Hey folks, Harry here... The opinions presented in Mysterio's portrayal of the panel in San Diego are not shared by myself. Due to a very very busy schedule here in Los Angeles involving television development, etc... I have not been running the site for the past several days. I came back from my meetings in Los Angeles today to read Mysterio's coverage... which is basically on target and about the relevant news items at the convention... However, when he began discussing what happened on the actual panel between myself and the other webmasters at San Diego... Personally, I'm a bit shocked. This is the exact sort of rabble rousing rhetoric and name-calling that I have been holding in contempt... and here it is... on my site. The panel started off with some initial fireworks, but as it went on it settled into calm and reasoned discussion about what it is we do on these sites. Personally I'd like to apologize to Chris Gore for the rather rude and unnecessary personal character jabs that Mysterio felt were necessary. The below report states only the opinions of Mysterio and does not speak for the site itself. In reality, Chris and I traded some very reasoned and kind letters yesterday and this sort of bullshit does not help things. Again, I'm sorry. And the comments about Chris have been removed. They were uncalled for.
SEPARATION BETWEEN MORIARTY AND MYSELF....
Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here. Ahhh, Mysterio. He's becoming a bit of an archivist here at AICN, a valued member of the team. Yes, he's still bitter about his failed career as an FX artist for films, and he's still trying to kill Spider-Man, but other than that, he's a stand-up kind of guy who seems to have had a blast at the San Diego Con. Here he is to tell you alllllll about it.
Hey all, “Mysterio” here.
Just thought I’d chime in here to give a quick update on what was truly a fantastic time held this weekend at the San Diego Comic-Con.
For those of you, who had a chance to meet me, and to those that I had a chance to meet, believe me when I say, the pleasure was all mine.
Now I’ll briefly cover the panels that I attended starting with first, the X-MEN panel with director, Bryan Singer.
This really wasn’t so much a panel, as Bryan just pretty much came out and opened it to questions. Some of which asked Bryan the obvious question about the sequel, if he’s doing it or not, and if so what his take on additional characters added for the sequel would be.
His response was basically that it’s been mentioned, but he’s still recovering from the exhausting production schedule of the film that he needs to rest a bit before jumping into any serious talks of a sequel.
He did say that if he did, he’d like to get Gambit and Beast in there. Bryan also mentioned that Beast was in previous drafts, but because of the budget, his character had to be omitted.
He then screened some funny outtakes from the film, which featured one hilarious cameo from a familiar webslinger himself, which Bryan denied wasn’t him inside the costume. Hopefully some of those will find their way onto the upcoming DVD, which is rumored the hit on Nov. 21st. If it does, I wonder if it’ll be a movie-only edition with a special one to follow later. Bryan hinted, when asked about the DVD, if it would make it by Christmas and his reply was that he wasn’t sure if it would be that soon, but possibly a jam-packed 2-disc set a bit later. Hopefully one that would surpass or rival Fox’s excellent FIGHT CLUB DVD. Writer/Producer, Tom De Santo promised that he would take care of the fans when putting the DVD together, so hopefully when it hits, it’ll blow us away like the film did.
After that I immediately jumped on over to the “Superhero Movies: Why Can’t They Be Like The Comics?” panel which included the likes of: Paul Dini (Batman Adventures, Batman Beyond, Jingle Belle), Roger Avary (Killing Zoe, Mr. Stitch, Pulp Fiction), David Hayter (screenwriter, X-Men), and Tim McCanlies (screenwriter, Iron Giant), and our very own Harry presiding over the moderating duties.
As Harry introduced the panelists, he was quick to point out that thanks to David Hayter, and the rest of the X-Men gang, that they pretty much, more or less, fucked up the topic at hand. But the show went on. Discussions went round about the current state of comics being translated into films and how so many comic properties and projects in development rested pretty much on the success of X-Men. There are literally plans for film adaptations of nearly most all popular (and some more obscure) comic properties. One that has been toiling in development hell for some time is the SANDMAN project, which those smart-as-hell execs at the WB can’t seem to get off the ground. Hell, they can’t make SUPERMAN fly either. Kevin Smith could tell you about that one, and surprisingly his presence here would’ve been more than appropriate, but was absent and justly missed.
Roger Avary discussed his involvement at great length, his ties to the SANDMAN project and his script for it which languishes currently somewhere in development hell (as with most all WB comic book owned properties), which is a shame because Roger’s ideas sounded very appropriate and unique to Gaiman's vision.
David Hayter was asked about his involvement in scripting another X-Men film, and his response was similar to Singer’s in that it’s been mentioned but too soon to really discuss. Hayter did hint to the fact that he wasn’t shy to the idea of scripting the sequel, but time will have to tell.
Tim McCanlies mentioned that he was approached by New Line’s Mike DeLuca to possibly script an IRON MAN film, making with that and his scripting the IRON GIANT film the guy who writes the “Iron” films.
So a lot can be said for the success of X-Men and how a film with no major stars and a good script can rise above the studio trappings like a phoenix from the ashes and deliver a good comic book film that fans and non-fans will come to embrace. Because of this, it has opened up the possibilities for other properties to be seriously considered and rescued from their longtime “development hell” status.
From there it was a fast jump over to catch what was left of Paul Verhoven’s “HOLLOW MAN” panel. Unfortunately, I was a little too late as the presentation was over and all I was able to catch was Quint standing in an ever-winding line to meet Paul. (Quint attended and hopefully will spill more details on what transpired). Fortunately I was in good company as I waited I met one of Paul’s co-producer’s on the film, Stacy, who was kind enough to brief me on what I missed, and give me a handful of “Hollow Man” goodies. She promised me that the film WOULD deliver scares, however we’ll see, as I don’t scare easily. But man from what little I’ve seen, it sure doesn’t look like “Memoirs of An Invisible Man”. It looks like Verhoven has definitely approached it from a genuinely creepy, and honest manner, so my interested has peaked a bit more on this film. Yeah you know what you’d do too if you we’re invisible! Hopefully it’ll be all cool as hell come August 4th.
After that it was pretty much left to going out and grabbing a bite and trying to get some sleep in preparation for what Film Threat deemed to be the “Showdown in San Diego”, the “Caught In Then Net: Movie Webmasters on Hollywood, the Internet and the Future of Their Bastard Child” panel.
Now this is what was supposed to have been a summit meeting of sorts touching upon the “ethics of internet journalism and integrity” from each webmaster and their respective site. But it was soon learned that this was not the exact path this topic would take. The panel, moderated by Den Shewman of IGN, consisted of (in order from left to right): David Poland (TNT’s Roughcut), Chris Gore (Film Threat), Kevin Smith (View Askew), Patrick Sauriol (Coming Attractions), Nick Nunziata (CHUD, Fetal Film), Tom De Santo (X-men producer) & Harry.
Hopefully this will bring more of a co-existing unity among these sites. But each site respectively has their own voice (as does AICN), which is a direct reflection of one’s own unique personality, which should not be compromised in my opinion. Whether it be Harry’s, Patrick’s or Nick’s, they all do wonderful work and are uniquely different in they’re own way. They should be proud of all that they’ve accomplished and so I say, if it ain’t broke, why fix it. Period.
Next, I quickly ran over to catch Kevin Smith’s 90-minute panel to see what was new with him. Well not much I didn’t already know except the fact that he did confirm he is indeed writing GREEN ARROW (but we already knew that didn’t we?) and the artists working with him on GA are none other than Phil Hester & Ande Parks who are the same guys Kevin did “CLERKS: The Lost Scene” with. And after he finishes the next, and final, View Askew film, which should be filming sometime this Oct/Nov., he’ll be going into the next FLETCH film. Now what I did find interesting was when an audience member pleaded Smith to say that Jason Lee will be playing a young Irwin Fletcher. Smith’s sly reply was “it’s either going to be Jason Lee or Michael Rooker.” So take that as what you will. Most everyone already thinks Lee is perfect for the role, and I’ll toss my two-cents in here and say I have to agree. Lee has the comic wit and timing to play FLETCH and has personally acknowledged to Smith that he REALLY wants to do this thing, “fucking Fletch-style” with Smith. It’ll be nice to see Lee hopefully in a major part, as buzz on him in Crowe’s new film “Almost Famous” has him highly regarded in what could be a “breakout” performance by him. In a Crowe film, how can you go wrong? You simply can’t.
I so want to see this film! But I’ll only have to wait two months or so to see it, unlike another film I so dearly want to see (and especially now), I’ll have to wait until Christmas 2001 to see. Of course I’m talking about Peter Jackson’s epic LORD OF THE RINGS, which IGN sponsored a presentation which included not just that, but a look at THE CELL and LOST SOULS as well. LOST SOULS was simply a moody trailer, showing Winona Ryder running around looking all gothy and such (I’ll be reviewing this film a bit later and reveal if it’s gonna be a hit or miss when it’s supposedly released this October). THE CELL was a presentation reel that really showcases what interesting and creative costume and production designs the film had to offer. And they do look great. But the thing’s so damn bizarre looking that I couldn’t quite judge outside that, what other substance the film really had behind it. I mean I know the basic premise, but no further story details or characters were presented within the reel, that it left me feeling like you’ll just need a few acid tabs to really enjoy this ride come August 18th, cause it’s all eye candy baby!
But the highlight was, without doubt the LORD OF THE RINGS 9 minute featurette, and damn if 9 minutes ain’t long enough. This thing is going to be AMAZING. I wanted to see so much more. Everything shown looks so detailed and enriched from it production, costume designs, to it’s lavish locations, and not to mention the stellar cast, which Sir Ian McKellan surprisingly dropped in for a quick “hello” which brought the crowd to it’s feet. This is a movie that simply cannot and in my belief, will not fail to deliver the goods. Jackson has clearly risen above to a much higher platform than anything before that he may just give Lucas’ STAR WARS franchise a run for it’s money. 2001 is looking to be a good year for flicks folks!
All in all, there was just soooo much stuff to take in at the con, that simply no one man could not cover it all. So it’s good to know and have seen many of you there that can maybe throw some light on some things I may have missed. I’m sure that hopefully some of the other regulars that were on hand will write in with their experiences. And to those who missed it, there’s always next year.
