Jared Padalecki at VanCon: Some Meet & Greet Excerpts

One of our good friends was lucky enough to attend Jared’s meet & greet at VanCon, and shared with us a few of her recollections. Of course, she was the first to say that she didn’t remember much, because she was basically having too much fun. Which is entirely unsurprising considering she was in a room with Jared Padalecki!

Jared’s meet & greets tend to be a bit more laid back, with Jared sort of chatting with everyone instead of answering individual questions. He started off the meet and greet by asking if anyone there had been in Rome, and apologizing again for having to leave that con. Fans assured him that they understood, and asked about his sister-in-law, who’s making progress. This is the SPNFamily, after all.

I think most fans agree that Jared’s performances at the end of Season 8 were nothing short of amazing, and a fan complimented him on how well he portrayed the various versions of Sam throughout the seasons. Jared said that he isn’t a method actor, but that his style is to internalize what the character would be feeling at a particular moment, and then his expressions and mannerisms would naturally portray what he was feeling. In other words, he doesn’t make a conscious decision about how to arrange his facial expressions. Instead, he feels it, and then his expressions match those feelings. He also commented that he didn’t like to watch himself later, because he might think that he could have done something differently.

(A feeling that most of us can relate to after some kind of performance, even if it’s wishing that you expressed yourself a bit more eloquently in the con autograph line. You know, instead of babbling something that probably made no sense….)

Jared apparently learned a few things from Peter O’Toole along these lines – when an actor starts to think about their facial expressions rather than just feel it, that’s when an actor isn’t being effective.

Perhaps the down side of actually feeling such strong emotions is the toll it takes on an actor both physically and emotionally. This is something that Jensen has talked about in the past, how ‘your body doesn’t know you’re acting’. At one point Jared said that during a particularly tough Sam scene, Jensen came up to him and said he was doing great, but asked if he was okay, and said that Jared should take it easy, they had many more episodes to come.

We can’t help but think that the genuine concern that the two actors show for each other is part of the reason they’ve both been able to “go there” emotionally so often. Both Jensen and Jared have talked about being there for each other after a grueling emotional scene. Perhaps that gives them the security to keep giving the amazing performances that we’ve come to count on from SPN.

Jared also shared an amusing story from his honeymoon (Don’t worry, this is totally G rated. Sorry.) They were in South America on an expedition, camping at night in tents that had no sides and were pitched quite close together. Jared was goofing off trying to make Gen laugh with monkey noises. (Yes, please try to picture this….)

The next morning at breakfast, their neighbors asked if they’d heard the howler monkeys last night.

Jared: No! How did we miss that??

Campers: It was really loud, how did you not hear it??

Jared: (realizes it was HIM that they heard the night before) Ummm….

Jared helpfully re-enacted this little story, including his embarrassment and his wise choice not to fess up. Fans appreciated his acting ability once again.

Jared also mentioned that he and Jensen had just seen the whole S8 gag reel, and that there was a particularly funny bit that they were laughing about. Unfortunately he couldn’t remember just what it was – but whatever it was, the fact that he and Jensen seem to think it was hilarious is making us even MORE eager to see it!

Someone asked Jared if he still thought the series should end with the brothers going out in some sort of blaze of glory. He said yes, he really thought that was the only thing that made sense.

Fan: What about if there’s a Supernatural movie later?

Other fan: Well, it’s Supernatural, no one ever really dies….

Jared: Yeah, no one really dies on Supernatural!

What do you think? As long as the brothers go out together, are you okay with them going down in a blaze of glory ending?

Okay, enough about endings. Let’s focus on happier things, since we’re just about to start a new season, not end one. Both Jared and Jensen said in their meet and greets that they were glad that the brothers are back together in Season 9. Both seem very excited about the new season – in fact, our friend described Jared as almost vibrating with it! He kept saying that he really wanted to talk about what was going to happen, hinting that it was something big and that Season 9 was awesome.

Jared: I just CAN’T tell you….

Fans: (pouting) Awwwww

Jared: But I really WANT to…..

Fans: (perking up) Sooooo….

Jared: I just can’t wait until you find out!

And we thought we were already excited about Season 9 – knowing that the boys are excited about it too just makes it even HARDER to get through the last month of waiting!

Anyone have any theories about what the something big that’s awaiting us might be??

We don’t really mind a little antici—pation. While we all wait, check back here for more from VanCon – and for some contests and giveaways as we celebrate Season 9 with the release of our new book, Fangasm! You can pre-order Fangasm NOW on Amazon