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News! From the Motor City Comic Con:
I had the pleasure of seeing (and meeting) Dean Haglund at the Motor City Comic Con in Novi, MI on Saturday, 15 May 2004. He gave a brief presentation there, and oh boy, did he have news!
(Please take note: since recorders aren't allowed, I really can't give you exact quotes. All words attributed to Mr. Haglund should be considered as a paraphrase, and any errors in transcription are mine. :^D)
For starters, he was in great spirits, very animated, and I was
amazed how different he looked with short hair and no glasses.
(Dean has perfect vision.) Apparently, he and a cohort did the
haircut as part of a comedy sketch. Every time he said
something "boring or tired," his friend took a snip.
According to Dean, he was suprised how well it worked out. It
didn't need much trimming afterwards.
Dean put himself through college with his stand-up comedy, and he still does it today. (He had a post-convention comedy skit, improvising an X-Files episode; unfortunately, I was unable to attend.)
He's also been busy acting. His latest film, "Specters," is touring on the film festival circuit, including the Sundance Festival, and he will soon begin shooting on "Nightmare Carnival." He's written a script about a Dr. Earl Raymond Wright, who may have found a cure for cancer back in 1935, only to have it suppressed. (Sounds like a case for the Lone Gunmen, huh?) If he had the chance, though, he'd love to be an action hero, "doing his own stunts and getting set on fire."
But filmwork is not his only talent. His website, www.deanhaglund.com, is back up and is nearing completion. He's also put together a "Chill Pack" for laptop computers-- a gel pad you place in the refrigerator and then place under your laptop to increase speed by reducing overheating. The cover is a special material that won't let condensation touch your computer. (I did not get one at the Con, but I plan to soon!)
He also has good news on the Gunmen front-- he's just completed a deal with a comic book publisher (I believe the name is Rolling Thunder Press) to bring out a 64-page comic on "Why THE LONE GUNMEN Got Canceled" (or some similar title, just in case I copied that down wrong.) He said something about "3 weeks," though I'm not sure if that's a firm date or not. He has his own small comic available now: "Two Fisted Tales," with stories of what it was like to work on the X-FILES and THE LONE GUNMEN.
He was asked about his opinion of UFOs, aliens, etc. He described himself as torn between the idea that it's such a huge universe that it's hard to believe we're the only life in it, and the idea that they'd really want to come here and "stick flashlights up some farmer's ..." :^D His opinion of the recent spate of UFO sightings in Mexico: "It's all because of NAFTA. The government's outsourcing all their Area 51 work of building aircraft down to take advantage of cheaper labor." (He was joking, of course! ...Or was he? :^D)
At
some point in the discussion, Dean noticed a bird flying in the
rafters. The audience had varied responses: "It's a
spy bird!" "Oh yeah," he answered jokingly.
"It's got little spy cameras and everything. Paranoia
will destroy ya, huh?" Another fan yelled, "It's
Frohike!" We all laughed at that. I piped up,
"It's his little chickadee!" Dean looked kinda
impressed at that. "Hardcore," he said. I just
nodded, grinning.
Someone asked him what he thought about the Gunmen's "death." He did say that yes, they died, but we never did see the bodies, "and all three coffins were the same size. One of them should have been shorter." The next part absolutely amazed me. He said that he liked the idea. He liked the idea of them going out by achieving something, instead of the same old "hoisting the hobo bags over their shoulders and walking off into the distance." I didn't realize I was shaking my head during that until he pointed it out. "You didn't like it?" Several of us shouted out, "No!" Dean seemed truly suprised by that. He said something along the lines of, "well, you'll have to talk to FOX about that." I said, "We're trying! It's not going so well, but we're trying!"
He also discussed the difference between working on the series vs. working on the movie-- "Since the show was shot like a movie with lots of attention to detail, the biggest difference would have to be... the food. With the movie there's a bigger budget so you get better food." He also talked about working on the videogame. Because the animators wanted to synchronize the words with the animation of the characters' lips, they were filmed wearing red lipstick. It made the shooting "very interesting."
He was asked about his co-stars. They still keep in touch, he said, even though both Bruce Harwood and Tom Braidwood live in Vancouver and his home base is now Los Angeles. They talk on the phone and send Christmas Cards.
Then, he was asked about the possibility of a boxed set of LONE GUNMEN episodes. Dean hadn't heard about any plans. However, if we sign up for his future fan club, "we might get updates on it..." :^D But there was even better news in store! According to Dean Haglund himself, they "are in very early negotiations for some Lone Gunmen direct-to-DVD movies." WOW!!! (Of course, this is Hollywood they're dealing with, and we all know that it could take a while, maybe years, before anything comes of this... if at all. But I think it's definitely something worth waiting for!!!)
After
he was finished speaking, he signed autographs for his fans. I
was lucky enough to meet him and shake his hand. Despite
feeling nervous, I managed to thank him for all the great work he'd
done and told him there will be lots of us waiting for those TV
movies. While I didn't get to speak to him very long, I found
him incredibly friendly and funny.
And that's my tale of meeting "Langly" at the Motor City Comic Con-- a Gunfen's dream!
Like Golfballs for Gunmen
