Tag: interview

Geek of the Week: Wesley Richard

by Deidra Kathleen

Where are you from originally?
I was born in Toledo, Ohio, but was raised in Adrian, Michigan.

What is your Hogwarts house and why?
I’m a Ravenclaw since multiple quizzes have told me so, including the official Pottermore Quiz. Twice. A few other quizzes have also told me that I was a potential Gryffindor, but my heart belongs to Ravenclaw!

What are some geeky hobbies you partake in?
I’m a rather big gamer, game collector, cinephile, anime/comic enthusiast, thespian, and lover of memes.

When did you first realize you were a geek or rather realized you liked the previously mentioned things?
I realized it fairly early in my life, but due to my upbringing, I realized that it was rather frowned upon. But, that obviously didn’t stop me from doing what I love!

What is your dream/passion?
I’m hoping to someday become some type of influencer in the film or theatre industry, preferably a critic, actor, or writer.

Used with permission from Wesley Richard

I know you’re attending one of my alma maters, Owens and will be graduating soon enough. What do you think is the most important lesson you’ve learned while studying there?
The most important thing that I’ve learned while at Owens is that being different and trying out new things should never be considered a bad thing since stepping out of your comfort zone can lead to some of best experiences

If you could take the place of any fictional character from any book, TV show, comic, or film – who would you choose? And why?
Saitama from the show One Punch Man would honestly be very entertaining just for being able to literally defeat any foe with just one punch, despite it probably getting stale and boring after a while.

Who is someone you look up to or looked up to and why?
Feel free to name two or three.
Robin Williams (Mrs. Doubfire, Aladdin) and Satoru Iwata (Director for Earthbound and Producer for countless Nintendo video games) are two role models of mine due to how dedicated they were and [how they] pressed on to make their craft the best that it could be despite their own shortcomings. Iwata had several illnesses and Williams suffered severe depression.

Used with permission from Wesley Richard

What are some current projects and/or goals you’re working on?
I’m currently attending Owens Community College and studying in the Theatre Program. I’m also always looking for shows to audition for!

Was there a time you had to pick yourself back up whilst dream-chasing? What happened?
There have been times that I was not cast in shows that I really wanted to be a part of that I wasn’t able [to be]. It was definitely hard to cope with but I always have to re-learn that it’s nothing personal and to just keep trying and you’ll be wanted in something else.

What is your dream project to work on?
I hope to someday work on some blockbuster just for that experience. I think it would something unforgettable, even if it turns out good or bad.

Used with permission from Wesley Richard

What is one of your favorite inspiring quotes and by whom?
“The stories we love best do stay with us forever, so whether you come back by page or by the big screen, Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home.” – J.K. Rowling

It’s a quote that I’ll always cherish not only because I’m a huge Harry Potter fan and grew up with the books and movies, but also because it’s a quote that validates my opinion on any story. If someone else doesn’t like one story, but I love it, that story will stay with me forever and thus making it worth sharing and telling to others.

Where can people find you on social media?
You can find me on most social media sites under the name MegaNin10dude!

SDCC 2019: ‘Stan Lee’s Alliances: A Trick of Light’ Author, Co-Creators Talk Creating A Universe, Working With Stan, And More!

by Mikaela Maxwell

I’ve always been a huge reader, but as life shifts and changes, and commuting takes up more of my day, I found myself not making as much time for it. Then I discovered Audible, and it changed my world! In the couple of years since joining Audible I have listened to almost 50 different titles! A lot while commuting, but also while cleaning, gardening, getting ready in the AM… you get the picture. So naturally my interest was piqued when, shortly before commencing my first SDCC trip, I received an invitation to have an experience and do an interview with the creators of a new Audible Original, Stan Lee’s Alliances: A Trick of Light!

Photo Credit: Audible

Not only was this an Audible project, but it was also one of the final collaborative projects from the illustrious Stan Lee, in a totally new universe, with totally new characters, created for a totally new format! Needless to say, my interest was extremely piqued. That being said I almost didn’t jump at this opportunity because I didn’t know if I was a good choice for the job. It’s not like it would be my first interview (I interviewed my face off at last years PAX West) but this project just felt so precious and special, and like it needed to be handled with such respect and skill. I wasn’t sure if I could do it justice. However with much support and encouragement from my Geekscape mentor (AKA Derek!), I decided to say yes to this amazing opportunity!

Photo Credit: Me

On Thursday, July 18th, the first Full day of SDCC, I was able to head into the A Trick of Light activation. This was a super neat experience, and I wish everyone was able to try it out. The activation allows you to experience excerpts from the story, narrated by the incredible Yara Shahidi, accompanied by captivating lighting sequences and effects. There are no characters or scenes laid out in front of you, you are required to create the image of the characters through your imagination, but the way light is used inside the activation creates an atmosphere that plunges you directly into the story alongside the characters.

Photo Credit: Audible

The activation kicks off by having you experience the storm that changes the life of one the main characters; through lights, and mirrors, and narration you feel immersed into this character’s experience. You are then lead into, as Ryan so eloquently described, a light labyrinth. Here you find yourself turning corners and coming to dead ends, where there is a cone of sound around you, allowing you to have a private-feeling experience of the narration, while being mesmerized by an accompanying lighting sequence. As you go to leave, you are lead down a hallway, accompanied by Stan Lee’s voice, and I doubt I was the only one to tear up at this point in the experience!

Photo Credit: Jerod Harris/Getty Images for Audible
Photo Credit: Audible
Photo Credit: Audible

Saturday hit and that meant it was time for the interview! This was meant to be a round table interview, which means that a group of interviewers sits down (in this case at a literally round table) with the people to be interviewed, and take turns asking questions. My expectation was this would be beneficially because other people would have really smart questions that I would get to hear the answers to, and that it would be extra stressful because I would be feeling self conscious in front of peers. I was very wrong.

As it turned out, during the time slot that I was there, it was myself and one other interviewer, Josias Arebalo with The Comic Syndicate, accompanied by co-creators Luke Lieberman and Ryan Silbert, as well as co-writer Kat Rosenfield. Turns out I needn’t have been nervous at all! Everyone was very nice, and the interview went off without a hitch. Together we asked a few good questions, and more importantly heard a lot of really great explanations about how this project was developed, the process of making it come to life, and how important and exciting it is to have developed it for the Audible platform.

Photo Credit: Jerod Harris/Getty Images for Audible

So please take a read and enjoy getting inside the head of these incredibly creative and talented humans!

Josias Arebalo: All right guys, we are here reporting from San Diego Comic-Con 2019. We’re here with some very special guests from Stan Lee’s Alliances: A Trick of Light. Please feel free to introduce yourselves.

Luke Lieberman: Luke Lieberman. I’m one of the co-creators.

Kat Rosenfield: Kat Rosenfield, author.

Ryan Silbert: Ryan Silbert, co-creator.

JA: And we have another very special guest.

Mikaela Maxwell: I’m Mikaela Maxwell, I’m with Geekscape.

JA: If you guys could please just break down exactly what this experience is and how it came about. Start off with a little bit of everything, that way our listeners can get a better background.

KR: I think we should talk about the book first. This is an Audible Original. One of the most innovative, and one of the last collaborations that Stan [Lee] completed in his lifetime. It’s a totally immersive experience and it’s the story of, I’m gonna keep broad strokes here, two young people who have gifts and whose connection with each other is so powerful that it could save the world or it could destroy it.

JA: Awesome premise already! Since it is one of Stan’s last projects he was working on, how did it grow from there? How did it come about and what was the collaboration process?

LL: I met Stan in the year 2000 when I was a film student at NYU. At that point Stan was very excited about the Internet and what it could mean for us as a tool to communicate ideas, and for people to communicate with each other. Cut to about a decade and a half later, Stan was my mentor so I knew him throughout, but you cut to a decade a decade and a half later and he became much more keenly aware of how that tool was being misused and how the Internet had become a tool for division. Manipulating people’s perception and manipulating people, and how the anonymity of the Internet was causing us to dehumanize each other. This story is very much about finding real connections in a, you know, virtual space. The idea of A Trick Of Light is that all of these digital realities, virtual realities, augmented realities, and just what you see on your phone or on your screen every day, that’s not real. That’s A Trick Of Light.

RS: Just the brass tacks of it: this was a multi year process of working and world building, creating many characters and many story threads, and the foundations of what became Alliances. Then, once the choice was made to introduce the story through A Trick of Light, bringing it out as an Audible Original was something very exciting for all of us, especially Stan, because it allowed us to tell this story and introduce this universe in a really immersive way. These are characters developed for audio, and it allows you then to have a very personal connection and, co-authored with Kat here, it brings you inside the journey of Cameron, Nia, Juaquo and Zoll, and all of the other characters, in a way that really no other format allows. So that’s what was really special for us in terms of how we decided to release the project.

RS: Now in terms of where we’re sitting right now, we are at SDCC at what was a mind blowing experience for the three of us because we walked in here, and it is a completely dark room [with] basically a light labyrinth that brings you inside of the story in a way that I have never, ever, experienced. Truly I wish all the listeners could come step into Fourth Avenue and walk through the A Trick of Light installation because it is mind blowing!

KR: This activation really encapsulates perfectly how gripping it is to be told a story in audio. So many of the other spaces at Comic-Con rely on visual spectacle, in here it’s really just about the story; and it’s about the voice of Yara Shahidi, our incredible narrator.

JA: The writing process for this, how long did it take?

LL: As Ryan was saying, the world building started years ago. We were just building out characters and story threads, and when Stan decided that he wanted to introduce this universe through a long form narrative, then Audible became an opportunity. First of all for Stan I think just working the audio medium it was something he hadn’t done a million times and at that point in his career that got him excited.

RS: Yeah.

KR: He’d never done it, it was completely new!

LL: Right. Exactly. Finding a new storytelling medium for Stan Lee in his 90s…

MM: What an incredible opportunity!

LL: That’s when we took this this universe that was created, and the characters, and started to focus them into a single narrative, which is A Trick of Light, the story that introduces you to the characters in the universe.

RS: The foundations of the Alliances universe come from the question that Stan asks in the intro which is: ‘What is more real? The world we’re born into or the one we create for ourselves?’. You know as fans you wait your whole life to hear Stan ask that ‘what if’ question. Cause we’ve read all of that work, and to hear that it unlocked so many opportunities and potential, to develop Alliances, to introduce Cameron and Nia through Trick of Light. That question is is so meaningful to all three of us and Stan.

JA: How big is the space we are in right now? [For the A Trick of Light SDCC Activation]

LL: Well there is this room, which is where you’re first introduced to it, then there’s a hallway that takes you to a larger space, and then there’s a hallway with Stan’s audio that brings you out.

RS: For listeners [or readers] you walk in and it says here ‘The Great Beyond’, and that’s where you experience the beginnings of the journey of the story. Right, and you go into the great beyond…

LL: The great beyond lies within.

RS: ‘The great beyond lies within’, which is from the book. Each space is developed and each little experiences develop from a piece of the narrative. There are massive audio modules that allow you to focus in on Yara’s terrific performance and the terrific writing of Stan and Kat, and really walk out of this experience with a different understanding of the story in a way.

KR: I just want to add on, because we haven’t actually made this explicit yet, what you’re doing in this activation is that you’re experiencing our main character Cameron’s transformation from an ordinary person into something a little bit superhuman.

LL: Cameron 2.0.

KR: Yeah, Cameron 2.0.

JA: I know you’ve been working on the project for years, but for the activation in general how long did it take to put something like this together?

RS: We don’t know.

LL: We are the wrong people to ask!

RS: We create the world, there are geniuses here that create this world. I think what’s really moving about this installation, not only as people who have worked on the project for so many years, is Stan has such an amazing connection with fans. We’re sitting at this table because he built the fan community basically brick by brick prior to the 60s and then into the 60s with the Marvel Age. You know, through soapboxes and through his talks on campus, and then came connections, and then came the Internet. Prior to that was sending letters around from penpals, through the fan pages. Here it’s great because you get to experience the Stan Lee story with fans. Then on the way out Stan, is no longer with us, but he is present. As you exit the intro plays and it’s very very moving. For us during this part of the experience we really miss him, because this is what he really enjoyed so much, he was a long [time] mentor of Luke’s, and you know this is really special activation experience.

KR: He feels present in this moment, not just because you hear his voice as you leave this experience, but you just see how excited everyone is to share in this story, and we’re so excited, and it really just feels like he’s kind of here.

LL: Also actually when you leave and you’re hearing his voice it just remind me of how excited he was to work. This was a project he was excited about, and you sort of hear it. And Stan’s excitement is contagious, it’s infectious, and it gets all of his collaborators excited, it gets you motivated.

MM: So Alliances is a universe, does that mean there will be other things to come of this?

KR: Well for the moment we are very focused on the release of the Audible Original, we’ve been working on this for a long time and couldn’t talk about it for the longest time because it was all under cloak and dagger and it was super secretive. So you know, we’ll say that universes tend to expand and it would be a little weird if this one didn’t. But right now we’re very focused on A Trick of Light and just getting the fan community excited to be part of this journey and to get in with these characters.

MM: Do you think that this particular Audible Original could expand into VR or something? Because walking through this experience I could totally see sitting at home in like a VR world kind of experiencing the light and sound and stuff all at once.

KR: That is a cool idea.

RS: I think one of the things that’s so beautiful about audio is that, I believe and we all believe because we’re working in it, it is like the most immersive experience. There’s a lot of spectacle to virtual reality, but when it comes down to it 52% of your experience in a film, probably more but let’s just go with 52% percent, is the sound. You forget it because it becomes part of the story, it becomes part of the backdrop, but it is so important. So I think the most immersive way to experience the story would be through audio.

KR: I will say we we have a print edition coming out in September. So you know there’s a lot of raw material here that I think can function really well in any number of mediums.

LL: When we were talking about how [Stan] was excited about the opportunity to do something he hadn’t done before, which was an Audible story, one of the things that got him excited was the idea that his fans would collaborate with him and that they would visualize the story, and that they could be the [Jack] Kirby or the [Steve] Ditko and they would create their own versions of the characters. We didn’t really overly describe the characters because we wanted everyone to be able to sort of visualize their own version of Cameron and Juaquo and Nia… and Zoll… and Six [and another character that I could not make out on the audio]

KR: You just named off every single character!

RS: You just named off every character!

KR: We never talk about Barry, the old man.

LL: Yeah we really should, he is like one of my favourite characters.

MM: Just out of curiosity I feel like I’m noticing a trend of technology and humans kind of intermingling in a way that they haven’t previously, in comics and movies and stuff like that. Do you have any ideas on why that is, why that’s happening at this point in time.

KR: I think it’s happening in real life! [Said simultaneously with one of the guys, to peels of laughter from everybody]

KR: What this story is really reflective of is what it’s like to live right now, in a world where technology influences our lives, where it’s our primary medium for connecting with and communicating with each other. Sometimes it’s even our exclusive medium for knowing somebody. So I think that this story is another way, a different angle, to explore the anxieties and the questions and the concerns that arise from already living in an age where technology is so much a part of our lives. It’s already a part of our identities, you know, you shape this self online. So I think it flows very naturally from something that’s actually happening.

LL: We’re not experts in technology, we’re not scientists or anything, but we did a lot of research to just kind of see where things were at, and what was coming and what was around the corner, to sort of inform the storytelling.

RS: With A Trick of Light, as Luke was saying, we did do real world research, we went up to Cornell, Stanford, the Human Interaction Lab where the Oculus was created and were informed by a lot of the real [technology] that the fantastical was developed off of. But all of Stan’s stories, and I think this is why his stories tend to stand the test of time, they are mythologically based, they’re character based, but they also are set in a world that’s familiar to ours. With [Fantastic Four] or with the Hulk, these are amazing characters that can develop and be set in different kinds of context, but where they were set originally were and things that felt very real like: Spidey swings down Sixth Avenue, Hulk is dealing with the nuclear age. We hadn’t been to space at the point at which Reed Richards [of Fantastic Four] went up there [to space]; Kirby and Stan rendered that from their imagination. So great storytellers, I do think on trend, will notice and be able to set great stories and great characters inside of things that feel familiar to us. And I think that’s something that in this story Kat and Stan achieved.

JA: You know any goal starts with an idea. I’m gonna ask you guys and odd question, but it might be different for each of you as far as the answer goes. What was the most difficult thing about the project to get it to where it is now. Did you find a certain stage where it was like we’re not getting this, or part of the script, or was it more the technological aspects?

LL: The nice thing is that we have a very very experienced storyteller to kind of help. We had a Gandalf guiding us through the path, and it was a team sport. So you know, if you’re bumping up against something maybe Kat has a solution or maybe Ryan has an idea you can throw out. That I think was the benefit of the collaborative process.

KR: Yeah, I will say that when I came on board I expected it to be so much harder than it was. You know I’m coming from a background of writing novels and in my experience that’s always been a very lonely solitary thing. You spend two years just rattling around in your head trying to create something, it’s just you and hopefully you emerge at the end, back into the sun with a manuscript that’s in decent shape. Getting three more brains into the mix I thought would be difficult, you know, to kind of create that mesh. I was like oh my God how is this going to work are you going to be able to see the seems in this narrative where each person contributed something, but it’s not like that at all.

RS: The hardest thing that I bump up against is just getting creeped out every time a certain sequence happens in the Audible Original. I can’t help but hear it and be like ooh super spooky.

KR: What creeps you out?

RS: Well I don’t know, no spoilers here.

LL: Have you met Six? [All laughing]

KR: I have I lived inside his head. [laughing]

RS: Yeah. Creeps me out.

LL: Have you met Zoll?

RS: What do you mean, that happens on Sixth Avenue every day!

JA: For our listeners and audience can you let us know where we can find you, and if you are working on anything that we can get on board with?

LL: I have a mini series out now called Red Sonja: Birth of a She Devil. I also control the Red Sonja franchise so I’m sure you know everything else that’s being done on the publishing side for us!

To learn more about these crazy talented people you can find them on social media at:

Luke Lieberman: @TheRealRedSonja on Twitter

Kat Rosenfield: @KatRosenfield on both Twitter and Instagram

Ryan Silbert: @RyanSilbert on Twitter

And if you are looking for a new listen, or want to get in on the newest Stan Lee endeavour, I highly recommend heading over to Audible right now to get started on Stan Lee’s Alliances: A Trick of Light!

Photo Credit: Audible

Interviewing The Cast Of ‘Dragon Ball Super: Broly’: Vic Mignogna- The Voice Of Broly

by Josh Jackson

This is part five of our ‘Dragon Ball Super: Broly’ interview series.

Click here for our interview with Monica Rial, the voice of Bulma.

Click here for our interview with Jason Douglas, the voice of Beerus.

Click here for our interview with Ian Sinclair, the voice of Whis.

Click here for our interview with Sonny Strait, the voice of Bardock.

Dragon Ball Super: Broly, the continuation of the DBS anime that re-imagines the fan-favorite villain from the perspective of series creator Akira Toriyama, will be releasing in theaters nationwide on January 16. To count down to the release of the film, we will be posting a round table interview conducted alongside Sean at VRV, with voice actors from the movie each day leading up to the release date, culminating with a full review of DBS: Broly itself!

Next up is the titular character himself! Vic Mignogna has voiced Broly since the Funimation dub of the original Legendary Super Saiyan film in 2004. Perhaps best known as the voice of Edward Elric in Fullmetal Alchemist, Vic has also played Junpei Iori in Persona 3 and its various films and spinoffs. Other well known series he’s featured in include Attack on Titan and One-Punch Man, and lesser known shows like Madlax, a personal favorite of mine. Chances are if you play games or watch anime, you’ve heard Vic’s voice. Now with Broly being reimagined, we talked to him about what it was like to play two different versions of the hulking berserker.

Josh- This is essentially the second time audiences are being introduced to Broly. His portrayal based on everything we know so far seems to be a little bit different from his past versions.

Vic- Different in a very good way! A very good way. I love Broly! I love that character, I have for many, many years. If there was one thing that I would have changed, and I think most fans agree, it would have been to give him a more significant backstory. Give him some kind of foundation or background that he didn’t have, and this movie certainly does that. And it does it very effectively.

Sean- From what we can gather, this version of Broly doesn’t really like to fight like the original version. Yet, we know we know he will actually be doing a lot of fighting. What were your thoughts on this kind of split and dichotomy?

Vic- I love it! You know, I think one of the things that Dragon Ball is known for is fighting, battling, tournaments and competition… So you expect that. And the action in this film is certainly worthy of Dragon Ball. But what you don’t always expect is a deeper story, is a sympathetic story for a character that on the surface may seem pretty menacing. But when you find out more about his background, you actually develop a… I don’t want to say sympathy, but your heart goes out a little bit to him, I think. And that just makes it more powerful.

Josh- Was that challenging at all to take this character that you played years ago in a different form and having to approach it in a different way?

Vic- Not at all! In fact, I welcome it! Because as an actor, you always love the opportunity to play a deeper character, right? I mean, anybody that screams loud can play a character that only screams loud, right? But if suddenly you’ve got a character that’s got variations on his personality and what makes him who he is, that makes him more fun to play! Which is always a welcomed thing.

Sean- If you had to choose between the two versions of the character, which one is more fun to play and which [would you choose] as a fan?

Vic- Both of them! Excuse me… I mean the second one for both reasons! (Laughs) The Broly we’re about to be introduced to is definitely my favorite for both reasons! I think the fans are really going to enjoy it more because there’s more to connect with, and I had fun playing a character that had more dimensions than just, “Oh! There was a baby crying next to him when he was born and he freaked out.” Ehh… That’s a little thin! (Laughs)

Sean- There is such great animation in this movie. Was there any point where it was too hard to record because you were just too taken aback by the images?

Vic- Well, I will tell you what! I will tell you that Justin Cook over there, (voice actor and producer on Dragon Ball and other Funimation projects), who worked on directing my stuff, he has as much better eye for it than I do! He has…

*Justin Cook shouts at Vic in the distance*

Vic- (Laughs) No! I’m just telling them! They were asking me about, you know, with the action and the fighting being so fast moving, it is easy to get pulled in! Like, “Wait a minute! I was supposed to do something and I don’t know what…” But Justin has a great eye for it, and he literally would say, “Okay, right here, you’ve got this, this, this, and it all happens in like half a second.” So I depended a great deal on him to keep me focused on what I was doing.

Justin- I depend on Vic! Let’s get that clear.

Vic- Right! He’s smirking when he says that! (Laughs)

Sean- Another question about recording. What is the key to recording the perfect battle scream?

Vic- Oof… You know what? Voice actors have told me for years that there is a way that you can yell without hurting your voice… I don’t but it! (Laughs) I don’t think that’s true. I think that if you fake it, you can tell. Does that make sense? So, umm… One of the reasons Broly is such a challenging character to play is because you can’t hold back! You can’t fake it. It has got to be full on, everything you’ve got, and so I don’t think there’s a way of cheating the yelling and the screaming. The key is, let it rip! Let it rip. Because the last thing you want to hear is the director go, “Could you uhh… Give me a little more?” I mean, oh god, really? So just let it go!

Josh- With this version of Broly, did you get somewhat of a break from the screaming? Is it as much?

Vic- No [break]! (Laughs) Umm… But I will tell you that our approach to the recording process was that we would record for like two hours a day, because you don’t want to do it much longer than that. Because you’ll actually stress your voice out and then you won’t be recovered for the next day. So we took a week to record this role for a couple of hours a day. Maybe some days we would do maybe three hours, but you don’t want to scream bloody murder for five or six hours a day cause then you’ll go home and you’ll wake the next morning and your voice will not have recovered. So then you’ll be out of commission for a few days. So our strategy was a couple hours each day, and then I would go home and drink tea with honey and sit quietly… (Laughs) And let it reocover!

Josh- The way that Broly is being portrayed in this version of the film kind of makes him seem like a missing link between Goku and Vegeta. What role do you think he plays in their rivalry and friendship as a Saiyan?

Vic- That’s an interesting question! That’s a very interesting question! And I hope based on the way that the story unfolds and the way the movie ends, I’m hoping sincerely that we’re going to see more of Broly. I think he’s a much more compelling character. He’s just as badass as he ever was, but now there’s more dimension to him. And I think it leaves it wide open for him to show up again and play a more pivotal role between Goku and Vegeta. I hope that happens! I sincerely hope it happens.

Sean- Do you think that Broly is kind of this product of Saiyan culture because of King Vegeta’s corruption, and because they are meant to be angry and fighting even when they don’t want to?

Vic- No! No, I think he’s a product of his father. I mean, you know. If Broly’s father is his singular main influance, just like you or me. Your dad has a great deal to do with the person you are by the time you’re 12 or 13 years old, right? And some of those habits are hard to break because they’re so deeply ingrained. I think that it’s Broly’s dad that is largely responsible for who he is.

Josh- That brings up an interesting point that I didn’t think of before. But since Broly was kind of isolated while Goku and Vegeta had their own thing, and he was kind of separate from the conflict with Frieza and everything… And this is just from what I know from the trailers, so I could be wrong, but do you think that Goku and Vegeta had that time to grow and develop and move on past Frieza’s influence on Planet Vegeta, do you think that Broly is kind of a way to pull them back towards their Saiyan heritage that has kind of taken more of a backseat after the Frieza Saga ended?

Vic- Possibly! Possibly so, but as you even pointed out, Broly is kind of a reluctant warrior. He’s not fighting because he even really believes in it himself. And you sense the turmoil in him, which is much more interesting than it’s ever been. It makes the character more interesting. And I’m not really sure how his presence will influence Vegeta or Goku, or like you said, “Pull them back.” Hopefully that’s something that will be explored either in the series to come or even another movie possibly. But they’ve certainly left it wide open for that!

Tomorrow, we sit with the Prince himself, as Chris Sabat talks to us about the process of recording the film both behind the mic and in the director’s chair!

Interviewing The Cast Of ‘Dragon Ball Super: Broly’: Monica Rial- The Voice Of Bulma

by Josh Jackson

This is part four of our ‘Dragon Ball Super: Broly’ interview series.

Click here for our interview with Jason Douglas, the voice of Beerus.

Click here for our interview with Ian Sinclair, the voice of Whis.

Click here for our interview with Sonny Strait, the voice of Bardock.

Dragon Ball Super: Broly, the continuation of the DBS anime that re-imagines the fan-favorite villain from the perspective of series creator Akira Toriyama, will be releasing in theaters nationwide on January 16. To count down to the release of the film, we will be posting a round table interview conducted alongside Sean at VRV, with voice actors from the movie each day leading up to the release date, culminating with a full review of DBS: Broly itself!

Today’s interview is with Monica Rial, who has voiced Bulma since the remade Dragon Ball Z: Kai was dubbed in 2010. As the one character who has been part of the series as long as Goku has, Bulma is perhaps the character that has changed the most throughout the series. Starting off as a shallow teenager who wanted to use the wish making powers of the Dragon Balls to wish for a boyfriend, fans have watched her grow into the brains behind the brawn of Goku and his friends, oftentimes serving as the motherly figure to the rest of the group as well as the only person that can keep her husband, Vegeta, in check. Outside of Dragon Ball, Monica has had lead roles in series’ such as Panty and Stocking with Garderbelt, Senran Kagura, and recently began voicing Sakura Kinomoto in Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card.

Josh- So Monica! With the Broly movie approaching, what can you tell us about Bulma’s role in the film?

Monica- Bulma’s role is in the film is she KICKS BROLY’S A… No, I’m kidding, I wish! (Laughs) I’m still waiting for the day that she to fight! But I’d say Bulma’s role in this film is supporting her friends, but also comedy. She’s got a lot of comedy in this one. And I think it’s just that it’s such an action packed, hardcore film. There’s a lot of drama, there’s a lot of action, so I feel like they needed some comic relief and they were like, “Bulma!” So that’s kind of my role in this one. Which I’m not gonna complain about. I love comedy, so I’m all about it!

Josh- Bulma has the habit of bossing around some of the strongest beings in the universe, so are we going to come to the point in the film or beyond the film where she’s going to be pulling Broly by the ear and telling him what to do?

Monica- I hope so! I really, really hope that will be the case because at this point, I’ve done it to all of them. Calling Frieza ugly to his face and slapping Beerus… if she didn’t die then, then surely she can handle Broly or at least put him in his place.

Sean- Is she going to be the one that actually forces Vegeta to fuse?

Monica- Oh… I can’t tell you that! (Laughs) But that’s got to be weird! You know, the more I think about the fusion, it’s like your best friend and your husband… Do you really want them turning into one person? Probably not.

Sean- Yeah, what would Bulma say to that?

Monica- I think she’d be a little weirded out. At the same time, I think she’s one of those people who’ll do whatever you got to do to get the job done. But at the same time, yeah… It would be a little strange.

Josh- She’s been around from the very beginning, so she’s seen her fair share of strange things already.

Monica- Right! I think she’s just jaded at this point. She’s like, “Whatever, that’s weird but oh well, it’s just another Tuesday!”

Sean- Was there any point where the animation was just so breathtaking that it stopped you in your tracks while you were recording?

Monica- Yeah! In fact, I got to watch it before we recorded it. Jason Douglas and I actually sat down in Colleen Clinkenbeard’s office, (longtime voice actor and director at Funimation who currently plays Mai and the entire young Goku family tree in Dragon Ball), and sat with the script because they were very cautious about it not leaking or anything. So we had to go into her office and watch it on her little Mac with our little scripts… And I will say that there were several times where we looked at each other and were like, “Oh! Yes! That’s intense!” And we weren’t even looking at the final version, we were looking at a version that was still in progress, so you had a lot of storyboards and still animation, which was so cool for us because we never get to see that behind the scenes kind of stuff. So it was really neat to kind of see. There was a point where Bulma’s space ship takes off and it’s like, a picture… a picture… a picture… a picture, before they had the motion put in. It was really, really cool! But yeah, it’s absolutely gorgeous, and I can’t WAIT for everybody to see it! I feel like I’ve got the biggest secret in the world and I can’t tell anybody and I can’t wait for you all to see it so I can finally talk about it! (Laughs)

Josh- I know, the wait’s been killer!

Monica- Yeah, it’s the worst! It’s absolutely the worst. And people keep asking, “Why are the trailers giving away so much information?” And I’m like, “Nah you’re good. There’s still a whole lot more!”

Josh- Okay, good!

Sean- It’s not quite 100% certain that we’ll get that we’ll get more Dragon Ball animation beyond this. If it does keep going, are you absolutely down for more and where do you think it will go?

Monica- 100 percent! In fact, I would be very unhappy and very sad if we DON’T have more! I would hope that would be the case! I think that a lot of people have speculated [and] Akira Toriyama has said that if this film does well, that he would consider the possibility of doing more. So I’m like, “Everybody go see this movie! Go! Now!” (Laughs) But yeah, I would love for there to be more, and if I were going to guess as to where I would like the show to go, I would love for either Vegeta or Goku to become a Destroyer. I kind of see that whole aspect of it, and people always ask, “Well then, what’s going to happen to Beerus?” And I’m like, “I think Beerus is going to be the new Piccolo!” As much as he hates it, I think he’s gonna be the dude that sits around and eats food and hangs out with Bulla! And that’s how it’s gonna be!

Josh- And he raises other people’s kids!

Monica- Right, exactly! We all know Piccolo is the best dad in Dragon Ball! Well… Vegeta is catching up because of what he’s done recently, but not in the beginning.

Josh- Yeah! Him and Piccolo are fighting for a close first and second right now. (Laughs)

Sean- Kind of a silly question, but do you think if Broly is the one Bulma encountered, would they be together too?

Monica- Oh gosh! I don’t think so! I don’t know… No! No, not THIS Broly. This Broly… I think that that she would be like… She’s become much more maternal as the show has gone on I think, especially in Super. She’s kind of the mom of the group. She’s like telling people what to do and making sure she’s on every mission because she’s like, “You can’t go by yourself, I have to be there!” She’d probably just mom Broly. Broly would be like her kid where she’s like, “Now shush, drink your milk! Okay, you have to finish your homework before you go to bed!” Like I really think that would be her take on Broly.

Josh- On the subject of Bulma’s role shifting over the years, it’s somewhat understated, but next to Goku, she’s the character who has been there the longest and gone through the most growth and change throughout. So going from the selfish teenager up to the mom role, where would you like to see Bulma go past this movie?

Monica- Oh goodness… I would love to see her take a more commanding position. Like maybe… Become the mayor of the town or do something that’s more involved with what’s happening in their world. Either that or I would like to see her fight! (Laughs) I’d love to see her come out with an outfit… Not and outfit, but like a suit. Like an Iron Man type suit where she can actually go out there and help them more than just by flying the spacecraft, you know what I mean? I think that would be kind of fun to see. She might like… Scream and run away! But you know, it would be worth a shot! Just to see!

Josh- That doesn’t sound too hard compared to building a time machine a couple of times.

Monica- If she could do that, she can surely build an Iron Man suit!

Sean- Robotics suits used to be a big part of Dragon Ball.

Monica- Right!? Yeah! And then it’s been gone, so it’s like, “Bring them back!” (Laughs) That would be fun! So who knows? But yeah, I think she’ll continue to mom everybody, that’s for sure.

Monica- I was just talking to the other gentleman who was hosting [the interviews]. He was saying that, “You know, a lot of Japanese people watch the dub,” and I’m like, “… They do?” I guess we just assume that you know… You guys watch the dub, everybody in the US watches the dub, but nobody else anywhere… Ever watches the dub!

Sean- I interviewed Sean [Schemmel] at Comic Con and he said they heard back that you guys got the seal of approval from the Japanese crew.

Monica- That was recent! That wasn’t that long ago. So it was kind of interesting to see how it’s kind of changing over the years. But yeah! To think that people are watching internationally that don’t even speak English as a first language, that’s really impressive! That’s really, really cool! And kind of intimidating and scary all at the same time! (Laughs)

Josh- But I think that’s just a testament to how great of a job you all do because for me at least, it’s really hard to even watch it in any other version. You guys are the voices that I’ve been listening to for so long.

Monica- Thank you! Well, we love it. I mean like… That’s the thing. We’ve kind of become a little family. Like, anywhere we go, I look forward to seeing [everyone]. I just put a picture up and tagged it as, “Doing press with my boys!” Because it’s literally how it feels! You’re just like a little happy family!

Sean- Chris [Sabat’s] work wife?

Monica- Yes! Oh my gosh! My birthday dinner was with my fiance and Chris! So both of my husbands!

We’re in Saiyan territory now! Check back tomorrow for our interview with Vic Mignogna, the voice of Broly!

Interviewing The Cast Of ‘Dragon Ball Super: Broly’: Jason Douglas- The Voice Of Beerus

by Josh Jackson

This is part three of our ‘Dragon Ball Super: Broly’ interview series.

Click here for our interview with Ian Sinclair, the voice of Whis.

Click here for our interview with Sonny Strait, the voice of Bardock.

Dragon Ball Super: Broly, the continuation of the DBS anime that re-imagines the fan-favorite villain from the perspective of series creator Akira Toriyama, will be releasing in theaters nationwide on January 16. To count down to the release of the film, we will be posting a round table interview conducted alongside Sean at VRV, with voice actors from the movie each day leading up to the release date, culminating with a full review of DBS: Broly itself!

Today’s interview is with Jason Douglas, the voice actor for the God of Destruction himself, Beerus. Jason is a veteran voice actor who has been featured in dubbing roles for over a decade. Ranging from classics like Elfen Lied and Full Metal Panic to newer shows like My Hero Academia, RWBY and One Piece, chances are if you’ve watched popular anime over the last few years, you’ve heard his voice at some point. Outside of anime, Jason has also voiced Krieg, the playable Psycho in Borderlands 2, and can be seen on the screen in the Sin City film and Breaking Bad. With Beerus arguably being his most popular role, we sat down with him to ask him how the god’s presence will be felt in the Broly film, as well as how it feels to play one of the most well received additions to the Dragon Ball cast.

Sean- Can you tell us what Beerus’ role in the film is, both in the flashback storyline and the present storyline?

Jason- I think you’re gonna learn some things about Beerus that really… I wanna say things without getting too spoilery, but I think the Beerus that we see in this film confirms for me some things that I’ve considered for awhile now, which is that he is getting restless in his position. He might even be getting… There might be a vulnerability there. I’ll just put it that way. I think that we are not finished seeing him develop as a character, and I think what we see of him in this film will set up perhaps some future conflict perhaps between him and Whis or between him and Goku and Vegeta. I think it will seem trivial to some degree, but I think it sets up a possibility for a future change in the Beerus storyline. That’s about as careful as I can say all of that without giving anything away! (Laughs)

Sean- The character wasn’t actually in the first Broly film. Were you a fan of the original film and were you happy to be apart of it?

Jason- The original film wasn’t really on my radar screen. I felt like, especially with the way Toriyama wanted to really reboot the character… in a fresh way with this film. I think that in some ways, we kind of need to set aside what we think we know about Broly from all the previous iterations of that character and just take him for who he now he is as he’s launched in THIS iteration of the Dragon Ball franchise. Because I think it’s an interesting character and I think he will be a bit of a live wire. And someone that going forward… I think just adds some unpredictability to the Dragon Ball universe, you know? And I think that’s who Broly is. I think he’s incredibly powerful, but it’s a power that I don’t think is easily constrained. So I think Vegeta and Goku, especially under the tutelage of Whis, are always about discipline and control and focus. Whereas Broly is the proverbial wild child, you know? The idea of a kid raised by monkeys living in the jungle, you know? Like swinging from trees. And so,  I think that just lends to his intrigue as a character.

Josh- Speaking of Beerus and his history with the Saiyans, it was kind of said as more of a throwaway line almost in Super, one that hasn’t been addressed much yet, but it was mentioned how Frieza destroyed Planet Vegeta on Beerus’ order. Now, is that anything he is gonna have to answer for?

Jason- Well, I think this film is interesting in that it expands the backstory of a lot of that. This film is really great for sort of deepening the mythos of the Dragon Ball universe and giving that scene… When you see it in Super, it feels a certain way. But I think once you get to know Planet Vegeta a little bit in this film and you see the kind of world that they’re living in, it sort of begins to make more sense in a certain way. And so I for one was glad obviously as the English voice of Beerus, but as the actor trying to bring that character to life, to see kind of a richer landscape of what that was about. We definitely gain a lot of perspective on Planet Vegeta.

Sean- Was there any point where the animation was just so breathtaking that it was difficult to completely record your lines because it’s just so amazing?

Jason- Um… Yeah, that’s interesting… I was quite impressed with the animation for this film. Luckily, I had a chance to watch it from start to finish. It was still unfinished, but in some places, it was complete. I could tell even then that it was going to be just… It was definitely moving up a notch from our expectations from the show. I think when we saw Battle of Gods, our expectations were instantly elevated by what we saw with that film, and that’s been three our four years ago now. So their ideas about the show and about how to cast the animation for that has evolved even since then. I think it’s epic, I think it is very Tolkien-esque at times. It has the flavors now of a deep mythology that I think we maybe didn’t have before.

Josh- Speaking of Battle of Gods, it was the first time that there was new material for Dragon Ball Z in about a decade and a half…

Jason- 17 years I think, yeah!

Josh- When that came out, it introduced Beerus, who is now a major part of [Dragon Ball]. How did that feel being a new character added in such a well renowned and established universe, and how do you feel about him being so widely accepted in the fandom?

Jason- I’m grateful that the fandom of Dragon Ball have accepted obviously me as part of that inner circle which for so long was carried so skillfully by Sean [Schemmel] and Chris [Sabat] and those folks. It’s always an amazing thing to be part of a franchise that has worldwide acclaim and to get to contribute to that in some way. And so I’m thrilled particularly on this show that the English dub is not just an afterthought, but that there are a lot of fans worldwide really who eagerly anticipate what we do. I hear from fans who love the Japanese version and the English dub version and will watch them both. It’s like they get two performances, they get two chances to watch the show be interpreted. It’s a real honor, and for someone who’s really been doing this… I started doing anime before I ever started working on camera for film and television. It was one of the first professional jobs I ever had as an actor after starting in theater, it was doing voices in anime. You know, that’s been just over 20 years now. And so for me to get to do a character like this in Dragon Ball, which is such a worldwide phenomenon, is just an amazing milestone for me. It’s definitely an honor.

Josh- As far as Beerus, one of my favorite things about him is that he has the ability to just  be the funniest part of the show, then the next second, he can be the most dangerous part of the show.

Jason- Right! For me, that’s what makes him so much fun to play. He’s not a one dimensional character. He’s not just sort of written as a utility kind of function to advance the plot, and then he’s gone. I think as the audience, we’re intrigued by him as a character. Not only does he make us laugh, but he gets us excited. I think that he has that effect within the show as well. I think Goku and Vegeta obviously have respect for Beerus as a character and he represents something that I think they want to attain for themselves. I think it’s important for Beerus to not merely be a kind of a malevolent force, but as a way of saying, “Are you sure you want to do this? Are you sure that you want what I have? Because I’ve been at it for a good while and I’m a little bored.” I think there’s a subtext to Beerus that says, “I’m a little bored with this, guys. Do you want it? Come take it, but make it interesting!”

Sean- Are you down for more if there’s more to come?

Jason- Yeah! I’m around! (Laughs) Obviously, I pursue on camera work, and I do other voice work and video games. But I’ve never not done anime except for a very short period of time in the mid to late 2000’s when I was kind of quiet in the business. But I’ve been doing anime nearly longer than I’ve done anything else as an actor, so for me to get to play this character is really an opportunity of a lifetime and I hope that it does continue for me as it has for these guys! You know, they started 20-some odd years ago with this franchise when nobody knew or cared what it was, and they’ve stuck with it all this time. They saw it gain in popularity and saw it achieve worldwide phenomenon status. So if I could be apart of it for my 20 years as they approach 40, I think that would be great!

Check back tomorrow for our next interview with Monica Rial, the voice of Bulma!

Interviewing The Cast Of ‘Dragon Ball Super: Broly’: Ian Sinclair- The Voice Of Whis

by Josh Jackson

This is part two of our interview series.

Click here for our interview with Sonny Strait, the voice of Bardock.

Dragon Ball Super: Broly, the continuation of the DBS anime that re-imagines the fan-favorite villain from the perspective of series creator Akira Toriyama, will be releasing in theaters nationwide on January 16. To count down to the release of the film, we will be posting a round table interview conducted alongside Sean at VRV, with voice actors from the movie each day leading up to the release date, culminating with a full review of DBS: Broly itself!

Next up, is Ian Sinclair, the voice of Whis. As the angel and overseer of Beerus, the God of Destruction, Whis is seen as the mentor of Goku and Vegeta as the seek to obtain greater power against opponents from the multiverse. Often sarcastic and carefree, Whis has brought a fresh, humorous take to the series after being introduced in the Battle of Gods revival, becoming one of the more beloved characters in the series. Ian can also be heard on popular shows such as Attack on Titan, One Piece, and as Juzo Sakakura in Danganronpa 3, which is a personal favorite of mine.

Sean- Whis usually takes an outside role with things as an observer. There’s a rumor that he actually has a fight in this movie, so what was it like voicing the character in action when he’s normally having to step back. Or can you not confirm anything…

Ian- *Using his Whis voice* Umm… I can ask YOU questions! How do you think Broly vs. Whis would go down?

Sean- Honestly, I think he’s even gonna have a little bit of trouble. Like, he’s gonna be confident, and then be like, “oh crap!”

Ian- Oh! You think he’s gonna have trouble?! (Laughs) That’s my answer!

Josh- I would think Whis would beat him pretty easily!

Ian- Yeah! You’d think that, wouldn’t you? A Saiyan, that’s cute. A Saiyan’s gonna hurt an angel, that’s ADORABLE! (Laughs)

Sean- What can you tell us about his role in the movie?

Ian- Whis’ role in the movie… What can I tell you? How can I… I feel like Whis and Beerus are now…

*Switching back to Ian’s normal voice* I’m just gonna go ahead and preface this. So it’s really hard for me to understand the Whis [character] from an outside point. I can understand Beerus, because I’m like, “Okay, he’s the new guy that [Goku] is going up against.” I can look at him like a Cell, like a Buu, but instead this one became a friend. So it’s almost like a Vegeta kind of thing, or a Piccolo, but I have NO concept of Whis because he’s me in a weird way. But Whis and Beerus I feel are now friends and part of the group, and they’re all there to you know, train and do stuff like that. I can’t spoil, so I’ll say they’re part of the gang!

*Using Whis’ voice* But again, my response to if Broly can give ANY. PROBLEM. TO WHIS… Hold on, let me grab the microphones… Ha. Haha. Haha. Hahahahahahaha. Oh, that’s cute! Just getting that out there, just getting that out there.

Sean- I’ve been asking this to everyone. The animation looks amazing…

Ian- Oh god, you have no idea!

Sean- Was there any point where it was just too hard to record because you were just taken aback.

Ian- No, actually I was recording animatics. Most of my stuff was recorded fairly early on in the process and the big fight stuff and the stuff where you can tell that all the crazy amount of money and time and effort got put into it… Those I didn’t see until after the fact, so most of my stuff was mostly animated.

Sean- And that’s new then for you guys, accessing the storyboards.

Ian- Damn right! Normally the thing is completely done and they just pitch it over to us. So that was different. It’s stunning though, dude, for real. All interviewing aside, the fight in this is so dope! Like so dope! It’s everything that you’d like! You’re like, “ahhhh!” and then they bring out Gogeta and you’re like, “Agggghhhh!” It’s genuinely one of the dopest fights you’ll ever see or that you have seen so far in Dragon Ball, and I include the Jiren fight in that. This is at least that level. AT LEAST!

Josh- That’s really exciting because the Jiren fight was incredible!

Ian- It was incredible! It was one of those things where you’re like, “You have so much money! You animators must have spent so much time on this!” Because it’s just so crisp and SO good! But oh, this movie! My jaw literally dropped and I went, “Oh my god!” when I saw it the first time.

Josh- With Whis, one of my favorite parts about the character is all of his different interactions with everybody and how playful and teasing he is with everybody. What are some of your favorite interactions that you’ve had as Whis?

Ian (Whis?)- Well, my absolute favorite is when Goku finally comes up to the planet to train with Whis and Vegeta, and Whis goes, “You know what might be fun? If we sparred today! We haven’t tried that yet!” And Goku goes, “You haven’t sparred with Whis yet? That must mean you’re not strong enough!” Or something like that. And I go, “But to be fair Goku, neither are you.” And [Goku] goes, “I’m not strong enough to fight you?” And I go “Ohoho… No…” And MAN, just to say that to Goku is just a trip dude!

Sean- As somebody [who gets to be] sassy with all your favorite characters…

Ian- Ughhh! And just… I don’t know if it’s because of how Super has written Goku, but I get annoyed with Goku at this point, and I never did as a kid. He was always like my super hero. But now I’m such a Vegeta fan! And like, Goku will just be like, “Can I train? Can I train?” I’ll be like, “Oh my god! He’s annoying!” And the director will be like, “Yeah! Use that!” And then there’s that scene where I’m doing shabu shabu and he’s like, “C’mon! C’mon! C’mon!”

Sean- Goku’s the [guy] for dog lovers and Vegeta is the guy for cat lovers.

Ian- Okay. I would have said that up and through Z. Here’s my biggest thing, and I can say this… The difference in Super for me and the biggest difference I see in Goku is that in Dragon Ball and in Dragon Ball Z, Goku saved us. Goku saved us from Cell. Goku saved us from Vegeta. Goku saved us from all these people. In Super, Goku is picking fights. He’s not saving us from something that’s coming for us. He’s literally just picking fights! With gods! (Laughs) He never did that in Z, he never did! But in this one he’s like, “Oh cool! You’re a God of Destruction! Do you wanna fight? Oh cool, you’re the greatest assassin! [In reference to Universe 6’s Hit.] I’ll pay you to kill me! Oh cool! You’re the God of Everything! Let’s fight!” Like, it’s just… It’s different. And so my patience with Goku is just that like… “Oh my god, this annoying little monkey boy who won’t… He’ll just fight, fight, fight! But the fun thing is that he makes my other little monkey boy train harder. Not like that other little monkey boy. I think he’ll be a great Destroyer one day.

Sean- Is Whis’ relationship kind of just like a married couple?

Ian- No, it’s his cat! (Laughs) I get asked that all the time, like “Are you related to him?” I don’t put any sexuality between them. I am not speaking to either of their sexualities. I would not DARE say what either of their sexualities are. That’s not my place to say it. But I will say, it’s his freaking cat! It’s his cat! (Laughs) And you know what? Anthropomorphic, whatever your kink is, that’s fine. But it’s his cat! And that’s how I feel about it, so no. He has an angry cat who likes to break stuff and sleep and eat. And he maintains that cat. But I think there have been a couple of times in Super where Whis did say, “I’ll train you if you become a Destroyer.” So personally, I’m waiting for that kind of stuff to happen. I’m waiting for some sort of Vegeta versus Beerus fight. Which will go down the second Vegeta finds out that Beerus ordered the destruction of Planet Vegeta. Just gonna throw that out there. Which is mentioned in Super, I’m not making that up!

Josh- It’s been stated how strong Whis is. We haven’t really seen him fight at all except for the brief sparring which barely counts or when he knocked out Beerus at the end of Battle of Gods. Can we expect to see Whis fight anymore, even beyond this movie? Would you like to see more Whis in action?

Ian- I would love to! I would actually like to have to go through the acting problem of trying to figure out what it sounds like when he’s… Exerting himself, or like, trying! Cause he just doesn’t! He doesn’t try! Genuinely, and I’ve talked to the other people who play the angels. We view everyone else as children. Little bitty children having their little bitty fights. It does not bother us. So there’s no one really that would give Whis even a slight problem. Okay, Grand Minister. My daddy could spank me.

Josh- Do you think a sparring contest against Vados might be in order?

Ian- You know what? Yeah, sure! Everybody brings up the Vados thing, and they’re like, “You know she said that.” And I go, “You know what? My sister used to beat the crap out of ME when we were kids, and I’m bigger than her now!” Just because you beat him up as a little kid doesn’t mean anything.

Check back tomorrow for our interview with Jason Douglas, the voice of Beerus.

Interviewing The Cast Of ‘Dragon Ball Super: Broly’: Sonny Strait- The Voice Of Bardock

by Josh Jackson

Dragon Ball Super: Broly, the continuation of the DBS anime that re-imagines the fan-favorite villain from the perspective of series creator Akira Toriyama, will be releasing in theaters nationwide on January 16. To count down to the release of the film, we will be posting a round table interview conducted alongside Sean at VRV, with voice actors from the movie each day leading up to the release date, culminating with a full review of DBS: Broly itself!

Kicking off this series is Sonny Strait! Most prominently known in the Dragon Ball universe as Krillin, Sonny returns as the voice of Bardock, Goku’s father from Planet Vegeta. Like Broly, Bardock had only been seen in movies written by other creators, so this film will be poppa Goku’s official introduction into the series’ canon. Outside of Dragon Ball, Sonny can be seen breaking our heats as Maes Hughes in Fullmetal Alchemist, making us laugh as Usopp in One Piece, or doing both as Kuro-Sensei in Assassination Classroom. 

Josh- With the Broly movie, the portrayal of Bardock, based on the trailers, seems a little bit different from past versions. What would you say was your approach to playing Bardock this time?

Sonny- It’s a kinder, gentler Bardock. He’s basically the same guy, just different situations. Raised up in a different kind of life. I don’t want to give away too much of the movie, but it’s the same guy if this was his life, you know? So the approach was similar. But also… we did that thing, (the first Bardock movie), about 16, maybe 17 years ago. We’ve all gotten a lot better since then. (laughs) So we were actually able to explore a lot more with him. I love the character Bardock. The original movie was really a redemption story and I love those kind of movies. So any chance to play him is great because I played him in the video games too. Just about every year we had a new video game, Bardock was appearing in it.

Sean- What was your reaction to the new version of him? Did you think that you would enjoy this version more than kind of the more evil version?

Sonny- Yeah… I don’t know that he was evil, but he was definitely a soldier that didn’t mind killing at all, which made [the first film] a redemption story. He’s a different kind of guy now, yeah… I want to say that he kind of got the reality that he wanted, you know? I always say that Bardock is the guy who is the most powerful Saiyan because he actually influenced THIS reality, you know? All those times he said “I’m going to change the future,” in the video games? It looks like he did!

Sean- Kind of a funny question, but do you happen to channel a little bit of Sean, [Schemmel, the voice of Goku], when you’re playing his dad?

Sonny- (Laughs). No! I’m his daddy! He’s gotta pay attention! Sit up straight, son! Nobody likes a slouching Saiyan!

Josh- In this movie, it seems like the relationship between Vegeta, Broly and Goku and their families by extension are more intertwined in this version. Is there anything you can say that surprises you in terms of the backgrounds of the characters?

Sonny- Yeah! Because it was a different approach. But I know that Akira Toriyama [creator of the Dragon Ball series]… [Bardock] was not a character of his. It was actually created independently for the movies. So it was really kind of an honor to play it like Akira would have seen this character, you know? It was an amazing honor to do it that way.

Sean- The animation is amazing, we’ve all seen it.

Sonny- I know, right!? It’s like the old school style, right? But it’s so much cleaner, you know? It’s just beautiful. It’s my favorite thing about it.

Sean- Was there any point where it was actually too hard to record because you were too distracted by how great the animation was?

Sonny- (Laughs) Yeah, you know? It did stop a few takes because we were like, “Whoa! Look at that! That is really cool!”

Josh- You mentioned how every year, you come back as Bardock in the video games and that kind of thing. But lately it seems like he’s been getting more and more appearances in terms of the new Dragon Ball Heroes show where he stared popping up and Xenoverse and all of that. So what do you think Bardock’s role could be going forward in future story events in Dragon Ball Super?

Sonny- I don’t know, it depends on how they want to approach it, you know? They’ve already shown with this movie that all bets are off. You can’t count on anything. But I would love to see Bardock continue his story some how, some way, you know? There was that OVA where he becomes a Super Saiyan. That would be kind of cool if they could somehow incorporate that into some kind of time travel thing. But… You know, I also play Krillin, so I’m there all the time anyway. But I love that Bardock is getting more traction now and being able to play and see him more often.

Josh- Do you have anything in mind if you could write your own scenario for Bardock? Would you want to see him do anything in particular going foward?

Sonny- Hmm… That’s a good question. I’m not even going to presume, (Laughs). I would never… That just seems to be… I would love to see him go Super Saiyan, honestly. I would love to see that official, in Dragon Ball Super or something, somehow where Bardock appears. But I would never presume how that would be worked into the show.

Josh- Right, for sure! Like you said, anything seems to be possible lately.

Sonny- Exactly! And that’s what I love about too. It’s like… Okay, this is a whole new movie, a whole new series. Let’s take a whole new take on it? Why not? I know that a lot of fans like things to stay consistent and everything, but it’s like… Why? You know? I’m a comic book reader, I’ve been a comic reader since I was a kid and I love alternative universes. I love when people reboot things and try different things as long as it’s good and quality. And this movie is a good, quality take on it, so why not?

Sean- How early did you learn that Bardock was going to be in the new movie, and were you excited to learn that you were going to be able to play the part again?

Sonny- I knew that Bardock was going to be in it, but I didn’t realize how big of a deal he was going to be. Then Toei had asked me to help promote the Bardock special, the old movie. Then I was like, “I bet he’s pretty important in this!” Because why else would they be trying to promote that, you know? And then when I saw it, I was like, “Oh… This is great! This is something to sink your teeth into with this character.

Sean- Now… I’m not sure how to word this question, but like… What are your thoughts on Saiyan culture when Bardock was alive and if he plays a big part in how Broly came into creation. Like how King Vegeta corruption kind of created Broly and is Bardock part of that tough Saiyan culture? Or is he already a kind of outlier at this point?

Sonny- Bardock was THE perfect soldier, you know? That was part of the problem in the original movie. He was so good and he was getting stronger every time he went out, and that’s what threatened Frieza. I think this version is more… I have to be careful not to give anything away, but I think it’s a much more believable premise from this standpoint politically. It’s a setup politically, I can see how that would happen, you know? It’s not just meanness or just being threatened. There’s a lot more to it.

Sean- You said it’s hard to keep things under wraps. How long have you been holding onto this?

Sonny- You don’t want to be the guy who leaked the plot! (Laughs)

Josh- You mentioned how Bardock is the perfect soldier who’s just getting stronger and stronger. Again, kind of a silly question, but who do you think would win between Bardock and King Vegeta?

Sonny- Now you sound like my grandson! (Laughs) When I’m around him it’s like a mini convention and ALL the questions are, “Who would win in a fight?” So Bardock and King Vegeta? That’s a good question! Because it’s assumed that King Vegeta *would*, but I don’t know? Bardock’s got a lot of reserves that he holds back and I don’t think he realizes. I think he’s a bit of a mutant, you know? And that’s why Goku is so powerful since he came from him. So possibly, yeah! I think he could take him, you know? Because Bardock is the kind of guy who would do whatever it takes. Now against Frieza, that’s kind of pointless, especially at that power level. I think these days, Krillin can almost take Frieza.

Sean- Could you tell us a little bit about the relationship with Raditz, because he’s a character who disappears so early in the franchise.

Sonny- Yeah, he is mentioned though. And I love that he was mentioned. You get to find out a bit about what Raditz has been doing. Not a lot, but you get to find out a little bit about him. I think it’s kind of cool that in this version [Bardock] acknowledges his sons. I can’t say too much more than that.

Josh- It’ll be good to see him again though. That’s one plot thread that was introduced right in the beginning of Z, and since then, even in the Bardock specials that have come out, really hasn’t been mentioned.

Sonny- He just kind of went away. Was it like one or two episodes with Raditz? I can barely remember back then.

Josh- Yeah, something like that. It’ll be great to see him again!

Sean- Is Krillin in this movie?

Sonny- Barely. He makes sort of an “explosive” cameo, I’ll say that. (laughs)

Josh- At least we’ll still have plenty of Krillin to look forward to in the Tournament of Power.

Sonny- Yeah yeah yeah, we’re still recording that. We’ve been recording that for awhile.

Sean- Did you watch the entire [Tournament of Power] through before you guys recorded [Broly]?

Sonny- No! It wasn’t even done! They were animating while we were doing it. We’re like off of a… Do you know what an animatic is? So we had to go back and re-do because the anamatic wasn’t quite matching up with the final animatic.

Josh- That’s real interesting! So you’re saying that the process basically basically started for the English voice over while it was still being developed in Japan essentially?

Sonny- There was a little overlap, yeah. But most of it was animated! But there were a couple of scenes I remember where there was this screaming scene and stuff like this and we’re like, “Uhh… let’s wait until we get the final animation. We don’t want to do that again.”

Josh- So I’d imagine that Chris [Sabat, voice of Vegeta and ADR director of the film], had a more difficult or interesting process…

Sonny- Nah, it’s par for the course. This happens all the  time in animation that you can get the rhythm down of what it is with the animatics. Video games too, we act to animatics in video games all the time.

Sean- Could you tell us what your favorite Bardock moment is in the movie from what you’re allowed to say?

Sonny- I would say… I really like a very touching scene, and that’s it. And that’s it, that’s all I’m gonna say… It’s not a bad touch, but it is touching.

Josh- The best kind!

Sonny- I like that he can almost be emotional.

Sean- Are you gonna make us cry?

Sonny- Yeah, probably.

Josh- Make sure you pack some Kleenex when you go to the theater.

Sonny- And I hope… The last movie was so great that it inspired another series, so it would be great if it inspired one here.

Josh- Yeah, I’m hoping so. One other thing, we talked about Bardock’s relationship with his family a little bit, but does he get to interact too much with any of the other Saiyans that we know about? I know that Paragus, [Broly’s father], and King Vegeta and all of them will be featured in the movie to a certain degree…

Sonny- I will say that he does interact with other Saiyans and that’s all I’m saying. But not King Vegeta.

Sean- So they’re not gonna fight at the family reunion?

Sonny- No. That would be awesome!

Josh- Somewhere off in the afterlife by Frieza’s tree.

Sonny- Yeah! Throwing acorns at him. Bonding over just hitting him and using him as a punching bag.

Check back tomorrow for our interview with Ian Sinclair, the voice of Whis!

Chara Expo 2018: The Details Behind Kenny Omega’s ‘BanG Dream’ Commercial

by Josh Jackson

Back in July, I was lucky enough to attend the New Japan Pro Wrestling G1 Special In San Francisco show. Expecting to walk away with some amazing live matches from the likes of Hiromu Takahashi, Kazuchika Okada, Tetsuya Naito, and the newly crowned IWGP World Heavyweight Champion, Kenny Omega, the show delivered on each of those fronts.

However, what I didn’t expect, was to get hooked on a new mobile game by NJPW’s parent company, Bushiroad. During intermission, a hilariously absurd commercial kept playing of Omega intensely playing a rhythm game in the ring in between performing his signature wrestling moves. Simultaneously showing off the skill needed to be the best all-female band and the level of physical fitness needed to full clear a Roselia song, the absurd premise stuck with me. Soon after, a friend sent me the commercial to make sure I had seen it, and suggested I try playing the game since he was already a big fan of the game. The game was BanG Dream: Girls Band Party, which is unironically one of my favorite games of the year. As for the commercial… See for yourself.

Fast forward to Chara Expo 2018, a convention that housed both NJPW AND BanG Dream fans in celebration of everything Bushiroad. After being victorious against David Finlay and cutting a BanG Dream related promo, Omega moved on to a meet and greet autograph session with his fans. Not one to pass up a “golden” opportunity, I made sure to tell him that I got into the game because of his commercial in San Francisco. To my surprise and delight, he took an extra minute or so to tell me some details behind the commercial that reflected on his well known love of video games and anime.

  • Despite being part of the same parent company, Omega didn’t know what BanG Dream was until he was approached to do the commercial.
  • Omega was asked to learn how to legitimately get a full clear on Louder by Roselia, the song featured in the commercial.
  • The footage in the commercial was really him playing the featured song on Hard difficulty. As a fan of rhythm games, this lined up with his typical interests.
  • After preparing for and shooting the commercial, Omega became a legitimate fan of the game and the music behind it, to the point where he would later perk up and try to catch Roselia on stage during their concert a few feet away.
  • During his post-match promo, he said he had requested to wrestle at Chara Expo specifically so he could bring together fans of NJPW and BanG Dream, since he’s apart of the anime, wrestling and gaming fandoms himself.

Kenny Omega with Aiai Aiba (AKA Yukina Minato of Roselia) at Chara Expo 2018. Photo source: @kennyomegamanx on Twitter

As a fan who was only expecting to exchange pleasantries and an autograph, it was so cool to geek out as gamers with the world champion of one of the biggest pro wrestling companies in the world.  Big thanks to Kenny for providing the details behind the commercial, which was a gesture that went above and beyond the typical autograph experience.

Omega is looking to “change the world” through wrestling, so maybe it’s anime girl bands that can help him take that next step towards world domination. Until then, I’m waiting for someone to make their full fledged wrestling gimmick a J-Rock goth girl who intensely plays mobile games while wrestling.

Fantastic Fest 2018: ‘Madame Yankelova’s Fine Literature Club’

by Saintmort

Madam Yankelova’s Fine Literature Club is a movie unlike any other. If you ask director Guilhad Emilio Schenker, he’ll call it an adult fairy tale à la Edward Scissorhands, and that’s probably the most accurate comparison one could make.

The film is a fantastical love story with a horror twist. There is a secret book club of women – every Thursday they meet and are required to bring a male guest with them to the book club. At the end of each session, the men are rated, slaughtered, and cooked into hot dogs while the woman who brought the best man is awarded the woman of the week award.

Receive 100 awards and you will be named a Lordess of the beautiful the mansion the club is held in – bring too many duds, and you could end up working as a servant to the mansion until your dying day. Sophie is just one quality man away from becoming a Lordess, but instead she’s beginning to fall in love with her suitor and does not wish to see harm come to him.

Emilio’s slick visual direction really makes for a bright and vibrant film. It exists in its own version of reality and has some truly heart-warming moments as well as a few well placed laughs.

I had the opportunity to talk to director Emilio Schenker about the inspiration for the movie as well as what it’s like making such a strange film in Israel. Enjoy the interview below!

SDCC 2017: A Very “Honest” Interview With Screen Junkies Andy Signore & Joe Starr!

by The_acz

A week ago I had the opportunity to interview some of the incredibly talented people behind Screen Junkies and their Honest Trailers. I got to sit down with creator Andy Signore and Writer/Geekscape alumni Joe Starr. We talk about the process of honest trailers, our favorite movies of the year so far, and more! If you want more Screen Junkies after the interview, give them a visit on their youtube channel or their website screenjunkies.com.

SDCC 2017: We Discuss “Knights of the Frozen Throne” Hearthstone Expansion At Blizzard’s Ice Cream Citadel with Jason Chayse

by Courtney Dossett

Josh and I were fortunate enough to get a chance to sit down with Hearthstone’s Production Director Jason Chayse at Blizzard’s Ice Cream Citadel during San Diego Comic Con last week. Josh is a newcomer to the popular digital card game, while Courtney is an avid Hearthstone fan and former World of Warcraft addict.

Death Knights distributing delicious cool treats in their air conditioned paradise. We may have loitered to take advantage of the A/C.

 

Courtney: I was confused about the new update when I first saw it, because it seemed like you could only get the expansion if you paid for it. But you can actually get the packs by playing like in the past?

Jason: Yeah so we’re actually changing the single player content. We’ve taken the best aspects of adventures and expansions and fused them into this sort of uber Hearthstone release.

So you’ll have a pack you can open, and on top of that there are going to be eight free missions, and there will be an introductory prologue, and once you defeat the introductory prologue everyone will be given a free Death Knight hero card, which will be a new card type we’ll be releasing.

There will be two more wings of missions after that, which will be free, and you’ll earn card packs by defeating those. At the very end you’ll fight the Lich King. This is also something new , he’ll play slightly differently depending on what class you play against him with. “Ok, so this is Rexxar, the hunter, so we’ll play this way against you, or Jaina the mage, so we’ll play this against you, and that’s the first time we’ve tried that too.

Courtney: That’s been the way I’ve defeated previous heroes in the past, realising that the would be weaker against a certain class.

Jason: Yeah! It should give you a run for your money.

Courtney: With Hearthstone, it’s obviously based on World of Warcraft, are you going to be introducing any of the other Blizzard franchises like Blizzard like Overwatch or Diablo?

Jason: You know, we feel like we have a lot of room still within the Warcraft universe to keep expanding with Hearthstone. There are no shortage of amazing characters or locations or stories we have left to tell. Every once in awhile you’ll see one of the other franchises bleed in, like there’s the Overwatch cardback, there are some Starcraft flavored card backs, but we want to do in it a way that will still feel like they can be part of the Warcraft universe.


Courtney: And there are going to be new boards? My favourite part is to click on the different little things while I’m waiting.

Jason: Our art team does an amazing job with those each time. They come up with amazing things you can trigger and discover. There will be a brand new Ice Rend flavored board that would be appropriate for the next release.

Josh: I literally just downloaded the game, so I don’t have as much time to play yet. Learning a new card game is overwhelming at the start, but everything seems so accessible, so easy to get into so, it’s easy to see why it’s resonated with so many people. You can either spend a lot of time with it and build huge card libraries or just play with friends for fun. And having that tie to Warcraft is great as well, because if you’re not ready to jump into a totally new card game but you have that familiarity with Warcraft, it helps ease the transition.

Jason: If there are particular characters you remember from your Warcraft days, you can go “Oh here’s Ragnaros doing his stuff, or here is a classic character, the heroes you know, like Thrall  Uther. But what you said about making it accessible to new players to get in, that was a big priority for us when we were first designing Hearthstone. We were always huge believers in collectable card games, and we play a ton of them going way  back when, and we felt the fun was  buried too deep for people who had never played them before, so that was our main goal. How do we take the fun parts that people love about collectable card games and make them a little easier to access so people could get in and start having fun in the first five minutes.

Josh: Now that you mention other card games, what other sources did you draw inspiration from?

Jason: From all of them. We had people who played Magic the Gathering and the other classic games but we  had people who played some digital ones that have been around , so we drew a lot of inspiration from all of them. So we thought about what we loved from the genre as a whole, and how we could hold onto that, and what we could improve on.

Josh: With the new inclusion of the Lich King, if you could chose any character from Warcraft that isn’t in the game yet, which would be the big addition you would want to make to Hearthstone?

Jason: That’s a good question. I think we’re always looking for ways to stay current with the new expansions that the World of Warcraft team is coming out with, and how that could be introduced in a meaningful way. We’ve added a lot of them, a good example is with the Whispers of the Old Gods expansion, there were some classic old gods, these beings from outer space, and we were really inspired by that, and had to figure out who these gods were and did a lot of design with the original World of Warcraft team to realise what these gods look like because they hadn’t been fully sketched out before. So who’s to say in the months to come who might show up.

Courtney: You just released the new Quest cards, are you looking to add new cards like that to help revamp old decks and make the game feel fun and new to those of us who have been playing for a while?

Jason: That’s always our goal. With each new set we want to introduce new cards, new mechanics that mix up the meta, and leads to new types of decks that you may not have seen before. One example with the new Knights of the Frozen Throne set, is a card called Prince Keleseth, it’s a 2 mana card for 2/2. But it has an interesting battlecry: if you have no cards in your deck that cost 2 mana, then all your minion cards are buffed by +1/+1. SO it’s an example of a build around card type.

Courtney:  THAT SOUNDS GREAT! I WANT THAT CARD!

The card that Courtney needs to get before her brother.

Jason: Yeah we’ve excited for it. So you look at it like, “Huh can I make a deck that doesn’t require any 2 mana cost cards? What if I try this? Or I try this combinations of cards?” The benefit can be pretty powerful to get +1 for everybody. The design team is always thinking of different build around ideas like that that push the meta and deck creation in new ways that haven’t been done before.

Courtney: You guys also came up with the potion creation cards, and I love those.

Jason: There’s another example that we’re going  to be introducing into the new set, the first time we’re introducing a new type of card called the Hero Card. You’ve been playing for a while so you know about Ragnaros, and Jaraxxus, which can replace your hero –

Courtney : A great death saving card!

Jason: Exactly. So this time, we;re going to introduce them for all classes. SO you can play Deathstalker Rexxar, and as soon as you play him from your hand he’ll fly up onto the board and corrupt and replace the  base Rexxar, and he’s an unholy , death knight version of rexxar. He’ll give you 5 additional armor, he’ll do 2 damage to all your opponents minions when he comes into play,  but his real power to play with him, which is like the potion thing you were talking about, his hero power replaces the bow which does 2 damage to the enemy hero, and instead becomes something called “build a beast”. So what it will do, is you choose it, and it will present it with 3 different beasts from the game, you select one, and it brings up the next set of cards (another 3 beasts) and it will stitch those two beasts into an uber beast, sort of Frankenstein style, sort of like with the potions only now you’re making a beast that can go on the board and fight on your behalf.

Courtney: Which is so cool because that’s something I remember seeing when  I played the Lich King expansion in World of Warcraft when it came out, all the corrupted constructs wandering around.

Jason: So you’ll get that with playing the heroes in the new set. There will be a ton of references, so in addition to the cards we have the missions we talked about. So the bosses will be Professor Putricide that people fought in IceCrown Citadel in the raid, Blood Queen Lana’thel which is a well known boss, they’ll all make their appearances in Hearthstone with similar types of mechanics and ideas translated into Hearthstone as well.

Courtney: I’m way excited for this now as well.

Jason: We’re really excited for it as well.

Courtney: One last thing I wanted to confirm. You said all the side adventures are free, so we don’t even have to pay in game gold this time?

Jason: Not even gold. You will have all the missions unlocked. But sort of like in the past on launch day you’ll have access to the prologue and then you have access to the first wing with a pack prize. Then the next week you’ll have access to another wing, then the final wing with the Lich King waiting at the end.

Courtney: I’m really excited for this new set now. I think I’m going to really start getting into the game again, since I took a break from it.

Jason: I think you’re going to love it. We’re also making some changes with Fireside Gatherings that we’re really excited about. We have this idea that the best way to experience Hearthstone is to play in person with other people who also love Hearthstone and play around a kitchen table or cafe bar, and play collectively as a group. We launched the program about 3 years about when Hearthstone itself came out, and it’s been growing dramatically since then have had about 10 thousand Fireside Gatherings across the world. But we’re about to do something within the game itself where it can detect if you’re playing within a Fireside Gathering,you’ll basically register that you’re playing in a real location, and it will recognise that you’re playing with your friends and you can customise your own tavern and name it, and it unlocks a new game mode called a fireside brawl that you can only access if you’re at a Fireside Gathering.

 

What do you guys think about the changes coming in the newest expansion? What are you most excited for? Let us know in the comments below!

 

 

SDCC 2017: Dirk Gently’s Holistic Interview With Arvind Ethan David!

by The_acz

During this week at Comic-Con, I had the opportunity to talk to Arvind Ethan David, executive producer on BBC’s Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency. We touch on points such as the show’s growing popularity, just what the show means to him, and more! Give it a listen!

If you’re interested in watching it, you can catch the first season of Dirk Getly on Hulu right now! Season 2 will premiere later this year. Check out a preview of Season 2 below!

E3 2017: Talking ‘Resident Evil Vendetta’ & More With Hiroyuki Kobayashi!

by The_acz

This past week at E3, I had the pleasure of talking with Capcom’s Hiroyuki Kobayashi, Producer of Resident Evil 4, 6, and the animated CG films including the upcoming Resident Evil Vendetta. We talk about the differences between making a Resident Evil film versus the games, and what those differences mean for creators.

Geekscape: So, the Resident Evil animated movies have been a little different from the games. What made you guys choose to tell these stories in film instead of a video game format?

Kobayashi: In the video games, the focus is more on playing the games, so you can’t easily develop deeper characters or deeper stories, but in the movie, we’re very happy to be able to show more of the backstory of the three main characters, and the drama among these people.

Geekscape: Which part of the movies has been your favorite part to develop? You talked about being able to develop the characters further, what has been your favorite part?

Kobayashi: For me, I really wanted the movie to be able to tell a story without knowing the background stories of any of the characters, and I think we succeeded in that, and I’m fond of that. We really wanted a good balance of horror and action, and I feel we succeeded on that too.

 

Geekscape: Exactly where in the Resident Evil timeline does this take place? Is this in between any of the games or does it have its own separate continuity?

Kobayashi: So, this one takes place right after the game Resident Evil 6.

Geekscape: How has it been, making the movie under Sony? Have they been supportive of your ideas and the crew?

Kobayashi: So, this is the third movie that we made with Sony Studios, and we always have a good time making the films; every film has a new story and characters, with different people taking the place of the main characters, and we really enjoy working with each other.

Geekscape: Resident Evil’s  4, 5, and 6 were sort of a middle trilogy before 7 and starting something new. What was your favorite title of that trilogy to develop?

Kobayashi: I, myself, only produced 4 and 6. 4 was kind of challenging because we did a total remodeling of the game. So for me, 4 has more of my thoughts behind it, so it’s more more memorable.

Geekscape: Resident Evil 6 was 5 years ago, do you look back at the game and think you would change anything, or are you happy with what the story ended up as?

Kobayashi: I feel I did the best I could do with 6. I feel the four characters had good, human drama between them.

Geekscape: So, you said that in these animated movies, you enjoy fleshing out the characters and developing them more. Who was your favorite character to expand upon for this movie?

Kobayashi: My favorite character is Leon. The motorcycle scene and the battle scene on top of the building were among my favorite scenes. There is a scene that takes place in a lodge where Rebecca, Chris, and Leon are conversing and those kinds of interactions are those that you can’t do easily in the games, so I’m really happy to show this part of the world.

Geekscape: And the film is getting a limited theatrical release on June 9th, isn’t it? Are you excited to have the film in theaters?

Kobayashi: I didn’t expect it to be released theatrically, so I’m really happy to have heard that news, and I’m very excited about it.

Geekscape: You were also the producer for some of the Devil May Cry games. Is there any chance of seeing the series come back sometime soon? Will Dante return?

Kobayashi: I can’t comment on that, but if you want to see Dante, he’s over at the Marvel vs. Capcom booth right there!

And there you have it! It was a pleasure being able to sit down with Mr. Kobayashi and talk about these films. Resident Evil: Vendetta in select theaters June 19, on Digital June 20 and 4K, Blu-ray and DVD July 18.

 

 

 

Ryuji Sakamoto Fights The System In The Latest ‘Persona 5’ Trailer

by Josh Jackson

Following the reveals of the main character and Ann from the highly anticipated RPG, Persona 5, Ryuji Sakamoto is the next in line to join the Phantom Thieves. Apparently following in the footsteps of such bros as Persona 3‘s Junpei, Yosuke from Persona 4, and Tokyo Mirage Sessions‘ Touma, Ryuji is said to be a true friend who puts the group’s well being before his own.

As a former track star, Ryuji’s dreams were shattered along with his legs when over-training pushed on him by his relentless coach led to a career ending injury before it truly started. Now harboring resentment towards “shitty adults”, he joins the Phantom Thieves as a way to get back at society, and to change it for the better in his own way.

In battle, he wields a pipe just like a bat, beating on any shadows that cross his path. Fitting for someone who has a reputation for being the troublemaker of the team, feel lucky that you aren’t on the other side of the swing.

Voiced by Max Mittelman, (Saitama himself from One Punch Man), here’s some more detail on what went into bringing Ryuji to life. We’ll have to wait until February 14th to hear the final result, and we can hardly wait for it!

Which version are you going with, the steelbook case with the standard game, or the Take Your Heart edition with all the cool stuff we mentioned before!? Let us know below!

Geekscape Interviews: Composing Music Of All Genres With Bear McCreary!

by The_acz

This year during Comic Con, I had the honor of getting to sit down with composer Bear McCreary. Bear has composed for many different genres and shows from The Walking Dead, Battlestar Galactica, Marvel Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, and even the upcoming God of War for PS4. In the interview, we talk a bit about getting to compose the new God of War, how he got the gig composing the Angry Video Game Nerd Movie, and more! Check out the interview below!

SDCC 2016: Talking Retro Games With Pat The NES Punk!

by The_acz

On the last day of Comic Con, I had the chance to attend a history of retro video games panel (more on that later.) The main host of the panel was Pat Contri, A retro game collector and reviewer on YouTube who usually goes by the online name Pat the NES Punk. I had the opportunity to quickly talk with Pat about his panel, his new NES guide book coming out, and more. Check it Out!

Buy Pat’s Book!: Click here
Donate to Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals: Click Here
Check out our recap of Pat’s Panel!: Click Here

SDCC 2016: Sailing ‘Sea Of Thieves’ Together With Joe Neate!

by The_acz

Earlier today we told you about Rare’s Sea of Thieves panel at Comic-Con and how they are just as pumped about releasing the game as much as people are excited to play it. After the panel, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Executive Producer Joe Neate to talk about the game, community, and much more. Give it a listen!

Geekscape Talks To Bella Thorne About ‘Ratchet & Clank’

by Josh Jackson

At a recent press junket, we got to sit down and talk to Bella Thorne as part of a round table interview about her role in the upcoming Ratchet & Clank film. As Cora, a no-nonsense newcomer and one of Ratchet’s superior officers in the Galactic Rangers, you would think that one would be nervous about debuting as a new character in such a long running franchise. But the rising young actress couldn’t come off as more relaxed than she did, greeting our table with a plate full of fruit and the ability to shoot the breeze with everyone like we were longtime friends. Discussing everything from Cora to cats, gaming, and the pressure of doing the series justice as a new addition to the cast, it’s clear that Ms. Thorne knows exactly what she’s getting into.

 

Press: So I’m sure you’ve gotten this question a lot, but are you a big fan of the game?

Bella Thorne: I didn’t play the game, but I watched it growing up. I have a really weird thing about watching video games. I really feel like I’m playing, but my hand-eye coordination is really bad, but I have a brother who’s really, good, so I kind of just live through him. But he played his video games, but he’s more into like the… the really like, you know, we’re into like the Grand Theft Auto, and like, you know, Mortal Kombat a little bit of the more like… bloodier video games, I guess?

All: (laughter)

BT: So I did a lot of research on this one and then the whole entire time, I’m like, “oh my god, where is my character!?” I want to say I’m getting so butthurt, like I don’t see my character, in any of these YouTube videos, and it’s really making me mad. And then they told me that I actually got to be a completely new character to this whole franchise, and that was like a really big thing because I… I get to play with the big dogs, and they’ve been doing this forever and they really know those characters, so, you know, I had to run just as hard as they were.

Press: Your brother chimed in? Gonna give you pointers as a gamer himself?

BT:  He did not. I told him and he was like, “oh, that’s dope dude!”, and went back on his computer.

All: (laughter)

BT: So he didn’t. But when I did it I was like, you know,hopefully they’ll ask me to be in the video game, like that would be dope! And then they did, which was AMAZING! Because I didn’t want to be like, “Oh my god, like please really ask me,” and then like, you know, kind of shove me in their faces, like please have me do the video game! So they just… They came to me on their own…

Ratchet & Clank Cora 2

Press: So you’ve done some voice over roles before, but largely, your career has been live action, so how was your experience being in the recording booth and not having your body to work with as you normally do?

BT: You know, it’s funny because with acting, it’s all not… really good acting is not about dialogue. It’s really just about small moments that really make the whole entire scene and the intention completely different than even maybe what the characters are saying. Two characters could be saying, “I hate you, and I don’t want to be with you anymore!” But yet somehow, their toes are just inching more, you know, closer to each other. So a really big thing about acting is really just with your body. And so this was just all with my voice, which is a little bit tougher because I’m used to letting more of my body language do the work. But luckily… Doing body language with this really is a big thing too, because you think you could be saying like, something that really sounds cool and great, but then when you put your body into it, you know, there’s lots of different vocal tones that come with having your body literally push these words out. So I’m literally in the studio going… hey, if you think I’m just chillin’ there like voicing my character, I’m like, “oh my god, I’m going to fuck you up!” I’m like so in it! So it’s full on acting.

All: (laughter)

Press: So based on that, it sounds like Cora is a bit of a badass?

BT: Yeah, she is such a badass, and that’s why I was so hyped to play this character. Because in video games, usually, the girl is like always the one that dies first. It’s always like, the guy that’s shooting people all the time, but my character gets to boss them around! So when I was reading these lines, I was laughing so hard, because this poor main character is being told what to do by mine! And I was just like, “Good for you, girl!”

Geekscape: And on the subject of this character being brand new to the movie, did you feel any pressure going into it thinking how fans are going to react to it?

BT: Yeah! Obviously, yeah, because fans LOVE all of the other characters, what makes me think they’re gonna like mine? So that was hard, but I think that watching her, and watching everyone look at the clip that we just saw of her main part, (at the Wondercon panel,) was cool because I really feel like people are going to let her in because she’s such a bad ass in the film, and at the end of the day, she’s like kind of bitchy to Ratchet, but then she ends up liking him and Clank, and getting along with them. And I think it’s a big thing for the character, because you’re watching her going like, “Wow, she’s really bossing everyone around!”, and there’s one more character that’s a female in the film that’s not like that, that’s kind of just like, “oh, okay okay okay!”, and everyone tells her what to do. So I think people will look at this character and be like, there’s either a guy voicing that, it’s awesome, or it’s like, a bad ass girl with a really really low voice!

Ratchet & Clank Cora 1

Press: As far as the whole process of going from live action to the recording studio, do you do all of your scenes alone, or were you able to play off the chemistry from some of the other actors?

BT: No, it’s unfortunate because you’ve got to do it alone. And so when they were talking on the panel, they (James Arnold Taylor and David Kaye, AKA Ratchet and Clank,) actually, for the first time in history, got to do it together for one of the things, and you know, I obviously wasn’t invited to this cool… Thing that they had without me!

All: (laughter)

BT: But it’s fine! I recorded all my stuff alone, and it was super easy. I’m pretty sure we did it in like… I want to say a good two hours. A good, solid two hours, we did all of my character’s stuff. I’m really good at ADR voice over type things. I’m like, really good at making my mouth speak when other people’s, you know… Mouths are speaking? So that was easy, but usually, it’s much harder, and then it’s like, you can’t really get into the character that much, because you’re too worried about making it look like she’s talking. Once you get over that stump, it becomes so much easier.

Geekscape: So would you say that’s the biggest challenge transitioning to voice overs?

BT: It’s definitely the biggest challenge. It’s like thinking… Like it’s also hearing your voice, which is a really big challenge. But what I like to think of is, oh, it’s not my voice! It’s like, “Oh my god, that really sounds like a character! That’s cool! I like that take!” Because you can literally hear the difference, and obviously, you guys are hearing my voice totally different from how I’m hearing it. But when you’re hearing it back, you’re like, “Ugh, I don’t like that, that sounds like me.” And then sometimes, you’re like, “That’s just the right amount of me, and a completely other character that we’re introducing.

Ratchet & Clank Bella Thorne

Press: Now, we’re big fans of (director,) Kevin Munroe here. You’ve worked with a lot of filmmakers, can you tell us a bit about how Kevin Munroe was as a director to you during this project?

BT: Such a nice guy! He was totally down for me to be like, so bad ass. He’d be like, “[be] even more mean! Really give this character shit!” You know? Might as well, why not!? And it was cool, because I think he really saw me when I walked in, I had boots on and a leather jacket, and like, I’m just easily Cora. I’m just like, “That really is me!” I’m like a really big tomboy, so I think when he saw me, he was like, “Eh, let’s not give this girl too much direction, I feel like she’s gonna get in there and get down and dirty,” so it was really easy. We were kind of just chilling, and he would give me direction and I would be like, “Okay! Alright! I’m serving it, I’m ready!” But there wasn’t that much direction to give, especially since a lot of my lines are just yelling. There’s only so many ways you can yell at someone.

All: [laughter]

Press: These conventions like Comic-Con and Wondercon, they’ve evolved so much since they first started. How has your experience been attending them and meeting fans up close and seeing how passionate they are about [your work]?

BT: It’s cool to know, because a lot of people call it geeky and stuff, but it’s not geeky! You can be a geek in anything you do in particular. You can be really good at real estate, so yeah, you’re a geek in that because you’re the best fucking agent there is. And so when people are like, “oh yeah, those geeky… Wondercon, comic things,” I think it’s awesome! It just means these people are such big fans! That’s so cool! Like how I love cats, like, oh my god, my obsession with cats is unreal. I got a cat tattoo. I’m getting another one because this one [cat] just isn’t enough… on my body. I want to start a cat charity! I’m all about cats! So when people see my love for cats, they’re probably like, “Whoa whoa whoa!” But I see these people’s love for like,all these different movies and all these fictional characters, and it’s so cool! I love coming here and seeing people dressed up with crazy outfits and hair and make-up, and you know, they really wanted to go all out because they love that character. They’re awesome!

Press: Were there specific movies or TV shows that you geeked out over growing up?

BT: I wasn’t really allowed to watch TV too much growing up. I definitely watch it more now. Oh my god, I just started The Returned. *gasp* Have you guys seen The Returned!? That is so good! Me and (Bella’s friend,) BP, we just geeked out, and we watched it all day long, and we still need to finish the last episode. That is some good shit right there! So there are definitely some things that I like, loooove, like I really love. Plus, any movie with cats is like… I love it!

All: (laughter)

Look for our upcoming interviews with the filmmakers, the team at Insomniac, James Arnold Taylor and David Kay in the coming days, and check out our review of the game while you’re at it!

 

It Turns Out George Miller WILL Make More ‘Mad Max’ Films!

by Derek Kraneveldt

Briefly: Phew.

A few days back, word around the web (after an interview with PageSix) was that celebrated director George Miller would not be making any additional Mad Max films, despite talking sequel intentions in the months following last year’s Mad Max: Fury Road release.

Thankfully, it sounds as though this simply isn’t true, and was instead the result of a ‘garbled’ interview. TheWrap caught up with Miller, who said the following:

“That was a completely garbled interview. I was in New York and it was so noisy and the journalist was asking me questions on a red carpet at the National Board of Review. She completely got the wrong fragments of information that were just not true. I said no, [another ‘Mad Max’ movie] will not be next, and she took that to mean I never wanted to make another ‘Mad Max.’ It won’t necessarily be next, but I have two more stories.”

You just let out a major sigh of relief, didn’t you?

Yeah, us too.

So, what would you like to see in the next Mad Max film?

Geekscape Interviews: FAST Racing Neo Developer Shin’en Multimedia!

by J.C. Marquez

The Wii U eShop offers some of the best video games on the market today. Games like Runbow, Mutant Mudds, Pushmo, Gunman Clive HD Collection, and Shovel Knight expand an already impressive lineup of quality titles offered on Nintendo’s home and handheld consoles. Last December, Shin’en added to the list with FAST Racing Neo–a futuristic racing game which has received critical acclaim from numerous media outlets.

JC got a chance to ask Shin’en a few questions about their latest game, their influences, and what fans can expect in the future.

Geekscape: First off, congratulations on the overwhelming positive reaction for
FAST Racing Neo. From concept art, development, to seeing the game hit
#1 on the Nintendo Wii U eShop—how satisfying is it to see a game
received so well?

Shin’en: We are very happy how the game turned out and about the players reactions. Many of our previous titles also topped the WiiWare or eShop charts but no game sold so FAST 🙂 So from the business side, we are very satisfied. From the development side we are also very pleased.

We never worked so long and hard on a single game, but in the end everything came really nicely together!

Geekscape: What were some key areas the team wanted to focus on in FAST Racing Neo
that perhaps weren’t implemented or explored fully in FAST Racing League?

Shin’en: Our main focus was to make the game very accessible from the beginning while still being a good challenge. We think we really nailed that part. Another big topic was the feeling of speed. We almost needed a year to find the perfect balance to make the players believe that they never played any racing game that fast, while still being fully in control. That was a big challenge.

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Geekscape: FAST Racing Neo looks and plays like a beautiful marriage between F-Zero GX and Ikaruga–while still being able to maintain its own identity. 

What were some of your favorite racing games growing up, and how much of
an influence, if any, did those games have on the FAST series?

Shin’en: Our favorite racing game is still Wave Race 64. It has a perfect blend of great gameplay, great tech and marvelous audio. Of course, we played all racing games from the past when we started with FAST Racing Neo, but we learned quickly we would need to do things very differently.

Wave_Race_64_(NA)

So in terms of physics and vehicle handling, I don’t think we have much in common with previous sci-fi racers. Also graphically, besides some obvious nods, we think FAST does really stand on its own.

Geekscape: We here at Geekscape are extremely competitive when it comes to racing games. Have you held any kind of ‘friendly’ tournaments at work, and if so, who is the best Fast Racing NEO player among you?

We played almost every day a tournament. Peter, who did the game testing, is usually on top of the pack followed by Martin. Bernhard is also quite good, although he still refuses to use the ‘leaning’ controls 🙂

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Geekscape: What can we look forward to from Shin’en in 2016?

Our first release is planned for January 2016. It’s an update for FAST Racing Neo which will add new features and a much improved and stable online experience. We also really look out for Nintendo NX.

 

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Geekscape Interviews: ‘Fear The Walking Dead’s Kim Dickens And Alycia Debnam-Carey Talk About Human-Looking Walkers And More!

by Derek Kraneveldt

It’s been a few weeks now since the always-incredible (and always exhausting), events of San Diego Comic-Con, and I’m beyond excited that I’m just now able to talk about one of the highlights of this year’s week in San Diego.

If you’re a long-time reader of Geekscape, you’ll know how huge of a fan of The Walking Dead I am. I’ve been keeping up with the comic book since I was in high school, passionately wrote Geekscape’s Walking Dead Weekly column before life got in the way, and of course, ate up every single second of Telltale’s incredible The Walking Dead video game.

So of course, I jumped at the opportunity to speak with the cast and producers of the new, mysterious companion series, Fear the Walking Dead.

Now, that being said, I’d felt a little iffy about Fear The Walking Dead since the companion series was first revealed. Sure, the world wants as much The Walking Dead as it can get (again, you do know that there’s both a comic book and incredible video game too, right?), but would this series simply be the same show in a different location, and without the survivors we already know and love? How could it differentiate itself from what’s essentially the most popular television series on the planet?

After having an opportunity to speak with the cast and producers of the series last month, any concerns that I had about Fear the Walking Dead disappeared, and I’m now simply excited to see where East Los Angeles, and the beginnings of the infection, take this dysfunctional blended family.

And that was all before that awesome trailer was released.

The interviews were run in a round-table format, and had journalists speaking to a few of the actors (or producers) at the same time. As it was a round-table, not all questions were mine, but all of them are definitely worth reading. It wasn’t the fantastic trailer or meeting these actors that made me really excited for Fear The Walking Dead, but the passion, excitement, and chemistry that all of its talent have with the project and each other.

You can read my interview with Rubén Blades and Mercedes Mason, who play Daniel and Ofelia Salazar here, and this time around, it’s Kim Dickens And Alycia Debnam-Carey, who portray Madison and Alicia Clark.

Talent left to right: Alycia Debnam-Carey (Alicia), Kim Dickens (Madison). Photo by RHS Photo. Courtesy of AMC Global.
Talent left to right: Alycia Debnam-Carey (Alicia), Kim Dickens (Madison). Photo by RHS Photo. Courtesy of AMC Global.

Kim Dickens: Hi, I’m Kim Dickens.

Alycia Debnam-Carey: Hi, I’m Alycia Debnam-Carey.

Kim Dickens: She has an Aussie accent.

Alycia Debnam-Carey: I’ve got a crazy last name. Sorry. [laughs]

Question: So ladies, what can you tell us about your characters in the show?

Kim Dickens: I play Madison Clark, who is a high school counselor and mother to Alicia and Nick, a couple of teenagers. One of them is a ne’er-do-well and one of them is a golden child. I’m pointing to Alycia [Debnam-Carey] [Alycia laughs]. We’re sort of forming a new second family with my boyfriend I’m in love with, Cliff [Curtis]. I mean, not Cliff. [Alycia laughs] Cliff’s the actor. I’m kind of in love with him, anyway… Travis, and we’re joining our family, sort of a modern, fractured patchwork family put together. I play the single mom that has been raising her kids and meets the apocalypse.

Alycia Debnam-Carey: So, I play Alicia with the same character name as myself, which is kind of strange. But spelt differently so it is still a little different. [laughs] She’s kind of the weird sister with kind of frustrating needs. She’s the golden child as Kim has said and she’s an over-achiever. She’s in a really great position but she really wants out of Los Angeles. She kind of has a beautiful boyfriend and is ready to go to Berkeley. She’s from a bit of a broken home. She’s lost her dad and the brother’s a little wayward and gone off on his own. He’s suffering with addiction. She sort of feels like kind of caught up in the downward spiral in a way. Though she has a great love for the family, she just wants to get out.

Kim Dickens: To break away from the drama.

Alycia Debnam-Carey: Yes.

Kim Dickens: Good luck! [laughs!]

Alycia Debnam-Carey: That’s not going to last long. [laughs]

Question: In the universe of “The Walking Dead,” everything is happening at the same time?

Kim Dickens: It is the same universe and mythology as “The Walking Dead” but we are before that. Before you meet Sheriff Grimes and his coma and everything, we are sort of what happens during that coma and a little bit before that, in a different part of the United States.

Alycia Debnam-Carey: It shows you the crumbling of civilization and how something like this epidemic would affect society and the speed at which it happens, too.

Question: Is that going to go slow or –

Kim Dickens: It is a little bit, we call it a bit of a slow burn, you know.

Alycia Debnam-Carey: It’s certainly what our first season really focuses on – the destruction of society.

Kim Dickens: It’s like the initial crumbling. It’s like the first three weeks where it’s all of happening. It’s really the Internet rumors and the paranoia of a virus….

Alycia Debnam-Carey: Conspiracy.

Kim Dickens: Conspiracy theories. We’ve covered about three weeks in our first season of six episodes.

Question: How soon in your show will be seeing walkers and things like that?

Kim Dickens: I don’t know. You have to tune in.

Alycia Debnam-Carey: I know! [laughs]

Kim Dickens: I don’t know. We could wait until the very end of the season and what that will be like but no.

Question: [laughs] So they’re not necessarily at the beginning?

Kim Dickens: I don’t think I could give any spoilers away but they’re going to be there.

Alycia Debnam-Carey: It is the same world.

Kim Dickens: It will surprise you.

Alycia Debnam-Carey: We’re uncovering it in a very different way. These zombies, these are not looking like what we already know in “The Walking Dead.” They’re not kind of like those zombies as we know it.

Kim Dickens: They still look hauntingly familiar like your neighbor and your co-workers. It’s a little…

Alycia Debnam-Carey: They’ve very humanistic still. That makes it harder to tell.

Kim Dickens: It makes it very confusing as to how to handle it.

Talent left to right: Alycia Debnam-Carey (Alicia), Kim Dickens (Madison). Photo by RHS Photo. Courtesy of AMC Global.
Talent left to right: Alycia Debnam-Carey (Alicia), Kim Dickens (Madison). Photo by RHS Photo. Courtesy of AMC Global.

Question: It’s not clear like what happened, how it all came to be like that. I was reading – it’s going to be happening with the rumors and everything. Do you think at one point, you are going to know what happened?

Kim Dickens: I don’t know. I don’t think that’s our priority to sort of unearth what the cause of it is, but you never know –

Alycia Debnam-Carey: Where the show might lead us.

Question: How would you say that the style of “Fear the Walking Dead” is different from the style of “The Walking Dead?”

Kim Dickens: How our title is different?

Question: The style, the style of the show.

Kim Dickens: Oh, the style.

Alycia Debnam-Carey: The style is really different. The setting of Los Angeles makes it initially so, the environment is different. I look at it because I’m a fan of the original “The Walking Dead.” It has got a quiet provincial feel in a way. It’s rural, it’s out in the woods and it’s very pulled back or stripped back. This one is very urban. It’s the community, it’s the city, and it’s a cultural melting pot. It’s in every sense artistic as well. It feels very layered. The original of course is, too. This one is stacked with so many layers. You slowly start to see how that crumbles away.

Kim Dickens: A very urban, grounded, diverse community. It’s not your typical Los Angeles with red carpets and stuff. Though I think it will be really fun if walkers did ruin someone’s red carpet moment.

Alycia Debnam-Carey: You see like, a Hollywood celebrity walking around with half a face. [laughs]

Kim Dickens: We have got to get some cameos.

Question: You’re a fan of the show. I mean how cool is it to get this role?

Alycia Debnam-Carey: Oh, it’s awesome. To be honest, I hadn’t watched it before and then I got the gig. Then at once I have to go and watch it now. It’s given me an excuse to like, binge-watch three weeks of amazing television. Then after that I very quickly fell in love with the show. It is such an amazing, complex drama and it’s almost like the walkers are like a side plot in a weird way. I think that’s how our show is great, too. It has so much dense drama, personal interactions and human dynamics and that for us I think is a real feast.

Question: Are they staying in L.A. or are they leaving L.A. at that point or deciding to run away from it?

Alycia Debnam-Carey: We’re staying in L.A. for the first season. We don’t know beyond that.

Question: Is it shot only in L.A.?

Kim Dickens: We shot the pilot in L.A. and then we had to go to Vancouver to shoot the rest of our season, which is another five episodes. Now we’re in L.A. for about three weeks shooting. We’re shooting right now. We’re shooting more exteriors in L.A. It’s not just like going in or out of the doors. It’s like full scenes that are in the environment of L.A.

Question: Anything there, anything iconic –

Kim Dickens: Right now we are in East L.A. That’s where we’re filming. They’re going to grab some skylines. We’re going to see the beach. They’re going to see stuff.

Alycia Debnam-Carey: We’re going to have iconic smoggy sunsets. [laughs] That’s so typically L.A. It doesn’t feel like any other city. East L.A. is such a different Los Angeles to what you typically think of as L.A.

Talent left to right: Kim Dickens (Madison), Alycia Debnam-Carey (Alicia). Photo by RHS Photo. Courtesy of AMC Global.
Talent left to right: Kim Dickens (Madison), Alycia Debnam-Carey (Alicia). Photo by RHS Photo. Courtesy of AMC Global.

Question: How are the special effects? Was it a fun thing to do? Or a tedious process?

Alycia Debnam-Carey: Any kind of special effects is always really fun I think.

Kim Dickens: I like the action stuff that we’re doing. For me it’s been probably one of the most exhausting jobs I’ve ever had but the most fun. I get a little bit – I love the action stuff and if I get just a dialog scene, I’m kind of like, eh.

Alycia Debnam-Carey: It’s a little give and take.

Kim Dickens: We can wrestle and fight.

Alycia Debnam-Carey: You are up until often the middle of the night. The next day we all just have bruises everywhere. The last couple of days I just had to cover up my legs with just make-up powder because it has been terrible. [laughs]

Kim Dickens: We like to do as much stuff as we can.

Alycia Debnam-Carey: It’s just so fun.

Question: How is it working with Cliff [Curtis]?  Have you met him before?

Kim Dickens: I never met him before but I camera-tested with him for the role. He’s just a lovely person. He’s like a New Zealand manly man but there’s such tenderness and sweetness in his heart and soul. He’s just like really a magical person and such an artful soul. It’s such a joy to work with him.

Alycia Debnam-Carey: The way he works, too. He’s such a joy to watch. He comes into a scene sort of just nothing and then just finds it. It’s amazing. It’s such a treat. Both Kim [Dickens] and Cliff [Curtis] are amazing.

Question: How do you think a fan of “The Walking Dead” will react to “Fear the Walking Dead”?

Kim Dickens: I hope they have a strong reaction to it.

Alycia Debnam-Carey: Whether they’ll love it or hate it I’m not sure. I think that it is so different. I think maybe that will be a little bit of a shock at first. It is very, very different. I think people will really come around to it especially by Episode 6 I think it will really get locked in. They’ll be like, wait a second. It’s a whole different game now!

Kim Dickens: I think it’s such a passionate audience. I think they’re ready to give us a chance. They really believe in the show runners and creators and all that: Robert Kirkman and… I think they’re going to have to make that decision when they see it. I think they’re going to have to allow it to be different. I feel like they’re pretty open-minded and like I said they have a very passionate, voracious appetite for it. I hope we please them.

Question: How hands-on is Robert Kirkman on the set? Is he there all the time?

Kim Dickens: He’s not there all the time but he’s our boss. He’s our guy. He’s our visionary.

Alycia Debnam-Carey: He’s very hands-on.

Question: What’s he like?

Kim Dickens: He’s great. He’s very funny. He’s fantastic. He’s a warm, big guy and he’s a fan of so many shows like himself. We were just talking to Elizabeth [Rodriguez] and he’s such a huge of “Orange is the New Black.” He just knows, you know, he just loves the work.

Alycia Debnam-Carey: He’s very invested in it.

Question: If you could actually meet some of the characters of “The Walking Dead,” which ones…?

Kim Dickens: Sherriff Grimes for me.

Alycia Debnam-Carey: Yes, me too, or Norman Reedus. I think that would be a fun one.

Kim Dickens: Is he the character? You mean Daryl? [laughs]

Alycia Debnam-Carey: I mean Daryl or Norman [Reedus] I like! You know what I mean. [laughs]

Kim Dickens: Yes, that would be awesome.

Question: How does it feel working in this particular series because the writer is basically competing with himself from 20 years ago and it’s a different story? We’re seeing kind of the beginning and how everything went to hell basically. How does it feel working on something you know is going to end up badly? You have to pretend, oh, it’s just rumors.

Kim Dickens: I think we just really grounded and rooted the show in these characters and these relationships, you know, that are very real and now we just play into that. What would I do to survive? What would I do to figure this out? What is the best choice? As actors we get in there, we pretend. [Alycia laughs] I personally began watching “The Walking Dead” and when I got close to this role I stopped because I didn’t want to have a preconceived idea of what my character was going to know. In fact I was advised that I shouldn’t know any more.

Alycia Debnam-Carey: The discovery was kind of a hard thing. It’s a slow burn and it takes time to reveal itself.

Kim Dickens: It takes the moments of discovery and paranoia, the questioning, and naiveté. We’re in the dark.

Alycia Debnam-Carey: As humans you try to justify anything. Anything abnormal you really try to make it logical, make sense of it. All of those nuances are so important to making this world of discovery real. I think that’s what such an essence of this show, “Fear the Walking Dead.” It’s all about what is coming, the unexpected, and the unknown.

Kim Dickens: The audience is going to be just screaming at us on TV. What are you doing? Don’t do that!

Alycia Debnam-Carey: Yes, yes! It’s got some great little typical light moments. It’s great.

Talent left to right: Kim Dickens (Madison), Alycia Debnam-Carey (Alicia). Photo by RHS Photo. Courtesy of AMC Global.
Talent left to right: Kim Dickens (Madison), Alycia Debnam-Carey (Alicia). Photo by RHS Photo. Courtesy of AMC Global.

Question: How much were you told about the character in your first season when you started? Were you told everything and how safe did you feel in “The Walking Dead” world?

Alycia Debnam-Carey: It feels like on every show now they’re killing off leads.

Kim Dickens: I was given the basic outline of my character and a lot of back story that really helped me inform her but beyond what happens in the future I don’t really know except when I get the scripts. I’m pretty excited.

Alycia Debnam-Carey: They’re pretty quiet in the scripts, too. They release them only when they need to. That’s the show. [Alycia laughs]

Question: Does the show talk about the official reaction of the government and the politics and stuff like that? Is it part of the show?

Kim Dickens: Is that a spoiler?

Alycia Debnam-Carey: Yes. [laughs]

Kim Dickens: It’s interesting because of what you do look for, you know… The biggest fear for the characters and I think the thing that will plug in with the audiences is the fear that you’re not able to protect yourself. You do turn to your authority figures.

Alycia Debnam-Carey: Who do you trust?

Kim Dickens: Yes. Who do you trust and who can you trust and who shows up for these people? It would be interesting to see.

Question: How would you cope? How would you fare?

Kim Dickens: Terribly.

Alycia Debnam-Carey: Badly. I think if there’s anything we’ve actually learned from this show it was, we would not do very well! [laughs]

Fear The Walking Dead premieres on August 23rd! Looking for more conversations with the talent? Here you go:

-Rubén Blades and Mercedes Mason
-Frank Dillane and Creator Dave Erickson
-Cliff Curtis and Executive Producer Gale Anne Hurd
-Elizabeth Rodriguez and Lorenzo James Henrie

FearPoster

ECCC 2015: Chris Roberson Talks Legendary’s ‘Black Bag’!

by Derek Kraneveldt

Just before Emerald City Comicon brought thousands upon thousands of geeks upon Seattle’s Washington State Convention Centre, Legendary Comics announced three new series, including a book in the Pacific Rim universe (read my interview with writer Joshua Fialkov here), and two new IP’s.

One of the new books, Black Bag, is written by iZombie and Cinderella alum Chris Roberson. I had the opportunity to spend a few minutes with Chris at Legendary’s Emerald City booth this past weekend.

Derek: Black Bag, of course, was just announced. Why don’t you start by telling me a little big about it?

Chris: Black Bag is about a bored, I hate the word housewife, but she’s a housewife. A suburb wife, who’s subordinated her own ambitions to her husband’s since college. She becomes dissatisfied and realizes that it’s not enough for her, and gets the opportunity to go and be a super-spy for the government. Which she does, but of course doesn’t tell her husband about it, so she ends up leading a bit of a double life as a wife of the partner of a law firm, while at the same time heading to other countries to kill bad people.

D: So it holds kind of a Mr. and Mrs. Smith feeling? Without the Mr. of course?

Kind of, yeah. Or a True Lies vibe and other stuff like that.

D: How did Black Bag come to exist?

C: Bob Schreck from Legendary called me up. It was a Thomas Tull idea, so one that originated within the company. They were looking for somebody to flesh it out, and female super-spies is in my wheelhouse. I did Cinderella for Vertigo in the Fables universe, so I was happy to come on board and help out.

D: So how will Black Bag compare to your work on Cinderella?

C: It’ll have a similar vibe. Again as much as I hate housewife as a term, I also hate strong female protagonist as a term, but that’s kind of what she is. She’s a kick-ass lady, and my entire life I’ve been surrounded by kick-ass ladies, so I kind of know what they’re like.

D: How has working with Legendary Comics as opposed to your traditional publishers?

C: For me it’s all about the personal direct relationships, and I’ve known Bob Schreck for years and he’s one of the smartest people in comics, and he was my editor, so I have zero complaints. It was great.

D: In terms of the great art for the book, did you have a hand in choosing your artist? Or how did J.B. come on board?

C: I definitely had a voice. In every stage of the process, they would send me samples from artists that they were considering, and it was like I had a vote. I wasn’t selecting the candidates, but I had an up or down vote as to whether I thought they would be a good fit or not.

D: Black Bag is your first work with Legendary Comics, do you plan to continue with the company, or with Black Bag, in the future?

C: As long as their checks continue to clear, I’m definitely interested!

D: Awesome. The book looks great, and I can’t wait to read it! Thanks for your time!

Black Bag is set to launch its first issue this Fall, and it sounds really cool. You can take a look at a preview page from the book below, and be sure to let us know if you plan to pick it up!

black bag

‘Expelled From Paradise’ Interview And Review

by Kari Lane

Aniplex of America recently wowed audiences by hosting the new and exciting anime feature film, Expelled from Paradise. The producer of the film, Mr. Koichi Noguchi, was able to attend the Los Angeles premiere and I was able to interview him (via a translator) to get the inside perspective on this new feature! My review of the film is below following the interview.

Expelled1ⓒ TOEI ANIMATION, Nitroplus / EFP Society

Q: First of all, congrats on the screening being sold out and being here. How do you think an American audience will respond to the film and are you nervous about the screening?
A: He’s really happy that there are actually people here to watch the film because that was something, of course, that he was worried about. You know, if American audiences would be interested in the film and even come to watch it. But he is very glad to see a lot of people coming today. Another thing is that another big theme about this movie is science fiction. So science fiction, of course, is something that came out of Western culture and not, it’s not something only in Japan, so he’s… he’s pretty positive about how American fans would receive this science fiction themed movie.

Q: Any special message that you want to tell fans?
A: He’s been getting this question all day. There are three main characters in the film and they’re all different actually. They’re actually representing the three different perspectives on humanity. So, the first character is a total… he’s human, he’s a normal human – totally with a physical body. Another character, she has a body, but her main part is actually digital, so her body is not really real. It’s a cyborg body, cyber-body. And the third person, third character in the film is a total A.I. So coming from those three different perspectives, the film is going to be describing where is humanity going from here, from now, and the existence of humanity and what it means.

Q: What was the most challenging thing working on this project?
A: The most challenging thing is to create CG animation – a CG animated theatrical feature. The two main challenges coming… branching off from that main challenge are that Japanese audiences or Japanese fans are not really familiar with CG animation and a lot of times they usually don’t receive it positively when it comes to CG animation. And the other thing is the budget because CG animation is usually very expensive to create. So those are the two main things.

Q: What do you like most about the film, either the process or the film itself?
A: This specific film?

Q: Yes.
A: He really enjoyed working as a team, working with a creative facet and creating something from scratch, working together with the team members and producing a film. This is his first time producing a film, so that was a very rewarding experience for him. And to create something with such a strong message was a great project.

Q: What is it like watching a project you worked on with a full theater audience?
A: It is very difficult. So, I mean, of course, in the beginning he was very afraid of what the reaction of fans would be and he has already done several screenings in Japan with the fans and, as you know, it has been received very well in Japan. Fans love it. So, he has seen that already, so now he is comfortable, feeling confident about how the film has been received by Japanese fans and so today he is hoping that he will feel the same way, and just enjoy the film with the fans and relax.

Q: How did you get involved with this particular film?
A: [Mr. Kochi laughs] He is not really sure. Well, he is talking about how his main goal was to spread his passion for 3D CG in Japan. He really wanted people to see it more and have more people understand and see 3D CG animation in Japan. So that’s where he started to work with Gen Urobuchi (Nitroplus) and director Mizushima and together they wanted to create something that would become a catalyst for 3D CG in Japan.

Q: Okay, a more fun one… What are some of his favorite anime titles?
A: Because of his background in digital effects and CG, he is actually a fan more of live action films. He loves Interstellar. So, do you know Perfect Blue, by director Kon?

Q: Yes.
A: That’s something that he really looked into when creating this project and he saw all the aspects of that film, how it was received and how it became, what the process was in creating that film. He really liked Satoshi’s film and then Perfect Blue is actually one of his first films that he worked on so that was something that really interested him as something to look into when was starting to work on this project also. Also, you know because it also included CG animation in that film and so it was very similar for what they were trying to go for and budget-wise he thought it was something they could look into.

Q: Okay, great. Arigato gozaimasu (Thank you)!

Expelled2

Here is a synopsis of the film:

With Earth now left in ruins following the “Nano Hazard,” most of humanity has abandoned the planet they once called home along with their physical bodies and rebuilt their digitalized minds into a society within the cyber universe of “DEVA.” A.D. 2400, DEVA’s central council detects an incident of unauthorized access into their mainframe. Someone on Earth was trying to hack into the system. The only information DEVA was able to retrieve was that the hacker referred to themselves as “Frontier Setter.” To investigate the mysterious hacker’s motives, the high officials of DEVA dispatch System Security Third Officer Angela Balzac to the Earth’s surface. Equipped with a prosthetic “material body,” Angela attempts to make contact with a local agent Dingo. Will Angela and Dingo be able to find Frontier Setter on this devastated planet? Their journey to explore the secrets of the world will begin now…!

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I thought Expelled from Paradise was awesome! There is action, lots of humor, and enough Mecha (robots manned by humans) for the fans that enjoy that genre but not too much to lose those that do not care much about it. Oh, and let’s not forget sexy characters with fun fan service shots. The main two characters, Dingo and Angela have hilarious banter that is extremely entertaining with moments of sweet compassion. The film also has fantastic deep commentary on what it means to be human. Is a body that important? Are you still human if your mind is just digital material on a server? What defines being human? It is visually beautiful! The 3D CG gave it a cool new style that was smooth and had a look all its own. You really felt like you were in these environments. Overall, if you like science fiction, anime, or thought provoking material, you need to check out Expelled from Paradise!

expelled3

Geekscape Interviews GirlsDrawinGirls!

by Kari Lane

While at San Diego Comic-Con, I was able to attend a cool event at the Chuck Jones Gallery co-hosted by GirlsDrawinGirls and 6-Point Harness (6PH). Their art was featured during a special “What’s Up Doc?”, a Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibit Service museum exhibit. After the event, I was able to interview Melody Severns, one of the co-creators of GirlsDrawinGirls.

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Print used at the Chuck Jones event with Pepe Le Pew and Gigi “Aroma Therapy” by Jennifer Llewellyn
 
 

So what exactly is GirlsDrawinGirls?

GirlsDrawinGirls is an international group of around 200 women artists who draw pin up art to showcase the vast amount of female talent working professionally in the animation, film, comics, and illustration industry.  We draw pin up art as a way to give our take on femininity and sexuality from a woman’s point of view.  Together we have inspired each other, given each other positive and constructive feedback, and promoted a strong support system of women working in the same field.  Since the birth of the group, we have been featured in Italian Vogue, did an art show at Galerie Arludik in Paris, France, and worked with the Chuck Jones Gallery for a show during the 2014 San Diego Comic Con.

 
How did it get started?

GirlsDrawinGirls started as the brainchild of me and my friend, Anne Walker Farrell as a way to get all the talented women we knew in animation together on a fun project.  Both of us were college friends and went to art school together at The Laguna College of Art and Design.  When we got out into the industry, we realized that there were very few women directors, and also a fewer presence of women who draw pin up art of women at conventions, like Comic-Con.  We got about 18 of our collaborative friends together to create our very first book, “GirlsDrawinGirls, vol. 1: A Girl in Time”, and since then, this group has gained momentum and has snowballed into an international movement.

 
Was there a particular moment that sparked your need to create GirlsDrawinGirls?

I don’t know if there was a particular moment, I think it was more like “moments”, but I can give you an early example of who I’ve become today.  Growing up, I was always a kid that liked to do things my own way.  I would play “Batman” with the neighborhood kids, insist on being Catwoman, and I would also insist that Catwoman was more powerful than Batman, and I had all the reasons why.  I just never thought that women should be considered less qualified than a man, if they were indeed intelligent, strong, and confident.  As I got into my career, I noticed that there were so many tremendously talented women I knew that could draw circles around the best of them.  I figured I could take characteristics from the part of me that was the child that wouldn’t take no for an answer about Catwomen being cooler than Batman and use it to show that women can be just as good, if not better than anyone else in the industry.

Why pin-up?

I think pin-up is a great way to give women a voice in how they want to represent their own sexuality.  There is nothing wrong with women being sexual, and there is nothing wrong with embracing that side of oneself.  It is empowering.

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“Bonus” by Melody Severns

 

How would you describe your personal style?

I have a very cartoony style.  I come from an animation background, so I tend to draw women realistically, with some cartoon/comic tones.  I also have grown to love watercolors and I try to use them for personal art as much as I can.

How long have you been an artist?

I have been an artist for as long as I can remember.  My grandfather was an animator for Disney back in the days of Bambi and Cinderella.  He was always a huge inspiration for me.  My family never discouraged me from pursuing my artistic endeavors, so I am tremendously grateful for that.  My grandfather has since passed away, so there’s always a part of me that continues to push myself in the hopes that I would have made him proud.

As a female artist, do you feel you are judged differently than your male counterparts?

This is a tough question, because in no way do I feel negatively or disrespect from the great men that I have in my life, or have met in my career.  That being said, I do think there is a general stigma that women should feel bad about drawing anything that depicts sexuality, especially female sexuality, which is absurd.  There is also sometimes a stigma in the industry that women in a position of authority can be taken as a “bitch”, and a man in a position of authority is just a strong go getter.  I think it’s time to change all of this.  These are archaic beliefs that need to be changed.  GirlsDrawinGirls seeks to be the positive counterpart to outdated beliefs.

There is a wonderful variety in style amongst the GirlsDrawinGirls artists. What do you look for when women want to join?

I basically just look to see if there is a general strong idea of form, anatomy, style, and structure.  I love that we have a variety of styles, and I hope that we continue on that trend.  Having many voices makes us better and more interesting.

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  GirlsDrawinGirls logo girl, Gigi, with an owl by Jennifer Gheduzzi
 
 

Any advice to women artists out there?

My advice is to learn as much as you can and to always improve.  Never take criticism personally.  Always grow, and always be up for adapting.  Never take failure personally.  Failure is actually a part of success.  Some of the best people in the world have had to experience rejection.  What makes them stand out from the crowd is the ability to endure.  Always endure, you are stronger than you could ever imagine.

GirlsDrawinGirls had a fun event at the Chuck Jones Gallery at Comic-Con. Can you please tell me how that event came about?

A good friend of mine introduced me to the fine folks at the Chuck Jones Gallery.  I was so honored and thrilled that they were interested in working with me and my group.  Chuck Jones has always been a strong inspiration of mine and his daughter, Linda Jones Clough wrote the foreword for GDG’s fourth book.  It was a privilege to work with such animation royalty who are also genuinely wonderful people.  I look forward to working with them more in the future!

How do you think the event went?

I could not be more pleased with the evening.  People were excited not only about the art of GirlsDrawinGirls, but also with the art of Chuck Jones.  It was so fun talking to fans and supporters of both GirlsDrawinGirls and The Chuck Jones Gallery.  It definitely made this year’s Comic-Con my favorite that I have ever been a part of (and I have been a part of a few!)

GirlsDrawinGirls

What was your favorite part of that evening?

One of my favorite parts was being able to talk to the crowd about how I met Chuck Jones during his last public speaking event when I was in college.  I shook his hand and was able to hear a legend talk.  I found out earlier that day, as I spoke to this daughter, Linda at a signing at the GirlsDrawinGirls booth that he was sick during that time, but the excitement that he got from inspiring young people made him happy, eager, and full of energy.  I never knew that not only was that a big moment for me in my life, but it was also a big moment for him and his family.  That experience was none other than a blessing that I was fortunate to have.

What is next for GirlsDrawinGirls?

Coming up in October, we have a solo art show of one of our featured artists, Ashley Brooke Cooper at the historic Egyptian Theater in Hollywood, California.  It will be during the 80th anniversary premiere of Cecil B. DeMille’s film, “Cleopatra” and all of Ashley’s art will be celebrating ancient Egyptian women.  In the grander scheme of things, GirlsDrawinGirls is looking to branch out more internationally.  We have created a Canada chapter and are looking at doing more international shows in the future.  We want to take on the world!

What is next for you?

I am currently working as an animation producer, so I am excited to see where that path takes me.  I also want to continue with my path of leading GirlsDrawinGirls.  The group’s name is bigger and more recognized than my own, and I consider that a success.  This movement is bigger than me, and is about empowering women as a whole.  I am honored to be the spokeswoman for it.

Besides the GirlsDrawinGirls site, where else can people find more information?

You can follow us on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/girlsdrawingirls

On Twitter: @grlsdrawingrls

On Instagram: @girlsdrawingirls

and on our blog: http://girlsdrawingirls.blogspot.com

Geekscape Interviews: ‘Godzilla’ Screenwriter Max Borenstein Talks The Film, ‘Godzilla: Awakening’, And That Spine-Tingling Roar!

by Derek Kraneveldt

We’ve been waiting for what seems like forever, but Godzilla is finally on the horizon. The film will launch on May 16th, and as you know by our constant sharing of every image, trailer, clip, and featurette, we’re damned excited. Today, I had a chance to chat with Max Borenstein, the film’s screenwriter and co-writer of the excellent Godzilla: Awakening graphic novel (which hits stores on May 7th). Here’s what Max had to say:

DK: First up, why don’t you tell us a bit about yourself? Who is Max Borenstein?

MB: (laughs) Who is Max Borenstein? Well, I am a writer and filmmaker, I grew up in Los Angeles, and I’m a huge fan of many genres of film. I started out by directing my own film in college, and since then I’ve started doing some dramatic stuff; I wrote a movie about Jimi Hendrix and did a lot of character based drama stuff. Then I started getting opportunities to write bigger tentpole films and ‘Godzilla’ has been the most exciting and amazing creative experience of my career thus far.

DK: Right into ‘Godzilla’. How much did you love the 1998 film?

MB: (laughs… profusely) Does that answer your question?

DK: Haha. Yeah, that’s pretty much what I was expecting. Seriously though, were you very familiar with the franchise before coming aboard as screenwriter? If so, what’s been your favourite film?

MB: I was familiar with the franchise as a kid, and I had refreshed myself when I got involved. What really excited me was rewatching the original, but seeing for the first time the Japanese cut, which I had never seen growing up. That has become my favourite Godzilla film. I just love it. I love a lot of the films for different reasons, but that one I think is an apotheon on its own. There’s something very special about it as a stand-alone film, and it uses the monster movie genre as a metaphor for something really harrowing and resonant.

1954 Godzilla
1954 Godzilla

DK: What do you think makes a successful ‘Godzilla’ film, and what makes some of them unsuccessful?

MB: I can only speak creatively. Certainly, success in that other sense I think only the movie gods understand, but I do think that the interesting thing about Godzilla films is that there is no one way, there’s no one coherent Godzilla. There are many versions and he’s kind of evolved over the years in different iterations, representing different things appropriate to different eras. That’s one of the things that’s so interesting. Godzilla is kind of this vessel that can contain multitudes in an interesting way, from the more serious harrowing original, getting more campy , very 60’s, and then being rebooted in the 80’s and getting darker and more appropriate to those times and the different fears which kind of transitioned from nuclear stuff to environmental themes. I don’t know if there’s a secret formula but I think that what’s so incredible about it is its ability as a character and as a franchise to have this kind of extended life, where it’s ever appropriate. As long as people are thinking about it and reinventing it in interesting ways that speak to the times, I think to me, that’s what makes a Godzilla film especially resonant and successful beyond just the spectacle and fun and being well made. If anything sets certain films apart from the rest of the pack, it’s that thematic resonance that they manage to achieve.

DK: That’s an absolutely perfect answer.

MB: Cool.

DK: What challenges did you face developing a script that would appeal to mainstream North American audiences, while ensuring that it could still captivate Japanese moviegoers?

MB: In a very big way, all audiences want a great story told. There are very specific audiences for certain films, and then there’s the general audience for those same films. Obviously, Godzilla has a rabid fanbase, and many fanbases that appreciate different things. I don’t think that any one is probably exactly the same in terms of what he or she loves the most about this franchise, so I think that my aim certainly, and the aim of everyone involved in the film was not to try to overthink and strategize how to capture every audience, it was all about how do we make the best film that someone that had never heard of Godzilla would come in and be as captivated by it as we are. It’s the thing that drives us to want to make the movie to begin with, is our love for this franchise, but in order to really do that justice I think that you have to step outside and make a film that is going to convince someone who has no love and no interest going in, to fall in love with the franchise and with the character in the same way that we have. That was really our guiding principle, and I think that the assumption, and I hope this is true, is that if we aim high and try to make something that we think is the best film that we can make, it’s going to capture a North American audience, it’s going to capture the Japanese audience, and it’s going to hopefully capture audiences around the world. I think that that’s really the only honest way to approach any kind of process like this, is to try and respect the integrity of what you’re making.

Cover art for 'Godzilla: Awakening'
Cover art for ‘Godzilla: Awakening’

DK: You also co-wrote the Godzilla: Awakening graphic novel. How did the idea for that prequel book come to be, and what was the biggest difference in writing that over the screenplay?

MB: That’s a good question. It came to be because Legendary is an awesome company, and they have a comic book division, and Thomas Tull, who is the Grand Poobah there and runs the show, is a giant Godzilla fan. He thought it would be rad to do a comic book that ties in to our reinvented or rebooted Godzilla universe. That was something that I was really excited about. I wrote it with my cousin, who I’m very close to and have been trying to find something to work on together. He’s a brilliant writer, he’s mainly in computer science and technology and he teaches and studies at MIT at the media lab. We got to collaborate on that which was a really wonderful process. Certainly the cool thing about writing the comic book, which I’ve actually only recently started to dabble in, this is really my first comic book, you have a lot more control in some ways in terms of the kind of story you’re able to tell because you don’t have to think about budget, or what you can afford or what you can actually get reality or CGI to help you achieve, you can just imagine it, and then it is so. Then again, there are certain constraints in terms of what that medium will allow storytelling-wise, which is a fascinating learning curve. That was something that was really fun and exhilarating to do. It made it a very fresh process for both of us. Creatively, Legendary has just been very supportive throughout the entire development of the film and so maybe the cliché or expected answer would be that we had so much more freedom developing the comic book than the film, because with the film there are more cooks in the kitchen. The truth is that everyone has always been on the same page in terms of wanting this movie and the whole franchise to continue. We all wanted it to be as great as it could be, so everyone has been extremely supportive and collaborative this whole time, and it was a very fun process.

DK: In writing the screenplay OR the graphic novel, were there any strange or unconventional ideas that were quickly disregarded?

MB: (laughs) Every idea under the sun was contemplated and disregarded at some point along the way, and that’s the only way, I think, that I know how to approach the creative process. I think the answer is that no, I probably can’t really talk about them. If I could even remember them it would only be interesting within the context, and also part of the beauty of getting to produce a finished product is sometimes not having to show what you looked like along the way.

DK: I didn’t think you’d be able to talk about it, but I had to try! On that note, do you see more comic book or graphic novel work in the cards for you?

MB: Do I see more? I love that. It was incredibly fun and fulfilling in a different way. It’s certainly faster, I mean I’d been writing the film for three years, or maybe more by the time it comes out, and the graphic novel took a few months. It was unbelievable to see your work and your words take shape and visual form that quickly. That’s very gratifying and there are a couple of other ideas that I’ve been dabbling with with Greg. So I sure hope so.

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DK: Edwards, of course, planned Godzilla to work as a standalone film, but what classic Toho monster would you like to see in a sequel? What’s your favourite Toho creature?

MB: Well Godzilla is my favourite Toho monster, but if we’re expanding… That’s a good question. I don’t have one favourite, I mean really love King Ghidorah and I think that the really interesting thing is that all of the monsters are great in their context, and when you see this film the question is always about what is going to fit into the tone of the universe that we’ve created. We spent a long, hard time making sure that we were servicing that tone in the creation of the MUTOs, and if we were given the opportunity to work with any of the classic Toho monsters, I think that would be really rad. It would be about approaching it in the same way, in trying to bring them into this universe in a way that felt coherent and plausible within reality.

DK: What was your reaction to seeing this version of Godzilla move and roar on-screen for the first time?

MB: It’s the same reaction that I have every time I see it. It’s impossible to describe in words because it has more to do with the churning of the gut and the tingling of the spine and hair standing up on the back of your neck. It’s really a kick. I’m in it, and so it’s hard to step back and go ‘Holy shit, a year ago I was writing these words on the page, and now I’m watching this unbelievable spectacle come to life’. It’s a monster that looks cooler and more bad-ass than I could ever have imagined him.

DK: To finish up, the Godzilla subreddit wanted me to thank you, Gareth, and everyone involved in the project, for making Godzilla awesome and really relevant again. Is there a message that I can pass on to them, and to the rest of Godzilla’s fans for you?

MB: That’s thrilling and awesome. Part of the crazy thing about getting to make a movie in this day and age where fan reaction is immediate and vocal and ever present is the beauty of seeing people respond, hopefully positively to what you made, but also the terror of what people are going to say. The fan reactions thus far have been so heartening. I’d really like to thank them.

DK: Perfect. Thanks so much for taking the time today Max, and I absolutely cannot wait to see the movie, it looks amazing.

MB: Absolutely. My pleasure. Thank you Derek.

You can pre-order Godzilla: Awakening from Amazon, and you know where to get your movie tickets. How excited are you for the film?

Watch Hugh Jackman Interview His Past Self In A New ‘Days Of Future Past’ Promo

by Derek Kraneveldt

Briefly: X-Men: Days of Future Past is just two weeks away from theatres, and Yahoo! has just launched an awesome interview with Hugh Jackman… being interviewed by Hugh Jackman.

Yep, they sent him back to 1999, and the two have a conversation about X-Men, comic book movies, Hugh’s career, which of his films have been the best, and which ones to avoid. It’s pretty hilarious, and definitely worth the watch.

Check out the video below, and let us know what you think! X-Men: Days of Future Past hits theatres on May 22nd!

Geekscape Interviews: Marlon Wayans and Gabriel Iglesias Talk ‘A Haunted House 2’

by AllieHanley

Marlon Wayans has created another funny ass film, and this one is even crazier than the first! He reprises his role as “Malcom” in “A Haunted House 2.” This time out, Malcom is getting a fresh start with a new woman (Jaime Pressly), a new house, new dog (Shilo 2), and a new neighbor played by comedian Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias. As parody films go, “A Haunted House 2” does everything it’s supposed to, aside from this sequence of scenes that I just can’t seem to shake. It involves Marlon and this doll named “Delilah.”

Marlon Wayans fully commits to his role, when he gets it on with the evil "Delilah," - a doll!
Marlon Wayans fully commits to his role, when he gets it on with the evil “Delilah,” – a doll!

Allie Hanley: So last night at the screening I saw this man hooking it up with this crazy doll.

Marlon Wayans: Man, …why’d you do that man (looking at Gabriel Iglesias).

Gabriel Iglesias: I was at WrestleMania, I don’t know about you.

Allie: And I was getting a little bit hot and bothered!

Marlon: “Oh!” <laughing>

Allie: So how much of that was acting and how much of that was real?

Marlon: Well, I commit. I commit. You see what had happened was….<laughing> I don’t know why I did this because now I am having to explain this!

Iglesias: Yes, you do!

Marlon: They always be asking me this. I don’t know why I did that because now I am having to go and explain it.

Iglesias: It’s legit though isn’t it? <smiling big>

Marlon: Ok, I didn’t get off! Ya, I didn’t let off,!…if that is the question?

Allie: I wasn’t going for that!

Marlon: Now she did twice <laughing and meaning the doll.>! But I was very committed (switching from comedic to serious). I feel like this… When I do it, when I choose to go there, I just black out and I do it. I just go have fun and you can’t think about vanity. You can’t think, what’s my mom gonna think? She’s not gonna think, because she’s not going to see the movie. I was actually in the elevator laughing. I was thinking, what would my parents think if they saw this movie? I was just thinking of my Dad (in an impersonation of his Dad) “This N*****’s crazy,… this… the crazy N*****!” My mom would say (in an impersonation of his mom), “This boy’s done left…. You need to show some of those moves to your father.” <everyone laughing>

 Commenting on his writing alone vs with his brother Shawn Wayans (2004 White Chicks) 
Marlon: We actually get along really well. We complement each other but actually we have very different writing styles. Shawn likes to write in his house and he likes hanging out. We’ll hang out for like twelve hours and we’ll get like two hours’ of work done but we’ll have a great time. I’m like, we gonna work eight hours, and we gonna just bang bang bang (mimicking typing) and we’ll laugh in between. I like Shawn’s process of having fun but I’m more work driven. The minute I get there, I work, and the quicker it’s done, the quicker I can get to filming. I like working, I like acting.

Allie: So last night at the screening there was a guy sitting next to me that was actually getting scared.

Marlon: Good

Allie: Physically scared like it was a regular horror film.

Marlon: Because he didn’t know if there were going to be any more penises jumping out at him! Ah, I thought another penis was gonna pop out at me! Ahh shiiittt!

Allie: So actually back to the doll scene… <everyone laughing> Can you describe that day on the set?

Marlon: I’m gonna give you a tutorial after this, just me and you. <winking at me and making faces, everyone laughing>

Allie: So what was it like and how long did it take to shoot that on the set because there’s nothing else in another film where a guy goes this far with a doll!

Marlon: Hours.

Allie: Wow, it was almost like porn.

Marlon: Well it’s an inanimate object so it’s not porn. Well, I think that’s fun, doing something disgusting to this doll, or a nice little furry stuffed animal (in regards to Haunted House), but the day on the set, …that wasn’t even written. I just went up and looked at the doll. All I was supposed to do was walk up to the doll and say “Heeyyyy, how you doen,?” and then we yell “cut!

Gabriel: And then you saw what happened.

Marlon: And that was improv. I just sort of went for it. And three hours I’m there full of sweat and my director is like “hold your ass in this position,” and I was like “ok.” So we just kind of did it! Then I heard Jaime (his co-star who plays his girlfriend) downstairs yelling “on my God, are you fucking kidding me!” And we was like this is definitely staying in.

Allie: So was that real sweat!

Marlon: Oh ya, I go in!

Gabriel: And the scene was actually much longer.

Marlon: Ya, it was like seven minutes.

Allie: That’ll be out on the DVD extras.

Marlon: I may just do that, and a compilation DVD of the puppets from the first one and just hand that out as a bonus and a tutorial.

Parody films, such as “A Haunted House 2” can be really fun, or just plain horrible (Vampires Suck, 2010). This one falls somewhere in between. Wayans pays special attention to pushing the racial limits of humor “by being an equal opportunity offender.” The part with the doll was simply insane. The guy worked that doll over, and it wasn’t just a few shots but a good five minutes of every position you could imagine. Gabriel Iglesias does a great job fitting into a cast bringing his own flavor of comedy to an already packed cast of comedians.

Film opens April 18th.

Director: Michael Tiddes
Writers: Marlon Wayans, Rick Alvarez
Stars: Marlon Wayans, Jaime Pressly, Cedric the Entertainer, Gabriel Iglesias
Open Road Films.

SXSW 2014 Interview: Jason Bateman and Kathryn Hahn “Bad Words”

by Brent Moore

The first film of my SXSW 2014 experience was Bad Words, the feature film directorial debut of actor Jason Bateman.

The film is about an adult man that finds a loophole in competition rules that allows him to compete in a kid’s spelling bee. Bateman plays a mean, cynical man and much of the humor is derived from his inappropriate interactions with the children, especially a young Indian boy who attempts to befriend him.

After the film I was invited to partake in a roundtable interview with Jason and his co-star Kathryn Hahn. For clarity’s sake, all reporter questions and comments are italicized. I’ve also bolded my own questions, so you know I’m not the weirdo saying women shouldn’t curse and Yale alumni can’t be funny.

Bad Words opens in limited release tomorrow, March 14th, before expanding on March 28th.

Kathryn Hahn:

Is it ok to look at you while we ask questions? (This is in reference to a running joke in the film where Kathryn’s character does not like to be looked at during the act.)

No! Please avoid eye contact.

I have to ask, was that drawn from some sort of personal experience? Maybe not necessarily from you…

You have to ask that? Boy, this just got real personal. That’s from the sicko mind of Andrew Dodge, the writer. That was kind of the parameters of the sex scene.

I’m sure when you’re looking at that in the script you’re like ‘Oh my god, I can’t wait.”

Could. Not. Wait. I knew it would be twice and I also knew that with Bateman it was going to be a beautiful launching pad for us to kind of fill it out and make something happen. Yeah, very funny.

It’s sort of a great structure for your relationship.

I love that every time he looks at her she has to start completely over. Like literally from the very beginning. Like, ‘This is gonna go on all night. Back to one.”

Was that also one of those things that when you’re shooting it you are trying a variety of different ways of doing that?

I mean, we shot in a practical janitors closet at the lovely Sportsman’s Lodge in Burbank, California. Or maybe not Burbank, I think it was Studio City. Details, guys. I gotta fact check myself. I think, in the parameters of that, there were like six of us in there. So there wasn’t a lot of room for trying different positions. We knew that we were stuck in ye olde missionary.

I meant more in like, line delivery…

(Laughs) Sorry, my mind is stuck. Yeah we did, there was some playing around. Absolutely. But, you know, Andrew Dodge wrote such a crazy, tight, economic gem. There really wasn’t a ton we had to do. I think that would have defused what was there.

Jason mentioned last night that you guys had a personal friendship, and how that could make that scene pretty awkward…

Oh my god, yes! So awkward! I was really like, ‘Don’t look at me. I’m going to break and we’ll never get it back.” Which is a hilarious metaphor. We had a pillow between us. Two pillows. So we could just go for it and not be uncomfortable.

So I’m guessing that’s how you go onto the project in the first place? The fact that you guys have a personal relationship?

As it were. Yes, we’ve been friendly for a couple of years. I adore him. I adore his wife. Huge crush on his wife. I knew when the script was sent to me that whatever he decided was gonna be his first time out as a feature director was going to be something special. I’ve always just trusted his taste. Just as an audience member. I’m always checking in with Jason Bateman on screen because I just know that’s where the brains are. I just know that his POV I trust.

That’s got to be interesting because of that dynamic of working with an actor and director but then adding friend into that equation. You don’t ever want your friend to be your boss.

Yeah. I’m telling you, it sounds so cliche but it was a ball. It was a ball. You could tell that he was having the time of his life. He had done so much prep work. He armed himself. I think he knew that with the parameters of the shoot that it was going to be short, so he armed himself with so much prep that by the time we started shooting he was so calm and so comfortable. It would be very hard not to micromanage, I could imagine. Especially your first time out to bat. Especially with a world that is so specific. He created such a visual, tonal world. It would have been very difficult to just relax had you not done all the work up till then.

Obvious question here, would you talk about your own spelling bee experiences.

Awful. I never did an actual spelling bee but I took latin in high school so I thought that I had a leg up on the root words. So I can usually dig a root word out of something but I’m not very good at spelling.

Were you familiar with any of the words that were used in the movie?

Nougat. Very familiar with nougat.

There’s a lot of cursing in this film. Some people would say that the classier the woman the less they curse. Would you agree with that?

No. I like a broad.

What are some life situations that would get you to start letting them fly?

Oh, anything. Name your poison. I love a swear word. I really do. But I have the two peanuts at home, so you gotta edit yourself big time. They take it all in.

Do you have a favorite?

A favorite child? Yes. Absolutely. And I’ll tell you why. (Laughs) No, I love a simple fuck. It’s always so horrible to actually say it out loud but that’s true. Just a simple fuck. In a pinch, guys, it covers a lot. I grew up in Ohio, I don’t know if this is particular to Ohio, but with my parents there was a lot of ‘Oh, poop on a stick! Shut the front door!” You almost with they would have just let it fly. It would have been a little less embarrassing.

What do you like about playing characters that are shameless? You seem to have a couple of those under your belt. Stepbrothers comes to mind.

I’m a fan of bite in comedy. I’m a big fan of comedy that’s got an edge to it. And as a character, comedy or drama, I like a woman that’s on the edge of an abyss. Whatever that is. It could be big or small. It’s just a precipice I’m always interested in. Exploring that leap into the unknown.

How funny were you allowed to get at Yale?

There’s nothing funny about Yale.

I mean on stage. Did you ever do any comedy there?

We had an awesome ragamuffin class. I loved my class at Yale. We got a clown teacher up there. We did some comedia. Not a lot of improvising, that didn’t come for me until later. I never took improv classes or anything like that. It was being introduced to Adam McKay that really cracked that open for me. I think I’ve talked about this before, but at Yale… I will never forget that experience. It was a rigorous, blessed three years. I didn’t have to worry about anything but just the work. We were producing plays at one in the morning. It was heaven, heaven, heaven. We didn’t have a television. The best. I will hold that to my heart forever. I was accruing loans but it was just like pretend. I knew I’d have to eventually pay that off but you didn’t have to really think about that while you were there. It was pure and really blessed. Of course we did a lot of comedy. I think a lot of my classmates would say I was like the clown. There were a lot of clowns in my class, though. We laughed a lot. I think in the theater you find that. It’s not fun to see a real serious serious play.

When you think Yale theater the first thing to pop into mind isn’t a bunch of people up there horsing around.

But the play is to a point. It’s about cracking something open. Comedy is hard, I think. Really hard. We were grad student kids, we had a ball, but it was to a point.

On the same note of being a clown at Yale. Were you aware that on IMDB your one trademark is “known for making exaggerated facial expressions’?

Yeah, I saw that. We were laughing and I said ‘I think that should be the name of my autobiography’. Like ‘Making Faces: The Story of Kathryn Hahn’.

Maybe the quote on your tombstone? ‘She was really good at making exaggerated faces’.

(Laughs) Hmm, I don’t know about that.

Can you talk a little bit about Afternoon Delight? That is such a wonderful film. We always see you in these supporting roles but you totally owned that film. How hard is it to get something like that made?

I will just forever be grateful to Jill Soloway for seeing that in me and giving me that opportunity. They had not come my way with that kind of a role since Yale, really. That hadn’t been really asked of me. To go to those kinds of places, which is all you want to do as a performer. That was heaven. Heaven. We shot it in three weeks. We used my minivan. It was like a three week fever. We shot six days a week and rehearsed on the seventh day. Rented a little house that the DP and Jill and I would just take turns sleeping in so we could get a full night’s sleep because we all had kids. We knew no one could get any sleep. The bar really was raised with that particular experience with me.

Jason Bateman –

Your costar Rohan is a very mature young man. Was it challenging to throw out those expletives his way?

The film was not improvised. He and his parents knew everything that was coming and were certainly prepped for it. I had extensive conversations with him and his parents about the kind of tone and spirit and where all these prickly scenes were coming from. What the deeper and slightly more sophisticated agenda was that would play, hopefully, underneath the whole movie. Certainly Guy’s journey. I just asked them to trust me that I was going to build the film and aesthetic and that it wouldn’t feel gratuitous or arbitrary to the audience. That this wasn’t going to be something embarrassing for them. This was a drama for everyone inside the movie. This guy got his feelings hurt and he’s just not properly equipped to deal with that. And we, the same audience, laugh at his inability to manage his life, but it is a drama to them. That would be, hopefully, the spine of the movie and make those prickly things feel a little less sophomoric.

Can you talk a little bit about where Arrested Development falls into that position where you are now allowed to make your directorial debut?

Arrested Development is the father and mother of my career now in the second half. I was a working actor for the decade between The Hogan Family and Arrested Development but I certainly was not making a lot of choices, you know? I was basically taking what I got and Arrested Development provided a project that was embraced by those who hand out jobs in Los Angeles. That was really, really fortunate. I would have taken a job that was half as good and would have perhaps stayed on the air twice as long. Respect and quality I think is the fuel of longevity as opposed to fame and fortune. Arrested Development gave me a great deal of much needed credibility and was a basic reset button on some of the stuff that I had done in the past. I’m just gonna try my damndest not to screw it up and stay at the party for another 30 years.

A lot has been made about this being your directorial debut, but you’ve been directing television since you were 18…

Yeah, with the exception of Arrested Development all of the directing has been multicamera. Which, I do not mean to belittle, but it’s a different job as a director. You’re mandate there is to corral the rehearsal and make the comedic writing work and have its rhythm stay intact. It’s shot proscenium style where it’s three walls; it’s theater. There’s and audience and it’s a different process. When you direct single camera you are choosing lenses, there’s a lighting strategy, music, and a whole environment that a director is allowed to build. In television it’s a bit more of a writer/producer’s medium. In film you’ve got a bit of creative autonomy that is extremely exciting to me. But very challenging.

Talking about the aesthetic a little bit more, and I don’t know if I’m completely wrong here, but I saw the tiniest twinges of the aesthetic of Wes Anderson in the beginning of the film. Has anybody said that to you or are there any references you used?

That’s high praise. I mean Wes Anderson, Paul Thomas Anderson, David O. Russell, The Coen Brothers, Alexander Payne, and Spike Jonze… these guys have a rawness to the aesthetic. A palette that they use. The way that they use the visual element of this medium to perform. That is a character in the film. It sets a mood for the audience that hopefully allows the audience to be a bit more accepting of a fringe society that these filmmakers usually like to tell their stories in. The characters are usually people that you drive by but you don’t often talk to. Situations that you usually skirt because we’re a bit more highly functional. Decisions that are made that are less responsible than those of responsible adults like us. I think there is a visual component to that and a musical component to that that is fascinating to me and I really look forward to learning a whole lot about. One of the main things that attracted me to this script was that that would be a necessary world and a palette to establish to the audience because we’re dealing with an odd group of people making odd decisions. If it looks like today and like where we all live it would feel broad and hokey, but if it feels real and feels raw then you accept the eccentricities of the story and the characters.

Kathryn was talking, specifically about the “don’t look at me” scene, about how a lot of what was there was in the script. I’m curious about one of my very favorite scenes in the movie which I kind of think of as the ‘Five Easy Pieces’ moment where you’re talking to the woman in the diner and kind of putting her in her place. Is all that in the script as well or did you get to kind of play around and try different retorts?

Well I’ve never been a fan of actors talking about what they wrote and what the writer wrote because that’s very unfair to the writer, but Andrew was incredibly collaborative for a long time. All the way through the process. I invited him to be on set the entire shoot and he was there every day. We worked long and hard on the script for about a year before we ended up shooting it. There were two phases of that. One was just me as a director trying to funnel all that was in the script into the version, style, and aesthetic that I wanted to use. Then once I decided to play the lead character we went through it again and I knew the way I was going to play that part very specifically. So certain words might be inconsistent with that approach and certain words might better enhance that approach.

But not a lot of improv in the film itself? It’s pretty much all what’s on the page?

There certainly was some, which I’m a fan of because once something becomes three dimensional and other actors start doing things that you can’t predict the night before when you’re practicing your faces in the mirror, things are different and you need to be able to pivot. So sometimes certain words or certain things could be a little bit better, but for the most part Andrew and I got that exactly the way we wanted it all the way down to the shooting. Everything was shot listed and storyboarded and I knew exactly the way that every single piece… the way that I’d like to shoot everything. I decided on lens sizes and everything. Scouted. We knew we’d have a pretty abbreviated schedule and that I was going to be splitting my duties, so everything was kind of done.

Can you talk about the color palette because it’s more of a drama color palette…

I was getting a lot of green and that was in sharp contrast with the HD scenes where we see the live television.

Sure. We wanted to make sure that the television had a different look than the film. What you’re privy to in the audience versus what the audience that’s watching the tv show would be privy to. So we shot that on different equipment and had a whole different process. The overall palette of the film is what we were talking about. It was very desaturated, and the greens, and the blues, and the things that just lend themselves to establishing a bit more of a melancholy, introspective position for the audience because hopefully that’s where I wanted the audience to start and to remember as they were experiencing all of the humor and the veneer of Guy. I wanted them to remember that this was a guy that was raw and wounded inside. Something that’s oversaturated, something that’s super lit, something that’s on wide angle lenses usually feels a little bit safer. It’s all parts of the process that I’ve never been able to participate in and the fact that this script demanded that was one of the big draws.

Speaking of script demands, all of the prep that goes into spelling the big words, would you still be able to spell floccinaucinihilipilification?

I could get close, but everything was written on big white boards. The fun part was that we had to write them on multiple boards around the auditorium so that I could get three letters there, three more there, three more there so it didn’t look like I was reading it. I was in one spelling bee in grade school and I lost in the first round because I forgot the w in answer. I’m not bookish.

Geekscape TV: Stan Lee Talks Marvel vs. DC And More!

by Derek Kraneveldt

Just over one week ago, Geekscape TV brought you Lou Ferrigno playing Flappy Bird, and now we’re back with a fantastic conversation with the man that moulded many of our childhood memories, Stan Lee.

A few days back, Jonathan sat down with Stan to film an interview for our new YouTube channel, GeekscapeTV. Geekscape TV is a serious reimagining of our old YouTube channel (it is a different channel, so be sure to subscribe to the new one), and one that we intend to fill to the brim with original, awesome content (like the first trailer for Hero of the Prophecy, the just-remastered HD cut of Gay By Dawn, a hilarious Miami Vice spoof, and so on).

The interview features plenty of great Marvel vs. DC banter, and Stan even reveals the secret to why the Marvel movies have been so successful!

Take a look at the full interview below, let us know what you think, and be sure to subscribe to GeekscapeTV for more!

Geekscape TV: Lou Ferrigno Plays ‘Flappy Bird’, Plus Our Full Interview!

by Derek Kraneveldt

We teased this one a few days ago on our Facebook and Twitter pages, and now we’re ready to show you the goods!

A few days back, Jonathan sat down with The Incredible Hulk himself, Lou Ferrigno, to film an interview for our new YouTube channel, GeekscapeTV. Geekscape TV is a serious reimagining of our old YouTube channel (it is a different channel, so be sure to subscribe to the new one), and one that we intend to fill to the brim with original, awesome content (like the first trailer for Hero of the Prophecy and the just-remastered HD cut of Gay By Dawn).

Ferrigno2

During the interview, Jonathan learned that Lou actually has an addiction to Angry Birds, so naturally Jon showed him the world’s latest bird themed mobile phone obsession, Flappy Bird. Take a look at both the interview and the Flappy Bird session below, and let us know what you think!

Don’t forget to subscribe, as we have plenty of content coming down the pipeline.

Here’s Lou playing Flappy Bird:

And here’s the full interview:

What’s your Flappy Bird high score?