Johnny Depp waves bye-bye

I felt like a crybaby after my Iron Man 2 post, and I didn’t want to sign off like that. Therefore, I hope you enjoy this rundown of my top sightings and experiences at Comic-Con 2009.

I don’t think press or movie people are more VIP than the public; I feel when you’re handed a golden ticket, you deserve entrance into the chocolate factory. This was one of my most anticipated panels, and I was excited to write about it for those of you who graciously have followed our Comic-Con coverage and offered all sorts of awesome feedback on our presence here this year.

The best course of action at the end of the day is to release my feelings of confusion, irritation, and suspicion — the early footage must not be any good? I wondered — since there are plenty of enthusiastic write-ups from the session. Personally, however, I’m sorry to disappoint our readers by not being there.

Good luck Tony Stark; it was fun to be in your presence. Last year.

A Zombieland baddie

Before Sony’s Zombieland/2012 presentation, I joined other press reps for a discussion first with director Ruben Fleischer and the cream of his Zombieland cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, and Woody Harrelson. I’ve focused in on this movie since it’s an original story, something the Comic-Con set celebrates. Also, I’ve been waiting to see if Jesse Eisenberg can crossover into the mainstream since the verdict is still undecided after Adventureland‘s subpar performance.

Director Fleischer seems like the kind of guy you wish you’d known since elementary school so you could celebrate what looks to be the best American zombie movie since the Dawn of the Dead remake. He successfully contrasted his film with Shaun of the Dead — the source of his inspiration — when asked to defend his use of fast zombies versus their slower equivalents, one of the biggest debates waged by genre fans. Though he did declare that he’s not a “zombie purist,” a remark which seemed slightly incongruous with Comic-Con.

The cast members were tight-lipped where their individual story lines were concerned, and I inadvertently brought the discussion to a momentary stop when I asked for clarification on the movie featuring “A-listers with prosthetics” raised in this article from a few months back.

Fleischer’s arms folded across his chest and he said he had no idea what I was talking about. I reiterated the question, saying I was just hoping for some light to be shed, though I realized I might have stepped into spoiler territory. Or maybe we’re simply talking about Amber Heard‘s brief appearance, which is outlined in this wrap-up of the public panel. I felt like a tool, and a detective!

Woody Harrelson broke the silence in the pressroom when he said, “We have a stand-off.”

Less contentious was Roland Emmerich‘s brief interview session on 2012, another panel which wound up being more about the director’s other works than the upcoming movie. It was amusing to me that there was so little discussion about such a big-budget production, though Emmerich’s reveal that he ordered the “first six or seven” pages of books on 2012 from Amazon in preparation for the movie made it feel as though anyone in the room could make a $200+ million project. But in a good way.

Clearly Emmerich doesn’t make movies for critics, which makes me respect him even when he’s at his worse (10,000 BC). Fortunately for the 6,000+ people in Hall H, the director unleashed this Earth-swallowing trailer and a near-complete sequence. His interplay with Woody Harrelson — batting 2 for 2 with Sony this year — made the epic scope of the proceedings feel intimate.

Emmerich’s best talent is his ability to hire the hundreds of visual effects pros it takes to render the destructive ideas burbling over in his imagination. And he’s quite aware of this notion. I sensed that Emmerich would attend Comic-Con every year if he could crank out a film such as 2012 every 6 or 7 months. As it stands, you might find him back in Hall H next year with news — or perhaps footage? — on Foundation, his planned version of Isaac Asimov‘s novel which currently is being scripted by Robert Rodat. Or perhaps Independence Day 2? In truth, either of these projects could be made in the near future if we take Emmerich at his word.

John Lasseter and Hayao Miyazak

Both filmmakers earned individual Inkpot Awards from Comic-Con ( read about them ), and Miyazaki asked if the he could use the ink for one of his hand-drawn creations.

If you’d like to watch shaky-cam footage from the panel, head over to Cinema Blend, though you might wonder if Paul Greengrass shot the piece.

A 9 pedicab idling outside the Convention Center

Both film giants are producing 9 and they clearly are the young filmmaker’s mentors — though I realized that Burton and Acker are tied for their number of Oscar nominations — but the Hall H crowded was way more interested in getting updates on Wanted 2, Ripley’s Believe It Or Not, and whether or not there will be a third and final installment of Bekmambetov’s Night Watch saga.

I found myself more engaged by the news on these projects, and realized I was disinterested in 9‘s footage and the rest of the panel. If some secrets had been shared, perhaps I would have felt drawn into Acker’s animated world, but it clangs loudly and still triggers feelings of claustrophobia and anxiety in me.

So, those other projects?

Burton made it known that Ripley‘s is dead; Bekmambetov’s Dusk Watch probably will never happen, either. However, Wanted 2 will begin shooting in a few months with James McAvoy.

Whoa, I almost forgot: Elijah Wood and Jennifer Connelly were on the panel. See how distracting those two mega-producers can be?

A vehicle from District 9 on display

One of the best opportunities Comic-Con has is to help people form an opinion on upcoming movies and, of course, the people who make them. Today served as an example of what can happen when a revealing, intimate panel makes you feel a previously dormant sense of anticipation for a movie. For me, that movie is District 9. It wasn’t merely the presence of Peter Jackson, though his participation and moviemaking thoughts colored the event in every shade of awesome; the ace 7-minute reel of exclusive footage, coupled with the interaction between director Neill Blomkamp and star Sharlto Copley converted me to a can’t-wait fan of the movie.

If my notes are correct, Blomkamp and Copley have known one another since high school. Their buddy interplay made me realize their chance to work with Jackson is an adolescent dream come true. Jackson was in proud papa mode as he illustrated the joys of working on a lower-budget film (he asserted that big budgets can result in directors playing it safe and creating more for demographics than anyone else); both Jackson and Blomkamp discussed how the collapse of the Halo movie dovetailed into D9‘s birth. (Oh, and to kick off the panel, Jackson said he wished he could bottle “geek power” and deliver it to Hollywood execs.)

After watching the trailer and the aforementioned footage, I had a better sense of the movie’s seemingly impressive blend of narrative, theme, and full-bore action. It’s deadly serious subject matter — the story appears to have a lot to do with how society treats otherness — blended with Jackson’s old-school love of splatter-y gore and his newer-school ultra-refined visual effects.

This seems to be the big final push D9 needs before its August release; coming off a slow, methodical viral marketing campaign, I think the world beyond Comic-Con will be there to embrace the movie in a couple weeks.

Before the D9 crew took the stage, special-effects visionary Scott Stewart showed off material from his directorial debut, Legion. With cast members Paul Bettany, Doug Jones, Adrianne Palicki, and Tyrese Gibson in tow, Stewart screened an exclusive trailer for the audience, who lapped up the hellish look at the angel Gabriel (Bettany) who has come to earth to protect humankind’s single hope against an army of his peers.

I’m intrigued by Stewart’s vision, mainly because he headed up The Orphanage, the now-defunct special effects house whose work is in everything from Sin City to the final cut version of Blade Runner. I believe what co-star Tyrese had to say about Stewart — that he’s saved some of his secret SFX tricks for the movie — but something about this presentation didn’t sit well with me, ultimately. Perhaps it was Stewart’s willingness to dumb the movie down by saying it’s more about angels with guns than it is about religion or faith. Or maybe it was Tyrese’s used-car-salesman approach to selling the movie, as well as Transformers 2 and, by the way, he has a comic book for sale, too.

The look of the work is unique, and I think plenty of fans are now stoked to see how all the elements come together — especially how Doug Jones, mostly out of make-up and playing a liquid-limbed character known as “the Ice Cream Man” fits into the terrifying equation. I was just put off a bit by how eager the filmmaker seemed to be to play down the notion having a narrative with any substance. It didn’t seem like the right thing to say in front of a room full of genre fans and comics aficionados.

Garrett Hedlund from Tron Legacy

I have to say that the biggest disappointment yesterday was the Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus Panel, where Terry Gilliam failed to engage the crowd on a personal and artistic level. It feels weird to say that, yes, but his aloof commentary, which hit a low when he indicated that he was only going to show the “boring bits” of the movie created a chill in the room.

For confirmation of this feeling, I noted the mild response to the footage he unveiled featuring the late Heath Ledger. And the people streaming out of the room.

In happier news, I’d say the other movie (aside from Avatar) which captivated the audiences I sat with yesterday had to be Tron Legacy. The presentation was a legacy in and of itself, with original Tron director Steven Lisberger joining Legacy filmmaker Joseph Kosinski, Olivia Wilde, and Garrett Hedlund for the talk. Oh, and Jeff Bridges was there, too!

Disney is in marketing overdrive, too, for the film. Collectable tokens for Flynn’s Arcade were handed out; a viral site popped up online sometime yesterday with decodable directions to a Friday night meet-up, which resulted in a walk over to the aforementioned arcade, a party space outfitted in ’80s splendor which will be open for the rest of the weekend. An associate of mine posted some footage from the arcade.

Speaking of parties, Michelle and I headed over to an early evening party with Entertainment Weekly, where it was a treat to meet some of our editorial heroes. Across the Hard Rock Café’s deck, Lionsgate held court, with Tim Burton, Alison Lohman, Tobin Bell, Ludacris, Amber Valletta, Terry Crews, Michael C. Hall and Jennifer Carpenter in attendance.

We then mall-walked over to the IGN/MySpace/Jennifer’s Body event, where a flash of bulbs greeted Megan Fox and Diablo Cody, who quickly vanished after the red carpet.

It was a blur of A-listers and otherwise, a premiere ending to the first day of the Con.

Avatar toys on the exhibition floor

James Cameron just announced that 15 minutes of Avatar footage will be screened worldwide in IMAX, 3D, and traditional theaters on August 21st. For free. It was the final point in a panel that left mouths agape and created a sensation that might have reverberated into space.

Cameron came off like a Dad-next-door for the hour-long presentation, half of which was comprised of amazing footage from the movie, which provided narrative insights as it took us into a world which draws inspiration from classic sci-fi, anime, and MMORPGs. (Also, Sam Worthington and Stephen Lang‘s characters are steeped in the sweat of 80s cinematic tough guys.)

I have to say, quite simply, that there’s no movie that looks like Avatar. Sigourney Weaver‘s claim in the press about Cameron creating his own world, from creating his own flora and fauna, certainly rings true in the footage we saw. I think Cameron’s on some sort of “first people” platform here, a futuristic look at what happens when a militaristic society tries to control the natural world.

I’m primed.

Real quickly, since my battery is about to die:  Zoe Saldana is the new queen of Comic-Con. Sorry Rosario Dawson.

Peter Facinelli, Kristen Stewart in 'New Moon'

A semi-shirtless Robert Pattinson and totally shirtless Taylor Lautner is more than enough to cause temporary ear damage. For a moment there, it felt as though the New Moon panel might suffer from a lack of footage, but Chris Weitz and company made the crowd wait until the end of the presentation for Bella’s fountain-crossing rescue of a sorrowful Edward, who is about to step into the sunlight. This scene was preceded by a brief sequence involving Bella on one of Jacob’s motorcycles and extended Q&A with the cast and director Chris Weitz.

More interesting to me than Taylor Lautner’s exercise regimen and Kristen Stewart’s perfect imitation of Shane from “The L Word” was Chris Weitz’s recounting of his experience working on The Golden Compass with New Line compared to New Moon and Summit. You might remember that New Line did a major Compass re-edit, one that didn’t satisfy Weitz, general audiences, or critics. He related how those events soured his feelings on moviemaking and went on to assert that his work on New Moon and relationship with the cast, crew, and studio has reinvigorated him. Burn!

Also, it’s pretty charming to see how Robert Pattinson has acknowledged how he is a supporting player here, and he seems more than willing to take a backseat for Taylor Lautner for the sequel. Pattinson is much more articulate this year compared to last. I kinda preferred him as the 2008 cad.

– arno