'Way back in October of 2008, I rented the DVD's for
HELLBOY and HELLBOY II, two movies
I'd really wanted to see on the big screen (but simply
couldn't get to due to being a mommy of two very young
boys at the time of their theatrical release). Before
I sat down to view them, I had no idea how much impact
these movies would have on me! Not only was I inspired
to get back to writing by Guillermo del Toro's unique
brand of fantasy/horror, but I absolutely adored the
character of 'Abe Sapien' so much, I had to find out
more about that tall, skinny guy behind the mask
Over
the past two and one-half years, I've been blessed
to meet and become friends with our dear, lovable,
Delicious Dougie. It's hard to believe I've had the
wonderful fortune of sharing his company on so many
memorable occasions. On top of all that, I'm totally
grateful for all the kindness and friendship that's
been bestowed upon me by the fabulous HM [Webmaster
Helen: Ed.], and a Tankful of delightful
Fan Sapiens!
Needless
to say, the chance to see HELLBOY on the
big screen with Dougie in the audience, plus enjoy
a Q&A afterward was an event I did not want to
miss! I want to thank all the Fishies out there who
wished Siofelia (Sianna) and me good thoughts on getting
to the screening on time, etc. Thanks to your good
vibes, I found Siofelia right away at the uber busy
Glendale Galleria, then we encountered only light
traffic on the way to The
Silent Movie Theater. For anyone who lives in
the SoCal area, you probably know Los Feliz Boulevard
is pretty much a parking lot most of the time ...
but miraculously not last night, yay! Not only did
we get to the destination with time to spare, we (amazingly)
found a nearby parking spot, too. Poor Siofelia had
worked right up to 7 pm and never had lunch--but wouldn't
you know, we found a food truck selling tasty goodies
parked right in front of the theater. I think our
guardian angels were working overtime for us, LOL!
I've
never been to The Silent Movie Theater before, and
it is quite the eclectic little theater. The first
two rows are actually made up of couches, then the
rest of the seats are like old fashioned folding chairs
with cushions. I don't think the place holds more
than 125-150 people. So it was a nice, intimate setting.
The HELLBOY screening was part of a "Superheroes
Marathon Weekend" event, so when we walked in
to find a seat, they were playing cartoons like "Screw
On Head" (which immediately made me think of
Kusanivy and her Amazing Dougie Screw On Head she
made, heee!) and old "Spider-Man" episodes.
Not long after we sat down, we saw Dougie and the
absolutely adorable "Matty Cakes" (Matt
Gonos, a very cute and sweet puppy boy who specializes
in making creature teeth and is all of 21), enter
from the back. We all waved at each other as Dougie
got closer. Siofelia and I saw right away that Dougie
was wearing the BPRD t-shirt Siofelia had made for
him back at the Anaheim con. So sweet! We shared more
smiles and gesticulations. Right about that time,
the host started a trivia quiz contest, but Dougie
gestured with more of his amazing Silent Language
skills that he would move nearer to us soon.
Dougie and Siofelia,
Doug wearing the special B.P.R.D. teeshirt made for
him by Siofelia.
During
the trivia contest, one of the questions was: "What
was the name of Doug Jones' character in a series
of McDonald's commercials?" The first guy they
picked thought it was the Hamburgler, but then I got
called on -- and you and I all know the right answer
to that one For my Dougie devotion, I won
a huge black box chock full of items for the upcoming
GREEN LANTERN movie (toys, rings, etc.) ...
and let me tell you, my boys were very happy
campers to find all the goodies the next morning,
LOL!.
After
the contest, the host introduced Dougie and he talked
for a short while about his acting experiences and
how he wound up being involved in HELLBOY.
The host was curious about Dougie's background as
a mime (and contortionist abilities), so Dougie promised
to treat us to a bit of his contortions later.
After
he left the front stage area, Dougie and Matty moved
into two empty seats that were (thank you again, guardian
angels) available in front of me and Siofelia. Dougie
gave us some lovely head pets and hugs before the
movie started. I then had the extreme pleasure of
watching HELLBOY with Dougie only two feet
away. Every now and then, he would turn and whisper
some tidbit about the movie to us, such as it was
GdT himself who did the voice of Ivan (the
corpse Hellboy yanks out of his crypt to give them
guidance to Rasputin's tomb). It was almost surreal
to see sweet, supple Abe emote up on screen, then
look slightly down to find Dougie's head in silhouette.
It was truly a dream come true and I so wish more
of you could have been there to share the experience!!!
I hadn't
seen HELLBOY in quite awhile, so got a big
refresher, along with the joy of fantastic little
details I could never see well on the smaller, TV
screen. Afterward, Dougie came back up to the front
and told interesting stories about his experience
working on HELLBOY (all of which we are very
familiar with so I won't repeat them here). I have
to say, though, it's always funny hearing about how
Dougie grabbed Ron Perlman's butt during a scene by
accident! True to his word, Dougie also treated us
to not only one leg behind his head, but two! He even
rotated himself around in a full circle while in pretzel
mode
When
Dougie was asked what has been his most uncomfortable
costume to date, he said the 'Mother Bug' from BUG
BUSTER, hands down. He had us all laughing with
his description of the hideous 'Mother Bug' and the
movie itself (not one of his favorites, I'll leave
it at that). Indeed, Dougie always jokes that no one
ever knows about or has ever seen BUG BUSTER.
Needless to say, all of us, including Dougie, were
thus totally stunned when the theater played footage
from a trailer for BUG BUSTER right at the
end of the Q&A! They'd dug it up from somewhere
during his talk, LOL! This got Dougie and all of us
laughing gleefully when we got to see the infamous
'Mother Bug' at last!! This was followed by several
of the Mac Tonight commercials, so you can
rest assured, the evening ended on a humorous note.
Dougie,
as always, had many people who wanted to say hello
and wish him well, but he made sure to spend as much
time as he could with me and Siofelia. Many BOSIES
were given and received for HM, TigerLaur, SillyKris,
Mixie, EVERYONE!! He sent his greetings to The
Tank and showered Siofelia and I with loads of
love, huggles, face pats ... or, as 'Hellboy' would
say, "the woiks." Dougie even managed to
sneak away to the lobby with us to get a couple of
pictures to commemorate the evening. It was all wonderful,
but we finally had to release him back to the others
so they could have a turn. Phooey! After a final round
of Dougie squeezies, Siofelia and I headed back toward
home, marveling at the fun we'd had this evening and
how nice it had been to share such a unique experience
with Dougie together.
After
I dropped Siofelia off, I mused over all that has
happened in the span of time since first becoming
a Fan Sapien. I thank Dougie and my Fishsters for
being such a big part of a time of great change for
me. I don't know what the future may hold, but in
the here and now, there is definitely Love!
