the_other_sandy (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
the_other_sandy) wrote2008-11-16 07:00 pm
the_other_sandy) wrote2008-11-16 07:00 pm
Entry tags:
Creation's Salute to Supernatural -- Chicago 2008
I almost didn't get to go this year. I have bad luck with guest cancellations at Creation cons, and since the con hotels Creation regularly uses here are all within twenty minutes of my apartment, I always wait until I hear through the fannish grapevine that the actor(s) I want to see are actually in town and then buy a general admission pass at the door. Well this year, the Sunday general admission passes all sold out in advance (and no wonder--there were only seven rows of general admission seating!). Then on Friday afternoon, I got an email from a listmate on Yahoo!Groups who said the con might open up some Sunday general admission tickets, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to stop by the con hotel after work and see if that was true. It was! And so I got to go. Thanks, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
leenys!
When I got in the car to drive over to the con hotel this morning, the song playing when the radio kicked on was "Thunderstruck" by AC/DC, which was the song used for the Impala retrospective at WinchestMidwest last August. It was immediately followed by a commercial for Jared, the jewelry store chain. Their tag line is "It can only be Jared." Every time I hear it, jewelry is the last thing I'm thinking of.
Jared's and Jensen's panels were preceded by an auction of things, both Supernatural and otherwise. Some of the vinyl banners that hung in the panel ballroom (with accompanying autograph ticket) went for over $500!
And then came the important part: the panels.
Jared
Jared is really a very good sport, but I think some fans take too much advantage of that. One fan asked him if, now that Sam was into necrophilia, he would be getting back together with Jessica. Another wished him luck in his romantic pursuit of Jensen. Another referred to Sam's exorcism skills as "hand Ipecac" (poor Jared had no idea what Syrup of Ipecac was and was very confused). That's the kind of teasing you can do to a close friend, but it's a tacky way to repay someone who's busting his butt to make time to spend with you in his very limited time off.
But enough of that. Jared came out by himself first. He was really surprised and kept remarking on how many people had come to the con.
He told a story about having a get-together at his house and staggering off to bed around 3:00 a.m., only to have his phone chirp at him that he'd gotten an email. Apparently, Jensen had fallen asleep downstairs, and Jared's dogs, who are not allowed to sleep in bed with him, sensed a golden opportunity in the making. Someone had emailed Jared a picture of Jensen dead to the world with Jared's dogs curled up with him.
If Jared could have any superpower, he'd go for Aquaman's ability to swim anywhere underwater without needing any scuba gear or anything. But he'd take a pass on Aquaman's outfit.
He was so thrilled to be asked about working with the Olsen twins on New York Minute, but he said he learned a lot on that movie, including that the Olsen twins' career was no accident and that they worked very, very hard to get where they were. He also learned that he didn't want their level of fame.
When asked to name one thing he wanted to do before he died, Jared said, "Turn one hundred."
Jared got a round of applause for Sam only getting strangled once this season. He said it's really weird doing those strangling scenes because when they go back to loop the dialogue, he has to recreate the strangling noises in front of the microphone in the recording trailer, and all the gasping and panting makes him light-headed.
Jared said it was very hard to play the straight man to Jensen in the comic episodes, and that however funny we think Jensen is, Jensen's actually a lot funnier. It's just that Jared keeps ruining all the really good takes by killing himself laughing.
Sera Gamble scripts make him cringe because he knows he's going to be naked, crying, or naked and crying. He likes her scripts anyway, because he thinks she has the best handle on the character of Sam and she always gives Jared great things to do as an actor.
Jared got to spend some time talking to Peter O'Toole in his trailer about acting and the industry and Peter O'Toole's movies while shooting Thomas Kinkade's Christmas Cottage. At one point, O'Toole talked about the days when The Twist was becoming a popular dance in the States, but in the UK, they'd only seen still pictures of it and didn't know how to connect the dots, as it were, so he was demonstrating to Jared what they all erroneously thought The Twist looked like. Jared just thought it was hilarious to see such a major screen legend jumping around his trailer demonstrating this goofy dance. Somehow, one usually pictures Peter O'Toole as more dignified than that. Jared still hasn't seen the movie, though. (And neither have I! It supposedly shipped last Tuesday, so where the heck is it?!)
When asked which character he'd like to see killed off, Jared immediately said, "Dean." Then he changed his mind and said Sam, so he could have some time off. He finally said he didn't want to see anyone killed off because he doesn't like it when they lose characters (and the actors who play them) from the show.
Jared is a Bon Jovi fan. He has all their albums on his iPod.
He would love to work with Johnny Depp or Gary Oldman one day.
He was asked how he felt about Sam and Ruby, but at that point Jensen showed up.
Jared & Jensen
The con staff hadn't brought out a chair for Jensen, so Jared did some extra lounging in his to rub it in. Jensen grabbed Jared's hat and threatened to toss it into the audience in retaliation. While Jared answered the Sam and Ruby question (I don't remember what he said; I was watching Jensen), Jensen went off stage, got his own chair, and made a production out of bringing it out and setting it next to Jared's. They proceeded to spend some time talking smack about which of them the audience was really there to see.
Asked about potential action figures, Jensen said he wanted his to be taller. Jared said he wanted his to be taller than Jensen's. Jensen also wanted action figure Dean's elbows to bend so he could eat, and Jared wanted push button exorcism action for action figure Sam's hand.
One fan mom said she'd had to cover her kids' eyes during Sam and Ruby's sex scene. Jared said, mock-solemnly, that he would make sure to tell the writers not to put in any more sex scenes because the fans don't like them.
The director of "Yellow Fever" made Jensen scream so long about the cat at the lumber mill that Jensen was hoarse for the scene they shot after that.
Actors have marks that tell them where they need to be standing at certain points in each scene. Jared's marks are red; Jensen's marks are blue. When Jensen worked on My Bloody Valentine, the crew did his marks in red, and it took him a couple of days to figure out where he was supposed to be standing in each scene because he's so used to red being for Jared (kind of like Jared being thrown by stage direction aimed at 'Dean' when he first started on Supernatural because he was so used to being Dean for years on Gilmore Girls).
If they could ask their characters any question, Jared would ask Sam why he always drops his gun and Jensen would ask Dean why he's always eating.
Jared said that if the rumored Gilmore Girls movie actually came to be, he would be willing to take part in it. Jensen jokingly squeed with excitement.
Jared's scariest real life experience was rolling a car in the sand dunes while filming Flight of the Phoenix. Jensen's was flying through a thunderstorm in a tiny plane (he said eleven passengers) for 2 1/2 hours.
When asked to name which creature that hasn't been on the show they'd like to see, Jensen named the Loch Ness Monster, and Jared requested something that haunts Hawaii.
Neither Jared nor Jensen speak a foreign language, which bummed the questioner because she'd wanted one of them to wish her a happy birthday in another language. Jared immediately offered, "Feliz cumpleaños," which is 'happy birthday' in Spanish. They also joked they were fluent in Canadian, so one of them added, "Happy birthday, eh?"
Jensen drives a Toyota Tundra.
If Jensen could have any superpower, he'd like to fly. Then he and Jared argued about who wanted a cooler superpower.
If he could travel in time, Jared joked that he would take Sam back to before Sam was born to have another week off. Then he said he'd like to go back to when his parents were young to see what they were getting up to. Jensen said he would like to go back to the Middle Ages.
Jensen said his favorite scene in Ten Inch Hero was the one that introduced his character. A fan then asked him to reproduce the little tap dance thing he did, and Jared piped up, "Dance, monkey, dance!" Jensen didn't dance.
Jared said he's doing reshoots on Friday the 13th next weekend. He's also going to Buenos Aires with his sister in December.
This next part was my favorite moment from the whole panel block. A fan asked if Jared and Jensen thought they'd stay friends after the show ended. Both of them immediately started a simultaneous litany of how they couldn't wait to never see each other again and would block each other's phone calls and filter each other's emails. Then Jensen added that he would change the locks, and Jared indignantly said, "It's my house!" So, no, not friends at all. 8-)
Neither of the boys have any tattoos. Jensen doesn't want to spend the extra time in the make-up trailer covering them up when he could be sleeping. Jared thinks they break character, because if you see them in his movies, it becomes obvious they're his tattoos, not his character's. Plus, it would be silly to be doing a period film and have a Harley Davidson tattoo, or something equally anachronistic.
Jensen said he could write a book in the amount of time he spends waiting for Jared in the morning (he said Jared was the girl in the relationship). Jared defended himself by saying it was his house, so he had to lock up and deal with the dogs. Plus he works out in the morning, while Jensen basically rolls out of bed and into the car.
Jensen
Then the duo time was up, so Jared said good-bye to everyone and got up to leave. Jensen immediately got up and made a point of carrying Jared's chair off stage, only to turn around and see Jared jumping off stage on the other side with Jensen's chair, leaving him nowhere to sit. Jensen dragged Jared's chair back onto the stage and said, "I hate him." Yeah, Jensen. We can tell.
You know, Jensen is a good actor and he has a lot of screen presence, but in real life, Jared is so exuberant that his personality fills a room far more than Jensen's does. When Jared left the stage, it was like a crowd of people left the room, not just him. Even Jensen commented on how much quieter it was after Jared left.
Meanwhile, I know some people were complaining about the duo panel coming in the middle instead of at the end like last year. It did seem kind of anticlimactic to go from both of them to one of them, but I can see why they did it that way. Last year, Jensen went first, and you could see that he looked kind of tense and uncomfortable because he's not as outgoing as Jared, but he relaxed a lot when Jared was on stage with him. This year, being on stage with Jared first seemed to warm him up for his solo panel, because he was a lot more relaxed this time.
The virtues Jensen values most are patience and honoring the Golden Rule (do unto others as you would have them do unto you), both instilled in him by his parents.
If Jensen had to name a least favorite episode, it would be "In the Beginning," because he worked his butt off while Jared got to spend the week in Hawaii.
A fan said that Jared had such great hair in season 1. What happened? Jensen said, "That's awesome," and wished Jared had been there to hear the question.
Jensen refused to reprise "Eye of the Tiger" for us, instead burying his face in his hand and saying, "Why did I ever do that?" He also wouldn't name the prettiest guest actress or reprise the cat scream from "Yellow Fever." He did say that there was some great stuff from "Yellow Fever" that he hoped made the gag reel.
He also said that all the stuff on the gag reel is spontaneous. They almost never plan anything beforehand, except to maybe say, "Follow my lead." They just work together so much and know each other so well that if one of them starts something, the other can jump in on it immediately.
Jensen's favorite gag reel moment is Jared's scream in the cell in "Jus in Bello." Jensen based his cat scream in "Yellow Fever" on it.
If Jensen had gone to high school with Dean, he thinks they would've been friends.
The motel room that stands out the most is the disco-themed one in "Provenance." Jensen said it was the only motel room in the history of the show that made Sam and Dean stop and stare at it.
The last concert Jensen went to was for guitarist Martin Sexton.
A fan asking a question for a friend who was too shy said the friend had been a fan of Jensen's since Mr. Rhodes. Jensen sought her out in the audience and said, "Oh, you're the one who watched it."
It turns out that this season has been such a rocket ride because Kripke thought it would be the last one. Then the stellar ratings came in (the show is up one million viewers from last year). So, Kripke is a little freaked out and said he'd have to write episodes about robots or something next season. Since the ratings are so good and the show has a much better chance of being renewed at the end of the season, Kripke plans to slow some things down a little so they can carry over to next season, and he'll go back to some of the things that had to be dropped from season 3 due to the writers strike.
Jensen said that opening the little girl's bedroom door in "Wishful Thinking" was the first time he saw the teddy bear, and that the guy doing the bear was so good, Jensen just doubled over laughing. Jensen also said that the network wanted to pull the teddy bear attempted suicide because it was too sick. Jensen couldn't believe that the show could put barbecue forks through people's heads every week, but the network balked at a little flying stuffing (and the bear even survived!).
Jensen said his favorite gun of Dean's was the Colt 1911. He also said that he and Jared occasionally go to a gun range and shoot a little bit.
With pie being such a favorite of Dean's, a fan asked what Jensen's favorite pie was. His absolute favorite is his grandmother's chocolate pie, followed closely by his mom's pumpkin pie (and he said it was okay, his mom knew grandma's pie was best).
And then it was over. And I was sad. 8-(
I'm going to miss these two together when they move on to other things in their hopefully long and successful careers.
leenys!When I got in the car to drive over to the con hotel this morning, the song playing when the radio kicked on was "Thunderstruck" by AC/DC, which was the song used for the Impala retrospective at WinchestMidwest last August. It was immediately followed by a commercial for Jared, the jewelry store chain. Their tag line is "It can only be Jared." Every time I hear it, jewelry is the last thing I'm thinking of.
Jared's and Jensen's panels were preceded by an auction of things, both Supernatural and otherwise. Some of the vinyl banners that hung in the panel ballroom (with accompanying autograph ticket) went for over $500!
And then came the important part: the panels.
Jared
Jared is really a very good sport, but I think some fans take too much advantage of that. One fan asked him if, now that Sam was into necrophilia, he would be getting back together with Jessica. Another wished him luck in his romantic pursuit of Jensen. Another referred to Sam's exorcism skills as "hand Ipecac" (poor Jared had no idea what Syrup of Ipecac was and was very confused). That's the kind of teasing you can do to a close friend, but it's a tacky way to repay someone who's busting his butt to make time to spend with you in his very limited time off.
But enough of that. Jared came out by himself first. He was really surprised and kept remarking on how many people had come to the con.
He told a story about having a get-together at his house and staggering off to bed around 3:00 a.m., only to have his phone chirp at him that he'd gotten an email. Apparently, Jensen had fallen asleep downstairs, and Jared's dogs, who are not allowed to sleep in bed with him, sensed a golden opportunity in the making. Someone had emailed Jared a picture of Jensen dead to the world with Jared's dogs curled up with him.
If Jared could have any superpower, he'd go for Aquaman's ability to swim anywhere underwater without needing any scuba gear or anything. But he'd take a pass on Aquaman's outfit.
He was so thrilled to be asked about working with the Olsen twins on New York Minute, but he said he learned a lot on that movie, including that the Olsen twins' career was no accident and that they worked very, very hard to get where they were. He also learned that he didn't want their level of fame.
When asked to name one thing he wanted to do before he died, Jared said, "Turn one hundred."
Jared got a round of applause for Sam only getting strangled once this season. He said it's really weird doing those strangling scenes because when they go back to loop the dialogue, he has to recreate the strangling noises in front of the microphone in the recording trailer, and all the gasping and panting makes him light-headed.
Jared said it was very hard to play the straight man to Jensen in the comic episodes, and that however funny we think Jensen is, Jensen's actually a lot funnier. It's just that Jared keeps ruining all the really good takes by killing himself laughing.
Sera Gamble scripts make him cringe because he knows he's going to be naked, crying, or naked and crying. He likes her scripts anyway, because he thinks she has the best handle on the character of Sam and she always gives Jared great things to do as an actor.
Jared got to spend some time talking to Peter O'Toole in his trailer about acting and the industry and Peter O'Toole's movies while shooting Thomas Kinkade's Christmas Cottage. At one point, O'Toole talked about the days when The Twist was becoming a popular dance in the States, but in the UK, they'd only seen still pictures of it and didn't know how to connect the dots, as it were, so he was demonstrating to Jared what they all erroneously thought The Twist looked like. Jared just thought it was hilarious to see such a major screen legend jumping around his trailer demonstrating this goofy dance. Somehow, one usually pictures Peter O'Toole as more dignified than that. Jared still hasn't seen the movie, though. (And neither have I! It supposedly shipped last Tuesday, so where the heck is it?!)
When asked which character he'd like to see killed off, Jared immediately said, "Dean." Then he changed his mind and said Sam, so he could have some time off. He finally said he didn't want to see anyone killed off because he doesn't like it when they lose characters (and the actors who play them) from the show.
Jared is a Bon Jovi fan. He has all their albums on his iPod.
He would love to work with Johnny Depp or Gary Oldman one day.
He was asked how he felt about Sam and Ruby, but at that point Jensen showed up.
Jared & Jensen
The con staff hadn't brought out a chair for Jensen, so Jared did some extra lounging in his to rub it in. Jensen grabbed Jared's hat and threatened to toss it into the audience in retaliation. While Jared answered the Sam and Ruby question (I don't remember what he said; I was watching Jensen), Jensen went off stage, got his own chair, and made a production out of bringing it out and setting it next to Jared's. They proceeded to spend some time talking smack about which of them the audience was really there to see.
Asked about potential action figures, Jensen said he wanted his to be taller. Jared said he wanted his to be taller than Jensen's. Jensen also wanted action figure Dean's elbows to bend so he could eat, and Jared wanted push button exorcism action for action figure Sam's hand.
One fan mom said she'd had to cover her kids' eyes during Sam and Ruby's sex scene. Jared said, mock-solemnly, that he would make sure to tell the writers not to put in any more sex scenes because the fans don't like them.
The director of "Yellow Fever" made Jensen scream so long about the cat at the lumber mill that Jensen was hoarse for the scene they shot after that.
Actors have marks that tell them where they need to be standing at certain points in each scene. Jared's marks are red; Jensen's marks are blue. When Jensen worked on My Bloody Valentine, the crew did his marks in red, and it took him a couple of days to figure out where he was supposed to be standing in each scene because he's so used to red being for Jared (kind of like Jared being thrown by stage direction aimed at 'Dean' when he first started on Supernatural because he was so used to being Dean for years on Gilmore Girls).
If they could ask their characters any question, Jared would ask Sam why he always drops his gun and Jensen would ask Dean why he's always eating.
Jared said that if the rumored Gilmore Girls movie actually came to be, he would be willing to take part in it. Jensen jokingly squeed with excitement.
Jared's scariest real life experience was rolling a car in the sand dunes while filming Flight of the Phoenix. Jensen's was flying through a thunderstorm in a tiny plane (he said eleven passengers) for 2 1/2 hours.
When asked to name which creature that hasn't been on the show they'd like to see, Jensen named the Loch Ness Monster, and Jared requested something that haunts Hawaii.
Neither Jared nor Jensen speak a foreign language, which bummed the questioner because she'd wanted one of them to wish her a happy birthday in another language. Jared immediately offered, "Feliz cumpleaños," which is 'happy birthday' in Spanish. They also joked they were fluent in Canadian, so one of them added, "Happy birthday, eh?"
Jensen drives a Toyota Tundra.
If Jensen could have any superpower, he'd like to fly. Then he and Jared argued about who wanted a cooler superpower.
If he could travel in time, Jared joked that he would take Sam back to before Sam was born to have another week off. Then he said he'd like to go back to when his parents were young to see what they were getting up to. Jensen said he would like to go back to the Middle Ages.
Jensen said his favorite scene in Ten Inch Hero was the one that introduced his character. A fan then asked him to reproduce the little tap dance thing he did, and Jared piped up, "Dance, monkey, dance!" Jensen didn't dance.
Jared said he's doing reshoots on Friday the 13th next weekend. He's also going to Buenos Aires with his sister in December.
This next part was my favorite moment from the whole panel block. A fan asked if Jared and Jensen thought they'd stay friends after the show ended. Both of them immediately started a simultaneous litany of how they couldn't wait to never see each other again and would block each other's phone calls and filter each other's emails. Then Jensen added that he would change the locks, and Jared indignantly said, "It's my house!" So, no, not friends at all. 8-)
Neither of the boys have any tattoos. Jensen doesn't want to spend the extra time in the make-up trailer covering them up when he could be sleeping. Jared thinks they break character, because if you see them in his movies, it becomes obvious they're his tattoos, not his character's. Plus, it would be silly to be doing a period film and have a Harley Davidson tattoo, or something equally anachronistic.
Jensen said he could write a book in the amount of time he spends waiting for Jared in the morning (he said Jared was the girl in the relationship). Jared defended himself by saying it was his house, so he had to lock up and deal with the dogs. Plus he works out in the morning, while Jensen basically rolls out of bed and into the car.
Jensen
Then the duo time was up, so Jared said good-bye to everyone and got up to leave. Jensen immediately got up and made a point of carrying Jared's chair off stage, only to turn around and see Jared jumping off stage on the other side with Jensen's chair, leaving him nowhere to sit. Jensen dragged Jared's chair back onto the stage and said, "I hate him." Yeah, Jensen. We can tell.
You know, Jensen is a good actor and he has a lot of screen presence, but in real life, Jared is so exuberant that his personality fills a room far more than Jensen's does. When Jared left the stage, it was like a crowd of people left the room, not just him. Even Jensen commented on how much quieter it was after Jared left.
Meanwhile, I know some people were complaining about the duo panel coming in the middle instead of at the end like last year. It did seem kind of anticlimactic to go from both of them to one of them, but I can see why they did it that way. Last year, Jensen went first, and you could see that he looked kind of tense and uncomfortable because he's not as outgoing as Jared, but he relaxed a lot when Jared was on stage with him. This year, being on stage with Jared first seemed to warm him up for his solo panel, because he was a lot more relaxed this time.
The virtues Jensen values most are patience and honoring the Golden Rule (do unto others as you would have them do unto you), both instilled in him by his parents.
If Jensen had to name a least favorite episode, it would be "In the Beginning," because he worked his butt off while Jared got to spend the week in Hawaii.
A fan said that Jared had such great hair in season 1. What happened? Jensen said, "That's awesome," and wished Jared had been there to hear the question.
Jensen refused to reprise "Eye of the Tiger" for us, instead burying his face in his hand and saying, "Why did I ever do that?" He also wouldn't name the prettiest guest actress or reprise the cat scream from "Yellow Fever." He did say that there was some great stuff from "Yellow Fever" that he hoped made the gag reel.
He also said that all the stuff on the gag reel is spontaneous. They almost never plan anything beforehand, except to maybe say, "Follow my lead." They just work together so much and know each other so well that if one of them starts something, the other can jump in on it immediately.
Jensen's favorite gag reel moment is Jared's scream in the cell in "Jus in Bello." Jensen based his cat scream in "Yellow Fever" on it.
If Jensen had gone to high school with Dean, he thinks they would've been friends.
The motel room that stands out the most is the disco-themed one in "Provenance." Jensen said it was the only motel room in the history of the show that made Sam and Dean stop and stare at it.
The last concert Jensen went to was for guitarist Martin Sexton.
A fan asking a question for a friend who was too shy said the friend had been a fan of Jensen's since Mr. Rhodes. Jensen sought her out in the audience and said, "Oh, you're the one who watched it."
It turns out that this season has been such a rocket ride because Kripke thought it would be the last one. Then the stellar ratings came in (the show is up one million viewers from last year). So, Kripke is a little freaked out and said he'd have to write episodes about robots or something next season. Since the ratings are so good and the show has a much better chance of being renewed at the end of the season, Kripke plans to slow some things down a little so they can carry over to next season, and he'll go back to some of the things that had to be dropped from season 3 due to the writers strike.
Jensen said that opening the little girl's bedroom door in "Wishful Thinking" was the first time he saw the teddy bear, and that the guy doing the bear was so good, Jensen just doubled over laughing. Jensen also said that the network wanted to pull the teddy bear attempted suicide because it was too sick. Jensen couldn't believe that the show could put barbecue forks through people's heads every week, but the network balked at a little flying stuffing (and the bear even survived!).
Jensen said his favorite gun of Dean's was the Colt 1911. He also said that he and Jared occasionally go to a gun range and shoot a little bit.
With pie being such a favorite of Dean's, a fan asked what Jensen's favorite pie was. His absolute favorite is his grandmother's chocolate pie, followed closely by his mom's pumpkin pie (and he said it was okay, his mom knew grandma's pie was best).
And then it was over. And I was sad. 8-(
I'm going to miss these two together when they move on to other things in their hopefully long and successful careers.