Every now and again, Dragon Con gets lucky enough to have a guest that not only wants to come back, but one that makes Dragon Con almost as much of a home as the fans do. Anson Mount has become one of those guests. He’s been to Dragon Con several years running, taking a break last year to be with his family after the birth of his second daughter, and this year not only is he the Grand Marshal of the Dragon Con parade, he is co-hosting the Masquerade alongside Dot Steverson.
A few days before the convention and throughout the last couple of days, Mount has been kind enough to spend some time with the Daily Dragon, giving us an insight into why he enjoys Dragon Con and why he says it is probably his favorite convention.
Despite having attended the con more than a few times, Mount has never had the chance to see either the Parade or Masquerade before but said he was very excited to participate in both. “I’ve heard great things about both, and Dragon Con’s been around since I was quite young. So, it’s sort of like—Pike was a surreal experience and this is going to be a surreal experience.” Mount also said that seeing himself animated for the first time and being recreated as a puppet by the Jim Henson Creature shop was another surreal experience in “a litany of surreal moments.”
Even though we all know that the Masquerade can be an overwhelming experience, Mount noted that nothing really makes him nervous anymore unless it involves disappointing his wife. He also wanted to set the expectation that he doesn’t plan to dress up, saying, “My family has enough of a chore getting me into costume for Halloween. Because when it’s your job, you know… this time of year everybody’s like, ‘Oh, no, you have to wear a costume.’ No. I don’t.”
I wanted to find out if there was something Mount could point to as a quintessential experience that celebrity guests should have here at Dragon Con since he’s experienced it more than once in recent years, and his response could not have rung more true to a long-time attendee and volunteer like me. He said, “I don’t think there’s any such thing as a quintessential event at Dragon Con. Everywhere you turn, something crazy is going on. I mean, it’s like the same advice I give to friends that are going to New Orleans for the first time. I’m like, don’t make any plans, just, if you need to, get like a music program and maybe a food guide, but don’t make any plans. Just show up and start walking. That, and get caught up on your sleep before you go.”
We were able to touch a bit on the legacy of Star Trek, which is something that Mount has been asked about a lot over the last year with the 60th Anniversary of the show. He returned to the sentiment about the whole thing being surreal for him to be playing the Captain of the Enterprise since he had grown up as a fan of the show, saying that for him it is a real honor to be here at this moment. He also reflected on how the weight of that legacy has become even more real to him now that he’s a father and he’s learning how deep the axiom to lead by example can go when you have little ones around absorbing everything you say. As for his own legacy as the actor who has played Christopher Pike the longest, Mount said, “If Kirk represented the machismo of being a Starfleet captain, and Picard was the intellect, I wanted Pike to be the heart.”
Star Trek has never really gone away, even when it was technically off the air, and Mount attributed that to Roddenberry and his instinct that there is some kind of basic human need to know that there is a tomorrow as well as touching upon another human instinct to always want to see what’s over the next horizon.
Before the parade, Mount spent some time taking it all in before he climbed into the back of the convertible that was going to take him along the parade route. Even just standing there and seeing the participants around him, he could see that one of the reasons Dragon Con is his favorite con is because it is, and has remained, by the fans, for the fans. “The fans deserve to have some agency in this, and I feel like the hub of that is Dragon Con.” He also noted that being part of the 40th Dragon Con makes it even more of an honor, especially learning that he was in the company of other Grand Marshals like Stan Lee.
This year for the first time Mount was able to bring some of his pottery to sell at his table in the Walk of Fame. If you’ve never watched one of his kiln openings on Instagram, you are missing out on another aspect of this extremely talented individual. He makes beautiful art pieces as well as functional items like mugs, flatware, and whiskey sippers. Prior to con, Mount had actually sold out most of his stock, so he fired a lot of things in even the couple of days right before heading to Atlanta. In fact, when we spoke ahead of the convention, he took the call from his garage workshop so he could keep crafting while we talked. Mount really enjoys seeing his pieces be used, not just admired, so definitely check out what he has available.
With his two young children at home, Mount doesn’t have a lot of time to spend consuming media, though he did mention that he thinks Pluribus is the most unique thing on television right now, telling an alien first contact story in a way he’s never seen before. That said, when he does have a moment for personal entertainment, he’s more likely to sit down and play a round of Fortnite. “I’m a gamer because my parents didn’t let me have an Atari, and then, you know, school happened, and I turned around, I was in my 30s visiting my brother and my two nieces and I found myself unable to let go of their Xbox. And now I have a PlayStation.”
With Star Trek: Strange New Worlds wrapped, we touched on what might be coming up next for Mount. There wasn’t anything that he’s filmed that he can talk about, yet, but he did say that he considers himself a better writer than he is an actor (which I personally find hard to believe). He’s been working on a collection of comedic science-fiction stories that he needs to get back to. If you’ve seen any of the more light-hearted episodes of Strange New Worlds, you’re familiar with Mount’s comedic timing, and he said that as an actor he would like to do more of it, even just guest star on an episode of a sitcom, something that he’s never done before. “For the first 20 years or so in my career, I was just pigeonholed, put in nothing but dramatic, serious, tragic roles… maybe it comes from, you know, I definitely took myself too seriously in my younger years, so maybe that’s what led me to that in casting situations. But so much of my training is in comedy.”
Before the parade officially kicked off, Mount went live on his Instagram to thank Dragon Con for the honor of being Grand Marshal and the City of Atlanta for letting him sit on the back of a convertible in the middle of Peachtree Street. Mount generously lets his fans and followers into small parts of his life through his social media, though he confessed he really just doesn’t have the time to engage (even though he has enjoyed jousting with “idiots on the extreme sides of either political spectrum” in the past). On the video, as he looked around, it was obvious that he appreciated the scale of the event, commenting to the camera, “This is crazy.”
After the parade, I caught up with Mount again who said that he’d had a great time. It was easy to see the truth of that on his face as a few of the parade participants who had walked along with him came up to say hello and thank him for joining them. He gave each person his time and attention, even if just for a brief moment, and that speaks to not only who he is but why he connects so completely with Dragon Con. We’re a community, a family, who support and uplift each other in a myriad of ways. I look forward to welcoming Mount back as part of the Star Trek and Dragon Con families for many years to come, and I can’t wait to experience the Masquerade with him as the host this year. Make sure to come back to the Daily Dragon to read more about it (and keep a little bit of Dragon Con around all year long).
