By Judy Shields
Photos Daphne Stainbrook/THT
New Orleans, LA (The Hollywood Times) 1/16/23 – Fan X New Orleans isn’t for the faint of heart fan, the part time fan, or the undecided fan. Fan X is for the legit, hardcore, legit fan. And we got a front row seat to fan culture at the event January 5-7 in the iconic Big Easy, with amazing panels, celebrity meet and greets, and more to make the experience so much more than we could have hoped for.
Ahead of the show, we were lucky to encounter the Louisiana Ghostbusters, complete with a classic Ghostbusting white car. We got an “inside” view at the amazing Star Wars droid RC3-8, who appears to be a close cousin to R2-D2 and a distant one to BB-8. Our official first day at Fan-X New Orleans included a Henry Winkler panel (yes, he’s every bit the dynamic personality you thought he was.)
“This is amazing!” he said in part, “What a pleasure that you’re all here right now.” He then asked what the fans would like to hear about, taking the stage in an eclectic half blue, half gray sweater. “Arrested Development!” shouted a fan. He spoke to fans about his role as “really bad” lawyer Barry Zuckerkorn, explaining that he’d only expected to appear for one episode.
“And then they invited be back and I stayed for five years,” he said to laughter and applause. “Oh, it was amazing! And I was working with the most wonderful people. Henry is currently starring on HBO’s hit “Barry.” The longtime actor, who first gained fame on TV’s unforgettable “Happy Days,” was warm and inviting to fans, even calling them by name and showing real interest in their questions. He was truly a highlight at the expo.
He even revealed that he’d been asked to do the role of Danny Zuko in “Grease,” but turned it down, citing concerns that he didn’t want to be typecast after playing the “Fonz.” John Travolta picked it up instead. “I have to find the love in every role I play, whether I’m crazy about it or not,” he said. “Because otherwise that shows, you as the audience will pick it up.”
We also attended panels featuring Carl Weathers, Emily Swallow and Giancarlo Esposito of “The Mandalorian,” which featured lines 7 people deep lining up to ask questions of the actors. “Wherever you do, you will find ‘you,” said Esposito, speaking about how no matter the character you play as an actor, you will find a piece of yourself you didn’t know previously existed.
We were also lucky to sit in on “I Am No Jedi” with Ashley Eckstein, Matt Lantr, and James Arnold, as well as the We Have Spoken podcast for their live reaction to the popular Mandalorian panel.
The voice star of Space Jam, Futurama, and The Ren & Stimpy Show regaled fans with his career in The Voices in My Head with Billy West, and Anson Mount and Ethan Peck gave an arresting appearance in a panel for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Anson even gave us a spoiler alert, noting that he has the “incredible” opportunity to share it. “We have a very famous guest star in season 2, I think you’re going to be very happy with this,” he said. “George Santos is going to be joining us and even taking over the captain’s chair, executive producing, writing and directing.” His costars appeared to be surprised by the news.
Day 2, we attended a Harry Potter panel with Matthew Lewis and Bonnie Wright, and the day also included a Demon Slayer cosplay meetup, a photo op with Grace Van Dien, and – one of our very favorites – an appearance by the voice of Belle of “Beauty and the Beast,” Paige O’Hara.
During the “Harry Potter” panel, Bonnie revealed that she was sorted in Gryffindor and Matthew was sorted Hufflepuff from the Pottermore website. They also spoke about the most difficult scenes being the green screen scenes, including Quidditch matches and dragon fighting scenes. Interestingly, they were expected to make huge reactions working only with a tennis ball.
Bonnie admitted she had gone to film school for directing and writing, and Matthew said he “no skills” but likes putting work into “becoming” another person. He genuinely does not know what he would have done in life without Harry Potter.
There was an informative Kickstarter panel, and one poignantly named “There’s Some Good in This World with Sean Astin.” Jim Cummings appeared as well, and we rather enjoyed the Mario and “Stranger Things” panels as well.
Our favorite part of the experience (besides meeting actors like Paige O’Hara and her real-life husband, the “Beast,” was simply watching how lively this experience was for the actual fans, who often sat on the floor to get a better view of their favorite actors, lit up when having their photos taken at meet and greets, and loved blurting out their questions.
We’re thrilled to see that fan conventions are back in full swing after the worldwide pandemic shut and slowed them down for a time and look forward to covering more of them in the future.