Here I am again reporting from my 2nd convention, this time Starfest in Denver, Colorado, April 19-21, 2013.
One of the guests - a cast member from
Fringe -
Seth Gabel
Last year I got to meet
Jasika Nicole at Denver Comic Con. You can read it
here.
It was lots of fun walking through the event and watching everyone geeking out. Guests decorated their balconies.
And then there's the costumes. They were amazing.
Friday was dedicated to scoping out the place again. And after standing in line for an hour, getting my tickets I wandered around for a bit before I headed back home.
Then on Saturday morning I drove back up to meet Seth.
First item on the agenda: Photo session.
I walked up to the spot where they took the photos and with an outstretched hand I introduced myself. He looked at me and said: "Have we met before?" All I could reply back was: "No." Lol, later I thought I should have said: "Sure, in a third universe." but the introvert that I am...
Anyway, after the photo was processed I got in line for my autograph.
I bought a print/photo of Seth that was created by
this artist. He signed that and I had also brought my
September's Notebook. He said he hadn't seen this yet.
He was very nice. As I was getting ready to leave the booth I asked him if I could share things from the panel on
Fringetelevision.com and he gave permission. Now I just had to wait for the panel.
As the panel opened Seth shared a few things before the floor was open for questions.
John Noble told him about Starfest who was a guest at last year's event.
Seth said that working with John Noble was great. John was a great mentor, taking him under his wings.
He said Fringe was a surprise for him. "You watch TV and become a fan of a show and all of a sudden you find yourself in it". He first appeared in Season 2 as
Alt-Lincoln (
2.21 Over There Part 1 and
2.22 Over There Part 2)
and for the first few episodes of Season 3. In order to make him look like this in
3.01 Olivia he would spend 4-5 hours in the make-up chair and then it took an hour to get it all off again.
Later Seth was asked to come back as our Lincoln in
3.17 Stowaway.
He was very excited when he was invited back for
Season 4 and then for
5.12 Liberty.
Seth shared that he got into acting at an acting camp because of the snack machine (half joking). He wanted to go back so he can keep eating candy. But then he liked it a lot.
Then the floor was open for questions.
Q: How did he approach playing the two Lincolns?
He said he had no idea how to run a Fringe Unit. His first scene shooting was walking down the stairs. So he was practicing different ways coming down the stairs.When he asked who Alt-Lincoln was he was told that they had no idea.
In order to get into the character it helped him try on the character's clothes. When he had to play
Lincoln over here from
3.17 Stowaway he tried on different styles of glasses. It also helped that there was chemistry with the other actors.
Kirk Acevedo always gave him a hard time but they bonded well. Seth and
Josh Jackson hit it off right away.
The only regret for him on Fringe: He had to get different glasses because someone said they couldn't see his eyes very well. He was bummed because he felt that the glasses represented "this" Lincoln. So that's why Peter brought him different glasses in Season 4. (
4.07 Wallflower)
Q: Which Olivia?
He liked Fauxlivia better. Olivia always carried that heavy weight around but Fauxlivia didn't have that. He expanded this into the first question as well.
When he first appeared with
Anna Torv and Kirk Acevedo in
2.21 Over There Part 1
he watched the chemistry between Kirk and Anna and the energy Anna displayed. Fauxlivia was always moving, never standing still. Watching how Anna conveyed that energy helped him play the dual characters.
Q: A moment he is very proud of?
Playing the two Lincoln's at the same time. That was a confidence builder for him being able to do that because he essentially had to learn two scripts, watch for the technical aspect, sometimes acting against a stand-in or air. When he saw the episode he was proud and pretty much knew he could take on challenges.
This next question I would have asked as well.
Q: What was the point in Lincoln's life that made him different from Alt-Lincoln?
4.17 Everything In Its Right Place
"It wasn't an event. It was making a different choice. Because of that we, at any moment, can become a different person." Seth also saw this as a metaphor for Alt-Lincoln's death. Once our Lincoln realized that he could be just as confident as Alt-Lincoln, the latter wasn't needed anymore. Once Alt-Lincoln died our Lincoln essentially became the other, more confident even getting rid of the glasses in the future (5.12 Liberty) and ending up with Fauxlivia.
Remember in 3.18 Bloodline Alt-Lincoln professed his love to her as she was giving birth to Henry.
let's just leave different timelines out of the picture :)
Other questions asked.
Q: Will there be more of his character on Arrow?
He thinks so but he is also signed up to do
Gothica.
Q: What is Gothica about?
Gothica would be airing on
ABC if gets picked up
It was inspired by "
Falling House of Usher" by "
Edgar Allen Poe"
It's Frankenstein, the house of Usher, Dracula, Dorian Gray all together combined in a contemporary setting, in a fictional city called Gothica. You can read more about Gothica and Seth's character
here.
Q: He's played different characters. What has he learned?
What he has learned is to enjoy to be challenged by a part, stepping out of his comfort zone and be willing to fail and then to get back up on his feet. That's the art of acting.
He was also talking about auditioning and how it shouldn't turn into a competition between different actors for one part.
Q: His favorite place for vacation?
Home with his family. In order to find work you have to live in L.A. but then when you shoot you have to go where the show is being filmed so he likes to be at home. One of his favorite is
The Walking Dead so he had a geek moment at Starfest on Saturday when he saw
Melissa McBride.
Q: How did he get his role on The Da Vinci Code?
The
Da Vinci Code was directed by
Ron Howard who is Seth's father in law. Many think it was nepotism but it wasn't. Seth had proposed to his wife and then got the role. Seth saw it as a "test".
Q: Other roles he would like to play?
He was talking about how the Brit's always get to wield swords and he would like to do that.
Q: If asked to be on the new Star Wars, what side would he be on?
"Who cares". It's
J.J. Abrams.
A few questions were asked by children and he was very gentle, patient and totally sincere with them.
One girl asked what his favorite food was.
He said before he met his wife he would have to say steak but since his wife is a sweet tooth he would have to go with chocolate chip cookies.
This was probably the best panel I've sat in or watched. The questions asked were constructive (for lack of a better word) and Seth's answers were awesome.
The only thing I didn't like about it is that he only got 45 minutes.
If you ever get the chance it is well worth listening to him.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
Posts
