Hey, remember Knights of Badassdom? Okay, maybe you don’t, but two Comic-Cons ago I saw a guy with a centaur costume with extra horse legs that moved along with his real legs, and another six-foot-six dude with a giant stuffed bear’s head, and I thought they were the best costumes I’d ever seen. Then I found out they were pros, hired to promote a comedy set in the world of LARPing and Ren Faires and lightning bolts, Knights of Badassdom.

Like I said, that was two years ago, and movies rarely age like wine. The film, from relative unknowns Joe Lynch (director) and writers Kevin Dreyfuss and Matt Wall, still doesn’t have a release date, but it does have a new trailer, starring Peter Dinklage, Danny Pudi (Abed from Community), Jimmi Simpson (McPoyle from It’s Always Sunny), Steve Zahn, and Summer Glau. It seems like weird stuff like this always happens to Steve Zahn movies, doesn’t it? What else do you say about a guy who’s been in Sahara, Strange Wilderness, *and* Daddy Day Care? If actors were half as superstitious as sailors, he’d have gotten his jinxing ass thrown overboard years ago.

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I’m not sure if these panel notes are necessarily fascinating for you the reader, but since I sat through them and took notes, I figure I might as well share.  I’ll try to keep it interesting and skip to the good stuff whenever possible.  Deal? (*spits on hand, extends for handshake*)

Notes from the Community Panel

- With the whole cast joining him onstage (minus Ken Jeong, who must be off filming another Seltzer-Friedberg movie or something), creator Dan Harmon comes on to talk about how he’s always getting grief from the network and the censors, and he wants to show us the real Community, the way he originally intended it.  Then he shows some clips from the show with fart sound effects edited in to make it look like Britta has a gas problem.  They aren’t just the original clips with fart sounds slapped in there willy-nilly, they’ve actually been included in such a way that it makes them seem like farts are a plot point.  It’s nice.  You can always tell when someone’s truly putting their whole heart and soul and inspiration into a fart joke and not just farting through the motions.

- The moderator, whose name I didn’t catch and who looks like a less beardy version of Kevin Smith in his Superman t-shirt and trench coat (note from the future: this guy), asks some blah blah blah questions of the cast.  All the actors are pretty witty and good with the crowd (especially Chevy Chase, who picks his moments to speak but clearly knows how to generate a laugh {even though he seems like an asshole based on what I’ve read about him, but that’s another story…}).  But there’s still a lot of that old standby, actors-being-asked-to-pop-psychologize-the-character-they-play.  WOOF.  First of all, if it doesn’t come up directly in the story, no one gives a sh*t about your character’s inner life and motivations.  Secondly, you’re an actor.  Nothing against actors, but if you didn’t write the character, everything you say about his or her motivations, backstory, aspirations, stifled desires, etc. is just a bunch of made-up, improvised bullsh*t.  It takes talent to do well, but really, don’t bother. No one gives a sh*t.

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