Angel

Welcome to The White Room a UK Halloween Event

Halloween - For the creatures that crawl from the deep recesses of the earth it is a special night to prey on its victims from the world above. For the Senior Partners watching over from the evil ivory towers of Wolfram & Hart, it’s just another day in the office, but for the fans attending the Starfury event The White Room it was time to party in England’s capital city once again. Fans descended upon the Thistle Hotel on the weekend of All Hallows Eve to celebrate the spooky holiday as only they know how with a superb line-up of guests including a few surprises that Starfury’s Sean Harry had up his sleeve. As always the weekend started out with registration and ticket sales, both with virtually no queues and even less hassle, but one thing that was new this time was the element of mystery that surrounded the Thistle Hotel. As attendees picked up their registration packs, it seemed that no-one had received the colour brochure normally so lovingly and carefully prepared by our host as an introduction to the guests without anyone really understanding the reason why.

"13th FLOOR: BEHEADINGS, RITUAL SACRIFICES."

By the time Friday evening rolled around the main hall was filled to capacity and rumours of surprise guests were flying. As the lights dimmed Sean Harry took to the stage to introduce the White Room line-up starting with KANE guitarist Steve Carlson who was making his third Starfury convention appearance and after the release of his solo album was gathering a fan base of his own. The extremely amiable and amusing Dayne Johnson, (without sidekick Andy Hallett) graced the stage moments before two first time guests Carrie Grace from the wardrobe department on Angel and her real life boyfriend Jonathan Woodward also known as the evil Knox appeared. It was at this point that Sean confirmed rumours were true as he announced David Denman best known as Cordelia’s demon guide Skip as a surprise guest. At last it seemed that the mystery was solved as Firefly actresses Summer Glau and second surprise guest Morena Baccharin were brought out in accordance with Friday tradition. Last seen together at the previous year’s event Senior Partners, good friends Stephanie Romanov and fan favourite Christian Kane were next to meet the waiting crowd. Now it had been some time since the extremely popular J August Richards had been to UK shores, (End of Days 2003 to be exact) and so it was with great anticipation that the attendees awaited his arrival. Ever the showman J came out to meet the waiting masses shaking his bootie in true Richards style much to the crowd’s approval. Once J was in view, the stage it seemed had been set for another memorable weekend when Sean suddenly made his third and final surprise guest announcement of the evening. Anyone who had attended the successful Buffy and Firefly event Fusion earlier in the year could not have failed to have fallen for the enigmatic charms of Captain Tightpants himself Nathan Fillion and so brought back by popular demand, Nathan was the last to be revealed in an impressive and popular line-up. At this rate if Friday’s opening was anything to go by, it looked like fans were in for an exciting if slightly different weekend.

Firefly cast mates: Summer Glau, Nathan Fillion, Morena Baccharin After the excitement of the opening ceremony, the first 180 ticket holders were invited into the bar above the reception of the hotel for the VIP meet and greet. Still reeling from the announcement of the surprise guests they all anxiously awaited the arrival of their idols. Jonathan and Carrie were the first to arrive, holding hands and smiling at each other as they entered. They were followed by David Denman and Dayne Johnson, who chatted openly about his up and coming projects to a captive audience of attendees. Next to arrive were Christian and Steve along with Stephanie. As he passed Christian shook hands and greeted most of the female attendees with a "Hi Sweetheart! My name is Christian," in that Texan drawl that made most of them melt. Stephanie was stylish and elegant, as always, and chatted freely among the attendees. J entered in the style most expected, open, friendly and ready to party. He laughed and chatted with all those around him and promised he would be on the dance floor later in the evening. It seemed the night was complete until theFirefly guests arrived, Nathan, Morena and Summer. There was a feeling of warmth and familiarity between them and they portrayed a real sense of family. Nathan seemed very protective of the ladies and always made sure they were being looked after. Summer introduced herself to each table and sat down for a chat and seemed more at ease than she had been at her first event Fusion and was found laughing and giggling with female attendees about which male guest they fancied the most. Nathan was the gentleman of the hour, his sense of humour and old fashion values shone through on all occasions. Jonathan excitedly spoke about his ministry as the Reverend Johnny Wallet for the Church of the Eleven Fingers which became a running theme throughout the weekend, and was totally taken aback when an attendee told him of her Church of the Eleven Fingers T-shirt she had had printed especially for the weekend. Although the room was packed to capacity the guests made every effort to meet as many of the attendees as they could before leaving for dinner allowing attendees to make their way back to the main hall for the first of three consecutive parties to be held throughout the weekend entitled Law & Order.

Like most convention experiences, The White Room’s schedule was a familiar timetable of autographs, photo sessions, guest talks and parties. In the autograph room Jonathan Woodward drove Sean mad as his need to talk to everyone that passed through led to him risking throwing all the best laid plans out of kilter. This however just proved to be one small example of the rebellious behaviour that Jonathan would display all weekend much to the delight of those who were able to share the experience with him. While Jonathan chatted in the auto sessions, Nathan took the time to reminisce. Scripts are a popular personal item that some fans choose to have signed. When Nathan was presented with a copy of the Firefly episode Out Of Gas, he took a few moments to read the final few lines before saying, "Thank you, you gave me back a wonderful memory," to the person who presented it to him as it was his favourite episode. In the photo sessions, the infamous Jedi Chefs were making an impact as each guest took it in turn to have their photos taken wearing the chef’s hat and wielding a lightsaber. The Firefly crew were so impressed that they took photos of their own for their personal collection. Starfury events always try to come up with something new and this convention was no exception. After the success of the Lorne photo session back at End of Days, Sean had persuaded Christian to run a photo session with his body covered in the symbolic tattoos that his character Lindsey had undertaken in order to act under the radar of Wolfram & Hart’s Senior Partners. Thankfully Christian agreed to the photo session but denied the ladies at the con a full glimpse of his well toned body as the photos were taken with his shirt open rather than off.

Jedi Knights Neil Davidson and Christian Kane wield their lightsabres! When Christian Kane rejoined the cast of Angel as Lindsey McDonald during Season 5, his previous partner-in-crime, the beautiful but devious Lilah Morgan, played to perfection by Stephanie Romanov, had unfortunately already met her untimely demise. Seeing them on stage together at The White Room was the reunion that fans had been waiting to see and the resurgence of the chemistry between the two individuals that had long since been denied. It was also with great excitement that Stephanie let everyone in on her secret and that was she is expecting her first baby. Now that they were together again, if they had their way, how would Chris and Stephanie liked to have seen the relationship between Lindsey and Lilah develop? "I actually had an idea at one point that they were going to have Lindsey and Lilah become lovers, " Stephanie quips, "and the way that they would reveal it is that you would see them fight and they’re actually in bed together." "It kind of would’ve wrapped things up for me," Chris smirks, "you know they had to at least have been sleeping together. I think they were honestly sleeping together and if not, they should have been." "It would be fun to see them become more of a team," Steph continued in an attempt to answer the question seriously, "where they were kind of pulled to one side, whichever side that may be and that they actually start working together, that would have been interesting and then fall out, you know, one double-cross the other! That would have been fun." "That’s my only thing is that when I came back on the show my only problem with Joss was that I wish we could have done some more stuff with me and her as I think it was a really good relationship. That’s what I wish Joss would’ve done."

"There is nothing worse than seeing ’Kelly Manners’ on your caller ID knowing you forgot something, your heart sinks." Dayne on missing tattoos As the show has unfortunately now ended, what were the lasting memories that either one could take away? "Well every day on the set’s a gift," Christian explains, "it’s really great because you get to work with people like Stephanie which, it was a walk in the park with her and then also I get to work with my best friend David Boreanaz and it’s rare in life that you get that opportunity. Not a lot of people know this but we were friends before even Angel became a spin-off of Buffy but we’re the only ones that were on the pilot and the last episode. We kicked it off and we ended it together so that was a really big thing for me, it was really emotional for me because I was with him, even when I wasn’t on the show for two years, I was still with him all the time. It’s rare in this lifetime that you get to do something that you love, not only that but I got to do it with someone that I love, David’s my boy." Of course Lindsey eventually met his comeuppance at the hands of someone you’d least expect but for Christian his death was a long time coming. "Everybody died on that thing except for me," he explained, "they tried to kill me so many times, Thomas Burr got killed, I was supposed to be the one that died there. They’d be like we’re gonna kill you and I’d be like phsh I wasn’t a regular, they paid me by the episode so I’m like you’re not killing me. That’s why Joss got such a kick out of it because he goes well, we’re all standing there that day, there was me and J and James and David and we were in the scene where I’m in hell and I have to go downstairs and get my heart cut out and there’s that whole dungeon scene with the fight and that’s when we found out that we were no longer going to be running. It was really a dark day because Kelly Manners just came in and said we’ve not been picked up for next year. It was kinda weird and I walked outside and was like what do you want me to do because Joss knew that I’d booked a film and was on my way to Hong Kong and I say what are you gonna do with my character and he goes, ’Oh, I’m killing you, it’s gonna be awesome cause you’re not gonna like it!’ I was like ok, I’ve postponed it long enough, go ahead!"

BRING ON THE DANCING WRAITHS

As Saturday night rolled along and it’s a Starfury event, it can only mean one thing: Fancy Dress time! Once again the time and care taken in preparing the costumes was in evidence as the procession started. The range in costume design varied and there were entrants from all areas of TV and Film. Not only were Angel, Buffy and Firefly represented but other genres such as Star Wars, Stargate and many others challenged the fancy dress arena. One by one and group by group the contestants of all ages, dressed as their preferred characters, paraded into the main hall to show their wares and strut their stuff to the panel of judges made up the con’s revered guests. After a final grand showing of all the entrants the guests took their leave to deliberate on their fate. With so few prizes and so many great entries the guests were surprisingly quick to make their decisions but in the end the winners of various prizes were deservedly awarded as follows. 3rd place went to Graduation Day, an ensemble of Sunnydale graduates masquerading as the Mayor’s ascended form, 2nd place to the cast of Shrek 2 and the grand 1st place went to Demon Daycare. This entrant featured a Pylean nurse with baby demon dolls, one of which was an infant Lorne. This events honourable mention went to Sloopy John who had disguised himself as a Wraith, one of Stargate Atlantis’s life sucking foes.

Angel makeup artist Dayne Johnson

Application of the famous Angel tattoo Meanwhile back at The White Room some 24-hours earlier, Q&A’s, parties and cyclone Jonathan Woodard were still yet to hit. During the various appearances Dayne has made to Starfury conventions he remains a firm favourite amongst attendees and once again fans were delighted by another chance to meet, kick back and relax and glimpse another wonderful demonstration of make up artistry. This time sharing the stage with Carrie Grace, wardrobe assistant on Angel, Dayne said he didn’t have too much planned in the ways of a big demo as he was in the process of packing up all his equipment to ship off to San Diego and his new job on Point Pleasant and it was nice to know that he would once again be working along side BtVS’s Marti Noxon. Carrie assured the crowd that questions were not too good a thing as she was still jet lagged, however her stage companions raised eyebrow insinuated that it was more down to the late night partying. With most attendees having seen Christian Kane wandering about in his Lindsay style rune tattoos and check shirt the first question of the morning was the time it took to do the tattoo effect on the tiny Texan. Dayne smiles and reassured that it wasn’t too early a start as he knew Christian would be late so he didn’t get up too early and that it actually only took around an hour to do. Dayne explained he was about to demonstrate the Angel back piece tattoo to a willing victim and this would be the same inks and way he did the tattooing effects on David Boreanaz and Eliza Dushku in Angel.

Dayne and Carrie joke of the sometimes awkwardness of the make up and wardrobe clashes especially when your vampire has a tattoo they shouldn’t have or heaven forbid a well known trade mark tattoo is missing. Dayne half laughs recalling, "There is nothing worse than seeing ’Kelly Manners’, producer on Angel, on your caller ID knowing you forgot something, your heart sinks. You never look forward to those calls." Both Dayne and Carrie had to hide Charisma Carpenter’s wrist tattoo and back piece on a few occasions. "Originally we had to cover Charisma’s tattoos early on in the show particularly her back tattoo. Well, we had to rely on wardrobe to help out with the one on her wrist to give us something to cover it up." At the question of if there were any divas on the set of Angel, Dayne laughs and at first says David Boreanaz jokingly then puts on his straight face and says the name most of us know is coming - Andy Hallet. When asked about his close friend, he assures everyone that he is well and looking forward to seeing the UK fans once again next summer. As for role models and his own idols in the make up business Dayne admits there isn’t a particular person he follows, "With so much talent out there I prefer to admire work I like and use the one’s I see by adapting them within my own projects," admittedly there won’t be much ’creature feature’ anymore seeing as Point Pleasant has no monsters just beauty make up which he says is a break for him and thankfully no more ’green’ make up meaning Lorne. With the beautiful Angel back tattoo complete fans once again applaud a chance to watch him work.

SHINY HAPPY PEOPLE

The small frame of Carrie Grace hides a huge personality and another fantastic sense of humour. Having hailed from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City where she earned a degree in fashion design you can tell that with her wild blue hair, Carrie is way more than a fashion designer. While on stage with Dayne Johnson, she brings insight into her role in the Angel phenomenon and the enjoyment that she has had along the way, "Destroying the clothes [on a project] is such a blast," when asked about her highlights. "Honestly it’s fun to shop and fun to dress the actors but destroying their clothes is a riot." It is obvious that she found her feet on Angel, "Honestly working on Angel was probably what I was really meant to do. I started in fashion design and that became very dull," she explains, "so on Angel it was great. We had 70’s, sci-fi and contemporary dress and it was really nice to do that." However when given the chance to bring a softer side to the dark and moody character of Angel she fondly remembers getting to brighten him up a bit. "I tried to bring a lot more Burberry into it, because they’ve changed a lot of the way they design in the last few years. When we did Shiny Happy People, there’s a yellow and white shirt I had him wear to show happy.. happy.. happy. It was refreshing to put David in that." When asked about actors she would like to work with Carrie tends to prefer the more outrageous and mentions Johnny Depp in a recent photo holding a wooden duck. As for what the future holds and what projects she would like to do, her heart seems to lie in sci-fi. "In the future I want to stick with horror and sci-fi, working with the stunt people, dropping them off roofs and blood squibs going off its so much more fun. More than a lot of people get to have." When asked about the difference from wardrobe to make up she laughs and as Dayne is full of stories of actors spending hours in the chair Carrie explains as far as her area of expertise goes, they dress and they go. "The make up trailer always has the most gossip," she explains, "in wardrobe we get nothing. We’re like ’put it on’, ’hi you look very pretty now put it on’." With so much creative talent on stage it was a real treat to see two larger than life behind the scenes people bantering and exchanging praise for each other’s work.

Angel costume designer Carrie Grace and Nathan brush up on their demon dancing David Denman hails from Orange County, California and having studied at the well known Julliard in NYC he has taken on various roles on the boards, television and film. But to Angel fans he will always be Skip. It was a treat for Angel fans to finally meet the witty towering warrior demon. This being his first Starfury convention appearance David seemed a little nervous at first but as so many have found as the weekend goes on everyone becomes more and more relaxed. The 29-year old, 6ft-4 Denman was quick to explain to fans about the process of becoming ’Skip’ who in full make up towered a full 7-foot but then the price for this was his dislike for the make up involved in creating the character. He explains how the three and a half hour application from start to finish is pretty tough and it’s understandable when you considered the difficulty in just taking a wander. This became apparent when he jokingly told the story of accidentally wandering into the wrong room, whilst in search of a restroom. Walking along in full make up he found himself in the midst of a meeting for another show, maybe they were not looking for a large warrior demon type in their show but they sure found themselves with one. When asked if he ever watched Angel he explained how having been a bit of an X-Files fan and then working on the show it kind of loses its appeal. "It’s no fun when you know how it’s all done," and this was the same for Angel. As David chatted about the humour of Skip he was quick to point out that nothing was off the cuff or his own input, but he did make reference to Skip’s’ like of The Matrix movie by saying the first was ok.

"More of the same, be unemployed and eat food in front of my TV and watching America’s Next Top Model." J. August on life after Angel There are only four actors to have done the triple in the Joss-verse. Jeff Ricketts, Andy Umberberger and Carlos Jacott being three of them so it was wonderful to finally meet one of the few and fans were immediately bowled over by Jonathan Woodward’s quirky humour and boundless energy. With his appearances as Holden Webster in BtVS, Knox on Angel and Tracey on Firefly, there were so many things to ask. However answering questions about any of that was the furthest thing on Jonathan’s mind as he clearly had other ideas in store for a Sunday afternoon. As he bounded out with David Denman all eyes were drawn to the home made hats, which looked suspiciously like a weekend newspapers folded into bishop’s headdresses. Instead of Jonathan taking to the stage, his alter ego, the Reverend Johnny Wallet, took to his pulpit to preach a unique sermon from The Church of the Eleven Fingers.

As he took communion using a blessed bottle of Teachers and Bells (to those old enough of course), he then moved on to requesting donations for a worthy cause by holding an auction on behalf of a theatre company. With a bevy of amazing one off items up for grabs people started to search their wallets for the Papal Donaion. Signed fruits, cashew nuts and odd one off sweeties and other perishables were the first to go. Dayne Johnson quietly hid at the back of the room with a look of horror as Jonathon assured us all he would soon be auctioning off the guests soon. Tea with Jonathan, David and Carrie went for a respectable price and then came the big stuff. As Jonathan announced he was about to auction off a dance with Christian Kane a bidding war erupted and two ladies seemed at loggerheads at bidding up to 500 pounds each. Reverend Johnny Wallet came up with a great solution and agreed to stop their bids and allow them to share the dance. Of course he insisted that the they could only dance with Christian if the music playing was what he calls the greatest love song of all time Islands in the Stream. Nathan Fillion was next one under the hammer and one lucky lady clinched the deal at 180.00 pounds. All was brought to a close and with Dayne, Nathan, Carrie Grace and our hosts the good Rev and Pasture Denman dancing about the stage and providing everyone with a great comic performance it was a fantastically different experience for convention fans and not something that will not be forgotten soon.

Jonathan Woodward and David Denman set sail with fruit? It seems too long since J August Richards lit up a UK con. He is a genuine, warm-hearted guy who has time for everyone and so it was a real treat to see him take to the stage with Stephanie Romanov on Sunday. As ever, J likes to capture his experience and he turned the tables on the fans by giving them a taste of their own medicine, taking their pictures and performing flying leaps from the stage for those action shots you just have to have. The Q&A seemed to follow on with the relaxed atmosphere of the weekend with the questions mostly relating to past works and what the two were up to now that the show had been cancelled. It seems that for J this involves, "More of the same, be unemployed and eat food in front of my TV and watching America’s Next Top Model, that is my show!" Although Stephanie’s exclamation of, "That’s not true!" does prompt a more serious response from J as he explains that, "It’s a process you know acting, it’s trying to find something that’s right for you and that’s right for them." J was also asked about his guest spot on Diagnosis Murder and whether he had any stories about Dick Van Dyke, J explains that although he didn’t actually work with Dick Van Dyke he did have a good experience with another of the shows main cast Victoria Raul.

It seemed that J was lucky enough to have two jobs simultaneously and shooting seemed to be taking longer than expected so Victoria stepped up to help. J states, "She’s going, ’What is the matter with you? You’re pacing over they’re, you’re doing fine!’ and I was like, ’Oh, no! I’m in a play tonight and I’m afraid I’m gonna miss the opening night and I don’t have an understudy,’ and she goes, ’Um, director! Shoot him out, shoot him please, he’s got a show tonight hurry up lets do all his scenes, I’ll deal with the head, let’s hurry and get him outta here’. She was very gracious." Angel related questions were quite low on the agenda for fans this weekend, the only one really being what he thought Gunn would have been like if he had been sired. It was at this point that you could see that J had already put quite a bit of deliberation in to this thought already and had a very poignant response. "I always thought, the way I wanted my character to end on the show, I wanted my character to be turned in to a vampire and I wanted to kill myself. I think that would have been the perfect ending to my character," Stephanie interrupts here with, "I like that, very heroic." But J continues, "Well, I had to kill my sister because she had been turned in to a vampire, that was the first episode so I thought that would’ve been the perfect bookend for me, to kill myself as a vampire."

"GOING DOWN, WATCH THE CLOSING DOORS."

Although a lot of attendees are in awe of meeting their idols at the events it seems that they are not the only ones who can get a little star struck. When asked, who was the most famous person who had recognized him for his character, J became quite shy. There was a juicy story lingering but he didn’t want to let on, it was only with much bartering from Stephanie that we got to hear the following tale. "OK, this is the story I wasn’t gonna tell. When I first started the show Alyson Hannigan said to me, ’Your first year here it’s ’Don’t I know you from somewhere?’ the 2nd year it’s ’You’re that guy on that show’ and the 3rd year is ’Hey you’re J. August Richards right?’ So, the first year, I was at someone famous’ house and they said, ’don’t I know you from somewhere?’ Right after she’d said that to me so that was kinda cool." But wait, this is only half a story! Who was this mystery celebrity? Again it was Stephanie to the rescue and after a little pushing it was revealed that the person in question was none other than Will Smith although he does admit to feeling really cheap for telling us he says, "I just feel like you know, you’re talking in a conversation sometimes and like people will go, ’Oh! Here’s that name you just dropped.’" At the end of the session, J was asked to cast his mind back to his first acting role and his very first brush with fame, where he played Vanessa’s boyfriend on The Cosby Show, it appears he was on summer break and was visiting the set and somehow got in to an audition for the part, that in itself would be great for most people but he got that little bit extra on his return to school, he recalls. "The day I came back to school, I was late to school and the bell rang for 1st period, the kids came out of their classrooms - and they’re like There he is!, I’m like I’ve been going to this school for a long time now!" But hey J that’s what you get when you become a TV star!

J. August Richards with a smile for every occasion

Stephanie Romanov keeps pace with J. Another fantastic weekend means another Sunday closing and this part of the weekend always seems to come far too fast for all in attendance. In time-honoured tradition the guests took to the stage to say their goodbyes. Those who had bid for and won dances with Christian were whisked around the dance floor to the lilting sound of Islands in the Stream. Just as the Reverend had promised Christian danced with both of his winning auctioneers and while he smooched with one lady, Steve Carlson did the gentlemanly thing and danced with the other before swapping over. Poor, desolate Nathan actually faced the humiliation of being ’stood-up’ by his dance date, which prompted a search of the room by Jonathan. As the guests began to say their goodbyes, Stephanie thanked everyone for the card that had been signed wishing her well in her forthcoming motherhood but one guest stood out above all others and that was J. August Richards. Bringing up the rear of the guests procession on to the stage J was met with rapturous applause, screams, whistles - everything he deserves to show how much the attendees appreciated him coming over, but then he showed the fans how much he appreciated them. J explained that he and Christian had been worried that as there was another event that weekend in London featuring the fanged duo of David Boreanaz and James Marsters among others, that the fans in attendance at this event would be fewer than normal, given the chance to see the star of the show elsewhere. He went on to explain that to see so many loyally turning out to this event truly showed that this event was a fan event and that’s what he loved about these events - the opportunities for the fans. Nathan’s final thoughts echoed this sentiment, "You are my family when I am away from my family," he stated and this comment seems to sum up how people feel because at these events it doesn’t feel like a convention it feels like going home.

To provide the featured fan perspective we managed to get this comment which pretty much sums it up, "Wow, this convention has been electric. The added factor of a surprise guests (Nathan Fillion & David Denman) rocked the socks right off of my feet! It’s been lovely to see so many familiar and friendly faces, amongst the attendees and the guests themselves. Summer Glau is so graceful and beautiful, it’s always a pleasure to see her on stage. Carrie Grace is absolutely fantastic. It’s so lovely to have someone from behind the scenes, because as Carrie has proved, they have some brilliant stories to tell. She’s very sweet, and had a couple of chats with me!"  Olly from Epworth, South Yorkshire.