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Aug. 25th, 2009 01:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
krazykitkatWent to Oztrek09 with my sister (who wrote most of this entry) yesterday, with Levar Burton as the guest (Geordi LaForge off Star Trek: TNG).
He was a fun and fantastic speaker, possibly helped by 3 beers at the lunch with the VIPs (I think our beer has a higher alcohol content then most US beers, which could have been interesting). What was interesting to learn about was, in the early seasons of TNG, the "Johnson manoeuvre", I think it was called. The uniforms would tent up at groin level on Brent Spiner and Levar when they were sitting in the 'conn' chairs at the front of the bridge, as they were so slouched down. They had to use a clip type thing with a small sandbag type thing attached to it to hold the uniform down so that it was out of camera range. Levar very nicely demonstrated it for us, sadly those photos come out too blurry. He said there was a lot of nylon in the 24th century.
Levar said that Brent Spiner was the biggest diva on set, but also the biggest wit. Brent was Levar's best man for his wedding and Michael Dorn, Patrick Stewart and Jonathon Frakes were his groomsmen--a hell of a wedding photo! An audience member suggested them all signing it and selling it on ebay ;)
The visor was a pain, both literally and figuratively. The screws to hold it in place dug into his temples so that after half an hour it was painful. Also he could only see straight ahead, not down or up, which made it hard with navigating. The cast didn't help in any way with making it easier for him to navigate the sets, but eventually he learned where things were--get out of the turbolift, turn right, if he hit Worf he'd gone too far.
His mum was an English teacher and he joked that if he didn't read when he was a kid, he'd get hit by a book. When he read Captain Courageous when he was 9 he went into a depression after finishing it because it was over. He now slows down when he gets to the end of a book to try and savour it and still gets depressed after finishing. Reading Rainbow was his way of trying to capture kids when they're making the choice to be a reader or not. He's a self proclaimed nerd and geek.
Roots was his very first audition and his very first role. He's in the midst of producing and directing a TV show starring himself--his intro back into acting after 12 years of directing. Unsurprisingly the producer gave him the job and all the things we've heard about the casting couch are true (I did mention that he has a good sense of humour, didn't I?).
He could die happy if he got to work with Sidney Poitier (he got applauded for that).
He loved the new Star Trek movie and feels that the Next Gen crew still has a story to tell--but don't take that as him saying that there is going to be another movie, as far as he knows, there isn't.
When we were getting autographs, my sister mentioned to him that we'd liked him on Christy. He was very surprised that we'd seen it. He said that it was just after TNG finished.
And now we just get to look forward to seeing Patrick Stewart in January next year!! Couldn't afford the vip ticket with the cocktail party and photo opportunity, but we will get an autograph.
He was a fun and fantastic speaker, possibly helped by 3 beers at the lunch with the VIPs (I think our beer has a higher alcohol content then most US beers, which could have been interesting). What was interesting to learn about was, in the early seasons of TNG, the "Johnson manoeuvre", I think it was called. The uniforms would tent up at groin level on Brent Spiner and Levar when they were sitting in the 'conn' chairs at the front of the bridge, as they were so slouched down. They had to use a clip type thing with a small sandbag type thing attached to it to hold the uniform down so that it was out of camera range. Levar very nicely demonstrated it for us, sadly those photos come out too blurry. He said there was a lot of nylon in the 24th century.
Levar said that Brent Spiner was the biggest diva on set, but also the biggest wit. Brent was Levar's best man for his wedding and Michael Dorn, Patrick Stewart and Jonathon Frakes were his groomsmen--a hell of a wedding photo! An audience member suggested them all signing it and selling it on ebay ;)
The visor was a pain, both literally and figuratively. The screws to hold it in place dug into his temples so that after half an hour it was painful. Also he could only see straight ahead, not down or up, which made it hard with navigating. The cast didn't help in any way with making it easier for him to navigate the sets, but eventually he learned where things were--get out of the turbolift, turn right, if he hit Worf he'd gone too far.
His mum was an English teacher and he joked that if he didn't read when he was a kid, he'd get hit by a book. When he read Captain Courageous when he was 9 he went into a depression after finishing it because it was over. He now slows down when he gets to the end of a book to try and savour it and still gets depressed after finishing. Reading Rainbow was his way of trying to capture kids when they're making the choice to be a reader or not. He's a self proclaimed nerd and geek.
Roots was his very first audition and his very first role. He's in the midst of producing and directing a TV show starring himself--his intro back into acting after 12 years of directing. Unsurprisingly the producer gave him the job and all the things we've heard about the casting couch are true (I did mention that he has a good sense of humour, didn't I?).
He could die happy if he got to work with Sidney Poitier (he got applauded for that).
He loved the new Star Trek movie and feels that the Next Gen crew still has a story to tell--but don't take that as him saying that there is going to be another movie, as far as he knows, there isn't.
When we were getting autographs, my sister mentioned to him that we'd liked him on Christy. He was very surprised that we'd seen it. He said that it was just after TNG finished.
And now we just get to look forward to seeing Patrick Stewart in January next year!! Couldn't afford the vip ticket with the cocktail party and photo opportunity, but we will get an autograph.
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Date: 2009-08-24 10:19 pm (UTC)Brent Spiner is also a diva and a wit on his Twitter.
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Date: 2009-08-25 12:17 am (UTC)Levar has come a long way from the days of Kunta Kinte! I think he's a great actor and I wish he was in more movies. And sometimes I just like to watch Reading Rainbow... merely to hear his voice. LOL