Someone yelled out the first question, asking what Ron is doing now. He repeated the question, did his usual laugh and replied "talking to some beautiful people in Burbank". Ron added that he has had a couple of really nice experiences recently. He had a couple of scenes in a movie called Lakeview Terrace starring Samuel L. Jackson. He chuckled that it was number one the first week it came out, number three the second week, but the third week he could not find it, but that it was fun. Ron played the of father to a young woman who was half black, her husband was white and they lived next door to a cop, played by Jackson. The cop, it turned out, did not approve of racially mixed marriages because his black wife had left him for a white guy, so he was "a little tender", according to Ron.
Ron was also in the video game Fable II. He said that it was really great fun to do, except toward the end. Ron added that some of us may know that, as an actor, he started out in classical theater. During the last 2 hours of recording Fable II, he was asked to make the sound of being hit in the stomach, then being hit in the stomach higher, then hit in the back, chuckling that his classical training really paid off.
Ron mentioned that he did several episodes of Dirty, Sexy, Money. He was hired to do a scene withLucy Liu, commenting that she is a very nice woman. In the scene they had to kind of argue and taunt each other a bit. He then got called back to do a scene in the next episode, and said it was really exciting because it looked like it could be ongoing relationship, perhaps a recurring role as her boss. But, in the end of that episode she takes a job with someone else, so according to Ron, she has a new boss making that a short exposure on Dirty, Sexy, Money.
Last May, Ron went to Australia, He was able to climb the bridge and look out over the Opera House adding that it was great it was fun.
The next person yelled out if Ron will be brought back on any show. Ron, again chuckling, told us to look at his history, saying "it doesn’t look good". He added that a friend of his sent him a sign that says "Today is not your day and tomorrow doesn’t look good either".
Someone asked if Ron knew Shepherd Book’s back story on Firefly and if they ever told him where his character was heading. Ron said he did not know, but that there was good news, a comic book is coming out called a Shepherd’s Tale. The comic book will probably have something to do with Shepherd Book and his back-story, that Joss had assured him that it will have some of that stuff in it. Joss will be behind it; he is not actually going to pen it, but he will collaborate on it.
A question was asked about Ron playing a man of the cloth, if that was in his past or if he pulled that out of things that he has seen. Ron replied that the great thing about Book was that he was a man of the cloth, who had decided to use religion to help people. The other great thing was that he was a man who had a lot of experience and knowledge about other things that he could use to help people, and you didn’t know if he was going to hug you or kick your butt. He believed that that was fun, and that as an actor when you come from that kind of intention, it doesn’t matter if you put on a collar or a tie.
The next audience member asked if Ron’s likeness is used in the comic, will he have any input into the story? He commented with a chuckle, that to his knowledge the people who write comics don’t think his image is "worth a damn; it is about the story, it is about the writing". In his limited experience, he has not been compensated for his image.
Someone commented that on the Blue-ray DVD, Ron was having lunch with Joss, Nathan Fillion and the other guys and asked where the girls were and what else was cut. Ron was not sure where the girls were or what it was about as he had not seen that cut.
A question about what Ron’s his reaction was when he found out he was going to be killed in Serenitywas asked. He thought back, commenting that it was back in 2005 and it was now 2008, so he had time to get over it, but that when he walked in the convention a big wave of emotion bubbled up. He thought it was so great; here is Firefly, it was 15 episodes. After Fireflywas cancelled Joss said he was going to somehow make a movie about all this and that they are all going to be it.
It was about a year later Joss called him and said this is a good news/bad news call. The good news is they are making a movie; the bad news is that he will die. After Ron got the script and read it, he thought about it and thought he was not going to do it. Joss told him that he will take another pass at it, because he wanted him in the movie. The next thing, Nathan called and said he heard that Ron had been talking to Joss and together Nathan and Joss tried to convince him. When Ron got the rewrite, he was happier with how he was going to die, so he did the movie.
The next question was about Barney Miller. What were his experiences and his memories? Again, Ron thought back to the amount of years that have gone by, 34 years. He came to Los Angeles in 1972, he had no gray in his hair, no wrinkles and then Barney Miller was in 1974, he commented that he thought he was on his way. Ron said it was great fun; the writer of the show was Danny Arnold, who had told him "comedy is paranoia" and so it was no wonder he was so good at comedy.
The cast were all so different from each other, but they were all committed to the work. It wasn’t about all the distractions that all the "rags" are so committed to, it was like going to church on a really bad day, according to Ron. But, then Danny had a heart attack. His doctor said the work wasn’t good for him. They left it up to the cast if they wanted to continue and go out with a whimper or leave now and go out with a bang. Ron was out numbered, they decided to go out with a bang while he was willing to limp. But "it was all exciting".
Someone yelled out asking if Ron still has "too much hair" under his hat. He took off his hat showing shortly cut hair, which he says is so much easier.
Ron was then asked what he thinks the relationship between Shepherd Book and Inara (Morena Baccarin) was. He said he would like to have explored that, since Book and Inara were the most highly educated people on the ship and the most worldly in terms of experience. He was looking forward to that experience, intellectually speaking.
Finally, Ron was asked what his favorite episode was and why. He didn’t say the name of the episode, but started to describe it, something about a strawberry and a really nice coat and he got to knock someone out. Of course, that was the pilot. Ron said it was the first time the actors met each other, so it was kind of like the beginning of a romance. He also liked the one, that he described going up some stairs and having a conversation with Mal in which he was discussing something to do with a "special hell" (‘Our Mrs. Reynolds’).
Another favorite was a time when they were at the dining room table and he was suppose to tell a really funny story. Unbeknownst to him, Nathan had gotten into the mix, as usual. When Ron came back and the scene started, he started to tell the story and everyone was suppose to be laughing hilariously, but everyone was just looking at him, dead pan. He thought that was really funny.
He also liked shooting guns and standing on top of that big hill smoking a cigar and looking down at everything while having a philosophical conversation with Mal in Serenity. Also, when they touch on Book’s past and Mal says "Someday you’ve got to tell me these things" and Book tells him "No, I don’t".
We said goodbye to Ron then, as he headed on to photo ops and autograph sessions, but we still had a whole weekend of convention fun ahead.
