It was cold, snow was accumulating to 10” but March 22-24 was the “BEST” weekend in St. Louis because …..WIZARD WORLD WAS HERE! 

St. Louis hosted it’s first major comic-con and they did themselves proud. Fans let their freak flags fly and turned out by the thousands in costumes ranging from their favorite comic-book character to their favorite TV star to celebrate the 3 day premiere event in the gateway city.

There are some that should reconsider the spandex though…

Wizard, the name in comics, now takes their show on the road making stops in select cities across the country.  St. Louis’ con was off-the-hook with a celebrity guest list that included the Hulk Lou Ferrigno, The Fonz aka Henry Winkler, Lando Calrissian himself Billy Dee Williams, Walking Dead Heroine Andrea..Laurie Holden and the guest of honor…Stan “the Man” Lee, along with many others!!

There were also acclaimed artists from the comic industry headed by Neal Adams.

If you are looking for a special comic, action figure or that piece to complete your costume, you will find it at Wizard World. I found the piece I was looking for.

The three days were jam packed with shopping, meet and greets with celebrities and very entertaining  Q&A panels.

I was a little intimidated walking in on the first day, never have been to a con this large before, but the feeling passed quickly. Nerves turned into joy and excitement as I took it all in making two laps around the convention center before grabbing the programming guide and coming up with a game plan. My advice: buy VIP experiences, autographs and photo ops in advance. My first stop: meeting the Hulk, Lou Ferrigno. Lou was “I want Gary to win. Penn is an a** and a backstabber and I don’t know Amorosa, but Gary has a true heart and deserves to win” We both agreed LaToya Jackson blew it last week. Lou signed my DVD set of the first season of the Incredible Hulk and I was on my way. I will say Lou was a rock, he was at his booth all weekend long, I never saw him take a break!

Next up was to meet the man who ran Cloud City, Lando Calrissian….Billy Dee Williams! As hew was signing my copy of Empire Strikes Back, we discussed his career with Star Wars, Night Hawks, Mahogany and Brian’s Song. The I asked Billy, has J.J.Abrams reached out to you about bring Lando in for Episode 7? Billy replied, ”They haven’t yet but I would love to do it again. I can see Lando and Han in a poker game set in the future of the story.” “Lando is a host and smooth and I can see him running another city and catching up with his old friend over a game of cards.” This was so very cool, LANDO!!!!

I ran to the other end of the Convention Center for a must see panel:  The History of Dr. Who!  A group from the ST. Louis Celestial Intelligence Agency, one of the largest Dr. Who fan clubs in the USA. Rob Levy led the discussion that informed people on the evolution of Dr. Who and his companions leading up to this year’s 50TH anniversary special and who might be returning?

Finally I traveled back to the 50’s and caught up with Arthur Fonzarelli, Henry Winkler. As I approached the TV icon, I noticed he was out in front of his table greeting each person with a handshake or a hug and thanking them for coming.  We discussed his many roles on TV and film and his time working with Sandler on “Waterboy”, GATORADE!!!! Then I asked him about becoming an author of children’s books with the Hank Zipzer series, he responded, ”It was a natural thing wanting to do something to entertain kids and have them think. I told him I loved the books (having read them to my grandkids) and reviewed them on this site. The Fonz himself signed my copy of season one of Happy Days and Day one at Wizard World came to a close!





Saturday brought forecasts of snow and thousands of fans to the America center at the wee hours of the morning to get into Wizard World early!! Day two was packed with 5 times the amount of fans lining up all through the corridors of the convention center. I ran through the door and directly to the back to line up to meet Stan Lee!!!  Stan, still on his game at the age of 90, strolled into his booth to a standing ovation from the crowd. With hundreds in line to see him it was a quick thank you for having him sign my copy of Spideman #1.

I saved my question for Stan for his panel later that afternoon. I asked Stan, when Hollywood tells the story of Marvel comics, who plays Stan Lee? Stan responded “ Brad Pitt? Tom Cruise? No, they are both too ugly. I don’t know, Maybe Robert DeNiro!” Casting is now complete!

Finally I had the unique opportunity to have my picture taken
with Stan the Man Lee!

Next I got to meet my new crush Andrea from the Walking Dead, Laurie Holden. Laurie was very personable and enjoyed talking to each person there to see her. I explained to Laurie that when the walking dead was on, it was my time with Andrea and Darryl and I would turn off my phone and not even talk to my wife. She hugged me and said I was great. I asked about the finale. Laurie told me that hypothetically “ If Andrea lives and makes her escape from the chair, she would go back to the prison and gather up her friends and take over Woodbury.” Then she added, “But you know the Walking Dead…How do we know Andrea will even be in the episode?” (Turns out she gave us a scoop! She wasn’t in Sundays Episode!!)

Laurie Holden is my new crush, and coming up I have her panel


and an exclusive photo op with her!!

I ended up Saturday with photo ops with Billy Dee Williams and Henry Winkler. Henry again greeted each person waiting for a photo with a handshake and thank you for coming. Winkler was the unofficial ambassador for the weekend. The thing that amazed me about Henry, after meeting thousands of people,  I stepped in for my photo and he greeted me with “I have been waiting for this photo since we spoke yesterday!” I was AMAZED!!! Yes the Fonz is the COOLEST MAN ON EARTH!!!

I braved the snow storm dropping 10” of the white stuff in downtown St. Louis to make the final day of Wizard World. The two things that I had to see was the Q&A panel with Billy Dee Williams

 And 50 Years in the Tardis, a panel about the 50^th anniversary of the BBC classic Dr. Who!

Sunday brought a close to St. Louis’ first Wizard World. It was an overwhelming success and breaking news…..THEY WILL BE BACK!!!!

Wizard World St. Louis 2014 is set for April 4-6, The Flick Fanatic will be there, will you????

My requests for next year: More Dr. Who!! More Game of Thrones!!! More Walking Dead!!!

It was unanimous that they all hated the contacts that turned their eyes red as vampires. there is a DVD extra that explains the process of transforming the cast into the undead. The other thing about filming was the final battle scene with the Cullens facing off with Volturi, they were surrounded by cardboard wolves on a field of fake snow in Baton Rouge Louisiana. Filming the scene was intense, with Patrick, Lisa and Marlane standing for hours and just moving a few steps at a time and olny changing facial expressions. In the DVD extras you will see the dance off on the battle field that suprised everyone!! Finally I asked how hard it was to get the accent down, Lisa and Marlane had dialect classes and it came easy to them, but Patrick struggled with it which suprised everyone with his past in the Irish TV drama "The Black Donnellys" and had to use a speach coach.

All of them admidted that appearing in a Twilight films opened doors, but Lisa added that those doors can slam in your face just as easy. Lisa has a horror project coming up and a new stage production with David Hyde Pierce scheduled to kick off in the summer. Marlane has a couple of independent films (Sake-Bomb, Stuff it) coming out later this year.

I want to thank Summit, Lisa Howard, Marlane Barnes and patrick Brennan for coming in to St. Louis and sitting down for a chat and greeting the fans at the midnight release of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn pt.2!!!

Check out the interview here, I am sorry about the sound we were in the bar of the Four Seasons Hotel for the interview .

The Volturi are HERE!!!!

To promote their new film “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2”, two members of the Vampire enforcement council “the Volturi” came to St. Louis and sat down with the Flick Fanatic and discuss the end of Twilight. Charlie Bewley and Daniel Cudmore play Volturi members Felix and Demetri in the Twilight films “New Moon”, “Eclipse”, and “Breaking Dawn Part 1 & 2” and shared some details and secrets from the set of Breaking Dawn Part 2!!! Daniel and Charlie share a real “brotherhood” off screen being born just 5 days apart on opposite ends of the globe (Charlie from a small town in England and Daniel in Canada) and meet for the first time on the set of The Twilight Saga: New Moon and a bond was formed immediately.

Daniel gave us the scoop on his path to the big screen, having studied drama in high school and snagged a major role in a franchise film X2 as the Russian strongman Piotr Rasputin also known as the mutant X-man Colossus. Daniel reprised the role three years later in X-Men: The Last Stand. Cudmore then was cast in Twilight as the enforcer for the Volturi, Felix a vampire that possesses super strength. Now Cudmore has the fourth Twilight film in the can and Breaking Dawn Part 2 set to be released later this month; So I ask both he and Charlie Bewley who plays Volturi member Demetri, a vampire with astonishing tracking abilities, has being in such a movie phenomenon changed them at all and what is it like with fans in public?

Charlie responded by telling us how he got the acting bug. Bewley explained that he was living in England and bet his mates that he would come to America and be a movie star. Charlie lucked out by landing his first film role in Twilight! He said it didn’t change him, but all his friends back home were amazed that he did just what he said. Daniel added that probably with costumes and blood red contacts it helps to keep fans from recognizing them as Volturi and stars of twilight. Cudmore also said that the only change from being involved in the Twilight Saga was that it now opens doors for everyone. Charlie’s has three projects in the works a military film called “Thunder Road”, a sci-fi picture that he is headlining “Hammer of the Gods” and a mystery called “Intersection” all due out in 2013.

I then asked Daniel if he was going to be in X-Men with Bryan Singer as Colossus? He said he would love to do it and explore more of the character if possible. Daniel added he completed a dark “red-neck” comedy with Billy Bob Thorton called “The Baytown Outlaws”. Cudmore is also the voice of the much anticipated animated character Master Chief in Halo 4: Forward unto Dawn, the final episode available online now and the full 90 min film is going to be included in the new game. We also got a scoop!!! Daniel was going to be in the upcoming sequel Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters as a character called Manticore, but the project has been terminated. Daniel offered he is a huge Bond fan and wants to see the latest film “Skyfall” and get the 50^th anniversary DVD set and would be awesome to be a Bond villain. My personal suggestion to Sony, Daniel has a striking physic and would be a perfect re-vamped Jaws character.

Bringing the discussion back to Twilight, Charlie grilled a fellow critic about the rumor of the ending being re-shot in Breaking Dawn Part 2. Finally admitting it was an internet rumor, both Charlie and Daniel assured us that the ending is just the way they shot it. Charlie explained that the entire saga has been building to this final confrontation between the Cullens and the Volturi. He added that audiences will be amazed by Bella as a vampire in the film and that he is the reason with Demetri’s tracking skills that the Volturi are able to find Bella and her daughter. Daniel Added that heads will roll in the last battle. Both actors agreed that if Stephanie Meyer wanted to, it would be nice to see a film from the Volturi view and explore more vampire families other than the Cullens and how they are policed by the council.

Lastly I had to know, who was the prankster in the cast an did anything funny happen on set. Both Charlie and Daniel explain that the set was their work place and was very professional, but the crew had been together for years and jokes were played. The funniest came while filming the final scenes in Baton Rouge Louisiana, where multiple cameras were shooting all angles of the fight scene, and a group of the new vampires….thought to be learning choreography for the fight in fact were learning a dance routine! So when they began to film the scene they erupted in dance with music blaring, paralyzing the cast regulars and eventually having everyone erupting in laughter!

Check out the videos below, sorry for the audio (was filmed in a public restaurant) and Twilight fans be sure to check back at www.theflickfanatic.com for your chance to win passes to the exclusive screening of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Pt.2!!!!



Thank You Charlie and Daniel, I am Karl the Flick Fanatic and officially on team Volturi!!!