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Blood On The Beach 2012
Apr. 23rd, 2012 10:55 pmEvery Thursday, my local newspaper has articles and information about upcoming events for the weekend. My biggest complaint over the years has been that by the time I read about something on Thursday, it's too late for me to make plans for that weekend. There were many shows that I missed because of lack of notice.
Last Thursday, it seemed to have happened again. There was an article about "Blood On The Beach 2012", a local horror-con that was to start the next day. I'm not into the horror genre at all, and I was about to skip the article, but then decided to go on and read it. And discovered that Michael Biehn would be one of the celebrity guests.
And me? My husband and youngest son were leaving on Thursday and were not expected back until Sunday night. And I'd volunteered to watch my son's dog, Luna. Luna is an English Mastiff who now weigh well over 100 pounds and it just as hyper as she was when she was a puppy. My cat Sky does not really like Luna. I knew I'd be in for an interesting weekend with the two of them. But now I had a new problem. Never having been to any kind of a con at all, I really wanted to go to this one. Friday night was out of the question, but Saturday afternoon looked hopeful. That would be when they'd be screening a movie "The Victim", which was written and directed by Michael Biehn, produced by his wife, Jennifer Blanc, and starring both of them. After that would be a Q and A panel with the two of them an one of their castmates, Danielle Harris.
Never made it for the screening. The pets saw to that. I did make it there in time for the Q and A, and even managed to get some rather dismal pictures (as if any picture of Michael Biehn could be dismal, but I managed…). I never did get a chance for an autograph since I got there late.
There was a good crowd in the room, although it wasn't completely full. And then the actors came in. MB's wife went over to get some water, as her throat was bothering her. MB was headed down the middle aisle and stopped when she called over to see if he wanted water. This put him at the end of the row where I had just sat down and was about to get my camera out. As he turned to answer his wife, I had the most excellent view of MB's rear assets. He was wearing sweat pants, and the material clung to all the right places. I thought about rushing for the camera, but when faced with the option of taking my eyes off of that sight so I could get the camera and continuing to look, I chose to continue to look. I used to work with a man from Austria who sometimes wore leather pants to work. Reinhard was in his early 60s, but that man filled those leather pants out very nicely. As MB continues into his 50s and gets closer to 60, his read view reminded me so much of why I always liked to watch Reinhard walk away from me.
Before the first question was asked, the three actors joked about MB's haircut, and then the questions began. I didn't take notes, so this is all from memory and might not be in actual order. There's also lots of paraphrasing. It seemed that all three got pretty much the same number of questions to answer, and several of the questions were directed to all three of them.
Several of MB's answers about directing and acting had references to directors James Cameron, Robert Rodriquez and Michael Bay - all directors that he respects. One question was about if MB now found it difficult to listen to a director's instructions since he'd done his own directing on "The Victim" - the answer was that he didn't, because it was his job to help the director get his truth out there. But, MB then added that if he felt something wasn't working, he would write up something as an alternative and share it with the director. If a director was good, then he'd recognize when something else was as good or better than what he'd originally come up with, and he'd go with that. MB also mentioned that it was up to the actors to make sure that the written word was properly portrayed, and to make sure that the audience wasn't left with questions - such as why are they doing that, where did he come from, etc. It was asked if MB was a harsh director, and both his wife and Danielle Harris said that he wasn't. MB added that he didn't feel that he was harsh or demanding, and then went into a short spiel, complete with hand gestures, about a missing prop. "Where's the prop? We can't do this scene without the prop? Who took the prop? WHERE'S MY FUCKING PROP?" MB then said that nobody was fired and no-one quit, so that must be an indication that he'd done okay.
Another question was about the amount of male nudity in "The Victim" with the sex scenes. The women handled that question for the most part, and it was mentioned that the sex was simulated. Jennifer Blanc then joked that she and MB should actually have sex in a future movie, and the look on MB's face was priceless. He then shook his head at that idea. A follow-up question to MB was if it was difficult to watch his wife doing a sex scene with another man. MB explained that it wasn't, since that was a case of two people doing their jobs, and not at all the same as betrayal.
MB and his wife do have some future projects in the works, but nothing that they could speak about in detail. It was mentioned that MB had been invited to the set of "Sushi Girl" and asked to take on a part, and he accepted. They wouldn't give away details about his role, but encouraged people to see the film ("Sushi Girl" was an earlier panel topic, and stars Noah Hathaway who is probably best known for playing Atreyu in "The Neverending Story").
The Q and A pretty much ended with Jennifer Blanc's aunt asking MB if he knew what day it was. He looked thoughtful, then gave a slight scowl, and commented that they'd been celebrating Jen's birthday all week with birthday lunches and birthday dinners. He then turned to his wife and asked her if it was that day. We all sang "Happy Birthday" to her, and they did end up going out to dinner to celebrate her birthday once again.
Someone asked if the DVD of "The Victim" would have any behind-the-scenes stuff, or out-takes. Jennifer Blanc replied that there would be a behind-the-scenes feature, and that you can view some of it on their website for Blanc-Biehn Productions. Once you're at the site, go to the bottom of the page and click on the B&B there. She did warn that there's a bit of fighting between her and Michael on there, and that every time they'd get into it over something, people would back away. She went on to explain that that was just the way the two of them were with each other, as they were both very passionate people. They also joked on each other with him complaining about her snoring at night and her complaining about how he takes up the whole bed. MB joked that at their house, they don't really go to bed, that it's usually a case of them passing out, so it's not unusual for one of them to wake up later and find that the lights and television are still on.
What with getting to the con later than planned, and not having the chance to get an autograph, and not really caring about the overall genre, I left feeling that I had not wasted my time. MB's assets were well worth the price of admission.
I'd like to give a special thanks to Van, who helped make my photos a lot less fuzzy. I tried to get a shot of MB and Jennifer together, but the people several rows in front of me kept getting in the way (Jennifer was seated between MB and Danielle). The two photos (as well as bragging pics of Sky and Luna) can be viewed here:
http://s1072.photobucket.com/albums/w365/Huntersglenn7/
Last Thursday, it seemed to have happened again. There was an article about "Blood On The Beach 2012", a local horror-con that was to start the next day. I'm not into the horror genre at all, and I was about to skip the article, but then decided to go on and read it. And discovered that Michael Biehn would be one of the celebrity guests.
And me? My husband and youngest son were leaving on Thursday and were not expected back until Sunday night. And I'd volunteered to watch my son's dog, Luna. Luna is an English Mastiff who now weigh well over 100 pounds and it just as hyper as she was when she was a puppy. My cat Sky does not really like Luna. I knew I'd be in for an interesting weekend with the two of them. But now I had a new problem. Never having been to any kind of a con at all, I really wanted to go to this one. Friday night was out of the question, but Saturday afternoon looked hopeful. That would be when they'd be screening a movie "The Victim", which was written and directed by Michael Biehn, produced by his wife, Jennifer Blanc, and starring both of them. After that would be a Q and A panel with the two of them an one of their castmates, Danielle Harris.
Never made it for the screening. The pets saw to that. I did make it there in time for the Q and A, and even managed to get some rather dismal pictures (as if any picture of Michael Biehn could be dismal, but I managed…). I never did get a chance for an autograph since I got there late.
There was a good crowd in the room, although it wasn't completely full. And then the actors came in. MB's wife went over to get some water, as her throat was bothering her. MB was headed down the middle aisle and stopped when she called over to see if he wanted water. This put him at the end of the row where I had just sat down and was about to get my camera out. As he turned to answer his wife, I had the most excellent view of MB's rear assets. He was wearing sweat pants, and the material clung to all the right places. I thought about rushing for the camera, but when faced with the option of taking my eyes off of that sight so I could get the camera and continuing to look, I chose to continue to look. I used to work with a man from Austria who sometimes wore leather pants to work. Reinhard was in his early 60s, but that man filled those leather pants out very nicely. As MB continues into his 50s and gets closer to 60, his read view reminded me so much of why I always liked to watch Reinhard walk away from me.
Before the first question was asked, the three actors joked about MB's haircut, and then the questions began. I didn't take notes, so this is all from memory and might not be in actual order. There's also lots of paraphrasing. It seemed that all three got pretty much the same number of questions to answer, and several of the questions were directed to all three of them.
Several of MB's answers about directing and acting had references to directors James Cameron, Robert Rodriquez and Michael Bay - all directors that he respects. One question was about if MB now found it difficult to listen to a director's instructions since he'd done his own directing on "The Victim" - the answer was that he didn't, because it was his job to help the director get his truth out there. But, MB then added that if he felt something wasn't working, he would write up something as an alternative and share it with the director. If a director was good, then he'd recognize when something else was as good or better than what he'd originally come up with, and he'd go with that. MB also mentioned that it was up to the actors to make sure that the written word was properly portrayed, and to make sure that the audience wasn't left with questions - such as why are they doing that, where did he come from, etc. It was asked if MB was a harsh director, and both his wife and Danielle Harris said that he wasn't. MB added that he didn't feel that he was harsh or demanding, and then went into a short spiel, complete with hand gestures, about a missing prop. "Where's the prop? We can't do this scene without the prop? Who took the prop? WHERE'S MY FUCKING PROP?" MB then said that nobody was fired and no-one quit, so that must be an indication that he'd done okay.
Another question was about the amount of male nudity in "The Victim" with the sex scenes. The women handled that question for the most part, and it was mentioned that the sex was simulated. Jennifer Blanc then joked that she and MB should actually have sex in a future movie, and the look on MB's face was priceless. He then shook his head at that idea. A follow-up question to MB was if it was difficult to watch his wife doing a sex scene with another man. MB explained that it wasn't, since that was a case of two people doing their jobs, and not at all the same as betrayal.
MB and his wife do have some future projects in the works, but nothing that they could speak about in detail. It was mentioned that MB had been invited to the set of "Sushi Girl" and asked to take on a part, and he accepted. They wouldn't give away details about his role, but encouraged people to see the film ("Sushi Girl" was an earlier panel topic, and stars Noah Hathaway who is probably best known for playing Atreyu in "The Neverending Story").
The Q and A pretty much ended with Jennifer Blanc's aunt asking MB if he knew what day it was. He looked thoughtful, then gave a slight scowl, and commented that they'd been celebrating Jen's birthday all week with birthday lunches and birthday dinners. He then turned to his wife and asked her if it was that day. We all sang "Happy Birthday" to her, and they did end up going out to dinner to celebrate her birthday once again.
Someone asked if the DVD of "The Victim" would have any behind-the-scenes stuff, or out-takes. Jennifer Blanc replied that there would be a behind-the-scenes feature, and that you can view some of it on their website for Blanc-Biehn Productions. Once you're at the site, go to the bottom of the page and click on the B&B there. She did warn that there's a bit of fighting between her and Michael on there, and that every time they'd get into it over something, people would back away. She went on to explain that that was just the way the two of them were with each other, as they were both very passionate people. They also joked on each other with him complaining about her snoring at night and her complaining about how he takes up the whole bed. MB joked that at their house, they don't really go to bed, that it's usually a case of them passing out, so it's not unusual for one of them to wake up later and find that the lights and television are still on.
What with getting to the con later than planned, and not having the chance to get an autograph, and not really caring about the overall genre, I left feeling that I had not wasted my time. MB's assets were well worth the price of admission.
I'd like to give a special thanks to Van, who helped make my photos a lot less fuzzy. I tried to get a shot of MB and Jennifer together, but the people several rows in front of me kept getting in the way (Jennifer was seated between MB and Danielle). The two photos (as well as bragging pics of Sky and Luna) can be viewed here:
http://s1072.photobucket.com/albums/w365/Huntersglenn7/