The Riddick panel at Comic-Con was out of this world! (Haha. Get it?) The creator and director, David Twohy , was as eccentric and passionate about the Furyan and Necromonger mythology as its biggest fans. It makes total sense that the director would be Riddick's #1 fan. And next in line? That's easy... Riddick himself, Mr. Vin Diesel .
Katee Sackhoff is no dud, either. Known for her amazing-ness in Battlestar Galatica (as Starbuck), she plays Dahl -- a mercenary contracted to kill Riddick. As the story unfolds, it turns out Dahl can relate more with Riddick than others and they in fact need each other for mutual survival. And in Katee's words, "She has the biggest gun throughout the entire movie," which is how she likes it.
The trailer for Riddick is one of the best opening scenes for a sci-fi thriller -- explosions, blood, screaming, giant alien monsters clawing through a spaceship, banging metal against metal and Riddick's maniacal laughter right before he swing kicks a machete into someone's eye. Yes... swing kicks a machete into someone's eye! Bad. Ass.
The Riddick panel was awesome for multiple reasons -- besides getting to watch the preview with Twohy, Diesel, and Sackhoff sitting right there, hearing their responses and witnessing their interactions with the fans took the experience to another level. They were so down-to-earth and cool. You can tell these aren't actors just playing a role -- they believe in and love the mythology behind all of this as much as the fans.
Their interaction with the fans was the best. When a quirky girl got too shy to use the microphone, and some folks started giggling, Vin silenced them and asked, "What was that, beautiful?" When an awkward teenager asked for advice on how to be more of a "badass," Vin responded, "I already see a badass in front of me ... Keep on your epic journey of badassness." What a class act.
From Vin sharing about his D&D role-playing days, to Katee stating she hopes to remain in the sci-fi career field, and David even sharing that he sees at least another two movies in the Riddick mythology, they love this as much as we do. They're with us. That's not Hollywood -- that's true geek fairy dust. They're one with us because they are us. And that's awesome.