Comptes-rendus de conventions & autres

Un nouveau compte-rendu du Dragon Con 2014, qui s'est déroulé en présence d'Amy Acker :

Citation :

When I got to the line area for the Acker panel, I found everyone sitting in rows taped on the floor. The rows didn't snake, but instead were closed boxes; consequently, no one seemed to know where the line's end actually was. Anya and Jon, the pair I'd met waiting in line for Acker's autograph that morning, were sitting in the middle of the last filled row, and invited me to sit with them. (I felt bad for cutting, but since no one could tell me which side of the row was the end ....) I quickly discovered I had forgotten to put my granola bars in my bag. My blood sugar was dropping, and I was about to leave again to get something to eat, but Jon offered me a Kind protein bar, basically saving my life.

As we were loaded into the room, someone handed us postcards announcing a showing of Lord of Catan (the short film starring Acker and Fran Kranz that Anya and Jon had told me about) for the next night! What luck, and what a nice memento!

The ballroom was loaded oddly: the stage and screens were on the long side, opposite the doors, rather than at one of the short ends. This means anyone at the far front sides of the seating wouldn't even be able to see the screens! Someone suggested that, due to the support beams, they might not be able to fit the screens going the other way. I wonder if it might be more feasible to use the Artists Alley / Art Show ballroom for panels instead, and move those things to the Imperial. Luckily for me, we snagged seats in the center, and a little less than mid-way back, so I had a good spot for photos.

Before the panel, the moderator talked a little about the charity the con was supporting this year, the Atlanta Community Food Bank. Someone walked around with a basket for donations, and anyone who contributed (and no one in my immediate area didn't, happily) got an alien sticker. That done, they brought out Acker.

This panel was geared primarily for the television series Person of Interest, a sci-fi series in which a computer instructs a team to find people who will either be a killer who needs to be stopped, or a victim who needs to be saved -- but can't tell them which the person will be. I've only watched a handful of eps from the first season and one from the second; Acker was in that one second-season ep I caught, playing a hacker / contract killer named Root. While I thought she did a stellar job in that ep, I was there mostly because of Acker's "Whedonverse" work (Fred / Illyria on Angel, Dr. Saunders / Whiskey on Dollhouse, Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing, "the cellist" on Agents of SHIELD) and because of her role on Once Upon a Time (as the fairy Nova). Despite my lack of knowledge about Person of Interest, it was still a very interesting panel, with plenty of Whedonverse-related questions.

(This panel's audio recording was a bit muffled, alas -- Acker was quiet, and I might have blocked the microphone on the Kindle, as I don't actually know where it is, so I had to track this panel down on You Tube.)

The moderator asked, this being Acker's first Dragon Con, what Acker thought of the costumes (something this con is particularly known for). She said she always gets a kick out of people dressed as characters she's played, and she was particularly impressed by someone dressed as Fred from the episode where Fred was a demonic Vegas showgirl, and a Nova. She said she likes to pretend she's good at sewing, and then she sees these costumes and thinks, "I could never beat that!" She mentioned her daughter's obsession with My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, and how she would be the best mom ever if she could bring home a Twilight Sparkle costume.

A fan asked what Acker's fave fan experience was. She said that the meet-and-greets are definitely her favourite part of the job, saying how she worked until 3:30 that morning and thought she would be exhausted, but the positive energy of fans reminiscing about her roles and sharing how much those parts meant to them made her ready to go out for the day. (She added jokingly that it might be the four coffees, too.)

She went on to say that the experience with Much Ado About Nothing was extra special, because they didn't even know while making it if anyone would ever see it. (My understanding is that Joss Whedon frequently has Shakespeare parties at his place, and filmed this one while on a break from working on The Avengers.) She said that it's been really neat how many teachers have told her that they use the film in their classrooms, and how many kids have said that the film was their introduction to Shakespeare.

A fan asked for spoilers about Person of Interest, remarking that the season had ended in a dark place. Acker said she was surprised by how many people that day had told her they thought the series was over, based on the finale. She joked, "No, you have to keep watching -- we just moved to New York! I moved my whole family!" She talked about how her character had given all the characters envelopes with new identities at the end of last season, and the actors had spent the summer excitedly wondering who they would turn out to be, as if they were cast on a new show. She went on to say they've had fun playing with those identities and "hiding from Samaritan in plain sight" now that shooting has started again. She added that she can't say very much, or they'll kill her. The moderator asked, "Nobody got made into a barista?" "Well ..." Acker hedged.

A fan wanted to know if there were any similarities as to how she prepared for her roles on Angel and Agents of SHIELD, and if she saw herself playing a(nother) Marvel character down the line. She said yes to the second question, quipping for everyone to "call Joss." As for the first question she said the characters were different in that they just made Fred up as they went along. She says Whedon based her audition scene for this "librarian" on a scene from A Midsummer Night's Dream, and she got to help develop the character from there, like how Fred is from Texas and likes tacos just like Acker. With the cellist, she had already been looking at this character from afar as a fan of The Avengers, loving Clark (Gregg, who plays Agent Coulson) and wondering who his love interest would be.

Someone asked how well she gets along with Bear the dog on Person of Interest. She clearly loves the animal, but he's big; while she has a 70-pound Goldendoodle that isn't well-trained and pulls her around, Bear is about five times stronger. She says they'll probably include on a gag reel a time he took off after something in a subway station, pulling her with him.

Someone asked if Acker had any similarities with or could relate to Root in any way. "Well, there was that time I killed a guy," Acker joked before replying that one of the reasons she loves playing Root is because she feels like she's playing a character. She likes that Root's style and interests are so different from her own -- she feels like, if she wore a leather jacket in real life, people would look at her like she was wearing a costume. The only thing she feels Root does that comes from Acker is the smiles. She pointed out that this character, like the cellist, is someone who was known of before she was actually cast. Even so, she didn't actually know who Root really was until she'd been playing the character a while (because she had a secret identity, if I understand correctly).

She feels lucky to work with Person of Interest showrunner Jonah Nolan. She remarked how the writers think so far ahead, she really has no idea what they're thinking; she loves how she gets to do the strangest things because of them, and it's always an adventure.

The next person asked what it was like shooting Much Ado About Nothing, and what character from a play she'd most like to do. She said they shot the movie in 12 days. Whedon was supposed to go on vacation to Italy with his family, but his wife suggested he do "that Much Ado movie" instead. Acker said it was quick but fun, and the closest thing to live theatre she'd done in a while. Whedon informed Acker and Alexis Denisof (who played Benedick) of his intention to do the film about three weeks beforehand. He also left his house unlocked so Acker and Denisof could rehearse there, even when his kids were eating breakfast (Apparently there was an intent to keep this project a secret from Marvel -- I assume because technically he was still working on something for them, but jeez, a person should be free to spend their free-time as they wish!) As for another character, she'd love to be Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream. (Make it happen, Whedon! I could picture Tom Hiddleston as Oberon, Gina Torrres as Titania, Alan Tudyk as Puck, Denisof as Demetrius, Fran Kranz as Lysander, Dichen Lachman as Hermia, Olivia Williams as Hyppolyta, and Nathan Fillion as Nick Bottom ....)

Someone asked Acker if she had ever done Shakespeare. She replied that she had been a theatre major in college, where she did Measure for Measure, then went on to work at American Players Theatre in Wisconsin, where she played Hero in a production of Much Ado About Nothing.

A fan asked about her experience filming the death of Fred on Angel. Acker talked about the great collaborative relationship she, Denisof (who played Wesley, Fred's lover at that point), and Whedon all had; she feels doing that story led to them eventually doing Much Ado. After shooting that day, they were all so emotionally drained, they went to a bar together and drank without talking; she says Whedon credits that moment as inspiring the shawarma scene at the end of The Avengers.

The next person asked for Acker's thoughts on Root's transformation from a solitary vigilante to someone who is taking care of a whole team, and what she'd like to see for Root's future. Acker feels privileged to have played so many characters who go through these big, transformative journeys, and feels Root is a great example of that. She had no idea where the character was going when she signed on, just figuring Root was a bad guy. She feels Root always has had the same objective, to help the machine reach her full potential, and finds it interesting to see how the machine is now teaching Root, exploring the relationship between AI and humanity. She said this season will explore that concept even further. Apparently they don't get a lot of warning of what's going to happen, so they get to enjoy the show as fans, excited to see what's coming. She loves that her character gets to be a really important part of these deep thoughts. It's helped her to think about things she normally wouldn't, from a unique perspective.

A fan remarked on how the show had started out as very masculine, asking how she felt the dynamic changed with the addition of the women Root and Shaw to the show. She replied that the actors who play the male leads are very loving and sweet, and those female characters are stronger than we typically see. She doesn't feel, though, that the writers are thinking things like "It would be cool to have Shaw do this because she's a woman," but rather just, "Shaw would do this." There's no line of what a male or female character would or wouldn't do; the characters have objectives, and fulfill them. She suggests maybe she's been spoiled because she's been on so many shows where women aren't relegated to fixing dinner and waving goodbye to their husbands, but rather would pull guns to protect the boys and it seems like that's just the way it is (in those universes).

The next fan requested she tell us something about the actors on Person of Interest that we might not know. He also remarked that Jim Caviezel seems very serious, and Michael Emerson is an enigma. Acker insists Caviezel is very funny and does great voices.

She told a story about how when her husband, James Carpinello, was on an episode (well before she was cast), Caviezel took him out for a steak dinner for his birthday. Then, one day when Acker was working on the show, Caviezel asked for Carpinello's number; this was at about one in the afternoon, and shooting wrapped at three the next morning. During the car ride home, Caviezel was talking on the phone in silly voices -- it turned out he was talking to Acker's husband. Acker started getting all these texts from her husband, but didn't know it at the time because her phone was off; it turned out Carpinello couldn't understand what Caviezel had been saying, and thought Acker had been kidnapped!

She said Sarah Shahi (Shaw) is awesome and super-fun, the life of the party and full of energy. Shahi is a Dallas, Texas girl like Acker, and went to the same college (Southern Methodist University); Acker joked that she wants to be Shahi when she grows up.

Acker called Emerson one of her favourite people on the planet, one if the smartest people she's ever met, kind, and funny. When she gets scripts, she's eager to see what scenes she has with him. She joked that we should all meet him, and hang out and be friends with him.

The next person asked what the best acting advice Acker had ever received was, and what advice she herself would give. Acker found that to be a hard question, saying that she couldn't really think of something specific, and the question just brought working with Whedon to mind. She decided that was the advice she would give: find a good director. She talked about a scene that Joss had written for the second season of Dollhouse, featuring her and Fran Kranz (Topher). Joss was directing the scene, and they started off doing something completely different, but by the end, Whedon had made them think that everything he directed them to do instead was their own idea, making them feel like geniuses (it was only later that Acker realised she had really just been doing what Joss had said to do).

The next questioner asked what was going on with Root and Shaw; Acker remarked that they didn't seem to shy away from innuendo. She thought at first that Root just liked Shaw and thought she was cool, then thought that flirting was Root's way of controlling Shaw because she knows that Shaw hates it. Now she thinks that Root more than just "likes" Shaw, that it's like she's pretending that she's joking but she's not really.

Someone asked if Acker knew in advance if her character on Dollhouse was a Doll, and if not, if finding out changed her perception of the character. Acker replied that she had suspected she would be, given the name of the show and her scars and Whedon's involvement, but Whedon had denied that she was when she asked him. She had suggested making her an Audrey Hepburn-like girl, dressing 20s-style, and instead Whedon made Whiskey the slutty girl dancing on a coffee table. With that, Acker learned, when dealing with Whedon, to say the opposite of what you want.

The next questioner asked if she's scheduled to return to Agents of SHIELD; she hasn't been approached about it.