When the cult sci-fi show Firefly was canceled after only 7-episodes on Fox a decade ago, lesser sidekick actors would have disappeared into the entertainment abyss. Alan Tudyk (Knight’s Tale) could of been one of those tragi-comic fallen heroes, always in the shadow of his bigger or more successful co-star Nathan Fillion (Castle). But that was not the future in store for Tudyk, he instead kept acting and landing good roles– all while continuing to attend conventions based around his past sci-fi success.
For over a year-and-a-half, Tudyk decided to start drawing from all the fresh and fun stories that he experienced at 14-years of conventions. Thus, the Con Man idea came to fruition. His first task was to start hitting up all his successful and talented acting friends and see if they would be interested in such a concept. Of course, they all said “hell yes!” After taking his project the normal route of studios to hit nothing but “no’s”, Tudyk decided to do something different…
Earlier this year Alan launched one of the most successful Indiegogo campaigns for his Con Man. Con Man would go on to raise 4.2 million dollars, making it the most successful web series ever and the third highest film to ever raise money through crowd-sourcing.
In the show, Alan plays an actor from a canceled cult sci-f show similar to reality, who — you guessed it! — becomes a tragi-comic figure, always in the shadow of his more successful former costar (Fillion).
Geeks, you can listen to our EXCLUSIVE Con Man interview from San Diego Comic-Con International 2015 right here…
Over the week at SDCC 2015, Con Man took over with one of the biggest panels of stars ever to hit Hall H and also the first ever web series to grace it. With rounds of applause preceded intimate stories from Alan and Nathan, along with some of their dearest nerd actor friends who costar in the series (Seth Green, Henry Rollins, Milo Ventimiglia, and a certain Joss Whedon), of filming and development plus actual true stories that influenced the series.
It was truly a treat to witness the joy on Tudyk’s face for his dream project to have come so far. Even a day later when we talked he was still floored with the fan love his project had been getting. Make sure to listen to the podcast (podbean widget just below), as the boys go even further in-depth on funny antics and stories from the making of Con Man.
Con Man will premiere on Vimeo this September.