Supanova 2019
On the weekend, I went to Supanova in Sydney. Originally, Tom Welling and Michael Rosenbaum were scheduled to appear as guests, which excited this old time Smallville fan. But a few weeks ago, they unfortunately cancelled - but one of the new guests announced was Elijah Wood.
Elijah Wood
* He was a good speaker. I mostly know his work in the Lord of the Rings, but he talked about a lot of his other films and shows too, and audience members asked questions about a whole range of them.
* Filming the Lord of the Rings took 16 months, with the whole process taking 4 years. Additional material was filmed in pickup shots, from seeing what was still needed after the first cut.
* Favourite character to work with? Andy Serkis embodied Gollum. The motion capture was unprecedented.
* Favourite location in New Zealand? Taking a helicopter to a mountaintop in costume to walk with the Fellowship.
* He thought he would have time to ease into the character of Frodo. But during the filming of the first movie, Queenstown flooded, so they went to their wet weather cover. Which was Frodo, Sam and Gollum, on the steps of Cirith Ungol. Frodo was not nearly in the same place!
* Favourite LOTR film? The Fellowship of the Ring. It was when the Fellowship got to be all together.
* Funniest moment during filming? Dom and Billy tricked him into believing a game called Tig existed. They kept adding more and more rules over time, until they finally admitted it was bullshit.
* Hardest and most emotional scene? The final push up Mount Doom: remembering the Shire and the taste of strawberries, but a fading memory; Sam offering to carry him. There was pressure to deliver. Also, farewelling the hobbits at the Grey Havens. (Another audience member mentioned that Sean Astin, at Supanova a few years ago, had also said Mount Doom was his hardest and most emotional scene.)
* Watching the movies for the first time, versus filming them, were there any surprises? Huge anticipation by that time. The experience of watching it was overwhelming.
* For his Lord of the Rings audition, he didn't want to go to LA and sit in a white room. So he made an audition tape, in which he dressed in a hobbit costume, with short pants and suspenders, and performed three scenes.
* For his Sin City audition, he basically sat and stared at the camera, while the director read scenes at him.
Writing Powerful Women in Fantasy and Horror: Julie Kagawa, Lynette Noni and Astrid Scholte
* I missed the start of the panel, but I still came away with some interesting notes.
* What makes a character powerful? Mindset. Actively pursuing things.
* Showing women in power shows that this exists.
* Write the character who resonates with you.
* A character has to really want something. She can't wait for the plot to come to her.
* The princess can rescue herself. But a character doesn't have to do everything herself. She can have a support circle. It shows power in a different way, to trust in others, to recognise your own limits.
* What not to do: instapower. Have growth, through trial and error.
* Vulnerability doesn't weaken a character. It makes them more relatable. Plus what do they do after, eg get back up again.
* Even if a character is born with power, she still needs to struggle, eg learning and training.
* It's important to have representation not just for readers, but to represent the world.
* Acceptable vs unacceptable flaws? Passivity is bad. Being annoying is bad (eg snark vs wit). The character needs to learn from flaws.
Shopping
I picked up:
* Wu Zetian by Queenie Chan, a graphic novel in the series Women Who Were Kings.
* Campfire Songs by Brendan Horn, an album inspired by Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra.
* Some stunning fantasy prints by Jax Sheridan and Tam Teow.
* A few postcards.
Photos
Two Spider-Men and an archer.
Cool historical cosplay.
Costumes at the Singer stall.
Elijah Wood.
Julie Kagawa, Lynette Noni, Astrid Scholte.
Crossposted from Dreamwidth, where there are
comments. Comment here or there.
Elijah Wood
* He was a good speaker. I mostly know his work in the Lord of the Rings, but he talked about a lot of his other films and shows too, and audience members asked questions about a whole range of them.
* Filming the Lord of the Rings took 16 months, with the whole process taking 4 years. Additional material was filmed in pickup shots, from seeing what was still needed after the first cut.
* Favourite character to work with? Andy Serkis embodied Gollum. The motion capture was unprecedented.
* Favourite location in New Zealand? Taking a helicopter to a mountaintop in costume to walk with the Fellowship.
* He thought he would have time to ease into the character of Frodo. But during the filming of the first movie, Queenstown flooded, so they went to their wet weather cover. Which was Frodo, Sam and Gollum, on the steps of Cirith Ungol. Frodo was not nearly in the same place!
* Favourite LOTR film? The Fellowship of the Ring. It was when the Fellowship got to be all together.
* Funniest moment during filming? Dom and Billy tricked him into believing a game called Tig existed. They kept adding more and more rules over time, until they finally admitted it was bullshit.
* Hardest and most emotional scene? The final push up Mount Doom: remembering the Shire and the taste of strawberries, but a fading memory; Sam offering to carry him. There was pressure to deliver. Also, farewelling the hobbits at the Grey Havens. (Another audience member mentioned that Sean Astin, at Supanova a few years ago, had also said Mount Doom was his hardest and most emotional scene.)
* Watching the movies for the first time, versus filming them, were there any surprises? Huge anticipation by that time. The experience of watching it was overwhelming.
* For his Lord of the Rings audition, he didn't want to go to LA and sit in a white room. So he made an audition tape, in which he dressed in a hobbit costume, with short pants and suspenders, and performed three scenes.
* For his Sin City audition, he basically sat and stared at the camera, while the director read scenes at him.
Writing Powerful Women in Fantasy and Horror: Julie Kagawa, Lynette Noni and Astrid Scholte
* I missed the start of the panel, but I still came away with some interesting notes.
* What makes a character powerful? Mindset. Actively pursuing things.
* Showing women in power shows that this exists.
* Write the character who resonates with you.
* A character has to really want something. She can't wait for the plot to come to her.
* The princess can rescue herself. But a character doesn't have to do everything herself. She can have a support circle. It shows power in a different way, to trust in others, to recognise your own limits.
* What not to do: instapower. Have growth, through trial and error.
* Vulnerability doesn't weaken a character. It makes them more relatable. Plus what do they do after, eg get back up again.
* Even if a character is born with power, she still needs to struggle, eg learning and training.
* It's important to have representation not just for readers, but to represent the world.
* Acceptable vs unacceptable flaws? Passivity is bad. Being annoying is bad (eg snark vs wit). The character needs to learn from flaws.
Shopping
I picked up:
* Wu Zetian by Queenie Chan, a graphic novel in the series Women Who Were Kings.
* Campfire Songs by Brendan Horn, an album inspired by Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra.
* Some stunning fantasy prints by Jax Sheridan and Tam Teow.
* A few postcards.
Photos
Two Spider-Men and an archer.
Cool historical cosplay.
Costumes at the Singer stall.
Elijah Wood.
Julie Kagawa, Lynette Noni, Astrid Scholte.
Crossposted from Dreamwidth, where there are
comments. Comment here or there.