Wondercon 2009 ~ Watchmen Panel

The surprise invite to the Watchmen Premiere put me behind with writing about my trip to San Francisco for Wondercon where we had a fabulous time.

We were in line early, ready for the Watchmen panel. The line was long, out the door, and wrapped around the building.

Lois proudly wearing her Watchmen pin she won at the Cartoon Art Museum the night before. There was a lot of pin envy! LOL! Everyone asked where we got them. They proved to be a great conversation piece for the weekend.

There were plenty of people dressed as their favorite comic book characters.

We did pretty well, getting great seats in the second row.

Zack Snyder was the first to come out on stage. He talked a little about the film before we were treated with the first 20 minutes of Watchmen.

Then the cast was introduced one by one. Jeffrey immediately reclined back into his seat where he, Patrick, and Dave seemed to be having a great time.

A great smile from from Jeffrey and a big wave when he spotted us in the audience.

Dave Gibbons talking about how great it was to see the novel come to life.

Jackie, Billy, and Malin.

The audience asked the panel questions. My favorite question was:

Q: Jeffrey Are you ever gonna NOT die?

A: I think it's working for me so far.

Watchmen Premiere

We made it to Grauman's about 4 pm and met up with the rest of the girls. Hollywood Blvd was a mess, one side of the street had been closed off to make way for the canopied yellow carpet and the Owl Ship. No cameras were allowed so I left it in the car, but they let us keep our cell phones which I used to take pictures, which weren't great.

Fans lined the barriers to see the stars arrive

While waiting we saw the Watchmen bus drive by several times, a Star Tour bus you pay to ride in for a sightseeing tour of Hollywood.

We walked by the yellow carpet as the cast gave interviews to the press.

As we were waiting for the movie to begin we saw Clay Enos across the way so Maree and I went over to say hi. Clay introduced us to, I think, the art director to the film (sorry I can't remember his name). Clay told the man what loyal fans were were, Super Fans I think he called us. I don't know if it was Maree or me who said we're Watchwomen. They laughed, Clay said something like, "I like that!"

There were a lot of Watchmen fans around us who had gotten tickets through KROQ, a local radio station. A guy in front of me had all sorts of questions and was excited to see the film. We pointed out to the people around us the cast memebers, Dave Gibbons coauthor of Watchmen, Zack Snyder the director, and Tyler Bates who did the music. I guess my girlfriends and I were full of information.

After the movie we walked out to the lobby and I saw Jeffrey Dean Morgan. He was talking to a man with his back towards me. I waited a moment and when the guy began to walk away, I said, "Jeff!"

He turned and smiled. I said, "Hello, could you autograph my picture."

He said, "Sure."

Then Jeffrey autographed Maree's. A guy asked Jeffrey to sign his movie ticket. Jeffrey still had my Sharpie so I waited. Then more people asked for an autograph or to take a picture with him. Poor Jeffrey, he was swarmed, but he still had my Sharpie!
Finally someone began to lead Jeffrey away. He said, "Sorry guys I have to go." He looked around still holding my sharpie, I reached out, he smiled and handed it back to me.

Maree and I made it to the yellow carpet, just outside the doors, where Lois found us. She hadn't gotten Jeffrey's autograph who was still near us, but greeting some people. We waited until he finished so Lois could ask for an autograph. I took a picture of them with my cell phone, but it didn't turn out good. Poor Jeffrey, he got swarmed again!

We saw Clay again who talked to us a while. The rest of our group found us so I introduced him to some of the girls who hadn't gone to Wondercon. My daughter, Loren, caught up to us, so I had the opportunity to introduce her to Clay as well. We wished him well and he said good night. What a sweetie!

We waited to see more of the cast. Slowly they made it out of the theater so we asked them to autograph our movie tickets. Carla Gugino, Billy Crudup, Patrick Wilson, Tyler Bates, and Zack Snyder! We got a chance to say how much we loved the movie to him personally! He's such a cool guy.

The crowd thinned out as the staff started ushering people out of the area. We were walking away when we saw Jackie Earle Haley. We asked a guard if we could go back towards his direction, he was nice enough to let us. Jackie was the best when we asked for his autograph, he said, "I'd love to." He took his time to autograph each of our movie tickets and even included his Rorschach insignia, so cool!

In the end it was a wonderful night, a fabulous ending to my four day Watchmen weekend!

Watchmen London Premiere

I Watch the Watchmen

I was lucky enough to go to an advance screening of Watchmen last night. Honestly, there's too much to process, director Zack Snyder packed so much into the movie, I have to see it again. But in short, the music was wonderful, I love how it's threaded into the scenes, the violence is brutal, at times I had to turn away, the warped history messes with your head, I hope young people don't take this as a history lesson.

The cast, Malin Akerman, Silk Spectre II, Patrick Wilson, Night Owl, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, the Comedian, Billy Crudup, Dr. Manhattan, and Jackie Earle Haley, and Rorschach were awesome. It was hard to see Jeffrey be a sadistic asshole when I know he's such a nice guy in person, but he did it well and then Patrick, WOW, he doesn't disappoint! On that note, there's a lot to look at for the ladies. Great scene in the Owl ship, thank you Zack!

I took two film students with me. They loved the CGI, especially Rorschach's mask and Dr. Manhattan, and it looks like I'll be making a Silk Spectre costume for my daughter to wear on Halloween!

There's so much more, but I have to see it again to give you a better review.

Watchmen in theaters March 6, 2009

Watchmen at WonderCon 2009

The WonderCon schedule is now available with a Watchmen panel!

Saturday February 28th

11:30-12:30 Warner Bros.: Watchmen—Warner Bros. and WonderCon present a panel devoted to the most eagerly awaited movie of 2009: Watchmen! Visionary director Zack Snyder brings the classic graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons to vivid life on the big screen, opening March 6. Join Zack Snyder and members of the film's cast LIVE on the WonderCon big stage for this exclusive panel presentation!

For more info: WonderCon

Meet Zack Snyder and John "DJ" Des Jardin at the Apple Store in Santa Monica

Watchmen director Zack Snyder and visual effects supervisor John "DJ" Des Jardin will discuss the creation of the CG character Dr. Manhattan in the new film.

Tuesday, February 17 @ 7:00pm
Apple Store Santa Monica

Apple Store

Tales of the Black Freighter

The animated subplot for Watchmen, Tales of the Black Freighter is now available for preorder at Amazon for March 24th delivery! Directed by Zack Snyder, The Black Freighter is voiced by Gerard Butler about a man's ill-fated attempt to save his family from a ghostly pirate ship.