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Just returned from my annual sojourn to San Diego for the Comic Con International. Once again, I geeked out on movies and comic book art. The estimate was 80,000 attendies this year, up 10,000 from 2003. Pretty uneventful on the comic art front, though I did score two pieces from Eric Powell. Eric is the creator of Dark Horse Comics The Goon. I predict huge things for Eric and his property. Some Hollywood studio's gonna snap this one up for sure. I did have the highlight of my convention going experiences at this year's show. I ran into Frank Darabont at an art booth. Darabont wrote and directed The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile and The Majestic. He was kind, gracious and totally without Hollywood pretense. While I didn't really mean to bother him, he actually engaged me in conversation. I ended up having a 15 minute conversation with him about his projects, past and present. I told him how much i've enjoyed all his movies (true). We talked a bit about his aborted script for Indiana Jones 4, which according to internet lore, was loved by Spielberg and Ford but rejected by Lucas. Darabont went into surprisng detail about the whole situation, but I won't betray his confidence by writng about it here. We talked about his current work on the Mission Impossible 3 screenplay. Apparently, he's living above Tom Cruise's garage, sharing changes on a daily basis. I asked him about the hunt for a new director (Joe Carnahan dropped out last week) with six weeks to go before the cameras roll. Surprisingly, he expressed interest in helming it himself. The setback was actually the reason why he was able to attend the show. Cruise was out director hunting. Later that night, Ain't It Cool News posted a story about Brett Ratner taking the helm. This might be true, but Darabont hadn't know about it. Judging by what he told me about Indy 4, I doubt he was keeping things a secret. Finally, he offered me a little career advice. I'm working on a couple of screenplays and he gave me a few suggestions on how to find a good agent. Again, he was totally cool and surprisingly, not in the least bit of hurry to get away from an eager fan. Fucking fantastic. The Hollywood contingent was out in force again. At least they spread out the panels over the four days this year. I intentionally skipped the Star Wars panel where they announced the third movie's title, Revenge of the Sith. I missed the Sin City panel with Robert Rodriguez, Jessica Alba, Rosario Dawson, Jaime King and Frank Miller. The line to get in the hall was ridiculous; over 6000 people filled the room. I did catch the tail end of the Sky Captain event, which had director Kerry Conran and producer Jude Law in attendance.
Also caught the Warner Brothers presentation, which sucked balls. I'm not a huge fan of the Hellblazer comic, but the film looked okay. Keanu Reeves was there promoting it. They've renamed the adaptation Constantine to avoid confusion with the Hellraiser series. The Batman Returns panel, which featured writer David Goyer and actor Cillian Murphy, didn't reveal much. Kinda lame, considering what the Marvel panel had going for it.
Sony's panel for the Sam Raimi produced The Grudge was standard. This is the American remake of the Japanese hit series of films. Sarah Michelle Gellar was promoting as the first American remake of a Japanese film to be directed by the original director... as if that counted for something. Saturday's 20th Century Fox presentation featured Aliens vs. Predator and the Fantastic Four. Fox opened with a surprise peek at next year's Elektra movie with Jennifer Garner. Lots of martial arts action... looked okay. I don't hold much hope for AVP considering it's director, Paul W.S. Anderson, not to be confused with P.T. Anderson. This Paul Anderson directed Mortal Kombat, Event Horizon, Soldier and Resident Evil... total dreck. The fanboys ate up the clip of the Alien/Predator battle though. Tim Story's take on the Fantastic Four looks promising. Good cast featuring Ioan Grufford, Jessica Alba and Michael Chiklis. They sound like they have their hearts in the right place at least.
I'll leave you with some pics of the costumed freaks who patrol the halls of the convention center.
©2004 Ron Lim unless noted |
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