Supernatural Scrapbook Jan-June 2008

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• Supernatural Scrapbook 2007
• 2008 started with production in limbo and the boys on an extended holiday due to the Writers Guild of America Strike.

January 18: Some priceless quotes from Jared from Issue #2 of the Supernatural: Official Magazine:

I think the reason Jensen and I got along so well was because we didn't really go about bonding....It didn't feel like a blind date. It felt like we were continuing a relationship as opposed to saying, 'All right, we're supposed to hang out with each other...or something.' We just sort of hung out....We just hit it off immediately. There's no rhyme or reason to what happened.

When we can, we love to go out and have a drink, watch football, or catch a hockey game now that we're in Canada....whenever we get the chance, we'll hang out, play basketball or work out or something...

I find that if I don't work out, I have too much energy and I'm kind of annoying.

It's all about the gaze - Jared at Fangoria 2008

January 18-20: Fangoria Texas 2008
Favorite quote:

It's kinda two stories. A guy asked Jared to share a dirty secret from the set, something that's not usually published. Of course, there was a o_O moment, and Jared said he'd get back to him on that. It became kind of an in-joke after that whenever Jared slipped. Someone asked what he'd done to improve his performance even more this third season, and he just deadpanned "Drugs." Then he laughed, said, "no, not drugs" then turned to the first guy and said, "Ah, dirty secret."

Well, someone asked about him working with Sandy and if it was difficult. He mentioned (and I'm trying to remember it all since I didn't exactly take notes) that it was kinda hard to turn off the history between the two of them. Like, he spends a lot of time with Jensen too, but he doesn't kiss Jensen...in public. "Dirty secret." *cue laughtrack* source

Late January: European Vacation. Jared headed to Europe where we later found out he proposed to Sandy in Paris on their fifth anniversary. We don't have video of that, we do have video of an interview with Digital Spy.

January 31: The first episode for 2008, 3.09 Malleus Maleficarum, airs.

Jensen at Clovelly beach, near Sydney

February 6: The Contractual Obligations Tour - Jensen Down Under Jensen arrived in Australia as part of a WB press tour. Despite the tour featuring stars from shows with much higher ratings in Australia, Jensen garnered the bulk of the publicity with radio, TV and many hot pics.
Link to collected material
Highlights included an appearance on the comedy show Good News Week, which featured some playful flirting with hot Paul McDermott. Including this exchange:

Paul mentioned that he found a website called "I worship at the shrine of Jensen's Ackles Ass." And Jensen shot back "How long have you been running that?"

Video Highlights:

• Jensen Good News Week appearance
• Jensen answers fan questions Part One and Part Two includes TOM WELLING impersonation
• New Supernatural promo "It's a Guy Thing"

Interviews:

• from Sydney Sun Herald:

He's Super Naturally... Deliciously handsome Jensen Ackles gets the award for the yummiest Yank visiting Sydney last week. And also the most down-to-earth. The Channel Ten star of Supernatural was far from star-like during his stay, even catching the bus to Bondi to do the cliff walk. Yes, that's right - he caught the bus. He was traveling with his girlfriend (insert disappointed sigh here) and took her on low-key, but romantic dates, such as catching the ferry to Manly, heading out to Watson Bay for fish and chips and visiting Taronga Zoo. His girlfriend had to return to the US early so he used the time to shop secretly for a magnificent opal for her as a gift to commemorate their trip. Awwwwww

• WHO Weekly has a nice interview where he talked about liking sharks and being a bad influence as an uncle.
• TV Week interview where Jensen talks about living in Vancouver, long distance relationships, dusting and suggests Dean might be a hooker:
  

Are the guys still mainly living on stolen credit cards and so forth?

Jensen: For the most part, yeah. Dean's a bit of a pool shark and also a bit of a gambler. It doesn't really show it all the time, but it's definitely implied that there are poker games and pool matches that they can win some money on. And who knows? Dean's a promiscuous kind of guy. Who knows how he drums up the funds that they use?

Jared and Sandy at the "Never Back Down" premier

February 21: 3.12 Jus in Bello airs.
3.11 Mystery Spot was the last completed script that could be shot after the Writers Guild of America Strike. Originally it was to air before 3.12 Jus in Bello, but Kripke felt 3.12 Jus in Bello was the episode more suited to finish the episode arc at a point when they weren't sure when or if there would be more episodes for the season.

March 2: Lakers Game, LA. Morning after the night before.
Pics of Jared and Sandy at a Laker's Game. Jared possibly less perky than usual as it was the day after Jensen's 30th birthday.

March 3: Driven by the season truncated by the Writers Strike, The CW makes its earliest announcement on renewals ever and Supernatural is renewed for a fourth season.

March 6: Jared and Sandy were photographed at the premier of the movie Never Back Down. Much speculation followed the spotting of what appeared to be an engagement ring on Sandy's finger.

March 29: Sweet and funny interview with Sandy where she talks about her love of fried food and Jared being a nerdy chess whizz with a mancrush on Johnny Depp.

Eric Kripke at the LA Con 2008

March 29-30: Salute to Supernatural L.A. 2008 Jared and Jensen along with other guest including Sandy and Eric Kripke. Highlights include:

• Kripke thanks the fans
• Opening of the J2 breakfast and Jared's engagement announcement
• Jensen's impersonation of Jared as Sam
• Bring me a farting panda! demands Jensen

• Jason Manns selling a new version of "Crazy Love" which included Jensen singing lead on the second verse. Jason disappointed when he discovers apparently you can download things for free on the internet.

March 24: Jared announced as one of the leads (not the one in the hockey mask) in Friday 13th remake.
March 27: Harley recuperates with Sandy in LA following a knee operation. (I know because my dog has Harley friended on Facebook)
April 3: New Promo pics of Jensen.
April 4-6: EyeCon April 2008

Jim Beaver proves he knows about the slash porn!

The first Eyecon is held in Orlando, Florida. Highlights:

Gabe is so adorable omg, so damn cute!! He bought a friend with him who was drunk and they were so entertaining!! They just cracked me up, and then Chad came over and joined him so we got double boys!! There was discussion of Ash/Andy slash fic lol, and ghost!/zombie! Andy and Ash. It was a lot of fun. (from bobbinrob's report)

• Jared's panel video

Sandy seen wearing a "Sam Winchester cries his way through sex" t-shirt

April 7: Jensen also announces he will star in My Bloody Valentine 3D.
April 8: Buddy TV interview with Jensen where he comments on the S2 gag reel where Jared splits his pants.

If you see that outtake you'll notice that I'm laughing hysterically, probably more than I should be. But it was funny, because he was talking about, "Man, I'm like putting on this weight, and I'm retaining all this water," and I'm like, "You're such a girl, dude." And then he does that and his pants rip, and I just couldn't hold it in, it was hilarious. What an idiot.

and also from an interview with Jensen from Australian mag TV Hits

(about working with Jared) We joke about the fact that we spend more time with each other than our girlfriends (laughs) But it's good when you have the relationship he and I have.

April 14: Charlie the Unicorn 2 is released and Jared drives everyone on set batshit crazy as he keeps grabbing Dean's amulet and going "DEEEEEEEN! The Magical Amulet! We must take it to the Bannana King!" and making that annoying blblblbbl sound with his tongue.

Actually this never happened. Don't believe everything you read on the internet.

April 16: TWIZZLERED!!!!! Jared and Jensen both do an interview with the CW during the filming of the season finale. During Jared's interview Jensen walked in and twizzlered him.

April 19: Jared is the focus of a photoshoot with TV Guide and video interview that highlights his natural assets.

April 24: 3.13 Ghostfacers, the first episode filmed after the Writers Guild of America Strike ended, airs.

HIATUS BETWEEN SEASON 3 AND 4 Jared films Friday the 13th and attends Salute to Supernatural Dallas 2008 and Supanova Sydney 2008. Jensen films My Bloody Valentine 3D.

May-June: Friday the 13th meets My Bloody Valentine 3D Jared goes straight from filming Supernatural to the set of Friday the 13th in Austin, while Jensen heads to Pittsburgh to film My Bloody Valentine.

• There is teasing about whose film is better.

Padalecki, sitting by our side watching video playback with the producers, recognizes he's got the better end of the deal. "Jensen's in Pennsylvania now. I totally get the cooler bad guy [to fight]. He's doing 3-D so all of his imperfections will be hard to ignore," he laughs. "All of his imperfections, I don't want to sound like... I'm saying if I was in 3-D I'd be much more worried, but here I am on a flat screen, I get to hide easy."

• But life wasn't all easy for Jared on set. This from the producers' Platinum Dunes site:

And finally, there's Jared Padalecki, who spent two nights getting his face smashed through a pane of glass over and over. If any of you went to the Dallas "Supernatural" Convention you probably noticed all of the cuts on his nose and forehead.

• Writer of MBV, Todd Farmer, turns out to be quite the Jensen fan and raves about him regularly on his blog:

This is just a small thing but I found it endearing. I guess it was day one. I had not yet been introduced to Mr. Ackles. And there was no guarantee that I would be. Writers tend to drool, belch and break wind so the powers that be like to keep up away from the talent. Truth is, writers, we do our part early on. We may tweak a line or two during production or make a quick change due to budget restraints but our job is to stay out of the way once the cameras start rolling. We become both unseen and forgotten. So, I was well hidden in the shadows across the set from where Jensen was shooting a very intense scene. Cut. Then as the crew moved camera and lights for the next set up, Jensen crossed the entire set. I remember looking up and thinking, hmm, wonder where he's going. Turns out he was coming to introduce himself to me. Looks, talent and just a wonderfully nice guy.

• From an interview with Jared's MBV3D co-star Kerr Smith

"It was a pleasure to work with him again. Jensen's a cool cat, man. He's tall, formal and just a fun guy to hang out with." He says they had a bit of fun taunting Ackles' Supernatural co-star who was off on another slasher redo. "We were calling Jared [Padalecki] - because he was shooting [Friday the 13th] in Texas when we were shooting in Pittsburgh - and Jensen was telling him, "You know our movie is better than yours, right?"

Katie Cassidy & Lauren Cohan

May 11 Asylum 2008
Jared and Jensen aren't present due to filming commitments, but by all accounts a great Con.

• Following his "I read Bobby/John" t-shirt at Eyecon, this time he wore "I read Bobby/you"!!!!
• Everyone seemed to be adoring Katie and Lauren
• On filming the makeout scene with Jared in "Dream". Apparently Jared was all concerned for Lauren (who was trying to make the scene hot) and Jared was the one who was a nervous wreck during it, being all 'if you get uncomfortable just gimme the nod and we can get everyone else out of the room, just tell me if it's weird for you, it's okay!
• Sterling Brown (Gordon) said Sterling said one of J2's favorite pranks for each other was finding each others' most embarrassing modeling pictures and posting them up all over set.

June 6-8 Salute to Supernatural Dallas 2008
Following weeks of internet rumors, Jared confirmed at the Con that he and Sandy have called off their engagement. Jensen was to have appeared, but had to cancel due to commitments filming in Pittsburgh. However the Ackles family did drop into the Con to see Jared.

• Jim Beaver wears a "I'm a male lesbian" t-shirt.

when asked by a young girl if he missed Jensen, Jared said if course and that he had just talked to Jensen for an hour on the phone the day before and that they were always texting each other. (from a report by runedgirl)

Jared on his favourite present from Jensen: "when time's are tough or at the end of a hard day or something, he's like "let me buy you dinner", 'cause food is the way to my heart. To hell with his friendship, if he buys me a steak or two, I'm happy!" (video here)

June 21-22: Supanova Sydney 2008
A last minute replacement for Hayden Panettiere, Jared flies into Sydney and his luggage goes missing resulting in the first news reports focusing on the trials of buying grundies (aussie slang for undies) in a foreign country. Highlights:

• A fan does the Network Ten interview. It's a brilliant job and one of Jared's best interviews.

• Jared discovers a new snack thanks to a local fan

Fan: I have a few things for you.....
JP: *big grin* Awesome!! *starts rummaging through the bag like a little kid!!*
Fan: There is a "real" footy (AFL) in there for your dogs, and some candy for you!!
JP: Oh wow!!! This is awesome!! *HUGE grin*
Fan: There are some glow in the dark M & Ms in there too!!
JP: Are you serious??? Get out!!! Glow in the dark?!?!?
Fan: Yep!!
JP: I am gonna test these out tonight back at the hotel....gonna scatter them around and turn the lights off!...*laughs*

• And a video confirms Jared and Jensen love Australia, with snippets from both their visits Down Under.

end June: Filming commences on Category:Season 4 Filming recommences and Misha Collins joins the cast as Castiel - a part the casting sides he read at his audition described as a demon to fool fans. In the July 2009 edition of the Supernatural: Official Magazine - Jensen describes their first meeting:

Castiel makes an entrance

"Because of the way the show is [structured], we have lots of guest cast come on week after week, and some of them have been good and some have not been as good, so I'm always kind of hesitant to really understand what the character's going to be because you never know who's going to play it.

Misha had such a take on Castiel that it really threw me, because I didn't know him well enough to know that this was an actor making a specific choice for his character. Which, to be honest, for a television series a lot of people just come on and act, but they don't really sit down and make a choice for the character, like 'I want to take it this way and I want to do something that's completely not me and make a character of it.' They'll just come on and play themselves and that's usually why they got the role. But Misha did something special. At first I was like, 'Oh no, what is he doing? Why is he acting so weird? Is this guy really like this? Is this who we're going to deal with?' Then I got to know him and he's a cool, laid back guy. It was very exciting for me to know that I was going to be working with somebody who could really make a committed choice to a character. And it worked--I loved it! I was caught off guard at first, and it took a little while to get used to what he was doing, but that actually played well for the character because Dean would have been caught off guard by an angel as well. I'm really happy Misha's part of the gang and I think the character really takes some giant turns in the season finale that are gonna shake a lot of stuff up for season five.

• Supernatural Scrapbook July-Dec 2008