Polaris 25 Con Report: Jewel Staite (Sunday)
This weekend I was at Polaris 25 to see Ben Browder, Jewel Staite, Armin Shimerman, and many more scifi actors! So exciting. :D I also got to meet the rather awe-inspiring 
colls, who drove 9 hours to get to Toronto. I also saw
skieswideopen again, whom I've met on a couple of brief occasions, and she was lovely. They explained to me what land comms (e.g. stargateland) were all about. They sound like so much fun!
Now that I'm home, I wanted to post a brief con report. I especially wanted to write down everything I can remember of Jewel Staite's panel, since she asked us not to take video of it. Her reason: so she could take the shit out of people and not have it end up on YouTube. *g*
INCLUDES SPOILERS FOR SUPERNATURAL SEASON 7!! This is going to be out-of-order, I'm afraid, but here's what I remember:
- Someone asked Jewel about Amanda Tapping, and Jewel gushed about her for a bit and said she wanted to get a part on Sanctuary.
- Someone wanted Jewel to talk about being lucky that she escaped the fate of some child actors (it was very awkwardly phrased; "downward spiral" was implied) and Jewel gave the credit to her parents, especially her mom, who were very strict. She's apparently been acting since age 5. She said she felt bad for Lindsay Lohan, because that kind of reputation could follow you for a long time. She seemed quite sympathetic.
- Jewel spoke very fondly of Nathan Fillion, about how it's weird (in a good way) that Nathan's a big star now, as the male lead on Castle. She mentioned a time he got mistaken for Jason Bateman from Arrested Development--it sounded like it's happened more than once. She talked about his crazy hours, filming on Fridays often end early on Saturday, what she calls "Fraturdays", and then sleeping in all Saturday. She says Nathan just wants to veg out and watch movies on Sundays. It sounds like they're still very close. She goes over to use his pool. Nathan takes vacations to Pacific islands (can't remember which ones) so he can sit on the beach and do nothing and he's asked her to go along. (Jewel would also love to be on Castle.)
- She also told a story about the Serenity cast going through the employee entrances to get free rides at Universal Studios theme park. (This might be an old story, which matches some of the pics I've seen, but it's the first I've heard of it.) Jewel tricked Morena, who hates being scared, and told her the Van Helsing haunted house was just a prop house where costumes and movie props were stored. I really wish I could have filmed Jewel telling this story, because she imitated Morena gripping her (Jewel's) arm and saying "I hate you" for tricking her.
- Jewel is a big fan of Lost and Matthew Fox. She first told a story about how she'd been out with friends and a fan came up to her, paid her a compliment, then lost their cool and became a stammering mess. She laughed over it with her friends later, but then the same thing happened to her at a Hollywood party where she met Matthew Fox. A friend introduced her to JJ Abrams and Matthew Fox, Jewel said "Hi" to Abrams, then immediately turned into a ridiculous, rambling fangirl in front Matthew Fox. There's a photo of Fox and Jewel together in which they're both looking off to the sides, in opposite directions, looking for rescue with panic on their faces. *g* It's nice to know that even an actress who can reduce the average fangirl to incoherency can turn into an incoherent fangirl herself, when presented with the right lust object. (Jewel's husband seems to find this totally hilarious, btw.)
- Speaking of fangirling... Jewel told a story about how a friend of hers visited the Supernatural set while Jewel was filming her ep. (Yes, that's a casting spoiler. I have no idea how to warn for that.) Jensen Ackles came into the make-up trailer and Jewel's friend, who is also an actress and surely no stranger to good-looking guys, totally "lost the plot" (Jewel's words, and I'm just amazed I remember them) because he was, and I quote, "gorgeous". There was some fun--but tasteful!--male objectification going on, because the room cheered Jewel's assessment that Jensen is really, really hot. And he's apparently even hotter in person than in pics. *g*
- Jewel says Jared is like a big kid and that he's Jason Mamoa-sized. Hee! I don't think it's really spoilery to say that Jared kept poking a camera operator in the ear with a prop in an effort to (I assume) make Jewel laugh.
- Jensen directed the ep in which Jewel guest-stars, and she says he was super organised and gave interesting notes. Spoiler for who she plays in the SPN episode: She plays Sam's childhood (high school?) sweetheart who shows up again. Which means a good chunk of fandom will probably hate her, because they seem to hate all the female characters who show up. I may have to watch this ep just for her, and because I love the idea of Sam with a childhood sweetheart who looks like Jewel. *g* Apparently she's also going to be action-y. Jewel mentioned that she's rarely cast in roles that require action/fighting.
- Jewel listed books she's recently read, including The Hunger Games. She wants to get a part in the movie--there was a specific character she named, but I don't remember who it was since I don't know the books.
- Her strong female character in sci-fi is Buffy. Nice compliment to Joss, there.
- She hates prosthetic make-up, which she wore as a Wraith on SGA. But then ALL actors who've done prosthetics say they hate it: Armin Shimerman and Melinda Clarke both mentioned it in their panels.
- When asked what future plots she wanted for Kaylee (if the show was miraculously revived), she answered: a baby. She wanted Kaylee to have a baby, because it would up the stakes to have a baby on Serenity and because she thought Kaylee would be a good mom. Simon, of course, would be the dad.
- She joked about moving only a couple of streets away from Sean Maher.
- When asked about playing Heidi on Wonderfalls, she credited Adam Baldwin for giving her advice on how to be a good villain. (Which he touched on in his panel as well, two hours earlier!) His advice was to play villains like they felt like they were good, because villains don't think of themselves as evil. They have their own reasons for doing the things they do.
- Her dream role is to be in Les Misérables. Apparently she drags her husband to see it often and he complains, but she once caught him singing along to "Stars", then when he saw her looking, he pretended to be bored! They sound so adorable! (She couldn't remember the song title, but she sang a few bars and I heard people in the audience give the song title. I wouldn't have known it.)
- When asked whether she ever found herself slipping into Kaylee-isms, she said she once said "gorram it" and her husband just looked at her and said, "Did you really just say that?" But I don't know if she was being totally honest there, because the guy who asked the question was so nervous and phrased his question in such a leading way that she might've just gone along with him. The guy had been first in line for questions, but couldn't spit it out and had to come back to ask this question. (
skieswideopen, correct me if I'm remembering the wrong guy!)
- A guy told Jewel that at Ben Browder's panel, Paul McGillion stood in line to ask Ben how many Stargate cast members he's kissed, male and female. The guy then asked Jewel who on the Stargate cast she has kissed. Jewel started to answer the question and I think she muttered, "He [Ben] hasn't kissed me!" but then she did a classic double-take when the guy's words registered. "Wait, male and female?" she asked. I guess she's never heard the stories of m/m kissing! She asked who Ben has kissed and someone called out (paraphrased) "Better to ask who hasn't he kissed!" Jewel finally answered the question: David Hewlett, obviously, and Jason Momoa. They'd filmed a kiss for Quarantine, but it ended up on the cutting room floor.
- The guy asking the kissing question mentioned how McGillion says Hewlett had been so forceful with his kiss, but Jewel said Hewlett was the opposite with her. He was nervous and sweating because they were on a small plane with the air conditioner off so the sound wouldn't get picked up, and he kept apologising, and she told him to calm down or he'd make her nervous. I guess he was less comfortable with the kiss than she was. She then remarked that Paul McGillion always brought up the Duet kiss.
[Tangent: I'm amused that the SG-1 cast sucked face to a degree that the SGA cast couldn't match--and probably didn't want to! RDA and AT have kissed, BB and Beau Bridges have kissed, BB and Shanks, BB and Claudia, Shanks and Claudia, Shanks and Chris, Shanks and AT. Have Chris and Amanda kissed? I can believe they've given each other a friendly peck on the lips, even if they've never kissed for the fans. Of course Shanks and Lexa Doig have kissed. I have no idea about Teryl or Don S. Davis. JFlan pretending to mack on Torri doesn't count, because it was totally a stage kiss and I doubt their lips even met. Torri laying one on Robert Patrick totally counts, though!]
Jewel talked about many other things that I can't quite recall now, unfortunately, but hopefully other people will post their con reports and we can jog each other's memories.
skieswideopen and I lined up for Jewel's autograph after her talk. This is the brief conversation I had with her as she signed my Jennifer Keller photo. (I like Kaylee and all, but I feel more protective of Keller. She's such an underdog in SGA fandom.)
scrollgirl: I really liked you on Atlantis. I saw you on Firefly first, but I also watched you on Atlantis and I had a question, and I don't know if-- If you had an opinion: Ronon or McKay?
Jewel Staite: If I had an opinion?
scrollgirl: Yeah, if you had to choose--
Jewel Staite: Ronon.
scrollgirl: Ronon, thank you. That's what I would have--yeah.
Jewel Staite: I mean, I get that, you know, they put Keller and McKay because they're both very intellectual--
scrollgirl: Yeah, I think McKay is cool too-- [I was talking over her, oops!]
Jewel Staite: --but as for me, I would have gone for Ronon.
scrollgirl: Yeah, I would have gone for Ronon. It's just logical.
Jewel Staite: Don't tell David Hewlett.
scrollgirl: We won't.
So there you go. If you're on David Hewlitt's Twitter, please don't tell him that Jewel would pick Ronon over McKay. *g*
Sleep now, more later!
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colls, who drove 9 hours to get to Toronto. I also saw
skieswideopen again, whom I've met on a couple of brief occasions, and she was lovely. They explained to me what land comms (e.g. stargateland) were all about. They sound like so much fun!
Now that I'm home, I wanted to post a brief con report. I especially wanted to write down everything I can remember of Jewel Staite's panel, since she asked us not to take video of it. Her reason: so she could take the shit out of people and not have it end up on YouTube. *g*
INCLUDES SPOILERS FOR SUPERNATURAL SEASON 7!! This is going to be out-of-order, I'm afraid, but here's what I remember:
- Someone asked Jewel about Amanda Tapping, and Jewel gushed about her for a bit and said she wanted to get a part on Sanctuary.
- Someone wanted Jewel to talk about being lucky that she escaped the fate of some child actors (it was very awkwardly phrased; "downward spiral" was implied) and Jewel gave the credit to her parents, especially her mom, who were very strict. She's apparently been acting since age 5. She said she felt bad for Lindsay Lohan, because that kind of reputation could follow you for a long time. She seemed quite sympathetic.
- Jewel spoke very fondly of Nathan Fillion, about how it's weird (in a good way) that Nathan's a big star now, as the male lead on Castle. She mentioned a time he got mistaken for Jason Bateman from Arrested Development--it sounded like it's happened more than once. She talked about his crazy hours, filming on Fridays often end early on Saturday, what she calls "Fraturdays", and then sleeping in all Saturday. She says Nathan just wants to veg out and watch movies on Sundays. It sounds like they're still very close. She goes over to use his pool. Nathan takes vacations to Pacific islands (can't remember which ones) so he can sit on the beach and do nothing and he's asked her to go along. (Jewel would also love to be on Castle.)
- She also told a story about the Serenity cast going through the employee entrances to get free rides at Universal Studios theme park. (This might be an old story, which matches some of the pics I've seen, but it's the first I've heard of it.) Jewel tricked Morena, who hates being scared, and told her the Van Helsing haunted house was just a prop house where costumes and movie props were stored. I really wish I could have filmed Jewel telling this story, because she imitated Morena gripping her (Jewel's) arm and saying "I hate you" for tricking her.
- Jewel is a big fan of Lost and Matthew Fox. She first told a story about how she'd been out with friends and a fan came up to her, paid her a compliment, then lost their cool and became a stammering mess. She laughed over it with her friends later, but then the same thing happened to her at a Hollywood party where she met Matthew Fox. A friend introduced her to JJ Abrams and Matthew Fox, Jewel said "Hi" to Abrams, then immediately turned into a ridiculous, rambling fangirl in front Matthew Fox. There's a photo of Fox and Jewel together in which they're both looking off to the sides, in opposite directions, looking for rescue with panic on their faces. *g* It's nice to know that even an actress who can reduce the average fangirl to incoherency can turn into an incoherent fangirl herself, when presented with the right lust object. (Jewel's husband seems to find this totally hilarious, btw.)
- Speaking of fangirling... Jewel told a story about how a friend of hers visited the Supernatural set while Jewel was filming her ep. (Yes, that's a casting spoiler. I have no idea how to warn for that.) Jensen Ackles came into the make-up trailer and Jewel's friend, who is also an actress and surely no stranger to good-looking guys, totally "lost the plot" (Jewel's words, and I'm just amazed I remember them) because he was, and I quote, "gorgeous". There was some fun--but tasteful!--male objectification going on, because the room cheered Jewel's assessment that Jensen is really, really hot. And he's apparently even hotter in person than in pics. *g*
- Jewel says Jared is like a big kid and that he's Jason Mamoa-sized. Hee! I don't think it's really spoilery to say that Jared kept poking a camera operator in the ear with a prop in an effort to (I assume) make Jewel laugh.
- Jensen directed the ep in which Jewel guest-stars, and she says he was super organised and gave interesting notes. Spoiler for who she plays in the SPN episode: She plays Sam's childhood (high school?) sweetheart who shows up again. Which means a good chunk of fandom will probably hate her, because they seem to hate all the female characters who show up. I may have to watch this ep just for her, and because I love the idea of Sam with a childhood sweetheart who looks like Jewel. *g* Apparently she's also going to be action-y. Jewel mentioned that she's rarely cast in roles that require action/fighting.
- Jewel listed books she's recently read, including The Hunger Games. She wants to get a part in the movie--there was a specific character she named, but I don't remember who it was since I don't know the books.
- Her strong female character in sci-fi is Buffy. Nice compliment to Joss, there.
- She hates prosthetic make-up, which she wore as a Wraith on SGA. But then ALL actors who've done prosthetics say they hate it: Armin Shimerman and Melinda Clarke both mentioned it in their panels.
- When asked what future plots she wanted for Kaylee (if the show was miraculously revived), she answered: a baby. She wanted Kaylee to have a baby, because it would up the stakes to have a baby on Serenity and because she thought Kaylee would be a good mom. Simon, of course, would be the dad.
- She joked about moving only a couple of streets away from Sean Maher.
- When asked about playing Heidi on Wonderfalls, she credited Adam Baldwin for giving her advice on how to be a good villain. (Which he touched on in his panel as well, two hours earlier!) His advice was to play villains like they felt like they were good, because villains don't think of themselves as evil. They have their own reasons for doing the things they do.
- Her dream role is to be in Les Misérables. Apparently she drags her husband to see it often and he complains, but she once caught him singing along to "Stars", then when he saw her looking, he pretended to be bored! They sound so adorable! (She couldn't remember the song title, but she sang a few bars and I heard people in the audience give the song title. I wouldn't have known it.)
- When asked whether she ever found herself slipping into Kaylee-isms, she said she once said "gorram it" and her husband just looked at her and said, "Did you really just say that?" But I don't know if she was being totally honest there, because the guy who asked the question was so nervous and phrased his question in such a leading way that she might've just gone along with him. The guy had been first in line for questions, but couldn't spit it out and had to come back to ask this question. (
skieswideopen, correct me if I'm remembering the wrong guy!)
- A guy told Jewel that at Ben Browder's panel, Paul McGillion stood in line to ask Ben how many Stargate cast members he's kissed, male and female. The guy then asked Jewel who on the Stargate cast she has kissed. Jewel started to answer the question and I think she muttered, "He [Ben] hasn't kissed me!" but then she did a classic double-take when the guy's words registered. "Wait, male and female?" she asked. I guess she's never heard the stories of m/m kissing! She asked who Ben has kissed and someone called out (paraphrased) "Better to ask who hasn't he kissed!" Jewel finally answered the question: David Hewlett, obviously, and Jason Momoa. They'd filmed a kiss for Quarantine, but it ended up on the cutting room floor.
- The guy asking the kissing question mentioned how McGillion says Hewlett had been so forceful with his kiss, but Jewel said Hewlett was the opposite with her. He was nervous and sweating because they were on a small plane with the air conditioner off so the sound wouldn't get picked up, and he kept apologising, and she told him to calm down or he'd make her nervous. I guess he was less comfortable with the kiss than she was. She then remarked that Paul McGillion always brought up the Duet kiss.
[Tangent: I'm amused that the SG-1 cast sucked face to a degree that the SGA cast couldn't match--and probably didn't want to! RDA and AT have kissed, BB and Beau Bridges have kissed, BB and Shanks, BB and Claudia, Shanks and Claudia, Shanks and Chris, Shanks and AT. Have Chris and Amanda kissed? I can believe they've given each other a friendly peck on the lips, even if they've never kissed for the fans. Of course Shanks and Lexa Doig have kissed. I have no idea about Teryl or Don S. Davis. JFlan pretending to mack on Torri doesn't count, because it was totally a stage kiss and I doubt their lips even met. Torri laying one on Robert Patrick totally counts, though!]
Jewel talked about many other things that I can't quite recall now, unfortunately, but hopefully other people will post their con reports and we can jog each other's memories.
skieswideopen and I lined up for Jewel's autograph after her talk. This is the brief conversation I had with her as she signed my Jennifer Keller photo. (I like Kaylee and all, but I feel more protective of Keller. She's such an underdog in SGA fandom.)
scrollgirl: I really liked you on Atlantis. I saw you on Firefly first, but I also watched you on Atlantis and I had a question, and I don't know if-- If you had an opinion: Ronon or McKay?
Jewel Staite: If I had an opinion?
scrollgirl: Yeah, if you had to choose--
Jewel Staite: Ronon.
scrollgirl: Ronon, thank you. That's what I would have--yeah.
Jewel Staite: I mean, I get that, you know, they put Keller and McKay because they're both very intellectual--
scrollgirl: Yeah, I think McKay is cool too-- [I was talking over her, oops!]
Jewel Staite: --but as for me, I would have gone for Ronon.
scrollgirl: Yeah, I would have gone for Ronon. It's just logical.
Jewel Staite: Don't tell David Hewlett.
scrollgirl: We won't.
So there you go. If you're on David Hewlitt's Twitter, please don't tell him that Jewel would pick Ronon over McKay. *g*
Sleep now, more later!
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