Jules Verne Festival Heroes Event with Tim Kring, Jeph Loeb and Zachary Quinto

[adeline]

I am home! Have been for a little over 6 16 hours now, but sleep had to come first. :p

Previously, on this unprecededly marvelous week-end: I met Zachary Quinto and flailed a lot.

Yesterday was so eventful. We did it again!

We got to Le Grand Rex at 8:55, first people there, yay! Then jedicathy arrived shortly after, with a glorious Nathan Petrelli shirt. ^^ We went and said hi, introduced ourselves, exchanged LJ usernames, and fangeeked for a bit. fairy_bliss got there soon after, and more winsome fangirls (hi! ^^), Jules got there around 9:45, and the morning went by really fast, all things considered.

Now, let me take a moment here to tell you about my early morning freakout. It was a little before 8, Zarina and I were starting breakfast, when it hit me like a ton of bricks. I'D LEFT MY FREAKING ENTRANCE TICKET AT HOME. 400 MILES AWAY! THAT'S RIGHT, STUPIDITY NOBEL PRIZE WINNAR! *points to self* I'll let you imagine my panic and distress. The usual websites all displayed the event as sold out, and I, was about to jump out the window, pretty much. I left a message on the Heroes-France forum with my phone number in it in case someone in Paris had a spare one, I was so desperate. Oh, I am SO GLAD that I brought my laptop. Eventually, I managed to order online from the official site for Le Grand Rex. PHEW! Talk about an adrenaline rush.

Anyway, back to the queue. More people arrived, amongst whom the lovely angeliksmall and lilibel, the line got longer... Zar and I wrote postcards to Zach (from Holland and Paris, hee) and made silly signs aiming to amuse him. After a while, we were moved to wait by the red carpet, and we ended up at the very front of the line, on the carpetside angle. Yay! I called merry_holdwine at some point and realized we were actually really close in the line, hee! Around 1:15, Hélène, a fan we'd met at Saturday's signing arrived. She didn't have a ticket for yesterday's event, but she wanted to take pictures or videos from the red carpet anyway. She stood opposite from us, on the street.

At around 1:25, some festival coordinator dude came and told us the guests would arrive in 5 minutes (sdhkjkhflkj), and they were opening the gates to the theater as soon as they'd walked the red carpet. Meaning, we got to stay and take pictures, squee to our hearts' content, &tc. (as you do on such occasions) *and* still have a chance to get good seats. Woot! While we were waiting, we were interviewed by Flavien from Heroes-France, and some other guy (who didn't even speak to us, WTF) filmed our aforementioned signs. If the video/pictures show up anywhere online, I'll link them.

So the guests finally arrived, indeed, and madness obviously ensued. The good, exhilirating kind of madness, I mean. Tim Kring came first, then Jeph Loeb, then Zach, who was a total major SUPERSTAR at this event. It was crazy. The press was all over him, as were the fans, as you can imagine, and he was so gracious and patient with everyone, it was incredible. I'll let Zar tell you about her encounters at that point, it was hilarious. I have a few pictures with so many arms and heads and journalists in the way (parasites!) but I'll sort them out and post the semi-decent ones tonight.

Also! Zach was adorkably adorkable for a minute there ever for filming the crowd with his digital cam. I held up my "I'M WITH DUTCH *arrow pointing*" sign, he caught sight of it and laughed, and that was awesome. OMG HE'S SO CUTE, GUYS. The smile, guh. He was wearing black shoes, black slacks, a black shirt, a blue (velvet-like?) blazer, and he was made of HAWT. (Like, duh!)

So then when they had all gone into the press square (I dare not imagine), we all ran inside the theater like our lives depended on it, and ended up with seats in the front row! :o

Like I said, we rushed in, and as we were trying to find the best seats, hostesses indicated a reserved area outside of which we could sit anywhere we pleased. Silly, thoughtless hurried us didn't bother READING the names displayed on the seats before heading onwards to the front row. Only after the three of us (Jules, Zar and I) were seated did we notice that the Heroes gang were indeed going to sit inside the theater among us. ZOMG! Had we known this before, we'd obviously have sat right behind Zach, heh. Bygones! Hélène managed to get in! A generous fan outside gave her an extra ticket that he had, hee! ^^

So, we took a picture anyway (mine = crappy; Zarina's = much more decent), and then THEY WALKED IN, tadaaaaaaa! And they got mobbed massively again. I say 'they,' but it's really mostly Zachary with the getting mobbed. Massively. LOL. Superstar, seriously. The flashes kept going and going, which worked out best for the people who took videos because the lights were almost completely dimmed already. I tried to snap a picture here or there, but none came out great. Zach was again very gracious and waved to people, smiled, waved some more to the mezzanines...

Eventually, people were politely told to STFU (heh) and after a brief introduction by the Festival people, Tim and Jeph were called to the stage. LOL, look at me being all 'first-name basis' with them. xD

There was a brief Q&A conducted by the Festival President and Red Shirt (see previous entry) to formally present the show a little bit, though it was widely obvious by then how unnecessary that should be. ^^ They talked a little about Tim Sale's art and how they use it on the show, the techniques involved, and an anecdote about the painting of Hiro and the T-Rex (i.e. the original is hung in Kring's daughter's room). Zach - and yes, I did turn around to watch him a lot *sheepish* - kept taking pictures of his bosses on stage and I thought it really endearing. ^^ Some more stuff I (and you) already knew about was said, and then guys came back to their seats and the pilot finally started.

On the huge ass 90+ foot big screen! It was awesome. There was some reverb so the sound had this constant echo that was unsettling at first, but I got over it after a few minutes. THE CAST IS SO PRETTY OMG! We were in total fangirl mode, saying lines right before they occured, and the guy to my right kept making hush noises in the beginning, but then he fell asleep, LMAO. When Hiro said his first "yatta!," I could swear the WHOLE AUDIENCE yelled it with him, ROFL. It was so cool. Probably it was just the first, I don't know, fifteen rows, but it was so funny. We also cheered and clapped, of course. And again at the end, magnified x100 in intensity. Fun times!

After the episode ended, the lights came back on and Tim and Jeph were called back to the stage. Still not Zachary! *poutface* Meantime, he kept taking pics and talking to Kring's daughter and the people sitting next to, in front of, and behind him (the lucky dogs!) So a lot more questions were asked, and prompted a few interesting answers. I wish the audience had been allowed to ask their own, though, because Red Shirt's questions all SUCKED BALLS (either plain stupid, or stuff we already knew from a gazillion previous interviews/articles) and Festival President's questions were good and elaborate but got butchered and truncated by the interpreter (e.g. "Do the actors' own demeanor and personality influence at all the way you write the characters?" = "Do the actors' voice and appearance influence at all [...]?" UGH, WTF!)

We did however get some interesting/insightful/funny answers from those guys, so that was really cool. Jeph Loeb is so funny. He was asked to talk about the writing process and told us this brilliant market metaphor, where everyone is dispatched to go get eggs, flour, sugar, etc. and in the end, somehow, you've got to make a cake. Every one in the audience burst out laughing at the punchline, before the interpreter had even had a chance to begin translating any of it, and so Jeph goes, "Wow! My French is really good!" Cue more laughing, and this was just one example among other similar occurances. xD

More (mis)interpretation lollerskates: Festival President was talking about newer episodes than those shown at the event, and mock-confided as an aside (in French) "which, of course, NBC has had the kindness to provide me with *winkwink*" The interpreter, in her translation, said "which, I have to admit, I have downloaded off the internet." LMAO! I criticize her a lot (concrit, yayz!) but she was otherwise pretty nice. There was a question she forgot to even translate! The guy asks a question in French, she listens, then turns to the guests and repeats the exact same thing the questioner just said! LOL.

Speaking of illegal downloads, the matter was brought up by the Festival Prez and Kring's response basically was, it's obviously dangerous to the network from a business-centric point of view, but then again it's a fantastic buzz-creator and without it, they probably wouldn't have had such a large audience for Heroes at the Festival this year. So, yeah, they can't condone it publicly (heh!) but they don't mind. ;)

Oh, and Jeph also let slip the phrase, "when you come to the set and see our crew and our actors (...)" He must have felt the overwhelming OMGYESPLZ sentiment coming over the theatre in that moment, because as soon as the interpreter was finished he added, "and yes, by the way, I did just invite you all." Ha! See? The guy is made of awesome. Parul, I will of course try to get you in with me when we go. ;D

In response to another question about the scripts, the word "brains" was used by Tim Kring, so obviously Zarina and I had to immediately repeat "BRAINZ!!" in unison and squee/laugh. I looked Zach's way a second later, and he was looking in our direction. Oops. Yay! And then the word was uttered again, (I think by Kring again, but can't be sure) and we did it again. Biological imperative, I guess. :p Also, somebody mentioned the "up, up and away!" line, to which I responded with a loud-ish "VOTE PETRELLI!" ^^ Gods, I am such a dork - and it is a hell of a lot of fun, too!

After about 30 minutes, could have been more (certainly felt like it), Sylar finally came up in questions! Except the Festival President pronounced it uber-Frenchlike and it sounded fugly/ridiculous. So every one (it sounded like) yelled "SYLAR!!!!!!!!1!!!!!11!!" (with that exact amount of exclamation marks) and the whole theater clapped and cheered like crazy. HEEE. Group-squeeing is so fun, I recommend it to everybody. Especially with a group so large. ^^

So they showed a combination of very spoilery Gabriel/Sylar clips, designed to 'introduce' (ha!) the character to us. There were scenes from Six Months Ago (first meeting with Chandra, killing Brian Davis, demonstrating TK to Chandra) and Parasite ("GIVE ME THE DAMN LIST SO I CAN SINK MY TEETH IN!!" kldfhjkhgsdfjkh, that whole scene.) The fans behind us, jedicathy's crew, were Mo/Sy enthusiasts for the most part, so that was a lot of fun for the bunch of us, hehe. *g*

While the clip show was running, the lights were all off. Right after it began, Zachary got up from his seat and walked right in front of us l;kdkghajh on his way backstage. Now, if you remember the postcards we wrote him in the morning, you're now going "oh, right! What happened to those?" Well, we tried to give them to him then, whispering as loud as whispers go, "Zach! You've got mail!" (see: I am a dork.) And while others might have just kept going where they were actually expected to hurry to, he actually stopped to tell us (actually whisper lkjfgjkhjgbedvoicesdfhaskj) something like, "Oh, thanks! I have to go backstage right now, but I'll be back later!" Which, again, was oh-so-considerate and killed us with glee.

When the lights came on again, under thunderous applause for Sylar, Zachary was FINALLY called to the stage. He walked in and the crowd went absolute batshit crazy wild. ^^ Again: awesome! And people started capturing video with their cameras. I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE THEM. xD *cough* And of course, for you all to be able to see 'em. The questions didn't strike me as stellar here either, but we found out some interesting stuff. Such as? Such as, after this weekend, he's going to be visiting Europe for a bit. Hee. (Go to Holland, Zach! I hear Emmer-Compascuum is great this time of year. Also, Brittany.)

And! He said "I feel fortunate." ^^ Haha, I'd been wanting to hear him say it. (Yes, I'm insane. I blame Zach.) It wasn't in reference to playing Sylar, though, so, bonus points for him. The question was, I think, about how fame and success might affect him, and he was saying how fortunate he felt to be surrounded by people who will always remind him who he is and where he comes from. There was another one about the transition between his character's persona and his own life (stupid Red Shirt question), and he said, "Well, the first thing I have to do is walk my dog." Cue major simultaneous "Aww!" from the females in the audience.

He was also asked about what the casting process was like for him, and he explained how he first read for the part on the day of the premiere, but Tim wasn't there, so he had to audition again five days later and by that time he had an idea how big the show was going to be, so "[little high-pitched voice] I was very nervous!" The interpreter translated it as, "j'étais très nerveuse," which, if you know French grammar, was pretty freaking hilarious and cracked up the audience a good deal. Basically, the adjectives vary according to the subject. Males are "nerveux," females are "nerveuse," so it was made all the more funny by Zach's little girly voice. xD

Another question was about what roles he was hoping to play next, because Sylar is so far away from anyone else he's played before, and he made a long elaborate answer, pausing in the middle to give the interpreter a headstart, and give himself pause to think. It was like "... Go ahead, I'll think of something." LOL! His answer, by the way, was that whenever his time on Heroes is up (nevarplzkthx), he hopes to go in a completely different direction. He's been getting a lot of scripts lately for very dark characters, and he isn't really interested in picking up more of those... which is why he's going to be traveling in the Summer hiatus, I think, instead of shooting a movie or what-have-you. He wants to always be able to surprise himself, is what he said.

Oh, also! There was joke-talk of a potential French character at some point. Tim was saying they'd been kicking around ideas with Jeph since they'd been in Paris about the possibility, and then he said the easiest way would probably be for Sylar to kill a Frenchman or Frenchwoman. Zachary put on his best EVIL!voice right then and breathed a most threatening "Bonjour!" in his microphone and zomg! kafhjhahfjglks some more! It was teh best. Of course Tim asked if they were any volunteers in the audience to get their heads cut off by Sylar, and everyone in the crowd raised their hands, LOL! "Meee! Pick meee!!" Mwahahaha!! It was great.

I hope you'll forgive me, the details of the Q&A are getting fuzzy around the edges. Do make sure you view Zarina's video when it becomes available (bear in mind she will not get home until Tuesday night) because she has 30+ minutes of it, and if you fangirl Zachary as we do, you'll love every one of them. :D

Eventually, the session had to come to a close, and awards were presented to Tim Kring first, and Jeph Loeb lastly. There was a, uh, awkward moment of sorts with Jeph's - a writing award from two years ago. He was scheduled to go to the 2005 edition of the Festival, but ultimately was unable because of a family tragedy, and so they gave it to him yesterday with a dedication "to Sam". I felt that was... I mean, he was touched, very much so, and I don't think he resented anything about it, but personally, I felt as if we were let into a sensitive part of his private life completely uninvited. Anyway, he gave a very emotional speech, and exited the stage together with Tim Kring down the front steps at the center. Meantime, the interpreter was kissing Zachary on the cheeks, heh!

Zachary followed close behind, and the fanboys and girls flocked to him like flies to honey. Us included, duh. We managed to give him our postcards, for which he thanked us, and just as he was looking at me, a flash lit his gorgeous, gorgeous eyes and *SQUEEEE* lksdhfjakjshjaDsadhjf I died once more inside. Things were getting wildly out of control, in the middle of the theater, even as the lights came off again and the second episode started. Zach proposed we all move to the lobby, but the management had other plans.

We still followed him out, along with dozens of fellow fans, and ended up two stories higher, where TPTB took him behind screens and the stalkerishness:fanglee ratio didn't seem decent enough. :p We went back down to the lobby immediately and crossed paths with Tim Kring, who was going up. We soon found out they were having refreshments upstairs and then doing press there. Lots of it. And then some. We were debating whether or not to go back and watch episodes 2 and 3 on the pretty, pretty screen, but we feared our beloved would leave while we were inside and so decided to hang out in the lobby either until we saw Zach again or somebody kicked us out.

Strictly for the record, the plan was, since there were so few people waiting there anymore, if he came to walk by us, say bye and maybe wave. If he stopped to talk, kjhfGHGAKJhfdb; but if he didn't, we wouldn't harass him. Nobody kicked us out, but we didn't see any more Zach either. The clock was ticking, and we wanted to do something touristy before dark. We decided to leave at 6:30 no matter what, go eat something at McD's across the street, and be on our way to the Sacré-Coeur. And so we did leave at 6:30. We told Jules to call if he happened to see anyone before 7:30, but even he didn't think he would stay that long.

Around 6:50, Jules called to say he was leaving, but worried that the minute he left, that's when they'd all come out, and he'd miss out on it by a hair's breadth. I told him it's always that way, and then you push and push and before you know it, it's 11 at night and you're just a creep lingering in the street maybe for nothing. So he left. Ten minutes later, we've finished eating, and we're crossing the street again to reach the subway station. Coincidentally, the subway station's entrance is exactly at the foot of Le Grand Rex. So we're on our way to the Metro sign, I turn around one last time... And I see Tim Kring. And Zachary. O_O

OMG. Since we've decided not to get into hysterics (anymore?), I make it a point not to pull out my camera, paper or pen, and when he walks by us, we just call, "Bye Zach! Enjoy Paris! :)" (Oh yes, we call out the smiley face.) And he turns to thank us profusely and say "it was great seeing you guys!" (*kjdshfjakjasfgkjAGFAhGHFSGhsdgshdj inside*) Uh, likewise, Zach. Likewise. ;) And he told Zarina to enjoy her trip! Hee! He is just the sweetest ever. I thought that was a really nice moment, because a) no fan mob! and b) it bookended my experience really well, mirroring the quiet, uniqueness, and brevity of the first word he said to me. :D

OMG I AM TOTALLY IN FANNISH HEAVEN!! ^^

Also: NEW EPISODE TONIGHT OMG GKJHAKJSGHDsadgsdfF AWESOME!!!1!

p.s. Yes of course I will post some pictures.

Comments

[heathabear.livejournal.com]

Haha, I don't even watch Heroes and you've got me all excited reading this. That's soooo cool!

[gossy16.livejournal.com]

Hee! It's an amazing show, if you ever have the chance to catch up, I think you might like it. You did watch 24, though, right? The guy we met played Adam on Day 3.

[heathabear.livejournal.com]

/glre;glfdsgsfdgdfsgsdfgretreopivcbxaaaaaaadam?! really? ok, now i have to watch. i love adam. i'm actually only on day 3 now. wait, does that mean that adam doesn't come back for day 4/5/6? DOES HE DIE?! but he never leaves ctu! (but then again, neither does chapelle, and look what happened to him...) they've already killed like 3 prominent characters this season! at least i know michelle lives (for this season, at least, damn spoilers.) :p

[gossy16.livejournal.com]

Oh noes! I didn't mean to spoil you! :$ I've actually never watched 24, but canadian_turtle told me all about the Adam character, if you really want to know. :)

But yes, that's true. You do have to watch Heroes. ;)

[heathabear.livejournal.com]

Haha, it's really okay, I swear. I've kind of come to accept the fact that on 24, everyone except for Jack will eventually die. Thus, I've concluded that finding out someone dies really isn't even a spoiler, haha.

You really should try 24. I was hooked from the very first episode.

[lilibel.livejournal.com]

It was totally awesome yesterday.
I'll post my pics tonite :D
*need a Zach icon*

[gossy16.livejournal.com]

Yay! Can't wait to see them! :D
*same here*

[glorfindelghost.livejournal.com]

It sounds like an AMAZING weekend! And i'm totally so excited for Zach that he's getting a lot of fanlove and appreciation - yay for him!

[gossy16.livejournal.com]

Me too! He seemed so happy and thankful for the attention. Aw! ♥

[gossy16.livejournal.com]

♥

[zomgitslizzie.livejournal.com]

omg! that was AMAZING.I have smile on my face when I read it.And awww that's nice of him for actually filming the crowd with his digicam.^__^.

eeeeeek! cant wait to see the pictures.:).oh and jedicathy wears a Nathan Petrelli shirt?.that's awesome.what's the shirt look like?.

[gossy16.livejournal.com]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it! ^^ And I definitely 'awww-ed' at the fact that he kept taking pictures/videos. ♥

It was a custom-made shirt given to her by a friend. It was white, with a campaign logo on the front, and pictures of Nathan on the back. :D

[chrryblssmninja.livejournal.com]

deaddeaddeadddead

[gossy16.livejournal.com]

Ohnoes! Livelivelive! ♥

[glorfindelghost.livejournal.com]

He's touring Europe?! Gah! Is he coming to the UK, do you know? *Not that I plan to stalk him. Ahem.*

[gossy16.livejournal.com]

I have no idea, except for the convention he's attending with Hayden in September. I would think, however, a tour of Europe would include London for most Americans. ^^

[never-evil.livejournal.com]

guh! it all sounds so brilliant and fannish and fun and stalkery and ooooh glad you had so much fun!

oh how i wish i was there (to steal the vote petrelli tshirt)

[gossy16.livejournal.com]

Hehe, did you not read the part where we're all going to the Heroes set? xD VOTE PETRELLI SHIRTS GALORE!

And yes, so much fun was had indeed! Hee! ^^

[never-evil.livejournal.com]

Oh yes the part where we are going to see FLYING MAN? No it must have totally escaped my notice while I was trying to imagine girlyVoice!Zach

(so you shall sneak me into the Heroes set in your duffel back and I can steal aforementioned shirt directly off the politician himself! yayayayyayay)

BTW OMGZ YOU HAVE SEEN THIS WEBSITE RIGHT!??: http://www.votepetrelli.com/

Jules sent me an e-mail about it and I was like FSHJDGJHFGJDGFHGFJKEYSMASHSOMEMOREOMGMYNATHANYAYAYAYYAQUEYRREIYRIE

*BOUNCES*

[gossy16.livejournal.com]

Haha, Zach's girly!voice was caught on vid and hosted somewhere, hang on... It's HERE! Pay no mind to the French in between, LOL. I realize I mixed my anecdotes, but oh well! ^^

(Yes, I shall. And then we molest Adrian. And Zach.)

I DIIIIID SEE IT! YAY! I SIGNED UP WITH A FAKE US ADDRESS LMAO!!

Did you check out the shop yet? They have nice official looking Vote Petrelli shirts, but ZOMG THE SHIPPING FEES UGH!!1!

[never-evil.livejournal.com]

hahhaa that vid was awesome! Are all the rest of those on the site from that event as well?

OMG I think I am still in shock that you both have actually seen the brain-stealer in flesh.

(oh yesss and it shall be fun. Let's throw Milo in there while we're at it)

I did see the shop but I didn't realise you can order off there! When I try to add something to the cart it gives me an error (which may be because I don't think I even had a real fake US address I had a fake fake one if that makes sense)

[gossy16.livejournal.com]

Yeah, there are a few from the red carpet and two more clips from the Q&A.

I know, me too! LOL.

(And Sendhil. Can't forget Sendhil.)

Yeah, it gave me crap about cookies at first, but then I hit the link it said to click once you've enabled cookies (which I didn't even have to do) and it worked perfect. Go figure.

[never-evil.livejournal.com]

ooh goody! more stuff to watch :D

O Sendhil how could I forget thee. Have you seen the first youtube vid on this post- http://lunacat.livejournal.com/109495.html?view=551095#t551095

(sorry my linking is crap: it's like 1.24pm here and my java program I am creating refuses to work >_<""""")

urgh computers. *kicks one*

[fangirljen.livejournal.com]

That sounds so fab. And I'm so friggin tired and squeeing from Fangirl Heaven of ".07%" right now that I can't think or read straight! :(

[gossy16.livejournal.com]

OMG, I know! How great was the episode? Heee!

[canadian-turtle.livejournal.com]

OMFG THAT SOUNDS ABOLUTELYFUCKINGAMAZING!!! (WISH i WERE THERE....)


ZACH *FLAIL* ZACH *SQUEE* ZACH *DROOL* ZACH *KEYSMASH* ZACH *TWIRL* ZACH *SWOON*


SO WAS HEROES GOOD? LOTSA SYLAR SAYING BONJOUR Y/Y?

I'M GONNA GO TO THE TRAIN SOONISH, TTY TONIGHT (MAYBE? IF I AM NOT STILL DED >.<)

*HUGZ*



BRAINSSS....



(ALSO, I WASN'T EXACTLY PLANNING ON UPLOADING THE VID :$ JUST SEND IT TO YOU ;))

[gossy16.livejournal.com]

LMAO HEEEEEEE!! ^^

Lotsa Sylar being a VIOLENT SEXY MOFO!! Oh man, you're going to LOVE some of those scenes! Total guh-fest.

I'm not sure I'll be able to be on tonight ;_; I will, however, be here pretty much all day tomorrow. YAY! ^^

Have a safe trip home! ♥

(OOPS. FIXED! (A))

[canadian-turtle.livejournal.com]

OMFG I SUCK LIKE WOAH, HEROES WAS FINALLY DL-ED AFTER LIKE 40 LAPTOP BLOW UPS AND I THINK I DELETED THE FILE O.o EITHER THAT OR STH WENT WRONG AND IT NEVER RLY DL-ED TO BEGIN WITH.... BUT TRYING THE DIGI HIVES THING NOW AGAIN AND IT WORKS WITH BITTORENT SO *CROSSES FINGERS* I MIGHT ACTUALLY GET SOME SLEEP TONIGHT... BUT I WANT TO SEE VIOLENT SEXY MOFO FIRST!!!

[decadentdream.livejournal.com]

Yup, Ok, do we consider u guys and Zach BFFs now??? LOL HOw many times can you fluke that? That's so great. Totally laughing my way through this. I'm so excited and happy for u! :D

[gossy16.livejournal.com]

Hee! He and us, BFFs. I could like the sound of that. xD Yay, I'm glad it made you laugh! ^^