Tag: Gish

Ready for Tonight’s New Supernatural? Here’s All The News From Last Week!

Ready for Tonight’s New Supernatural? Here’s All The News From Last Week!

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Week two of Supernatural’s return was not as frenetic as the week before, but we still got some great new coverage of the show and interviews with the cast. Only one more month of Supernatural actually airing – ONE MONTH! I’m not sure I have my head around it yet, but ready or not, one month it is.

Here’s my wrap up of all the Supernatural happenings from last week, including a few favorite moments from some of the interviews the cast did this week, many of which were the second or third parts of interviews we saw last week. That included Jared and Jensen’s chat with TVLine.

Interviewer: Were there tears after the director yelled cut?

Jensen: No, we shotgunned beers! (laughing) Yes, there was crying.  The final moments on set were weighty, because we knew it was coming, and we had a long time to see it on the horizon.  And when it came, and it was there… I know I certainly broke character, I’ll tell you that much.

Jared: (softly) We both did.

I don’t know why, but that little exchange made me tear up instantly as I was watching. Knowing how much it got to them, how much finishing their time as Sam and Dean meant to them, really got to me too. I’m looking forward to that scene, but I also think it’s going to leave me in a puddle on the floor. They won’t be the only ones crying, that’s for sure.

Jensen: I felt like if you could take, like, happiness and satisfaction and being proud and just wrapped it up in emotion, then that’s the pill that we swallowed that day.

Jared: It was a good pill, though. I would take it again if I get the chance.

I so hope they do get that chance, because I cannot conceive of a world in which we never get to see the Winchesters again.

https://tvline.com/2020/10/15/supernatural-video-jensen-ackles-jared-padalecki-final-last-day-filming/

Jensen also did a wonderful video interview with Rolling Stone, which I was thrilled to see cover the show. I feel like the whole world has finally discovered just how unique and special Supernatural is – and I keep wanting to say hey, it’s been this special for fifteen years, glad you finally realized!

Jensen on the show’s premise: The long lead story was the relationship between these two brothers and how they bond together and get torn apart.

He told a story that I’ve heard before, about his very first multi-fandom convention and how he was surprised to realize that Supernatural already had a passionate fandom.

Jensen: I was the lone Supernatural representative – and I got over to London and it was me and 12 actors from various shows, and the crowd response when I came out for the show was like jaw dropping!  People were super hyped about Supernatural. I immediately called Jared and said dude, I think people are watching this!

There’s a whole chapter about that convention in one of our first books, Fangasm Supernatural Fangirls, which includes the incident of the “Flying Fangirl” too – a young woman who was overcome with excitement at seeing Ackles at that convention and leapt right onto him like a spider monkey! Clearly that con made a big impression on him.

He also reminisced about some of his favorite moments filming the show, and I teared up again (with a smile on my face this time) when Jensen talked about how much fun they had filming the brilliant Robbie Thompson episode, ‘Baby’, told entirely from the car’s perspective.

Jensen: Jared hopped in and we took off down the road…  At one moment I took a terry cloth towel and dabbed the sweat off Jared’s face. We were doing everything ourselves, out on the road, out on the highway.

It’s so clear how much he enjoyed that episode, and that those will be some of the moments he hangs onto.

Jensen: They outfitted eight cameras in and around and on the car and they just sent us off. There was no camera operator, no grips, no DP, no director, no script supervisor, no makeup, no nothin’. … Jared had the audio deck between his legs. We were doing everything ourselves. …

The Impala has always been important to him, just like it is to his character.

Jensen: One of my other favorite moments happened the other day when I drove the car — and put it in my garage.

He’s talked before about trying to stay in denial for as long as he could as the end of the show approached.

Jensen: I tried to keep my eye on the prize and keep steering us toward the finish line. So I think it was less a ‘long goodbye’ and more of the fourth quarter of a Super Bowl game. I didn’t want to put too much emotion into this final season because I didn’t want it to change what we’d been doing these past 15 years or foreshadow what was coming ahead. I wanted to keep it kinda business as usual, keep doing the work I’ve always done. I don’t know if that was my way of dealing with it, just suppressing it and sweeping it under the rug. Maybe I took a page out of Dean’s book.

Me: It was definitely his way of dealing with it – and he has been playing Dean for 15 years, after all.

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Savoring Supernatural

Savoring Supernatural

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I told myself that I would work really hard to savor every moment of Supernatural’s last season, and today I feel like I’m keeping that promise.  I’m going to try to document these last months with the show that has been so important to me, because I want to remember every moment.

Today is a good day.

It’s been a week of being immersed in the show and the fandom and the fandom-adjacent things that have made this wild ride so special. A week of doing GISH (a charity scavenger hunt challenge sort of game spearheaded by Misha Collins) with the team I’ve been on for six years, which will never be in the running for actual winning but which always manages to be silly, have fun, spread some kindness and do some good in the world. My team is full of spectacular cheerleaders who applaud even my most not-quite-masterpiece-level attempts and somehow inspire more creativity than anything else I do all year long. Credit for that also goes to Misha Collins and company’s think-outside-the-box challenges that I always think nah, I can’t do that, and then the damn item will not let me forget about it!

GISH always makes me feel close not only to my team but to the SPN Family at large, knowing many people are out there doing the same silly things I am all for a good cause. This year, because of the pandemic, there were lots of zoom panels too, some of which were informative and some of which were just good old (chaotic) fun. It was so nice to see the faces of some of my favorite Supernatural actors and also some fans who I miss seeing! Having a zoom panel each day made it feel almost like a convention weekend, and made me feel immersed in the Supernatural fandom in a more immediate and consistent way than I’ve felt for a while. We even joined Kansas for a ‘Carry On’ singalong over zoom, which I’m not ashamed to say made me all kinds of emotional. And yes, I savored it.

This weekend Creation had a virtual mini con, so as GISH was ending, the fandom gathered around their screens once again, this time to watch Stage It panels of Kim and Briana, then Misha, then today Jared and Jensen. I had to work during Kim and Briana’s, but I bought a ticket for Misha’s and for Jared and Jensen’s and then live tweeted the panels because apparently I just wanted it to feel as much like a con as possible! We have been lucky as a fandom to have been able to see Misha quite a bit online over this quarantine, and I’m so grateful. I would have felt so much more cut off without his zoom chats and panels pulling together all sorts of fascinating people – and I would have been a lot less informed and able to help make change too.

Also, as shallow as this may be, quarantine has agreed with Misha. He looks GOOD.

We haven’t seen as much of Jared and Jensen, however. Last week there was a little interview from Australian tv, which was wonderful. Then today they did some meet and greets and a joint virtual Stage It panel for a mini Creation con, live from their respective quarantines in Vancouver (they’re back in their apartments that they’ve had there for many years – and now having to start cleaning out soon…)

I’m not sure I realized how much I missed them until today. Conventions, whether you’re there or you’re watching a video kindly recorded by fellow fans, are a way of feeling close to the cast of our favorite show. That near constant contact is what has made this fandom feel so much like a family, and part of why we all feel so close to the actors who bring our favorite characters to life. I said to someone tonight, it actually felt “healing” to be able to “spend time” with them, even though we could see them and they couldn’t see us. Nevertheless, it was a connection. We got to see them smile and tease each other and throw their heads back and laugh, and I found myself grinning like a fool and kinda glad nobody could see me! I’m so glad they’re happy to be back and still in love with this show and these characters just like we are.

Jared and Jensen on the possibility of having more Supernatural in some form one day: Spinoff? Special feature? Hmmm….

Hmmmm

That constant interaction that we usually have through conventions and interviews etc also makes me feel close to the show itself. My questions are always about the show, and I’m used to regularly hearing Jared and Jensen and Misha’s thoughts on what their characters are experiencing, and little clues about where the show might be going. We haven’t had that in a long time, and it was so good to hear them talk about the show again. It made me feel so much more immersed in the fandom and the show, and so grateful that Supernatural is still on the air and is not over yet.  My social media was overflowing with Supernatural content, which felt so good – with joyous posts and a million screencaps and fans who are so grateful for something good and fun and pretty in the midst of such a dark and difficult time.

Also, how do they look like this just hanging out on a zoom call???

Cap jaredwalkersam
cap acklespower

I might have stared at those last two for a while. Pretty sure I’m not alone.

Jared and Jensen both have their dogs with them in quarantine, which melted at least half the fandom. (Icarus waved hello on his way to greet dog walker Maisie). Also speaking of melting, in his meet and greet, Jensen wore a white Henley sans hoodie. Anyway…

From rainbow-motors gif

It was a good day, and that’s not something you hear all that often right now.

I’m so grateful that Supernatural is still here, and that it can still make me this happy. A day like this, it’s easy to keep that promise. I’m savoring it! Meet you back here for the next moments I want to remember – you can follow updates on twitter @FangasmSPN.

Panel videos below – enjoy!

–Lynn

You can always remember and celebrate

Supernatural with the new book There’ll Be

Peace When You Are Done: Actors and Fans

Celebrate the Legacy of Supernatural. Links

above or at peacewhenyouaredone.com

 

 

Happy Birthday, Misha Collins!

Happy Birthday, Misha Collins!

spnfans

I just finished doing my fourth round of GISH, which over the years has inspired me and a friend to wear a hat made of kale (and an evening gown) to a country club, to cajole my niece into wearing a dress made entirely of construction paper and pose by my neighbor’s little red sports car, to brighten the day of WWII veterans at the local VA, and this year to help a four year old conquer his fear of strange noises in the dark. The beauty of GISH is that it gives you permission – and actively encourages you – to step outside your comfort zone. It makes weird a good thing, and underneath all the zaniness, it reminds us to be good to each other.

Those are two of the important things that Misha Collins has accomplished in the past decade, but there have been many more. There’s an inspiring and emotional chapter in Family Don’t End With Blood about how Misha changed fan Claudine Hummel’s life, and it’s titled “Spreading Kindness Like Confetti.” That’s a pretty apt description for what Misha has tried to do over the past ten years, and how much he’s succeeded.  He realized soon after joining Supernatural that he could harness his popularity and the charitable nature that has long characterized fandom into making change in the world, and he’s done exactly that.

I remember one of our first chats, which turned into a long discussion of celebrity and how weird and artificial it can be, and how uncomfortable he was with it at the time, but he was also one of the first to recognize that it could also be a force for good. That’s how Random Acts came to be, and the good it has done in the world at this point is off the charts!

Misha wrote about celebrity, fandom and the creation of Random Acts in his chapter in one of our first books, Fan Phenomena Supernatural. His chapter is extremely candid, irreverent, hilarious – and fascinating. Just like Misha. It’s one of my favorites out of all the books I’ve put together. And he had this to say about his role on Supernatural and starting Random Acts:

At some point, fairly early into this strange experiment, I realized that my position on the show would allow me to provide a framework within which people can engage one another in the community. That I could be a catalyst because I happened to have been cast on a show that people were really, really enthused about. And so I guess I partly saw it as my responsibility to be a coalescing factor. Or perhaps a better way to put that is I saw it as an opportunity to serve and to help others be of service. So now I can say “Let’s all go do a scavenger hunt” or “Let’s go help Haiti” and people will come along and participate and engage. It became apparent fairly quickly that there was tremendous creative potential in Supernatural fandom. In spite of what everyone seems to think, I don’t spend a lot of time trolling online, but people email me things or I occasionally click through on something in the Twitter feed, and I see a tremendous amount of creative energy. I started Random Acts with the ambition of harnessing those resources to playful, productive and compassionate ends.

And did he ever! What a difference Misha and the SPNFamily have made, all over the world!

My conversations with Misha have often been around the ideas on celebrity, fandom and Supernatural that are in all my books, and I’ve loved hearing his thoughts – they’re often outside the box, which is a rarity. He also wrote a chapter in Family Don’t End With Blood about the SPNFamily  – and following Misha’s example of trying to do some good in the world, every copy of the book benefits Random Acts and the important work they do.

Misha’s new book, The Adventurous Eaters Club, is also a way of changing the world and helping others. The book benefits the fight against childhood hunger (while also providing you with some out-of-the-box recipes). It’s impossible to list all the charitable endeavors that Misha has spearheaded over the last decade, and that the SPNFamily has generously contributed to, but suffice it to say, it’s a lot!

Random Acts isn’t the only way Misha has changed the world, though. He’s done it by throwing his weight behind the political and social causes that he believes in, opening eyes and raising awareness in the process. I keep telling him he needs to run for office, but I think he’s found his own way of making a difference. He’s done it with tweets and posting videos and giving us glimpses of his decidedly unconventional life and family, a challenge to the way we’re taught things “should be” that I think is healthy. I found myself all emotional yesterday over a video he posted of him and his family and friends in kayaks rescuing a pelican ensnared in fishing line, because of course he did. Misha grew up with an unconventional life and he’s continued to live one, and I think sometimes we all need a little shaking up of the status quo to realize there are other ways of being, and some of them might just make this world and our human-to-human interaction a bit better. (Not to mention human-to-pelican).

Misha is an extraordinary human being who has managed to do extraordinary things. He’s been a tremendous influence on his costars and on his fans (me included), I think for the better.  And if he does decide to run for something, I’m right there lining up to cheer him on.  Supernatural is ending, but I don’t think we’ve seen the last of Misha Collins changing the world.

Happy Birthday, Misha. Keep on being you.

 

Love ya,

Lynn

You can order Misha’s new cookbook and help

fight childhood hunger, link at his twitter!