WonderCon 2012 Movie Recap
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- Last Updated: Tuesday, 12 November 2013 07:07
- Written by Lupe Haas
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Special presentations followed throughout the day with special footage and appearances by filmmakers and stars of Prometheus, Snow White and the Huntsman, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Battleship, Looper, Resident Evil: Retribution, Looper, and Lockout. Watch some of the clips from Saturday's event.
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter producer Tim Burton was not able to make WonderCon in Anaheim due to sickness. A hilarious video featuring a talking cadaver opened the panel in which a voice similar to Burton's explained his absence as two provocatively dressed nurses stood at his side along with a bearded man who didn't identify himself. The hilarious B-movie looking clip talked briefly about the movie as he coughed himself to death. Too funny!
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter writer and novelist Seth Grahame-Smith moderated the panel with director Timur Bekmambetov and Lincoln himself actor Benjamin Walker. The audience were treated to a 5-minute action scene from the period vampire movie. In the clip, Honest Abe wields his famous ax against the blood-suckers who killed his mother with help from Anthony Mackie. The action sequence definitely had the Russian director's signature style reminiscent of Night Watch and Day Watch which should make a lot of genre fans happy. A new trailer to the historical-based horror film screened afterwards as well. This movie will definitely be one crazy cinematic roller-coaster.
Afterwards, the writer, director and star talked about the origins of the story and production of the film. They also took questions from the audience. Benjamin Walker expressed his delight in playing a Presidential Vampire Hunter and called the experience "bad-ass". A great question came from a fan that stumped the panel. A fan asked if Obama were a vampire hunter, what would be his weapon of choice? The panel played it safe and danced around the question.
Prometheus
A new trailer was premiered before the Prometheus fillmakers took the stage. Writer/Producer Damon Lindelof was the moderator for 20th Century Fox's panel with director Ridley Scott and some of the cast of Prometheus. First Scott and Lindelof spoke a little of their collaboration on the Alien prequel. Scott revealed the ending to Prometheus is open-ended which leaves room for a sequel he would like to helm. This being his first 3D movie, Scott gave a lot of credit to his cinematographer who took on most of the responsibility of working with the cumbersome technology. Scott boasted about Prometheus "absolutely beautiful" on screen. He also gave us insight into tactics used on the first Alien movie in which he didn't speak to the actors. When the actors complained about it, he told them it was the reaction he wanted back then. However, in all honesty, he admits he was really scared of the actors back then. That didn't stop him from using similar methods for Prometheus.
Damon then welcomed two of the stars of Prometheus - Charlize Theron and Michael Fassbender who answered a few questions from the crowd. Charlize did most of the talking and said working on the top secret film was closest to "being in the CIA. You can't say anything to anyone."
Snow White and the Hunstman
Universal premiered a new mind-blowing trailer to Snow White and the Huntsman during WonderCon. The preview definitely takes a darker turn with the Snow White fairy-tale as intended by the Grimm Brothers with cinematic visuals that's sure to be a treat for viewer's eyes.
Director Rupert Sanders, Kristen Stewart and Charlize Theron returned to the same stage to discuss her turn as the evil-queen. Kristen Stewart awkwardly answered questions from the moderator and audience members. One female attendee asked Kristen why she wanted to play a strong character after playing "the damsel in distress in all her movies". Before she could respond, Charlize jumped in with a "hey now" and suggested the fan take it easy. Kristen said this wasn't a place for a Twilight discussion but did agree this is a different role for her which is why she took on the role of Snow White. She had always wanted to play a "bad-ass" in an action movie" and she achieved it with this grueling production that her horseback riding and sword play.
Battleship
Battleship director Peter Berg, Brooklyn Decker, and "True Blood's" Alexander Skarsgard came on stage in the ballroom to present three scenes from the movie. Unlike the special-effects heavy trailer, the 3 clips previewed the talent specifically Rihanna in her first film. Peter Berg boasted about Rihanna and her commitment to the role as an actress and not a pop star. Peter told the WonderCon crowd, she came on set and asked to be treated like a cast member with no special treatment during production of the alien-invasion movie.
SOUND OF MY VOICE
Fox Searchlight presented 12 minutes of the film Sound Of My Voice, an indie drama presented as a possible science fiction film that intrigued some genre fans and left others baffled. A journalist and his girlfriend join a cult to investigate a cult whose leader (Maggie) claims to be from the future. The clip shown presented the couple meeting Maggie who explains how she came to Earth. After the long preview, the cult leaders came on stage to recruit members for their group and enticed the audience to visit their booth on the WonderCon exhibitor area. After audiences had a good laugh with the pretend cult recruitment, director/writer Zal Batmanglij and co-writer Brit Marling who also plays Maggie talked about making the film on their own and being acquired at Sundance last year.
Fox Searchlight began their viral campaign in February when they released the same 12 minute clip with an interactive menu that allows viewers to stop the film and research more about the mysterious film.
Resident Evil: Retribution
Milla Jovovich and director Paul W.S. Anderson attended the WonderCon panel.
Looper
Good online buzz and an appearance from star Joseph Gordon-Levitt generated lots of viral word-of-mouth for this futuristic story.
Lockout
Another sci-fi project premiered at WonderCon with a 5-minute clip starring Guy Pearce as a soldier who must rescue the President's daughter from an outer space prison.
Trailer
