WonderCon 2011-Cowboys and Aliens Panel

WonderCon 2011 boasted many coming films and comics, among this group is the highly anticipated Cowboys and Aliens. Director Jon Favreau and Executive Producer Robert Orci were front and center answering questions. Cowboys and Aliens stars Harrison Ford, Daniel Craig, Olivia Wilde, Sam Rockwell, Clancy Brown and Adam Beach. Scheduled to hit theaters July 29th 2011, I for one am looking forward to this film.

Storyline:

The Old West.. where a lone cowboy leads an uprising against a terror from beyond our world. 1873. Arizona Territory. A stranger with no memory of his past stumbles into the hard desert town of Absolution. The only hint to his history is a mysterious shackle that encircles one wrist. What he discovers is that the people of Absolution don't welcome strangers, and nobody makes a move on its streets unless ordered to do so by the iron-fisted Colonel Dolarhyde (Ford). It's a town that lives in fear. But Absolution is about to experience fear it can scarcely comprehend as the desolate city is attacked by marauders from the sky. Screaming down with breathtaking velocity and blinding lights to abduct the helpless one by one, these monsters challenge everything the residents have ever known. Now, the stranger they rejected is their only hope for salvation. As this gunslinger slowly startsto remember who he is and where he's been...

Jon Favreau was asked a few questions about WonderCon it self, what it was like working with this amazing cast and if he prefers directing over acting. Here is a little bit on what he said.

Question: About attending WonderCon 2011.

Answer: "I was here in 2008 to promote Iron Man. It really was a wonderful moment, similar to this in that people didn't know what to expect. We were a bit of an underdog back then. ComicCon has turned into this huge thing and it's a lot of fun; but, WonderCon reminds me a lot of what ComicCon was like when I first started going to ComicCon. ComicCon has been so instrumental in so many movies really arriving that everybody focuses a lot of attention there; but, it's more like a big festival or big party. What's nice about WonderCon is it's a little bit more intimate and we can really have a dialogue here and talk about things. It's not like a big carnival. I think it also shows you guys who really cares about this group of people and I, for one, am very grateful for what you guys have all done for my career. So I want to make sure that this remains a priority. There's a much more limited slate of films that have prioritized this event so it allows for a better dialogue."

Question: What it was like to work with Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford.

Answer: "These guys were great. Daniel Craig is just an awesome, professional, great dude. I admired his work in Layer Cake and, of course, later in the Bond films where he was a sort of a vulnerable but really badass hero, where the wheels were always turning. He's really invested in the stakes of the moment. So you have that generation. And then, of course, Harrison was a late-breaking idea because we didn't think it was doable at all. We never thought he would want to come back to genre and--as most of the people in this room feel--we fell in love with the guy through films like Star Wars (crowd cheers like crazy) and Indiana Jones. To have him bring that pedigree was almost like when you would cast John Wayne in a western. He brings this entire history and so you have two generations of action stars who reluctantly have to work together--we start them very much at odds in a cruel environment--to rescue their people. It was just great. They both care deeply about the process, they were a lot of fun, we were all living out in Santa Fe for the summer, and it was a dream project."

Question: If he prefers directing over acting.

Answer: "I enjoy directing more to be honest with you because--now that this

[attending WonderCon] has become part of directing; now that we're trying to lock picture and finish off effects and get the music in and this is the moment when it tends to become the most trying and there's the most anxiety from the studios and you're trying to figure out your release and your marketing campaign--to be able to come here and show you this and to feel like we're throwing a party and have it be appreciated so much, it makes directing the most fun job there is in the world, for sure."

Favreau and Orci also talked with us about each character being a big part of the film, because every part matters in a western. There are no small parts. Director Favreau is also making use of social networking, speaking with blogs and using Twitter to get his movie out to the public. I speak for us all when I say COME TO THE SHEEP! We would love to have him talk Aliens with us any day of the week. :)

If you were lucky enough to have nabbed a seat in the viewing room you got a nine minute screening of the movie. A very tasty treat indeed. So what say you? Will you be going to see Cowboys and Aliens? Leave some comments below and let me know what YOU think.

KD

PS While I did get all this recored in my funky old mini tape recorder, my good friend Michael Guillen transcribed it on HIS blog first. You can check out the whole panel at The Evening Class. Thanks Michael! :)

WonderCon 2011, fun pictures part 3

We made all kinds of friends at WonderCon, this nice wolf was one of them. He sure liked nibbling on my hooves. Stop! That tickles! :)

Thor! With hammer and all....

Uh, please don't pull the trigger.

These cute anime girls really liked how soft I was. Winning! :P

Can we get a napkin over here?

WonderCon 2011, fun pictures part 2

Mike took more great shots from WonderCon, thought I would share a few more with all of you. Two cute chicks making friends with our Sheep.

You mess with the Sheep, you WILL go down! RARRRR!!!

Awesome! Need I say more? ;)

These two were very cool and I did find out they made quiet a bit of these costumes themselves. Talk about talent!

Creepy! And those claws were real and sharp!

Can you spot the sheep?

WonderCon 2011, fun pictures

We had a blast at WonderCon this year, here are a few pictures from that day. More to come soon. We hope you enjoy.

Three of the Sheep peeps at WonderCon. In order from left to right: Richard, Amber and Me. :)

Okay question. Someone please tell me why AMBER joined in on shooting the sheep?! Hmm?

Ah yes. Darth has sensed the great power in our sheep. But fear not! We will never use this power for evil!

Ghostbusters! Wait guys don't cross the streams! NOOOOOOO! :)

WonderCon 2011-Priest

If someone asks me, "Hey, Paul Bettany is going to be at this panel at WonderCon, you wanna go check it out?", what other response would there be than HECK YEAH! Paul is my lemon flavored love cake for life, but we will get to that in a moment. ;) All the Sheep peeps made sure to park our butts front row to check out all the yummy goodness that is Priest.

Priest directed by Scott Charles Stewart, stars Paul Bettany (I love you for life), Karl Urban (good lord you are too fine for words), Cam Gigandet, Lilly Collins, Maggie Q, Christopher Plummer and Stephen Moyer (yes, that's Bill from TB).

Storyline:

PRIEST, a post-apocalyptic sci-fi thriller, is set in an alternate world -- one ravaged by centuries of war between man and vampires. The story revolves around a legendary Warrior Priest from the last Vampire War who now lives in obscurity among the other downtrodden human inhabitants in walled-in dystopian cities ruled by the Church. When his niece is abducted by a murderous pack of vampires, Priest breaks his sacred vows to venture out on a quest to find her before they turn her into one of them. He is joined on his crusade by his niece's boyfriend, a trigger-happy young wasteland sheriff, and a former Warrior Priestess who possesses otherworldly fighting skills.

From Wikipedia:

Priest (Hangul: 프리스트) was a manhwa (Korean comic) series created by Hyung Min-woo. It fuses the Western genre with supernatural horror, Gun fu, and dark fantasy themes and is notable for its unusual, angular art style. An interview with Hyung in Priest: Volume 3 states that the comic was inspired by the computer game Blood, which featured a similar horror-Western aesthetic and an undead protagonist.

During the panel we got to learn quiet a bit about how Director Stewart was able to translate the comic to the big screen. He shared with us his views on where he wanted to take the film and how he was able to put all the pieces together and hopefully create something that fans will love. As action plays a large role in the film, Stewart shared that he wanted to blend many different styles of action and Sci Fi to make it a whole new recipe. We shall have to wait and see, but from what I could gather it's going to be one fun ride. ;)

We viewed some unseen footage of the different action sequences in the film, the whole cast had to undergo months of vigorous training to be able to do all these stunts. Of course stunt men were used, but the actors all wanted to do as much as they could. Here is a little bit of Cam and Paul talking about that training program.

Cam: "I don't think I had quiet the rigorous schedule as Paul. I think one of my hardest things was holding up that 70 lb gun. So my muscles right here [points to trap muscle] are quiet large. Aside from that as you guys saw I don't have the skill so I get my butt kicked in that scene. So yeah, Paul can probably answer that better. But he was born with that talent..."

Paul: "Yeah, that was like my Sunday. I don't know what you lot do on the weekend but this is just what I do. No, I am British and therefore I am starting from a butch deficit. I uh, yeah you don't have to clap so loudly. Play nice. I had 8 months of training to make me look like a normal human being. And then a bunch of combat training and a bunch of wire work, which I really loved doing. Then you got a bunch of people who's job it is to make you look REALLY cool. So you're getting a lot of help. And by the end of the movie Cam does get the skills. Not quiet as skillful as me but ya know maybe by Priest 2."

"I think I can speak for the whole cast and crew so I will, cause I am that confident. If you found any of the cast and crew on the street, they will say it was one of the greatest experiences of my professional career. We just, every day was a blast even the days that I got injured. Thanks to Vicodin actually...yeah, yeah so see both things were fairly great. But it was a fantastic shoot."

Lilly Collins talked a bit about her character in Priest, being the exact opposite from her previous role in The Blind Side. Her character Lucy starts outas kinda the damsel in distress, she says. But Lucy has Priest blood in her family, so though she never had to use those skills before she manages to become a fighter fairly quickly. Lilly loved the wire work and doing stunts and action she would like to continue playing these types of roles. She also announced at the panel that just the day before had accepted to play a role in Snow White alongside Julia Roberts.

With all these fine males in one film it's enough to make this girl swoon. No joke. Throw in a slamming good story, action, Sci Fi AND Vamps? This is a movie to die and reanimate for! May 13th you know where I will be. :)

KD

WonderCon 2011-Hanna

While Richard was off at the Comic Artist panels with Amber, Mike and I checked out a few of the movies coming up this year. The first being Hanna directed by Joe Wright (Pride and Prejudice, Atonement) starring Saoirse Ronan, Eric Bana and Cate Blanchett.

Storyline:

Hanna (Ronan) is a teenage girl. Uniquely, she has the strength, the stamina, and the smarts of a soldier; these come from being raised by her father (Bana), an ex-CIA man, in the wilds of Finland. Living a life unlike any other teenager, her upbringing and training have been one and the same, all geared to making her the perfect assassin. The turning point in her adolescence is a sharp one; sent into the world by her father on a mission, Hanna journeys stealthily across Europe while eluding agents dispatched after her by a ruthless intelligence operative with secrets of her own (Ms. Blanchett). As she nears her ultimate target, Hanna faces startling revelations about her existence and unexpected questions about her humanity.

With the speakers blasting a trailer of the upcoming film to the original music of The Chemical Brothers we watched some amazing action scenes yet to be showed to the mass public. With stunts being done by Jeff Imada who's work you will know from such movies as Blade, Fight Club, Bourne and Iron Man 2. Director Wright made a point of pointing out while he loved the action in Bourne he did NOT in any want to copy that style. The whole team worked really hard to keep it "Bourne free" if you will, while still showing off some amazing skill. At the same time keeping the fighting accurate to what a 16 year old girl would be capable of.

Director Wright also talked a bit about his choice of character for the thugs in the film, molding them from bullies in his past and reveling in the fact that they get beat up by a girl. :) The audience ate that one up. In respect to his personal views of women being objectified in film, he really wanted to stay away from anything in that arena. Wright made a point to touch on a few movies, some out now, that put women in bikinis and call it "Girl Power".

A question from the audience about Hanna possibly being available in DBOX was met with blank stares. Wright was unfamiliar with DBOX and frankly he personally was not all that interested in "moving seats". I myself have viewed and reviewed movies that did offer the DBOX experience (Inception, Tron and The Expendables), and while it's a bit pricey to enjoy at every movie, and really unnecessary, I do enjoy it from time to time. Adds an extra element to the overall movie experience. But to each their own.

Saoirse Ronan, who was attending her first Con was poised and beautiful as she talked more about her character and how she had to literally clear her mind of everything in order to become Hanna. With stunningly gorgeous blue eyes that just sparkled, I am ashamed to admit, I was a little distracted at times as I just watched her eyes. lol. What?! They were so pretty! ;)

From what we could gather at the panel, this movie is NOT what you are expecting. If you like Kill Bill type of movies this one should be a good fit for you. I personally can't wait to check it out, review to follow after the release date this weekend!

KD

WonderCon 2011-Elvira

WonderCon 2011 was this nerdy girl's orgasmic dream come true! Hosted in San Fransisco, the 25th Anniversary of the convention was everything we could have hoped for and more. Amber, Richard, myself and my very good friend Mike were in attendance. While Mike is not "officially" a part of I Smell Sheep he does contribute behind the scenes with his kick butt camera skills and all around awesomeness. :) We will have lots of posts coming up over the next week or so thanks to WonderCon, plenty of exciting news and interviews.

Starting off with one of my personal favorites, the lovely Elvira (Cassandra Peterson) Mistress of the Dark. Cassandra came in full costume as her wickedly vampish character; full hair and makeup brought me back to the 80's when I first fell in love with this icon. Cassandra was attending WonderCon to do some photo ops, answer fan questions and sign autographs so I made sure to shake my furry butt over to her area so I could meet this wonderful lady in the flesh.

Elvira looked great, smelled great and was an overall class act. A real professional who took a few moments to chat with fans as they stopped by. Mike and I got a few photos as you can see. In addition she also signed a photo personally to the Sheep site! How cool is that?! While posing with Elvira for our picture I asked if she would mind the sheep being with us and she said:

"Well, that's a new one. *insert laugh* I have been asked to do many strange things but that IS a first."

Then she smiled a very wicked smile at me and posed for our photo. At this point I kinda wanted to faint, or pee myself or maybe both. lol

The rumor mill has it that Elvira will be making a comeback doing some live tapings for my local Nor Cal TV Station KOFY TV 20. No info yet on WHEN that will be happening, or how many other stations will carry it, but my guess would be over the next few months or so. As I get more details I will pass them on to all of you. :)

So what do think of Elvira? Ever watch her Late Night Movie Macabre or Hammer House of Horror TV show, maybe something else? Love to hear from all of you.

Sheep Out.
KD

WonderCon 2011

Amber, Richard and myself are so excited to let everyone know that we will be attending WonderCon 2011 April 2nd in San Fran! Comic artists, cartoonists, anime, authors, actors, directors and much more will all be there. We hope to come back with lots of fun pictures and many interviews from all the attendants.

You can check out all the excitement at the following link: http://www.comic-con.org/wc/

If you are going to be there please let us know, would love to meet up and share the experience with all of you. :) All three of us will also be out collecting as much free swag as we can find and sharing that with everyone after the event. That means more contests and more fun stuff to win! Woot! Woot!

If you have any questions you would like us to ask please leave them in the comments below. I know that I will be asking Paul Bettany of the upcoming movie The Priest all about his role and info on upcoming movies he will be in. Love that guy! :)

Looking forward to sharing with all of you soon! Sheep out.