Comic-Con 2011, Day 1

Any day I get to talk to Guy Pearce, Carey Mulligan, Ron Perlman, get to hear the latest on “Twilight: Breaking Dawn, Part 1,” and get to hang out with Power Rangers and the Madagascar Penguins is a very fine day indeed.

In case I haven’t mentioned it lately, I love Comic-Con.  Last night, we got to preview the Exhibition Hall and watch episodes of some upcoming television shows, including a story of a community of witches from Kevin Williamson (the “Scream” movies)  called “The Secret Circle” and a thriller with echoes of “Quantum Leap” and “The Bourne Identity” called “Person of Interest,” starring Michael Emerson, Taraji P. Hensen, and James Caviezel.  Today I attended a press conference for the cast of “Twilight: Breaking Dawn, Part 1.”  Fans who had lined up for days to get into the panel discussion in Comic-Con’s largest room, the 6000-person capacity Hall H, hit the jackpot when some of the cast stopped by to say hello.

Elizabeth Reaser (Esme) spoke about the satisfaction of exploring a character over a series of films, and Ashley Greene (Alice) mentioned she had grown up playing her character.  They all said that they enjoyed filming the wedding scene, though it was a challenge due to the level of security necessary to keep the details a secret from the fans.  Kristen Stewart (Bella) said they had “Secret Service-style” protection and that she ended up wearing a Volturi cloak to cover her wedding dress.  They joked about finding an extra in Brazil who looked so much like Lautner they had to move him to the back so that the audience would not get confused and think that Jacob had somehow shown up to spy on Bella and Edward (Robert Pattinson).

When asked about their biggest challenges in this film, Stewart said it was mothering an animatronic baby and Lautner said it was the scene where he had to “walk into the room intent on killing this baby, stop, twist, and imprint, whatever that means.” He said he spent a lot of time talking to author Stephanie Meyer about what she had in mind.  And Pattinson said his biggest challenge was having to take his shirt off.  “In the book, Edward’s body is there every three pages, but I’ve managed to avoid it until this one.”

Ron Perlman and Carey Mulligan spoke to a small group of reporters about their stylish upcoming thriller “Drive,” along with director Nicolas Winding Refn.  Ryan Gosling plays a stunt driver who gets pulled into intrigue and violence to protect a young mother.  Perlman told us that like his character, he is a Jew who always wanted to be an Italian.  Perlman is drawn to the culture and food of Italy, but his character wants to be a powerful criminal.  The character in the original script was not fully described.  Perlman liked the way Refn worked with the actors on “unearthing the world and what our value and function was in the story.”  Mulligan described her relationship with Gosling in the film as the “calm center with chaos all around.”  They are surrounded by “witty, intelligent, terrifying characters” while they are almost silent.  Refn told us that “It came out of my not liking talking.  Silence is the greatest word.”  He also said, “Music gets me going.”  In the film he used 70’s electronic music to match the main character’s vintage car.

More coming soon — stay tuned.