MTV: GIL BIRMINGHAM BRINGS LAUGHS TO CONVENTION

MTV has a cute article recapping last nights festivities with Gil Birmingham at the New Jersey Twi/Tour convention. Gil spoke about his funny guy ways and on a more serious note, spoke about the roles of Native Americans in movies.

Gil Birmingham is a jokester, and the proof is in the improvisation. Birmingham’s wisecracking “Twilight” character Billy Black has several choice one-liners throughout the film, a few of which Birmingham said he made up on the spot. “Being down with the kids, keepin’ it real — that’s all Gil Birmingham, folks, channeling Billy Burke,” the 43-year-old actor told the oft-laughing audience during his 45-minute Q&A session at the official “Twilight” convention in Parsippany, New Jersey.

And to the audience’s delight, the jokes flew both ways. At one point, following a flirtatious exchange about taking his shirt off, Birmingham was asked by an audience member about his bigger part in “New Moon,” to which he replied, “Am I bigger?” A quick-thinking woman in the auditorium then shot back, “Let’s see.”

Birmingham did get serious though when discussing how Native Americans and disabled people are portrayed onscreen. Though the Comanche member feels honored to be a part of projects that portray the plight of Native Americans during America’s formative years (like his role in “Into the West”), he said it is modern roles like his Billy Black character that he really cherishes.

“I am a big proponent of Native Americans being portrayed in contemporary times, which they often are not,” Birmingham said. “And even when they are, it’s limited to the reservation or the drama of what it is to come to the reservation.”

Portraying a character in a wheelchair has also given Birmingham new insights. He recalled one scene in particular that really touched him. “I did have a scene when we were congregating to get the search party ready to go look for Kristen. And then all of the sudden Sam comes out of the woods and everybody runs to him and Kristen and I realize I can’t go,” he explained. “Everybody takes off and I go, ‘Hey, hey!’ ” The wheelchair also caused a continuity issue for the film. “There was some interesting changes we made. You probably noticed me driving the truck,” Birmingham said. Avid Twilighters know that Billy sold his truck to Bella because he could no longer drive. “Technically that makes sense, because how impactful would it be for me to give Edward the evil eye from the passenger side?” referring to his epic stare-down with the vampire.

Read the entire article here.

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It must be a blast to work with Gil, he is such a great guy. I’m so glad he was able to make it to the New Jersey convention this weekend. I love his stories!

What do you think of this article on Gil?