumb-twiddling by Clerks 2 star, close friend of Smiths and a hell of a trooper, Rosario Dawson. She stepped up to the podium and did her best to keep the crowd entertained until Kevin could arrive. She told stories from the set and fielded questions from the crowd, sang and danced and in general did a hell of a job keeping the crowd placated for pretty close to a half hour. Rosario even got on her cell and called Smith whom she put on speaker phone and told him listen, to which the audience went nuts. Kevin was all apologies, but wondered why the fuck everyone wasn't out seeing Clerks 2? Everyone hollered we saw it last night in unison and it mollified the Silent one for the time.

Rosario is fast becoming Hollywood's "it"girl and there's no one more deserving. She's sexy, honest and down to earth, and if you'll indulge a personal note - I managed to get her a copy of my script Fanclub which she would be perfect for – so if you know her, please encourage her to read it. The script involves elements of the occult and as you may know she has recently launched her own comic book series called O.C.T. which stands for Occult Crimes Taskforce. It's a perfect fit for her, she would be able to showcase her comedic timing, her passion and strength of character, as well as her ability to kick some ass. Her uncle gave it to her a few days ago so everyone cross their fingers for the Boneman, my email address is if you're interested in helping in any way – if you never believe anything the rest of your life, believe me - Fanclub is a fucking bad-ass script. If you have access to a blog or like to post on message boards spread the word – there will be a reward for person or persons instrumental in getting this script to the right people. Sorry to use the site for personal reasons, but Fanclub is my baby, and unlike Tom Cruise, I'm very eager for the world to see it.

Alas it would become clear that Kevin would not be able to make it in time and it was announced that his segment would be rescheduled later in the day.

Sony Presentation

Ghost Rider

Though everything about Gho