Fascinating Facts We Learned at FAN EXPO 2018

Fan Expo, Canada’s largest fan convention, features dozens of celebrity panels over the course of four days, many of which are the event’s highlights, where the stars are often candid during the panels and share many facts about the movies and TV shows in which they are involved. We hit up Toronto’s Metro Toronto Convention Centre from August 31st to September 2nd, and here are a few of the interesting facts PureGrainAudio learned during our four days at Fan Expo.

01. Amy Jo Johnson Didn’t Have a Background in Martial Arts
– As the original Pink Power Ranger on Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, you would expect that a background in martial arts would be a prerequisite but surprisingly, Johnson revealed that she was hired because she was a gymnast and the fights were structured around it.

02. Robin Lord Taylor Would Like to Play Another DC Robin
– Best known for his role as Oswald Cobblepot/The Penguin on Gotham, Robin Lord Taylor enthusiastically said that he would love to play Batman’s sidekick Robin, though he admitted the he might be a bit old for the role and he would really have to get into shape.

Check out the Back to the Future cast reunion’s full panel.

03. Jack Black Taught Karen Gillan How to Flirt
– The Guardians of the Galaxy/Doctor Who star revealed that her Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle co-star taught her how to flirt. Working on the movie also gave Gillan the chance to kiss Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson after he had just been voted “Sexiest Man Alive”. Gillan also shared that when she landed her breakthrough role on Doctor Who as Amy Pond, she had barely worked for six years.

04. Evangeline Lily Wrote a Series of Children’s Books
– I will fully admit my ignorance about this going into the Lost/Ant-Man and the Wasp star’s panel. Titled The Squickerwonkers, it’s a series of cautionary tales inspired by Edward Gorey and illustrated by Rodrigo Bastos Didier, a Brazilian artist.

05. Rodrigo Bastos Didier Approached Evangeline Lily as a Fan
– The illustrator of the Squickerwonkers books posted fan art on Lily’s Facebook page and brought her to a con in his native Brazil.
She said she was so impressed with Bastos Didier’s intelligence and humility that she brought him on board to illustrate the series, which will be wrapping up soon with the “demise” of the different characters.

Check out Neil Van’s incredible photo coverage of Fan Expo 2018!

06. Richard Dean Anderson Doesn’t Care for the New MacGuyver
– The star of the original MacGuyver series readily admitted that he doesn’t like the new series and has spurned offers to appear on it, quipping that if it reaches seven and a half seasons, he might consider it. Anderson said that he doesn’t like how the show glosses over the method and process that went into McGuyver coming up with solutions to seemingly impossible problems. He also dislikes George Eads version of Jack Dalton. He said it was “A cop show with McGuyver” in the title.

07. Lucy Lawless Thought that Acting was Easier than Med School
– The former Xena star was a fan of the Jack Klugman series Quincy ME and originally considered a career as a forensic scientist but when she realized that she would need to go to med school for “100 years” she decided that playing one would be easier and decided to become an actor.

08. Emma Dumont is a DC Fan
– Even though she plays a Marvel character in the X-Men spin-off series The Gifted, star Emma Dumont admitted that she was a fan of DC comics growing up but came to appreciate the darker and more mature approach that Marvel took to their stories, though she admitted that she would still like to play Poison Ivy or a gender-reversed Riddler. Her background as a ballerina also influenced her gestures when her character Lorna “Polaris” Dane uses her powers.

A cool video with some cosplay highlights.

09. Other Bonus Highlights Include:
– Jason David Frank , the original Green Power Ranger, needing to learn “Hollywood Kung-Fu” and not actually hit people. 2001: A Space Odyssey’s Gary Lockwood sharing how he helped Gene Roddenberry to cast Leonard Nimoy as Spock. Star Trek: Discovery’s Anson Mount said that he nerded out when he got to sit in the captain’s chair in a replica of the bridge of the original starship Enterprise at a convention.

We also learned that William Shatner is a world-champion horse rider and Princess Bride star Wallace Shawn started acting at the age of 35. Back to the Future’s Tom Wilson’s ‘FAQ Song’ that answered the questions he receives the most at cons was another highlight.