Fantasy Events: Night Ita Con 2012

Just came back home from the Italian Convention, still can't believe I finally met Gale in person, it feels like a wonderful dream to me.

On day 1, he was announced along with the other guests during the Opening Ceremony. We were asked not to take any vids nor photos with flash. When Gale came in, he had a hand on his mouth and seemed extremely uncomfortable: it was like he couldn't get the reason why there were so many people cheering him, his facial expressions were tight and embarassed, I could just imagine how hard it was for him living such an inusual situation.

The Con organizer, Patricia, asked him if that was his first time in Italy, he said it was his second. They all left almost immediately, and 2 hours later we had a special session called "Welcome Cocktail": they had placed several tables in a room, each table had up to 6/7 seats and each guest had to switch place with the others so they could give every fan a chance to talk with them.

Gale looked a bit tense and shy during the first minutes of this session (he often rubbed his hands on his pants or covered his mouth), but the more he talked with his fans, the more he became relaxed and at ease with them: he asked everyone their name and then repeated them, he made eye contact with each fan and seemed genuinely interested in everything they had to say, I saw him laughing, joking and talking a lot, he was obviously having a good time.

On day 2, we had a Panel with Gale at 11.30 a.m. The organizers told us to write our questions for Gale on a piece of paper, the M.C then would have selected some of our questions but we weren't allowed to ask any qaf-related question.

These are the Q&A that I remember: (please be aware that English is not my first language, sorry for any mistakes)

Q: Do you have a favourite character from the ones you played?
A: No, I can't choose just one character because the others would get offended, I like them all.

Q: In one of your interviews you said you wanted to do a comedy, would you prefer working on a movie or in theatre?
A: A movie, because working in theatre is a lot of training, it's a hard work, doing comedy on stage every night is very different than doing it on screen.

Q: Do you have any new project? What about a "Home in the morning"?
A: It's a good script but it's not my project, I only had a table read but I would love to be part of it. It's very "brutale" (he used the Italian word), a great portrait of the American South and it's from a book I enjoyed too.

Q: Any info about your recent experience on "Sundance Workshop"?
A: It was a very good experience, I met many actors who were there, it was magic and useful.

Q: What's your best memory of your acting career?
A: Being able to work, having the ability to support myself and preparing for a part, people responding positively or maybe hating what I did, acting is better than other things I could have done.

Q: As a kid, did you ever dream about having magic powers like Charles in TSC?
A: Not exactly like Charles (everyone laughed). I would like to have the power of "mind control". (Someone cried: "Like Rage") Yeah, like Rage. I would like to order people to give me their things, to buy presents: I would say "Give me your pen" and you would give it to me.

Q: How was playing Charles death, even if he's not really dead?
A: The worms that Charles had on his face represented his demons, but he wasn't really dead. It's like when you tell a kid that Santa Clause doesn't exist, oops, sorry, just told you he doesn't exist (everyone laughed). Having those worms on my face was like doing a facial, (the translator asked what a "facial" means) a "facial", you know, manicure, pedicure? It was like going to the beauty farm.

Q: Do you remember any book that affected you?
A: Dylan Thomas' "The Dress". It's a welsh poem, a murder ballad (the translator asked "murder"?) Yeah, it's about someone who's being killed, it's a poem song, a blues song, you should read it.

Q: What made you decide to become an actor?
A: I wanted to belong to you (he got a HUGE applause). I wanted to try to play different characters.

Q: About Charles, do you think he would have been less affected by Nick's death if he had killed him with magic, not with his own hands?
A: Charles had convinced himself that he didn't care, killing a person is never a good thing, never, but strangling a boy with your hands is much worse, especially since he was a friend of Charles daughter. (The traslator then got confused about who killed who, a fan from the audience clarified that Nick was a friend of Diana's, Charles daughter, the translator said "grazie", and Gale added "il piacere mio", it does mean "you're very welcome").

Q: In "Fertile Ground" and "Desperate Housewives", both your characters are painters. Do you like to paint in your free time?
A: Not that kind of paint.

(Everyone laughed)

Then we had the autographs with him and the photos session. He was very kind and polite with everyone, I saw several fans crying after they had their photograph taken because they got emotional since they had a chance to touch him, Gale was lovely and totally adorable during both photo and autograph sessions.

On day 3, we had another panel with him. This is what I remember:

Q: We know you like photography. Are there any places that you would like to photograph?
A: Marocco, Coney Island, Bombay. That's all.

Q: Is there any different kind of preparation, depending on the character you play? How was your Deadwood experience?
A: Deadwood was an exciting experience, an anacronistic revival of that period. I liked it a lot.

Q: How would you have developed Charles character in season 2, even if he was maybe dead?
A: I would make certain he has a good funeral, a casket, and then maybe he could be a ghost and infest someone's house.

Q: How did you prepare to play your character in "Wake"?
A: He was a difficult character, he took drugs, had a borderline syndrome, he was very fond of his mother but she was dying.

Q: If you could live in other historical periods, which one would you choose?
A: The Bizantine Empire, the French revolution if I wouldn't like heads, some time in the future when people have just brains, because they don't need their bodies.

Q: If you could choose a play to stage?
A: There are too many.

Q: Any news about "Rehab" or "Low Fidelity"?
A: Low Fidelity was pretty good, but I don't know when it will be released. About Rehab, I have no idea.

Q: Do you know any Italian directors? Like De Sica, Fellini, Visconti?
A: Who are they?

(everyone laughed)

Q: Do you have a philosophy of life or values you really believe in?
A: Nothing I could think to know better than any other person, anything that is right and that makes you free.

Q: Do you have any actor that inspire you?
A: Hunphrey Bogart, I liked his character in "The maltese Falcon". And Peter O'Toole. (The traslator got confused with Peter Falk") I said Peter O'Toole, but Peter Folk is great too (thumb up).

Q: Do you watch your own movies?
A: No.

Q: If you weren't an actor, what would you have been?
A: Not a banker. An hypnotist, sort of like Rasputin.

Q: How do you choose a script?
A: Usually I download it in my pc and then read it.

Q: I mean, do you have any parameters?
A: It has to be exciting. Sometimes my decision is good, sometimes is not. Hope it is.

(The microphone that the translator was using made some strange noises)

Gale: Is there a duck here?
Translator: A what?
Gale: a duck.

The translator frowned, she didn't understand.

Gale used his fingers to simulate a beak and then said "quack, quack, quack, a duck".

The translator said "ohhhh, no no, it was the mike", and he replied "ah, ok".

Q: Do you know any accent? Would you say some french words for us?
A: No.

Q: What kind of music do you like?
A: Un momento (it does mean "a moment", Gale raised his index finger and then started to fiddle with his phone, then he made us listen a song and showed us the display of his phone, but since no one recognized the group nor the cd cover, he wrote on a paper "MC5", and added "If I wasn't an actor I would have played with them, it's a white guy who sings like a black guy").

Q: Are there any action roles you would like to play?
A: Yes, Billy the Kid, he's a very bad person, but I'm too old to play it. (everyone in the audience said "NO", meaning he's not old). Gale: Don't cry it's ok (laughing).

Q: What's your relationship with social networks?
A: I invented some of them, then I got tired and now I'm only using pen and paper.

Q: Would you tell us a funny episode that happened on any set you worked on?
A: While I was shooting "Particles of Truth", there was a scene where I was standing in front of my car and it was my first scene with the girl on the movie, when I started to open my mouth to say my line a pigeon did *beep* on my shoulder.

Translator: It's a "good luck" sign in Italy.
Gale: It didn't seem "luck" to me.

Q: How did you feel while playing a racist on G.A?
A: I had no idea what I was talking about, my partner in the scene was a beautiful black woman and I said horrible things to her, it doesn't happen everyday to play a character like that, luckily his tattoo got destroyed. This is what I consider "luck", that the tattoo was damaged, not some *beep* on your shoulder.

While answering the many questions, he was sort of playing with a chair on his right, and was using it to partially cover himself, like a nursery child that covers his face with his smock while talking because he feels shy.

The M.C then asked Gale: do you like the chair? His face turned a deeper shade of pink and he let it go, then he did put a pen on top of the back and smiled sweetly.

The panel ended, we had a chance to do the last photos and autographs with him, and then we said goodbye to the guests during the closing ceremony. I didn't attend this last one because I had a plane to catch, so I don't know what happened after I left.

Gale is a gorgeous man, tall and very thin, with an amazing smile, two hazel eyes that looked an intense green to me, and soft full lips. He's extremely clever, funny and polite, wish *all* of you to meet him in person, at least once, because it's an experience you would hardly forget.