Nerd Con: Comicpalooza 2016 Panels!

Previously on our Comicpalooza Overview, we shared our busy coverage schedule goals which included 7 panels.

Saturday – Eliza Dushku’s panel, Aliens Reunion panel, Podcasters’ panel, and Kate Beckinsale’s panel.
Sunday (team NC) – Dominic Cooper’s panel, Michael Rooker’s panel, and Boondock Saints’ panel.

We managed to cover them all and we wanted to share some highlights. A big shout out to Mike again for the awesome photos. You can follow him on Twitter @Mike78432.

Eliza Dushku

Eliza was dynamic and friendly. We had never been to one of her panels, and it was nice to see someone so comfortable to share her opinions and stories. Here she is being adorable and sharing gummy bears with fans.

She began her panel with…

#elizadushko about #Houston: Not as many hats as I was expecting. ? #CpHou

— Nerdy Curiosities (@nerdycurious) June 18, 2016

She spoke of finding “tricks” and systems to work around her ADHD, and encouraged those with the same challenges.
She is very competitive with her brother and it was one of the reasons she got into acting.
She advised if anyone does photo-op proposals to make sure to say yes, so it’s not awkward for the celebrity involved. It’s one of her fan encounter fears.

Aliens 30th Anniversary Reunion Panel

The number one thing the auditorium took away from this panel was that the chemistry is still strong among this cast. It’s no surprise why this franchise is so iconic when you see them all together so many years later.

Sigourney Weaver: It’s so wonderful to see everyone. Looking back, I’m so proud to be part of a movie that plays so well even today.
Sigourney speaking about Carrie Henn: I keep trying to pick her up and run with her but she won’t let me!
Bill Paxton was hilarious and random as ever.
There may have been a Vasquez death recreation when a fan asked about favorite death scenes. See photos below.
When speaking about the audition process, almost everyone read Hudson’s lines which Bill Paxton looked out at the audience and silently mouthed “WTF?!” multiple times.
Sigourney received a shout-out from the cast of Finding Dory. You can watch the video in the clip reel below.
When asked about Aliens 5, Sigourney stated: I’m so glad you asked that. It’s such a brilliant script and Neill has every intention of doing it. We were asked to wait while Ridley Scott does his Prometheus movie because – understandably – they didn’t want both movies coming out at the same time. So I think now Neill is directing Gone World and I have a little thing called Avatar to do. But then…THEN….we’re going to do it. Michael is NOT dead….he’s going to be in it with me! Hold on to your butts! We’re about to get some more Ripley!

Kate Beckinsale

While I was supporting our buddies NerdFu at the podcasters panel, which was excellent by the way. Mike went to Kate’s panel. She is inhumanly lovely, it’s insane. Let’s just leave it at that. Take a look at one of our favorite moments from her panel in the reel below.

Dominic Cooper

Dominic oozes charm as expected.

The moderator and fans wanted Dominic to sing. It was kind of pushy actually. He was hesitant but finally gave in when a young fan convinced Cooper to sing a number from Mamma Mia! with her. She had a lovely voice and he did his best with Dancing Queen because he couldn’t remember all of the words. They ate it up. You can watch a clip in the reel below.
He shared his thoughts on Marvel and how adventurous they are as shown by them making Agent Carter.
When asked if he was Team Iron Man or Team Cap he responded: “Well, Iron Man because he’s my son!”
Dom also shared his dream role would be to play James Bond one day. Let’s make this happen! Dominic would carry that roll well.

The remainder of our panel experience can be summed up as hilarity ensuing chaos!!

Enter Michael Rooker

If you’ve ever seen a Rooker panel, you know you’re in for a treat. He’s not a standard panelist. He jumped off the stage and engaged with fans directly, and he joked with Ming Chen, his moderator, he called out fans when their questions were stupid. He was a blast!

Showing defense moves on Ming Chen.
Flirting with the lovely interpreters!
Showed off his killer GotG sneakers!
He shared he was in Houston Saturday, flew back to ATL for the GotG2 wrap party and then flew back to Houston for the convention Sunday! What a schedule!

So much random goodness happened during this panel. If you see his name at a future convention, go see him.

And last but not least…

Boondock Saints

Sean Patrick Flanery was hilarious! This was the most deliciously dirty and vulgar panel we attended, it was great. Their chemistry was on point after all these years. Sean made a point of saying this was the only movie where he made a point to save everyone’s numbers and stays in contact often.

#disclaimer for @BoondockSaints panel: Sean; get ready for lots of “fucking” profanity! #CpHou

— Nerdy Curiosities (@nerdycurious) June 19, 2016

Sean and Norman Reedus were friends prior to making the film.
There was unanimous consensus that Sean was the biggest jokester on set.
Sean proceeded to share the epic joke he played on Rocco involving a public bathroom and inappropriate sounds…
Sean and Norman didn’t tell Rocco how loud the cannon was going to be for the ‘cat scene’
Sean’s wrap gift to Norman involved donuts and his ‘junk’.
Norman surprised Cliffy with a birthday cake!
Boondock 3 is a possibility “?”