Ron Perlman chatting live on Lycos. March 22, 2002

Events_Moderator: Welcome to Lycos Live Events! Tonight we are chatting with award-winning actor Ron Perlman from the movie Blade 2. Ron's big screen credits include City of Lost Children, Alien: Resurrection, and Enemy At The Gates.

Events_Moderator: OK everyone, it's time to begin! Let's welcome Ron Perlman to the chat! Hi Ron, welcome to Lycos Live Events! What's up?

Ron_Perlman: It's all good!

Events_Moderator: How hard was it to get the part in Blade 2? Did you have to do a lot of readings?

Ron_Perlman: I'm very close friends with Guillermo del Torro, who directed Blade 2, so that helps a lot. He kind of wrote the part for me, so it wasn't hard at all ... I didn't have to kill anybody.

ogboog: Was it fun playing the role in this movie?

Ron_Perlman: Big fun! One of the best times I've ever had on a film.

celes_draegan: What is your role in the movie?

Ron_Perlman: I play a character called Reinhardt who is sort of a professional soldier who works in the elite guard of the emperor of the vampire world. He's probably the baddest of the bad-asses, the closest, most trusted security force of our leader.

celticfiddler: How were the premiers in Austin and L.A.?

Ron_Perlman: Well, Austin is Guillermo's hometown. He's been living there for the last four or five years, and he tries to premiere his films wherever he's living at the time ... like 3000 of your closest friends. The premiere was great. It was a beautiful theater, a Q&A afterwards, and they asked all the right questions. It was a beautiful night. Then the LA premiere was at Mann Chinese, which is one of the most beautiful theaters left on earth. It seats like 4,000 people and it was totally full to the rafters. It was the same kind of response, totally with the movie, and the movie is non-stop, you really are tired by the end of it.

silver_pietro: How was it on the set of Blade 2?

Ron_Perlman: We shot in Prague ... my first time there, beautiful city, great city to work in, totally teeming with culture and history. It was the kind of movie where everything one can throw in, the cinematic state of the art, everything is in it. So it was a lot of fun to do and to watch and to participate in.

ogboog: Did you do your own stunts?

Ron_Perlman: I didn't have to do anything really in the movie that I couldn't handle. I didn't have any of the real martial arts stuff. I just carry a big gun and sort of pump away with people. I mean, whatever there was to do, I physically did it, I didn't have a stuntman.

cryogenic_man: How do you like being a vampire?

Ron_Perlman: I loved it! Very refreshing. Revitalizing.

miller_tyme690: Loved your role in Alien Resurrection. How long was filming for this movie?

Ron_Perlman: It's nice playing a character that's' a few centuries old. ;) I think this movie shot around 5 months. I was on it for 3 months.

celes_draegan: If you had to pick between being a mortal and an immortal what would you choose?

Ron_Perlman: I'm having so much fun being mortal that I wish I could live forever, because I'm starting to figure it all out. But I guess being an immortal gets old. {Laughs}

prodigous18: What was it like working with Wesley?

Ron_Perlman: Daunting. Wesley has a really good sense of humor, but he's very serious about his work, particularly about Blade. You know, Blade is kind of emotional, a set way that he is, and Wesley brings that to the set with him. There's a focus and a quiet and respect that one has when working with him, which is good, it takes everyone's game up a notch or two.

cryogenic_man: What does an actor like you have to eat while working on a movie?

Ron_Perlman: I was trying to stay as lean as I possibly could. So I was trying to eat as much protein as possible; eat all my carbs early in the day, stay light on my feet. The lighter you eat when you're working, the more focused your mind tends to be, so I try to eat as little as I can when I'm on production and filming.

celticfiddler: For the more squeamish among us (like me) do you have any less gory movies in the works now?

Ron_Perlman: I just completed the Star Trek movie, which is kind of a thinking man's Star Trek movie, and it's not a particularly violent franchise. But this film ... sorry, it's all gory. All gory, all the time. I can't wait to see how my character bleeds and what color.

crygale78: Can you give me a short rundown of what new Blade is about?

Ron_Perlman: Well, there's something loose on the streets that's feeding off vampires, at a feverish rate. And it's killing off the vampire community, so this elite group of anti-vampire killers team up with Blade, who's a vampire killer. So the groups that hate each other are forced to work together, and there's sort of an uneasy alliance, which plays throughout.

swansong10: Which of your big screen roles would you say was the most demanding?

Ron_Perlman: Quest for Fire.

celes_draegan: You look like a very tall guy from the movies I have seen. How tall are you?

Ron_Perlman: I'm not short, I'm about 6' 1". I guess I worked with a lot of smaller people, which makes you look big.

celticfiddler: Are you going to be doing any stage plays in the future?

Ron_Perlman: I don't have anything planned, but I'd like to down the road. I've got my hands full with the movie world right now, but I made myself a promise that in a few years, I'd like to get back to it.

aragorn220: What is the new Star Trek movie about?

Ron_Perlman: The Romulans and the Remans, the two sister planets which are outside the Federation, figure very strongly in it. Someone who is not from either planet takes power, and I can't give away a lot of stuff because I will ruin the movie, but he's a threat to Picard on a personal level.

Events_Moderator: How close did you stick to the script of Blade 2? Were you allowed to improvise at all?

Ron_Perlman: A great deal of Blade 2 got made while the camera was rolling. Improv was welcome, and a lot of stuff that ended up in the final film happened on the fly.

Events_Moderator: Is it hard working with all the special effects when shooting? I heard working in front of a blue screen can be hard.

Ron_Perlman: Very often you're working against something that you end up seeing in the final analysis that is just not there when you end up shooting. So you're taxing the imagination, and it provides for a unique challenge. A lot of times, they just describe it to you, so you totally have to invent it in your mind and play agains it.

hellboy_24: What attracted you to the role of Hellboy? Will it be your next movie?

Ron_Perlman: We're hoping it is! You know, the final decision as to whether or not it's going to be green-lit is happening as we speak. It's a phenomenal project, and we're hoping that the success of Blade will springboard it into the next project. I'm a comic book freak and this is the comic book to end all comic books, and the character is *just* magnificent.

Events_Moderator: I hate to say it, but we have to wrap this up in a few minutes. Our time with Ron is almost up! We'll take a few more questions & comments.

gogetit6: How did Beauty and the Beast prepare you for the Blockbuster thriller, Blade II?

Ron_Perlman: There's really no correlation between the world of the Beast and the world of the creatures in Blade 2, other than the fact that they are both sort of based on myth and fantasy, so you're always creating a character that's more abstract. I seem to find myself in that situation a lot as an actor, and so I know what the shortcuts are to coming up with something that is living and breathing, and yet very abstract.

miller_tyme690: What kind of problems did the crew face while filming Blade 2?

Ron_Perlman: The normal everyday, run of the mill, movie problems: long hours, lots of nights, your body gets addicted to kind of a strange clock, you work from 1 in the afternoon until 2 or 3 in the morning.

silver_pietro: Do you like playing a bad guy or a good guy?

Ron_Perlman: I like characters that are interesting and well conceived and smart. Those are the criteria for what engages me most. I've played bad guys that answer to that description and some good guys as well. The work is the same -- find something in that character that lives inside of you and bring it out. So I don't have any real preference so long as it's worthwhile.

swansong10: I've heard talk of a Blade franchise. Does that mean there's a possible Blade 3 in the works?

Ron_Perlman: I think there is a Blade 3 in the works. I think the people at New Line were very happy with the way Blade 2 came out. The jury is still out as to whether the sequel will be a blockbuster or not. If we can just get those fans back in there again, we will create a mandate for a third.

Events_Moderator: Thanks for taking the time to chat with us this evening, Ron! It's been fun! We'll have to do this again sometime!

Ron_Perlman: I look forward to that. I hope I have something as cool as Blade to chat about next time!

Events_Moderator: Great questions everyone. Y'all are the best! I hope everyone had fun! We sure did! See ya next time at Lycos Live Events!

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