![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Sorry to double post, but...
Jun. 28th, 2010 11:51 pmI thought you guys might be interested in my Supanova interview. I submitted this piece to the Perth paper, but what with not being in Perth, I have no idea if it made it. Anyway, it's an interview with Leah Gibson (Twilight, Caprica, Watchmen) and Summer Glau (Firefly, Serenity, Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles) about their experiences of conventions.
Supanova
ALICE CLARKE
The world of sci-fi conventions can be a confusing place to navigate. If you’re new to the realm, the masses of people dressed as characters you’ve never heard of, the sheer number of queues and the enthusiastic fans asking actors nit-picky questions can be quite daunting.
Imagine, if you will, that you are one of those actors facing the nit-picky questions and the lines of hundreds of people waiting to get your autograph. It’s a scary thought; even worse if it’s your first convention.
But the brave Leah Gibson, who is in the sci-fi series Caprica and the new Twilight movie, is finding her first convention experience more exciting than scary. “It is exhilarating,” Gibson said. “Any first time is always a little anxiety-provoking, but I’ve been easing into this and it’s been so much fun and the fans have been so sweet.”
Summer Glau, star of Firefly and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, is no stranger to conventions. Being a featured actor in any Joss Whedon project is enough to keep you going on the convention circuit for years. But there is an extra level of love for Glau in the geek community, beyond just the people she’s worked with.
After seeing how hard and how much work these kinds of conventions can be for actors, especially the popular ones, it makes you wonder what keeps them coming back. For Glau, it’s her gratitude towards the fans. “As long as I continue to feel the support, I’m going to keep saying thank you,” Glau said. “I have been so lucky to have the core audience that I started out with continue to give every job I do a try. So any time I get the chance and I have free time to travel, I choose a place to go and meet people face to face. I didn’t know this world existed and it changed my life completely.”
Glau actually came out to Australia for Supanova four years ago and, according to her, the event has changed dramatically in that time. “It’s grown times ten! It’s so much bigger now than it used to be,” Glau said. “I do all kinds of events, big and small, and I think it’s a really fantastic event because it reaches out to all different parts of the genre. It’s cool to come sit and talk to voice actors and comic book artists, and the people are so kind. I love the family that runs it.”
The convention itself is a whirlwind of activity, leaving the actors with very little free time. In Sydney, as well as the energy it took to do all the work required for the convention, the actors were all jetlagged, having flown in from America only a day or two before. But if Gibson was jetlagged, she wasn’t showing it. “You know when you’re a little kid and you wake up and you have something really exciting, like a fieldtrip that day, and you’re just wide awake and spring out of bed?” Gibson asked. “That’s what this whole weekend has been like to me so far. I don’t even know if I’m jetlagged or not.”
Although you would think that the actors would be far too blasé to ever go to a convention as a participant, Gibson said that there is one man she would brave the crowds for. “I am a huge fan of Ian Somerhalder (star of Vampire Diaries),” she said. “I would definitely wait in a line for hours to have his autograph!”
Supanova is at the Claremont Showgrounds June 25-27. Guests include Eliza Dushku, Dichen Lachman, Summer Glau, Leah Gibson and many more. For more information go to www.supanova.com.au.
Supanova
ALICE CLARKE
The world of sci-fi conventions can be a confusing place to navigate. If you’re new to the realm, the masses of people dressed as characters you’ve never heard of, the sheer number of queues and the enthusiastic fans asking actors nit-picky questions can be quite daunting.
Imagine, if you will, that you are one of those actors facing the nit-picky questions and the lines of hundreds of people waiting to get your autograph. It’s a scary thought; even worse if it’s your first convention.
But the brave Leah Gibson, who is in the sci-fi series Caprica and the new Twilight movie, is finding her first convention experience more exciting than scary. “It is exhilarating,” Gibson said. “Any first time is always a little anxiety-provoking, but I’ve been easing into this and it’s been so much fun and the fans have been so sweet.”
Summer Glau, star of Firefly and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, is no stranger to conventions. Being a featured actor in any Joss Whedon project is enough to keep you going on the convention circuit for years. But there is an extra level of love for Glau in the geek community, beyond just the people she’s worked with.
After seeing how hard and how much work these kinds of conventions can be for actors, especially the popular ones, it makes you wonder what keeps them coming back. For Glau, it’s her gratitude towards the fans. “As long as I continue to feel the support, I’m going to keep saying thank you,” Glau said. “I have been so lucky to have the core audience that I started out with continue to give every job I do a try. So any time I get the chance and I have free time to travel, I choose a place to go and meet people face to face. I didn’t know this world existed and it changed my life completely.”
Glau actually came out to Australia for Supanova four years ago and, according to her, the event has changed dramatically in that time. “It’s grown times ten! It’s so much bigger now than it used to be,” Glau said. “I do all kinds of events, big and small, and I think it’s a really fantastic event because it reaches out to all different parts of the genre. It’s cool to come sit and talk to voice actors and comic book artists, and the people are so kind. I love the family that runs it.”
The convention itself is a whirlwind of activity, leaving the actors with very little free time. In Sydney, as well as the energy it took to do all the work required for the convention, the actors were all jetlagged, having flown in from America only a day or two before. But if Gibson was jetlagged, she wasn’t showing it. “You know when you’re a little kid and you wake up and you have something really exciting, like a fieldtrip that day, and you’re just wide awake and spring out of bed?” Gibson asked. “That’s what this whole weekend has been like to me so far. I don’t even know if I’m jetlagged or not.”
Although you would think that the actors would be far too blasé to ever go to a convention as a participant, Gibson said that there is one man she would brave the crowds for. “I am a huge fan of Ian Somerhalder (star of Vampire Diaries),” she said. “I would definitely wait in a line for hours to have his autograph!”
Supanova is at the Claremont Showgrounds June 25-27. Guests include Eliza Dushku, Dichen Lachman, Summer Glau, Leah Gibson and many more. For more information go to www.supanova.com.au.
