The looming sandstorm over Dubai’s skyline on Friday morning would have had any event organiser in a tizzy. But for those putting together and attending the Middle East Film & Comic Con (MEFCC), it proved the perfect setting. For a dusty, gloomy, windy day is when the monsters and villains come out, and heroes save the day.
They were all there at the Dubai International Marine Club, Mina Seyahi — the first day of the two-day event that celebrates everything pop culture: Hobbits, Ewoks, video game protagonists, vague Japanese anime characters and, of course, Startroopers. And they rubbed shoulders with celebrities, comic book artists, illustrators, film directors and aspiring actors as cosplayers willingly posed for pictures and famous writers signed autographs.
The action began early, for a Friday morning, at 10am with a press conference with the stars, where a hyper active, gum-chewing Max Landis set the tone for what’s the come. Landis, the son of director John Landis, wrote the screenplay for the massive 2012 sci-fi hit ‘Chronicle’, and is all set to make his directorial debut with a feature film.
“I don’t consider myself famous,” Landis joked when asked when he realised he might be famous. “I think the first time it occurred to me that I might be known was when I came to Comic Con in Dubai last year and someone said to me: ‘Hey, you are Max Landis.’”.
The rest of celebrities immediately caught on. Warwick Davis, known for his role as Charms Master Professor Flitwick in the ‘Harry Potter’ series and who made his debut in ‘Star Wars: Return of the Jedi’, joked about his height.
“I have an exclusive to share with you guys,” he teased. “My character in my new TV series will be three feet and six inches tall. Also, I’m a few inches taller in high definition.”
Alan Tudyk, best known for the 2004 cult hit ‘DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story’ and the man behind many famous animated voices including that of King Candy in last year’s ‘Wreck-it Ralph’, then stole a question from Davis.
The short actor was asked if he thought he would play the role of Peter Dinklage better in the TV series ‘Game of Thrones’. Tudyk interrupted: “Oh, I can play that role better than him,” said the six-foot tall actor. “Yea, you can tell him I said that.”
New Zealand actor Manu Bennett, who plays Azog in ‘The Hobbit’ film series spoke about working with creator Peter Jackson.
“When you’re in his studio, you feel as if you’ve been abducted by aliens. It’s just this crazy, intense place he exists in where he creates all these wild universes,” said Bennett, also well-known for his role as Crixus in the hit TV series ‘Spartacus’.
Voice artists Yuri Lowenthal (Ben 10) and Lara Pratt (Wonder Woman) spoke of how giving voice is not much different to acting in front of the camera, except you can turn up to work in your pyjamas.
“I had a lisp when I was young and had to see a specialist. And now I earn my living doing voice for characters,” Lowenthal added.
But despite the presence of the stars, and a few screaming fans — journalists are fanboys too, it seems — it was a one-year-old Emirati boy who stole the show on Friday.
Bennett, who spotted Fadhel Al Majrouei, dressed as Batman in the audience, invited him on stage with his father.
“You should be sitting here because of the way you’re dressed,” he told him, as the crowd rushed to take pictures of the toddler and his doting father Faris, dressed in a kandora, essentially ending the press conference.
As an organiser quipped later: “Ladies and gentlemen, this is what Comic Con is all about.”
