farpoint, day two
Feb. 20th, 2008 12:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dianora2Here's the writeup for Sunday. Slightly shorter than yesterday's. The stuff about seeing him/getting his autograph is at the beginning. Make sure to at least read down to the beginning of the Q&A to find out about my totally squeeful moment.
There was an autograph session held once each day, and each day you could get one item signed for free. On Saturday night, theevil genius ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
em_meredith said, "You know, if we upload pictures to Flickr, we can print them out at Target and get them signed." And lo, this was judged to be the Greatest Idea Ever. And so Sunday morning on the way to the con we stopped at Target, where I got a printout of the picture I had taken with James the day before, and nnaylime got a printout of a picture of him she'd taken at his Q&A. And then we were ready. And insane.
We got on line for the autographing and this time the tables were set up better, and I noticed that when someone wanted a picture, James was able to actually get up and stand next to them and put his arm around them. And so I got pouty. "I want a nice picture like that," I whined. And then he got snuggly with a girl and I was like "GODDAMMIT I AM GETTING ANOTHER PICTURE WITH HIM." No. Shame. Seriously.
nnaylime went up first to get her picture signed, and he did a big doubletake when he saw Eman's photo of him. "Isn't this from yesterday?" Oh yes, James, yes it is. He recovered and wrote "That's showbiz" as she asked him to, and then his usual Lots of Love, but he smeared the gold marker, and he was so apologetic. "I'm so sorry I smeared it! Can I sign something else for you?" When Eman insisted that wasn't necessary, he made his smudge into a gold heart. Awwww. Which, of course, just made things worse because it took forever to dry, but hey, it was the thought that counted.
James signing. Crappy photo by moi.
Then I went up there, with MY picture from the day before, and he was doubly flummoxed. "How did you guys do this?" he asked. "Something with the computer, or...?" I told him we uploaded the photos and then had them printed out at Target, and added "God bless America," and he remarked on how clever we were, which was very generous of him to say instead of "insane." He then APOLOGIZED for not remembering my name, as if I would expect him to, and signed my photo. I then asked, with all the rusty coquettishness I could muster, if I could please get another picture with him, from a better angle this time, even though we did both look very good in the first one (yes I did say that). So he said of course and got up and took the picture with me, waiting fornnaylime to show me the camera to verify that it came out okay. He did that often with people, waiting to make sure the picture was okay, sometimes even asking to see it himself. There was one time where a kid was taking the picture, and there was some confusion as to whether he'd put his finger over the lens, so James suggested he take another picture just to be safe. Such a gentleman! /old lady voice
I am SO happy with the way this picture came out. He looks so good! And I look okay too. Just take my word for it. It was totally worth asking for the second photo. Yay. (Photo bynnaylime.)
He didn't seem to smile open-mouthed much, if at all. I think he's self-conscious about his teeth. Or about his smile, one or the other.
Okay, moving on. At the second panel he came out in a coat again, which he again quickly discarded -- does he smoke? I wonder if he was out sneaking a smoke each time -- and again opened the floor to questions.
Next two photos byem_meredith, please do not reproduce elsewhere.
I was kind of madly in love with this outfit. For some reason I was obsessed with his shoes, and the way his pants looked with his shoes. So much so that I took a picture.
I don't know, it was just hot, okay? Leave me alone.
Again, if you want to see more good pictures from both days, please go check outnnaylime's picture gallery here.
nnaylime, em_meredith and I had gotten awesome seats for this session, right in front of the stage, technically the third row but since the first two rows were truncated it was as if we were in the first row. Keep that in mind for this next bit. The first question was about whether he thought he would want to pursue more science fiction roles after BSG, specifically if he would go back to England to be on Doctor Who or Torchwood (ummm, okay), and James said that no, he actually didn't want to pursue any SF roles for at least a few years after BSG, not because he doesn't like SF, but because he's very concerned about becoming pigeonholed. He said that basically his next role would be very important, because that could pigeonhole him or not. But then he said he had to add a qualifier that if the perfect script came along, everything else goes out the window. And that's why the writers' strike was so important, because there is no real dream job - it's all about the script.
My question was tangential to the first one, so I raised my hand. James looked at me and said, "Dianora?" [Only he used my real name, ahem.]
As if we were, you know, close personal friends.
It was so funny because all three of us were kind of taken aback and flustered at that, and I paused and said, "oh thank you" like a giggly fangirl, and then continued with my question, which was whether he thought he would stay in America or move back to England once BSG wrapped. He said it might actually depend on visas, but that either L.A. or London would be fine with him, so long as he could find the work. He just hoped that any work he did find would be in one of those two cities. *g*
But the important thing here is that JAMES CALLIS TOTALLY REMEMBERED MY NAME, YO. Okay, he then proceeded to call on three or four other people and remembered their names too, but still! Two autographs and he remembered my name? The man is awesome. And clearly has a very good memory for names. LOVE HIM. Seriously, that was one of the greatest fangirl moments ever, and I am very grateful to him for giving it to me. :D
He got asked a lot about non-BSG work in this panel. He talked a lot about this Esther movie he'd filmed, where he had to play a really evil character who didn't have the shades of gray that Gaius does, and it took a lot out of him. But they stayed at a beautiful palace in India which made up for a lot. He was in the movie with Omar Sharif, Peter O'Toole, John Rys-Davies, etc., and couldn't believe he was with those guys. He went up to Omar Sharif and said, "So, Omar, I assume that when you heard I would be in this production, that made your decision to participate that much easier, hmm?" Luckily for him, he said, Omar Sharif has a great sense of humor. He said that one time Omar was wearing a funny hat for the film and James said to him, "Omar, when they said put the kettle on, they didn't mean on top of your head." He cracked himself up with that one.
His first play was with Bob Hoskins, and James played an American, and in an American accent he had to sing German love songs. And the director was an Australian who said that if he was bad, everyone would hate him. And he illustrated all this with the appropriate accents, it was awesome. He played an artist who was supposed to come out and show these gents his pieces, and so he would try to crack them up on stage by substituting nudie pics. And the proper older Brits would just look at him disapprovingly like "James, really." This guy can't catch a break with his attempted pranks!
He mentioned that he had acted on stage in "The Doctor's Dilemma" with Ian McDiarmid -- you guys should know who that is, he said -- it's the Emperor -- and then added that Ian doesn't like it very much if you call him that. *g* But he said that there was one time on stage with Ian where the guy was so amazing, just so incredibly talented, that James just started laughing. Because he couldn't even imagine attempting to act opposite that. And then he got in trouble for laughing. *g* (A lot of his anecdotes seem to culminate in his getting in trouble, LOL.)
Working on The Scarlet Pimpernel was where he met Jamie Bamber. He said that he had been being on a lot of shows where he was the guy who died, which was great because you got to just be on the show for a little while and then leave to look for another job. And there was one time, around Scarlet Pimpernel I guess, where James was walking onto a set to shoot something and Jamie was walking out because he had just died. And they gave each other a little high five over that. Hee. Guess we know one reason the two of them are such good friends, they've apparently known each other for a long time.
Someone asked if he can "bury" his English accent, and James said "You mean like this?" in an American accent. He had to say a few sentences before everyone caught on, but then it was a big hit. He said that in London, you can be in a serious Shakespearean production, where you're spouting poetry on stage, but backstage everyone is trying to sound like Keanu Reeves. "You've got a hair trigger pointed at your head!" said in his best Keanu whilst pointing an imaginary gun. Hilarious. He noted, though, that the trick to doing an American accent is to sound as much like yourself as possible, because if it's bad, it sounds like "South Park on acid." He did get a role once where he had to use a Latino accent and he said he was "berry berry bad."
I just need to pause here again and emphasize that we got to hear James do an American accent, an Australian accent, and a bad Latino accent. It was AWESOME. So much fun, everyone was just giggling with delight.
He writes music, and Bear McCreary makes him feel like a loser, basically, because he's so young and so talented.
If he couldn't be an actor, he'd do something else in the industry - either direct or write music.
He used the word "milieu." I don't remember the context, I was just excited about the word. ;) He also used the word "irascible."
A gofer brought him out some tea while he was talking, and he joked it was "hot tea with honey and lemon...and gin, and vodka." He had apparently picked up a cold, poor thing. He was asked why Brits tend to not like American tea and he said he has a theory that it's not the tea that's the problem, it's the water. (nnaylime mused that maybe it's because our water has fluoride and theirs doesn't.)
He tries not to do too many cons because he thinks that if you do too many (and he says he's seen this), you "have nothing left for yourself" in terms of your own energy. It just uses up too much energy and he'd rather conserve it.
When BSG first started the producers talked to him and Jamie about British TV and how it works - he said it was funny, while all the American actors were trying to angle for longer contracts, he and Jamie were trying to angle for shorter ones. *g* He said the British mindset is quality over quantity. So he wouldn't want BSG to go on for too long and overstay its welcome anyway.
He noted that Gaius' vanity, his narcissism, is actually a weakness, a character flaw - he never actually wanted to kill anybody. His vanity is his Achilles' heel. He doesn't care how Gaius ends up, except for the fact that it seems the writers automatically default to making Baltar "the bad guy," and James tries to rein them in. When he initially read the scene in (Occupation?) where Baltar signs the death warrant, it was written as basically the Cylons hand him the death warrant and Baltar just signs it. James loved the rest of the script, but he had a serious problem with that scene, and told the writers so. He pointed out that if Baltar were to commit that unforgivable an act with no pressure or provocation, that the character would essentially be dead and there would be nothing to even do with him any more, writing-wise, because he was so irredeemable. So all of the stuff that was in the episode -- the yelling, the gun holding, shooting Six in the head -- was all put there to accommodate James' objections. In fact, when they first started shooting the scene, when Matthew Bennett was giving him the warrant to sign, he was doing it too gently, and James said to him, "This has to feel like an al-Qaeda torture session. If this feels like anything else, I am not going to sign the effing paper." And then he was the one who requested that we don't even see Baltar's hands signing the document, so that the way it is shot, with him listening to head Six and finally signing it, is done as if in a dream, and he doesn't even realize he's doing it, almost. So that was something he felt really strongly about and fought to have changed, and personally I think it was 100% the right decision. (I think he even said that an early cut didn't keep Six getting shot, and he asked for them to put it back in.)
He said something about how you "can't escape the event horizon of a black hole," and again I don't entirely remember the context, but I loved that line. :)
He doesn't care about awards, Emmys - he finds it all very self-congratulatory and insufferable (me too, James!). He said the show getting the Peabody means more to him than an Emmy ever could. He did say that he kind of wished EJO and Mary McDonnell could get some kind of recognition in that regard, though, just because they're so awesome, and the show would probably never have existed without their participation.
His favorite actor to work with is Mary McDonnell, not just because she's great but because their characters are so diametrically opposed. "He admires Laura, and she can't bear him." He said that Gaius secretly wishes he had Laura's backbone.
He was asked what British shows he grew up with in England, and he specifically mentioned Fawlty Towers - "everyone grows up with that" - and said he felt there was a bit of Basil in Baltar, really. And then said maybe that could be a spin-off, Baltar opening a B&B on Caprica, with Mary McDonnell as Sybil. Hee! He also specifically mentioned loving the Muppets, even though they're not British.
And that's about it! All in all, an awesome weekend, an awesome man. I am so happy that I went. I would absolutely love to see him again, although I know the odds are against it since he doesn't do many cons. Still, a girl can dream. :)
There was an autograph session held once each day, and each day you could get one item signed for free. On Saturday night, the
em_meredith said, "You know, if we upload pictures to Flickr, we can print them out at Target and get them signed." And lo, this was judged to be the Greatest Idea Ever. And so Sunday morning on the way to the con we stopped at Target, where I got a printout of the picture I had taken with James the day before, and nnaylime got a printout of a picture of him she'd taken at his Q&A. And then we were ready. And insane.We got on line for the autographing and this time the tables were set up better, and I noticed that when someone wanted a picture, James was able to actually get up and stand next to them and put his arm around them. And so I got pouty. "I want a nice picture like that," I whined. And then he got snuggly with a girl and I was like "GODDAMMIT I AM GETTING ANOTHER PICTURE WITH HIM." No. Shame. Seriously.
nnaylime went up first to get her picture signed, and he did a big doubletake when he saw Eman's photo of him. "Isn't this from yesterday?" Oh yes, James, yes it is. He recovered and wrote "That's showbiz" as she asked him to, and then his usual Lots of Love, but he smeared the gold marker, and he was so apologetic. "I'm so sorry I smeared it! Can I sign something else for you?" When Eman insisted that wasn't necessary, he made his smudge into a gold heart. Awwww. Which, of course, just made things worse because it took forever to dry, but hey, it was the thought that counted.
James signing. Crappy photo by moi.
Then I went up there, with MY picture from the day before, and he was doubly flummoxed. "How did you guys do this?" he asked. "Something with the computer, or...?" I told him we uploaded the photos and then had them printed out at Target, and added "God bless America," and he remarked on how clever we were, which was very generous of him to say instead of "insane." He then APOLOGIZED for not remembering my name, as if I would expect him to, and signed my photo. I then asked, with all the rusty coquettishness I could muster, if I could please get another picture with him, from a better angle this time, even though we did both look very good in the first one (yes I did say that). So he said of course and got up and took the picture with me, waiting for
nnaylime to show me the camera to verify that it came out okay. He did that often with people, waiting to make sure the picture was okay, sometimes even asking to see it himself. There was one time where a kid was taking the picture, and there was some confusion as to whether he'd put his finger over the lens, so James suggested he take another picture just to be safe. Such a gentleman! /old lady voice
I am SO happy with the way this picture came out. He looks so good! And I look okay too. Just take my word for it. It was totally worth asking for the second photo. Yay. (Photo by
nnaylime.)He didn't seem to smile open-mouthed much, if at all. I think he's self-conscious about his teeth. Or about his smile, one or the other.
Okay, moving on. At the second panel he came out in a coat again, which he again quickly discarded -- does he smoke? I wonder if he was out sneaking a smoke each time -- and again opened the floor to questions.
Next two photos by
em_meredith, please do not reproduce elsewhere.
I was kind of madly in love with this outfit. For some reason I was obsessed with his shoes, and the way his pants looked with his shoes. So much so that I took a picture.
I don't know, it was just hot, okay? Leave me alone.
Again, if you want to see more good pictures from both days, please go check out
nnaylime's picture gallery here.nnaylime, em_meredith and I had gotten awesome seats for this session, right in front of the stage, technically the third row but since the first two rows were truncated it was as if we were in the first row. Keep that in mind for this next bit. The first question was about whether he thought he would want to pursue more science fiction roles after BSG, specifically if he would go back to England to be on Doctor Who or Torchwood (ummm, okay), and James said that no, he actually didn't want to pursue any SF roles for at least a few years after BSG, not because he doesn't like SF, but because he's very concerned about becoming pigeonholed. He said that basically his next role would be very important, because that could pigeonhole him or not. But then he said he had to add a qualifier that if the perfect script came along, everything else goes out the window. And that's why the writers' strike was so important, because there is no real dream job - it's all about the script.My question was tangential to the first one, so I raised my hand. James looked at me and said, "Dianora?" [Only he used my real name, ahem.]
As if we were, you know, close personal friends.
It was so funny because all three of us were kind of taken aback and flustered at that, and I paused and said, "oh thank you" like a giggly fangirl, and then continued with my question, which was whether he thought he would stay in America or move back to England once BSG wrapped. He said it might actually depend on visas, but that either L.A. or London would be fine with him, so long as he could find the work. He just hoped that any work he did find would be in one of those two cities. *g*
But the important thing here is that JAMES CALLIS TOTALLY REMEMBERED MY NAME, YO. Okay, he then proceeded to call on three or four other people and remembered their names too, but still! Two autographs and he remembered my name? The man is awesome. And clearly has a very good memory for names. LOVE HIM. Seriously, that was one of the greatest fangirl moments ever, and I am very grateful to him for giving it to me. :D
He got asked a lot about non-BSG work in this panel. He talked a lot about this Esther movie he'd filmed, where he had to play a really evil character who didn't have the shades of gray that Gaius does, and it took a lot out of him. But they stayed at a beautiful palace in India which made up for a lot. He was in the movie with Omar Sharif, Peter O'Toole, John Rys-Davies, etc., and couldn't believe he was with those guys. He went up to Omar Sharif and said, "So, Omar, I assume that when you heard I would be in this production, that made your decision to participate that much easier, hmm?" Luckily for him, he said, Omar Sharif has a great sense of humor. He said that one time Omar was wearing a funny hat for the film and James said to him, "Omar, when they said put the kettle on, they didn't mean on top of your head." He cracked himself up with that one.
His first play was with Bob Hoskins, and James played an American, and in an American accent he had to sing German love songs. And the director was an Australian who said that if he was bad, everyone would hate him. And he illustrated all this with the appropriate accents, it was awesome. He played an artist who was supposed to come out and show these gents his pieces, and so he would try to crack them up on stage by substituting nudie pics. And the proper older Brits would just look at him disapprovingly like "James, really." This guy can't catch a break with his attempted pranks!
He mentioned that he had acted on stage in "The Doctor's Dilemma" with Ian McDiarmid -- you guys should know who that is, he said -- it's the Emperor -- and then added that Ian doesn't like it very much if you call him that. *g* But he said that there was one time on stage with Ian where the guy was so amazing, just so incredibly talented, that James just started laughing. Because he couldn't even imagine attempting to act opposite that. And then he got in trouble for laughing. *g* (A lot of his anecdotes seem to culminate in his getting in trouble, LOL.)
Working on The Scarlet Pimpernel was where he met Jamie Bamber. He said that he had been being on a lot of shows where he was the guy who died, which was great because you got to just be on the show for a little while and then leave to look for another job. And there was one time, around Scarlet Pimpernel I guess, where James was walking onto a set to shoot something and Jamie was walking out because he had just died. And they gave each other a little high five over that. Hee. Guess we know one reason the two of them are such good friends, they've apparently known each other for a long time.
Someone asked if he can "bury" his English accent, and James said "You mean like this?" in an American accent. He had to say a few sentences before everyone caught on, but then it was a big hit. He said that in London, you can be in a serious Shakespearean production, where you're spouting poetry on stage, but backstage everyone is trying to sound like Keanu Reeves. "You've got a hair trigger pointed at your head!" said in his best Keanu whilst pointing an imaginary gun. Hilarious. He noted, though, that the trick to doing an American accent is to sound as much like yourself as possible, because if it's bad, it sounds like "South Park on acid." He did get a role once where he had to use a Latino accent and he said he was "berry berry bad."
I just need to pause here again and emphasize that we got to hear James do an American accent, an Australian accent, and a bad Latino accent. It was AWESOME. So much fun, everyone was just giggling with delight.
He writes music, and Bear McCreary makes him feel like a loser, basically, because he's so young and so talented.
If he couldn't be an actor, he'd do something else in the industry - either direct or write music.
He used the word "milieu." I don't remember the context, I was just excited about the word. ;) He also used the word "irascible."
A gofer brought him out some tea while he was talking, and he joked it was "hot tea with honey and lemon...and gin, and vodka." He had apparently picked up a cold, poor thing. He was asked why Brits tend to not like American tea and he said he has a theory that it's not the tea that's the problem, it's the water. (
nnaylime mused that maybe it's because our water has fluoride and theirs doesn't.)He tries not to do too many cons because he thinks that if you do too many (and he says he's seen this), you "have nothing left for yourself" in terms of your own energy. It just uses up too much energy and he'd rather conserve it.
When BSG first started the producers talked to him and Jamie about British TV and how it works - he said it was funny, while all the American actors were trying to angle for longer contracts, he and Jamie were trying to angle for shorter ones. *g* He said the British mindset is quality over quantity. So he wouldn't want BSG to go on for too long and overstay its welcome anyway.
He noted that Gaius' vanity, his narcissism, is actually a weakness, a character flaw - he never actually wanted to kill anybody. His vanity is his Achilles' heel. He doesn't care how Gaius ends up, except for the fact that it seems the writers automatically default to making Baltar "the bad guy," and James tries to rein them in. When he initially read the scene in (Occupation?) where Baltar signs the death warrant, it was written as basically the Cylons hand him the death warrant and Baltar just signs it. James loved the rest of the script, but he had a serious problem with that scene, and told the writers so. He pointed out that if Baltar were to commit that unforgivable an act with no pressure or provocation, that the character would essentially be dead and there would be nothing to even do with him any more, writing-wise, because he was so irredeemable. So all of the stuff that was in the episode -- the yelling, the gun holding, shooting Six in the head -- was all put there to accommodate James' objections. In fact, when they first started shooting the scene, when Matthew Bennett was giving him the warrant to sign, he was doing it too gently, and James said to him, "This has to feel like an al-Qaeda torture session. If this feels like anything else, I am not going to sign the effing paper." And then he was the one who requested that we don't even see Baltar's hands signing the document, so that the way it is shot, with him listening to head Six and finally signing it, is done as if in a dream, and he doesn't even realize he's doing it, almost. So that was something he felt really strongly about and fought to have changed, and personally I think it was 100% the right decision. (I think he even said that an early cut didn't keep Six getting shot, and he asked for them to put it back in.)
He said something about how you "can't escape the event horizon of a black hole," and again I don't entirely remember the context, but I loved that line. :)
He doesn't care about awards, Emmys - he finds it all very self-congratulatory and insufferable (me too, James!). He said the show getting the Peabody means more to him than an Emmy ever could. He did say that he kind of wished EJO and Mary McDonnell could get some kind of recognition in that regard, though, just because they're so awesome, and the show would probably never have existed without their participation.
His favorite actor to work with is Mary McDonnell, not just because she's great but because their characters are so diametrically opposed. "He admires Laura, and she can't bear him." He said that Gaius secretly wishes he had Laura's backbone.
He was asked what British shows he grew up with in England, and he specifically mentioned Fawlty Towers - "everyone grows up with that" - and said he felt there was a bit of Basil in Baltar, really. And then said maybe that could be a spin-off, Baltar opening a B&B on Caprica, with Mary McDonnell as Sybil. Hee! He also specifically mentioned loving the Muppets, even though they're not British.
And that's about it! All in all, an awesome weekend, an awesome man. I am so happy that I went. I would absolutely love to see him again, although I know the odds are against it since he doesn't do many cons. Still, a girl can dream. :)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-02-20 05:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-20 05:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-20 05:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-20 05:32 am (UTC)Also, yay for tea questions & answers!
no subject
Date: 2008-02-20 05:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-20 05:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-20 06:05 am (UTC)And Erin Gray really is very very nice. I wish she didn't charge for her autographs, or I would have gotten one. *g*
no subject
Date: 2008-02-20 01:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-20 06:39 am (UTC)Awesome stuff! :-)
no subject
Date: 2008-02-20 11:23 am (UTC)LOL!
He also specifically mentioned loving the Muppets, even though they're not British.
If he does DragonCon, we should go and take him to the puppetry museum. *g*
Awesome writeup, again.
--Lazygrrl
no subject
Date: 2008-03-03 03:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-03 10:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-20 07:03 pm (UTC)Siiiigh. I just love this guy. Thanks for these terrific reportages. It's like I was there - far-flung vocab and all! *g*
no subject
Date: 2008-02-20 11:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-03 03:29 am (UTC)