Red Comic Con Panel: Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, Mary Louise Parker and Karl Urban Break It Down For You

It's an action movie! Eh. It's action movie based on a comic book! Double-eh. It's an action movie based on a comic book starring Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich, Mary Louise Parker, Morgan Freeman, Richard Dreyfuss and Karl Urban. Well, hell, now you're talking.

The cast, along with director Robert Schwentke and graphic novel creators Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner gamely talked about their new movie and answered a few questions. And here are the bullet points:

Helen Mirren is a very canny player, wearing a Harvey Pekar shirt and lauding him as a "great genius." She knows how to work a Comic Con audience.

Karl Urban sees Dame Helen and raises her, barking out, unbidden, "Are you out of your Vulcan mind?!?" The crowd gratefully erupts.

Mirren cleverly states this is that rare action film that features both "the Queen and God." Snerk. She's also grateful for reaching out to a new audience, noting that "the people who see this film aren't necessarily the same ones who run and go see a film about Tolstoy."

Ellis, who is dressed like Hemingway if he were a bisexual magician in Tampa, revealed that his main criterion for letting them make a movie from his comic was "a bag of cash."

A question from the audience: "Bruce and Helen, what would you think it would be like being John Malkovich?" to which Mirren gamely responded, "Well, which half would you like to be, Bruce?"

Dame Helen was on fire, recounting that she and Mary Louise Parker were convinced that they would be fired once the director saw how poorly they ran. Mirren also revealed that it's quite hard to look tough while firing a gun: "Your natural response is to pull a funny face, or stick out your tongue or close your eyes." In case any of us out here are about to fire a gun on film, consider us told, Dame Helen.

Parker shared another cinematic tip: "Alec Baldwin told me to look like I had to pee real bad if I wanted to look scared on film while running. It would seem like I was in mortal danger." Alec Baldwin: Servicey!

Richard Dreyfuss' on-set nickname: Jaws.

And a comic-related tidbit for this geeky crowd from graphic novel writer Ellis: "You can't write a comic thinking it'll be a movie. That way madness lies... or Mark Millar."