San Francisco is pretty much fanboy heaven. We don’t just have comic book shops, we have a comic book lounge that may or may not be run by a Super Villain. Other cities have book clubs and pool tournaments; we have PetchaKutcha and Nerd Nite. Even our alternative culture is perpetually on the edge of descending into total geek-dom - supposedly adult Burning Man Festival points at a very specific desire, to dress up like someone else, to cosplay (costume play).
Morgan Spurlock’s new film, Comic-Con: Episode IV – A Fan’s Hope, is about just that desire.
The bustling film follows a few chosen geeks (and girls) as they wander the delirious world of fanboy fantasy that is San Diego’s biggest event of the year. For fans of SF’s WonderCon that couldn’t trek down to its temporary Southern California digs this year, and anyone else addicted to comic book culture, Spurlock’s film may be the only remedy.
The Super Size Me director took a moment from his mega-packed touring schedule to answer: What were the seven best things about filming Comic-Con?
1.Getting to meet Stan Lee and Joss Whedon. These are two guys that I’ve been a fan of for so long. Stan made me what I am--I read Spider-Man all through my childhood.
2.Casting the film. We had about 2,000 people submit videos to us, and seeing these videos all over world from passionate fans, people who sent us videos shot from the deck of the Star Ship Enterprise… to the back of their garages-- that was one of the most enjoyable parts.
3.Actually making the film. You’re trying to tackle this awesome monster that is Comic-Con… We had 150 people working in 15 full crews, with 15-30 cameras operating at any given moment. It was so exciting!
4.Getting to meet my Geek Heroes. Guillermo de Toro, Kevin Smith, Olivia Wilde, Todd MacFarlane… people that I’ve been a fan of forever that were incredibly charming and intelligent. It seemed like every time we wanted to film somebody, we’d say “Oh we’ll never get them,” and then we’d turn around and they’d be calling us asking “where should I be?” I was geeking out the whole time.
5.All the sales on Sunday. While were filming the whole event I was keeping a checklist of things to pick up for my son in my head. I saved the last two hours before the convention ended to go shopping.
6.The proposal. [ed. one of the film’s subjects proposes to another at the convention] I’ve seen this movie a thousand times and this is always this part always gets me. Seeing these people getting together... It’s good to know that geek love is alive and well and it gives you so much faith in this part of the universe that it’s amazing.
7.Free Passes to Comic-Con!
Comic-Con IV: A Fan’s Hope plays all week at Vogue Theatre. Morgan will be present for a Q&A following the film tonight (Sunday) at 4:30PM and 7:00PM. 3290 Sacramento St @ Presidio.
