James Callis at Mission Starfury: Cylon Attack

Last updated on Tuesday, 2nd February, at 6:15 PM Finnish time.

A new video of Starfury! It's from the con organizer, Sean Harry, and it's got some James snippets. He looks animated, excited to talk to the fans, and completely relaxed. Also he seems to want to sneak into a Jamie/bunny photo. ;) Aww, James. (L)

No other updates that I can find, but I'll keep updating the post once something comes up.

January updates

Dianora has begun her con report! Check here for photos AND video of the James/Jamie panel!

There are two James videos, and both are beautiful - he discusses the Gina/Boomer's suicide scenes as moments that touched him, and also talks about the "I know about farming" line. I'll transcribe later (I might want to make a little extra post of all the panel video/transcripts, because this is getting messy.)

Sunday updates

Hi there, it's been almost a month since I last updated, but there are still updates coming, so let's re-open this one. There aren't really that many to link to so far, but I'm still waiting for some big updates promised.

Serenity's Angel has lots of good photos here. Including a zip file with James+Jamie photos that you can download! I love the ones where James is just smiling to himself, like here. The man with no cheeks! ;)

More photos on flickr.

Aly's Con report, part 1.

And then for James Callis (who was really funny and did an oh-so-Gaius eyeroll at me):

(L)! There's another lovely fan picture with him. *envy* OK, I'll get mine one day. I hope.

Anno_Superstar got a picture of James' best side. Heeee!

There was a German thread - which I've now lost the link to - where they mentioned the disaster movie thing. James apparently found 2012 "silly and boooorriiiing". I haven't seen it, but I can imagine. :D

December updates:

Eugis kindly unlocked her awesome 3-part con report! Jamie-heavy, but also very James-friendly. The most James-related bit is here, with lots of awesome photos. She has one of the best one-on-one photos with James, my god he looks hot! For me, that ties with Nicole's "praying mantis" pose from Sunday as best James portrait so far.

Also: Eugis was the one who got the answer to my HeadBaltar question on video. And for this I will be eternally grateful. I'm only slightly exaggerating; it really means a lot.

Also also, in the Sunday report:

When I gave James the book to sign, his handler asked me if that was my name. I said no, I don't like my name and I always go by my nickname. So James asked me what my real name was. I told him and he said "that's a lovely name, why don't you like it?" Aw so sweet. I told him I didn't like the way it sounds, so he asked me how it's pronounced in Argentina and tried to say it like that. So cute. He said it pretty well. :)

Awww, James loves names! (L) What a sweetie.

Re: the photo link below: I haven't remembered to gush about James' hair enough this time around, so let's gush a bit. Furry sideburns near the ears = wolf ears, Y/N? The hair looks very luscious and large, and it doesn't even bug me that it's so short. And - is it really even that short anymore? :o How fast does his hair grow?

Oh, and I haven't even mentioned his chest hair! With winter clothes on, it's not really as visible as normal, but you can see how vital it is because it's still high enough to see a bit, most notably in the white shirt only photos. Thou riseth like a mighty vine upon a chest so slight! (Um, that's from Ode to His Chest Hair.)

I think I was going to say something DEEP and meaningful, but it always turns into OMG GUSH! Well, I'm sure you can all relate to that, right? :D

First Monday update:

New pictures of James and Jamie at the panel! Thanks to the4ts. Some of my favorites: Shy smile! Sad puppy! Thinky face! Charmer boy! ...Um, it seems like all the James pictures are my favorites, so I'll stop now. :D Edit: Those are perhaps the best-quality photos so far with awesome expressions, a must-see! There are lots of Jamie singletons too for the bunnies. ;)

Some comments to stuff in Nicole's report, since I was too drunk and excited to comment much yesterday. Not quoted: he did a William Blake impression (?! :D), tried to show what "evil happiness" would sound like (BWAH), and he did his Dean Stockwell "sign the fucking thing". He signed the other half of a picture with Alessandro Juliani who had written "I (L) James Callis". And he loves AJ too. And I love him so, so much.

He had this image of the heroes of the show looking really serious, and then Gaius is there "eating a biscuit" and getting crumbs all over his face. Having said that, he had some other metaphor about how there's only so many times you can pull the same lever before it stops working, so he was glad he got more into the depths of his character as it went on.

Hee! I think that aspect of Baltar was not only a lot of fun, but vital for the show to not get too depressing at first. Even if Baltar was by far not a comic relief character, it felt good to have something - someone - to laugh at, someone who was both funny and laughable in other ways. The military stuff sometimes felt a bit "God bless America" in a bad way, so I'm glad James was there to bring some British awkward humor into it all.

He heard someone call him a "pathetic villain" once, but he wouldn't even call him a villain. He's an anti-hero -- not the kind of antihero who's angry and hates authority and doesn't fight all the vampires (that was his example, lol wtf James) but in a literal way, he's anti-heroic.

I love that he brought this up. We discussed Baltar being an anti-hero, I guess at Syfy once? So it's nice to see he agrees. I really think it's the best thing to describe Baltar.

He said he'd never given much thought before to his backstory, and that he liked it because his character had been "mired in shit" for so long and had this terrible thing hanging off him, so it was like seeing his "callow youth" before all that happened. And he said that just now in talking about it, he was realizing... some deep thought about how people have to rediscover who they were in order to grow.

I sent in M's question about the father and the backstory there, and apparently Nicole had some trouble remembering it (or being coherent in front of James Frakking Callis), since it was a pretty detailed one. But there's something about the flashbacks anyway. I like the idea of rediscovering who you are. I think that's where the whole "I know about farming" thing was going as well.

However, I bring this question up because James Callis mentioned the guy (psst, boyfriend: his name is Charlie Kaufman) who wrote ETERNAL GODDAMN SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND. You know, one of my FAVORITE MOVIES.

I KNOW. OMG. I'd say my very favorite movie ever, and he even mentioned Fight Club, which is one of my favorites too. About HeadSix:

But he talked about how he didn't know in the early seasons and the writers wouldn't tell him anything, so his opinion then leaned toward her being "a form of psychosis" and he compared it to "Fight Club"; he created her in his mind so he didn't have to deal with anything being his fault.

I think that was where everyone's mind went, although I was always excited about the possibility of HeadSix being something more, not necessarily an Angel of God or anything, but something of a higher power.

Sunday updates:

Nicole's report part 3 is up. it's awesome and long, and I'll comment on it in a little while. I'm a bit drunk and more than a bit excited, and I went a little nuts in the comments there, because... he mentioned wanting to work with Charlie Kaufmann? And specifically mentions my favorite movie of all time, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind?

WTF is with this con? First he answers my question, then he mentions the frakking donuts, and then he mentions liking my favorite screenwriter ever.

I'm drunk, so I'll comment more tomorrow. Just to say I'm feeling a bit surreal about all the stuff from the con. My god, what luck!

Friday updates:

Two panel videos! James answering MY QUESTION about HeadBaltar *gush sparkle* (video 2),
and Jamie is asked about the pigeon and James chimes in (video 1). I'll just link to my youtube channel.

Nicole posted her recap part two. OMG, the longest most detailed panel recap EVER. Read it here. I will try to only quote a few important bits. There's seriously so much here I could quote the whole thing.

Also, for those *cough* who were curious, the number of times James Callis said "in that sense" and "on some level" was OFF THE CHARTS. He did three or four "on some levels" when I was just waiting in the Q&A line, and I stopped counting after that.

LMAO!!! :D :D :D That was one of the things I asked her to pay attention to. It's settled then: "on some level" is the verbal equivalent of dashes. He just sprinkles it all over the place. (L)!

He talked about not wanting to do it, he was afraid "I'd go to America and play a villain and that would be it." Then he added, in a cheeky self-deprecating way, "And that might be it." XD At one audition he was talking to a woman (not Tricia) who was there for Six, and she told him "I hope you get it," and he told her, "I hope I don't." :( He now realizes his vanity and wanting to play a hero was holding him back.

Awww :D I'm glad he's changed his mind about it. It's interesting that he mentions vanity, because I don't see that about him at all. Maybe that's his one flaw?

And he loved Gaius' ending, but he admitted that he never really got the Times Square thing, especially since (ironic considering the "lines were cut" joke from five seconds earlier) they did cut lines out of that, so he was even more confused when he was watching it on TV.

He was confused too? That makes me feel better about my own reaction. Because I was all "WTF was that?!" and when the robots started dancing, I felt like smashing in my computer. At that moment, I hated the ending. It grew on me. I always did love the "I know about farming" stuff, though.

James talked about the much-beloved "I know about farming" line. (♥♥♥) So that's one question I didn't have to ask. He joked that when he first read it, it was like "the most unromantic" last line he could possibly have. *g* But he got very emotional about everything it meant for the character, and also because he saw Baltar and Six as having the "last goodbye" on the show, after the final Kara/Lee and Adama/Roslin scenes before it, so it had to build on those too.

(L) (L) (L)!

After that - MY question for James! Courtesy of deniselleb, I asked him to talk about the S4 scene when Baltar met HeadBaltar. And he was pretty enthusiastic to answer it, maybe as much as he was about answering my torture question back at D*C! First, it was actually inspired by that drunken roundtable podcast he did with Jamie and RDM -- that awesomely silly comment he made about how he wanted to act with himself. (Heee, I remember that. IIRC, they were talking about which character they'd like to play, and he was like "I'd be Tricia so I could have scenes with me." I never made this connection!) So then it turned up in an episode.

Eeee! (L)!!!! You know, I did make that connection. It's easy to say afterwards, of course, but in my head, the way I phrased the question was "In the roundtable podcast, you said you'd like to play against yourself, and then you did with HeadBaltar..." :D So it's especially awesome to hear him say that. And it's nice to know that something came out of that hilarious drunken podcast. Jamie apparently remembers it as the "whiskey podcast", and I'm impressed that James still remembers it at all! (He was so drunk he actually fell asleep at some point during it.)

And I'm so glad he was excited! Eeeeeeee! (L)

Both times he filmed it with a guy named Ryan [somelastname, who'd worked on the show before] as the other Baltar, and then they did CGI magic on it. So he was acting against someone and not in a vaccuum, and he actually got to improvise. He was ad-libbing everything about Tory/Rekha Sharma's hotness. (Omg. Be still my heart.)

Ryan Robbins. I remember hearing the name but I can't place him right now. But that's awesome. LOl about the ad-libbing! I thought only "Oh my giddy aunt" was ad-libbed.

Of course I had to throw in a follow-up question then -- did he ad-lib "oh my giddy aunt"? Hell yes. He was like, lolz, that's not an American thing, is it? He then explained the origin of "giddy aunt" and that it was probably a way of saying "God Almighty" when the Victorian father didn't want to curse in front of the children or something. (HEE!) So I've decided it's the British equivalent of "Jiminy Christmas", y/n? Anyway, he said it because he always thought it sounded silly and it obviously cracks him up.

It's awesome. So awesome. It's just... awesome. OMG. (Um, I'll discuss this more calmly later in that separate post I made about the video.)

"The good thing in Baltar is that he's "curiously devoid of hate" (♥) and saw Cylons and humans as not being able to help what they are. Obviously this all led to Gina as the main turning point moment (♥♥). He said something cool about how it does something to you when you see a 'bad' person do something good and selfless; it's more exciting than seeing a normally selfless person do it."

One of the things I love the most about Baltar, and I'm so glad he thinks so too.

OK, I'll stop quoting now because it's Nicole's post and I don't want to post it all here, but seriously READ IT, it's got just about every question and answer from the James/Jamie panel.

First Friday update:

The awesome Nicole has posted her recap part one. It's only the first night, but it's already detailed and awesome. James remembered her by name, after meeting her once before at a con. It's amazing.

Also:

Not shown in the video is when they brought them all back onstage at the end, with "All Along the Watchtower" playing, and James Callis did a bouncy little dance to the music, leading me to call him "precious" for the first of several times this weekend.

Awww, I really wish I had seen that dance. And yes, HE IS TOTALLY PRECIOUS. Our widdle man! *coos*

Meeting James after the meet and greet:

We had to wait *forever* to catch him coming out of the hall, because he was the last person in there. Like, I don't mean the last celebrity -- there were literally five people left in the room, and James Callis was still talking to them while gesturing wildly with his hands. Ahahaha awwwww. ...
he was very apologetic about us not being allowed inside, then added "Have you been drinking? That's the important thing."

Awww! (L) The meet and greet was first 100 people only, but sounds like James was eager to meet everyone. And wanted everyone to have a good time. (Not everyone likes to drink, of course; he should have asked if they've been eating.)

No, my co-stalkers introduced themselves and he was all nice-to-meet-you, and then I shook his hand and said my name, and he said "I remember Nicole" like obvsly. *smile* Dude! That was more than a year ago. This isn't so much about how memorable I am as it is a testament to the CRAZY JAMES CALLIS MEMORY BANK -- he's alarmingly good with faces, and more than once I saw him refer to other fans by name.

OMG! That's almost a little scary. :o I must declare Nicole a minor celebrity just because James knows her by name. ;) Unbelievably cool of him.

Also, Nicole is in this picture, but apparently with her back to the camera (in the skirt). This is James meeting them after the meet and greet. He looks so happy to see them. (L)!!

Thursday updates:

Two new photos on flickr. Not a lot of new things to comment on, but he does look nice and thoughtful in the panel picture.

A long report with lots of fun James details! I'll quote liberally, since I can't help myself. (Edit: Ginny4Harry's journal is friends only now, so this post is not accessible. But I'll leave the quotes up since they were public when she first published them.)

He talked about the his costumes for BSG. He said he had a lot of looks that were not good. He said he wished he could have worn clothes more like Lee got to. He also said he wasn't much taller than Pipsytips lee bear.

Hee! (L) Our little man! I wonder which outfits of Baltar's he didn't like.

He took a picture with him pointing at the t-shirt. I went to walk away and he called me back, putting his arm around me and bringing me back over. He said 'Did you want to me pointing at your t-shirt. No no, come back. I can be serious.'

Then it was time for the group shot. James walked up and went to the other side of Jamie. The photographer said 'Yes I think that's your best angle.' James said 'No, I think this is my best angle,' and he turned around and stuck his ass out at the camera. I loled :D

:D :D :D (L) I don't even know what else to say. Hilarious!

He spoke about his episode of numb3rs He said the director was like 'You're in a cult. These woman are meant to find you attractive. What... What.... What do you.... plan to do..?" He was like "Well you could always ask them to act too.'

Heee! I hope the director meant the horrid wig he had to wear and not his looks in general. Women don't exactly have to act to find him attractive, you know?

Wednesday updates:

Multiple posts about the con at pipsytip's journal here. Pretty detailed and very James-friendly. There's also a photoshop slideshow in one post where you can see James - including motion blur in some pictures because he was apparently moving a lot. :D That's our fidgety man!

James Callis had spent so long talking to everyone. He didn't get to us until 11:50 pm and he still had about 5 tables to see so his wrangler promised if we gave her the nod he'd spend time with us in the signing sessions tomorrow. He was envious of Lee bear and the fact he got to wear nice clothes. He also said he'd fit in them. I totally <3>

Awww, James! Spending time talking to everyone at the meet and greet. And LOL - saying he'd fit into a teddy bear's clothes? Is he making jokes about being tiny? (L)!! Pirpana! (for those who just tuned in, that's a cute Finnish word for a tiny child.)

James waxed lyrical, seriously I love him so much for that. He basically said that his first love was theatre but he enjoyed working in film and tv too. James also told us that at Drama school they had a week on acting for TV and the tutors spent the time bitching at each other.

Hee! :D I remember he's mentioned before that he wasn't impressed with the TV acting classes.

He was apparently asked about the death list, much the same stuff as in the Evening with... panel. This is interesting though:

he felt that it undermined Baltar and that Baltar isn't a villain but is an anti hero in the truest sense of the word.

I remember we had an anti-hero discussion.. was it at Syfy? Seems like James is on board with that idea too. Great!

A little bit about Jamie:

There was a lot of fuss about the pigeon and how Callis' scenes always ended up with him being in bed with at least one woman and Jamie got pigeons or freezing in water or some such.

Hee! James was definitely the lucky one!

Both Jamie and James talked about the cyclical nature of the show and how the finale linked back to pre mini series to show that the show had come to the end of it's cycle.

This sounds intriguing. I'd like to hear more about it.

Tuesday updates:

A picture of James with a fan - so sweet. Ctrl+F "James Callis" and click on the Spoiler: Show link. I'm fixated on his eyes again - they look brown and warm and just adorable. Also, this seems like an actual picture, not a picture of a picture.

Earlier updates:

More photos of James and Kate Vernon! I'll just link to the Flickr search here. (That links to the "most recent" james callis search). There were two panels with James: James/Jamie Bamber on Saturday and James/Kate Vernon on Sunday. It's an interesting combo, James and Kate - did they ever have scenes together?

He seems to be sporting a scarf again, this time a white one. And the hair is very puffy on top here. Together with the scarf it's a lot of look. I think I prefer the look he had in the Saturday panel. I'm glad to see the hair growing already though. And he does seem to like leather!

Oh, and I asked the4ts what James had to say about disaster movies.

@BaltarStar Not that exciting if you weren't there more about why people loved/hated them & how bad they can be. He wasn't impressed w/2012!

I think these types of tidbits are always interesting. I'm glad he's critical of disaster movies. I think those tend to be pretty lame, and it seems like he'd agree!

A brief report here:

Jamie Bamber and James Callis were on fine form - of especial note were James describing the Bridget Jones fight and Jamie's description of revenge on Baltar where he slashed himself, and his comment on the Thistle being a shithole. Both of them bitching about driving down the M4 to get here.

I must admit I was hoping James wouldn't have been asked about Bridget Jones. He was asked about it at FedCon and at the Evening with James Callis, and he's pretty much been asked every con. I'm not sure how many new aspects he can still bring into it. But then he did give a hilarious answer at the Evening.., so maybe it's still fresh.

Jamie said the hotel is a shithole..? I hope James didn't say anything like that, it sounds really rude. I just can't get with the program and like Jamie, it seems. I like him when he's deep and talks seriously, but his humor sometimes annoys me. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.


First Tuesday report:

And we have a video! It's from the opening ceremony. James shows up at 5:22, to save your time if you only want to see him, like me. The crowd cheers and he actually tells them to cool it - "It's a long weekend, save your energy!" Also: "we're not in the Eurovision song contest, but I just thought I'd say 'Good evening, London'." Aww, he watches the contest? I've sometimes watched it.. worlds collide! :o

Very happy and handsome. (L)! Video here.

Monday reports:

More con reporting from anno superstar, with a picture of her with James. Pretty!! The way he looks at the camera! The scruffiness!
I still can't figure out his body under the clothes though. I hope Nicole thought to palpate.
An un-James-related note: I love the red dress. (Fitting to be in a red dress when you meet him! ;))

First Monday Update:

Another blip in from Nicole. I can't describe how happy this made me - this is the good side of having an inside woman, she'll tell you the most important stuff!

The person right before me was chatting with him about how he'd actually worn hair extensions some seasons on the show (I didn't know that) and he was jokingly comparing two promo shots of his real vs. fake hair. And then she made a joke about him never having to wear a fat suit like Lee, and he said something like "No, I just ate a lot of donuts."

(L) (L) (L)!!!!

That's so cosmic! :o That... I... The ramifications of this! *faints* Um, I'll probably say something more sane later. :D No other updates so far.

And the first con report is here!

I'm so in love with James Callis right now, he's SO NICE and our photo from this morning came out totally badass

(L)! And there's a picture of James and Jamie. James is talking and... touching his leg for some reason? I love how he randomly touches his legs and feet while talking. (Or maybe it's related to a story he's telling?)

Aww, she got to meet Nicole too, it seems. I'm trying very hard to not be bitter that I wasn't there, but I do feel a bit sad over not meeting Nicole and other fans (not to mention James!). But there will be other cons.

Yay for... make that three more pictures!

James and Kate Vernon at the other panel. I love his hair done like this! It looks wavy, if short. And Professor James is talking about something very deep and meaningful, clearly. Or at least manages to look very grave. It seems like he had two separate leather coats - a black one and a brown one? I was thinking he looked a bit chubby in the black coat pictures, but maybe that was just the coat. Here, he appears to have a kangaroo-like pouch. Leather coats are weird creatures. Or maybe he's got a secret pregnancy going that he isn't telling us about.

James and Jamie at the panel. The hair looks gorgeous! Drool! I love how happy he looks, as if he's right at home with the fans. (L)!

A picture of a picture - it's blurry but you can see James, and yes, he is looking kinda cheeky. :D

Sunday updates:

A few tweets again:

averita_: Kate Vernon and James Callis remembered me! Love them so much :)

mamee_kins: james callis - simply cos i met him this weekend at cylon attack and have fell in love.

averita_: I need Starfury videos. Kate telling shippy stories about Hogan? James Callis raving about/crushing on Mary McDonnell? Yes please!

Awww, sounds like everyone had a good experience. The con is ending now and hopefully we'll have a lot more to feast on in the days to come. I'm very curious to see more photos and hear what he's said in the panel!

First Sunday update:

Since it's not a PM, but a public comment, I'll post what Nicole wrote on my LJ!

*sneaks onto internet at hotel lounge*

Black jacket. Unshaven. Glasses on Friday. Adorable.

He remembered me from D*C two years ago. (And not like I said "OMG I met you once" and he said "Oh right." I just introduced myself and he said "I remember Nicole." *DIES*) This is more a testament to his awesomeness than how memorable I am. CRAZY JAMES' MEMORY IS CRAZY.

He said lots of awesome things at the panel which hopefully someone will film or write up soon. If not, I'll post when I get back.

"Oh my giddy aunt" was ad-libbed.

:D :D :D

OH. OH. Last night there was the "meet and greet" thing only open to the first 100 people registered. (I was 338.) Some friends and I hovered around outside waiting for the cast to come out. And we had to wait until midnight, because Ridiculously Nice!James was the last person in there. I don't even mean the last celebrity; there were literally five guests left in the room, and he was talking to them. Dawwwwww.

Eeee! (L) Nice!James! (L) Remembering Nicole from a way back is awesome. I half expected it, but only half, since even James can't remember everyone, right? But obviously he can.

The "oh, my giddy aunt" thing means she asked my question about Baltar meeting HeadBaltar (I suggested it before she left for the con). Eeee! I can't wait to hear what else he said.

Also:

pipsytip: And James Callis is EPIC and he has soooo much energy.

All in all, sounds like the panel was pretty awesome!

Saturday updates:

A couple of new tweets. One new picture, although a bit blurry - you can see him walking in a rather comical position, as if he's about to fall down or something. Hee! Thanks to annosuperstar.

And a couple of very sweet mentions:

cidergirli: could have talked to James Callis all night. What an interesting and nice guy.

pipsytip: Jamie Bamber put his arm around me. I may die. James Callis is awesome. That is all.

the4ts: Won the @LushLtd raffle tonight ::bounces w/ excitement:: And I got the most lovely conversation w/ James Callis about disaster movies too!

Awwww! I wonder what he said about disaster movies. And I hope I will get to talk him too one day. *Deep sigh of jealousy* It sounds and looks like he was in a great mood, so I hope the panel(s?) will also be awesome.

And apparently Jamie Bamber is still a hottie. *eye-roll* OK, ok, pot calling the kettle black, especially considering some of my posts here. Enjoy, Bunnies - the Lupines are drooling as well! :)

First Saturday update:

I should be in bed so I'll make this short. 3xcusemyfrench has posted the first con picture on twitpic, and it's here! He's looking good!

And they also posted one of all the guests. James is looking very happy. So glad to see him there. I know the previous con was only two months ago, but I've actually missed him already.

No upclose pictures yet, so just a quick rundown:
-Plenty of stubble
-Glasses
-Leather coat (the same one he wore to last year's Starfury?)

And he has hair. Whew! (re: my unreasonable fear he'd go there bald) It seems like it might have grown out a little, but then we only just saw him.

More updates tomorrow!