Celebrity jerks?

[Satxer]

Ken who? :angel

Ken Foree, he played Peter in the original Dawn of the Dead, as well as a character in Devils Rejects(or one of the Rob Zombie movies). He is rather full of himself. I met him at a Horror con with the rest of the DotD cast. He acts like he is the biggest name of all the movies he was in. The rest of the cast were real nice. Especially Tom Savini, real nice guy.

 

[firesprite]

Ken Foree, he played Peter in the original Dawn of the Dead, as well as a character in Devils Rejects(or one of the Rob Zombie movies). He is rather full of himself. I met him at a Horror con with the rest of the DotD cast. He acts like he is the biggest name of all the movies he was in. The rest of the cast were real nice. Especially Tom Savini, real nice guy.

Yeah... I still got nothing on him. Unfortunately, he's the kind of celebrity that drives me nuts. Okay, so a small group of fandom MAYBE knows who you are... it doesn't make you better than anyone else.

 

[II39]

Ken Foree, he played Peter in the original Dawn of the Dead, as well as a character in Devils Rejects(or one of the Rob Zombie movies). He is rather full of himself. I met him at a Horror con with the rest of the DotD cast. He acts like he is the biggest name of all the movies he was in. The rest of the cast were real nice. Especially Tom Savini, real nice guy.

Don't forget he was the dad in the "Kenan and Kel" tv series.

 

[Hfuy]

I occasionally used to get involved with TV crewing, on movie premieres at the Odeon in Leicester Square, in London, which is where El Big Hollywood Movie generally chooses to have its UK premiere.

On many of these jobs, I noticed that all too often these big American actors would turn up in the world's most enormous hats and dark glasses, thus rendering themselves completely unrecognisable. I thought that defeated the entire purpose and was a bit of an insult to the people who'd come along and stood outside in the English weather for a few hours. Good grief, it's not a difficult job: go and be adored. The least you can do is turn up looking like yourself and be genial for half an hour.

A conspicuous exception to the "jerk" rule was Russell Crowe at the premiere of Master and Commander, perhaps because it was at night, but still - the guy spent over an hour doing autographs and generally being pleasant and chatty, delaying the start of the film to wander all the way off into the most distant reaches of the crowd. Thoroughly decent of him, given the cold and rain.

 

[Gearsofhalo]

im into the rock and roll world lol because of my father. so....

Slash- CLASS ACT, nice guy...cool too. a little cocky once you get to know him though. but really not what you'd expect from one of the greatest rock stars of all time.

Dicky betts (original allmas brothers) UGH SO NICE! love the guy. real kind gentleman

Roger Daltrey- JERK...i could not believe it

KID ROCK- JERK

rev run- JERK

Sly Stallone- AWESOME GUY....family man and all. good man.

ive met alot more....but i cpuldnt pass judgment upon meeting someone one time. you never know if they are having a bad day, or something lol but these are ones i can pass judgement on.

 

[TV8]

Chris Claremont, comic book writer, great guy and very professional. I queued up for some signings earlier this year and the guy in the queue before me was one of those fans who had a one foot stack of things to sign and a heap of photos in different poses he had to have taken. It went on for about 10 minutes and was really starting to annoy everyone. When I finally got to him with my one trade book, he looked exhausted. I just thanked him and said his work had really meant a lot to me. Awkward silence. Then HE starts talking and giving me stories about the issue I wanted signed, asking me questions etc. He had energy and passion for the whole thing. Total old school professional.

 

[firesprite]

Chris Claremont, comic book writer, great guy and very professional. I queued up for some signings earlier this year and the guy in the queue before me was one of those fans who had a one foot stack of things to sign and a heap of photos in different poses he had to have taken. It went on for about 10 minutes and was really starting to annoy everyone. When I finally got to him with my one trade book, he looked exhausted. I just thanked him and said his work had really meant a lot to me. Awkward silence. Then HE starts talking and giving me stories about the issue I wanted signed, asking me questions etc. He had energy and passion for the whole thing. Total old school professional.

Nice to see that Chris' demeanor has changed.

 

[KurtBergeron]

George Romero- Seemed genuinely happy about seeing someone who was a fan of Shaun of the Dead. I always joke with my friend that in the picture with me he is really smiling, and in his picture he's faking it.

Romero is fantastic, and fantastically nice. I've met him twice and both times he's been just as kind. The first time I met him, I had just filmed a local stage production of Night of the Living Dead, and I wanted him to do an intro for the DVD and he did this for me.....filled with amazingness...

George Romero - YouTube

The SECOND time I met him I met him with a friend who is covered in tattoos and she wanted him to sign her so she could get it tattooed on later,...but his "handler" said ehhhh,....no... I guess Romero hates anything painful or he knows will cause pain later. lol. Funny coming from the kid of director he is, but then I guess Hitchcock was the same way. My favorite Hitchcock quote is "People thought I was a monster, but the one thing they don't realize is that the person most terrified by my movies....is me."

 

[Auryn]

I havent read all of the pages- just 4 I think
But I am so happy to see this

Best: Art Alexakis the lead singer from Everclear.

by KurtBergeron
because thats who I was going to list as my favorite and best.
In the 2000s(that looks and sounds weird)
anyway, I was a concert promoter at the University I went to.
I was responsible for organizing and pulling off major concerts for the student body.

To this day my favorite are Art Alexakis and the guys for Sister Hazel.
Art was doing a solo acoustic tour- his flight landed 2+ hours late but instead of cutting his concert short, he played all the extra time he missed and then some.
He signed over 100 posters, took pictures with everyone who asked and was a sincerely pleasant person to be around. Very calm.
He wanted to take all the staff out to dinner/breakfast but his manager had him booked at a University 6 hours away the next night so they left at about 3 am.

The guys from Sister Hazel, super nice and definitely love their fans.
hung around for hours, went out to dinner with the whole staff.

The worst- Ludacris. This is when he was at the height of popularity.
He had us spend close to $3000 in ridiculous snacks and food for his rooms- and for the 10+ people in his posse.
He showed up over 3 hours late, why?? because he decided he needed to go shopping at the local mall (very upscale ritzy town) and flirt with girls ( I know because I sent someone out to look for him).
We nearly had a riot and actually about 10 people got arrested because of all the uproar during the waits.
He ran off his bus- played 45 minutes out of the contracted 60 minute set and ran back onto his bus.
he had some security guards take everything we had in his rooms onto his bus (including several pieces of decorations that were school property).
I hear he is nice now but he was a total ass to us.

More recently- as in at D*C 2011 I absolutely adored meeting Terry Brooks.
He is a self proclaimed recluse but during his book signings he had no problem signing everything someone handed to him. He actually chatted with me for a minute after I told him that reading Elfstones is what made me into a fantasy fanatic.

My worst recently- Cary Elwes - we specifically drove to a little con over an hour away to go watch his Q&A- he spent a good deal of the time making fun of the fans that dress like him- i mean laughing and calling them ridiculous.
He had off duty county sheriff guys (in uniform) just about tackling anyone who tried to take a picture of him while he was on stage.

 

[Auryn]

Oh and I get it, everyone has off days and what not.
Its one thing to accost a celebrity at Panera on their day off when they just want a danish, but if you are specifically being paid to be there and meet the people that go out and pay to see your movies, buy your records etc.
You owe it to them to at least be civil and polite.

You wouldnt be where you are without them.

 

[oraclemask]

I have a few, I work coventions here in the UK sometimes and my worst experiences were all at the first I worked. Nicholas Brendon (Xander from Buffy) was horrible. He had a huge line of people waiting for his autograph. After about 5 mins he just disappears, I found him in French Connection shopping, i asked him nicely to come sit back down and he basically told me to **** off and he'd come back when he was ready. Adam West was also a jerk but I'll let him off because he had to deal with a lot of kids all day telling him he didn't look like Batman. The WORST was William Shatner. People waited for hours in line to see him. He rushed through about 600 autographs in less than an hour. He didn't even look at people, just scribbled on a photo and pushed it along. He was rude to EVERYBODY. His 'manager' or whatever, JCB as we call her was evil and told us we couldn't look at his hair or speak to him directly. I felt so bad for people that had waited.

 

[firesprite]

The WORST was William Shatner. People waited for hours in line to see him. He rushed through about 600 autographs in less than an hour. He didn't even look at people, just scribbled on a photo and pushed it along. He was rude to EVERYBODY. His 'manager' or whatever, JCB as we call her was evil and told us we couldn't look at his hair or speak to him directly. I felt so bad for people that had waited.

While this sucks, try to look at it from his perspective... he has a TON of people there who paid for his autograph and if he didn't manage to get to all of them, people would be saying he was a jerk for that. Sometimes you just can't win when you're a huge name like that. As for his manager... I'm not sure if he got new management or not. We certainly didn't encounter anything like that when he came down for ECCC. He was quite excellent, truth be told, and had nothing but compliments for us which (I understand) is very rare for him.

Then again, there can be a battle of wills sometimes. Stan Lee's manager was trying to rush us along like that, but Stan refused to simply put his head down and sign. There weren't supposed to be photos or hand-shakes or any of that because of time limits, but Stan's kind of a force of nature that way.

 

[SciFiMustDie]

Worst: Jessica Alba when she was on Dark Angel. The most stuck up, self absorbed, whiny beez I've ever come across.

Best: Tom Selleck - One of the most ridiculously polite and friendly people I've ever met. He actually thanked my sister for asking for his autograph.

I used to see a lot of celebs when I worked for ESPN. Peyton Manning, Jon Bon Jovi, and Garth Brooks just to name a few. When I learned Jessica Alba was going to be on Cold Pizza/First Take, I had to find her. A friend and I went to the green room and introduced ourselves. She seemed nice enough. Jon and Garth were beyond great. They were there to promote Arena Football and insisted on meeting just about everyone and shaking their hands. I actually got to meet them twice that day.

 

[KurtBergeron]

Adam West was also a jerk but I'll let him off because he had to deal with a lot of kids all day telling him he didn't look like Batman.

Ha! I used to work in the Disney parks and Adam West approached myself and another co-worker and asked us where the best place was to watch the fireworks. We brought him to a good but private spot and while he watched the fireworks, we stood secretly in the background doing the Batoosie ha ha.....wait....does that make ME an jerk?

Non-Celebrity Jerk: Kurt Bergeron

 

[Lutso]

Slightly off-topic. Frank Herbert was flying from LA to Seattle and Dad met the plane. After everyone had gottten off Dad noticed something left in the seat pocket; it was Franks manuscript for "Dune". He was very happy to have it back as he said it was his only copy. No reward though.

I swear, this is something straight outta Forrest Gump.

Incredible.

 

[Lutso]

Here's a really interesting interview with Dave Prowse. There seems to be a lot of inconsistencies with his own accounts and accounts of people who have met him. I can't really figure the guy out.

Interview with David Prowse (Darth Vader) - Galaxiki, the Sci-Fi Galaxy that anyone can edit

I've gotta say, his idea about Darth Maul and Darth Vader fighting each other in Episode III would have been a good improvement to the prequels.

Also I think it's hysterical how he outright says he hates the prequels and how he even cites the Ewoks as foreshadowing of George's dementia. He sounds like a true RPF'er! LOL

 

[ShadowX81]

Ive never really bought into the explanation "well maybe they were just having a bad day".

I have bad days too, and I don't take it out on the random strangers I run into.

 

[Lutso]

It's interesting to read up on Dave Prowse' relationship with Vader. It's like he loves it and hates it at the same time.

In the article that I posted a little while ago, he makes a few references that are sort of revealing. He seemed to be disappointed about James Earl Jone's contribution, as he liked voicing the character himself. And he was positively pissed when they introduced Sebastian Shaw, since he was looking forward to being the face of Vader. He even called Shaw "some very old actor".
And then of course we all know of his debate with Episode III and his contempt for Hayden Christensen. Can you blame him?

He really wants to be known as Vader, and to many he just isn't. I think this has left him very...bitter.

Someone over on theforce.net was claiming that at a particular con, David Prowse was signing all his autographs that day with "David Prowse IS Darth Vader".

I feel for the guy. He can seem a little stuck-up sure, but really he just wants the attention that he deserves, and he almost never gets it.

 

[Psab keel]

It's a fine line really. much like everything else in life.

I understand that people have on and off days, and we are ALL entitled to have a bad day from time to time.

Luckily, I found if you show the person you are meeting, or bump into, respect, then 9-10 times they will do the same for you. Also when I've had the chance to talk with them, I've tried my best to not really talk about what they are famous for, and if I did, I would mention it sparingly. I'm sure that like anyone else, they get bored of telling the same stories over and over, so if they mention it, then I just go with it. If not, then I don't worry about it.

I've been fortunate enough to meet some pretty cool celebrities.

I met the Barenaked Ladies when I was in high school. They seemed rushed for time, as the line for their autograph signing was really long, but all seemed friendly enough.

I met Peter Mayhew and Angie Mayhew several times and I can say that they are both class acts! I even chatted it up with them and my sister for about a half an hour. Both were very generous with their time and Peter told me about the difference between the Chewbacca costume in the OT vs. the PT. Very cool to hear from personal experience from the man himself!

I've met Doc Hammer (co creator or The Venture Brothers) and while he was sarcastic, (as is his known sense of humor) he was nice and did allow me and my friend to take some quick pictures with him. He was in a rush to meet someone to, so the fact that he stopped to talk with us for a minute was pretty cool of him.

I've been fortunate to also have met Timothy Zahn. What a great guy! He was kind enough to chat with me for a good 10-15 minutes, take a few photos and sign my paperback copy of Heir to the Empire. He even gave me a really nice sticker which he signed so that I could place it into my 20 anniversary edition Heir to the Empire when I get my copy. Great experience!

I got to meet Black Light Burns and had the whole band sign my album for me. Plus the lead singer, Wes Borland, was super cool and took tons of pictures with his fans! Great concert too!

The one experience that I had that wasn't so pleasant? Well in all honesty, it was something that I witnessed. Lou Ferrigno. I was walking past his booth and heard a fan say, "Oh my GOD! It's Lou Ferrigno!" In a total fanboy moment of joy! : ) Lou was texting on his phone. The fan asked if he could get his picture with him. Lou glanced up for a brief moment, looked back down at his phone and shook his head no. He pointed down at a sign that said: "Photos with Lou Ferrigno $40.00."

While he has every right to charge to take a photograph, as many celebrities make their living doing the convention circuit, you would expect that the least Lou could have done was explain it to the fan, or have the other guys working the booth explain it. Not professional, and actually pretty rude if you ask me.

I try and give people the benefit of the doubt, but fans also should never take kindly to prima donna behaviour either.

In all though I have been very fortunate to meet some really cool celebrities, and at the end of the day, whether a good or bad experience, we have to remember that they are no different than us.

Just remember the golden rule! : )

 

[mez7]

not jerks, luckaly last con i had nothing but good times...

Gaylen Ross from dawn of the dead....who was awesome.super nice, reminded me of my aunt.

john amplas....from day of the dead, dawn of the dead, knight riders, i was the first person at his table all day....he was so nice he almost didnt let me leave.....we talked a good 20 minuites+ about flicks and stuff.

matt fewer....max headroom, dawn of the dead (remake), watchmen....so nice, and down to earth and just plain cool......and super excited to meet fans.

...im hoping my local con can get ken foree, tom savini....and a few other so i can get my zombie posters all signed up....already got geroge signed on em...