From August 2 to 4, fans
from all over Italy and Europe gathered at Demidoff County Resort Hotel, just
outside of Florence, for the first Italian convention of Buffy the Vampire
Slayer and Angel, Slayer ItaCon. Among the guests, there was the ex-vampire
James Marsters, who portrayed the unforgettable Captain John Hart in Torchwood.
I've been a fan of the Buffyverse since childhood, and the venue was close
enough to where I live that I didn't need to book a room at the hotel, so it
was already a great opportunity for me. When James Marsters' attendance at
Slayer ItaCon was announced as his only public appearance in Europe for this
year, I knew I couldn't miss such a chance to meet for the first time one of my
favourite Torchwood actors. So I ordered my pass, autographs, and photo-ops,
and prepared for three exciting days of fun!
Opening
Ceremony
On Friday afternoon, I
took the shuttle bus from Florence train station to the hotel, I collected my
pass and extras when I reached the venue, and I bought two pictures I wanted to
get signed the following day at the merchandising desk. The only activities in
my schedule for the day were the opening ceremony and the Q&A panel with
all the guests, so I started queuing to get inside the Conference Room. Since
the front rows were reserved to holders of the more expensive passes and I had
the cheapest pass, I was basically at the bottom of the line, but I still
managed to get a place in the fourth row of seats.
First, a compilation of
videos from various TV shows the guests had appeared on were shown to the
audience. For James Marsters, they showed a couple of clips from Buffy and the
Supernatural episode he guest starred on. Then, the guests were formally
introduced and appeared on stage through a side door. James was the last guest
to enter the room. He greeted the staff of the con, thanked his fans for
coming, and particularly addressed attendees who had had a long journey to get
to the con, like fans from Russia and America. He joked about how good-looking
Italians are, and he said that he was slightly frustrated not to be the
pretties in the room as he usually is. Then the guests took their sits and the
Q&A panel started.
All
Guests Q&A Panel
On the second day of the
convention, individual panels for each guest were planned. However, on Friday
evening the guests (Nicholas Brendon, J. August Richards, Mark Lutz, and James
Marsters) sat together after the Opening Ceremony for the first Q&A session
of the weekend. The four actors kept joking with each other and laughing for
the entire time, and it was a really funny and interesting panel. First thing
James said, "I accept all kind of questions, please try to embarrass me,
no one ever has succeeded in embarrassing me yet". Apparently, this is
what he always says at the beginning of his panels. Although he added that he
might not answer extremely weird questions, he still encourages them because
it's fun to hear what fans' crazy minds are capable of.
The first question James
was asked was about drinking on screen. A fan from Denmark asked what was the
blood-like liquid he had to drink on Buffy, and he said it was a kind of
strawberry juice so rich in sugar that a doctor had to be on set during his
scenes in order to avoid anaphylactic shock and passing out, as experienced by
the stunt guy who tried to drink several glasses of the juice. Still, that
wasn't the hardest time he had with liquids on TV shows.
James recalled the scene
in Torchwood series 2 premiere "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang", when he as John
Hart was supposed to drink a whole bottle of vodka in order to allow John
Barrowman's gag about rehab to work. After the first 14 bottles of water he
drank for the scene, he went to the bathroom and threw up, only to return on
set to drink more water immediately after. He laughed that his wife, who was
visiting him on set at the time, considers his job the most disgusting in the
world. But James explained that he prefers to risk and be sick than just
pretending drinking, especially when the character is supposed to be extremely
thirsty or hungry for blood, because it wouldn't look believable on screen if
the actor faked. Nicholas Brendon joked that real actors drink real vodka when
filming, though.
On a more serious note,
James commented on the spreading of reality shows on television. He said that
reality television's popularity is fictional shows' laziness' fault.
"Fiction should be more entertaining than reality", he said, and if
people prefer to watch reality shows it's because fictional shows are not
making their job, due to poor writing and repetitiveness. However, he appeared
convinced that in the end fictional shows will overcome reality television, if
networks start to give more credit to original ideas and inspired writers.
Photo-Ops
Saturday was a busy day,
since I had on my schedule two photo-ops, an autograph session and two panels
to attend. So, I took the shuttle bus in the morning and reached the hotel
early. The photo with James was the first of my photo-ops. Attendees had been
divided into different groups depending on the type of pass, but the queue
outside the Photo-Op Room was still very long, so I joined it as soon as
possible, and I had the chance to chat with other fans while waiting. Anyway,
everything run smoothly, and when it was my turn I had a few seconds to ask
James if he was enjoying the convention and to thank him for coming to
Florence, before he picked a nice pose and the photo was taken.
About a quarter of hour
later, I joined the much shorter queue for the group photo with all the guests.
In a few minutes, I entered the room, greeted them and shook their hands, and
posed for my last photo.
James
Marsters Solo Q&A Panel
After lunch, there was the
individual panel with James Marsters. Again, VIP pass holders had early access
to the Conference Room and I had to queue with the last group of people. This
time I wasn't very lucky though, and I got a seat pretty far from the stage,
but still the panel was incredibly entertaining and inspirational. Lots of
topics were covered, from anecdotes from the set of Buffy to James' songs.
He was asked what he
considers his biggest achievement in life apart from his family, and he
answered that the theatre company he founded in Chicago and Seattle is one of
the things he's most proud of, mainly because his company was the first to gain
permission from Dr. Seuss' wife to perform the Lorax after the author's death.
Also, he said that "everybody is beautiful enough to be stared at":
since it's not normally polite to stare at people, basically people pay to
stare at actors on stage, and James said that one of the risks of his job is
the impulse to impress the staring people, overdoing, instead of be yourself
and true to what you're doing. He added that everyone is beautiful as they are,
but he works in a business that try to force others to feel imperfect and
incomplete (especially through ads), even if the perfection it promotes is
unreal and unreachable, and James said he has seen many good-looking actresses
going insane over their appearances and many actors leading a dreadful life
only to look glamorous.
When he was asked about
his relationship with his fans, he explained that he's a fan too: he has always
loved Star Trek, he even attended the first Star Trek convention ever wearing
pointed ears, the typical blue uniform, and hand-made wood phaser, and he
adores Leonard Nimoy to the point he can't properly talk to him even if they've
met and know each other. So he said he understands the fans, and he thinks
conventions are great, because they are a great way for like-minded people to
get together offline and share amazing experiences, on a level that's only
comparable to church. Finally, a fan asked him if he would change something
about his life, and he said he wouldn't even consider it, since he tries to
live without regrets, just always going for it, and the ups and downs he
experienced made his life interesting.
At the end of the panel,
James was asked by the hosts to sign the banner of the convention, and then he
posed in front of the audience for a picture.
Signing
Immediately after the end
of the panel, I rushed to get to James' signing. I got signed and personalised
the two pictures I bought the day before, and I had a few minutes to chat with
James. I had the chance to tell him how much I love Torchwood and Buffy and his
performance in both tv shows. Also, I asked him a question I didn't have the
time to ask at the panel, about his British accent. I asked him if he got some
proper training with a dialect coach in order to learn how to fake a British
accent for Spike and Captain John Hart, and he told me that his British accent
was already good without training. He only had minor problems with the
pronunciation of certain words like "bullets", and his colleague Anthony
Stewart Head (Giles in Buffy) offered his help. However, he thinks that in the
early Buffy episodes his accent wasn't perfect, though over time he mastered it
to the point many English fans thought he really was British!
Unfortunately, James
couldn't attend on Sunday, but overall Slayer ItaCon was a fantastic event,
with a very warm and intimate atmosphere that larger events like Comic Con
lacks. The guests interacted with all attendees, every fan was able to spend
quality time with the actors and get to know them better, and I met some
brilliant Buffy and Torchwood fans from all over the world. I will remember
this convention fondly for a very long time! James was always extremely nice
and open with his fans, and I'm really looking forward to seeing him at future
events soon!
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