Supernatural : General Discussion/Appreciation (Spoiler Tags req for S15)

[Krisz]

I saw James Marsters (Spike from 'Buffy') at an event yesterday, and he said he loves Supernatural and would really like a part; also that he's heard that the producers of the show have liked his work, so I reckon it's not too unlikely to hope for.

I'd like to see JM as a hunter, or as a good guy

I hope he does get a part. He would be a really interesting addition and fit in quite nicely.

Spoiler:

Oh, Andy. We shall miss you. Oh, Ava. What a beyotch. Oh yes, we will have the angsty Dean to end all angsty Deans next week and I can't wait. Just when are we going to find out how Mary already knew the demon. Obviously it's not something she shared with her husband.

Good show.

Spoiler:

Good heavens, Eva was a surprise! Didn't see that coming.

This is what I love about this show, they do all these wonderful twists and turns and as much as we smugly think we know what may be coming next, we are always caught out!

Spoiler:

Like the thing with Mary, I just can't help thinking that the demon is Sam's father!!

Then again, something even more astounding will be revealed about this in Supernatural's usual style!!

Poor old Dean is really being put through the wringer lately. Who is being tested to the limits here, Sam or Dean? It just keeps coming......what a ride!!!

Roll on Season 3!!!!

[PuddleJumper42]

Spoiler:

Like the thing with Mary, I just can't help thinking that the demon is Sam's father!!

Then again, something even more astounding will be revealed about this in Supernatural's usual style!!

That's what I was thinking! I kind of hope not though, because it'd be a bit too soap opera-y for me.

[parisindy]

a thought...

Spoiler:

you know what i was thinking.. what if sammy being stabbed is an illusion that the YED created to mess up dean and keep him out of his hair while he corrupts sammy ;D just a thought

[samlovinshep]

you know thats canny good maybe thats what he done i hope not though i would hate to see dean messed up cos of that

[parisindy]

hehe sorry its the whumoper in me.. i'd loved messed up dean hehe
but i know thats not always a mutual thing

[Killdeer]

That's Bobby. He was a friend of their Dad's, and has helped the brothers out on several occasions.

As for the episode, I thought it was great. I'm sure next week will be even better, and that has me really excited. I can't wait to see how they end this season.

Thanks! I really need to pick up a 1st season set and get caught up. *grin* Do you all think they will end next week on a cliffhanger? I've seen some say yes, some say no.

[the fifth man]

a thought...

Spoiler:

you know what i was thinking.. what if sammy being stabbed is an illusion that the YED created to mess up dean and keep him out of his hair while he corrupts sammy ;D just a thought

Anything is possible. You never really know for sure with this show. That's part of why I love it so much.

[parisindy]

Thanks! I really need to pick up a 1st season set and get caught up. *grin* Do you all think they will end next week on a cliffhanger? I've seen some say yes, some say no.

OMG just read a possible spoiler!? about dean!

has anyone heard if season 3 is official yet? gads!

Anything is possible. You never really know for sure with this show. That's part of why I love it so much.

agreed

[Killdeer]

The Director's Cut is up at cwtv.com.


Poor Dean!

[emo_brat]

awwww bless him

[Naonak]

From Sci-Fi Wire:

Supernatural Companion Books Coming
British publisher Titan Books announced that it has acquired worldwide publishing rights for the official companion books to The CW's Supernatural.

The first volume, Supernatural: The Official Companion Season 1, is slated for release in September in the United States, with a U.K. release in October. In addition to behind-the-scenes interviews and exhaustive episode guides, the official companion book will feature dozens of photos, including a 16-page full-color supplement.

Supernatural stars Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles as the Winchester brothers, who travel the backroads of America fighting supernatural evil. It airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

[Killdeer]

Here's some interesting info from Spoilerfix.com:

Discussion of Season three plans -

Spoiler:

Eric Kripke and Robert singer reveal: Season three is in many ways about them fighting this war. The value of that mythology is we don’t have to get so wrapped up in bicentennial levels of complexity and mythology; it can just be a war has begun. War can take many different, painful for the guys and fun for the audience, forms. We still plan on keeping the same level in season three between self-enclosed and mythology episodes, we just plan on ramping up the stakes, because this war keeps getting bigger and bigger and more and more dangerous. That’s been fun for us because every season things keep getting more and more dangerous and worse and worse but we can still convey it to the audience that doesn’t become too bewildering or complicated. Source: iFMagazine

[parisindy]

squeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! can't wait!

[Madeleine]

The con was fab. Jensen was lovely. He'd got a bit of a beard, but still dishy.

Jensen did a talk on Saturday morning; I tried to make notes but it's hard to write that fast, so where poss I've used actual words in " " and the rest of the time I've paraphrased. I haven't managed to capture his facial expressions though, so you'll just have to imagine them in . He was really funny and good-natured.

Jensen's talk on Saturday

Jared and Jensen first met when being Network Tested in front of all the execs. This is usually done with the final shortlist of three or four for each part, but it was just the two of them and there was instant brother chemistry. The execs gave them a standing ovation. Jensen says “I did do much better than he did.”

He thought the show would be filmed in LA and he called Tom Welling (who films Smallville in Vancouver) and said “Ha ha ha!” to be in LA. Then he found out… .

Erik Kripke has a map in his head of where the show’s going. He researched and planned it for seven or so years.

They have four Impalas: the “hero” impala which he drives, a stunt version with a souped up engine, one in the studio that they just pretend to drive, and a spare. Jensen sometimes does stunt driving, though he’s not supposed to.

It’s hard work for them to carry the show just the two of them, and they often request more regulars. They haven’t time to do much else during the nine months they film. Each ep means about six days on location and two in the studio. They do as much of their stunts themselves as they can, to the annoyance of the stunt guys.

Jensen’s been a supporting character on other shows and often wished that more could / would be done with his character, but as Dean he gets really stretched. He’s very protective of Dean.

His latest film is “Ten Inch Hero” about a sandwich maker (?). His dream role is Indiana Jones.

The usual question about practical jokes was asked. The boys have decided it’s better to team up than to go for each other. One time Jensen sprayed Jared’s trailer with a bad smell and wrapped it in loo roll, but after that they agreed a truce.

Asked what he was scared of and if he was scared of ghosts, he said “No! I deal with them all day.” He’s desensitised. “Haunted castle? Give me some salt and a gun.”

“There was a show called ‘bugs’. We dealt with just that. I had to put my hand in a hole full of worms. Didn’t bother me. Jared had to pick up some big spiders.”

He was asked if he was allergic to bees; “I could see where that was going.”

They said they were going to test him for being allergic to bees. The way to test someone is to put some fine mesh on their arm, pick up a bee with tweezers, poke the bees stinger through the mesh and see if the testee goes into anaphylactic shock. (Jensen's face was a treat as he told us this.)

On the day of filming there were 60,000 bees in a small room. “I’m sitting there on stage eating a doughnut, and I see all of the crew putting on these white outfits. ‘what are you doing?’ ‘we’re putting on our bee outfits’ ‘that must be nice.’ I’m in jeans and a t-shirt.”

The director wore shorts and a t-shirt and went in the room with them out of solidarity.

The guys were told “These are docile bees” that would only sting if provoked or angered, so “try to stay calm.” Jensen had a question: “when they yell Action I’m supposed to freak out, so…?” (Here he acted the crew making that face with the indrawn breath that means, you’re stuffed, mate.)

The bees were covered by a tarpaulin, and to get them flying about. “That’s not angering them at all .”

He was supposed to grab a pole and wave it at the bees, and the bees were already all over the pole, so he kicked the pole to get the bees off, and it mostly worked. One bee got in his clothes and stung him on the bum. He could feel the stinger pumping poison into him and they offered to stop filming but he said to carry on, and they needed four takes so it was a while till he could get the stinger out. He was glad to be wearing his nice thick leather jacket cos he found a few stingers in that afterwards.

He’s done a bit of singing as a backing vocalist, but “I don’t want to take backseat” and he doesn’t any more.

He doesn’t believe in the supernatural. He thinks there’s generally a logical explanation and he doubts that any of the ghost stuff is real, “but if it is at least I’d know what to do.”

A favourite ep was Dead in the Water, which peeled back layers on Dean and helped him get a handle on how to play the role. “It was a turning point.”

Asked who was best to work with on the show, he said Jeffrey Dean Morgan. He and Jared get on so well and play so well off each othe that they take it for granted, but with Jeffrey there too the bar is raised for both of them. They wish he was around more.

Which does he enjoy more, doing the funny stuff or the high drama? He says the drama is more tiring than anything else, including the action work. When you get yourself in a state, or crying, your mind may know that it isn’t real but your body doesn’t and so you’re exhausted. The Drama is necessary, but it’s much harder work.

He’s in a play in Texas near his hometown in a couple of weeks. He’s the Tom Cruise guy in A Few Good Men. Lou Diamond Phillips is the General. He thinks it’s very much harder to learn the lines for a play, cos on set he learns a day’s worth and then can forget them; although every now and again they finish the day’s shooting early and start on the following day, so then he and Jared have to learn a few scenes extra quick.

He says that it’s not hard to guard his privacy. He says that if you don’t get in the way of paparazzi, don’t go to loads of parties and premieres etc, you’ll find it’s not hard to be private.

Asked about his favourite one-liner, he said that he made some up as he went along. “A few of them have just come out of my mouth.”

His Dad was an actor. He can’t name any other acting influences. He watches movies to be entertained, not to analyse. He was talking to a friend the other day about who the best contemporary actor is, but “can’t remember who the hell it was.”

____________


'Meg' and a screaming girly

Mr W and I were able to spend forty five minutes chatting with Nikki Acox who plays Meg and Brooke something who was the girl in the ep 'Asylum', just us and six others.

Nikki told us that filming the scenes in which Meg was interrogated and exorcised took thirteen hours and she got really hungry. She was saying to Jared how she longed for a packet of Doritos. He ran off to get her a packet, and sat through the filming of the next scene with a bowl of Doritos on his knee which he fed her between takes. He was a gentleman, she said…

…And a lady too, said Brooke. During the filming of Asylum for some reason both the boys togged up in wigs and dresses and ran around dressed as women. But they proved their manliness by jumping over fences repeatedly.

Brooke told us about her audition. She showed us how she’d screamed and cowered behind a chair, and how ridiculous she felt doing it; but it got her the part. It was funny to see, in a well-lit room with no monsters.

We asked Nikki what it was like to slit someone’s throat with a dagger, if she found it hard to do that sort of thing. No, it’s fun she said. She joked a few times later that she wouldn’t be slitting our throats for fun though. She mentioned that she loved British accents and had a fetish for British Men. Mr W, being the only man British or otherwise in the room, took that as his cue to flirt shamelessly. She flirted right back, so I covered his ears.

Nikki thinks it’s really exciting that people write fanfic about her character. She thinks it’s an honour and means she’s appreciated.

Her yellow leather jacket was made specially for her so she thought she’d be allowed to keep it, but no.

Jensen singing

In the evening Jensen's pal Jason did a set of a dozen songs, which was nice. Jensen joined him for a couple of minutes and sang the harmony to Van Morrison's 'Crazy Love'. He's good.

[Madeleine]

Jensen is lovely and I am the luckiest girl ! I got my raffle ticket drawn to have a session with Jensen, just me and nine others. Just eleven of us** in a room with tea and coffee, and a nice long chat. He's lovely. We were all of us so chuffed.

Did I mention how lovely he is?

Jensen's coffee lounge chat

They expect to hear on Thursday if they’ll be renewed. They’re pretty confident… but they were pretty confident about Dark Angel, and only found out that DA wasn’t renewed as Jessica Alba was getting onto a plane to do some publicity for s3…

Jensen had been in Tokyo a few days earlier, had a few days in London doing touristy things, and was v tired. He missed Jared, who has always been with him to do interviews and publicity and such, and has a lot of energy; normally he can count on Jared to do most of the work.

We asked him about the end of ‘Heart’ and that close-up of him and the single tear and asked him how he did that cos it was so good. Jensen felt that the episode wasn’t so successful, that on paper this girl and Sam had amazing chemistry but for whatever reason it didn’t translate and it didn’t set up enough for Sam to be as devastated as he was supposed to be, but he agreed the end was good. He said that Jared was getting ready for the scene where he is about to kill the girl and was looking very stressed out in the corner, so Jensen left him alone. He did the scene and it was really emotional, and Jensen asked how he got so into it. Jared has a couple of dogs who they both adore, and he told Jensen that he’d been imagining that someone had told him he had to have his dogs put down. That sent Jensen off: when he was being filmed for that scene, down came the tear, the producer yelled BANG to make him flinch, and then Cut. Everyone was really impressed, and Jared said “Thanks for stealing my scene, A------.”

For the one with the Genie (ep 2.20? skip to next paragraph to avoid minor spoilers for 2.20), it was the directorial debut of the creator of the show, Erik Kripke. Usually the directors are guest directors who let the guys act how they know best, but EK was a real micromanager and gave instructions for everything. Jensen thought it was a great ep because of that. I said how much we’d all liked it, and especially the lawnmowing, and he made his lawnmowing face for us and waved at his neighbour, and told us how he’d liked the scene where he sits on a step and drinks beer. He found it a challenge because none of his usual crutches were there in the show, so he was a very different person.

Hitting the Impala in ep 2.2: He was given a stick eighteen inches or so. He asked for a bigger one and they gave him the one that was in the show. He got really into it, bashing the car, and after a bit the stick flew out of his hands and he carried on hitting the car with his fists, and he made them bloody. He thought that that would get into the cut (we all agreed it sounded like it would have been great) but it didn’t. (In green cos that's my favourite bit of what he was telling us. )

He had been asked to audition for Sam. We asked him how he played Sam, compared to how Jared does. He says he saw the audition tapes (as a feeler for whether they should be DVD extras – they might) and whereas Jared plays Sam very ‘younger brother’ – here Jensen mimicked Jared-as-Sam: “But Deeeeeean, I don’t wanna go hunting!” – Jensen played him more the intellectual smart alec – Jensen put on a serious and prim face and said “Dean, you’re an idiot.” [waves finger] “And I’m going to tell you why.” He deliberately played Sam more how he thought Dean would be cos he wanted the role of Dean instead.

He said that he’d started the eating in the ep Faith. He asked the props people if the sausages were edible, and then he started munching – this he acted for us. He also acted Sam’s – or possibly Jared’s – Dude, what’re you doing? Face, which was a treat; he’s a good mimic.

I asked if he’d like Dean in RL, what with Dean being such a wind-up merchant. He said “Dean’s a prick” but that he’d modelled Dean on some of his friends, and probably would get on with Dean okay. He’s more like Sam – he mimicked Sam for us in the Prison ep saying “Let it go” in Jared’s voice and face – but some of his friends would be more Dean-like up for a fight.

The eps in the prison and the asylum were shot in the same disused mental hospital, supposedly haunted on the fourth floor, where no filming is allowed. It’s easy to get lost there and there are a lot of corridors that “look just like The Shining,” and he said it kept happening and he was like “Help. Help.” (Just saying it loudly not yelling it, like a chap who doesn’t want to seem scared but is J)

A big peeve for him is how neatly they always manage to desecrate these graves. They always have a perfect rectangle, and Jensen says it’s totally unrealistic, but that’s the way the two undug and half-undug graves are in the studio so that’s that. There’s a gas pipe in the bottom to make the flames jump up as soon as the match gets dropped; they’ve both come close to eyebrow-loss.

He’s 6’1” but Jared makes him look short. Sometimes for scenes not involving the feet Jensen stands on a box, other times Jared stands – Jensen showed us – with his feet way apart like a giraffe to look shorter.


___________

'Jo'

Alona Tal, who plays Jo, reads everything on the internet and finds some of it upsets her. One thing that amused her was someone saying how ridiculous it was that Jo should have a gun, and that anyone could see she couldn’t really use it. Alona was in the Israeli Army for two years and fired M16s, Uzis, allsorts.

She loves the actress who plays her mum, she’s insane.

She thought initially that Jo was a hunter, and didn’t realise till No Exit that Jo wasn’t at all experienced. She likes how Jo grew up over the year, starting all confident thinking she knew it all, then getting the stuffing knocked out of her. She thinks that the writers were trying to make her be like Dean at first, with all the smart answers, but when she came back in Born Under a Bad Sign she was quieter, which she thought was good. It means that Jo’s harder, perhaps more like Sam. She thinks that people who are the business don’t need to keep saying how they’re the business and that’s what Jo’s learning.

She’d like to see Jo get her confidence back and grow towards the stage Sam and Dean are at.

On her first day of shooting Jared put soy sauce in his coffee and made everyone taste it, asking them “do you think this coffee tastes a bit odd?” And the guys keep standing in front of her so the camera can’t see her, to tease her.


_____________

Jensen's Sunday Q&A

His first Star-struck moment came at 18. He had just moved to LA, and was shopping, and saw Bob Hope singing ‘Thanks for the Memories’. He told Hope “It’s really nice to meet you.” Hope shook his hand and wandered off, still singing.

Whose voice would he want on his Satnav? “Anthony Hopkins. He’s got the most soothing voice and you need that when you’re driving in LA. 'Don’t kill anyone. They’re not honking at you'.”

Describe yourself in five words: “That is not possible, guys.”

He’d like to do an ep in New Orleans, with all its history and mythology. Or on a sandy beach. “What do you guys think about the ghost surfer in Hawaii?”

Someone had to go and do it: he was asked what he thought about fanfics. He mugged a bit, put his hand to his face and over his eyes. “Some of them have very very crazy ideas. Some of them have very very disturbing ideas.” Like Wi – (no, I can’t bring myself to type it, yuck.) “I only hope my grandmother never sees it.” He was smiling, so I hope he isn’t too freaked out by it all.

Would he like Dean to end the show by settling down happy, or dying in a blaze of glory? He thinks it’d be better not to wrap it in a nice bow. He said that after four or five years it’d be a good time to bow out (I couldn’t tell if that meant from now, or from the start) when everyone was still wanting more, and although a bl;aze of glory would be fun it might be good to leave it so that he and Sam can go on hunting and having adventures after the show ends.

He likes the relationship between the brothers. He wasn’t prepared for the role-reversal that started at the end of s1. Erik Kripke said that Sam would be the driving force in s2. Jensen says “I thought Woah! Woah! It was like taking the rug out.” But he thought about it and it made more and more sense, and they found a groove and a rhythm and it’s worked really well. He’s going to be interested to see the third season cos “there’s a big old mix-up at the end of the second season.”

Minor spoiler:

Spoiler:

There’s a cliffhanger at the end of s2, but probably not as big as the one at end of s1.

He was asked what he thought about the times where Sam and Dean are assumed by motel receptionists to be a gay couple. “It’s ridiculous. People read into it stuff that isn’t there,” and Erik Kripke puts these things in to the ep to debunk this whole idea that some of the fanfic writers have. But Jared and Jensen think it’s funny.

The two of them have always got along really well. Just once, they had a row; they were getting in each others’ faces and looked about to come to blows. “He stepped up to me, I stepped up to him, and the crew…” (He mimed the crew horrified, but really exaggerated.) They walked off in different directions and an hour later they apologised and hugged it out.

Do they have nicknames? Jensen told us what he calls Jared. “Jar Head. Sasquatch. Idiot. Moron.”

“Have I ever been on a mechanical bull? Hmmm. Yes I have. Rode the hell outa that thing.”

If Dean had a demonic superpower like Sam’s visions, what would it be? “X-ray vision.”


**(and the necessary bodyguard - necessary cos a silly cow of a brat of a moron had literally jumped him; wrapped arms and legs around him and clung like a koala to him as he walked across the hall of the hotel yesterday and she had to be wrestled off with difficulty by two stewards and she made Jensen really freaked out, poor chap.)