Man, I used to write nearly every single day. It's amazing what happens when life happens. But I have some cookies, a 7UP, and Oingo Boingo playing in the background, so I figure now is as a good a time as any to start writing again.
While I want to write a piece about television in all its forms, I still need to let that thought simmer just a bit. So, instead, I figured I'd write about my current trip to Indianapolis to attend the Horrorhound Convention.
Quick update for those of you who may not know - Horrorhound is a convention where a number of celebrities, from A-list to D-list, attend selling autographs and pictures. This particular convention was notable for reuniting nearly the entire cast of Scream.
Before I go to one of these, I always have to figure out a few things. 1. Who do I want to meet? 2. What do I have them sign (there is always the rare occasion when I know I'm going to buy an 8x10 from the celebrity's table)? 3. How much money do I have to spend? This is always a point of contention for me. As these shows keep getting larger and larger, the autograph prices keep getting higher and higher. Some day I'd love to find out who's done the actual math on these things. Because if, say, Matthew Lillard's autograph is 50 bucks, is he making more money selling just one autograph to me and people like me, or would he make even more if he charged just 30 bucks, leaving the potential for people like me to just suck it up and spend the extra 10 bucks to get two items signed? But this is a rant for another time. 4. What do I say to the people when I meet them?
I finally got smart with number 4 this year. On the way down, I wrote out questions for the people I wanted to meet, so I could seem smart and also get something other than a token response. It really worked and I highly recommend it.
The big draw for me this year was getting to meet Robin Tunney. Most people know her from The Craft, Empire Records, or "The Mentalist." I appreciate all those, but for me, she's in a wonderful hidden gem called Cherish. And as I keep writing, you'll notice that I have a quite a few of those hidden gems. Anyways, she's who I wanted to meet first, and, of course, she wasn't there on time. So adjustments were made.
Matthew Lillard had the biggest line and he was high on my list, so that was the first line of the day for me. Joining me on this trip, as always, was my college buddy, Jason. I appreciate his company more than he knows. But he's a great photographer when the need arises, and, as you'll see, can come up with some great questions, too. With Lillard, I was ready to ask why he didn't have a picture of Ghoulies 3: Ghoulies go to College out to sign, but I couldn't because he did! I still brought that up to him, and his response was that truthfully he had never signed a single one (which almost had me get one - almost). He had actually gotten the picture from somebody else. It wasn't even his. (And I can talk about that movie, because I have seen it - more than once.) Then I asked about "Twin Peaks". He said it was really, really hard. Huh. She's All That - he got the gig because he asked Freddie Prinze Jr. for a job, and Prinze recommended him for the part he plays in the movie. Then Jason said that Summer Catch was a great movie. The look of genuine condescension was wonderful. "No, it's not." I said, "It's a fun movie." He turned to me and said, in all seriousness, "There's a difference between great and fun." Honestly, that whole interaction was wonderful. (And I had him sign an original Scream movie poster.)
Also, to be fair, there's probably going to be some paraphrasing and mixing up of who signed before who, but you weren't there, so I get to tell the story as I want to.
Mary Lynn Rajskub was next. I walked up to her table and unscrolled a video release poster for Punch Drunk Love which made her smile. While she was signing, I asked what she thought about being one of the most indelible characters in television history. She seemed to think that was pretty great, and we spent a good amount of time talking about Chloe O'Brien from "24." She said the character was about 80% her. She did think that it was possible that Chloe might die at some point in the series, because the producers made no bones about the fact that anyone on that show could die. And the character was so well-defined that when the writers tried to make Chloe a bad guy in the final Jack Bauer season, they couldn't, because it didn't work. And she got the part in Punch Drunk Love because Paul Thomas Anderson would come to the club she was at and watch her perform and wrote the character for her. (Then we talked about Paul Thomas Anderson movies.) It was great.
Now, if you know Elizabeth Berkley it's probably because of either "Saved by the Bell' or Showgirls. Getting into a good conversation with Ms. Berkley required something besides talking about either of those, and I went with a great film called Roger Dodger which made her light up. (I had her sign the DVD cover.) I got her to talk about getting the part. It was from a first-time director who called her to say that he had written the part for her, and she liked it, but it took calling Jennifer Beals, who was also in the movie to fully convince her to do it. And then she praised Campbell Scott (who is amazing in the film).
I am an unabashed fan of "Gilmore Girls" and judging from the line Scott Patterson (Luke on "Gilmore Girls") had, many other horror fans were as well. He was there ostensibly because he was in a number of Saw movies, but I didn't care. LUKE! I had him sign my season one DVD set, and asked him who he hung out with most on the set. He gave the generic "everyone" answer, but then we talked about Sean Gunn (Kirk on the show), and how cool he was on the set and in real life.
It was impressive how many people in Jackie Earl Haley's line wanted him to sign Watchmen items. And his performance as Rorschach is pretty perfect. But I went with the classic Bad News Bears DVD. Because I wanted to know if he knew about Water Matthau or Vic Morrow before working on the movie. He knew about Matthau, oh, yeah. But Morrow he looked up afterwards. And then I got to ask him if he knew how to play baseball before getting the part. He did. He just wasn't as good as his character was supposed to be. Then Jason asked a great question - "Did you know how to smoke before getting the part?" Apparently he did. But the trick was, his parents didn't know. So he had to act like he knew how to smoke, but make it look to his parents that he didn't. It was very meta.
I've read Rose McGowan's book "Brave." It's rough. And the way she's been treated in the movie industry and on a lot of the sets is pretty reprehensible. So my question to her was this - "Is it okay for me to like movies like Doom Generation and Planet Terror now that I know how uncomfortable your experiences were on those films." She looked up and directly in my eyes and said, "Absolutely. I'm proud of my performances in those films." We then talked about how uncomfortable Doom Generation made my friends when I showed it to them. She smiled wryly at that. She was my second autograph on my Scream poster.
Finally, by this time, Robin Tunney showed up. The line was solid, and just as I get to the front, they stopped it. She had to go to a photo op, but she would be back soon. As disappointing as that was, I took solace in the fact that I was now first in line when she came back.
In 2002 I caught a movie at the Cedar Lee Theatre called Cherish, starring Robin Tunney, Tim Blake Nelson, and Jason Priestly. It's a small and great film. And after I saw it in the theater, they had a bunch of mini posters they were giving out for free. I've had one of those posters for, sheesh, 17 years. But that's what I had her sign. "I love this movie!" was her response when I showed her the poster. There's a scene where she's running like Tom Cruise, trying to get back home, and I asked her about it. "It was the last day of shooting, and I had a bunch of sangria with my girlfriends, so when we were done filming, I threw it all up." She also commented - "I don't think that's my real (butt)" on the poster. And then we talked about Jason Priestly for a bit.
Honestly, I could have spent a ton more money meeting even more people, but due to some not showing up, some not coming till Saturday (I went on Friday), and just being a tiny bit responsible, I stopped there. But even with that, it ranks as one of the best I've ever attended. And, hey, it got me to write again. So there's that.
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