Sunday, April 13, 2008

EyeCon - Saturday Day 2 Part I

SATURDAY April 5th 2008

Okay, what did my sleep-deprived self do today? Well, the fun began with Jim Beaver’s Q&A in the morning. He strolled on stage in shirttails and a ball cap, totally relaxed and his first comment was, "Haven’t seen this many people since my last court date". Usually there’s nobody around to see him this early in the morning but a 6-year old girl - which earned an immediate "awwwww" from the audience.

Then he said, "Hello, you idjits," following our whoops and yells of greeting with the wry remark, "You’re going to embarrass me, aren’t you?" To which I shouted back, "Of course we are," and he grinned as he replied, "Give it your best". Hee!

By now, you’ve all heard that Jim showed up for the Q&A wearing a T-shirt from a fan which said, "I read Bobby/John". He got a huge laugh when he said, "I’m sure you’ll explain". However, I’m equally certain he knows exactly what that means, if the glint in his eye is any indication. Oh, Jim …. *snork*

In this his first convention Q&A, Jim was chatty and amiable as if sitting on his own front porch.
SOME Q&A HIGHLIGHTS: *(Skip if you don’t want lengthy detail!)

Jim broke into the entertainment business as a writer with a play. He wanted to be an actor, he said, but "nobody would let me". He was a freelance writer before the bottom fell out of the freelance business, and fortunately his acting took off at the same time. Asked what charity he might support, he said he was not allied with any particularly, but things like the Cancer Society were dear to his heart. Randomly, he also poked fun at Jared and Jensen, saying it was fun on set despite them, since they are "dull as dishwater".

His favorite scene on SPN? The junkyard scene with Dean in AHBL II. He doesn’t often get to slap Jensen, lol. Pranks? Jim responded with a knowing grin, "They don’t often mess with me … not sure why." Heh, heh, heh. Jim also reiterated the tale of Jared twisting his toes off-camera during the bed scene in "Dream a Little Dream". He knew of course Jared was trying to get a reaction from him, but Jim’s resolution was "Not this time". Jared was really unhappy Jim didn’t break, he said, lol!

When asked, he said SPN has never approached him about writing for the show, and he’s not even sure they know he writes. But he doesn’t even want to, reiterating that "it’s work". He prefers not to write for the show he’s working on. He did talk to Kim Manners during filming of Magnificent Seven regarding a story idea, mainly to do with getting Bobby in a clinch, lol, but it went nowhere. Mainly, Jim claimed, he does not feel up to writing for SPN.

Jim has not heard anything regarding Bobby for Season 4. He just got a script for the next-to-last episode of Season 3, and he’s in the last two episodes but has no idea about the last one, yet. "I could be eaten by chickens", he joked. A rumor he passed on/repeated was that because of the strike, there may be the possibility of an extended Season 4. But he gave the caveat that it was only rumor.

His favorite part of the Bobby Singer character - he first glibly said it was "not having to shave", lol. Seriously, though, he’s not sure he has a favorite part. He likes Bobby’s dry humor, his amused tolerance for "the idjits", and the fun has a lot to do with just the thing of working. It’s the best job in the world, he said. He also praised Jensen and Jared as "good old boys", which he said goes for all of the crew. He hated to leave Deadwood’s sense of family, how people stuck around and hung out even after done with work. Supernatural is the same way. It’s FUN, he said, that’s what he enjoys most.

Will we see him at more cons? "If they’re all as fun as this one you will" He’s going to Asylum, and was invited to the LA Creation con last weekend, but somehow there was no follow-up on that, so he ended up not going. The Dallas con is at this time still up in the air.

Hardest thing to portray? Referring to the scene where Sa showed up at Bobby’s door not dead, Jim said it was hard to portray utter astonishment when you’ve shot it fourteen times and need to be still surprised on the last take. Jared was no help, because he looked just the same, lol!
As a writer, does he go into acting with a critical eye for the way a script is written? He said he rarely talks to the writers, since they are usually in LA, or rarely even to Eric. He’s actually usually less critical because as a writer, he knows every comma, every dash is there for a reason… to get the right sound. If something logically doesn’t work, *maybe* he’d say something, but generally he is not a believer in criticizing or changing a writer’s work to make it better. But at the same, he believes in a collaborative effort when it happens.

He did not know Bobby’s back-story until Dream A Little Dream, first saying he was not sure anybody did but Eric before that script. But then he corrected to say that, during shooting of Magnificent 7, Kim told him of the Dream storyline, which was the longest Jim has known a storyline in advance. But he always knew "something in the past brought Bobby to this place".
Regarding fan fiction, Jim teased that he’s read fics, not Bobby/John just Bobby/Bella. LOL! Last week he read a fan fic designed to flesh out the back-story of Dream, which he found to be very good. Then as he wrapped up his talk, on request Jim recited a much-loved Bobby line: "Take care of your brother, ya idjit." Hee!

Finally, he took his leave amongst our cheers and screams and a standing ovation, his final admonition to us to "settle down", lol!

END OF Q&A!

Later, I came in late from lunch for the Samantha Farris-Alona Tal - Chad Lindberg panel, arriving just in time to see Chad kick back and demonstrate an "Ash face" - lol. In person, Chad is lanky, laid back, and mellowly goofy. Alona is tiny but tall, lithe, animated and beautiful, and very gracious. Samantha is quite Ellen-like, just without the accent and flannel, and plain spoken and direct a poke in the nose. The camaraderie and ease between the three of them was very evident, just like three old friends hanging out together.

SOME MORE Q&A HIGHLIGHTS: (Skip if this is getting too long for you - NO spoilers):

Alona’s favorite SPN scene? Being thrown around by Jared in BUABS - said with a coquettish wink to the audience. All three actors said that learning their characters is an organic process, something they settled into overtime. What would they like to see happen in SPN? Chad said he would like to see Ash taken on the road once, and riffed on the idea of Sam and Dean in trouble and Ash having to save the day, demonstrating how Ash would burst in the door with a shotgun, doesn’t say a word, just BOOM. LOL!

Alona would have liked to see Jo grow more, saying Jo was just starting to mature and "calm down".

Samantha would like to see Ellen just keep going, head out on the road. Sam imagined her driving a purple Jeep Wagoneer with fuzzy dice, lol!

Per the kerfluffle over Ellen’s return/no-return in Season 3, Sam said this. She could not commit two months in advance for only one SPN episode during pilot season. If SPN had instead called 3 weeks in advance, she maybe could have given them a positive answer, but not two months out, when it would have been professional suicide to lock herself into a single episode at the risk of missing larger projects. She did not get into any details about the financial aspects mentioned in her blog not long ago.

Per Ellen in Season, she has no idea, nor any idea what the script would have called for in this latter part of S3: maybe she and Bella would have gone down together, lol! But Sam kept the idea definitely open for Ellen in Season 4, if they want her.

Asked if Ash is dead - which fans answered with a resounding NO - Chad just said who knows, ask Mr. Kripke. ;-)

Favorite non-SPN projects? Chad said every set and character is different, though he did play a transvestite once. (Titters from the audience, of course.) Alona agreed that every role is different, though she has a special place for her first American role as Kristen on Veronica Mars. Sam said hers was Sandra Cassandra on a piece called Beggars, Choosers, who was a heartless, soulless broad who got so swear at Evana Trump, lol.

From Alona: in BUABS, every time Jared did the, "My daddy shot your daddy in the head" line, he did it different. The take we see, with that nasty singsong voice, actually kind of pissed Alona/Jo off because she hadn’t expected it. And yes, he really enjoyed being bad. ;-) She said she loved Jo because of the look, because people don’t often believe she can kick ass, lol, and it taught her the power off offense.

From Samantha: She liked Ellen because it was a change from the "balls in a skirt" role to actually get a dirty role, with jeans and a gun and all.

Then someone asked Chad what brought Ash to the Roadhouse. In typical Chad fashion, he took the idea and ran with it, saying that after MIT, things were a little crazy so Ash went on the road in his Jeep, "wind in his hair", as the Roadhouse, and stopped for a beer. He saw "these fine ladies" and stayed on to "look after them". (Though one presumes it was actually the other way around, lol.) Samantha agreed that they were all oddballs, so Ash just fit.

How were the boys to work with? Jared has a shorter attention span, gets punchy on the long days and pulls pranks. Jensen is a bit straighter. If you can’t see Jared, "you worry", lol! On Alona’s first day on set, Jared was going around with an iced coffee he’d spiked with soy sauce (ewww!), and he was very happy when he could get someone to taste it, lol. The boys set the pace on set, very professional and instrumental to creating that sense of family.

Asked about fan moments of their own, Alona mentioned a couple "dork moments", one meeting Rachel McAdams and getting all babbly and giggly. She also met Angelina Joie and could not speak, noting Angelina was "like a porcelain doll’’. Chat told about meeting Tom Cruise while working as a very minor extra on Last Samurai, Tom hanging up his cell saying he was talking to his kid, and shaking hands. Samantha mentioned meeting Seth Green of Austin Powers while at an audition for the NUMB3RS, and told of babbling and digging herself in deeper while her inside brain was yelping, "Shut up!"

Projects to come: Alona said she has something in the works, but she believes in luck and doesn’t want to jinx it by saying what it is. Sam has an upcoming mini-series, Impact, in which she again plays "balls in a skirt. Chat I think said he had a film about breaking into the movie industry? I failed as a note-taker there.

Asked the ultimate roles they’d like to play, Sam said Courtney Love, a vulnerable white trash woman. Chad wants to play Billy the Kid. And Alona would like to play her grandmother in a story about how her grand parents met in WWII.

What show would they like to be on right now: Sam - Nip/Tuck, which she calls "edgy stuff" with good acting, and Deadwood Chad - Lost. Alona - House, plus more SPN would be good.

END OF Q&A!

~ And then it was on to Sandy McCoy!Sandy …. Oh, my dog. If someone doesn’t fall a little in love with Sandy, I just don’t know what to say. She is tiny, incredibly cute, bubbly and vivacious and all shining smiles, and visibly nervous, bless her sweet heart. There is just nothing *not* to love about this lovely girl, IMHO. She was girlishly cute about her new dress, and I just wanted to grab and hug her when she kept getting jittery and giggly upon having trouble following the mic around the room.

Of course, discussion turned swiftly to hers and Jared’s engagement, which fans by now know took place in Paris on their recent European holiday. She thought it as just a 4-year anniversary thing, she and Jared ordering room service and playing board games, chess, Scrabble, etc and just being together. Even when Jared waxed all sentimental and sappy she didn’t suspect, until he stood her up, knelt at her feet - and he was still her height, lol - and then asked her. Clearly a deliciously emotional moment for both of them, and can we have a huge congratulatory "awwwwwwwww" from our audience? I thought we could. ;-) Sandy said they never had a first date, since they’d been friends before and just sort of went to being more than friendly.

In other trivia, Sandy said Jared actually dances very well, doing the "tall white boy thing", but he always stops if he sees Sandy watching. (Awwww.) She did watch other Crossroads Demons as portrayed by the first two actresses, wanting to give the CRD a good farewell in this final appearance. But she doesn’t appear to be happy with her performance, saying she kind of froze, and knew she’d be compared to the other CRDs by fans, plus she felt intimidated as she said by "working with 150 friends" on the set watching. ;-)

Her favorite form of dance: Lyrical Jazz, even if she’s not flexible enough to do it properly any more. Leaps and jumps were her best aspects and she always wanted to jump higher than the boys. She thinks Jared would be *incredible* (emphasis hers) on Dancing With the Stars, and she’s love to get him to "do what he fears most".

My question was what her goals/aspirations were for her dancing future, and she said she and Jared want to open a dance studio for kids who couldn’t otherwise afford it. (I afterwards realized this question had already been asked at the LA con, so no points to me for originality, lol.)

What does she most wish she could do? SING! Fan girl moment - meeting The Rock. Did she start wearing heels more since dating Jared? No, she’s comfy in heels because she works in them, but she only dresses up for events, is most comfortable in sweats and Filipino sandals.

Who would she like to work with? Meryl Streep, because an actress of her caliber can only up your game, just by working with her.

~ And that’s all I’ve got for the cutest woman in the entire known universe. ;-)

Next was Gabriel Tigerman - five foot five of cuteness and absolute comfort in front of an audience.

SOME Q&A HIGHLIGHTS:

Gabe originally auditioned for the guy with the undead girlfriend, the "Pet Semetary guy" in Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things, and was disappointed no to get that. However, he was so happy to get Andy. He thought Andy’s van was awesome and was promised Andy’s velvet tiger print, but never got it. Gabe never actually saw Andy’s bong, though, until watching the episode. Despite getting his theater start in improv (which he still does), he did very little improv on SPN, since the writers had so much fun writing for Andy . Also, he noted that he’s the only character besides the Winchesters to drive the Metallicar - and he was terrified, could sense the nervousness when they handed him the keys and he drove like 4 mph. Gabe also noted that his mom cried when he showed her an image from AHBL of eviscerated Andy: no mother needs to see that. (Awww.)

I asked about his awakening to the popularity of Andy among SPN fans, and he reiterated and elaborated on the story he told me privately about the slash fic a friend sent him. Gabe seemed to have fun riffing on that for the audience. Fav Andy line? He has several, including "These aren’t the droids you’re looking for" and "I have a evil twin". Also 4th bong load line, frontier land, and gay porn.

Randomly: His fanboy moment? He grew up wanting to play baseball, 2nd base, and finally met one of his baseball heroes only to discover the guy was a total douche. Though he got to work with Tom Hanks in Charlie Wilson’s War, and he’d like to work with Seymore Hoffman. If he could be any character - he would be Dean, and totally kick as. LOL! And he would like to be in The West Wing. Any super power? Mind control is pretty cool, but invisibility would be good. Would he like to have Andy’s powers in Real Life? He answered a firm Yes. But what would he use them for? Gabe gave a deep chuckle and grin and replied, "Just the good things". Another question was how, during Andy’s mind control scene with Dean, did Gabe keep a straight face while Dean/Jensen rattled on as he did. Gabe said his improv training definitely helped, because the rule of improv is do not break. Training, he said, lots of training.

As an aside, Gabe further charmed me when he paused at one point to applaud us, the audience, and gestured from the heart while mouthing "me to you" to the crowd. Very sweet. He also mentioned being recently engaged - awwwwwwwww. Couple that with Alona’s recent marriage and Jared & Sandra’s engagement, and love is certainly in the air.

When asked if there’s anything he’d like to do but never got the courage, like bungee jump, he said the cheesy answer is he used to, but since getting engaged he just doesn’t want to take risks Asked about pranks, he said his first day with SPN, he was working on a very serious scene when Jared sent his cell phone "an incredibly inappropriate picture", lol! Gabe was, however, very guarded about telling any back-stage stories, which I found sweetly admirable.

~ And … that’s all I got about that.

(More on Saturday in the next post!) ~~~

No comments: