I met Elijah Wood at a convention several years ago. He was doing a signing booth, and I showed up extra early to be first in line. It was only the second day of the convention.
The handler at the front was trying to hype him up, telling us he was very kind and always made sure to be on time for his fans.
He ended up being over half an hour late and didn’t have an excuse. Just told the handler he just didn’t get ready on time this morning. He then proceeded to wordlessly sign headshots and hand them out, not even looking at anyone in line. I was excited to meet him in person, but he just wasn’t interested in talking to anyone.
I get that he’s human. He may be going through something, or maybe he just was having a bad day. But I was kind of disappointed that I spent a lot of money just to be handed a signed headshot and quickly shooed out of the line.
At the same convention, David Tenant showed up, and not only did he have a seminar where he talked about his upcoming roles (the whole audience sang the DuckTales theme to him, as he was about to play Scrooge McDuck in the rebooted series), but he did action poses for photos with every fan who visited him at his signing booth and even chatted them up a bit. His handler had to keep reminding him to keep the line moving, because he would chat your ear off forever; everything fascinated him and he was so excited for each person he met! It was a fantastic experience.
I had an opportunity to meet Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart performing in New York once, but my wife dragged us away at the last minute because our schedule was booked solid that day. It’s one of my greatest regrets, as I heard it was a small showing and they even sat with the audience and BS’d for a while after the show. I would totally vibe with both of those guys, especially together.
I’m no one special, but I have worked multiple conventions promoting stuff I was involved in and I have to say I sympathize with Elijah Wood here because there are a lot of real entitled assholes at those cons. Maybe he shouldn’t have agreed to do it in the first place, but it’s actually pretty amazing how many times I saw people come up to someone well-known at a table next to me and were just incredible dicks to them because they think they deserved to be talked down over some show they were in.
I sat next to the late Richard Hatch at a convention once (awesome guy, by the way) and it was amazing the shit people gave him for having the nerve to be in the original Battlestar Galactica. They would say shit to him like, “I love you in the new BSG, but wow that original show sucked in every way and I hated your character.” And then there were all the “you didn’t write a long paragraph on my 8x10 and I’m mad about it! Don’t you know how big a fan I am?!” people.
I’ve been pretty lucky in my life to have been around multiple well-known people and in my experience, they really appreciate it if you just talk to them on a person-to-person level. I’m not saying you shouldn’t go up to Elijah Wood at a convention and say, “I loved you as Frodo!” but if you come up with something more human-to-human to say to them, you’ll get a better reaction. Especially if they’re having a bad day. If you had said to Elijah Wood, “these conventions must be really tiring with all the signing you have to do,” he probably would have appreciated it (assuming he isn’t just an asshole himself).
I’m willing to give most the benefit of the doubt, it’s gotta be hard to be on all the time. Having a shit day but you’re booked? Well you’re there.
I doubt it’s the same thing exactly but when I worked in marketing you had to do the same kind of thing. Even if you felt terrible and really didn’t feel like talking to anyone you have to play a role and be exciting and energetic.
Now we need him more than ever. :(
I have heard that Orlando Bloom is a bad husband but not much beyond that.
He’s also a terrible actor who played a ridiculous Marty Stu version of Legolas, so there’s that 🤷
I wouldn’t go as far as “terrible,” but I can’t say I’ve ever seen him in a role where he left a real impression on me through his acting talents. As Legolas, most of what he did was react. Which is not the same thing.
You gotta watch the directors cut of Kingdom of Heaven then. It’s hands down the best performance Orlando Bloom has ever done.
Okay but he DID say they’re taking the hobbits to isengard
Name a more iconic line from the lotr movies
“One does not simply walk into Mordor.”
“What’s taters, precious?”
"We Dwarves are natural sprinters! Very dangerous over short distances.”
I saw Sir Ian McKellen at a grocery store in Los Angeles yesterday. I told him how cool it was to meet him in person, but I didn’t want to be a douche and bother him and ask him for photos or anything. He said, “Oh, like you’re doing now?” I was taken aback, and all I could say was “Huh?” but he kept cutting me off and going “huh? huh? huh?” and closing his hand shut in front of my face. I walked away and continued with my shopping, and I heard him chuckle as I walked off. When I came to pay for my stuff up front I saw him trying to walk out the doors with like fifteen Milky Ways in his hands without paying.
The girl at the counter was very nice about it and professional, and was like “Sir, you need to pay for those first.” At first he kept pretending to be tired and not hear her, but eventually turned back around and brought them to the counter.
When she took one of the bars and started scanning it multiple times, he stopped her and told her to scan them each individually “to prevent any electrical infetterence,” and then turned around and winked at me. I don’t even think that’s a word. After she scanned each bar and put them in a bag and started to say the price, he kept interrupting her by yawning really loudly.
Are you sure that was Sir Ian McKellen and not a random old homeless guy?
He walked away mumbling something about fools and flies
When I was younger, maybe junior high, I got roped into watching my 3 month old niece while my sister got her hair done. So there I am, sitting in the waiting area of a hair salon with my niece, and who walks in but Sir Ian McKellen!
I was nervous as fuck, and just kept looking at him as he read a magazine and waited, but didn’t know what to say. Pretty soon though my niece started crying, and I’m trying to quiet her down because I didn’t want her to bother Ian, but she just wouldn’t stop. Pretty soon he gets up and walks over. He started running his hands through her hair and asking what was wrong. I replied that she was probably hungry or something. So, Ian put down his magazine, picked up my niece and lifted his shirt. He breast fed her right there in the middle of a hair salon. Chill guy, really nice about it.
Anybody else met him and have any stories to share?
Did i just witness the birth of a original Lemmy copypasta?
No, but you did discover a classic that always makes me giggle: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/i-saw-flying-lotus-in-a-grocery-store-copypasta
One I feel like I hadn’t seen in a decade. Well done!
Nope. This is a reddit copypasta.
Not quite. It’s a 4chan copypasta!
American Dad! suggested it’s very possible.
