Dallas Comic Con 2012: Summer Glau Talks Firefly, Terminator, Knights of Badassdom, and More!

Dallas Comic Con had a fantastic line up and the biggest turnout I’ve ever seen in the years I’ve been attending. The halls were packed with people perusing the exhibit hall and waiting in line for autographs. Part of the cause for excitement was special guest Summer Glau, who starred in Firefly, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and Dollhouse.

During her Q&A session, she discussed how Firefly was her first job and Joss Whedon was her first boss. What an awesome initiation into the business, eh? She said Joss created a “safe environment to make mistakes and I did make a lot of mistakes.” Moderator and DCC organizer, Devin Pike, then asked her what one memory was she would always remember from the set of Firefly to which she replied: “The moment for me was definitely the scene from ‘Objects in Space’ when I was in the cargo bay and all of a sudden there were leaves all over the floor. I reached down to grab a branch. Joss was there, and it was just a really powerful moment for me. This is what I love about science fiction. We were on a space ship, but I’m standing on golden leaves. I felt like it was so organic, it was poetry, it was beautiful. Joss was there and that is my favorite episode of the series. I will never forget that moment. It was so special for me.”

Glau has a new film coming out later this year called Knights of Badassdom, with her and a group of people LARPing, also starring Steve Zahn, Danny Pudi, Peter Dinklage, and several others. She said filming Knights of Badassdom was “the craziest summer camp experience I never had and never thought I would have.” She described it as a “fantasy gone wrong thriller” that is hysterical, “I’ve never laughed that hard in my life.” This would mark the first comedy she’s worked on and reported having a blast doing it. When it came to her LARPing skills, however, she said she was just a beginner and in order to succeed you had to be fearless. She recognized it being difficult and a whole other kind of art form.

Other tid bits we learned about Summer Glau from the mix of audience and moderator questions:

• Her favorite actor to work with from Firefly was Sean Maher.
• She was a vegetarian until she started eating meat for the extra protein while working out for her role in Serenity. She never went back to being vegetarian after that!
• She would love to star in a period piece such as a Jane Austen film.
• She has a favorite role that she’s done, but she never says what it is. “It’s like children, you can’t say you have a favorite.”
• She will never give up hope that she can go back and continue the Terminator series in any form be it movie or animation. She would definitely come back for the role if it ever did happen and thought the whole original cast would as well.
• When asked if she has a specific process when getting in the mind set to play a character she replied with, “I wish I had a better answer, but I really just pretend to be that character. It’s worked out for me so far.” That’s an amazing answer and the best I’ve heard from anyone!
• The hardest part about playing a terminator in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles was not being able to give reactions to the other actors, especially Lena Headey. She said Lena would be very emotional and anguished in a scene and she would only be able to stare at her blankly. “I felt like I was cheating.”

Summer Glau seemed like a very nice and sweet woman; you could really see the passion she has for acting and the love she has for all her past roles. If you get the chance to meet her or see her in a panel, take that opportunity. She’s done some great work and still has more to come!

This is the Action Flick Chick, and you’ve just been kicked in the ass!