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Starfury: SERENITY LA - Saturday Yan Feldman, Nectar Rose & Ron Glass
Colleen Kelly on 11/19/2007
Let me just start with this. Element in Hollywood is discreet little club on a bit of a side street. Probably fabulous, as clubs go. But as a convention site, it leaves some things to be wished for. Mainly light. Most telling being the first comment from Yan Feldman as he took the stage for his first Q & A of the weekend, “There’re some good looking shadows out there.” But, vision be gorammed! If a good time was to be had, the Browncoats would have it, lighting or no.
Yan was joined on stage by Christina Hendricks and Ron Glass. The audience members were a little shy, at first, to ask questions, so Yan and Christina brought us up to date on what they have been doing. Christina said she had just been hanging out with Morena cooking dinner (with Morena doing most of the cooking). Work-wise, there was, of course Mad Men, and a couple of guest spots on Notes from the Underbelly and Life. Yan mentioned that he had recently completed a movie called Off the Ledge which also stars Nectar Rose. Ron was characteristically quiet, having opted not to have a microphone at this point in the Q&A.
Shortly, the first brave soul came up to the mic to ask a question, “Where do you see your character going after Serenity was over? I’m sorry.” (To Ron.) Yan thought that Mingo and Fanty would fall in love after Fanty admitted that Mingo was prettier. Christina said that Saffron could join the crew of Serenity “she’s resourceful. She’s wily.”
Next, someone asked what other names Christina thought her character could have had. Her answer? “Dominique” because it’s so exotic. “You have to black to be a Dominique.” Ron said, adding that it should be the name of a classy black woman on Dynasty or something. (And it was. Dominique Deveraux was the name of Diahann Carroll’s character on Dynasty.)
Next, a fan said in watching “Our Mrs. Reynolds”, that Saffron was so mysterious. Why do think she was that way? Christina said that Saffron was so good at fooling people that she almost convinces herself of the things she is saying.
Then a fan asked why we all have so much passion for the things Joss Whedon does. Ron answered, that Joss has a keen sense of human nature and that even though the characters are fictional, we all recognize ourselves or people we know. He then added, our passion for you (the fans)? “We recognize really great people when we see them.”
Yan was asked if it was difficult joining a cast that had such great chemistry together. He said that coming to a group that knows each other well is some times like creeping in on someone else’s turf. But, when they got there everyone was like “Welcome to the party!” He was glad to have his brother there and he did his Christopher Walken imitation on set. The questioner mentioned that Nathan Fillion also does a Christopher Walken imitation. “He does?” Yan replied, in flawless Walken. He mentioned that there is play called All About Walken with several Christopher Walken impersonators (both male and female) that is very funny. Back to the original question, Christina said that there was “this energy knowing that you are working on something great.” And that everyone was all “Yay!” but she was like “I don’t get to stay here.”
They were then asked what their reactions were they were approached to do the show. Christina and Yan both said they weren’t approached, but had to audition for their parts. Yan said that they were told the characters were to have a Cockney accent, but since he and Raff knew they might not have the look they were looking for they wanted to go into it with the accent from the start. They kept the Cockney accent the whole way through auditions until after they were hired and Joss finally said 'Where the hell are you from?'
Ron said he also auditioned for the part of Sheppard Book. He wasn’t attracted to Sci-Fi, but when he read it “it was something I wanted to do.”
Our next questioner asked what the liked or didn’t like about their costumes. Ron chirped up that he loves costumes. He likes to think of what the character would wear and what they character would look like. “Specifically, the shoes.” He went on to say that he particularly liked to socks he got to wear “orthopedic socks with little padding.” He also liked the string with a feather that held back his hair. Christina said that she loved Saffron’s wardrobe because it was made to match her hair color.
Yan told us that when he and Raff went in to wardrobe they were given mullets and leather pants, stitched on both sides. They weren't too sure about it, but went to show Joss and who said to the wardrobe person, ‘Remember the conversation we had about their wardrobe? I feel like you weren’t there.’ So, they went to Universal’s costume department and picked out a couple of suits, instead.
The next person asked Yan if he and Raphael fought over who got to be Fanty or Mingo. He said, not really, because it was his turn to pick which part and at the time Mingo had more lines, but Joss had to cut most of it. He then mentioned the blooper on the film that may have been fixed. But the security tape at the bar shows a shot of them having the meeting before it happened.
A fan then asked how much is Joss and how much is the actors saying ‘I think this would be great’. (Ron laughed.) “It’s like telling God what to do with Rome.” Yan replied.
A fan asked Ron what it was like to work with James Woods (referring to Ron’s time on the show Shark). Ron said that James Woods is bright & intelligent, possibly with a photographic memory, but he never stops talking. And that he’s always telling people on the crew how to correct things “which could be annoying, but he’s always right.” He said it’s a show he really looks forward to doing. Ron told us that someone asked him if Joss had discussed Books background with him and the answer was “No”. But he was glad, because it kept everything fresh & new and he had the challenge of making sense of everything. He said Joss did let him know his background on Serenity and also his future. “The good news is we’re doing a movie. The bad news is you die.”
In closing, a fan asked if they felt their character should be in the movie more. Ron replied, “I felt that way about every episode.”
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From The Eyes and The Ears of The 'Verse...
