NOCC: Lou Ferrigno: The Incredible Hulk Q&A Company: Wizard World Product: New Orleans Comic Con 2012 Coverage Lou Ferrigno appeared at Wizard World New Orleans Comic Con 2012 and had lots of interesting information to share. He first gave a little background about himself and then opened the floor to questions from the audience. Lou mentioned that his focus is on giving back to the community, and being both a movie and a real life hero. He attributes his much younger appearance to healthy living and consistency. He advises to be consistent with everything you do; in health, fitness, relationships, education - be consistent. Well, it clearly works for him because seriously, the man doesn't look a day older than 45 and his physique is every bit as "Incredible" as it always has been. Lou shared that he has already been cast on the next Celebrity Apprentice, so he's excited about that. He claims it "got really nasty" and he doesn't think they were too fond of him in the boardroom because The Hulk really gave them a piece of his mind. He also fills his time with his job as a Deputy Sheriff, which he loves. He shared a wonderful story about a woman who had broken her leg on a mountain. He was attempting to get her into the basket, carefully, but when she opened her eyes and saw him, she screamed at the top of her lungs, "Oh my God, The Incredible Hulk!" Then she promptly fainted, and when she awoke in the helicopter, she couldn't stop crying and hugging him. An audience member asked about what had been planned for a new TV movie with Ferrigno and Bill Bixby, and Lou shared that it was to be called The Revenge of the Hulk, with David Banner passing away in the movie. The plan was to find a single cell of Banner's DNA and bring The Hulk back. However, before it could come to fruition, Bixby passed away. Lou was really excited about The Revenge of the Hulk, because in the plot, The Hulk would have David Banner's mind and would be thinking. Banner would essentially be trapped in The Hulk's body and it would have been an interesting twist. Ferrigno shared some interesting anecdotes about the 70's series. Bill Bixby's character was originally supposed to be called Bruce Banner, but the 70's network bigwigs thought this sounded "too gay" so they went with David instead. There were also restrictions on what could be shown on TV and there were to be no "below the navel" shots. Another audience member asked what it was like working with the first Captain America, Reb Brown. Lou shared some info about a film the two starred in together called Cage, where they each played Vietnam soldiers. Brown's character saves Ferrigno's character's life, but he still gets shot in the head and then gets kidnapped and used in human cockfighting. In one fight scene, Lou had broken a rib and he used the pain to channel into the rage for the film, so it really worked for him. As for what's in the future, Lou is working on bringing about a new reality show. All of his kids are personal trainers and they are working with the same network as The Biggest Loser. The goal is to change lives and they want to work with families and help motivate them to be the best they can be. Not necessarily a body builder, but their own personal best. Lou says being wealthy or having material things isn't what is important, but it's competing with yourself to be your absolute best and that will change the negative to positive. When another audience member asked about his chosen charity on Celebrity Apprentice, Lou replied with Muscular Disease and ALS/ Lou Gehrig's Disease. He shared that on the show, the projects weren't the tough part, being in the boardroom with Donald Trump was the hard part. It was like being on trial and you never knew whether you'd be guilty or not. It was also difficult because if you made a mistake, you couldn't take it back. He promises lots of catty fights with the women, so it should be an interesting season. He talked about being cast as The Hulk and the fact that Richard Keil (Jaws from Moonraker) was originally cast as The Hulk. When the Director came onto the set with his son, the son didn't think Keil looked like what The Hulk should look like based on the comic books, so Ferrigno was sought out for his hulking frame. They had already shot the pilot with Keil, but when they screen tested Ferrigno and saw how easily he was able to convey emotion without speaking, he was a shoe-in. The next day, he was working as The Hulk and his bodybuilding career was on hold. He had never acted and all of a sudden, he was at Universal Studios as The Hulk. He talked a little bit about working with Kenneth Johnson, the man who brought The Hulk and The Million Dollar Man to television. He was a great writer, producer and director and Ferrigno really appreciated working with him and the opportunities he was given. Another audience member asked for advice on bodybuilding and Lou was quick to say not to overstress yourself on your first competition. Train, but don't overtrain. He also advises to take pictures of your progress, so you have a visual representation, but most of all, have fun. He came in 23rd in his first competition, but his perseverance paid off. As long as you have patience and keep working on improving, that's what is important. He was asked about his voice acting experience with Adventure Time in playing the voice of Billy, and he said it was a lot of fun. He enjoyed doing voiceovers, but you can't really interact with the other actors because you have to talk into the microphone as opposed to being in front of the camera. He wants to be involved in the new CG TV series and he lobbied hard to play The Hulk in the first movie, but they ultimately went with a comic book version. He's very excited to be doing the voice of The Hulk in the new Avengers movie and he'll be starting on that in the next few days. He talked about his favorite episode in The Incredible Hulk which was called "King of the Beast" where he played both The Hulk and a bodybuilder who was competing to raise money to save a restaurant. He enjoyed it because it allowed him to stretch as an actor, but it was difficult to have to get into and out of The Hulk makeup for the different scenes. They even had scenes "together" which was interesting. He shared that the makeup took 3 to 3½ hours to apply and was the hardest part of the job, with prosthetic facial pieces and 5-6 layers of grease paint. Back then, he could only wear those colored contacts for 15 minutes at a time, whereas now you can wear them for hours. They would get up at 3 or 4 in the morning to get it all done, and he'd have a 12 egg omelet to keep himself going. One day, the cook left it on his trailer's porch to let it cool in the morning air and in those few minutes, the omelet disappeared. Coyotes had eaten it! I guess they weren't afraid of The Hulk. When asked about Bill Bixby, he shared that Bill was a licensed magician and his mentor. He watched Bixby on the set, since he directed many episodes, and he learned so much from him. When asked about Stan Lee, he said he told Lee that he and his character of The Hulk were what inspired him as a young man to get into bodybuilding. Getting into bodybuilding shaped his entire life and he attributed it to Stan Lee. He really enjoyed doing TV like The King of Queens because it is so much like real life. He also loved the film, I Love You Man and thought it was absolutely hysterical. He had so much fun with it, especially the chokehold. He loved the director and working with Paul Rudd and Jason Segal. When asked who would play him in a movie about his life, he jokingly said, "Me" and followed it up with his youngest son, who is in his 20's and looks like a smaller version of him. He talked about the 90's cartoon where he worked with Mark Hamill and Kathy Ireland and it was a blast. Like a bunch of kids getting together and doing this animated show. When they did the voiceovers, they'd do the cartoons after the voiceovers, which made it more realistic, whereas the older cartoons would have the voiceovers following the art. Lastly, he was asked about his experience being on the Mr. Rogers Show. He said it was great because he loved the show, and he got to show a different side of The Hulk, but when Mr. Rogers came to his trailer to talk, he was too afraid to come in. It was pretty funny. Lou Ferrigno was delightful and though his time with the audience was short, it was very interesting and informative. Check out his website at LouFerrigno.com. -Psibabe, GameVortex Communications AKA Ashley Perkins Related Links: Lou Ferrigno on IMDb.com Cage on IMDb.com Lou Ferrigno's Official Website