At a San Diego Comic Con panel on the new animated series SuperMansion (out this year), Breaking Bad lead Bryan Cranston floored the audience with a perfectly timed joke.
A fan from Albuquerque came to the mic to ask Cranston whether he’d enjoyed his time in the fan’s home town and his response was hilarious. Check it out.
A touching moment graced the Supernatural panel at San Diego Comic Con this weekend, leaving fans and cast alike touched.
Several months ago, Padalecki started a campaign called “Always Keep Fighting” to benefit “To Write Love On Her Arms,” a charity which helps people struggling with depression, self harm, addiction and suicide. Jensen Ackles later joined the campaign and together they have sold over 70,000 t-shirts that read either “Always Keep Fighting” or “Moose and Squirrel Say Always Keep Fighting” through Represent.com. From there, fans started buying up the design left and right, even starting campaigns to help fans who couldn’t afford to buy one themselves. Soon there were “Always Keep Fighting” support groups and the hashtag #AlwaysKeepFighting was trending on social media.
This campaign came out of Padalecki’s own struggle with depression. “Maybe a lot of people don’t know this, but Season 3, we were shooting an episode, and I went back to my trailer to get changed and just kind of broke down,” Padalecki told Variety. “A doctor came to set and talked to me for about 30 minutes or 45 minutes and said: ‘Jared, I think you’re clinically depressed. I think I should write you a note and we can shut down production for five days and then we can take it from there.’ ”
“These characters that we play on ‘Supernatural,’ Sam and Dean, are always dealing with something greater than themselves, and I’ve sort of learned from the two of them that they get through it with each other, and with help and with support,” Padalecki said to Variety.
Earlier this year, Padalecki canceled his appearance at two conventions due to his need for time with his family. He was exhausted and needed the time off. Many fans believe this was at least partly due to a bout of depression Padalecki had been struggling with lately. He reached out to fans for support, asking them to write to him.
Not long after, thousands of tweets, messages, letters, and fan art came rolling in, all of them expressing how much the actor meant to his fans and how Supernatural had helped them through their own battles with mental illness. Days later, Padalecki thanked his fans and after several weeks of rest, seems to be doing well.
The Supernatural fandom decided to show Padalecki just a little more how much they cared. San Diego Comic Con was the first time Padalecki had been to a convention since his Twitter outreach and fans wanted to do something special. In the line for the panel, a group of fans were passing out little bags with electric candles and a note. The note revealed that once a cue was given, fans were to turn their candles on and hold them up in the air.
When the moment came, the candles switched on and at first the panelists were confused. Jensen Ackles noticed the lights and his fellow panelists turning to take selfies with them and stopped mid-sentence to figure out what they were. “What’s happening right now?!” he asked. “I think you’re supposed sing Freebird,” joked one of the moderators. It then became clear as fans began shouting, “ALWAYS KEEP FIGHTING!” Touched, the cast applauded them, several giving a standing ovation to their fans for the gesture.
“I’m holding the candle in my pocket right now, I can’t let go of it,” Padelecki tearfully told E! News. He felt incredibly humbled. “At first I didn’t know what it was. I thought people were holding up their iPhones or something. And then someone handed me the note explaining it and I found out what was really going on. It took everything in my power not to cry.”
“Everyone is given a candle that burns just for them,” The note said. “When your flame flickers and you fear it will go out, know not even the strongest wind lasts forever; and there are other lights to guide you even in the Darkness…And when your candle burns bright, you can ignite the hearts of others and hope will spread like wildfire…Always Keep Fighting, and you’ll never fight alone.”
“I thought there was like a rock band about to come out that I didn’t know about,” Ackles also told E! News. “I was like, ‘What is going on? What is happening right now?’ But it’s just this continuing thing. I’m astonished at the support that these fans give Jared and give us on the show, day in and day out.”
The cast’s relationship to their fans really is like a family. They catch each other when they fall. They collaborate with each other on projects like Misha Collins’ scavenger hunt G.I.S.H.W.H.E.S. and through his charity “Random Acts.” The cast goes above and beyond for their fans and this weekend just proved once again how far the fans will go for their favorite actors and the story that changed their lives.
“I am beyond moved. I feel so blessed, and grateful, and honored to be a part of the magical Supernatural Family,” Jared said later on Facebook next to a photo of him with one of the candles. “From the very bottom of my heart and my soul, thank you so much. I will never forget this day. I will never forget the love that I felt and still feel. And to everybody who held a light for me, please know that I hold my light for you. Though I happened to be the one sitting on stage, I am but one small light in a sea of thousands. TOGETHER we can and will make a difference!”
If you or someone you know needs help, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
See the full panel here: (candles from 33:00 to 35:11.)
Feature photo by Jared Padalecki.
Another Robert Kirkman comic is on its way to the small screen. Based on the comic by Kirkman and Paul Azaceta, Outlast tells the tale of a man with an extraordinary amount of bad luck; Kyle Barnes’ entire family has a nasty habit of being possessed.
The Cinemax show will feature Patrick Fugit as Kyle and Philip Glenister as Reverend Anderson. It looks more straight up horror than The Walking Dead’s apocalypse tone.
It is due to release some time in 2016.
The CW is upping its DC game with Legends of Tomorrow.
A new trailer for the show was released that catches fans up on the various superhero backstories. With direct parallels between comics and TV, it’s super exciting to see all these icons coming together.
The trailer is set up very much like a comic book, with scenes from both mediums interwoven throughout. The CW is growing their DC Universe more and more these days and LoT seems like it will be an awesome addition.
The trailer also included more information on other superheroes we’ll be seeing this fall that The CW hasn’t shown before.
The show will include Rip Hunter (Arthur Darvil), Firestorm (Victor Garber), Captain Cold (Wentworth Miller), Heat Wave (Dominic Purcell), The Atom (Brandon Routh), Hawkgirl (Ciara Renée) and White Canary (Caity Lotz).
Legends of Tomorrow will air in 2016.
If you wanted more Batman v Superman out of San Diego Comic Con this weekend, you got it. Warner Bros. just released a sick new promo photo specifically for SDCC and it looks awesome.
Following the trailer that was also released at SDCC this weekend, fans are super excited to see even more BvS promotions.
An epic, shrouded by darkness stare down features Ben Affleck’s Batman glowering at Henry Cavill’s equally pissed off Superman.
The film will be directed by Zack Snyder. It will feature Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman and Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor.
Batman v. Superman will be in theaters March 25, 2016.
Photos by Warner Bros.
In an interview with IGN, Marvel Entertainment’s Chief Creative Officer Joe Quesada spilled that he has seen the new Spider-Man suit for the upcoming movie and that he loves it. “It looks awesome!” he said. “I think there are elements of it that are really going to blow people away, where they go, ‘Uh, that’s Marvel doing Spider-Man.” While he didn’t go into details about the suit, he is excited for fans to see it.
He also talked a little bit about how happy he is to see the race and gender changes Marvel has made to the characters in its comics. “I love when we do stuff like that, especially when the stories are great. I love when we twist things around and show the flexibility of our characters and how wonderful these icons are… gender switches, ethnicity changes… It’s all the beauty of the Marvel universe. To me as long as the stories are great, I’m along for the ride.” While he can’t confirm or deny any of the newer, more diverse characters getting their own movie, he says that anything is possible moving forward. If only that sentiment had followed into the upcoming Spider-Man movie, with Miles Morales in his own film.
Video and featured image by IGN.
Following the poster release of the much anticipated Sherlock Christmas Special, a brand new teaser was shown at San Diego Comic Con. From deerstalker to snowy streets to silly facial hair, the teaser would make any Sherlock fan tremble with excitement. The teaser shows that while the special will take place in Victorian times, it still holds much of the same modern, British wit the show is known for. It also seems to be poking fun at itself with Watson’s mustache as well as calling out some of the original text’s sexism. Mrs. Hudson objects to Watson’s depictions of her as a simple housemaid in his stories, arguing with him about it as they enter the house. While fans still have two odd years until series four, this teaser for the soon(ish) Christmas special is a good way to combat the hiatus blues.
Unfortunately, show stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman, Mark Gatiss and Andrew Scott weren’t able to make it to the convention. Cumberbatch is tied up with playing Hamlet in London, Scott is working on “Spectre 007” and rumors are that Freeman is filming on the next Marvel-related flick. However, Scott, Cumberbatch and Gatiss sent their love and apologies through a witty video.
The Christmas special will be shown in select theaters across the globe alongside its Television release, a smart move given how long the episode will be (90 minutes.) Sherlock always feels more like a mini movie anyway, so it’s no surprise the BCC is finally giving it the large screen it deserves.
Stephen Moffat gave a few hints at the Sherlock panel at SDCC about the fourth series coming out in 2017 saying, “We know very clearly what stories we’re doing for the next season… and the never-stop-crying cliffhangers.” He also said that series four of Sherlock will include even more emotional turmoil for fans who can expect to be “sucker punched into emotional devastation.” He said this with a big smile on his face, which can only mean one thing. Grab the tissues. Gather the alcohol. Prep your ice cream scoops. We’re in for it.
Videos belong to the BBC and Andrew Scott. Feature photo by www.mirror.co.uk.
The world needs a Wonder Woman movie and “iZombie” and “Veronica Mars” co-writer and co-producer Diane Ruggiero-Wright wants to bring it to us. In a recent San Diego Comic Con interview with Comic Book Resource, Ruggiero-Wright expressed a desire to write a film for the super heroine.
“All I want to do in the world is Wonder Woman,” she said in the interview. Ruggiero-Wright is constantly bringing it up to DC Entertainment Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns, trying to pitch him ideas in hopes that he’ll give her the project. “I staple him to things and I’m like, ‘Let me pitch you Wonder Woman.’ And he’s like, ‘You know it’s already happening. They’re filming it right now,’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah, but…'”
Though Ruggiero-Wright might not be able to pen the first film, there’s hope for her involvement in a sequel. Personally, I think she’d be a brilliant choice for the franchise. Wonder Woman is about as strong of a female character as you can get and if there’s anyone who can give us that, it’s Ruggiero-Wright. “iZombie” and “Veronica Mars” are just proof of what she can do and it would be nice to see a female writer behind the project, rather than Jason Fuchs whose only real claims to fame are “Ice Age: Continental Drift,” “Pan,” and “Flipper.” Not exactly female centric films. It’s exciting to see Wonder Woman’s film finally being worked on for a 2017 release, but having Ruggiero-Wright behind it would make it so much cooler.
While she might not be writing the film, Ruggiero-Wright is working on a Wonder Woman digital comic which will most likely be part of DC’s digital series “Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman.” Only time will tell if Ruggiero-Wright gets more of the Amazon work she craves and the world deserves.
After a hugely successful Indiegogo campaign and months of anticipation from fans, the trailer for the upcoming web series Con Man was released at the show’s Comic Con panel on Thursday, hosted by Nerdist’s Chris Hardwick. Con Man is a sort of spoof on the popular, yet short live Sci-Fi show Firefly and the lives of its actors after its cancelation. The show revolves around Wray Nerely (Alan Tudyk,) an actor who played a pilot on the canceled Sci-Fi show Spectrum alongside the ship’s captain Jack Moore (Nathan Fillion). Jack has gone on to be wildly successful, while Wray is still very much stuck in his past, begrudgingly attending conventions to celebrate his one and only successful project. Naturally, Wrey is more than a little upset about his lack of a colorful resume.
The release of the trailer brings in even more exciting news. While the Indiegogo campaign released many big names that would be on the project (Seth Green, Felicia Day, James Gunn and Gina Torres,) even more stars were announced during the panel and can be seen in the trailer. The cast list includes Tricia Helfer (Battlestar Galactica), Amy Acker (Angel, Dollhouse), Joss Whedon, Sean Maher (Firefly, Eastsiders), Seth Green (Family Guy/Austin Powers), Mindy Sterling (Austin Powers), Jewel Staite, (Firefly), Summer Glau (Firefly, Terminator: SCC), and Sean Astin (Lord of The Rings.)
The web series will be released exclusively on Vimeo On Demand for $14.99 and is available for pre-order. It’s curious that fans will have to pay for the show, as web series are usually free. It is especially strange given the Whedonverse routes that this is coming out of. Joss Whedon’s web series Doctor Horrible Sing-A-Long Blog was first released for free before going to DVD as was Felicia Day’s The Guild which is still available to watch on YouTube. With the $3.2 million that was raised for the project, one would think Con Man could afford to go the same route. Regardless, the show still seems to be worth every penny.
Tudyk has sacrificed a lot for this project. He originally brought it to a television network but was unsuccessful, which led him to take to Indiegogo instead. He even loss his agents over the show because he decided to take time off during pilot season to dedicate himself to the production of the show. “My agents fired me,” Tudyk said. “I said, ‘I can do something in six months.’ They said, ‘Yeeeaaah, we’d be happy for you to do that with someone else.’ ” Tudyk took the risk anyway. This show means the world to him.
The most difficult part for Tudyk was getting people outside of his friend group involved. Many agents are wary of web content and wouldn’t even tell their client that they had been approached for the project. They didn’t want to take the risk, much like his own agents. “There is a sort of firewall,” Hardwick said about how the agent/talent dynamic sometimes works. Tudyk said that he is hoping that Con Man will show the film industry just how lucrative the web can be. Felicia Day believes it could “blow up the world the way Doctor Horrible did.” So far, this doesn’t seem like a far off claim.
Another cool thing that came out of the panel was a marriage proposal between leading visual effects artist Billy Brooks and makeup artist Barry Bishop after Tudyk invited them on stage. Bishop tearfully said yes. “We were born and raised in the deep south, and now we can go to our home states and get married,” Brookes said.
Things are definitely looking awesome for this group of creators. Con Man will release September 30. There is no word yet on Bishop and Brookes’ wedding date, but is certain to be equally exciting.
It’s Con season and geeks are in full bloom. Every year at Denver Comic Con, there are so many sights to behold. We got a lot of interviews this year. We will be featuring each interview from Denver Comic Con over the next three months! First up is Jim Shima, droid builder extraordinaire. We like covering cool items, but also affordable items. Now these may look expensive, and some are, but one can build a droid over time. There is a huge support group out there and, budget providing, you can have your Astromech up and running in no time.
Real life Droids!
DYI protocol Droid and Astromech, better known as C3PO and R2D2
Cost can vary quite a bit, depending on materials and function of the Droid. If you want a nice looking R2 unit to just sit and look pretty, here’s a list and instructions on how to do that-
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-To-Make-a-R2D2-Full-Size-Scratch-Built/
Total cost is about $150-$200.
If you want something that can move, have cool light and sounds.
Here’s one guide I found online that showed a higher end R2-
http://r2d2-robot.blogspot.com
There are actually dozens of how to guides and a great support group out there.
In the Colorado/Wyoming area we have Mountain States Droid Builders (http://msr2droids.com/) . A great bunch of friendly people. You can find them here on their Facebook page –
https://www.facebook.com/MountainStatesR2Builders
Just Google your local area for builders as they are all over the world.
Total cost is in the $5000 range, some as high as $10,000. This can vary depending on materials but I think can expect it to exceed $500 :). Keep in mind though that you can spread this cost out over many years. You might need that time to gain the skill needed and build it slowly to make it just perfect.
As you can see there’s more than just R2D2 and C3PO that can be built.
Everything we cover at Hush is worth it! Droids are no exception. Certainly these are the most recognizable pieces of movie-making magic ever. C3PO and R2D2 are the most well known and well liked characters in the history of movies. If you have a home theater or you are the ultimate Star Wars collector you would not be disappointed with life sized R2 or 3PO. I think the extra bonus is that you get the satisfaction of knowing you built it. Just like Anakin you can be a Droid builder and build C3PO, and maybe one day a Sith Lord.
This probably the coolest item we have covered yet here at Hush for Shut Up and Take My Money. That being said, this takes a time and financial commitment. You might be able to offer money to one of the current builders for a finished droid, but I wouldn’t count on it. They would probably want quite a bit of money for them, and rightly so! If this is something you would like to have, take some time and do some research online. There is a great community of friendly folks who have gone down the same road and are willing to offer advise. Being good with your hands and having some experience with electronics is a plus but not a requirement. I believe all that is required is passion, enthusiasm and commitment to the build.
My special thanks to Jim Shima for sharing his passion with me and allowing Hush to do an interview with him.
You can find out info about his projects here- www.hyperdynelabs.com
Hush Comics 