Al Jean, scary hours and 'The Simpsons'

Who’s the hardest-working man in show business?  It might be Al Jean.  If you watch an episode of “The Simpsons,” Jean’s name is the first that pops up in the credits at the end.  Cartoonist Matt Groening created the family from a blank piece of paper and producer James L. Brooks shaped much of the spirit and tone once they hit the screen, but Jean is the day-to-day engine that keeps the franchise going.

On Sunday, I saw “The Simpsons Movie” for the second time, and I couldn’t help but smile when I saw Jean’s name flash on the screen.  As a writer and producer for the film and the show-runner for the series, Jean had a year of seven-day workweeks and days at the office that stretched well into the night.  I got to talk at length with Jean (as well as with Brooks, Groening and fellow “Simpsons” stalwart Richard Sakai) for a Calendar Weekend cover story that ran on the eve of the film’s release, and he looked weary but plainly excited about the movie.  “I am really looking forward to the response; I want to see what the public and the critics say. I know we are very happy with the movie.”  (Sakai, an especially wry character, had a different response when I asked him his thoughts on the movie: "It just won't die.  I keep thinking we're done.  But it just ... won't ... die."

I haven’t talked to Jean since the movie opened July 27 to stellar reviews and a robust $74 million at the box office (it's total has reached $128 million in the U.S. as I write this, $236 million worldwide), but I hope he’s enjoying the success -- and some time off.

“The hours and the schedule are difficult, absolutely, but that’s what it takes to do a film and TV show at the same time,” he said during the interview.  I pointed to his wedding ring and asked, “How’s that going?”  He laughed.  “My wife is very understanding.  Very, very understanding.  Can you put that in the story?  Please?  And can you put in that I love her very much?”  That didn’t make it in the story, Al. Sorry.  But I'm hoping this blog item counts for something.

Jean's name popped up in The Times on Monday in a fun story by my colleague Jerry Crowe on all the sports stars who have passed through Springfield, while Lorenza Munoz (who was my partner covering the crime beat in Orange County a decade ago) wrote up an insightful piece on the global resonance of “The Simpsons” for our business section.

-- Geoff Boucher

Fan film winners: They might surprise you

We missed out on seeing any of the films in the Comic-Con International Film Festival, but here are the winners: 

• Action/adventure: "Razor Sharp"
• Animation: "Fission"
• Comics-oriented: "Rocketboy"
• Documentary: "Moebius Redux: A Life in Pictures"
• Horror/suspense: "Eli"
• Humor/parody: "Zombie Love"
• Science fiction/fantasy: "Man vs. Woman"
• Judges’ Choice Award: "Moebius Redux: A Life in Pictures"

With Jean "Moebius" Giraud's "Moebius Redux" being the big winner, here's a tease (actually just the intro) to the Heavy Metal magazine co-founder's winning film. Maybe we can get more later.

Comic-Con 2007: It's a Wrap

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Here are a few of our personal highlights, low points and some of the projects we saw at Comic-Con that we look forward to catching in the future.

The panel of iron and rage

Marvel Studios held their first film presentation in Hall H tonight with a first (for me) at the 2007 Comic-Con: a standing ovation, for "Iron Man."

IRON MAN

Marvel exec Kevin Feige, producers Gale Anne Hurd and Avi Arad, director Jon Favreau, with actors (from left to right above) Terrence Howard, Gwyneth Paltrow and Robert Downey Jr. took the stage. All of the actors were Comic-Con first-timers and their camaraderie was palpable as they joked and whispered with each other throughout the presentation. Exclusive footage was about to be shown and, as Favreau told the crowd, "This is about comic-book fans."

The crowd LOVED the footage, and the panelists were seeing the images for the first time as well. They all looked stunned and happy, with Downey Jr. asking, "Couldn't there have been more of me?"

Some of the Q&A:

Paltrow was asked about her role as Pepper: "I love the dynamic between Pepper and Tony....  I was incredibly honored."

Terrence Howard was asked how it felt being in a movie like this (comic-book adaptation): "What do you mean ... a movie with a budget?"

Christopher Walken: Every day's his birthday

What's a Ping-Pong martial-arts romantic wire-fu comedy cast to do without its villain played by Christopher Walken?

Just ask "Balls of Fury" star Dan Fogler and writer-director Ben Garant, who spent much of their Comic-Con panel on Saturday doing Walken impersonations. (The lithe actor is currently promoting "Hairspray" and was apparently unable to attend the Con.) 

Garant told the crowd that Walken pretended it was his birthday three times during production. He'd stop by Ralphs on his way to the set and pick up a birthday cake. Then he would sit alone in the makeup trailer, looking forlorn, until some unsuspecting crew member walked in. And then he'd spring his trap.

"Is it your birthday?!" a crew member would ask.

"Oh, no. It's nothing," Walken would reply. "It's not that big a deal." Inevitably, Garant said, someone fell for it every time. The production ended up have three birthday parties for Walken.

Although he may love birthdays, Walken apparently doesn't know from interwebs or e-mail.

"Yeah, he doesn't know the @ symbol," Garant said. "He looked at it for so long and then said, 'What is that? Is this a letter or a number?' We [said], 'It's like 'at' but one letter shorter.'"

-- Sheigh Crabtree

Photo: Walken in "Balls of Fury" / Rogue Pictures

A new 'Chronicles of Narnia' every May through 2013?

Mark Johnson, producer of "The Chronicles of Narnia" series, made what sounded like an impossible promise during a Comic-Con panel devoted to the sequel "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian."

"Every May, starting this May 2008," Disney will release new "Narnia" films based on the C.S. Lewis fantasy novels, Johnson said. The "Narnia" production company plans to start shooting "Voyage of the Dawn Treader," the third film in the seven-book series, in late January or February with an anticipated release date of May 2009.

Director Andrew Adamson does not plan to return for more films after "Voyage."

The next three books follow the adventures of Prince Caspian. Ben Barnes, the actor who plays the young royal, was introduced for the first time publicly via satellite: He and Adamson are in Prague where the production is 106 days into shooting with 30 to 40 to go.

-- Sheigh Crabtree

Photo: from left, Barnes and Adamson, via satellite from Prague

Seth Rogen talks 'Green Hornet'

Seth Rogen spoke publicly for the first time about "Green Hornet" at Comic-Con on Saturday.

Rogen was in San Diego with his "Superbad" co-writer Evan Goldberg, director Greg Mottola, producer Judd Apatow and cast members Michael Cera, Jonah Hill and Christopher Mintz-Plasse.

Apatow introduced two clips from the film, which played like bonkers with the crowd, then he opened the floor up to questions from fans.

The majority of those questions were from teen girls who asked some variation of "Michael Cera, will you marry me?" or "Michael, can I have your children?" There were also the mandatory "Do you know if 'Arrested Development' is ever coming back?"

But one bold fan asked Rogen about his involvement with Columbia Pictures and Original Films' upcoming superhero remake.

"What's all this about 'Green Hornet'? And how did you get involved?" the fan asked.

"Well, I'm a writer and I gotta work," Rogen said.

He later added: "It's something that Evan [Goldberg] and I are big fans of.... We wrote 'Pineapple Express' together ... and we thought, 'What if we make an even bigger action movie? And what if I wear a mask? Evan really wanted me to wear a mask because he is so sick of seeing my face."

-- Sheigh Crabtree

Photo: from top left, Rogen and Goldberg; bottom, Cera

Getting smarter with Pete Segal

One of the highlights of the Warner Bros. presentation was the panel and teaser for "Get Smart."

Steve Carell, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Masi Oka, Nate Torrence and Ken Davitian joined director Pete Segal onstage. Carell and the Rock got most of the face time on the panel, so afterward I sat down for a quick talk with the director.

Why "Get Smart"?

"There have been a lot of TV adaptations over the last decade. Some are terrible, and some are very good. And I think you have to remember that 'The Fugitive' and 'Mission: Impossible' came from TV shows," says Segal. "I think the difference in success and failure is in how close you stay to the source material."

When casting the film, Segal said he wanted to get actors that were at equal comedic and dramatic skill levels. "Suddenly you're energizing each scene with guys who can not only deliver what's on the page, but bring something else to the role." He also mentioned that Anne Hathaway in her role as Agent 99 was the most surprising actor of those cast and that her gung-ho attitude in her action-packed role will blow away audiences.  "Her enthusiasm comes across on the screen."

Favorite episode from the original show: "Loved the pilot." Segal mentioned that it was one of the two episodes that Mel Brooks (who created the show with Buck Henry) actually wrote and that it deftly explained and defined Maxwell Smart.

Favorite scene from the new movie: When Smart and Agent 99 are on a plane, rehearsing their undercover personas. Segal says that you find out that with his weight problem and her recent plastic surgery, they each had troubled pasts, and "It's there that they find common ground."

Favorite Line: By Smart -- "You've underestimated the element of supri ... "

Favorite Gadget: Old would be the shoe phone, and from the new film would be "a Swiss army knife that has a crossbow that shoots a harpoon," and many other things!

It looks fun and action-packed.

-- Jevon Phillips

Late Kate spruces up 'Whiteout' panel

Greg Rucka's graphic novel "Whiteout" has become a Warner Bros. motion picture starring Kate Beckinsale, produced by Joel Silver, and directed by Dominic Sena.  All three were present with the comics' author for the film's WB panel, though Beckinsale arrived after the trailer had been shown twice and the assemblage had answered many questions.

Saying that she had been stuck behind a train, Beckinsale made up for her tardiness with crowd-pleasing remarks.  In her short stint on stage, Beckinsale touched on topics that included the clothing differences between her Antartica-bound character in "Whiteout" and that of her vampire character from "Underworld," her husband's seeming desire to put her in dangerous action movies, and her brush with possibly becoming Wonder Woman (which hasn't happened).

-- Jevon Phillips

Ed Burns gives away iPhones at 'One Missed Call'

Not a single call was dropped during Warner Bros.' "One Missed Call" presentation.

During a slightly awkward mini-panel, Ed Burns and Shannyn Sossamon showed a clip from their new movie, "One Missed Call," an English-language adaptation of the Japanese film.

Sossamon seemed unnerved by the crowd. Burns tried to keep it light, but the audience didn't seem familiar with the film and didn't have many questions about it. At the end of the session, Sossamon announced that she and Burns were giving away iPhones to audience members who asked them questions. Needless to say, they finished on a high note.

-- Sheigh Crabtree