Sean Astin visits Ohio Comic Con

Sean is having a whirlwind time of it up in Toronto filming Guillermo Del Toro's FX pilot "The Strain." In fact, he's not actually staying put in Toronto! His first weekend, he popped over to the Montreal Comic Con. Then last weekend after filming all Friday night, he dropped down to the Ohio Comic Con October 21-22.

Apparently the usual meeting with fans, signing of autographs, posing for photo ops and Q&Aing wasn't enough to fill his approximately 30 hours in Columbus, so Sean also signed up for a 10-mile race as part of his training of the October 13th Chicago Marathon. But we'll get to that later…

First there was the usual meeting with fans and signing of autographs:

Then time for a photo ops:

Miming Tragedy and Comedy for a theater buff

At the Q&A session on Saturday, Sean confessed that he had been up since 11am Friday morning, and had worked all night filming "The Strain" at the Toronto airport before catching the flight to Columbus via Chicago.

Sean Astin, known for his roles as Rudy in “Rudy” and Samwise in the “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, answered questions about working with Pauly Shore in the 1992 film “Encino Man” and interacting with fans at conventions.  

“The first time I was at a convention, the exchange was weird,” Astin said with a laugh. “It hasn’t gotten any less weird.” Astin said he compares the interactions with fans to speed dating. “I always try and honor the time I spend with each person,” he said. 

Astin then shared a story about being at a convention in England where while he was doing signings, an autistic boy with his parents were in line, “thrashing about and making sounds.” The parents of the boy held the boy’s arms on either side. “They were not going to give up,” Astin said. “They knew they sat with him 100 times watching ‘The Lord of the Rings,’ and they weren’t going to give up this moment because it was embarrassing.”  

Astin said fans in the line were respective of the boy, making sure neither to not bump into him nor mind his outbursts. “They knew this is a safe place for that guy,” Astin said. “This is a place where he belongs.” Astin said when the boy approached him, he locked eyes and placed a hand on his shoulder. “I asked him, ‘You really love your parents do you?’” Astin said, then mimicking the boy’s response of a nod.  Astin said after this exchange, the parents instantly began to cry.  

“Some people have too much love and they can’t harness it,” Astin said. Source

Sean met the family again a few years later, and instantly recognized them. "Everybody wants to be remembered," he said, he no less than others.

Sean also talked about working on Encino Man (he wishes he could go back and experience it again with a different attitude) and 50 First Dates (Adam Sandler wished he could play Doug, and Sean was like a puppet for him, doing all the silly things Adam wanted to do). In the clip below, he talks about cussing in The Goonies, a meaningful moment in Rudy and some aspects of filming Lord of the Rings.

Sean pauses to tie his shoe after the Q&A.

More goings-on around the con:

The Ohio #Run3rd Team: Jodi Scott, Linda Iroff, Sean and Kelli Shrewsberry

Sean swears in a new Goonie.

Sean with Ghost Hunter Grant Wilson

Sean hangs with Molly O'Connolly

A political statement on a t-shirt.

Sean's 10-mile race is covered in this post.