Moderator once again
starts the panel by asking Luke to look both ways, not just to his left, where
the question queue is, so everyone gets to look at his face from all angels
L: Halfway through, how about you give me a ‘hey!’ and I’m
going to move over there?
Fan: Do you think
Jonathan would have a parabatai, and if so, who?
Luke: Good question… (hesitates)
Fan: Do you think it would be Clary?
Luke: She’s not my biggest fan…
Fan: But if he turned good?
Luke: Probably not… who would be my parabatai?
Audience: Underhill!
Luke: Huh. Yeah. (pauses)
or…
Audience: Sebastian, if you hadn’t killed him
Luke: Yes! Sebastian! And it would be funny, because it
would be me and Will. So yes! Will’s my parabatai. There you go, I said it, it’s
official. Someone go and immediately ask him.
Fan: What’s the best
pick up line you’ve heard, received, or done?
Luke: (laughs) I
mean… So, I genuinely don’t think anyone has ever tried picking me up (audience AWWWs) It’s just because I
look creepy! It’s my face. (laughter)
But there was a night out in Toronto… Dom and I went out… (Luke pauses and makes a face and everyone laughs) You know it’s
going to be a good story. We’d gone to get dinner, it was like 9 o’clock and Dom’s
like (In a British accent) ‘Mate, let’s go to a club!’ and I was like ‘Nah’ and
he’s like ‘Yeah, yeah, it’s gonna be great!’ so we went to this full on club,
and of course Dom wants to get a table. And you know that when you get a table
in a club you have to buy a minimum of two bottles of alcohol. So he bought two
bottles of I don’t even know what. And then he’s like ‘We need to invite some
girls!’ and I’m just like ‘You know what? Knock yourself out…’ but Dom’s like ‘Those
girls over there? Tell them to come to our table!’ and I’m like ‘NO!’ I would
never in a million years walk up to a stranger. And he’s like ‘Just do it! Just
pretend you’re in character!’ and I was like (Luke makes a scandalised face and everyone laughs)
Anyway, long story short he dared me to go up and tell them
that ‘I’m so sorry’. And they would say ‘about what?’ and… (Luke stops, blushes, puts his face in his
hands and takes a good 5 seconds to continue the story) and I would say ‘That
you’re missing out on spending time with us.’
(audience whoops and
cheers)
Luke: That is not what happened. I went over, and they were
in the middle of a conversation and I literally walked up to them, walked
around their table, and walked back to our table.
And Dom was like “You loser.”
That’s my best story.
Fan: If the creators
of Shadowhunters gave you the opportunity to create your own character, what
would it be?
Luke: I feel like a half Shadowhunter, half Warlock could be
cool. Obviously the most powerful being
to ever exist. Actually, I could be 1/3 seelie, 1/3 warlock, 1/3 shadowhunter.
But like, be a nice guy and just be really really powerful so no one could challenge
me. And my name would be.. Xavier.
You’re welcome.
Fan: If you were offered
to play Spike in the Buffy reboot, would you take it?
Luke: It’s so hard because that is one of the best shows
ever made. I LOVED Buffy. And I would not want to ruin it. But I just don’t
think I could say no, because I love it so much. And apparently Joss Whedon is
involved in the remake, so I would trust that he would nail it. So yeah, I
would take Spike in a heartbeat!
Fan: Was it difficult
to play a villain?
Luke: Obviously, there were days where it’s hard once you
leave the set. There’s days where you are strung up in a cell in a straight
jacket and chains and you’re crying all day and that specific scene I’m
thinking of where he’s like “You’ll never love me!” or actually, that wasn’t
the line, it was “You’re supposed to me my princess!” – I said that line close
to 60 times because we shot from so many different angels and you’re just
screaming all day and you’re so exhausted by the time you leave.
When I did the film The Girl in the Photographs where I play
a serial killer that was a lot more intense. It’s not a fun thing. Specially
for someone like me. I hate any kind of violence so it’s really funny that I
keep playing violent people. It feels like this ickiness you can’t get away
from so you go home and you just want to shower and try and get rid of it, but
it’s really hard. But at the same time, I love playing those characters,
because there’s stuff going on, there’s something interesting, as opposed to
that person that’s just always happy, which I’m not sure I could play, because
I think I’d just get bored.
Young fan walks up to
the microphone
Luke: Hiiii! How are you doing this morning Annie? (to audience) Annie is 10 years old.
Annie: Which
character do you relate to most?
Luke: Great question! I think I relate most to Simon,
specifically from the books. When I was reading them I thought that he’s a
bumbling idiot, but in the best possible way. Don’t tell him I said that! But
yeah, I think Simon. If it were a real world, that’s the person who I would be.
With about 20% of Alec’s OCD.
Fan: What’s your
honest opinion on Jonathan?
Luke: I don’t think that he really… (hesitates) Like, ok, look! I know that he’s evil. But I really don’t
feel like… (hesitates, then glares at
audience) I heard that! She said ‘excuses!’. Let me give you some excuses.
He was injected with demon blood as a child. And here’s the thing, we talked
about this just now in the Meet & Greet and like, when Dom was possessed by…
hang on, not Dom! When Jace was possessed by the owl and did horrible things,
we all gave him a free pass. And when Clary was under the influence of
Jonathan, we all gave her a free pass. But I never got a f— free pass! He was
injected with demon blood and then he was sent to hell to be tortured! Like, I
know, it’s not ‘oh, poor Jonathan’, but I would have liked to see a world where
he got the love that most people deserve.
It was really funny, when I met Jocelyn in the last episode
when she comes back for the… you know, the doom prophecy (laughter) and our trailers were next to each other and I saw her
name on the door and I was like ‘right’, and I stormed over and knocked on her
door and was like ‘Hi I’m Luke!’ and she’s like ‘Oh, you’re playing Jonathan!’
and I’m like ‘Yeah. (agitated) Why
did you give me up?!?’ and she’s like ‘Because you kept killing things!’ and I
was like ‘Buy new things!’ and she goes ‘You killed our caretaker when you were
ten’ and I was like ‘Well, maybe I didn’t know that was wrong!’
But seriously, I would have liked to see a world where we
saw a bit more of that side. And maybe it’s just me, but I tend to believe the
best in everyone, and obviously not everyone is redeemable, because some people
have psychological issues that you can’t get away from, but I do think he
wouldn’t be anywhere near as messed up if he had been raised by a loving
family.
(AWWW)
Fan cosplaying Clary
walks up to the microphone
Luke: I saw you walking across the street this morning as we
were pulling up to the lot and I was like ‘That’s Clary!’ (laughter) If I had my phone to hand quick enough I would have taken
a video.
Fan: If you could have
any rune, where would you have it, what would it be, and why?
Luke: It would be an iratze and I would have it on my neck,
just like in the show, because I think it’s really cool. It makes me feel
tough, even though I’m not. And I would use it when I’m out drinking with my
friends, like Dom, people who are going to force alcohol down my throat, I’d be
able to run to the bathroom, activate it and I wouldn’t be drunk.
Fan: Surely it’s not
a hardship to go out drinking with Dom Sherwood?
Luke: It is if you have to wake up the next morning!! But if
I had the iratze, I could keep drinking and keep going to the bathroom and
iratze myself, and keep drinking and going to the bathroom… Also I would be
pretty much invincible, but that’s a side issue.
Fan: Who would you have
liked to film more scenes with?
Luke: Harry for sure! (cheering)
He was one of the first people who sat me down when I first joined the show and
was like ‘Do you have any questions?’ and I’m like ‘How do I fight?’
I’m not the most coordinated person ever and I was so
scared. And he gave me videos of martial artists to watch and he told me that I
didn’t have to be technically proficient, I just had to look like I was and put
my own flair on it. So I would have liked to work with him and I think that
could have been a really cool story line as well.
Fan: You’re such a
funny and easy going person
Luke: That’s subjective…
Fan: How did you get
into Jonathan’s character? Especially that last scene with Clary.
Luke: Music, honestly… I mean, obviously you do a lot of
research and I actually worked with this guy who was a psychologist that worked
with the FBI to track serial killers and he profiles them. And I worked with
him in 2015 for a film and when I went into this role I spoke to him again and
asked what this person would be like… I obviously had to give him a real world
example because it doesn’t quite work to say ‘so, he’s a demon…’
It was about finding out what kind of characteristics a
person would have if they were tortured by a foster parent, if they had
murdered someone when they were ten, all those sorts of things. And he painted
a very precise picture for me of what Jonathan would be like in the real world.
Even little things like the fact that he would have disassociation like, if I
were to say hello and give you a hug you would go ‘hi, how are you’ and as a normal
person I assume you would hug me back and think that was really nice. You
wouldn’t think anything of it. Whereas Jonathan, because he’s never been hugged
before, he would think that that was a romantic advance or he would think that
this person was the love of his life. There’s this disconnect that happens.
So I did a lot of work and research around that and I knew a
lot of the triggers for him but then to get into the headspace I had a playlist
of music I would listen to every day, featuring such hits as ‘I miss you’ from
Blink 182, cause nothing says emo like Blink 182. And there’s a song called ‘White
Trash Hero’ by Archers of Loaf. I can literally listen to 10 seconds of that
song and get really angry.
And there’s a Patsy Cline song, from the 50s or 60s and it’s one of the most beautiful songs in the world, it’s called ‘You Belong To Me’ and it’s all ‘I will travel the river Nile just to find you, you belong to me’ and all that, but if you listen to it as a sociopath, it’s so creepy! So I would listen to that before doing scenes with Kat and I would hear the lyrics repeat in my head. Seriously, go back and watch any of my scenes, but with that song playing and suddenly you’ll be like ‘oh wow, that’s why you’re a creep!’
Fan: What is the most
emotionally or physically difficult thing for you as an actor?
Luke: Not counting any of the injuries I’ve had, because
obviously that was really difficult to shoot, but otherwise I find it really
hard when I have to be restrained in any way. Not just the straight jacket and
chains, but also the scene where Jonathan comes in and smashes stuff in the
apartment and falls to his knees and starts crying. That whole scene was choreographed
in a way that meant I didn’t have a lot of freedom because I had to hit so many
marks because of lighting. Basically, it’s easier to light half the stage than
he whole stage, because we don’t have that many lights, so for that specific
scene I had to hit all of these marks, smash the thing, hit a mark, start to
cry, with my head at a 45 degree to the camera… and that was really difficult
to do. You can cry and have a scene and have emotions, but when you are doing
it and it’s so constrained by your surroundings and the technical elements of
filming, it’s really hard.
I remember I did the scene and I felt good about it, and I’m
on my knees and I’m in the middle of it and the directors like ‘No! More tears!
And tilt your head to the right! Yeah! Yeah! No! Reeeally to the right! No! No!
Get the light in your eyes!’ (Luke acts
out straining his neck unnaturally while acting and crying) So that was all
really hard.
The thing that was really funny about that scene was that we
wrapped and I went to my trailer and started to get changed ready for the next
scene and I get a call back and they asked me to do another take of that scene
and I asked if they needed me to cry again and they said yes, and I’m like ‘are
you sure?’ and they’re like ‘100%’ so I’m like ‘okay’. I put my head down
again, getting to an emotional place, started crying and we shoot the scene
again and they’re like ‘great, we got it!’ and afterwards the directors like ‘Why
are you crying?’ and I’m like ‘What do you mean??’ and he says that they were
shooting the back of my head… I thought I was going to kill someone. I’m
actually going to kill someone.
Fan: Can you tell us
how Kimberly-Sue dislocated your shoulder?
Luke: Ah, Kimberly-Sue. Love that girl! This is how you can
tell that I genuinely like her. She dislocated my shoulder and I still love
her.
It was an accident. Basically there was three reasons that
it happened.
First, when I was doing the fight scene apparently my brain
was telling my body to be elastic, because it was a lot of flowing movements.
And then I went from doing flowy movements, to that jarring push. And my brain
was still telling my body to be elastic. So that didn’t help.
The second thing was that they had readjusted me just before
they called action. Camera had asked me to take a step to my right. Which would
have been fine because she was meant to be coming at me front on, but when I
took a step to the side, she was coming at me slightly from the side. So there
was nothing to stop my arm from going that way because it wasn’t in front of my
body anymore.
And then she was coming at more of a force than rehearsed because
she was wearing heels.
So yeah, it was just a really bad combination of things.
Fan: Do you think
Clary killed Jonathan with kindness or did she only kill his bad side?
Luke: I chose to believe that just after she left he woke
up. Because I can make up whatever I want to. That’s the fun of being in a
sci-fi show! I think that he woke up really confused, had no memory, looked
around and saw all the dead bodies and just got up and started running. And then
he made his way to New York because it’s Toronto and the closest major city is
New York, I don’t know how, but he got across the border. And he’s just chilling
in New York at the moment.
Fan: So you don’t
think he’s a Shadowhunter anymore?
Luke: I think he might still have it inside of himself, the
way Clary does, but he’s not aware of it.
Fan: In the book,
there’s a scene with Clary and Jonathan from an alternate universe. Do you ever
wish they included scenes like that, to see the other side of Jonathan?
Luke: So many! Yeah!
I also would have loved to have seen, and also have that
challenge as an actor to play the moment where Jonathan met Sebastian. I would
have loved to have scene that. I did try to talk Will into doing it just on my
iPhone while we were in Paris… ‘We’re in Paris! Let’s go to the café! And we
will film it!!’
Fan: It would have
been nice to see the nature/nurture thing
Luke: Yes! And that would have been really interesting. Just
the way that Clary was raised and the person Jocelyn was, that whole ‘liberal
arts New Yorkers’, and Clary was raised by a single mum cos in my head
Valentine’s still not there. I feel that would have been something that would
have been great to see and given us a chance to really understand what it would
have been like.
And it doesn’t happen in that alternate universe, but it would have been cool to see what would happen if it wasn’t me that was injected with demon blood, but Clary, and how that story would have gone down. Maybe on my 18th birthday I would have found out that I was a Shadowhunter and I’d have really good hair, and go running through the streets going… (tosses hair like he’s in a l’oreal advert)
Matt: No! Reason one: Because I’m in a room full of a bunch of British people, and I have not prepared. And reason two: because I’m not doing it. I’m sorry. I won’t. I apologise. But ask me on the street and I’ll do it one on one with you. I do it all the time as I’m walking around, but I’m not doing it here.
(all throughout Matt’s
answer he’s getting heckled by the audience daring him to do it and asking him
to prove that he does it all the time)
Dom: This is British politics. Just kind of yelling at each
other. You’re in the House of Lords explaining your point and this is what
happens, people just yelling PROVE IT!
M: I’ve seen that on TV… because I’m allowed to. You guys
aren’t. They can’t air it on TV in this country
D: That’s right
M: They can only watch it in my country, so I watch it when
you guys can’t see it, so that’s on you..
D: Does that make you more British than American? NEXT
QUESTION!
Fan: Who’s the better
sibling, Izzy or Max?
M: Go to your parents and ask them which one of us do you
love the most?
(audience yells, that
we did ask that in the Nicola panel)
M: You asked?
D: What did she say?
Audience: She said it depends on the situation
D: There’s a correct answer to this! As much as we all make
jokes about it, it is the adopted one, because she chose me!
M: I’m going to let that go because… I only have hate in my
voice right now and I’m not going to sink to his level.
Fan: What’s your
favourite thing about each other and what annoys you most?
M: My favourite thing about Dom is that he is fun to hang out with. He’s a good, nice, kind person. Thinks of others before himself. Probably a better man that I will ever be. (Audience awwwwws. Dom gets up and hands over £10 to a lot of laughter.)
M: And the thing that annoys me about Dom, is all of the above… (Laughter)
D: My favourite thing about Matt is… that he’s honest!
Fan: When you’re in
the shower… what is your go to shower song?
(Dom and Matt both
look scared at the beginning, then very relieved at the end of that question)
M: I liked the start of that question. When you guys are in
the shower… and then it was harmless
D: It was all good in the end.
M: I have never listened to a song in the shower once in my
life. I don’t think I have ever done it. Where is the music even coming from?
Is it playing outside? Are you bringing a boom box into the shower? Do I bring my
cell phone in and blast low quality tunes? No! I won’t do it and I object to
the concept and I have to say that I will never do it!
D: I promise you that at least one of these questions we’re
going to answer properly. We don’t know which one it’s going to be, but we will
answer it properly.
Fan: Dom, have you
ever played any regional characters from here in England?
D: Erm… no. Not… no. Just no.
M: He’d struggle doing the accent right
D: I haven’t… I… I… no. There’s no fun story or anecdote to
that, it’s just a no. And Matt may be correct that I do a piss poor British
accent so that’s it.
Fan: You sound a bit
Mancunian in Don’t Speak
D: In Don’t Speak, where I was supposed to be American?
Alright…
M: What?
D: They said I went a bit Mancunian in my accent in Don’t
Speak, but he’s from Massachusetts so…
M: Oh, but they are very similar so that’s okay…
Fan: Can you do an
impression of each other?
M: We get asked that every single time and we’re not doing
it because it gets us in trouble, so we don’t do it
D: Last time we did it, the show got cancelled (audience howls with laughter)
Fan: Matt, if you played Jace do you think you would have done a better job?
M: Yes! (laughter)
No, of course not! I lack the intrinsic narcissism to portray such a
delightful, adopted, second favourite.
Fan: Well you did audition
for him first… (laughter)
M: In the movie? Well… you take what you can get. You start
with the bottom roles and you work your way up…
D: Anyway, thank you!
Fan: If you could
have your favourite characters from various TV shows in one show, who would you
have and what would it be about?
M: I would have the entire cast of Veep, and I would have
them do more Veep. Is that an option? The take away from this is that I like
the show Veep.
D: I would have the entire cast from Jersey Shore, but do Lost.
Fan: This question is
for both of you
D: Playing the odds! Very nice!
Fan: We have this
debate… When you sneeze, do you sneeze into your hands or your elbow?
(Matt pulls his sweater over his mouth and nose and mimes sneezing into it)
D: Yeah, you should see the inside of that!
(Matt laughs, then pats and rubs his chest, where all the snot would be)
M: I want to talk about sneezing for a second. I’m going to
be very quick! When you sneeze, how many of you make a big loud sound? How many
of you engage your vocal cords when you sneeze? I don’t understand it. You just
let the air out. It should just be a ‘ssssss’ sound but instead you’re like ‘ACHOO!’
You said ‘achoo!’, it’s ridiculous. “I can’t control it… I sneeze and that’s what
happens” But you said ACHOO! (agitated)
Fix it! Fix it! Fix it!
D: I’m a very quiet sneezer and I sneeze into my hand. Thank
you for the question.
M: You know you know someone when you hear them sneeze, and
you go ‘Oh, its you’.
Fan: If you had your own brand of detergent, what would you
name it and what would it smell off?
D: Mine… I could bottle it and sell it here and make an
absolute fortune because I’d call mine ‘Matt Daddario’ (cheering)
M: What do I smell off? Describe me! Describe my scent.
(Dom leans over to sniff Matt and pretends to retch from the smell)
M: If you could turn that sound into a word, that would be
the name of it. The sound of retching.
D: For everyone who is live tweeting this, I want them to come up with the actual written word for (Dom retches again)
(laughter)
M: I would name my detergent ‘No, you stink!’ and the smell
would be somewhere between a person who just went for a run but wore deodorant and
the smell of a dog’s paws after it’s been outside in the grass. And it’s called
‘No, you stink!’
The Matt panel included a lot of pre-organisation due to the fact that it had recently been Matthew’s birthday, and some fans had got him a cake, a birthday book, and planned to spell out ‘Happy 32nd Birthday Matt’ with A4 paper, with animals on the back.
The plan… mostly worked.
Matt arrives on stage
Moderator: How are you feeling?
Matt: I’m feeling great!
Mod: Good. I’d just like to apologise in advance
Matt looks around the
room, scared
Audience starts to
sing happy birthday, as fans standing in a row along one wall hold up A4 paper
with animals on, and another fan bring a caterpillar cake down the aisle to the
stage. Matt hides his face in his hands. As the song finishes, the fans along
the wall turn the paper around, to spell out HAPP 32nd BIRTHDAY MAT,
as the Y has gone missing and the T was in the Meet & Greet with Matthew
and hasn’t got back to the panel room yet.
Matt: Okay, right away… number 3 and number 2, let’s switch you around…
Matt takes in the
cake
Matt: First of all thank you. That was very very sweet. I do have a little thing I want to say… that a birthday is an opportunity once a year where everyone around you gets to just yell at you and you just sit and be quiet. You sit there and you say (quietly) ‘Thank you. Thank you.’, in this moment where everyone is looking at me. That’s what happens.
And I love this caterpillar cake. I assume it is edible? Shall we cut it?
Mod: It’s for you to take
Matt: Oh. I have to take it to green room? Okay. (to audience) Unless you guys want cake?
Mod: I think they want to ask you questions…
Matt: Okay, we won’t discuss happy birthday any further but whoever was responsible for all this… I’ll get you later!
Mod: We do have one more little thing for you
Matt: No, why? No, no… why!?! It’s not fair…
Mod: The fans asked because they love you, what did you want
me to do. Say no?
Matt: Okay, okay, okay, fine…
Matt is presented
with a gift and his birthday book
Matt: I’m literally sweating right now!
Mod: I hear it’s pretty amazing, I’m sure you’ll love it
Matthew wipes sweat from his brow and sighs loudly
Mod: I’ve not seen it myself but I think it’s –
Matt: Is anyone here actually comfortable on their birthday? Do you want gifts? YES! I deserve these gifts! Also sing me my birthday song right now! Put fire on top of a sugary treat and I will blow it out and then the gods will grant me a wish! HAPPY BIRTHDAY ME!
Mod: This is from 5 or 6 people..
Matt: 5 or 6? That’s 5 or 6 too many! Birthdays should be spend ALONE. In a cave so people can’t come at you and sing the song! – – Actually it should be a game! It should be that on your birthday everyone just tries to hunt you. So at any given time 1/365th of the population is hiding. And some percentage of the rest are hunting. Every day would be way more interesting.
Mod: We’ll do that next year! You will hide and we’ll hunt
you
Matt: But you know where I am
Mod: Maybe you should wear a disguise or something?
Matt: Ah yes… I’ll be the one with the mask on
Mod: Well, thank you everyone who was involved in this!
Matt: Thank you guys, really, thank you
Mod: everyone who has questions, line up as discussed before
please. (to Matt) Did you think that
all those people wanted to ask questions when you came in?
Matt: Well, I was like ‘I hate to say it, but I don’t see it
happening…’
Everyone starts to get back to their seat. Matt takes a deep breath and exhales loudly
Matt: So that’s done now… maybe afterwards we can do something equally as fun, like getting your teeth drilled…
Fan: If Magnus is angry, what does Alec do to make the
situation better?
Matt: It depends on the situation. Why is Magnus angry? …like any other good person, he evaluates the source of the anger, then seeks a non-violent way to discuss what might be the underlying problem, and then they come to a… a… what’s the word I’m looking for?
Audience: Compromise
Matt: …they figure it out. And before you know it, they’re right back to being happy with each other, because what’s the point? What are you going to be all angry about, anyway? I’m 32. Time keeps marching on towards that end. If I’m going to spend any of it angry, (points at audience) it’s going to be with you.
I’m kidding. Some of you were going ‘whoa!’ and I want to
make something very clear here. I’m being sarcastic. And I really appreciate
the birthday. And I like the song, it’s touching. But you know… I get
awkward.
But there you go. Thank you very much. I’ve solved the problem. Next question!
Mod: Can I ask you, while you are talking, can you make sure
to look at the right side of the room as well (the question queue is on the left) because they’re saying that this
side of your face is really ugly, so they’d like you to turn around
Matt: Aha! I knew it!
Mod: Obviously they’re not saying that, it’s just that the
queue is over here, so try and look both ways
Matt: Actually, that’s a good point and very good practice… for… other times I am going to be speaking on a stage. (laughter) Okay, next question. (Matt dramatically turns away from the question queue towards his right and stares at the audience on that side)
Fan: How many dates did it take before AU Malec became a
couple?
Matt: How do you know they became a couple? (audience protests) Okay, okay… How many dates would it take? I mean… what really is a couple? When are you really a couple? Is it after the first time you went to dinner? It all depends on what happens in the future! Because the reality is that if you see someone day 1, and then you get married 3 years later, then you were technically a couple from day 1. Unless there were some other things going on. I hope there weren’t! (Matt stops to think about it)
There weren’t! Of course there weren’t! So they were a
couple since the first time they met.
However if they take some sort of ongoing break somewhere along the line, then the time starts again, so it all depends on what happens in the future. But in the moment, you would say ‘we’re a couple’ after you’ve been on some dates. Do you know what I mean? It’s like… history is what happened, right?
Fan: So they’re married, too?
Matt: You are looking for iron clad confirmation on whether
they are married in the alternate universe? Well… The only constant in the
multi-dimensional Shadowhunters universe is that Magnus and Alec are married in
every single one of them. (Audience
cheers)
And that Clary is difficult… NEXT!
Fan: What is the most anticipated thing on your birthday?
Matt: I really like it when everybody sings the song… (laughter)
I like that on your birthday you kind of get a pass from each person you meet. You can go and steal a loaf of bread and if they catch you, you say ‘it’s my birthday’ and they go ‘In that case this one’s on us!’.
Also in your personal relationships, you also get a pass. That’s the day when no one gets to be mad at you. They have to bite their tongue, which gives you an opportunity to antagonise them. You can go ‘I don’t really like the food you’ve prepared for me’ and they’ll go (through clenched teeth) ‘oh, I’m so sorry’ and because it’s your birthday, they can’t say anything.
You get to be special for one day a year. And the rest of the time you are just… normal.
That’s what I like the most (turns to audience and whispers)
THE POWER….
Fan: If you could live as any Disney character for one day, who would you pick?
Matt: I mean… Disney owns half the universe right now. I think they own like 55% of the entire entertainment space right now, so my options include all of the Star Wars universe, which is pretty great. I assume you are talking about the original Disney. The big 6. Lion King, Aladdin, that kind of things… I would be the hyenas in Lion King. They have a dope thing going on. They are completely insane and they seem to be enjoying themselves all the time, laughing, rolling on their backs. So that’s who I would be.
Fan: If you had to give up your bow
and arrow, what would be your next weapon of choice?
Matt: I know there’s going to be some objections to this, but if my goal is to kill things and that is my job – if it is literally in my job title, shadow-HUNTER – I would probably move to a more effective version of a bow and arrow. They’ve been around for a little while now. They’re called guns. Alec could probably benefit from having one. There’s some reasoning that it doesn’t work, but Luke has a gun and he saves the day a couple of times with it. I know that it doesn’t really work, because the show is demonic but… a gun.
If there’s a demon, your problem is
solved, pull out your gun, just shoot it. Done.
(Fan says thank you and tries to leave, but Matt isn’t done)
Matt: And then we had those anti aircraft guns in Idris! Right at the end. Did you see those? Obviously guns are available and solved some problems, so… guns. Terrible thing, but they are effective at killing.
Fan: If you could transform into
any animal, what would it be?
Matt: Any animal? Any animal at all? But I have to choose only one? I mean, there’s an obvious answer to the questions and that’s the killer whale. You have a whole bunch of friends. Top of the food chain. You get to kill sharks for fun. You play around and you’re basically a murderous psychopath but everyone thinks you’re just so cute. (Simpering voice) ‘oh it’s so cute. You see how it killed that seal and played with its dead body? It’s so amazing!’
That’s actually true for most of the animal kingdom. (awed) ‘See that owl? See how it’s tearing that animal to shreds? So beautiful… It’s just beautiful. Nature is just beautiful.’
People go on safaris and they see the reality of what nature is, which is horrifying… I don’t know if this story is true or not, but I like it anyway. Darwin was a religious man and what made him question god was the parasitic wasp. No one looks at the parasitic wasp’s larva crawling out of the paralysed host body of a cockroach and goes ‘AWESOME! That’s so good! What a beautiful thing!’ No, you say ‘Ew! It makes my skin crawl!’
One time I caught a fish and its tongue had been replaced by a type of parasite that latches on and eats and replaces the fishes tongue and I swear I almost vomited. To see it was abhorrent. Then again some people who love parasitic creatures would say ‘aaaaah, what a find! Yes! Amazing!’ And it WAS cool, I mean I’m still talking about it now..
So I guess the answer to your question is that the great thing about being in the animal kingdom is that when you are not getting brutally killed by something, you are brutally killing something and then humans go ‘wow! I want to film you!’ so… killer whale is the answer. I may have gone off topic… Parasitic wasp.
Someone’s going to tweet this and
say ‘Matt just really wanted to be a killing creature’. And just to be clear,
that’s not what I was saying. I was saying I wanted to be a parasitic wasp.
Thank you.
Fan: If you could make your own TV
show, what would it be about?
Matt: You all know the answer, so I
have to change my answer.. I like the idea of a space cowboy! A guy who is operating outside the law. The Wild
West is now outer space and he has a ship which is his horse, etc etc
Audience: Like Firefly?
Matt: Basically, yes! Same idea. But then again any space show, even Star Trek, was essentially just ‘Here’s a new town’ every episode, and we just use space as an excuse and discuss futuristic topics, which are very popular these days. So yes, it would be something that takes place in space.
Maybe it could be a space nature show. … That goes horrible wrong! And someone gets eaten by a parasitic wasp on another planet. That’s 20 feet tall and drags you off to his lair. (Matt looks at the fan who asked the question) You’re too young to know about parasitic wasps!
Do they still have the Discovery Channel showing animal shows on there? That was my favourite show on TV when I was a kid. But you have a different appreciation for it when you are older, when they stop giving you nothing but Steve Irvin, may he rest in peace, with his alligators. That’s a great show! You should fine that and watch all of it. It’s the best!
Fan: You were great as Pennywise in
IT Chapter 2
Matt: Thank you. I know I did great. I was just there for the scenes where he was contorted, not the rest.
Fan: If you could be any member of
the losers club, which one would you be, other than Mike?
Matt: aaaaaah man… The answer is
Mike. Anything else would be a lie. It would be Mike, cause he’s who I like the
most.
I don’t know who I’d be. They’re
all so damaged. I haven’t read the book in so long, so I don’t know who I’d be.
From the film though… I don’t know… Mike! Or Jessica Chastain’s character. I
like her too.
Has everyone seen IT2? You all have
to go and see it and support Isaiah. It only made like a billion dollars, so it
needs some support.
Fan: I have two questions. What
pizza do you like more – Italian Pizza or New York Slice?
Matt: What’s the second questions?
I want to see if I can combine them
Fan: Where is your favourite place
to get a New York Slice in New York?
Matt: Right. Italian pizza and New York pizza are two different things. It’s like comparing two things that cannot be compared. Do you like apples or oranges? I like both, for different reasons. Same as New York pizza vs Italian pizza. Italian pizza normally has better ingredients and I like the paper thin bread. Not crunchy, but soft.
My favourite place to get NY pizza was on 84th and Lex and I’d go there constantly and they closed a few years back. They were taken over by another place that actually sells pretty good pizza.
The best place to have a slice of pizza in New York is the place that’s closest to you. The point of pizza in New York is that it is there to feed you. You want food? You hungry? Pizza! There! One slice! Here! Money? Take! Great! Done!
That’s the best thing about pizza. It’s easy and it’s right there and you can eat it while you walk. And if you sit down while you eat it? Then… then… shame! Shame on you! Walk with it! Fold it in half! You get your metro card out and you swipe, still eating the pizza. Got oil dripping out the back? You’re an amateur. You have to be able to handle where the oil goes. You have to hold it really tight and balance it and know when it’s leaky, because you can tell instinctively.
Fan: What if you drop your metro
card?
Matt: Pick it up! Why are you dropping your metro card? Ridiculous! Your scenario is nuts. If you drop your metro card, you know what, you’re not taking the subway, you’re walking!
Matt: And by the way, here’s a little tip.. not my most secret tip. Maybe one day I will release that one, because no one seems to know that tip, so that’s something to hold over your heads now. But the other secret tip is: If you see a metro card on the ground in a location that does not make sense, then it has money on it.
Audience: Duh…
Matt: Oh, so people know that? Good!! The key place is outside the entrance because someone went to get their wallet out or put the card back in their wallet, and it fell. And if you are a student in New York or an actor who doesn’t have any work and you have no money, you pick it up.
Now, if you’re a little older it’s no
longer appropriate… So I just make sure that nobody is looking.
Fan: If Shadowhunters was the
Hunger Games, who do you think would win?
Matt: (instantly) Alec would win! (laughter)
Obviously, this kind of
conversation is really frustrating, because everything gets ruined by the god
element, which is that the warlocks are unstoppable
machines and Magnus is one of the best one, if not the best, so Magnus wins.
It’s not even a close call.
Fan: Would Magnus save Alec?
Matt: I mean, it’s the Hunger Games…
Fan: Would he let Alec win?
Matt: But then you’ve got a
problem. Because would Alec let Magnus win. So now we’ve entered into an issue so
the only answer is, WE’VE GOT TO DESTROY THE SYSTEM. They have to work together
and kill the bosses… I’m guessing that that’s what happens in the Hunger Games?
Audience: Yep
Matt: (big sigh) Surprise surprise…
Fan: Where do you think Malec went
on their honey moon?
Matt: Where didn’t they go? They went everywhere! If you are not limited by travel time or financial concerns because, as I made pretty clear, he’s essentially married to a god, so yeah, they went everywhere. In fact for breakfast they went to one place, and then they decide they want to go to a museum in New York and then they want to get some food from a specific place in Hong Kong and they do all of that before 1pm because there is no limit to what they can do.
Like, let’s think about your house. It has various rooms, but if I set up a permanent portal and leave it in a doorway, then I walk from one room to the other and I actually have homes in 20 different places. I walk into the living room and I’m on the moon. I’m watching TV on the moon, I walk to the kitchen and get a glass of water and I’m in New York, I look outside and think ‘huh’ because my bedroom is all the way in China. You ever read the book Hyperion? It has a similar concept. It’s a good book. The first two, anyway. … End of discussion. Next question!
Fan: What’s the best pick up line
you’ve heard, received, and used
Matt: What’s the best pick up line?
The best pick up line is ‘Hello, my name is ____, what is your name?’ – That
one works in pretty much every social situation.
Fan: Yeah but that’s an
introduction
Matt: What is a pick up line other than an introduction? A pick up line implies something. It’s in introduction with an implication of further interaction. And the interaction is of a certain type. So if I came up and I went like so (makes monkey noises and arm gestures) that’s a pick up line, right? It’s pretty clear what I want, I think? Although for some others… like, check out what the giraffes do. It’s weird. Or what the gorillas do. It’s also pretty weird. Every animal has their own pick up line and usually it’s a little bit aggressive.
Now if I come up to you and say ‘Hi, hello, my name is Matt, and your name is, and then you say your name’ except you say ‘you know what, I have no idea where this is going, because you didn’t use a pick up line, so obviously it’s just an introduction. Now we are done. We have been introduced! End of discussion! Goodbye!’
No! An introduction in a setting
implies what’s happening so you don’t need a pick up line. If I’m in a bar and
I come up to you and I say ‘Hello my name is Matt’ and you say –
Fan: I’m Mercedes
Matt: And then you say ‘Oh this must be a pick up’ but you are wrong, because you didn’t look at the wedding ring!
(Audience goes crazy with whooping and cheering) …but in any other situation the pick-up is implied, and anything other than hello is silliness or cockamamie narcissism.
Fan leaves and Matt shouts ‘love you’ after her.
Fan: You mentioned in an interview
that you crashed into a wedding and my question is how did you crash into said
wedding?
Matt: I crashed into a wedding? Me? So just to be clear… I said in a public interview that I went to someone else’s special affair and said ‘S’up? I’m gonna eat your food. Looks great. Can I be part of your special day?’ and they said ‘You know what, this isn’t about us. This is about you, random guy!’ – And I was proud of that?
Are you sure I wasn’t making up some sort of humours anecdote like me wanting to be a parasitic wasp? Because I don’t – TO BE CLEAR – want to be a parasitic wasp. Just as much as I would never crash a wedding. Just as much as I would never steal a loaf of bread. These are all hypothetical things that I made up over the course of the day. And maybe tomorrow I will believe half of them. Maybe tomorrow half of your groups of twitter people will believe it because you put it on the internet as fact. ‘Matt says he steals loaves of bread.’ And ‘Matt says he’s a parasitic wasp.’
Just to be clear – we are going back to the situational learning – Anything I have said here is likely untrue.
So no. I didn’t do that. But that’s who I hope to be some day. He sounds like a good guy
Fan: If Alec was a social media
influencer what would be – –
Matt: In the Shadow world or the
existing world?
Fan: Could be either
Matt: Either way, he’s going to
take butt photos.
Fan: Okay, but my question is what platform would he use?
Matt: Ah! I presumed the end of
your question and I went the wrong direction with my answer.
What platform would he use? Erm… printed media is doing great. Newspapers. Magazines.
Fan: But what about social media?
Matt: Isn’t a newspaper social media? It’s just really slow… People write their opinion. ‘Last week you said XYZ and that made me angry!’ – it’s basically a message board, just a lot slower. Does social media have to be immediate? On social media nowadays you make friends with someone like this (clicks fingers) and now you’re my friend, because we share interests.
But really, I think things were better back in the old days. Since I’m 82, I don’t know if you know that, but I know this… There was a time when there was no internet. And you weren’t allowed to be friends with someone immediately. It took days! In fact you had to write to the newspaper and check out the situation.
‘John from down the street, I bumped into you at the laundromat. It seemed like you might be a good guy. You like football, I like basketball. Those are some shared interest.’ – And then John writes back to the newspaper and says ‘Yes, those are shared interests, but I am not interested.’ – Seven days wasted! Making friends back then was very difficult.
Anyway… Printed media, that’s the future!
Fan: Are you implying that you
would make friends through printed media?
Matt: No, I am implying that Alec is out of touch. But yes, he would make lots of friends and then he’d be… y’know… all over the papers.
Fan: Thank you (tries to leave, but Matthew continues)
Matt: Is that still a saying? He’s all over the papers? Now you just say ‘Ah, he’s on Instagram! And…. he posts photos.’ – ‘Of what?’ they ask – ‘Erm… him? Sometimes him, with something?’
Fan: Okay, thank you (edging away)
Matt: I’m positive that I answered
that appropriately!
Last question. Fan talks about the autograph session on Saturday and the message Matt wrote on her DVD for someone and that Kat posted a little video for this person, and she phoned and told the recipient about the messages, who has not stopped crying since…
Matt: The take away is that Kat
made him cry!
Fan: You really made him smile, so thank you for that. My question: Yesterday Dom said that his time with Shadowhunters was finished and he wouldn’t come back for a season 4. Do you feel the same way?
Audience collectively groans and grumbles.
Matt: Okay, first of all Dom is
doing.. what’s it called?
Audience: Penny Dreadful
Matt: No, I obviously know that! So
yes, Dom is doing a TV show called Penny Dreadful and none of you have ever
even heard of it. So he’s doing the thing when… what is it called when you say ‘Well,
even if the show came back, I wouldn’t have done it anyway’ – what do you call
that psychological method?
Audience shouts various terminology
at Matt
Matt: Something. Whatever. The point is he didn’t mean it. If he even said that, which I am questioning. And I? Would I come back for season 4?
Fan: If the role was right and the
time was right and what was going on in your life…
Matt: The thing is, the show ended… If we’d continued it would have been different and yes, obviously. But the show has ended, so coming back would be strange. I mean, you could see something in the long run, maybe… it would require some thoughts, and it would depend on the material
Fan: Yes, so if the story was right
and you felt it was right and…
Matt: Well, if the story is right and you feel it is right, that’s cool, and the budget was 250 million dollars and it’s directed by Martin Scorsese, then yeah. (laughter) But that’s the optimal case.
I would also accept lesser situations.
Fan: When Dom said that yesterday I
think it upset a lot of people, so..
Matt: Who? Dom upset people?
Fan: Yes
Matt: Kat made your son cry. Dom
upset people. Seems that I’m the only one who saves the day… (laughter)
Look here… You enjoyed the show,
right? They managed to wrap it up. We didn’t get hit like Santa Clarita Diet
did. So many shows didn’t get what we got. Deadwood? Just done! Rome? Done!
Once again, we missed the beginning of this panel due to other things overlapping, walking in halfway through Chai answering a question – we presume – on his favourite books, where he explained that he reads a lot of philosophical stuff such as ‘The Power of Now’ and ‘The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari’, however he is not part of Rosende Reads and hilariously couldn’t understand the fan who asked him, because he didn’t remember the name of Alberto’s bookclub, but we are not allowed to tell Alberto that.
Here’s everything else
we can remember from the panel with Chai Hansen
Fan: How are you feeling?
Chai: A lot better, thank you! (to audience) Yesterday I wasn’t feeling the best. I had a stomach
bug. But today I feel a lot better. I had a good night’s sleep. Also I travelled
from Australia to be here so that’s a 28 hour flight just for you guys… (crowd:
AWWWW)
Fan: If you were stranded on a deserted island with one
member of the cast, who would you pick?
Chai: Probably Alberto (everyone laughs, because we’re all aware of his huge bro-crush) or Dom, because they’re both quite funny. And as Jordan it would be Maia because… yeah.
Fan: This is for my little sister, who just had to leave to
go and see Luke..
Audience: laughs
Chai: Luke, is it…? Riiight….
Fan: My sister grew up with Mako Mermaid and wanted to know how hard it was to work with the tail and to swim with it and everything
Chai: That was the first job I ever got leading… even just acting really. And I was really nervous going into it. I’d had coaching sessions from the acting side, but then I was told I’d be doing all of this in a tail, and we’re just going to throw you in the water. And I was like ‘Oh okay! Cool! …am I going to drown?’ And they go ‘No, no, no, you’ll be fine! We’ve got a couple of stunties there so if you do drown, they’ll get you out, and they know CPR. You’ll be fine!’ – ‘Oh okay. Cool. Okay…’ – ‘Also… mind the sharks and sting rays.’ – – Cause we’re filming this whole thing in Seaworld, so I got to swim with actual sharks and sting rays. With a tail. And you could see the sharks and the sting rays be like ‘What is that?!?’
So yeah, it was daunting to begin with but then it’s like
riding a bike. You get used to is and it starts to be really fun, because you
could really swim with it. And then for the next season, the tails were made
differently. They were a lot more flexible and the movement was more organic.
Jason – a friend of mine – who created the tails worked on each tail for about
8 weeks, to get it to be perfect and in the new tails he put a lot more silicon
in, which made them flow like it was a real tail. So I learnt to swim really
well in it and actually became a better swimmer from having this tail on.
It was a really good experience and I thoroughly enjoyed
working on Mako and every season got better than the last one and I hope they
do another season now… and ask me back… that would be great.
Fan: Jordan’s life was cut short by the silver poisoning.
How do you see his life with Maia going, if that hadn’t happened?
Chai: The thing that he was obsessed with was forgiveness.
Not necessarily being with Maia, but being forgiven by Maia. So I think if he
got it and felt that he got it from her, he may have left her alone…? I’ve
thought about it for a while, and I’m not sure if he got the forgiveness he
needed. He got it narratively. He got it in the story, but that’s not the same
as actually believing it, and I’m not sure he believe it until maybe right at
the end, when he sacrificed himself. To me, that was his penance.
If he had survived, after having sacrificed himself, he may
have finally moved on. What do you guys think? Did you want to see Jordan with
Maia? (everyone pretty unanimously says
no) Yeah, same. He was obsessive about it the entire time. The fact that he
ran away from this huge thing meant that he was fixated on her. One of my notes
from back then said ‘Why?’ – Why did you do this? Why did you run away? And for
me.. you don’t know what you’re going to do until something like this happens.
I was talking about ‘fight or flight’ with someone yesterday and it’s either
one or the other, but you don’t know which one, until it happens to you. And
for him it was ‘flight’. So I think he was trying to prove himself by going
back and showing that he could be ‘fight’. So yeah, I remember writing ‘Why did
you do that?’ and then trying to figure it out, and some people just react
differently in different situations. I read Jordan’s part of the book and he’s
a lot more guarded in the book, we know less about him, so I tried to approach
this with a bit more sensitivity. I had fun with it but it was also really
difficult to be that kind of person, because you actually have to go there as
an actor…
Someone said yesterday ‘I wish Jordan smiled more’ and hey,
yeah, me too! I wish he smiled more. But he wears his heart heavy on his sleeve
and that was kind of my approach to Jordan. I look around at all of you and I
think in this situation, probably most of you would have fought, and that’s
probably the normal response, but it’s all speculation. You just don’t know
until you’re in that situation.
Fan: Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Even just in an
argument, when you walk away, and then think ‘Damn it! I should have said
this!!’
Chai: Oh my god all the time!! Or even after this, I’ll go
to the Green Room and think ‘Ah man, it would have been so funny if I’d said
this, instead of that. They would have laughed so hard…’
Michelle: Just tweet it after!
Chai: Yes, I will tweet it… so… watch my twitter later.
Fan: What are your goals for your next show or movie?
Chai: I love fantasy and action. And comedy. I’m quite funny
… Tough it depends on whether you think I’m funny. I think I’m funny.
Sometimes. Anyway. I would like to do more fantasy action TV shows. That’s
where I see myself. I also want to play a young Jack Sparrow. (Audience whoops). That would be cool.
It’s probably not gonna happen but… shoot for the stars!
Chai: What do you think?
Fan: What do I see you playing? The feeling I get from you
in Shadowhunters and you generally is about being protective, so roles in which
you’re a big brother, a security guard, you protect and care for people…
Audience: aww
Chai: I feel that that is my nature
Fan: I feel it’s very clear from the way you act, from the
way you speak, from the way you talk to people, that you are that person
Chai: *melts*
Chai: Thank you so much! – – I was raised by my mother. She
taught me well. I live by empathy. I lead with my heart and I have never gone
wrong by doing that. If you give 100% of your heart and soul, you can never go
wrong. I believe in that.
Fan: What is it like to play Sun WuKong, a character that is
as historically significant as him, in Legends of Monkey and if you could choose
another character like that (Shakespearean, Histporical, Roman Gods, something
that’s so important and has been adapted so many times) what would it be?
Chai: Some have called him the Asian Jesus… (laughs). I did a lot of research. I am
so honoured to be playing Sun WuKong. When I got the audition I was freaking
out because I just had to get this. I watched Dragonball Z as a kid. I know all
about Journey to the West. I read the book. It’s an amazing book by the way, it’s
really funny and dark. So I knew a lot about it before I got the audition. My
mum was a massive fan of Monkey Magic, which is what Legens of Monkey was
influenced by, so I just had to get this role. I put everything into this
audition and then I did a fight scene audition and because of my breakdancing
background, I had the upper hand in that regard. And then I ended up getting
the role, which I still can’t believe to this day. I was super honoured and I
went into study research mode. I re-read the book. I watched all the
adaptations. I tried to incorporate Goku and Vegeta in little way in my Monkey,
that people may not notice if they watch the show but… I’m freaking honoured. I
love this show. And I might… be doing… a second season… who knows. Maybe I’ll
tell you later…
If I could do another show like this… (Chai then mentioned a
character we’d never heard of, and doesn’t mention what this character is from –
grateful for anyone who remembers this bit and has any information) — it’s
Comedy/Action. I’m a huge fan of Jackie Chan so anything that puts comedy into
action would be a dream come true. So yeah, anything Comedy/Action I would die
to do.
Fan: I’m Australian
Chai: Oh! Where abouts??
Fan: Brisbane!
Chai: (over excited) I’ve lived in Brisbane! Jordan’s from Brisbane!
Fan: Me and my friend have this debate… is it data [deɪtə] or data [dɑːtɑː]
Chai: It’s data [dɑːtɑː], obviously! We were talking about
this other word yesterday. Do you say Schedule (pronouncing the ‘sch’ as in ‘school’) or schedule (pronouncing the ‘sch’ as in ‘schmuck’)
Chai gets the
audience to vote, pretty much everyone pronounces the c in schedule. He wants
to know if that means it’s an English thing. Moderator says she’s English and
no. So Chai concludes that it’s an American thing. The American in the audience
say no. Chai gives up.
Fan: Also, I don’t surf, so I hardly count as Australian…
Chai: Poor you… You’ve got an English passport tough, right?
So you’ll be okay. You can come and visit Australia sometimes… (laughter) No, seriously though.. my
sister doesn’t surf either. And I.. look down on her, too. (laughter)
Fan: I started watching The 100 because of you
Chai: YES!
Fan: But then you spoiled your death for me… So I was
wondering… how long after a TV show is off air is too long to tell someone off
for spoilering
Chai: What does that mean? Spoilering?
Audience explains
Chai: Ooooh… Oh I see… Right… I remember when I first posted it there were a few people that were like ‘WHAT?!?’ and I just thought… ‘but it happened like a year ago?’ – Maybe that’s too early? I don’t know! What do you think is a good time? Maybe you should just never post… until you’re a grandfather and then… but then I think I’m going to spoil it for my grandkids, too!
Fan: You’re still one of the best characters in the show
tough
Chai: Really? Thank you so much!
It was a really tough role to approach because the first thing was just me killing my parents… oh. Spoiler! (laughter) But yeah, it was really hard. I thought that I don’t know how to do this well… (at this point, Chai brings the microphone to his face properly and is amazed at how his voice sounds actually amplified and realises he’s not been using his mic properly for the entire rest of the panel. He asks if people at the back can hear him with and without microphone. They say yes. He points out that it’s a good thing he’s not at a stadium….) Note to self: Talk into the microphone!
So when I first got the job I was trying to work out how to
approach this because it’s so hard. And really I was just… winging it. But it
was such a fun role, because it was the first role away from Mako. I went from
a kids show, playing a mermaid to killing my parents. Isn’t that the funniest
thing ever?
It was the first thing I did was adult and darker material and I had a lot of fun doing it, even though it was hard, so when someone says they really like my character it’s such a relief because as an actor you’re kind of thrown in and hope for the best and then you get this support and you realise ‘I did good’
So yeah, thank you all so much for the support. And that’s with everything that I do but of course Shadowhunters. The #SaveShadowhunters thing – I’d never seen that on any other show to his extend. It is so beautiful and I feel so lucky to be a part of this.
Moderator: That’s a good place to end it. You have to go,
because you have quite a lot of things to do
Chai: But I want to stay here
Mod: I know, but the organisers are going to think it’s my fault
and I’ll get in trouble
Chai: It is your fault!
Mod: (Gasps)
Amongst the (fake) offence, whooping, laughter and cheering, Chai is eventually persuaded to leave the stage because he did indeed have a lot of other things to do that day. What a kind, genuine guy.Delightful, as always. ]
The room we walk into
is set up with four tables forming a square. Michelle points out that she
really hopes Dom is going to stand in the middle and perform.
Sadly, Dom doesn’t.
Dom: Hello. Where am I sitting? Wherever I want? Well, I’ll
sit right here! How’s everybody doing?
(Affirmative
mumbling)
Dom: Great! I see a couple of familiar faces. What does everyone
want to talk about? Any questions? (points
at ‘one of the familiar faces’) You know how this goes. Have you thought of
questions ahead of time? No? Well… maybe at your eighth or ninth convention
you’ll figure out the rhythm. Does everyone speak English? Yes? Great! That’s
going to make this much easier for me, because I don’t speak any other
languages. Does anyone have any questions about Shadowhunters? I can’t answer
any Penny Dreadful questions!
Michelle: Literally none?
Dom: I mean, I can tell you I filmed yesterday. I can’t tell
you what I did. I can’t tell you who I worked with. Or about the script. I
can’t tell you what accent I used. Can’t tell you anything about my costume.
Wait… Maybe… No, no I can’t. Can’t tell you anything about the show. I can’t
tell you any spoilers. It’s not like Shadowhunters. They WILL fire me. They
will legitimately fire me if I give anything away so… Can’t do it! Sorry!
Michelle: Can you tell us whether you had a good time?
Dom: I DID have a good time! Thanks for asking.
Fan: When can we expect some promo or behind the scenes
stuff?
Dom: I don’t know! They keep sending me stuff and I ask if I
can share it cause it’s really cool and they’re like ‘NO’. So.. Shadowhunters
questions! Let’s talk Shadowhunters! Any thoughts? (Silence) Questions? (Silence)
No? Nothing at all? Sweet. I’m so glad you’re all here…
Fan: You played three different Jonathans..
Dom: Sure did!
Fan: Who was your favourite to play and how did you get into
the different mind sets?
Dom: I just copied what they did. Genuinely, when I had to
mimic Will, I spoke to Will and asked him how he did it and he said ‘Just think
really dark thoughts’.
Fan: Is it hard?
Dom: Yeah, and as much as possible I try and separate myself
as much as I can from the really dark stuff I have to do at work. I mean you
will… nope! (bites tongue) You’ll
see in Penny Dreadful. We have to do some pretty crazy stuff in Penny Dreadful
and separating yourself from it is the safest way of doing that.
Fans come in late
from the Luke photo and apologise
Dom: No, don’t worry. Come in. It’s your own time you’re
wasting.
Fan: It’s Luke’s fault
Dom: It’s Luke’s fault? Did you have a Meet & Greet with
Luke?
Fan: We had photos
Dom: He had photos already? That bastard. Selfish is what it
is! Anyway. Anyone else? Oh hang on, the other bit! Who was my favourite to
play? I like all of them, except when I had to wear the owl mask. That was a pain
in the arse. Complete nightmare. It was hot and it was uncomfortable and I
couldn’t smoke in it and it filled up with water. It was really awful. And then
at the end, they wouldn’t even let me keep it! I asked if I could have it and
they said no and I asked why and they were like ‘erm… in case we want to re-use
it?’ And I pointed out that it’s my face! Who else are you going to put it on?
Fan: What were you going to do with it?
Dom: Halloween probably. Scaring my neighbours. I have one
that’s really loud at the moment in LA so I could knock on her door and go ‘Hi,
how’s it going? I’m your neighbour’ but while wearing the owl face.
**
Michelle: In the zombie apocalypse, what’s your strength,
and who’s on your team?
Dom: Nobody is on my team. Teams are stupid in the zombie
apocalypse! I had a zombie apocalypse dream yesterday.
Michelle: Did you survive it?
Dom: (scoffs) Of
course I did! A friend of mine was in my hotel room and literally in the dream
I fed my friend to the zombie and I woke up and I rang her and told her about
it and now we’re not speaking. But I don’t care. Come the zombie apocalypse,
it’s my family and my friends… not even my friends. Kat knows this. She gets in
my way I will shoot her in the back of the head. I’ll leave her for them to
eat, but she’s tiny, so that will buy me about 6 seconds. And I told Kat this.
I told her to her face. If you think you’re going to slow me down, don’t come
to me for help, because I will just end you, and go about my zombie apocalypse
life.
Michelle: But what’s your actual skills?
Dom: (offended)
What’s my skill? (counts on fingers)
Tactics. Intelligence. Weapons – –
Fan interrupts: Throwing people in front of zombies
Dom: All of it. I have three different zombie plans for
three different cities in the world. I’ve thought this through. You’re all
laughing, but you’re fucking idiots. All medical science is, is keeping people
alive after they should have died. The zombie apocalypse is well on the way.
It’s going to happen. People have already died and been brought back which
makes them zombies. All CPR is, is the creation of zombies. I DON’T KNOW WHY
YOU’RE LAUGHING! It’s really serious, okay? It’s a serious thing. Rabies?
That’s basically zombies, innit? Alright, come up with plans people! If you
take anything away from this weekend, come up with a zombie plan! I have mine.
Fan: My plan is to avoid you, cause you will throw me in
front of a zombie
Michelle: Yep, stay away from him
Dom: Stay away from me, definitely
Fan: Do you believe in the T-virus then?
Dom: I don’t think the T-virus is a real thing necessarily
but… maybe it is… (long pause) Now I
can’t get it out of my head. (to
Michelle) Thanks for that! I appreciate it. Next: Shadowhunters questions!
**
Fan: If you could chose yourself an ending, what would it
be?
Dom: Damn… We were making jokes, and now I’ve got nothing in
my head. I think the way we ended it led to the theory that their story would
have continued and I think that’s the perfect ending.
Fan: I think the ending is sweet, but I wanted to know how
that continued story would go..?
Dom: In my head – and I was suggesting this from season 1 –
is that they just kill Clary off and it would simply be the Jace show. They
didn’t like that very much and that’s when they asked me to stop coming to the
writers’ room. Whatever. It’s fine. It was a good idea and they ignored me, but
that’s fine. So that’s how I would have ended it. Kill off Clary.
Fan: But…
Dom: Can you imagine how much easier Jace’s life would have
been if Clary wasn’t about? We actually tallied it up at one point. Over the
course of three seasons it’s just under a thousand times that I say ‘Clary no!’,
‘Clary don’t!’, ‘Clary stop!’, and she ignores me and then I die. His life
would be much easier, if Clary wasn’t involved. And she’s not here, so I can
say whatever I want. Ask her in her Meet & Greet. Ask her what her answer
is and tell her that’s what I said.
Fan: But what would happen if Clary hadn’t been a mundane.
Would the group still meet her? By fate?
Dom: By fate? This is where we get into the deep questions,
on whether fate actually exists.
Fan: You wanted questions, you get questions!
Dom: Yeah. I regret that. Does fate exist? Is it really a
thing?
Fan: Zombies are a thing, so fate can be a thing
Dom: Well, I don’t know. I’m not sure how I feel that my
destiny is pre-planned and no matter what steps I take, I end up bumping into
the same people no matter what. But that’s my opinion, I don’t know what Jace
thinks.
**
Fan: What was your favourite scene to film?
Dom: There we go! Nice easy question! It kept changing, but
the scene in the bar with Alberto, where he glamours himself as Jace was really
fun, because we were given a lot of space to do what we wanted to do with that,
which was really nice. But as far as actual filming experience goes, the last
scene we filmed, the reception of the wedding, and it was by chance that we
filmed this on our last day, and everyone was there. My father had come to
visit us and it was a really nice moment. And we had everyone on set, even
people that hadn’t been part of the team for years. So that was my favourite
experience on set.
**
Fan who arrived late after the Luke photo: I watched Penny
Dreadful and the first season was very scary
Dom: Sorry. (everyone
laughs) Actually, why am I sorry? I wasn’t in that one!
Fan: How was it for you to enter a new show? And what can
you…
Dom interrupts: You guys were late, but I can say very
little about Penny Dreadful. All I can say is that it’s a very different story
from both Shadowhunters and the original Penny Dreadful.
Fan: Is it scarier?
Dom: I can’t really say… I’m trying to think of anything I
can tell you… It’s less supernatural than the original Penny Dreadful. It’s
more about the dynamics of 1938 Los Angeles and… No, can’t say that. Close
tough! Very close! This is going to be a very tricky day for me. Especially
because I can’t remember what’s already been announced and what hasn’t. But the
transition has been quite hard, my character is very different from anything I’ve
played before and definitely very different to Jace. It’s been hard work and
there’s piles of research in my house, and anyone who comes over goes ‘WHAT ARE
YOU READING?’ and I tell them to not worry about it, not even look at it, it’s
not me, it’s a character I play. But you’ll see… it’s quite early on in the
script that you figure out what my character’s place is in this world. And it’s
very different from anything I’ve done before.
Fan: I will ask the question that everyone wants to know…
How’s Dan?
Dom: Let me find a video of him! He can sit, and he can lay
down, he can stay and shake and his new thing is that he likes to walk himself
back to the apartment (plays video for
us). At the end of our walks he’ll grab his leash and walk himself back to
my door. He’s fantastic! Cat fucking hates him…
(Michelle failed to
realise that Dom was talking about Raja the cat, and thought Dom was talking
about Kat McNamara hating Dan the dog, so imagine if you will going through the
next minutes wondering how Kat could ever hate an innocent puppy and what Dan
could have possibly have done to make Kat hate him…)
Dom: He pinned her to the floor the other day. Because all
he wants to do is play and he’s getting quite big now. He’s 3 months old and
the other day he sat on her. I was in the shower and all I heard was this
godawful hissing sound. And I came out and Dan’s looking all innocent and I
asked him what was going on before looking down and seeing that Raja is underneath
him, swatting at him.
(Raja the cat! Everything
makes sense now….)
Dom: But yeah, he’s great. That was a nice question, thank
you. He’s… the love of my life. I don’t think I’m ever gonna love again. (pauses) I’m genuinely concerned that’s
true. It’s a real issue when I go on dates and I think ‘Why am I here? I have a
puppy at home! I want to be with him!’
Michelle: No wonder Raja hates him…
Dom: Yeah, bless her! (starts
giggling to himself, remembering a story) We had a fire alarm go off in my
building the other day, and I was out with Tessa, Alberto’s girlfriend, and I
had this fire alarm alert come up on my phone and I said ‘Oh god, I have to get
back to the house and get the dog! I have to rescue Dan!’ and Tessa goes ‘What
about Raja?’ and I went ‘Oh yeah… Totally forgot. I should probably grab her as
well, shouldn’t I?’
**
Fan: If Shadowhunters was to return, would you come back for
it?
Dom: Would I be up for it? (pauses) I think my journey with Shadowhunters is done. I
experienced everything that I could and I met some of my absolutely best
friends in the world on this show and I think… (trying to lighten the mood) if they try and put me in that mask
again, I’d be really upset. I think for me, my Shadowhunters journey is done.
Tough I did have a dream the other day, that they did… the series… what’s the
books where they’re in LA?
Fan: The Dark Artifices
Dom: That one! I think Jace comes into it every now and
again? And I thought that would be really cool, if in 5 years or whatever they
did that, and Jace could just come in for an episode and everyone be like ‘Who
the fuck are you?’ and he’d be like ‘I’m Jace Herondale’ and they’re all go ‘Oh
my god, THE Jace Herondale??’ – that would be cool…
Fan: That’s pretty much what happens in the books
Dom: Good!
Fan: This may not be the most popular opinion, but I’m
really glad to hear that you’re moving away from Shadowhunters because I feel
that the Shadowhunters fandom is really brutal
Dom: I mean, that can be a lot of fandoms tough, not just
Shadowhunters…
Fan: I run an Instagram group of 22000 followers just for
you
Dom: WOW!!
Fan: And I think it’s good you’re moving on
Dom: Yeah, it’s quite… poor Paco – the director of Penny
Dreadful Paco Cabezas – comes in every morning and goes ‘You have some crazy
fans!’ and I’m like ‘I sure do mate. I’m sorry’. Cause he posts photos every
now and again, and I haven’t been in any of them yet and he keeps getting
comments asking when he’ll post pictures with me in, and I’ve said to him ‘Just
say I’m in the picture. Somewhere in the background, in the crowd, up in a
window…’ because that will keep people occupied for days, cause they will be
looking, they will zoom into every single window on the picture, so I told him
to do that, as it’ll keep people off his back for a bit.
This was the last
question at which point we were told to get in position for the group photo.
Dom, as always, ensured that he wasn’t standing in anyone’s way, encouraged
everyone to make sure they could be seen in the picture, to huddle up or move
around depending on where they stood, only to then realise that there was no
staff in the room to take a picture
Dom: Who’s taking the photo? Did he forget the camera? His
one job was to take a photo…
The photographer entered and everyone cheered. Dom reiterated that if you can’t see the camera, the camera cannot see you. After the pictures we all went to get our stuff, Dom thanked us for our time and for being here, wished us a good weekend, telling us we’d have lots of fun this weekend, before we were all called back to re-take the photos, as the photographer messed up the first time. So we dutifully posed again and took more photos, before being released from the room.
We missed some of the panel, as we were talking to Kat, so walked into the room halfway through Dominic pondering what he would do when asked to Snog, Marry, Avoid – Clary, Magnus, Izzy
Dom: Well, *I* can’t marry Magnus, because of Alec, but I
don’t want to avoid him either. But then I also don’t want to marry Izzy, do I?
I’ve already been through that. So yeah, I’ll avoid Izzy! Which is an easy
answer, because Emeraude’s not here, so I can say whatever! By the way, this is
why you’re not allowed to film as otherwise I’d get texts from Emeraude just
saying WHAT!?! – – And then I’d marry Magnus!
Fan dressed as Clary steps up to the microphone
Dom: You’re Clary! That’s amazing!! I remember that dress.
That’s fantastic.
Host interrupts to announce VIP photos with Kat
Dom: (threateningly) If any of you move… the convention is
over!
Host: Who’s the boss in this room?
Everyone in the audience points at Dom. Host tells them they have to go, anyway. People start to get up and move, while Dom counts the number of people leaving
One, two, three, four, five, six… none of you are my friends anymore. But the people still here… I love you.
Fan tries to ask question, but it’s super loud in the room
Dom: On a serious note though, if any of you have to leave
the auditorium at any point, try and keep it quiet, so we can hear the
question.
Everyone whoops and cheers
Dom: What did we *just* talk about??
Fan: Do you think
Clace deserved better and what ending would you have preferred?
Dom: Do I think they deserve better.. than the incest and death and all of that? Well, yeah…
Dom: And about the ending. I actually think it’s nice. And I will tell you for why. Because they pay me to say that! No, seriously, I think the ending leaves scope for the future of this relationship. The relationship isn’t over and can turn into what it once was and maybe something even more beautiful in the future. The purpose of the ending is that it’s left up to the audience’s interpretation of what they envisage Clace to be in the future, which is a bit of a cop out, but that’s what they did.
Fan: How are you
today? Are you happy with where you are in life right now?
Dom: Am I happy with where I am in life right now?? Are you my therapist?
Fan: And also, are
you cheering for anyone right now? Any sports?
Dom: Who’s my soccer team?
Audience: Football team!
Dom: Yes, football, sorry! My
football team is Burnley because that’s where my mother is from. Which is great…
It’s not!
And am I doing okay in life? Ecunimically
am I fine, with where I am? The choices I’ve made over the course of my 29
years on this planet?
…sure! I’ve got a puppy!
Host interrupts again, to ask more people to go to the Kat photograph
Dom: Don’t!
Host: Also this is the last
question, I’m sorry. But he’s coming back later.
Dom: (shrugging) Apparently. If I
could get a little glance at the schedule at some point, that’d be great…
(turns to fan) You good? Yeah? Come up here, come and sit next to me!
Fan comes on stage to ask her question, sits on (wobbly) bar stool
Dom: Try not to fall or I’ll get sued!
Fan: What’s your favourite show on
Netflix right now? And have you watched Raising Dion yet?
Dom: I haven’t watched Raising Dion yet, no. (In Dom’s defence, it had come out 12 hours before the con started). Though my favourite show on Netflix…
Audience: Shadowhunters!
Dom: (bemused) We don’t have that
on Netflix in the states
Audience: It’s on HULU!!
Dom: (slightly puzzled by now) Yes, yes it is. Anyway… What’s my favourite show on Netflix? The show I last watched is Friends, which I watch a lot when I’m doing housework, so I guess Friends.
Dom, Luke, Matt, Chai and Nicola are on stage. An intro video is announced. The screen lights up with a loading bar and a metronome starts ticking. Everyone looks at the screen in anticipation. And waits. And waits.
Dom: This is the whole video, by the way… that’s all you’re gonna get.
The loading bar gets closer to the finish, everyone gets excited and Dom points out that the screen says ‘GET READY’. Then the screen goes blank, and we wait. And wait.
Moderator: Best. Video. Ever.
Finally the video starts playing, and everyone cheers.
Dom: (S1 clip) Wow! That was a LONG time ago.
The video finishes and everyone cheers. The moderator points out that there is more to come. There is a very long pause between the end of the video and the start of the title credits for the cast attending, so everyone is a bit confused, but overall very enthusiastic.
Mod: Let’s thank Claudia for that lovely video! Just so you
know, Jade is coming. He’s on his way. And Kat, too. They’re both going to be
here.
Dom: (shouting) Can we get a microphone over here? I haven’t said anything in almost 6 minutes so… (Matt gives him his microphone)
Dom: Just to be clear – – That was a wonderful video – – If I am ever not first in the video again, I am not coming back!
Mod: Let’s get some games started. We’ve got 3 games. The
first one is people that speak different languages writing down a word of your
choice, in your language, and the guests will have to guess what they think it
means.
Dom: This is going to be dangerous. Not just with you guys writing words, but also with the guesses I’m going to make.
Nicola: Let’s not let Dom go first!
Chai: Anybody speak Thai? It’s just that I speak Thai so…
First fan comes up and writes Heizungsmechaniker. Everyone looks completely blank. Audience is talking amongst themselves while the cast look at the word, mostly because past the third row, no one can read the word on the flipchart.
Dom: (turning to audience) I just heard someone say ‘I think the Germans know’? Like, yeah! It’s IN German! Of course they know. If you don’t speak German no one has ever seen this word ever before.
Luke: Can we have a clue?
The fan pronounces
the second word, which gets translated to ‘mechanic’.
Dom: Bike mechanic! Car mechanic! Airplane mechanic!
Nicola: Hei-zungs-mechanic?
Audience helps, and
calls out ‘heater’
Nicola: Heatermechanic!
Matt: Okay now… HOLD ON!
Dom: I like that there’s a word in German for specific groups of mechanics that just do heaters.
(chaotic debate about
whether this is factual and whether the fans should get points for it or not)
Nicola: It’s an HVAC specialist!
Dom: HVAC specialist? I don’t know what an HVAC is…
Nicola: It’s heating, ventilation, isolation…
Dom: But then that’s not the same thing! If this guy is a heating specialist and he only does heat, I imagine you’ve got this poor guy showing up and someone asking him ‘Can you fix my AC?’ and he’s like ‘Nope’.
Matt: No, it’s everything to do with heat. It’s the removal of heat. It’s the introduction of heat. It’s the process to moderate heat.
Dom: Well then he should be called temperature mechanic,
shouldn’t he?
Nicola: Who wants to listen to Matt talk about the history of heating and cooling?
Lots of cheering and half the audience raise their hand.
Dom: Chai, you say something…
Mod goes to find another microphone, so Chai doesn’t have to share with Matt or Nicola. She tries to give it to Chai but Chai is happy without a microphone. She tries again. He waves her away.
Matt: Chai doesn’t want to speak right now.
Mod: Okay, so that’s fans 1, guests 0.
Matt: We’re keeping score??
Dom takes a
whiteboard pen out of the holder
Matt: Don’t cheat Dom!
Mod: I think someone needs to explain the game to Matt again…
Second fan comes up and writes båge.
Nicola: Can you pronounce it for us? That might help.
Fan: Sure!
Matt: Use it in a sentence!
Fan uses it in a sentence. Weirdly, it does not help any of the cast to suddenly magically work out what it means.
Matt: The beach! The zoo! It’s ‘I want to go to the zoo!’
Nicola: Handsome? Beautiful?
Matt: I give up!
Dom: We’re gonna need a clue
Fan: It’s a sort of weapon
Dom: Bow and Arrow!
Fan: Yes, it’s a bow.
(cheering)
Dom goes to write his own point on the scoreboard. Mod had previously written 1 – 0 on the board. Dom puts I before the 0, to start a five bar gate system, for ongoing score keeping.
Mod: What’s that?
Dom: I wrote a 1
Mod: With a 0. You put it in front of a 0! (tries to take Dom’s pen away)
Dom: Well you shouldn’t have put a 0. Why did you put a 0?
You’re questioning me with numbers.
Mod: Yeah, but…
Dom: What was going to come after the 0? You have to cross
it out. Instead of doing essentially this 0, 1 and then add a 0, 1, 2, 3, 4..
Mod: I was going to…
Dom: Rather than using a system that’s been in place since the
romance, where you count points like this: IIII (five bar gate system)
Mod: I feel like…
Dom: No no no. You have your pen. I’m done. (throws the pen over his shoulder)
Mod: Dom, this is my stage!
Dom looks at the board
which currently says ‘Fans I – Guests 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, IIII’
Dom: We’ve lost a little traction with the point system here…
Third fan comes on
stage. Mod goes to pick up and hand Dom his pen back
Dom: Thanks very much. I appreciate it.
Fan starts writing
Dom: There’s a lot of e’s in this one
Fan pronounces Lieveheersbeestje
Dom: Okay…
Nicola: Living with my best… friend?
Fan gives a lot of
help. It’s concluded that it is a type of beetle. They guess Firefly. It’s not
that. They continue guessing. Fan keeps helping. Turns out it’s a ladybug.
Matt: Ooooooh. Well, you have a ridiculous word for ladybug!
Mod: You only get half a point because there were a lot of clues given.
Matt: I like that one
Dom: How are you going to put half a point on the scoreboard?
Mod: You’ll see.
Dom: (to fan, as she is leaving) Thank you for Ladybug
Mod: Okay, we’re moving on. Because we have two more games to play and we’re already running behind schedule.
Matt & Nicola keep asking the fan to pronounce the word for them, so they can repeat it. Someone finally switches on the lights on the stage.
Dom: Oh, thanks for turning the lights on. Just in time! We’ve
sat here for an hour in the dark, so thanks!
Mod: Matt, why don’t you say a word in Spanish?
Matt: (deadpan) Amor
Chai: Why do you sound so sad when you’re talking about
love?
Mod: So thin this game the audience is going to give us 3 characters, 3 places and 3 objects. And you can chose to tell a story with it, or act one out.
Fan: Shrek
Dom: So Matt, you’re taking that
Matt: I’m the ogre! You can be the ass. (laughter, Dom
pouts) It’s just a nice word… for a donkey.
Mod: Next?
Fan: Cup
Mod: What? A cup? As a character? ….Sure. There are no rules to this game.
Mod: Next?
Fan: Spacecowboy
Mod: Okay. 3 places
Fan: Seychelles
Fan: London
Fan: Bathroom
Mod: And 3 objects
Matt: A cup!
Fan: Spoon
Matt: One human.
Fan: Banana
Fan: Handkerchief
Dom: God, you lot were brave with your characters there are the beginning, weren’t you?
Mod: So, you probably want to get up so you can see what you’re doing and as I said, you can act it out or you can tell a story. I’m giving you the choice. You can think about it.
After 30 seconds of silent contemplation…
Matt: I’ve got it! I solved it! It’s a riddle! The answer is…
Nicola: Okay, I’ll start! Shrek was out one day… no hang on! He wasn’t out! He was in! Shrek was eating a banana in the bathroom, because he was pressed for time.
Dom immediately crosses out ‘Shrek’, ‘bathroom’ and ‘banana’. Everyone laughs.
Luke: I’m so confused!
Nicola: He was in a rush to get out the house and he was
eating his breakfast in the bathroom. No one else does that?
Luke: And then a massive explosion happened. He was blown to the floor. It was very chaotic. He was very confused. And then a lot of smoke appeared and lots of lights and then… in walked… a space cowboy.
Matt: The space cowboy – – they’re going to hate me for this – – walks over to Shrek (Matt walks up to Dom) and he throws the handkerchief at him and says ‘clean yourself up!’
Dom: Because he’s got banana everywhere!
Matt: And then he loudly says SHELLS.
Laughter trails off as everyone is confused. Dom gets the joke first
Dom: Say-Shells. Nice!
Dom hands microphone to Chai
Dom: Do you want to go?
Chai looks at the
board confused, says something to Dom off microphone
Dom: Apparently that’s the thing. The cup is a character,
yeah!
Matt: It’s a fucking cup. A living breathing cup. It experiences. It feels. I wants things. It has fears and desires.
Dom: Suddenly… For some reason. Shrek says to the space
cowboy…
Audience start screaming, because Kat has arrived and is running up the middle aisle to the stage.
Matt: We’re kind of in the middle of something
Kat goes around and hugs Nicola, Chai and Luke, while Dom and Matt try to finish the story.
Matt: The cup is having an existential crisis, talking about a spoon. Am I just a big spoon?
Kat hugs Matthew around the middle, while he talks, then goes to hug Dom from behind, while he contemplates the board. He pulls a face.
Dom: I think I’ve got it Chai! I think I just figured out the ending to our tale. – – Then, Shrek says to the space cowboy – Pay attention Matt!
Matt: I am
Dom: He says ‘We’ve got to go to London cause that’s where I
go to spoon (Scottish Shrek accent) with my friends’ – – Spoon. Cup. London.
DONE! Next! What’s next!
They all sit back on their chairs except for Kat who stays standing in the middle of the stage
Kat: What are we doing?
Mod: We’re going to play Two Truth and One Lie. You all come up with two truths and one lie, and they are going to guess which one is the lie. We’re going to start here with you Chai.
Chai: All of us?
Mod: Yes, each of you. Think of something now. You can say whatever you want. I could say I have one leg, so that might not be the best one to choose. Whenever you’re ready. If someone else is ready, you can go for it.
Matt: So you just want me to make things up? You want me to make up three things…
Nicola: The rules are in the title
Matt: Yes. So I’m going to tell three lies
Nicola: Wow.. it’s hard to be put on the spot and think about yourself.
Matt: Oh! About yourself?
Mod: If you want, you can do it about someone else. You can
tell two truths and a lie about Chai if you want.
Matt: Okay! Chai… is… a…
Nicola: It can’t be about Chai!
Matt: It has to be about me? Matt.. is… concerned…
Dom: That one’s the lie. I can tell already!
Matt: Matt is concerned about… Dom and…
Dom: Just wait, because It’s going to get meanreal soon…
Matt: Matt is concerned about Kat. Matt is concerned about
Chai.
Kat: I’m going to say I hope you’re not concerned about me.
Nicola: Two are true. One is a lie.
Luke: You’re not concerned about Chai. You’re concerned
about Dom and Kat.
Chai: No no no, he’s concerned about me.
Matt: Wait, it’s three lies! Three truths! (laughter)
Nicola: We’re not meant to guess. They are meant to guess. Which one’s the lie?
Matt: Ah man, now I’m concerned about all of them. Somebody
else go…
Mod: Okay, one of you others do it, because we’re running
out of time.
Luke: Okay. I studied ballet dancing for 7 years and and an injury made me stop. I have 5 middle names. When I was born I had bright red hair.
Everyone ooooohs in amazement.
Kat: I actually know this one.
Audience is mostly torn between 5 middle names and bright red hair. Everyone is shouting and it’s chaos.
Matt: If you think bright red hair, raise your hands!
Kat: If you think middle names, raise your hands!
Matt: Middle names is the obvious winner. Luke, is it true,
or is it a lie?
Luke: The lie… is ballet dancing.
Kat: Tell them your middle names…
Luke: No I won’t! They’ll have to work for that.
Dom: Dude! They’re spending a fortune to be here, tell them..
Luke: (at the speed of light) Luke, Joseph, Anthony, Philip (something, something) Baines
Dom and Luke realise that they share a middle name, and high five each other.
Kat: I speak three languages. I didn’t wear heels until I
was 14. I am terrible at directions.
Audience are asked to vote, however half the audience is putting their hand up, if they agree with the statement, so almost everyone raises their hand to say that yes, Kat is terrible at directions but also that she did wear heels before she was 14.
Matt: Are we voting for what is true or false?
Luke: We’re going to start again!
Matt: Okay, if you think the first one is the lie, raise
your hand
Almost the entire panel room raises their hand.
Kat: That’s correct. I don’t speak three languages.
Mod: We’re almost out of time, so we’re going to get you to draw our raffle prizes…
Which they did, which led to four very happy fans who won extras, and a highly amused Matt, as he drew the a lady whose last name was ‘Van Damme’. It’s the small things in life that make you happy…
Fan: We didn’t get to
see a Christmas episode, but if we had, if your character were the Secret Santa
of the person to your right, what would you get them?
Tessa looks forlornly at the empty chair to her right…
Alberto: I don’t want to be that guy, but Simon’s Jewish…
(cheering)
Isaiah (to Dom): I’d probably get Jace a set of fighting
knives. That double as steak knives.
Dom: And he would love them! And so would Dom! — (to Matt) I think I would get Alec a
series of stress balls. Not just one, but like a whole box. (turns to Matt) And
I’d get you like a portrait of a cow…
Matt (to Anna): What does Santa Clause get bad kids in France? Coal? It’s the same? Well…
Anna: Thank you!
Anna (to Luke): I would get you something with fire or heat.
Maybe like a straightening iron or a lighter…
Luke (taking Anna’s microphone): They didn’t give me a
microphone because they hate me… (crowd: AWWWW) (to Kat) I would get Kat, erm..
no.. I would.. what’s your name?
Kat: Clary!
Luke: Clary! I would get Clary another twinning rune because
she liked the first one so much!
Kat (to Will): I would get Sebastian/Jonathan…
Will: That’s my name!
Kat: I would get him therapy. Maybe a warm hug.
Will (to Jade): I would get Meliorn… you know Billy Bass,
the fish? You press a button and it goes (does a Billy Bass impression). I
would get him one of those, but it wouldn’t say anything! It would just (turns
head and opens his mouth, silently)
Jace (to Alberto): I would get Simon a list… you’re dating
Izzy? Okay.. (mimes unrolling the longest scroll) – These are the things you
need to know!
Alberto (to Tessa): What would Simon get Heidi?? (laughter)
Probably a restraining order…
Tessa (to empty chair): Well…
Dom: You go around, you get Luke!
Tessa: Ah man. I mean, I gave you a bunch of dead werewolves
and you didn’t like that…
Isaiah: Thank you for those
(laughter)
Dom: Great question to start off with! Well done! Now Dan,
the poor fellow has to translate all of our nonsense!
Michelle: It’s Sunday
morning so I thought I’d start you off easy – What’s your favourite dinosaur?
Matt: Am I supposed to start us off?
Kat: Sure!
Matt: You all know what my favourite one is. The one that
goes.. What does it do? Show me what it does! (600 people mime the frills of
the Jurassic Park dinosaur) And then it spits acid in the dude’s face. I like
that guy. Someone told me the name for it and I don’t remember it and I’m sure
I’m going to get yelled at for it later.. Chastise me later!
Anna: I like raptors. Cause I’m from Toronto! (Luke cheers)
Kat: They’re very wraith like as well
Matt: Raptors are? Pterodactyls more like it! Ridiculous!
Anna: Also raptor have really short front legs, like my
corgi.
Matt: You have a corgi?
Anna: Yeah, his name is Jasper.
Kat: Do you guys have Land Before Time? I’m not sure…
Alberto: (unprompted) It’s a brontosaurus.
Kat: No, I’m not sure.. I like the stegosaurus.
Lots of discussion about who is who in Land Before Time, Spike is mentioned, Cera is mentioned, no one seems to quite agree who is who and what dinosaurs they each are.
Luke: I take brontosaurus!
Dom: If you play videos of lemurs running backwards it looks
like a herd of brontosaurus running forwards, because their tail sticks up like
that. It’s great!! (clearly searching for it on his phone)
Kat: In the way that Matt is an encyclopaedia for
everything, Dom is an encyclopaedia for cute animal videos. He knows them all!
Dom: Oh yeah! Try and shock me with one today. You won’t!
(still searching on his phone) Oh! My internet just died. Ok. Let’s keep going!
Will: I’m going to say triceratops BUT… you know those suits
people can wear when they want to dress up like a dinosaur? It’s like half
dinosaur, half arm flailing tube man. I know there’s a human inside, but I actually
want one of those! I could BE a dinosaur.
Jade: Brontosaurus as well. Long neck. I think it’s because
of Jurassic Park.
Alberto: Mine’s the albertosaurus. It’s actually a dinosaur…
Tessa: It’s what happens when you’ve not eaten in a few
hours..
Alberto: What?
Tessa: It comes out when…
(everyone else catches on to what Tessa just said. So does Alberto…)
Alberto: Whoa…
(laughter)
Tessa: Erm… Anyway… Mine’s Pterodactyl or I could just take
a train and leave..
Matt: Isaiah, what’s your favourite dinosaur?
Isaiah: You baby!
(they laugh, then high five)
Everyone pauses and looks at Dan. Kat apologises.
Fan: If you were a
warlock, what would your warlock mark be?
Lots of cooing and awww’ing from the cast, as the question
was asked by a very young girl, before everyone starts talking to the person
next to them, failing to actually talk
Matt: Are we discussing this or what?
Dom: I’m sorry, we were explaining warlock marks to Dan.
Matt: Alright! Warlock marks. A warlock mark. What happens,
is that you’re a warlock and you get a mark. Sometimes you get fish gills.
Sometimes you get cat eyes. Yes, that whole cat thing. – – I would have a
prehensile tail.
Kat: What kind of a tail?
Matt: It could climb trees. Overall it would be a pretty
neat-o thing.
Dom: Okay, I would have wings then!
Matt: Get out of here, you can’t have wings.
Dom: Why can’t I have wings?
Matt: It’s not a mark.
Dom: It is a mark!
Matt: No, it’s a thing.
Dom: What do you mean it’s a thing? You get a tail.
Matt: It provides you too much benefit.
Dom: You get a tail!!
Matt: Yeah, *I* get a tail. *You* don’t get wings!
Dom: I get wings. I want wings.
Matt: We already discussed this
Dom: We did not discuss this! I’m having wings! I want wings
Matt: You get nothing! And like it!
Dom: You get a tail, but it’s this big (holds fingers a few
centimetres apart. Cheering and laughter.) It wags when you get excited… that’s
all you get!
Luke: Anna and I had the same one, which is horns
Kat: I was also going to say wings but…
Matt: But you can’t!
Kat: But I’ve decided that I would rather have legs that
have the ability to run really fast. So that I can travel really far distances
Matt: (sputters) No! See! No! That’s not a mark!
Luke: That’s a superpower!
Dom: Like the legs of a cheetah or something?
Kat: Yes!
Dom: Okay, cool!
Matt: (eyerolling) I’d like to have a canon for an arm
Kat: But it’s the same as having like gills and stuff!
Alberto: I would want gills!
Kat: Cause Madzie had gills
(laughter)
Kat: Apparently we are unclear on what a warlock mark can or
cannot be.
Luke: Gills don’t allow you to swim under water, do they?
Can Madzie swim under water?
Jade: Yeah they let you breath underwater!
Matt: Although there are other necessary organs!
Jade: She can totally breath under water!
Dom: Well, you would need gills, but you would also need the
respiratory system of a fish! If Magnus just had the eyes, could he see in the
dark? I don’t know!
(cheering and whooping)
Dom: Wait, if I had wings, could I fly, or would my bones be
too heavy? Because birds have hollow bones… (Matt mouths something at him) Oh!
My wings are just this big? (holds hands a foot apart) They’re like chicken
wings. I could only fly this far of the ground (a foot).
Matt: Are you serious? Chickens fly!
Dom: Yeah. But I’m bigger than a chicken!
Matt: I mean, big chickens exist…
Kat: You could have ostrich wings!
Will: What Alberto said is amazing! I was going to say
claws, but now because of this, I want to adapt them, into those things that
Spiderman has, that allows him to climb walls.
Matt: Like a gecko?
Dom: Or a spider. It’s Spiderman.
Matt: Oh yeah! Right. Wouldn’t your bones be too heavy for
that, too?
Dom: Or the lesser known superhero Geckoman.
Alberto: What would you call that? Tentacle hands?
Dom: No, they’re like hooks. They’re little microscopic
hooks on your fingers.
Matt: Fine hooks
Dom: Like Velcro
Matt: Well no, not like Velcro.
Alberto: If you shake someone’s hand, can you feel them?
Dom: No! They’re retractable, right?
Kat: Like Magnus’ eyes!
Dom: Like, how does he let go? Does he retract them into his
hands?
Matt: I don’t know anything about Spiderman
Will: Also it can’t be Velcro! Otherwise I could only climb
Velcro buildings.
(laughter)
Matt: Have you ever seen those cats climb the side of a
wall?
Dom: Yeah!
Matt: Wow!
Jade: Ok, since I don’t want deformed small wings, I want
skin that can glow in the dark, or that makes me invisible. Or like reflects
everything, so I’m like…
Alberto: Like a chameleon?
Jade: Yeah! That’s a mark, right?
Dom: That’s pretty good!
Matt: That sounds good
Dom: That’s the most sensible answer so far!
Alberto: I would have gills. Because it’s the whole
respiratory system.
Dom: So you’re
including the whole.. everything?
Alberto: No, gills are the repertory system. It’s all of it.
Matt: Well that’s going to suck when you’re not in the
water!
Alberto: You’d have lungs, too!
Matt: You can’t have both!!
Dom: I’m not sure whether you can have both..?
Alberto: Can you not have both?
Kat: Madzie can breathe above water!
Dom: Yeah, that’s true. She had gills, didn’t she? But her
gills just murdered everyone… they had a different power. They sucked the air
out of the room
Matt: (to audience) Is this a conversation that any of you
can understand??
(Audience cheers)
Matt: Okay. It’s very important to me that you understand
what we’re saying.
Tessa: Jade, is your skill that you turn into stuff or are
you just invisible?
Jade: My skin is reflective, so I’m kind of like a mirror,
invisible thing…
Tessa: I want to *become* the material I’m near to.
Jade: Oooooooh… like a cuttle fish?
Matt: A cuttle fish!
Dom: Yeah, I like that!
Isaiah: I would want diamond teeth. So if I smiled, it would
be the brightest smile in the world. And if I went broke, I could pull a tooth
out…
Alberto: You’d have a really strong bite, too. You could
bite into anything!
Dom: Like Jaws. – – Oh wait… What was the bad guy in that called?
Isaiah: Jaws…?
Dom: So it was Jaws? That makes sense, doesn’t it?
Matt: I like that you were thinking about the financial
security, too.
What’s next for your
characters? I know Jonathan and Lilith for example are dead….
Luke: I mean… we’re not a 100% certain on that…
So are they in
paradise or in hell? What’s next for Clace? Sizzy? Malec? And Luke as a
Shadowhunter? And Meliorn, now that the seelie queen is dead?
Dom goes to start, but Isaiah draws breath
Dom: Do you want to go first?
Isaiah: I’ll just go real quick, cause it’s really easy. Luke
would do whatever Alec asked him to do because now I work for the inquisitor.
(laughter)
Dom: That’s a solid answer. Jace would probably do the opposite of that because his brother is the boss now. So he’d be all “Jace, go and do this thing!” and he’d be like “oH SuRe, oKaY!”
Jace: But potentially with the way we ended the story, he
would get to not do what he’s told with Clary, which is nice.
Kat: So back to normal.
Dom: Yeah. Yeah. Except maybe you’d listen this time…
(Audience ooooooohs)
Dom: Oh come on!! Put your hand up if you died because of
Clary!
(Dom, Alberto, Luke, Will & Anna raise their hands)
Matt: It had never occurred to me how many people you are directly
responsible for murdering…
Luke: And some of them aren’t even here!
Matt: I’m going to make things a little easier on you. Alec
actually quits as inquisitor. He opens a small hardware store of exit 60 on the
New Jersey turnpike. 3-4 employees. Pretty solid life. Every now and again he
goes to the jersey shore during the summer.
Isaiah: Do some woodwork?
Matt: Yeah, do some woodwork. You could be an employee if
you want to be? Do you have an apron?
Isaiah: I like construction!
Matt: Good. Build houses maybe. Do some contracting jobs.
Move up in the world. It’d be great.
Isaiah: Nice craftsman style
Matt: Craft stuff? Yeah, that sounds great!
Isaiah: Okay!
Anna: So we can answer if we’re dead? I think Lilith would
have a change of heart. Things don’t ever work out for her. I think first she’d
apologise to Meliorn. (to Jade) Sorry for what I did.
Jade: It’s okay
(audience coos)
Dom: FIRST she would apologise to MELIORN??
Anna: Well… it was the last thing I did…
Luke: Yeah but… Out of all the people?
Anna: You’d be last
Dom: Okay. As long as I’m on the list…
Anna: (turning to Luke) I would cook you breakfast. Make
your favourite pancakes. With lots of fire.
Luke: Thanks mama! –
– I choose to believe that Clary didn’t
kill me. It just looked like that. I think she strangled the evil out of me and
I woke up in Toronto, by myself, really confused, wearing the weirdest outfit
and I now have a job making coffee.
Kat: Java Jonathan!
Luke: Yes!!
Kat: The Morningstern siblings have it rough, both waking up
in strange places, dressed very strangely… I think Clary’s draw to the shadow
world is undeniable and that love she has for all those people takes her back
to it, no matter what so I think she would be a part of it somehow, whether she
remembers her past or not. She’d be welcomed back and maybe she could make up
for all the deaths she’s caused?
Matt: Get back to murdering
Kat: She could re-join the family? Maybe murder the right
people?
Will: Well, Sebastian: Dead! Jonathan: Dead! So it’s turned
out pretty well for me, let me tell you!
Luke: I would like to apologise for that..
Will: If I was not dead, I’d probably get some therapy, and
then I would go and see mommy dearest and then I’d be like “Who’s this guy??”
(pointing at Luke) and then for the rest of my life I’d just be sorting this
situation out. What’s going on??
Jade: (pointing at Will and Luke) This is so cool! Seeing
them together!!
Jade: I would… well. I’ve discovered I’m the new seelie
king. And I would make some changes… Like, why do we have to be assholes? So
yeah, I would change stuff. I would hang out more. I would sing. We’d play. And
merge the realms.
Alberto: I think Simon will continue training as a downworld
deputy but he would also teach a class to shadowhunters about understanding
mundanes. And he would start an initiative to teach shadowhunters how to use
social media, to figure out demonic activity. He’d be like ‘Yo! People are
posting on Instagram about this shit going down right now’
Dom (as Jace): Great day at the institute. Hashtag Selfie!
(audience laughing and cheering) And everyone would be like ‘Jace, you’re doing
it wrong. That’s not…’
Alberto: You don’t say hashtag, you *do* the hashtag…
Dom looks confused, Alberto tries to mime explain his joke,
they are sitting very far apart, it’s clearly not working
Dom: We’ll talk later?
Alberto: We’ll talk later!
Tessa: Heidi is also dead. I think she’s in hell. Kicking it
back. I think she’s finally where she fits in. Feeling really good. Hosting
some sensible cocktail parties perhaps. I think she’s finally found her place
and she’s thriving!
(Dan translates everyone but pauses and says he didn’t hear
the beginning. He knows Dom/Jace would do the opposite of Isaiah but he didn’t
catch that…)
Isaiah: I’m doing roadwork with Alec. We have a hard wear
store… I make the keys in the back…
(Dan despairs)
Dom: Just say it in French. It makes no sense in English either, seriously, just say ‘he makes keys’ in French.
—
And that was the last question of the panel, much to Dan’s relief we are sure!
Dom: Hello everyone! (loud cheering) Thank you for having us
in Paris! (cheering) It’s been wonderful so far and we’re very excited to get
started with this wonderful weekend and all you wonderful people
Matt: Hello! There’s a lot of people here today. That’s
exciting, we’re going to have a lot of fun, and you guys are going to be loud. (loud
cheering) (in THAT voice) Let’s have a great time.
Will: (At what Matt said) That’s beautiful. I mean, that’s
beautiful! The sentiment there… just beautiful! (to crowd) Hi guys! How’s it
going? (loud cheering) So good to be here, so good to see you all… and introducing
this guy (pointing at Luke – super loud cheering)
Luke: (shy wave) Hi
Will: They were going to give us just the one chair, and
just switch us back and forth…
Luke: To be fair, I thought they were one chair short and I
was just going to leave… (AWW)
Harry: Hello… (Insanely loud cheering) we’re going to have a
lot of fun today. Can’t wait to meet you all and answer some deep questions.
So.. let’s give it another scream! (cheering)
Kat: Good morning everybody! (cheering) THOS con Paris was
our first Shadowhunters convention and it always feels like family and it
always feels like coming home and we’ve got the whole family here today!
Alberto: Hello hello (cheering) It’s really great to be here
again. I see a lot of familiar faces, I see a lot of new faces. Can’t wait to
meet all of you or see all of you again!
Nicole: Hello (super loud cheering) It’s so amazing to be in
Paris. I love Paris and like Alberto was saying, it’s really cool at this point
in our journey, all of us together as a family, us and you guys, to start
seeing people that I recognise and also to see new people and it’s been an
amazing time so far in your city, thank you for having us!
Jade: Wow! (cheering) Bonjour! (cheering) Ca va? (loud
cheering!) Jade continues talking in French to lots of screaming about how it’s
good to be back in Paris and to see how the convention has grown.
Emeraude: Hello everyone! I am so excited to be back, and to
see everyone. It’s been a while and I can’t wait to see you all and take
pictures and do fun things together and I will see you guys soon.
David: Buongiorno. Did I say that right? (NOPE!) Good to see
you guys. So happy you guys came out. Is anyone else sweating? It’s so freaking
hot! (cheering) You guys are awesome. I’m always excited to come to these
conventions because of the love you guys give us. I love you guys so much and I
can’t wait to meet you.
Kat: Do we get to answer questions now?
Dan: Yes! Are you ready?
Kat: So ready!
Dan: Deep questions
Jade: What’s your favourite…. Pony?
Alberto: Wait. Can I ask a question? How many people were
here last year? (cheering) How many people is this their first convention? (quieter
cheering)
(Kat congratulates Alberto for breaking the ice)
If you could live in
any time period, which one would you choose and why?
Emeraude: The 1950s, the 20s, I don’t know. Any time where
the girls were dressing cute!
Alberto: I’d like to say that I would live in a different
time, but there are a lot of comforts in this time that I’m not sure I’d want
to live without…
Dom: I agree. All my friends are here. My family is here. I
want to stay in this time (audience coos) No no no no! Not them! My actual
friends.
Harry: But don’t you think there is another version of all
of us in another time?
Dom: Where we all run a speakeasy in the 20s or something?
Harry: That’s a wormhole right there!
Nicola: I mean, not to get too serious, but at least for
women and for a lot of people, this is the best
time there has ever been. As women, it’s now or never baby. We’re at the
beginning of a future of women actually achieving equality so for me, I’m
sticking with right now and the future!
Emeraude: That was a fabulous answer. So I agree with her!
David: On another serious note, once upon time, there was a
time, when there was no time. So…
Kat: Now that’s deep!
David: I don’t know where I was going with that… Anyway.
Elvis. I love Elvis. I want to meet him!
Jade: Atlantis! Some of you think it’s not a real time, but
it is! That’s where I belong.
Matt: (off microphone) But it’s underwater
Jade: Yes!
Dom: Use your microphone Matt!
Nicola: He’s saying he’d chose Atlantis, before it was in
the ocean
Harry: ooooooh
Dom: Isn’t the ocean part the bit that makes it cool tough?
Otherwise it’s just a city!
Matt: (to Jade) You do like mermaids a lot!
Dom: The mermaids wouldn’t be there if it was above ground! –
– Hey Dan! (Dan is the translator) Loving your life so far? (laughter)
Did you know each
other before the show or did you get to know each other during the show?
Dom: It’s a mixed answer. I knew Will from London and Kat
and Luke from LA. I met everyone else on the show. Aaaand… that’s it.
Kat: I knew Dom beforehand and I met Luke during, outside of
the show. And the other ones became family. I never forget the first day when I
got to Toronto all these guys were pretty much there already and we all went to
dinner. And I was really nervous about it. I was the youngest one on the cast
and going to be living in a foreign country with all of these people and I only
knew Dom. Having everybody become a family so quickly… we pretty much laughed
until we cried that first dinner and it really set things off in a great way.
Harry: Yeah, Kat was like 12 years old when the show started.
Nicola: Jade and I met working on a play together in Toronto
as we both do theatre and we’re both Canadian. When we got the play we started
rehearsals and Jade was worried because he had to take two days off to do this
TV show that I’m doing. And I was like ‘Oh my god me too!’ What’s the show?
Shadowhunters! What about you? Shadowhunters!
(Jade, in French, talks about knowing Anna Hopkins, pointing
at the photograph up on the screen. Audience says no, he’s confused, looks at
the picture again, realises it’s Emeraude, searches the screen, realises Anna
isn’t on it (as she’s only here Sunday). Jade: Nooooooooo.
Jade also knew Alexandra Odolis, who plays Ollie, and the
Seelie Queen.
Harry: What’s Seelie queen in French?
Jade & Dan: Reine De Fee? (They start discussing the
difference between fairy and seelie and whether that’s the correct translation.
There’s mumbling on stage. Nicola joins in. The first few rows of the audience
join in. Everything is talking amongst themselves and confused)
Matt: I DIDN’T KNOW ANY OF THEM! And that’s a really quick
translation! So we can do that… (Matt realises that no one’s paying attention
to him) What’s happening here? What are we deciphering?
Jade: Fairy and Seelie
Matt: oooooooh..
Will: Should I answer the question? Will that make it more
difficult? I did know Dom and I messaged him to say ‘You got this amazing job!
Well done!!’ and then, who knew, a few years later, I’m on the show… it’s
crazy!
Harry: I didn’t know anyone either. At first I thought I was
in an episode of Project Runway. Everyone is just so good looking!
Emeraude: (mocking) Project Runway?!?
Harry: Nevermind. America’s Next Top Model! I don’t know the
difference… But what I love about this project is that everyone is so different
but the thing that they all have in common is that they all have such good
heart and they’re all so talented and know they all have really bright futures
ahead of them and it’s really cool to be part of this project that almost had
people from all over the world and I think that’s why (dramatic pause) y’all are
here (super loud cheering)
Emeraude: I knew Harry but Harry didn’t know me because I
was a fan of Glee!
If you could take
your character to a concert, which band or artist would you take them to?
Jade: (sing-song) Ga-ga!
David: Kpop
Emeraude: That is so weird! Raphael at a Kpop concert??
David: I know! But I just saw Kpop on Instagram and I
thought it was fun. Any Kpop fans here today? (cheering) Okay, well in that
case Raphael’s going!
Harry: I have to agree with that. We got a lot of
inspiration for Magnus from BIGBANG, their make up and stuff. So I think Magnus
definitely went to a couple of BIGBANG concerts. Maybe some BTS I guess.
Emeraude: I really like Halsey right now, and I just really
want to meet her, so I would use Isabelle as an excuse to meet her.
Nicole: I would take Maryse to see Jade live. I love Jade’s
music and if you haven’t checked it out then do so, it is unbelievable! And it’s
so empowering and I think Maryse could use some uplifting empowerment and I
think Jade’s music would help her do that so I’m going with Jade all the way.
Alberto: The first impulse thought was to take Simon to a
Barenaked Ladies concert. That would be so much fun.
Dom: Do you want to translate now Dan? Before we do the
second half of answers? We’ll try really hard to concise these answers because
you have a queue of people and we’ll ramble for an hour and a half about what
our favourite band is.
Emeraude: (interrupting Dan, before he can start
translating) I’m really interested in Matt Daddario’s answer! What would it be?
Matt: I don’t want to waste time!
Emeraude: We’re not wasting time! I’m sure everyone wants to
know what your answer is!
Matt: It’s not us, it’s our character-
Emeraude: Stop avoiding the question!!
Matt: I’m not, but we have to think about-
Emeraude: JUST ANSWER THE QUESTION
Harry: He can’t think of any band name. At all.
There’s a pause when everyone turns to Dan, waiting for him
to translate
Kat: Matt, you’ve got time to google! Go!
Harry: (giggling to himself) The beatles!
(Dan translates)
Kat: I would like Clary to take me to a Simon Lewis concert!
And outside the Shadowworld, I think Clary and I would enjoy a P!nk concert.
Luke: We had a long discussion because we were wondering if
it was on the same line, and it is…
Will: Well, it kind of is…
Luke: It is! Like, very similar
Will: Well, you say yours and then I say mine
Luke: Mine would be Blink182
Will: And I was going to say Black Sabbath, which I don’t
know if that’s the same
Luke: It is! It’s heading in that direction.
Will: It’s true. I need to say Sebastian as well, and we
think…
Luke: ..we think for Sebastian…
Will: …It would be like Disney on Ice or something like that
Matt: (pointing between Luke and Will) This is really cute,
what’s happening here
Luke: It’s really funny, I want to compare notes. I’m like ‘what
do you think about this? What’s going through your head right now?’
Will: We really should have done this before the show ended.
Luke: Yeah, awkward.
Kat: Alright Matt, it’s your turn now
Matt: I already said I’m not sure!
Emeraude: Well say something!
Matt: There’s no point trying to force me to say something.
I don’t know what the answer is.
Kat: What about the symphony orchestra or something?
Matt: He might not want to do that necessarily, or he’s
probably done that before!
Emeraude: You’d probably rock out to Beyonce or something,
right?
Matt: I think the Jade answer is a great answer. It’s a
solid answer and I think it would be fun for him
Emeraude: Dom, what did you say?
Dom: I haven’t yet. It’s cheating a little bit but I would
like to take Jace to see someone like Elvis. Someone who is so spectacular at
what they do, and I quite like the idea of Jace watching him like “why is he
moving like that? Is he in pain? Is he hurting?”
Matt: Elvis isn’t alive anymore…
Dom: hey hey hey
David: Don’t you talk about my Elvis like that!
Since you started
filming Shadowhunters, how has your life changed?
Kat: Being barely 19 when I started the show-
Harry: 12!
Kat: 12. Yes. Coming out of the show in my mid 20s it’s a
huge influential part of your life-
(Alberto interrupts and whispers to her)
Kat: Early twenties. I’m rounding up, it’s fine. Okay, I’m
not rounding up. Coming out of the show in my 20s, I’m so thankful to have been
surrounded by such wonderful people, both in the fandom, and all these people
up here on stage, the crew and everyone. If there’s anything I’ve learnt it’s
that you are an amalgamation of all the people you spend the most time with and
that influence you and I can’t thank everyone enough for everything I’ve
learnt.
Harry: I’ve grown an appreciation for everyone who wears
make up and what it takes to take it off at the end of the night. I have made
progress from taking it off by wetting tissue and just like smearing it, and I
see girls and they’re just like ‘ooooh, don’t do that!!’ and now I dab and I
take it off really softly and nicely. So I’ve grown an appreciation for anyone
who wears make up, eyeliner or nail polish.
Will: I’ve learnt a lot from Jonathan (turning to Luke) I’m
sure it was the same for you…
(laughter)
Luke: I learnt what NOT to do.
Will: No, seriously. Before I started this job, I was a nice
guy, but now, if anyone pisses me off….
Luke: I’ve learnt if anyone pisses me off, I just cry about
it. It’s pretty much all I did.
Will: I just scowl at people. I’ve learnt to scowl. And I
enjoy that!
Nicola: My life changed in huge ways. I had a 6 month old
baby when I started shooting Shadowhunters and suddenly I had kids in their 20s
and that was kind of fun. And it gets very lonely sometimes when you first have
a baby and you don’t see your friends very much, especially if you’re a working
mum so these guys were the first friends I made. Dom was the first person to
say ‘come out, come with us and have some fun’. Everyone was so welcoming and
they were the first friends that I made after I became a mum and it was a very
significant thing for me to have all these guys at this point in my life. It was
an epic shift for me, so it was really beautiful.
Jade: Honestly meeting all of these guys has been the best
part! (to Emeraude) You’re my favourite. But this, THIS here is very much part
of it and has very much changed everything which is why we’re in Paris right
now, together, and going around the world. The show is cool, and it’s nice, and
it’s fun, and it’s magic and like, ‘oooooh, a TV show!!’, but it doesn’t
compare to the experiences that we have right now and in between shooting.
These are the best parts.
What were some of the
funniest moments?
Nicola: I always loved it when one of us was pretending to
be dead or knocked out. There’s something funny about pretending to be passed
out. We had a scene, with Dom and me, where I’m meant to be passed out and
Magnus comes and saves me and it’s so hard to not laugh when you’re pretending to
be dead or passed out. I think everyone at some point had to be dead or passed
out and there’s something funny, too, about watching your friends trying to be
dead and be like ‘I should do something to make them laugh!’
Matt: It helps if you sleep
Dom: Not if you’re supposed to be dead! I remember this. They
did a shot over me, when I died, to Kat and Alan, and I just heard Drew go “I
can see you breathing!”
Emeraude: There’s a video we did for Matt Daddario’s
birthday that we all had to keep a straight face, and I thought that was a cool
moment
Harry: It was! We did it like 6 times and you just couldn’t
keep a straight face the whole time!
Emeraude (deadpan): Happy Birthday Matt
Harry: There you go!
Kat: I think one of my favourite memories was one of the
first dinners we ever had and we played that game where you all put your phones
away and then whoever touches their phone first-
Matt: That game? That GAME where we put our phones AWAY at DINNER?
Kat: Yes!
Dom: You all put them in the middle and if someone grabs
their phone, they have to pay for everything
Kat: You were there!!
Matt: I don’t remember that
Kat: We were all still getting to know each other
Jade: Who won?
Kat: We had to split the cheque in the end because we were
all good! But it was one of the best conversation we had because we were forced
to get to know each other
Harry: So the lessons is-
Matt: Wait wait wait. This is the funniest thing I’ve ever
heard. We went to dinner and we put our phones out in front of us and that way
we were forced to get to know each other? Otherwise, what happens? Would we all
sit there like this (pretends to be on phone).
Kat: Literally that’s what people do
Harry: I’ve seen a lot of dinners like that
Dom: Yeah
Matt: On their phones?
Harry: Literally, eating and on their phones.
Matt: (eyerolling) Wow… that sounds like a great dinner
(silence)
Dom: Dan? (laughter)
(Dan translates)
Harry: The last thing I’ll say was the funniest moment was the
baby goat legs? Did you see that? The blooper? I think I gained like 4 abs from
laughing. I don’t even remember the line, but I had to do a serious line like ‘here
is this beautiful baby’ and then plonk.
Dom: And it was! It literally was this noise (drops
microphone)
Harry: And we couldn’t… usually you want to be professional
but we could not get through that scene.
Kat: I looked over and Matt is purple and Harry is crying
and everyone is losing it
Dom: The only person who kept it together was the mother
Matt: Well the nurse-mother has a scene earlier where I go
upstairs and I’m looking for her and she comes out and very seriously goes ‘Shhh.
Baby’s sleeping’. And I couldn’t get through that scene either because there’s
something so funny about the silence and then that very serious line. The goat
feet though. Thank got they got rid of that, because that did not work.
Dan: Sorry. I’ve lost you.. what was it you had in your
arms?
Harry: A goat feet baby.
Dan: A baby?
Harry: A baby with goat feed
Kat: A human baby with-
Matt: Prosthetics-
Harry: And I’m holding a real baby, too!
Lots of confusion, everyone is trying to help, talking simultaneously,
but making it worse
Nicola: Jade, do you want to translate this?
Jade: Okay, so it was a real baby with fake goat legs?
Dom: Yes, real baby. Fake goat legs. We couldn’t find a real
baby with real goat legs.
Dan: Okay, but the thing that fell on the floor was a fake
baby?
Kat/Matt/Dom: No. No no no.
Matt: Goat feet
Dom: A real baby. Actual real human baby child.
Harry: Fake baby, real goat feet.
Dom: No!
Harry: I don’t know where they got the goat feet from but…
Matt: (to audience) Right, you’re just going to have to
explain to your neighbour what happened!
(Dan starts to translate. Everyone on stage watches the sign
interpreter)
Alberto: What is the sign for goat feet?
Dom: Yeah, we’re all quite curious here, what’s the sign for
goat feet?
(Interpreter translates their questions into sign)
Matt: Oh no! Now she has to explain what we asked!
(Interpreter shows the guests what the sign for goat feet
is)
Dom: This is all I’ve learnt. I’ve been watching this
spectacular woman signing and translating everything (applause) and all I’ve
learnt from it, is goat feet, which is cool, but…
