Blue stating "thanks for making it fun" perfectly captures this talk with a guy who clearly loves what he does. A bonus was speaking to someone who does not look at you funny when you comment that Atlantis is located at the bottom of San Francisco Bay.
The largely successful challenge in having the attention of Blue for 45 minutes was not talking "Stargate" at the complete expense of his current projects that reflect his fanboy nature as strongly as his place in the lore of a solid scifi franchise. Blue starring as aptly named Scott (presumably neither Tiberius nor Thomas) Frakes in the (reviewed) Stan Lee produced cult comedy "The Concessionaires Must Die" got him to the table.
Twin passion project Drunken Gaming, which is running a Kickstarter campaign, centers around Blue and his way-cool on-and-off the screen buds getting wasted and playing a wide variety of games. The prospect of watching Blue kick the ass of Robert Carlyle at Fortnite while both are one Jager Bomb away from hurling on their consoles should provide enough incentive to help make it so.
A desire to give "Concessionaires" the deserved focus is behind holding off sharing the scifilicious portion of the interview for a post of the "Gaming" effort. A tantalizing tidbit is that Blue is bi in that he loves both "Star Trek" and "Star Wars" but considers "Trek" his biggest fandom. His statement "I think everyone wants to be Wesley [Crusher]" also is a topic for another time. (A personal assessment is that young Mr. Crusher is the Jar Jar Binks of "TNG.")
Learning that Blue makes friends with co-stars and maintains relationships with them long after shooting ends reinforces that he is a nice guy. Hearing that he was up for the lead in the CW series "The Flash" but strongly praises the Grant Gustin portrayal of that titular Speedster proves that Blue is very gracious.
A Fool for Shakespeare
The time-shifting nature of this article continues with discussing the most recent film of Blue before delving into "Concessionaires." This man of a 1,000 facets gets top billing in "Lear's Shadow," which is a modern take on a classic Shakespeare drama.
Sharing that I was the Cordelia absent the vampire slaying in my family prompted asking Blue about his status regarding his two siblings in his clan. He first stated he probably also was Cordelia (complete with vampire slaying?) but indicated that he identified mostly with the highly loyal Earl of Kent.
Blue stated as well that "Shadow" premiered at the 2018 Pasadena International Film Festival where is was greatly honored with numerous nominations that included on for Blue. The film currently is seeking a distributor.
Making 'Concessionaires'
Knowing the backstory of Frakes helps understand the dream casting regarding having Blue play that role. This 30-ish Peter Pan/ultimate fanboy is a roughly 15-year veteran popcorn jockey at an independent single-screen movie theater where he fully embraces the fare of his employer and the camaraderie of his co-workers. However, reuniting with a classmate who is living an adult life coinciding with the imminent sale of the theater to a Megaplex corporation prompts introspection.
Particular obsessions of Scott are the actual "Last Starfighter," who is a titular '80s video game wizard whose skills get him involved an actual outer-space war, and the theory that fussy Hawaiian estate overseer Higgins really is estate owner Robin Masters on the classic '80s detective show "Magnun, P.I." The "Starfighter" connection particularly warranted comment.
Blue responded "I always say that there is a certain percentage of yourself in a character." With respect to the casting choice, the witty comment regarding director America Young was "God Bless America for letting me know about the film." A related "Stargate" note was that former Moonlight" co-star and current friend Claudia Black, who is well-known for her role as a former thief and current do-gooder on Stargate: SG1" praising the "Stargate" production team was a factor regarding Blue pursuing his "SGU" role.
Partial personal synergy existed regarding "Concessionaires." The aforementioned review of that film compared it to both the '90s musical-comedy film "Empire Records" and to the '80s CBS failedcom "The Popcorn Kid." That sadly maligned series focused on high-school kids working at a theater very much like the one in "Concessionaires." The "Kid" lead easily could be "Concessionaires" projectionist/Yoda Jon (who essentially dies at the end) in his early days.
Blue responded that he promoted "Concessionaires" as "'Empire Records' in a movie theater" during the making of his film and shared that he still has the "Empire" soundtrack. His more general comment was that he described "Concessionaires" as "a fun movie for nerds by nerds."
He expressed surprise that he did not know about "Kid" and added that he believed that "everything that I see is from the '80s." We can talk after he has watched "Danny and the Mermaid."
Location Location Location
Blue shared that much of the filming occurred on location at the Warnor Theater in Fresno, which surpisingly did not host a premiere. He also commented on the bonding element of filming on location and noted that "with 'Concessionaires,' we had a good group and had fun on and off the set." The outtakes that run during the closing credits reinforce that assertion of chemistry among the cast and the crew."
Marvel-ous Producer
The aforementioned love extends to executive producer Stan Lee, whose screen presence awesomely extends beyond a cameo. One feels for Blue, who understandably desired more facetime with Lee, regarding that pop culture god playing his one scene with a younger version of Scott. That performance fully reflected the dual loves of Lee for family and for comics.
Commenting that Lee was 95 and that his "Concessionaires" performance likely being the last one that he filmed provided a perfect end to this career prompted an awesomely unpredictable response from Blue. This fanboy speculated that Lee would live to be 300 and that we would learn that he was an alien. One can only hope.
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