Creation Entertainment Firefly Convention
Burbank, CA 22-23 November 2008

Firefly Q & A Sessions

The guests from Firefly each participated in a question and answer session. We have a run down of what they talked about. Guests included Ron Glass, Jewel Staite, Adam Baldwin, Summer Glau and Gina Torres.

Ron Glass

Firefly’s Ron Glass entered the stage to a huge applause and remarked how great it was to be here and how he’s missed “doing this”. Someone made comment on his Obama hat and Ron said while he’s usually not vocally political he needed to make an exception in this case. He went on to talk about the movie Lakeview Terrace he recently played a part in. Ron has also done some voice work recently for a video game called Fable II which he said was a lot of fun to do. He also made an appearance on Dirty Sexy Money and said they’d invited him to come back some time which he was looking forward to but someone from the audience yelled out that the show was cancelled and Ron was shocked and disappointed at the news. Ron made mention of his trip to a convention in Australia which he thought was in March but turned out that it was in May. The comic about Book’s past “A Shepherd’s Tale” is coming along and Ron said that Joss is definitely involved with the comic. Some asked Ron about writing and he responded that he always has a hard time writing anything, even postcards because he’ll write something and then think he needs to say it a different way, and then thinks that’s not good enough he should say it another way…. so he never gets it done. Someone asked how Ron reacted when he found out that his character was going to die in Serenity. Ron explained that when Joss called him to tell him there was “good news and bad news” he initially said he wasn’t going to do the movie. Joss said the movie couldn’t happen without him but it wasn’t until Nathan Fillion called him and there was some re-writing of the script that he eventually changed his mind and agreed to do the movie. He’s glad he did. Ron went on to say that everything surrounding Firefly still brings a wave of emotion over him and coming back to conventions brings back all the memories of how great it was working on the show. He still finds it painful because he loved the character so much. Ron talked a little about working on the Barney Miller show and how committed everyone was to the show and after 8 years the cast decided not to continue on after the show’s creator Danny Arnold had a heart attack. Ron says he wished there’d been more opportunity to explore the relationship (intellectually) between Book & Inara because they were the more “worldly” and educated members of the crew. Ron finished off by telling a funny story about how he’d tried to walk out with the scapula he’d worn during the filming of Serenity but he got caught out and had to give it back. He really liked it and would have loved to have kept it.

Jewel Staite

Walking into the session Firefly & Stargate Atlantis’ Jewel Staite remarked that it was “like Dragon*Con all over again”. She said “I’ve done a few of these” and apologised for those who have heard the stories “ten times” and then invited people to be creative with their questions. Someone commented on Jewels boots and she said she’d been in Vegas and had made the mistake of wearing new shoes all night in Vegas and her feet were “broken” so she’d had to buy new ones. She said Steve Madden is her favourite go to place for shoes. Jewel said she started acting when she was six. She had been in a shopping mall with her mom and someone approached and asked if she wanted to joining an agency. She said no, but then her mom said that if she goes some work she’d get money and she could shop even more so she said ok. She said she really doesn’t have any skills but can’t see herself doing anything else anyway. Someone asked if she speaks any other languages, Jewel’s response was that she’d like to learn French and go to Paris to show off and that she’d also like to learn Spanish and Italian. Someone asked when Jewel is in Vegas is she more like Kaylee or Jewel. Jewel responded that she’s “a good girl in Vegas for the most part”. She said she’s not really a gambler but she loves to eat out, shop and lie by the pool. Jewel said there’s a little bit of her in every role that she plays, except for Heidi in Wonderfalls. She says Dr Keller is quite a bit like her because she had a lot of input into how the character was developed. She hadn’t been given much to go on as far as the character’s personality so she just developed it as she went and the more the writers got to know her as a person the more they started writing the character more like her, but then the show got cancelled. Someone asked how Jewel felt about having to gain weight for the role of Kaylee in Firefly. Jewel said they’d asked her to gain 25 pounds in 3 weeks and Jewel said excitedly, “I can do that” and they asked her if she needed a nutritionist or help and she said no way and she just ate and ate and ate and enjoyed pasta and cream sauce for breakfast and cheeseburgers and ate fries dipped in mayo. After a while, she didnt’ have any cravings any more because she was eating everything. She did get sick of it and as soon as the show was cancelled she went back to her regular life and started eating normally again doing yoga. She said Joss said she didn’t need to do it for the movie again, but if she had to, she’d do it again. She told the whole Shindig dress story again, about how difficult the dress was and that she’d accidentally pee’d on it a little one day. Someone brought up the issue of Jewel’s hair color changes and Jewel talked about filming Atlantis and that she was blonde for Dr Keller and had to keep it consistent for 2 years, but she got bored and kept sneaking more blonde in and one of the producers commented on how blonde her hair was looking. He asked if she’d changed it and she said … “no, it must be the lighting…”. Someone asked what Kaylee’s part would be if there’d been a Firefly musical episode. Jewel responded maybe something like the “Hills are alive” with spinning. Jewel said that Nathan Fillion is a good singer and he used to host karaoke and one time they were out together and he kind of lost his mind did a lot of singing and made her sing the duet from Greece. Jewel said that Gina is also a trained singer. She joked that Morena can’t sing and that she didn’t know about Summer but that she could do a lot of dancing. She said Alan is also a good singer and it would have been fun to do if they hadn’t been cancelled. Jewel told the “finger story” for those that hadn’t heard it before. She said there was one time on set for Atlantis Joe and David switched their flag patches as a joke, the whole scene was filmed that way but it didn’t go down well with the producers. During filming of the episode Trio Jewel and Amanda Tapping and David Hewlett joked around about making up a musical about the wraith. She said they were dying laughing about it.

Gina Torres

Gina Torres started her panel by thanking everyone for coming and mentioned that at the Gold Patrons Breakfast people had been commenting that she hadn’t been to a convention in a while. Gina said she’s been busy working and being a mother, she apologised to all the people who’d sent her fan mail and requested photos in the last 18 months and said she was making a new year’s resolution to get them done. Gina said she has “mommy brain” and because it was so long ago, before coming to the convention she had herself a little Firefly marathon. She remarked that she’d forgotten just how great the show was. While she was watching the episodes, Gina came up with some questions to ask members of the audience. Gina had the audience stumped with the first question, “In the episode Shindig, where was the social event of the season held”, the answer is of course Persephone, but everyone was thinking she must have meant the name of venue because Persephone was too easy! Someone asked if Gina got to keep anything from set, she got to keep her gun and belt. Her next question for the audience, “How many episodes did Badger appear in and what were the episode names”. The question was answered quickly (2 episodes, Serenity the pilot and Shindig) much to Gina’s pleasure. One person asked what Gina had learnt since becoming a mother. Gina said that she was changed when she now truly knew how much her mother loved her and what a worry all those late nights or not eating veggies were. Gina continued to ask questions throughout the session and was excited at the responses from the audience. Gina shared a story about the episode “The Message” where costume designer Shawna Trpcic had made her a dress. The beginning of the episode was meant to be a “date” for Zoe and Wash so she had this beautiful dress but Joss Whedon said it wasn’t going to work, that she was too stunning. Gina pleaded with him and insisted they give it a go saying that Joss would love it. So they rehearsed the scene up to where they take delivery of the box with Tracey in it and she goes to pick up the box in the slinky dress and heels and suddenly realises it’s not going to work so went back to her trailer to change. Someone mentioned they’d heard a rumour that Gina might be picked to play Wonder Woman and Gina said she’d love to do it and she could even do the spin – she then stood up and demonstrated her Wonder Woman entrance and spin to the audience much to everyone’s delight. Gina said that Firefly was by far the best experience that she’d had with a cast and crew, they adored each other, had a great time and had a great deal of respect for each other. The saddest thing for her when Firefly was cancelled was the thought of not seeing these people every day. She said that Nathan Fillion really is their captain, that he rounds them all up and they have bean dip and beer and catch up with the babies and the kids and it’s always really good to see them. Gina talked about how sometimes at the end of a long day on set it was really hard to hold it together. One memorable moment was during the funeral scene in Heart of Gold where she just kept giggling and couldn’t hold it together. Gina finished her questions for the audience by asking everyone to to sing the Firefly theme with her. Someone asked the meaning behind Zoe’s necklace and Gina said it didn’t really have any but the arm band she wore was what betrothed her to Wash. Gina’s favourite episode is “Out of Gas”.

Summer Glau

Firefly’s Summer Glau was asked if beating up Jayne and others in Firefly helped prepare her for the Terminator role and Summer replied sure, those are Terminator sized guys! Someone asked about doing the accent in Shindig and Summer said she only had a few days to learn it. When Summer first auditioned for Angel it was to play a ballerina and she thought she’d ruined her chances of ever reading for him again. She said she was so unprepared for the whole auditioning process and Joss asked her to do the audition with an accent so she picked a British accent and did the audition and got the part. When she got the script the part was Russian not British so she had to change it on the spot. Summer told us about Nathan Fillion playing practical jokes on set and how he’d once kidnapped a monkey and then he started sending ransom notes. The mokey would then show up in places around the country like the Grand Canyon and then the joke turned a little sour when Nathan cut off one of the monkey’s toes. Someone asked if Summer had ever accidentally really hit someone during stunt work. Summer said that the stunt co-ordinator told her “if you ever get hit, it’s the stunt guy’s fault.” She said that every take during the fight scenes in Serenity went all the way through, unlike in Terminator where they cut a lot. She said getting hit is part of the fun. Someone asked about dancing and Summer said she had thought dancing was what she would always do but she had a feeling when she was a little girl that she’d be an actress and that’s what she’s become. Summer said working on Firefly, it was like she was the little sister on set, that she still had a lot to learn about being a professional actress and the cast instantly made her feel like she belonged and they never made her feel like she was out of her league so that was really important to her. She said in Terminator they’re a very small cast so it’s been an incredible bonding experience. A question was asked about how hard it after laughing on set to suddenly switch back into the serious Terminator face and she said she’s become much better at it after lots of practice. Summer told us how during the filming of a very long “one-er” shot she had a line at the very end and after numerous takes they finally got it right up to the end part and Summer thought….wow, everyone’s quiet, not realising that she still had a line and Nathan eventually yelled out “Summer!” which is where the whole “Summer” gag started where the cast would yell out Summer every time someone messed up on set. She laughed about it and said that the cast even do it on other shows now. Someone asked whether Summer prefers filming the funny moments or the more serious ones. Summer said she’s not good at being funny so she tries to play the honesty of it and “it comes out funny” she said the same applies to both River and Cameron. She likes both and think it’s incredibly important to have the funny moments in there when the show is so dark and intense. When Summer got the role in Terminator she got a call from Joss who said the movies had meant a lot to him when he was growing up, they were cutting edge and pushed the boundaries and meant a lot for action films and for action heroes. Someone asked what Summer’s weirdest fan moment was and she responded she will never tell, she protects anyone who comes up to her or said something that may have been funny at the time. She appreciates it and she’s very lucky to have fans and she “won’t say”. Someone asked about the show they’d heard of that she was working on with Joss that involved ballet and she said they’re both really busy but still hoping to do it, that Joss is writing the music.

Adam Baldwin

Firefly’s Adam Baldwin Q & A session and that he’d been chatting with some Browncoats there who helped him come up with some trivia questions, he said they’d be a little tougher than Gina’s questions. Adam mentioned that he and his wife were about to celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary which is a huge achievement for someone in Hollywood! Adam said that while he didn’t vote for Obama he was praying for him and hopes he does really well. He thinks it’s great that we have a country that can have a guy like that rise and lead us into the future. Adam through out a “really tough question”, “who did Jayne toast to in Jaynestown” of course, everyone know the answer was “me”. Adam talked about a recent episode of Chuck where he had to “sing a high C” and he’d done a really bad job of it and expected they’d dub over it with someone would could sing, but they didn’t. At one point during Adam’s session the mic suddenly went dead and someone in the audience yelled out “Summer!”. Adam said that Summer was the set’s scapegoat and everyone should have one at home. From the set of Firefly, Adam took home all the T-shirts and the “pain is scary” knife. During the pilot episode Adam would have liked to have re-shot the “pain is scary” scene with Jayne getting right up in Dobson’s face and on his lap but he didn’t think it wise at the start of a new show push for something like that. Adam asked what he should buy his wife for their 20th anniversary, a response from the audience was “anything she wants!”, Adam laughed and said, “so I should ask her what she wants? She’d respond well if you don’t know I’m certainly not going to tell you..” which got a huge laugh. Adam said that Jayne isn’t a good guy, he’s a barbarian, but Casey is a good guy. On the “musical Firefly episode” question, Adam responded that Jayne would sing something like “why can’t a mercenary be more like a girl…” which he kind of sang out to the audience. Someone asked about the name of the gun in the final episode of the series and Adam thought that was hilarious because it was one of the questions he had on his list for the audience. He then went on to tell the story of Lux Luthor, a fan who’d passed on and who Adam had had the pleasure of meeting, he tried to name the gun after him but it was never mentioned on film. Someone mentioned that Adam used to participate in a Firefly message board and asked if he’d ever join in on the Chuck message board, Adam asked where it was and what they talked about. Jayne’s opinion of the rest of the crew: Mal is his older brother, Inara’s really hot, Wash is a pest, his wife is hot and strong, Book is smart and reverential, the doc is a pest but he’s sexy, Kaylee’s his little sister and River is insane. Someone asked what Adam’s weirdest fan moment was and he told the story of while they were filming Serenity some fans were “hiding out in the bushes” the spotted Adam and called him over and asked him to go and get Nathan! Adam mentioned there’s an episode of Chuck coming up that will be HD-3D and he said the entire episode is filmed in 3D and it looks fantastic. Someone asked what Adam does to keep in shame and his response was “Drink beer”. Adam’s favourite episode of Firefly is either Out of Gas or the pilot but he really liked Heart of Gold because he likes combing girls’ hair. He said he loves combing his daughters’ hair and he came up with the idea for that in the episode himself. He also likes Objects in Space even though he was hardly in it (because if he’d been awake he’d have kicked the guy’s ass.)

See Also: [ Convention Summary ] [ Special Event Podcast ] [ Stargate Q&As ]

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