Panel Report: Megamind | The Empire Blog

Panel Report: Megamind

Posted on Thursday July 22, 2010, 19:02 by James Dyer in Comic-Con 2010

First up today was DreamWorks’ Megamind, which stars Will Ferrell as the voice of the titular uber-villain, who does the unthinkable and kills his arch-rival, Metro Man, and becomes all powerful – only to discover it’s far less fun when you’re on top. Co-stars Jonah Hill and Tina Fey were present, though largely upstaged by a blue-painted, prosthetic-craniumed Will Ferrell aping the look of his animated alter-ego. Fans lost their minds when the host mentioned that Metro Man himself, Brad Pitt, would make an appearance, only for Ferrell to walk on with a cardboard cut-out of Pitt (which Fey proceeded to caress throughout the panel). With Angelina here for the upcoming Salt panel, we imagine someone had to stay home and look after the kids.

A five-minute sizzle reel did a solid job of selling the film’s premise, showcasing Ferrell in top funny form. We’d love to comment on the use of 3D but, having arrived late, we managed to miss the glasses they were handed out and instead took it all in via the medium of glorious 2D fuzzivision. (Ferrell said that he, due to the face paint making his eyes go fuzzy, experienced it in 9D.) Nevertheless, the jokes came thick and fast throughout. Whether it will equal or surpass Despicable Me remains to be seen, but it’s certainly in with a good shout.

During the Q&A, the cast were asked to reveal their personal Hollywood nemesis. First up was Fey: “Betty White is my nemesis and one day we’re going to fight in a big ball of fire. She’ll probably win but it’ll be a spectacular battle. That’s it: I’m going to fight Betty White. On pay-per-view.”

Hill: “Mel Gibson’s girlfriend is my nemesis. I thought I’d come out officially and support Mel.” Cue a comedy exit as Hill walks off stage in a huff, knocking over the Brad Pitt standee as he goes. “God, this is going to be really awkward when he comes back,” comments Fey.

“I feel guilty,” says Hill, upon returning a few minutes later. “I only heard what Mel said second-hand — now, after actually reading the transcript, I have to say that I only support a quarter of the things he was saying. I do think the Jews killed Jesus. That’s a fact, we can all agree on that and just move on.” Edgy material for an animation panel and the first of the Con but the audience ate it up.

“Oddly enough,” says Ferrell, “my nemeisis is Charlize Theron. I’m not going to get into it but there’s a lot of bad blood there.”

Lots of witty back-and-forth followed – and with two SNL alumni on stage we’d expect nothing less - continuing as questions were opened to the floor. “What was your most memorable moment as an actor?” asked one lady. “Will’s most memorable moment as an actor was a high-school production of Our Town, where he pissed himself,” chipped in Fey. “That’s so not made up.”

Hill interrupted with the following statement: “I’m officially announcing right now that I’m playing the Hulk in the Avengers movie. I’d just like to say thank you to all the fans who made this happen. It’ll be me and Downey and we’re gonna make this good. See you in 2012!”

“I would also like to announce something,” said the blue-faced Ferrell, as the panel reached its conclusion. “My face is on fire right now. If you’re going to do this at home then do it properly - don’t use a can of spray paint.”

Of course, most people will just have to take our word for all of this since the queue outside was more than 8000 people strong. Given that this is the first Con in three years that doesn’t play host to a Twilight panel, we thought the overnight queuing phenomenon would pass Conners by this year. Sadly that’s proved not to be the case and the draw of Tron legacy (up next) essentially meant that only the very keenest Megamind fans were able to get into Hall H at all, which is rather a shame. Will Tron be worth the wait? We’ll find out in ten minutes!