LA Comic Con –December 19, 2003
Adam Baldwin, Morena Baccarin, Tim Minear, Joss Whedon, Ben Edlund, Nathan Fillion Gina Torres, Ron Glass
This first public appearance of the Firefly Cast was to promote the release of the DVD. It took place at the Shrine Auditorium. There were about 500 people in attendance. It was awesome.
We arrived early, my little sister Carol and me. We arrived at 7:45 am for the reserved seating tickets. Tickets went on sale at 9:30 am and the panel was at 1:00. The first 100 were guaranteed autographs.
We returned an hour before the session. We walked around then went to sit down. We were in the third row, excellent seats; our numbers were 62-63. I wrote notes to give to everyone on the panel. I was afraid I would not be able to say what I wanted to later. Then I decided to takes notes of the session for all Browncoats not able to attend. The following is my report.
LA Comic Con- Firefly Session Notes:
Sitting order stage right to left:
Ron Glass, Gina Torres, Nathan Fillion, Ben Edlund, Joss Whedon, Tim Minear, Morena Baccarin, Adam Baldwin
Joss appeared first. He then introduced Tim, but Nathan came with Tim following. Then Ben was introduced and Nathan moved over away from Joss. Finally one by one Gina, Morena, Ron and finally Adam came out. It was Q&A for the first hour. People lined up.
*** These are my notes of the questions and the answers to the best of my note taking ability***
Before any questions were asked Joss said he knew there was a question that might come up. Joss, “Yes I am a bit gay.” Gina comments, “A bit”. Then seriously he talks about the Firefly Movie, “The script is written, things looking good. Don’t want to jinx it. I have been fighting to make the movie. Can’t go into detail about what is in it. The script does not repeat but is clear for first timers. However there is nothing definitive yet.”
First Q: What made you say yes to doing Firefly?
Adam: My bank account. (Everyone cracks up)
Nathan: Shooting the cop and shooting the horse.
Adam: Jayne is Warren Oates Gina: Only had the outline of the characters and the mission, but the fact there were no aliens was what appealed most; also that the material is new, fresh and intelligent.
Ron: Excited about being black and gray. Intrigued by the possibility of goodness in space as well as investigating evilness in space.
Q2 to Joss: When did you create Firefly?
Joss: About 3 years prior to shooting, he was on vacation and reading Killer Angels about the Battle of Gettysburg. He started thinking and then writing on vacation.
Q3: What are you working on since Firefly?
Morena: Firefly the Movie (all positive about the future). Still Life, which does not have an airdate. A friend has a small independent movie only showing in LA, Way Off Broadway. Everyone support it.
Tim: Just watching the DVDs. Also working on Wonderfalls, no airdate yet. Fox is thinking of showing the pilot in the middle this time.
Joss: Working on Angel and Firefly.
Ben Edlund: His directorial debut on Angel is coming up.
Nathan: Just on Miss Match working with Alicia Silverstone. Also, he had poison oak for weeks.
Gina: She was in this small movie Matrix Revolution, don’t blink or you’ll miss her. She was on Angel and will soon be on 24.
Ron: He just finished judging the Miss Louisiana Beauty Contest.
Q4 to Ben and Joss: Was there a creative line from Titan AE to Firefly?
Joss laughing: “There was no creative line through Titan AE. Thanks for reminding us of our past.”
Q5: Is there a reason Book is on the cover and not someone else?
Nathan jokingly: Ron said he would not do the movie if he was not on a cover.
Tim: We only had enough for four.
Q6: The tattoo, is it yours or Mal’s and what is it?
Nathan: It’s his and it has two parts: peace and a hieroglyphic that means property of Gina Torres. “I’m going to have that removed.”
Q7: What is your favorite episode?
Tim: Objects in Space.
Joss: Out of Gas
Morena: Out of Gas
Adam: War Stories seeing the ear cut off.
Ben: Out of Gas and which one is the hospital? Ariel
Nathan: War Stories and Out of Gas; both show what they mean to each other and what they are willing to do.
Gina: Out of Gas, she misses … (Did not catch what exactly she missed.)
Ron: “I have no idea what happened in the episodes. I do remember shooting kneecaps."
Q8: Working with ensembles there is no diva element. Everyone really clicked and gelled? How did that happen?
Gina: Bathing together helped. (Everyone laughs.)
Joss: Yes the auditions (still joking).
Nathan: Credit Joss writing characters and hiring actors that bring them to life. (Then Nathan goes into a Christopher Walken impression about life. I cracked up and didn’t hear the rest.)
Adam: That guy right there. (Pointing at Nathan referring to his humor.)
Joss: “I look for sanity”. (Gina laughs and cries, “Sanity”) The thing is Nathan was the star and he forgot to go Diva.
Nathan: “What? I forgot?”
Q9: The Script Dead or Alive? What went into deciding not to produce it?
Joss: It wasn’t ready. There wasn’t time. They needed to go deep and get to the funny and the scary. The story was external. They just ran out of time.
Q10: The Merging of China and Europe how did that come about?
Joss: Well China is a super power (sarcastically) some people don’t know that. They have a great wall. It was just a utopian vision of the superpowers joining together when Earth was in peril.
Q11 To the cast: How did you feel about the Chinese? (Everyone on stage is laughing.)
Nathan: Well I have this cassette tape. One of the first, (looking at the cassette) No the first they gave me to learn these phrases. (Starts reading the words on the tape.) Here you go. (Nathan gives the tape to the girl who asked the question!!!)
Q12: What was the most challenging part working on Firefly?
Tim: Being cancelled. We were still working on The Message when we found out. Then we had the scene were everyone is laughing. That was challenging.
Morena: In Trash, she was sitting on this high wall in a dress carrying guns that were heavy, and she was afraid of falling off. Also (to Nathan) in Shindig dancing and talking was hard.
Nathan: Dancing, talking and acting; very hard doing all three at once.
Ron: No problems, he liked everything.
Joss: Summer straddling listening above had to re-shoot that several times to get it right. Safe was problematic needed 30 secs Adam did a great job of looking at several props.
Adam: Saying goodbye.
They were together the last day and were singing on their way to the set.
Q13 To Joss: Will you be directing any Angel episodes?
Joss: Yes after Ben’s episode.
Q14 To Gina: Will you be returning to Alias?
Gina: They haven’t asked.
Q15 How did you deal with blending themes? Also why is religion part of your show?
Joss: Religion is part of reality, various points of view different and the same at different points. Blending I take from Shakespeare, Turn of the Century Dutch, Whatever I can draw from.
Q16: Fred on Angel and River are similar. Fred was kind of insane and has become more normal. Would River follow the same path?
Joss: Never thought of them both.
The Autograph Session-
I was nervous about saying something or not saying anything to the BDHs so I wrote notes to each of them. Adam, Morena, Tim Minear, Joss, Ben Edlund, Nathan, Gina and Ron. It was all a blur really. I remember Adam’s smile. He said something nice. Joss was excited to get a note and shared it with Tim. I know Joss said something funny but my brain went missing completely. Nathan really just takes my breath away. I can’t sentence properly. Gina was nice and Ron was funny. There was a long line waiting for autographs so I left when I was done. It was great to see 5 of 9 on stage. We missed Alan, Jewel, Summer and Sean.
The following photo was found online. It show the love and fun among the cast.
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