Ron Perlman at the
London Film & Comic Con
Earl's Court. London, UK.
June 25 & 26, 2005.
 |
Ron Perlman at the
London Film & Comic Con
Earl's Court. London, UK.
June 25 & 26, 2005.
|
Well, Ron finally made it to a British convention. On the 25th and 26th of June he attended the London Film and Comic Con at Earl's Court Exhibition Centre.
Other celebrity guests included, Adrian Paul, Adam Baldwin, Kate Mulgrew, Charisma Carpenter, Garrett Wang, Billy Boyd, Lou Ferrigno, Xander Berkeley, Warwick Davies, Sandra Dickinson, and many others. Val Kilmer was listed to appear on both days but in the end he didn't appear at all. Apparently this was due to some sort of security breach.
KITT the talking car from "Knight Rider " was on display, having been accompanied to the UK by series producer, Glen Larson. There was also a "Blake's Seven" reunion on the Saturday with most of the original cast in attendance.
I went along with fellow Ron fans, Sharon Scrase, Lesley Burton, Amy Hazzard, Denise Bolshaw, Melanie Moss and Philip Ward.
Sharon, Amy, Denise, Lesley, me, Melanie, and Philip
When Sharon and I arrived at the venue on Saturday morning, Ron was already seated at his autograph table, smiling, shaking hands, and signing autographs for the long line of people waiting to meet him. Ron met and signed autographs for approximately 740 people throughout that day. He'd only arrived in London from the USA the day before, so jetlag had kicked in and he told us he hadn't got too much sleep the night before, so I'm sure he must have been pretty exhausted by the end of that day.
On the Sunday morning he arrived fresh and smiling and gave us a wave as he settled down to his second day of autograph signing and greeting fans. At 1.30pm he came along to the Talk Room for a 30-minute Q&A session, which of course wasn't anywhere near long enough, but we managed to get seats in the second row from the front, (front row was reserved for gold pass holders). There were lots of questions I'd like to have asked Ron, but as I had to satisfy myself with just one, (too many people, too little time), I decided to ask him about "Soloman's Turn," a film I haven't been able to find out much about. According to the Internet Movie Data Base, the movie was released on September 10, 2004. However, after greeting me with a big smile and introducing me as a lady who needs no introduction, Ron told me the film hasn't even been made yet. He said the script is still being tinkered with and when it's finally finished, they will make it. Bryant Turner, whom Ron has a deep association with, has writing the scripts for both "Soloman's Turn" and for "Wooden Lake," the film Ron plans to direct. Ron said "Wooden Lake" is almost ready for production and he hopes to be shooting that in the late fall.
Hollywood News.com was at Earl's Court and they recorded and transcribed a short extract of Ron's Q&A, some of which I've included below. There is an audio version of the first question and reply at Hollywoodnews.com.
Q: Any news on the Hellboy sequel and what movie would you most like to be in?
RP: Well, I'd love to be in Hellboy 2. That's to the first question. Guillermo del Toro is off in Spain right now doing another film, and that's the reason why Hellboy 2 is not in production yet. I would imagine that if everything goes according to plan, we'll be in production Christmas time, and shooting the picture maybe January or February of next year. That means that in December 2006 or January 2007, there will be a Hellboy 2 in your stocking.
Q: Out of all of the film's you've seen. What would you say is the best and the worst comic book movie of the last five years?
RP: I see comic book movies because I have a young son, so I've seen more of them than I'd wish I'd seen. I thought X-Men was an example of great filmmaking applied to a rather interesting concept. I thought Hellboy was unique in so much as you had a character who was an underachiever. He's very low-tech, he's very blue collar doesn't take himself too seriously, he's not that true blue, honest, you know, do gooder. He's a cigar chomping, beer drinking, slob of a guy who lives in a bachelor pad filled with cat poop, dirty socks, and he sort of chooses to move through the world with his tongue firmly implanted in his cheek. He's got nothing but wise cracks and one liners for his opponents....trash talk. If I was going to play any of them at all, I'm so glad it was him. The guy needs to have a sense of humour for me to have an interest in him, and I haven't seen all that many superhero movies with any kind of sense of humour at all. The new Batman movie, I've heard is outstandingly good. I haven't seen it yet, but I'm waiting.
Q: I saw you a few years ago in a Broadway play...A Few Good Men, and was surprised you weren't in the film....
RP: Rob Reiner called me and I said look, Jack Nicholson really needs the work! (Laughter)
Most of the other questions were ones that Ron has answered many times before in various interviews over the years, but he always makes his replies sound fresh and interesting, and usually filled with humour. One lady asked how Ron first got into acting. Giving us a big grin he said, "Some of you have probably heard this story many times before, so feel free to talk amongst yourselves." He then launched into the tale (for probably the millionth time, poor man) of how he was on the swimming team at High School and the coach hauled him out of the pool and sent him off to the drama department to audition for the school play, etc. I think there are a whole lot of people out there (and I'm certainly one of them) who are extremely grateful to that swimming coach!
It was really terrific to see Ron again, and this time I didn't even have to travel to the USA to do so. I hope he attends many more UK conventions in the future, because one thing is for sure, if this one was anything to go by, he certainly has a huge following over here.
