Under strict orders from other forum members, I am going to try to put down as much as possible about the convention held in Melbourne, Australia today.
I rocked up at the hotel just after 10am this morning, and after accidently wandering into a Jewish wedding, found the desk where we needed to pick up our tickets (a very classy bit of paper with a seat number scribbled on it and a safety pin to attach it). The welcome wasn't until 10.40, but they had a documentary from the DVDs playing, so we had a hot drink and just waited around.
After the welcome, Noel Appleby took to the stage (with great difficulty), and happily chatted away for about 3/4 of an hour. He spoke his lines from the movie ("proudfeet!") and just generally talked about diff bits and pieces, and answered questions. Didn't get any photos cos he was kind of hidden behind a podium.
Next up was a trivia section, with people on the stage competing for small prizes, like lithos, cards, stickers etc. Raffle tickets for a signed Leggy photo were also available (didn't win unfortunately).
Had a break for lunch, then dashed back to the room for John Noble, who had just started as we took our seats. He was most definately the best speaker of the three. Feeling less than happy things about Denethor as a character, and his auto cards, I was feeling a bit negative initially, but he was fantastic. He did a lot of his lines, and talked about how initially he read only about Denethor from the books, and it was not important for him to know about the other characters in the same way that Denethor did no know about them. He described the pyre scene, and how the oil pouring was done in a single take, because otherwise everything would have had to have been taken away for cleaning.
He also chatted about Aussie actors in general, and how Australians never let them get big headed. He described doing his supermarket shopping, and how the check-out chick, while bagging his stuff, suddenly just said "saw your movie" etc but didn't do the whole wow your a movie star thing. We really are like that here, its not a big deal sort of thing. My mum runs into Geoffry Rush quite often, eating a meat pie from a paper bag and that sort of thing....He also mentioned a new gangster type movie he has just finished filming. Plus that David Wenham is the most hilarious but under-rated aussie actors, and that Eric Bana is fantastic.
After that, they had an auction for a whole heap of signed photos, plus a Gollum watch, the one ring necklace, signed DVD, lithograph sets etc. Aragorn auto photo went for $au100ish, Liv Tyler for $55 ( a bargain). Photos with auto and film strips started at 300, and my mum bought the Legolas one for me/us. It looks fantastic, we were competing against one other girl, but after my mum's final bid she said "she can have it" and we did.
Last was JRD, who repeated a lot of stories I have already head, like not being able to show on film Galadrial giving Gimli her hair. Plus advice about being an actor/actress. He also cracked a lot of anti-Orlando jokes, all in good humour. He drew the raffle for the orlando auto, and offered to draw a beard etc on the pic for the girl who won.
Last was the auto signing, $30 each incl a choice of photo, but I think personalisations cost more. You could also have your own things signed. I picked two photos, one of each John (didnt have enough case left for proudfoot/feet). Went to John Noble first, and he insisted on personalising my photo anyway (freebie!!!) and we had a good chat, about aussie films in general (I'm going to post a special something in another topic soon), and also OB. We talked about POTC, and how it was a really great movie, and also discussed Troy (which he hadnt seen, but he asked our opinion on it). I showed him our OB auto photo, and told him about the POTC poster I have on the lounge room wall. In general he was a really nice guy to chat to.
Then I moved on to JRD. He signed my photo "With best wished, John Rhys-Davies, Gimli'. He was quite chatty also, and we held up the line a bit. He asked me what I did, and when I said I was a genetics honours student, he started asking me about stem cell stuff, and my opinion on what progress they would make. He even talked to me about articles in a science journal that I regularly read that he also obviously reads also.
Overall a great day, got three autos (two in person). There wasnt a large crowd, only about 50 people. They had a small dealers room, with some Weta stuff (I held an Aragorn sword and boy are they heavy). Lots of card dealers were there also, both OzCards who I deal with a lot, and others I recognise from ebay. I'm taking my films up tomorrow to be developed, so I'll post them here in a day or two, promise!
Hope you enjoyed my little tale.....
Kate
