Comic-Con 2011: Highlights From “Knights of Badassdom” Panel

IndieVest Pictures brought Knights of Badassdom to Hall H on Saturday, and while the talent isn’t exactly A list (Summer Glau is the biggest name that attended), this comedy should appeal to the Comic-Con crowd. The film is about live-action role players who conjure up a demon from hell by mistake and must deal with the consequences. Read the highlights from the panel after the jump.

The trailer and clip shown for the movie were actually quite good. This looks like it could be very funny, and the entire cast seemed to be generally excited about the project. In attendance were director Joe Lynch and stars Ryan Kwanten, Peter Dinklage, Summer Glau, Margarita Levieva, Margarita Levieva, Michael Gladis, Jimmi Simpson, and Danny Pudi. Below are some of the highlights from the panel.

• Although the cast is full of genre stars, that was not intended.
• Lynch prefers to call it an adventure film, since that can encompass so many genres into it.
• It was important that the audience knows that the ensemble cast was vulnerable to death, and we even got an accidental spoiler about one character dying.
• They really made an effort to make the larping in the film authentic, so they reached out to the local larping group in Spokane, WA, where the movie was filmed. In fact, some of those real larpers are in the film as extras.
• Kwanten plays a character (Joe) who joins his nerdy roommates (Steve Zahn and Dinklage) in larping after his girlfriend (Levieva) breaks up with him.
• Glau talked about how different of a character this was for her, especially because she actually gets to smile. She compared the experience to summer camp.
• Dinklage’s character was originally supposed to be a six foot fat asian, but they decided to go in a completely opposite direction.
• When asked about how they feel this movie will play towards the general public, Lynch talked about how the character Joe is a way for non-players to get into the story. They also explain the rules.
• Lynch’s slogan is “Be What You Can’t Be”, which I loved. It fits nicely for Comic-Con.
• Summer was asked why she keeps coming back to fantasy and sci-fi, and she says it’s simply because they are great roles.

Knights of Badassdom opens in theaters next spring, and you can follow the film on Twitter and Facebook. Watch the trailer that we saw below.

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