SDCC Day 4 - (Legal) Alien Invasion!

Originally published on official Sci Fi Channel websites in the UK, France, Italy, Spain, Germany and Russia.

This was the day we'd all been waiting for - the final day of Comic-Con. A day like any other, you might think... But as the citizens of America went about their everyday business in the not-very-sleepy-at-all town of San Diego little did they suspect that there was an alien presence already amongst them. Yes, a plot was afoot - a devious and devilish plot for the invasion and ultimate domination of the entire country! This... was B-Day.

That's Brit Day, not birthday. Or something you'd find in the bathroom.

El-e-vay-shaAAGHn
Ok, so maybe my part in this plan didn't begin quite as well as I'd hoped. It'd been a late night and, keen to be on the ball for the Q&A session later that day, I'd snuck downstairs early to grab a coffee and... well, let's just say I wasn't looking my best. But looks are a secondary consideration when you're working for the greater good, right? Yes... until you get into the lift and are greeted by the all-too-chirpy words "Hey, you're that British actress!" Believe me when I say that was THE longest lift ride ever - the guy in question was very sweet but it's rather hard to be charming when you're desperately trying to mask signs of sleep deprivation while simultaneously beating your bird's nest hair into submission! This 'getting recognised when I'm looking like poop' thing is getting all too frequent for my liking...

The British are Coming!
Luckily the caffeine soon kicked in and I was ready to crack on with the invasion plans. And blow me down, the yanks not only succumbed to this invasion but positively welcomed it! America's always been regarded as a tough market to crack if you're from the UK and before I came out here I was under the impression that our sense of humour often falls flat on this side of the pond but today certainly put my mind at rest on that front. Not only do sci-fi fans in the US love British sci-fi but they love our humour too. Well hurrah!

While the crowd from Dr. Who and Torchwood were stirring up excitement (some more so than others. *ahem*John Barrowman*ahem*) in Ballroom 20 we in the 'Schrödinger's Girl' team were assembling to go over our battle plans and prove to the masses that England can produce some bally fine films as well as TV.

I spent the morning doing interviews, happily stunned by the amount of support 'Blood Actually' has over here, and then headed off to meet up with the rest of the SG crew: Huw (who swiftly earned the nickname 'the whitest man at Comic-Con' by rocking a rather spectacular suit), Damian, Abbi and Huw's dad Keith (who was SG's scientific advisor and enjoyed chaining me to a wall for the brain slaves scenes FAR too much for my liking!).

Jolly good show!
We had a tough timeslot to fill - at 3.40pm Comic-Con is getting ready to shut up shop and most hardened geeks will want to spend their time sniffing out last minute bargains so we weren't holding out much hope attendance-wise... But we were wrong. The audience was amazing and I actually got chills when the movie started and the music kicked in. As a film-maker it's always great to get a good reaction to your work but it's always a million times better to get it from someone who doesn't know you from Adam. These people didn't know us - they probably hadn't even heard about the film until they got to the 'Con - so they were there, and stayed, purely because they liked what they saw. They even got the humour! Happy happy joy joy.

Watch us wreck the mic...
As the end credits rolled Huw, Dee, Abbi and I took to the stage to chat to the audience and my cockles were well and truly warmed by answering intelligent, unusual questions from genuine fans of the genre. There was a brief tussle when someone asked what our favourite sci-fi films were (Damian, Huw and I fought over 'Blade Runner' while Abbi chose the first three episodes of Star Wars), but matters were soon resolved and we moved on to other questions.

Dee's favourite role in SG was apparently Matthew because he "didn't have to have a Hitler comb-over" for that one, Huw talked about his influences and the pre-production process, Abbi said how she enjoyed wielding a gun and I recounted one of my favourite behind the scenes stories from filming (which involves gaffer tape, a 6 inch height difference and Damian having a lot of conversations with my chest). Clips from the Q&A session, along with the interviews I did earlier in the week with stars of BSG and Farscape, will soon be up online here, plus on my website and YouTube channel so keep an eye out for those.

The End *sniffle*
And so it was over and we Brits headed off for a well-deserved post-invasion knees-up. It's been a fantastic trip and my only regret is that I was so busy working that I didn't get a chance to see more of the juicy treats the 'Con had to offer but don't worry, America, this was just part 1 of our invasion. I play the lead in sci-fi webseries 'SatNav Lifestyle' (from the director of 'Blood Actually' which hits the interwebs very soon and there are countless other projects already in the pipeline so... no, I can't say it can I? Oh, what the hell... We'll be back.

Thanks for all your questions and messages of support during this trip - I've really loved blogging for you guys and will definitely be popping up on the SCI FI forum from time to time so if you have any more queries then do feel free to drop me a line. I'll also be continuing the bloggery on my official site so you can keep up to date with what I'm doing there.

Milly x

SDCC Day 3 - Questions, questions, questions!

Originally published on official Sci Fi Channel websites in the UK, France, Italy, Spain, Germany and Russia.

The thing I really loved about Comic-Con is that no two people attending it would have had the same experience - the sheer size of it makes that totally impossible and there are a million random events that could change the course of your day. It's like some kind of geektastic butterfly effect - a stormtrooper coughs in the line for Ballroom 20 and suddenly a bunch of pirates are attacking a Pokemon stall. Even if you can't get into one of the big panels there are still a tonne of other fantastic things out there for your geeky delectation, and trust me when I say fantastic (hmm... do I check out what the io9 crowd have to say, see Sigourney Weaver or brave the queue for the BSG/Caprica panel? Decisions, decisions!).

Sometimes, however, a girl has such complex decisions made for her and this was definitely one of those times. Yup, today was 'Interview Day' and while others were emptying their savings in the exhibition hall and woo-ing at the panels I spent most of it with various reporters and documentary-makers, answering questions about my life, my work, the colour of my socks and countless other bizarre subjects. Luckily I more often than not welcome tricky decisions being made for me (in fact I've often said I was born to be an actress simply because I've no idea how to sort out my own hair, makeup or wardrobe and will happily obey when told where to stand and what to do) and lounging in the glorious San Diego sunshine talking about all things sci-fi definitely wasn't the most unpleasant way to pass a day.

Still, though, the siren song of the exhibition hall was calling to me. Damian and I did manage to find a spare few minutes in which to chat with some starstruck Dr. Who stallholders (Dee's stepmum is Wendy Padbury, who played Patrick Troughton's assistant Zoe, so they went a wee bit crazy) but aside from that we didn't get much of a chance to browse the goodies. Fear not, I'll definitely try to punish my wallet a little tomorrow before the 'Schrödinger's Girl' panel.

I'll be posting clips from my various interviews as soon as I get them through but for now check out the monkeygoatboy interview I told you about in the day 1 blog. I was totally shattered that day, having only got 3 hours sleep the previous night, and the interview was only supposed to take 2 seconds but ended up being almost a minute of director-pwning fun. Enjoy! I've got to do some serious buffing up for the next movie I'm going to be in so perhaps I'll start arm wrestling people more often... Any suggestions for potential victims?

Finally, as this blog seems to be seriously lacking in colour, here are some of my favourite pics from the 'Con. I've been particularly impressed by how all-out people have gone with the costumes here and, being a bit of a fancy dress addict, I've been taking notes for future use. Hmm... cheetara or steampunk Lara Croft? - yet MORE decisions!

Milly x