[6:35] Brian Leahy: "Welcome to our liveblog from the Entertainment Weekly: The Visionaries Comic-Con 2009 Panel featuring James Cameron and Peter Jackson."
[6:35] Brian Leahy: "(whew, lotta words.)"
[6:35] Brian Leahy: "We will be starting momentarily. Pop a cold one and hang with us until they get it going!"
[6:36] Brian Leahy: "*pop*"
[6:39] Poll: Who would win in a fight?
James Cameron: ( 40% )
Peter Jackson: ( 17% )
The Spectators: ( 43% )
[6:40] Brian Leahy: "Thanks for standing by. Won't be too long, but it will be worth it."
[7:04] Brian Leahy: "Thanks for your patience and sorry for the wait. Comic-Con caters to no clock. "
[7:06] Stephen Johnson: "Thanks, Brian Leahy... the EW Visionaries panel has begun. James Cameron and Peter Jackson are on stage, just shooting the breeze about what costume they'd like to wear at Comic-Con. Cameron says he wants a Peter Jackson costume."
[7:06] Stephen Johnson: "Peter Jackson says he's a fan of Big Fellas and Casino. Hey, Peter Jackson and I enjoy the same flicks."
[7:07] Stephen Johnson: "James Cameron says he doesn't like to watch movies when he's making a movie. He doesn't want to be strongly influenced by any movies at this point."
[7:08] Stephen Johnson: "Jackson is the producer of District 9 and Cameron directed Avatar."
[7:09] Stephen Johnson: "Some dude took the stage and started saying he was thirsty, then he drank Peter Jackson's water! It was not part of the act or planned. Just a random freak. Security removed him. Weeeiiiird."
[7:10] Stephen Johnson: "Everyone is a bit confused by the random, freaky water-drinking guy."
[7:11] Stephen Johnson: "Cameron says he was really impressed by Gollum, saying that he realized Avatar was possible because of the scene in LOTR when Gollum has a conversation with himself."
[7:13] Stephen Johnson: "Cameron says he's going to convert Titanic into 3D."
[7:13] Stephen Johnson: "Apparently, it will take around 14 months."
[7:14] Stephen Johnson: "Jackson thinks Warner Bros. should agree to make LOTR 3D. But Warner Brothers doesn't think there are enough 3D theaters out there to support it."
[7:15] Poll: Which movie needs the 3D treatment most?
The Terminator: ( 34% )
Dead Alive: ( 9% )
The Two Towers: ( 27% )
King Kong: ( 30% )
[7:16] Stephen Johnson: "James Cameron points out that he couldn't have made Avatar without having made Titanic first."
[7:18] Stephen Johnson: "The discussion now is about how the studios influence big movies. Jackson says once a movie is greenlit, the studios tend to leave the film-makers to their work,."
[7:19] Stephen Johnson: "Cameron says that pre-production on Avatar cost 10 million dollars. Just for pre-production!"
[7:19] Stephen Johnson: "Cameron says that Fox studios took a bit of a leap of faith with Avatar."
[7:20] Stephen Johnson: "The moderator says, basically, Avatar will look great in "Stoner-vision" and he's totally right. The movie looks like it takes place in a black light poster."
[7:22] Stephen Johnson: "Both Cameron and Jackson are working on entirely original movies, making them a rarity in this sequel heavy world. Jackson says that box office is falling, and so the industry is playing a defensive game, and not really taking risks the way they used to."
[7:24] Stephen Johnson: "Cameron says the "really big" films that he and Jackson make might not be possible to make soon. "People love these movies to death" Cameron says."
[7:25] Stephen Johnson: "Cameron and Jackson are asked whether kids will want to see movies at all in 20 years. Jackson says he used to know the dates that movies would come out, but his 14 year old son has that same thing, but with games."
[7:26] Stephen Johnson: "Jackson thinks there will always be a place for film, however. That the industry is in an artistic slump."
[7:26] Stephen Johnson: "Cameron says, "As much as I like video games, you don't cry in a video game.""
[7:28] Stephen Johnson: "Cameron says we need 3D now, to create the kind of showmanship we need now, but there isn't going to be another thing past that. There won't be "feelies" or "Smell-o-vision""
[7:29] Stephen Johnson: "Cameron says he's like to see the next big horizon being the frame-rate movies are projected at. He wants to see 48 frames per second instead of the 24 frames we use now. Interesting!"
[7:30] Stephen Johnson: "The film-makers discuss whether they plan for people watching movies on tiny screens. Jackson: It's a shame, but if that's how people want to see the movie, there's nothing you can do about that. Cameron: If you get stoned and hold the screen really close it's like it's huge. Jackson: Ipod movies are like post-cards as opposed to real experiences."
[7:32] Stephen Johnson: "James Cameron jokes that when he, Jackson and Spielberg get together, they like to crank call George Lucas. LOL"
[7:35] Stephen Johnson: "Cameron says current motion-capture captures 100 percent of an actor's performance."
[7:36] Stephen Johnson: "Jackson calls motion-capture an extension of the makeup process."
[7:39] Stephen Johnson: "Cameron says he doesn't put expensive actors in his movies because the money goes to the effects. Jackson says he prefers less well-known actors because the audience won't have any pre-concieved notion of who they are. So the actors are able to own the characters."
[7:41] Stephen Johnson: "Cameron points out that Peter Jackson might be the only person to ever bring an entire film industry to his home country. Jackson didn't go to Hollywood like everyone else. Instead, he brought the industry to New Zealand."
[7:42] Stephen Johnson: "Jackson says LOTR was a low-budget movie, in the sense that all the money showed up on screen. There weren't big trailers for the talent and other trappings."
[7:45] Stephen Johnson: "Peter Jackson says he's designing a new King Kong experience for Universal Studios theme park. It's high tech, 3D and it's Kong fighting dinosaurs while you're in the middle of the battle."
[7:46] Stephen Johnson: "It's due to open next summer."
[7:46] Stephen Johnson: "Fan question time!"
[7:47] Stephen Johnson: "A fan asks Peter Jackson about the 'Timmereal" (sp?) books. He apparently just bought the rights to the series, and it's "A property we're developing in the future.""
[7:49] Stephen Johnson: "James Cameron says if Avatar makes enough money, he'd be interested in making a sequel."
[7:50] Stephen Johnson: "Fan: James. would you ever make a low-budget film? James Cameron: Why would I want to do that? (laughs) My version of that is documentaries."
[7:52] Stephen Johnson: "Peter Jackson says worrying about technology in films doesn't matter, because no matter what the technology is, films are always about stories and characters."
[7:54] Stephen Johnson: "Fan asks what musical artists will use the Cameron technology in concerts. Cameron says he's talked to Trent Reznor, but they couldn't drum up the money to do it, because there isn't really an avenue to release it."
[7:57] Stephen Johnson: "A young fan asks about the balance between violence and war and characters. Peter Jackson says that think about the characters and emotions, because that's what people care about it in movies."
[7:59] Stephen Johnson: "Both Cameron and Jackson seem to be saying that movies need stories and characters in order to suceed. I wish I could ask them: "What about Transformers 2? That barely had anything but explosions and people seem to love it."
[8:03] Stephen Johnson: "In response to a fan, Jackson talks about TinTin. Spielberg is directing the first movie. According to Jackson, the challenge is transferring the visual style of TinTin in 3D. The problem is getting the drawings to look organic, but keep the same style as the original drawings."
[8:09] Stephen Johnson: "A fan asks how Cameron can always make movies that work. Cameron says his movies succeed mainly because he know his characters very well."
[8:11] Stephen Johnson: "A fan asks "When are you going to make Aqua man?" Cameron laughs and says, "You wasted your question.""
[8:13] Stephen Johnson: "A fan basically pitches a movie that is an "Ocean Western." The crowd says "Waterworld!" The guy expands on his terrible terrible idea by pointing out that raising fish in a pen is like cattle ranching. It's not a question at all... but it is the end. On that strange note, the panel and this liveblog end. See you all tomorrow, my friends. Thanks for reading!"
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