How many times have you followed through on a dream project?
Speaking for myself, a guy with about a half-dozen unfinished screenplays and an equal number of home improvement projects at various stages of completion, I would say not nearly as much I would like.
Which is why one of the reasons I love my work is I get to talk with people who follow through.
I guess I should point out that I’m a TV producer. Along with running my production company, I’m also a contributing editor for Blastr.com, the digital arm of the SYFY network, and I help coordinate their convention coverage.
This past weekend, I was at New York Comic Con. While I was there, I did a few dozen interviews with TV and film actors, comic book artists and writers. One of the highlights was getting a few minutes of talk time with Evangeline Lilly, who just about everyone adores, because of roles on shows like Lost, movies like The Hobbit Trilogy and most recently, Ant-Man, where she played Hope van Dyne, the future superhero The Wasp.
She told me about her next Marvel movie, Ant-Man & The Wasp, and when she’ll finally join The Avengers, here:
And while she knows lots of fans want to hear about her movie work, she was at #NYCC2016 to promote her passion project, The Squickerwonkers children’s book series. Her first book, published in 2014, was a charming and kooky cautionary tale about a spoiled little girl named Selma. She learns an important lesson about life that, like the Rolling Stones said “you can’t always get what you want.”
The Squickerwonkers are a band of marionettes who Selma meets one day. The mischievous group are creepy and help give the book a darker tone than most children’s book, but the message the book delivers is unmistakeable. If you are looking for a great read for your kids and they’re not too sensitive to the occasional dark turn, then it’s time for you to get Squickery! (I may have to wait another year before Alexia can handle it; she’s a bit sensitive)
Evangeline debuted a new sketchbook at the Con, featuring illustrations by Rodrigo Bastos Didier. He is the new artist working on the second book, which she says is due out in September of next year. She says her plan is to eventually make the Squickerwonkers an 18-book series. Listening to how excited and passionate she was in talking about it, I have no doubt she’ll eventually do it. This isn’t a side gig for her. For Evangeline, you get the sense she considers herself a writer first, and the acting stuff is just to pay the bills.
I hope you enjoy part of my interview with Evangeline and Rodrigo for Blastr, embedded at the top of the story. They discuss the characters and message of the book, as well as share the crazy story of how Rodrigo landed the job.
Dad Encyclopedia 