This year’s guest list for Montreal Comiccon was incredible, especially to celebrate their 10th anniversary where movie and television actors came to share their experiences and answer fan questions.
GOTHAM
PANEL: David Mazouz, Ben McKenzie, Morena Baccarin
Gotham started its first season back in 2014. With the fifth season coming back this Fall, it’s gained quite the popularity. For those unfamiliar with the show, it tells the origin story of Batman and more specifically how Bruce Wayne grew up learning the lessons that turn him into the iconic DC universe superhero. At the same time, other key characters, including a young James Gordon, who we later know as Commissioner Gordon is given a storyline. This panel included David Mazouz, who plays Bruce Wayne, Ben McKenzie who plays James Gordon, and Morena Baccarin who plays Leslie Thompson.
While the panel was keyed for Gotham and there was a lot of questions about Gotham and its future, there was equal love to Mazouz for his role of Dear Dumb Diary, McKenzie’s role in The OC and Baccarin’s role in Firefly. Some memorable moments:
- The Gotham set is kept lively by funny guy Sean Pertwee, who plays Albert.
- Mazouz is currently listening to Scorpion by Drake as he is a big fan of his and in general hip hop music.
- Mazouz’s favorite pairing on Gotham is Cobblepot and Enigma.
- Baccarin was thanked for playing strong female characters on the different shows that she has been in.
- McKenzie and Baccarin first met on the set of The OC however he doesn’t remember it.
- Mazouz shares his love for acting to be someone else and entertaining people while Baccarin’s growing up in the acting universe makes her love acting because of the ability to hide behind a character.
- McKenzie shared a funny anecdote about The OC, where he was thought to be a method actor yet he was just unsure where to go so he was standing in one spot.
Everytime the Gotham cast does panels (and you can find a ton online), they always have this positive and fun dynamic. The dynamic here is very much the same as they have constant jokes and share some very interesting experiences with the other cast members.
DANNY TREJO
Danny Trejo is probably one of the most hardworking actors with over 350 titles credited to him on IMDb from main to supporting to even smaller roles. His characters are always memorable and is what makes him such a fan favorite. With all this experience, naturally his Q&A was packed with entertaining insides.
Here’s what the highlights:
- Best anecdote: Trejo mentions how Eddie Bunker told him in 1985 when he first got into the business that he can’t get mad at anybody because when other people get mad, it looks exactly like that, but when Trejo gets mad, his face looks like I’m going first to kill you and then go find your dry cleaner and kill him, too.
- He also shares his love for Salma Hayek, whom he met her on set of From Dusk Till Dawn. He even has a tattoo of her on his chest, confessing to her once that he would rob any bank in the city … with her replying, “Just one?”
- He claims that he has heard in over 50 languages from people who recognize him as the man in Spy Kids (He stars in all four of these films).
- Trejo has done so many movies, including voice acting in video games, that he can’t remember them all, his career blending together. Some of these movies are from first-time directors and student films and he didd many just to help, only asking for a lunch.
- To date, he has worked on 11 movies with Robert Rodriguez.
- He asked the entire panel audience to rally for “Machete 3” and says he will send the video to Rodriguez.
- Trejo has opened 5 Trejo’s Tacos restaurants, which started because of a random conversation with a producer when he was filming Bad Ass, who then brought him a business proposal.
- His favorite role is in Machete because he loves the exciting and action and badass genre.
- When asked about his past, he shares that he was a drug counselor for 17 years after he got out of prison and that he still works with Washington Pacific Med Corp to help detox heroine addicts.
- Trejo has started a recording company, so far signing three female artists dedicated to girl power.
Hardly having to say it, Danny Trejo’s Q&A was incredible, every part as fun as watching him in his many movies. He shared a lot of with us, making those films all the more impactful. A true entertainer.
POM KLEMENTIEFF
Pom Klementieff has been a new name but a fast-growing one in Hollywood. First appearing as Mantis in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and then this year’s Avengers: Infinity War, her filmography includes some French films as well as independent titles like Newness (and a short).
Here’s what we learned from her panel:
- Pom Klementieff was born in Quebec City and due to her father being a diplomat has moved to other places including Kyoto, Ivory Coast and France.
- When asked whether she would have liked more fight scenes for Mantis, she explains that while she would have loved it, James Gunn explained that Mantis is stronger than that because she has a powerful emotional effect over others with just her touch.
- Whatever happened in the Avengers: Infinity War ending could mean that some characters might not come back because Kevin Feige mentioned that the next Avengers will mark the end of an era.
- When asked whether the music was a part of the filming process, she shared that the scene in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 where they look at the sky at the end, they had the song “Father and Son” playing in their ear pieces and it elevated that scene and the emotions.
- The most complicated scene she shot in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 was the first scene between Mantis and Drax where she touches him and senses his past on a physical and technical level.
- According her knowledge, Gunn envisioned the Guardians of the Galaxy as a trilogy.
- She would love to be involved in more diverse films as well as French, foreign and independent films in the future.
- When asked about her favorite line, she liked when she was filming for the line of “I’m disgusting” which had to be done in different takes to capture the right emotion that Gunn wanted.
- The experience of filming both the Marvel films was different but Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 was one that she enjoyed more because of working with Gunn and being closer to the rest of the Guardians.
- She was a fan of the Marvel films before being cast in Guardians. She adores the characters of Black Widow, Hulk, Iron Man and on the DC Universe, Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman.
- Her costume for Mantis is not very comfortable. She enjoyed the green color of the costume and wished the sides would turn into wings but it didn’t happen.
- If she could have any superpower, she would love to be able to teleport with a plus one.
- She never met Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel on set except only on the premiere afterwards.
Pom Klementieff is a real charmer. Since her filmography is mostly known for the Marvel films, questions were focused on this making it a very focused panel, though ended with a debate in all of the Quebec glory about where to eat poutine, a Quebec specialty, which, if you don’t know is fries with gravy and curd cheese.
JENNIFER MORRISON
After two big TV roles, Jennifer Morrison is perhaps best known for her role as Dr. Cameron in House, Zoey in How I Met Your Mother and Emma Swan in Once Upon a Time. Aside from her acting experience, she is also a director, more specifically of Sun Dogs.
Some fact and moments from this panel (which is also one of the last panels of Montreal Comiccon):
- In the pilot for Once Upon a Time, Morrison didn’t know how it would go that it would be either a lot of love or none at all and luckily its been going seven season strong.
- If she could be a part of another show as cameo right now, it would be The Handmaid’s Tale, Westworld or Outlander. The latter she is jealous of her co-star Colin Donoghue, who plays Hook.
- For the musical episode, everyone on the cast enjoyed it because of how fitting and natural for it to happen especially with the premise.
- She was able to have a lot of input on her costume and outfits for Emma Swan and goes on to explain that over the progression of the seasons, she felt the outfits changed as her character changed as well from being minimal where she owned very little and then having a sense of style as she started to build a relationship with family and opened her heart to love.
- She shared that as an actor and a director, there are similarities. However, as a director, there is a sense to be confidently decisive as there are a thousand decisions to make in a minute to the smallest details.
- Between the role of Dr. Cameron in House and Emma in Once Upon a Time, both roles had there challenges. The first role included a lot of medical terms and research to make it seem natural while the latter role was more physically demanding with stunt work. At the same time, the mental challenge was trying to make the magic seem real.
- The yellow car in Once Upon a Time with her had a real relationship as it had its own temperament and only worked when it want when asked about her favorite prop. The second prop she like was the Emma Swan dagger as it was a Rumpelstiltskin prop for so long.
- She also talked about Jared Gilmore, who plays Henry, and his relationship with the big storybook as he had to lug it around everywhere and cumbersome to handle which was not so apparent in the series.
- When asked about her future direct works, Morrison says that she has a few projects, including a big deal with Sony, which will start production next year. An indie film is also in the works, which has only gone through initial approval. There are also two television projects in the works, though further down the road but also stories that are important to her.
- She knows all the words to The Little Mermaid when asked about her favorite Disney film but also loves Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella and shares about singing along with her sister to the Rodger and Hammerstein’s Cinderella.
- She used to say that she could do anything needed for films that she couldn’t do and have to learn it. There was one major extreme sports year where she had to learn to skateboard, surf, snowboard and dirt bike for different projects.
Whether you’re a fan of Once Upon a Time or House or even How I Met Your Mother or some other film that Morrison has been in, there’s no denying her talents in acting and also directing. Suitably, it ended with a fan thanking her for portraying such a strong female character like Emma Swan.