Category: Interviews

A Chat With Shoshannah Stern –Bringing Kickass Hunter Eileen Back to Supernatural

A Chat With Shoshannah Stern –Bringing Kickass Hunter Eileen Back to Supernatural

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I’m not alone in loving the return of Eileen Leahy on Supernatural a few weeks ago, so I couldn’t wait to interview Shoshannah Stern again. She’s crazy busy right now (with all good exciting things) but still took the time to answer my questions – which just proves all over again how awesome she is.

In her most recent Supernatural episode, the character of Eileen gets to flirt with Sam Winchester, prove what a badass hunter she is by singlehandedly taking out a demon, fire the Colt, and accidentally kill a particularly annoying British Man of Letters, for which she needs a Sam hug. As you do.

Lynn: Eileen was a fan favorite by the time that first episode in Season 11 (Into the Mystic) was over, and fans—me included–were so excited to have her back. What is it about the character that you think has clicked so much with fans?

Shoshannah: I know that for me, when I got the first draft of the script for Into the Mystic, Eileen leaped off the page and into my heart. There were just so many dimensions to her. I love that both of her episodes so far haven’t really been about her taking down monsters, but the different sorts of emotional baggage that’s left behind in their wake. There’s a side to her that’s hard, and I think that’s the side you see first, but then there’s another that’s vulnerable, and it’s kind of surprising. I also love that she can take some things seriously and take the piss out of others. And yeah, she’s deaf and shoots a Colt. None of these things are exclusive.

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Behind the Scenes of Supernatural with Director Richard Speight Jr.

Behind the Scenes of Supernatural with Director Richard Speight Jr.

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I had the pleasure of chatting with one of my favorite people at the Nashville Supernatural convention last month – Supernatural actor and director Richard Speight, Jr. I’ve known Richard since his very first Creation con appearance almost a decade ago, and I always enjoy his thoughtful insights about the show. Nashville is a particularly fun place for Richard to be, since it’s also his hometown. In fact, he was busy planning a tour for a small group of lucky fans for the next day when we met up at the green room backstage. Turns out there were a bunch of very tired people catching a few minutes of much-needed sleep in the green room, so we resourcefully pulled some chairs off a stack in the hallway and made our own little interview area (the backstage area of the hotel is literally a series of hallways that thread through the kitchen and storage areas and then spill out into the main hall, which is fairly typical for convention hotels. Not exactly scenic, but you take what you can get!)

richard nash17

Richard: Sorry.

Lynn: Not my first rodeo. Look how versatile I am (balancing an audio recorder precariously on a ledge and an iPad on my backpack)

Richard: (cocks an eyebrow) Yeah, you’ve got a lot of machinery there…

Lynn: So how are you?

(The audio recorder tumbles off the ledge, followed by the iPad falling off the backpack)

Lynn: You know, I thought I was being so smart and resourceful…

Richard: (Goes to get another chair)

Lynn: Thanks.

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Jerry Trimble Brings Ramiel to Life on Supernatural

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I was fascinated by Ramiel on the recent Supernatural episode ‘Stuck In The Middle With You’ – in just one episode, actor Jerry Trimble, along with director Richard Speight Jr. and writer Davy Perez, created a memorable character who most fans would be happy to see more of. So I was thrilled to have a chance to ask Jerry about his experience on the show.

Lynn: Congrats again on the amazing job you did on Supernatural. As you probably read in my review on Fangasm, I’m a big fan of the original ‘Yellow Eyed Demon’ who was portrayed by Fred Lehne. I got to know Fred from interviewing him for Fangasm and for the books I’ve written on Supernatural, and was always impressed by his ability to make the character compelling as well as scary. You managed to do the same in one episode with Ramiel.

So I’ve got a few questions for you. I’ve known Richard Speight for years, and am looking forward to hearing his thoughts on directing this episode (stay tuned for that!), but I’d love to hear your thoughts on being directed by him. Were there some notes he gave you that were particularly helpful?

JT:
Richard was one of the best directors I’ve had the pleasure of working with, he’s an actor’s dream director. Probably because he’s an actor as well and a fantastic one at that. He was so helpful and pivotal in helping me to create the character of Ramiel, Prince of Hell. There were times when I was going too dark and hard, and then Richard pulls me aside and says, dude, back off and BAM Ramiel comes alive. Richard was collaborative in the coolest way. Some directors I work with are too into their comfort zone and just want to pump it out. They settle for less than the best, whereas Richard had an idea, I had an idea, we meshed them together and as you saw from the episode, it was magic. Loved working with him.

With director Richard Speight Jr. and company on set

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Tahmoh Penikett (Battlestar Galactica, Supernatural) on Innovative New Series Deep Six

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It’s been a while since I had the pleasure of chatting with Tahmoh Penikett, who memorably played Ezekiel/Gadreel on Supernatural a few seasons ago. Tahmoh just finished shooting on a new digital sci fi adventure series called Deep Six, which caught my attention as a unique and exciting project. Deep Six is a digital sci fi adventure series that follows a group of astronauts and their military escort on the first deep space mission. They find themselves stranded after an unanticipated accident, and – wouldn’t you know it – also confronted with a first encounter that may not be very friendly. What makes the series unusual is its focus on realism – the creator is a scientist, and the show has two real life experts as consultants, including a professor of astrophysics and a space historian. With their help, Deep Six aims to portray space in all its beauty and majesty as well as its terrifying silence and endless expanse. Much as sci fi classics like 2001 and Alien anchored their stories in realism and thus amped up the terror, Deep Six aims to be both accurate and scary. Sign me up!

I caught up with Tahmoh today after a week of our schedules absolutely refusing to mesh and me coming down with a truly horrifying cold. But we persevered!

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Alaina Huffman on Supernatural, Directing, Social Change – and Fangirling Nichelle Nichols!

Alaina Huffman on Supernatural, Directing, Social Change – and Fangirling Nichelle Nichols!

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I finally had the chance to catch up with Alaina Huffman (Supernatural, Stargate Universe and Smallville) at the Supernatural Burbank convention. Our paths have crossed many times, but we had never had a chance to sit down and chat until then – and what a fun conversation it was!

After playing Abbadon on Supernatural for multiple episodes, Alaina had just returned to that set to shadow director Phil Sgriccia. I couldn’t wait to hear all about that, but first we had to gush a little about the SPN Family. The Burbank convention in particular feels like a family affair, since many of the cast are local and can bring their families along.

Lynn: It really does feel like everyone is family at the cons.

Aliana: Especially here, everyone has their family and their kids here.

Lynn: OMG Matt Cohen’s son Macklin is so cute.

Alaina: SO cute!

[Yes, we were gushing. If you’ve seen Macklin, you totally understand why. There followed a brief pause for both of us to grab another handful of Doritos from the bag on the table between us]

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Osric Chau on New Show Dirk Gently and Why He’ll Always Be Available for Supernatural

Osric Chau on New Show Dirk Gently and Why He’ll Always Be Available for Supernatural

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I still haven’t managed to find the time to post my con wrap up for this year’s Supernatural NJCon – suffice it to say, it was a whirlwind weekend and the whirlwind hasn’t slowed down since. One of my favorite parts of the weekend was sitting down with one of my favorite people in the universe, Osric Chau. His amazing new show Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency is on tonight, so I wanted to share our chat in celebration.

The first part of our interview, as often happens with me and my interviewees, was not an interview at all. I was flustered and rather miserable, since my beloved phone had died right smack in the middle of the Kim, Briana and Osric panel that day. In between trying to work the vendor table for the books and cover the panels, I raced to the nearest Verizon store, only to be told “oh yeah it’s broken.” NO KIDDING! The replacement would be delivered on Tuesday, which needless to say, did not help me at the con. So I wasn’t my usual upbeat self when I sat down with Os.

Gotta say, I feel very lucky that the Supernatural cast is pretty much the only cast I ever interview – because when you sit down with one of them and you look miserable, they are suddenly your friend instead of your interviewee. Osric is wise beyond his years, and empathic as any therapist I know (and that’s what I do, so I know a lot), which was lucky for me – he spent ten minutes calming me down, talking me through the remnants of my technology-failure-induced panic attack and just generally reminding me that the world won’t end because I can’t live tweet a convention. I don’t like feeling like I’m letting people down, but he also reminded me that the Supernatural fandom is a family, and that means everyone understands when bad shit happens to you.

Of course, he was totally right.

He then proceeded to fix my iPad, which was also malfunctioning that weekend. (You see why I was a bit panicked, right? Multiple technology failures in one afternoon? Too much for me!)

Fixing my ipad...
Fixing my ipad…

Interestingly, that’s not the first time Osric has had to fix my technology in the middle of an interview. Have I mentioned I feel lucky??

Lynn: Thank you for the therapy and fixing my technology. Ok let’s talk about Dirk Gently.

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Rob Benedict on Playing God on Supernatural and Himself (Sorta) on Kings of Con!

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Warner Bros/The CW
Warner Bros/The CW

Supernatural fan favorites Rob Benedict and Richard Speight Jr. premiere their new web series, Kings of Con, on ComicConHQ on November 15, which is only a few days away. Both Rob and Rich play fictionalized versions of themselves, and if the trailer is any indication, it’s going to be hilarious. I can’t wait for that, but in the meantime, I had some questions for Rob about his work on last season’s Supernatural. His return to the show as Chuck/God made a lot of fans very happy, including me. And he really had a chance to show off his acting chops in some of those pivotal episodes!

Lynn: Toward the end of last season, some of those episodes you were in were just so powerful. I talked to Curtis Armstrong (who played Metatron) about some of those scenes and to Jensen [Ackles] as well, so I’m eager to hear your thoughts. Curtis said that he got unexpectedly emotional in the scene where God is telling Metatron that he was just the angel closest to the door and Metatron replies that he doesn’t care. To his great surprise, Curtis started to cry in rehearsal and then teared up again when filming the scene. What was your reaction to his emotion? Were you surprised?

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Are You Ready for the Kings of Con? A Chat With Rich and Rob!

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I’m so excited for the new web series ‘Kings of Con’, which premieres on Comic Con HQ on November 15. Not only are its two stars, Richard Speight Jr. and Rob Benedict, talented actors and musicians, they have been making Supernatural fans laugh until it’s painful at conventions for the past eight years. I have a feeling Kings of Con is going to be equally hysterical.

I’ve known Rob and Rich since their very first Supernatural conventions back in 2008, so I was thrilled to sit down to chat with them a few weeks ago about Kings of Con. They had just done a ‘Kings of Con’ panel at the convention, in fact. Rob was still working out some arrangements for the band, so Richard and I started chatting.

Richard: So, the panel was good?

Lynn: OMG so good – you guys are always funny, but my stomach was literally hurting from laughing so much.

Richard: Awesome. I liked being on earlier in the day, we had more energy.

(That’s really saying something – nobody has ever accused Richard of not being energetic!)

Richard and Rob onstage at a convention
Richard and Rob onstage at a convention

Lynn: Fans have been very excited about Kings of Con, but that interview that you did on the morning show today (in Toronto) has made everyone even more excited. Because you really get fandom.

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From Bugs to Dying in Castiel’s Arms: Tyler Johnston Talks Supernatural

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tyler johnston njcon

I had the pleasure of meeting Tyler Johnston (most well known by the SPN Family as the adorable but tortured angel Samandriel, but he was also the kid in Season 1’s classic episode, Bugs, eleven years ago!) at a few recent cons. His panels are always a lot of fun, so I was excited to have the chance to chat with him about his experience on Supernatural – and of course, since this is me, about all sorts of other things too.

Somehow the entire first part of our conversation was about cats and dogs. But hey, pets are important! And anyway, there’s nothing more endearing than hearing someone talk about a beloved pet.

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Supernatural’s Kim Rhodes and Briana Buckmaster Get Real – and WaywardAF!

Supernatural’s Kim Rhodes and Briana Buckmaster Get Real – and WaywardAF!

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Life has been crazy, both for me and for Kim Rhodes and Briana Buckmaster – let’s just say they’ve been #WaywardAF and the fandom has embraced them every step of the way. I hope you got your tee shirt and sent your support, because if there was ever a slogan that fit our fandom, this one is it. The campaign was a tremendous success, both doing good in the world with Random Acts and inspiring all of us with the reminder that being #WaywardAF (and being REAL) is a very good thing.

I had the pleasure of chatting with Kim and Briana at Houscon this spring to talk about their Season 11 episodes (Plush and Don’t You Forget About Me) – I’d call it an interview, except it was at least as much off topic and off the record as it was interview – but here are the printable parts of what we had so much fun talking about. Or in other words, Kim and Briana and Lynn all get #WaywardAF. And are pretty damn happy about it.

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