Wondercon 2010

DAY 1

First I went to The Book of Eli: From Script to Screen panel with screenwriter Gary Whitta. He talked about his writing process and the development of the film. Really informative stuff. He also mentioned he's writing Warcraft and Akira! Next is the The Art of The Princess and the Frog panel with directors Ron Clements and John Musker (The Little Mermaid, Aladdin), art director Ian Gooding, supervising animator Eric Goldberg, and effects supervisor Marlon West. They show a lot of development photos including their trip to New Orleans. Cool artwork and pencil tests. Being in the same room as those guys was crazy. Legends of animation. Then it's time for the famous Kevin Smith Q&A. He brings down the house. So hilarious.

DAY 2

Start things off with a hand-drawn animation demo with animator Eric Goldberg. He explains his latest character, Louis the alligator from The Princess and the Frog, showing us how to came up with the design and how he animated certain scenes. He then came up with a new character based off audience suggestions, Whose Line Is It Anyways style. He's that good.

Off to the ballroom for the Walt Disney Pictures presentation. First producer Jerry Bruckheimer, director Mike Newell, Jake Gyllenhaal, and game creator Jordan Mechner talk about Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Clips looks like fun. Time rewind stuff looks cool.

[READ MORE...]
Next is the Fantasia-inspired The Sorcerer's Apprentice. Jerry Bruckheimer returns with director Jon Turteltaub, Nicholas Cage, Jay Baruchel, and Teresa Palmer. Cage says he sounds like Howlin' Wolf due to larangitis. Everything he says sounds funny. Looks decent. Alfred Molina plays the bad guy.

Next up is Toy Story 3! They show a remix montage of the first two movies set to T-Pained Randy Newman. Really. John introduces director Lee Unkrich. He announces they will do a live dub demo and select people from the audience. He picks one regular guy, then picks co-stars Kristen Schaal and Jeff Garlin from the audience! They to a live table read then dub a scene. Garlin's improvs are hilarious.

Next is Screen Gems presentation of Resident Evil: Afterlife 3D. Director Paul W. S. Anderson is joined by Milla Jovovich and Ali Larter. Trailer looks cool. Filmed with the cameras James Cameron designed for Avatar. Milla is really excited.

Next up is the Warner Bros. presentation. They give out tickets for swag. First is comic-book adaptation The Losers. Director Sylvain White shows us a full scene followed by an extended trailer. Looks so awesome! Losers Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Zoe Saldana, Chris Evans, Columbus Short, and Óscar Jaenada take the stage. Ha WB says no Captain America questions. Zoe and Jeffrey are funny.

Next is A Nightmare on Elm Street remake. They show a scene. Still looks mediocre. They talk about the more serious tone it's taking.

Next is indie horror film Splice, from Cube director Vincenzo Natali. Looks so good. Really creepy stuff. Natali talks about the strangeness of the film and Del Toro's support as a producer.

Then the speaker starts listing credits of a certain director: Memento, Insomnia,...there is a collective holy-shit-gasp and then out comes Christopher Nolan! He intros an extended trailer for Inception. Looks amazing. Still have no idea what it's about. Nolan talks about dreams.

Pick up the WB swag bag: cool Losers vinyl bag, Inception top from the teaser, Kreguer claw keychain, and Inception, Splice, Nightmare t-shirts. Try to see the Kick-Ass screening but don't get in. April 16th can't come soon enough.

DAY 3

Buy some t-shirts on the floor then head to the Human Target panel. They screen a new unfinished episode followed by a Q&A with executive producer Jonathan Steinberg and stars Mark Valley and Jackie Earle Haley. Really good ep that shows the origin of the team. It's a fun show if you like action.

Next is Chuck. They decide to show an entire new episode instead of just footage! Loved it. Everything that's been going on this season got resolved the way I wanted it to. Creators Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak, Zachary Levi, Adam Baldwin, and Joshua Gomez take the stage for the panel. They're all really funny, probably the best panel of the con.

Grab a bunch of cheap comics and a giant Spawn figure before the floor closes. Had a great time. Can't wait for next year.