Comic Con Manchester ‘24

Comic Con Manchester returned to Bowlers in Trafford on Saturday 27th July. First up, local rock group Lina and the Lions took the stage with, as it happens, Leonardo from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. 

 

 

Star Wars cosplay troupe 99th Garrison stormed the building: 

 

Ash from Alien cosplay

Toy Story 2 cosplay

Heisenberg

Boba Fett's throne, Book of Boba Fett

ECTO-1

Furries taking a timeout

Batmobile

Edward Scissorhands cosplay

'Is everything to your satisfaction?' Los Pollos Hermanos Breaking Bad / Better Call Saul set

Tardis

Michaelangelo and Lina from Lina and the Lions

TMNT van

Yorkshire Ghostbusters

Gaming area

99th Garrison

Simpsons set

Deadpool model

Ghostbusters set

Lennie James and Maggie Grace from Fear the Walking Dead

Sully and Mike from Monsters Inc

Jurassic Park gate

Hobbit door

Star Wars panel with Jimmy Vee and Spencer Wilding

Lina and the Lions

The Walking Dead panel: SoCalVal, Chad Coleman, Sonequa Martin-Green, Madison Lintz, David Morrisey

Michael Ironside, Tom Skerritt and SoCalVal

Jeremy Kyle set

Harry Potter set

TMNT van

Stranger Things set

Scandalorian Predator cosplay

And it wasn’t long before the panels began. Up first, two Top Gun stars: Michael Ironside (Jester) and Tom Skerritt (Viper). 

“I can’t hear a fucking thing,” admits Ironside. “I’m deaf in this ear. I remember on Top Gun I was getting tested for flying, I thought, I’m getting too old for this. I’d just got sober; I didn’t know my ass from a hole in the ground. It was a lot of fun. 1983. Were you even alive then?”

The mic goes out into the audience. The first question: When Top Gun premiered, did you know how good it was going to be? 

TS: Absolutely. 

MI: On the last day, I said to (British director) Tony Scott, ‘how do you feel about it?’ He said, ‘this feels like M*A*S*H. It’s going to be a hit.’ 

AQ: What was the most challenging part of the filming process? 

TS: Filming in an aeroplane. Woo! 

MI: Trying to understand Tony Scott’s accent. ‘Woo.’ It takes about 3 weeks to figure out what he was saying. He said, ‘don’t worry about it.’ 

Compare SoCalVal asks, what was Tom Cruise like? 

MI: I’d sleep with him. He’s a total professional. I haven’t been able to do anything else with him. 

SCV: What were your thoughts on the latest Top Gun film? 

TS: It was well done. 

MI: Bloody good. I’ll tell you anyway, I had a problem with (producer) Jerry Bruckheimer. I had part in Top Gun Maverick where I was supposed to be a drunk washed up guy in a bar, so I said no, I don’t wanna do it. 

SCV: What are your favourite films of all time? 

TS: MASH, Top Gun. 

MI: Alien, a brilliant film, brilliant cast. Also Omega Code. 

TS: MASH and Alien are the 2 best films from the end of the last century. 

AQ: You made low budget films, then higher budget. What was the difference? 

MI: The difference is time. The bigger the budget, the more time you have. With a lower budget, you’re dependant on cost. An audience question relates to his upbringing. 

MI: I’m the oldest of 5 kids. Mom would throw us coins, we’d grab them and go to the movies. A lot of the Brits, character actors, were very funny. It felt like my destiny. My grandfather knew the author of Starship Troopers (Robert A. Heinlein). I read sci-fi magazines; my grandfather gave me the original book. He told me a man should be prepared to die for his country. I said to (director of the adaptation) Paul Verhoeven, “Why are you doing this Nazi right-wing bullshit?” 

Ironside puts on a Dutch accent. 

MI: He said, “It’s gonna be so sexy.” In Europe, they got the satire. In the US, they didn’t. Paul Verhoeven was a war rat. He’d tell me, “I want to make people uncomfortable.” 

Personally, I’ve listened to a few interviews with Verhoeven over the years, including a CD on the front of a 1998 edition of Total Film magazine. Ironside does a really good impression. (Here’s a contemporaneous Starship Troopers interview.) 

AQ: Was David Cronenberg as crazy as people say? (Cronenberg directed Scanners, in which Ironside took a leading role.) 

MI: Fuck off. David Cronenberg is not crazy. He was calm and loving when I worked with him. He makes you feel safe, sane. What he’s like in the bedroom, I have no idea. 

An audience question to Skerritt: Did you have any idea Alien would be as big? 

TS: When I met Ridley Scott, I said he needs another aspirin. Amazing cast, though. 

AQ: What happened to the leather jacket in Total Recall? 

MI: Paul (Verhoeven) didn’t want anyone to wear a tie. I don’t fit in that jacket any more. That was 4 cancers ago. In a big film like that, you do as you’re bloody told. Everyone was dressed because Paul wanted it that way. 

AQ: Ever thought of writing an autobiography? 

MI: I’m till alive. It feels like you’re asking when I’m gonna die. Those memories are mine. 

SoCalVal rounds off by asking what their plans are for the next few weeks. 

TS: I’m going to Ireland. I had a relative in Galway. 

MI: I’m planning to go to Aberdeenshire. My grandfather was there. 

Ironside admits he’s still weighing it up. He’d hate to find out something awful from his family history, he tells us. “Sometimes the shit you don’t know is better. I’d rather leave the past in the past, and go to Portofino (Italy) with the wife and get a massage.” 

Fair enough. I'm not sure Portland Street’s Tropical Palms parlour would have the same aesthetic, so it's probably a good idea.

Tom Skerrit. Cpt Dallas in Alien. Duke in M*A*S*H. Mike 'Viper' Metcalfe in Top Gun.

Xander Berkley, Edward Furlong and Jenette Goldstein. In Terminator 2 they were foster parents Todd and Jenelle, and John Connor. Berkley was Ralph in Heat, Gibs in Air Force One, Frank in Candyan, Cpt Whitaker in A Few Good Men and Henry Hurt in Apollo 13. Goldstein was Vasquez in Aliens.