We don’t think there are enough cigarettes in all of London for this number of Constantines! They were part of a John Constantine meet-up that took place shortly before the screening of the pilot episode of Constantine at this year’s SDCC. So at least any lingering demon plagues should be sorted out…
Constantine premiered its pilot to a great response from the crowd! We’ve gathered some of the highlights from the show’s panel below, along with the new extended trailer that debuted on Saturday night.
The Constantine panel featured an screening of the pilot, plus executive producers Daniel Cerone and David S. Goyer, Constantine himself, Matt Ryan, and Harold Perrineau, Charles Halford, and Angelica Celaya.
- Ryan admitted to not knowing much about Hellblazer when he got the role. Not only do fans email him with tips, but “A friend of mine is a huge comic book fan and for years he was telling me about John Constantine. He sat me down when I found out I was [auditioning] and said, ‘You have to do this, you have to do this.”
- Goyer mentioned that they didn’t think Liv “could go toe-to-toe with John” hence swapping her out for Celaya’s Zed, which makes us wonder why they didn’t make the switch earlier…
- Perrineau, who is playing an angel named Manny, is excited to delve into a new character. “We’re still learning more about him—I still don’t know everything about him,” he said. “It’s really exciting. We don’t know what kind of angel he is.”
- Cerone says they found Ryan through his stage work, when he worked with Jude Law in “Henry V.”
- Angelica Celaya filmed her first scene on Friday, wrapped at 4:00am, and then hopped a plane for Comic-Con!
- Cerone wants everyone to look forward to the introduction of the “Newcastle crew”—including Papa Midnight!
- Goyer plans to focus on classic Hellblazer rather than New 52-era work. “We’re not idiots…We have access to the occult corner of the DC Universe. Probably our first [DC character cameo] is in episode five or six. We just want to make sure it’s not guest-star of the week, and someone who works organically. I’m sure some of you saw the Doctor Fate helmet…”
The new trailer:
We have a lot to look forward to in this show (including John facing off with a demon version of himself?). We would have appreciated a mention of the edits to John personality (less smoking; much less bisexuality) but we’re still excited to see what they do with our favorite working-class warlock!
[info gathered from TV After Dark and Comic Book Resources!]
