All Hell Breaks Loose 5 - Supernatural Convention Report

*writer's note: I wrote this report for a multi-fandom site called capslockit which is run by a couple of pals of mine and is super awesome, so that's why it's a little bit more explainy than I would usually do for purely Supernatural fans. Make sure you check out capslockit, there are some great interviews on there with some Supernatural cast, amongst other fabulous stuff!

ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE 5 – SUPERNATURAL CONVENTION REPORT.

Guests: Misha Collins, Mark Sheppard, Richard Speight Jnr., Matt Cohen, Mitch Pileggi, Corin Nemec.

All Hell Breaks Loose is a convention dedicated to the TV show, Supernatural that takes place yearly in Australia at the end of May. The convention is over 1 weekend, but is split across 2 States with the Saturday taking place in Sydney and the Sunday in Melbourne.

I’ve attended the Sydney event each year...except the first year in 2010...which is the only year Jensen, and Jared attended and the only one I couldn’t get to! Of course! Curses! Which is why I now travel over the seas twice a year to attend the U.S. Supernatural conventions because seeing the Js is a MUST!

All Hell Breaks Loose is a pretty casual affair, being as it’s in Aussie and we are notoriously casual. The cast seem to have a great time and are pretty loose on stage…even more so than usual! The day consists of photos with the cast, panels and then autographs.

This year the convention took place over the weekend of May 31/June 1, though technically, it kicked off on the night of May 30 with the Sydney VIP cocktail party and the karaoke (which for some reason is called the “Sing-a-long, which is equal parts cringe-worthy and hilarious!). I had the VIP ticket, so I was having drinks with the cast!

The cocktail party was a seated event (the previous year it had been a mingle) with a maximum on 8 people per table including the guest. If anyone has been to the Creation Supernatural convention cocktail parties, it’s a similar thing…but with less people on the tables and more time with the guests. Where as Creation’s cocktail parties are like speed dating on, well, speed, with only 90 seconds per guest, at AHBL, we get about 15 to 20 minutes with the guest and with such a small group on the table, that’s a good amount of time to chat!

Mitch Pileggi.

I should say, I’ve been doing cons for so long now, that I’ve made a lot of friends and 5 of us out of the 7 on my table at the cocktail party know each other very well. We’ve all done multiple conventions together both in Australia and the U.S. and had met early for some pre-convention drinks and catch-up.

I should also say, we’re all big X-Files fans…

Mitch was the first guest to grace us with his presence. It was the first time any of us had met him. He sat opposite me (got to pick your seat, I find opposite the guest is the best) and we basically all just stared at him, because AGENT SKINNER WAS SITTING AT OUR TABLE! After a short, awkward silence one of us piped up, “I’m sorry we’re silent but we’re all huge X-Files fans so were a little freaked out”. This made Mitch very happy! I think he assumed that everyone there just knew him through Supernatural, but for me, The X-Files was my first big TV love. It turns out Mitch is a funny guy! He looked and me and said, “So you must be excited that David [Duchovny] is on twitter” and I said, “Mitch, to be honest, I was irrationally excited that day!” and Mitch goes, “It is irrational because he’s a dick! Just kidding, he’s a great guy.” Ooooo-kay! He said he doesn’t follow David on twitter because he followed him for 9 years! Mitch had a good sense of humour! He discussed how when he got the call for Supernatural, he said yes without hesitating because he wanted to work with the late director Kim Manners again and a lot of the original crew from The X-Files now worked on Supernatural. He feels blessed he got that chance to catch up with Kim before he passed. He also said that his first episode on Supernatural was one of the favourite jobs he’s had. He elaborated on this in his panel talking about how he really pushed the boundaries with Jensen in the scene where the Yellow Eyed Demon, who was possessing his character, Samuel Campbell, the Winchester brother's maternal grandfather, got real up close and personal with Dean Winchester. Mitch said he got pretty creepy with Jensen, sniffing him and the like and that he was so impressed with how Jensen just told him to go for it, and took it all in his stride.

Over drinks Mitch also talked about an episode of Criminal Minds he did, which randomly I’d just seen! The character of a man consumed with guilt who winds up murdering his family, is probably his favourite part ever. It was a very different role to anything he’d done before and he felt a lot of sympathy for the character he was portraying.

During Mitch’s panel the next day, he delved further into The Campbells and what he thought about their story in Supernatural during season 6. Basically, it confused him. He didn’t feel at the time he understood it well enough and feels that he let the part down by not asking enough questions. A fan had told him her theory about the Campbells at the cocktail party the night before, and he said he’d wished he’d had that information at the time of shooting because it would have made everything clearer! Mitch also discussed his role on Sons of Anarchy and talked about what a great bunch of guys the actors on that show are. Sons happens to be my favourite show after Supernatural so I was in my happy place!

I got a photo with Mitch, because seriously, how could I not and I also got a couple of autographs because I wanted him to sign my photo of us together but also, one of Agent Skinner! I have to say I was super impressed with Mitch. He was disarmingly charming and incredibly thoughtful with his answers and how he interacted with you personally. Like all cast members I’ve met from Supernatural, he was just downright lovely!

Mark Sheppard.

First up. This was Mark’s 50^th birthday and he chose to spend that special day with his fans. We all sung happy birthday to him. I love Mark with a fiery passion. He’s such a fanboy and simply gets us and gets fandom. Every time I’ve seen one of his panels he impresses the hell out of me. Not just because he’s an incredibly articulate and witty man with a tonne of stories, but because of his genuine affection for fandom and how he perceives us a brave, because we wear out hearts on our sleeve. He has made me cry on more than one occasion!

When he sat at our table I took the chance to ask him about THAT speech his character Crowley gave to the apparently dead Dean, in the Supernatural season 9 finale. What did Crowley mean by it was important, “It’s fundamental” that Dean know that he was not lying to him about all the Mark of Cain stuff. Mark said, “I never said fundamental!” (I love how Mark uses “I” when he talks about his character), I said, “Yeah you did”, he said, “No I didn’t, I remember what I said.” Four of us said simultaneously, “Yeah. You did.” So Mark cracks into the speech and he gets to, “I never lied, Dean. That’s important. That’s…” and I go, “Fundamental!” It was a pretty fun moment! Regarding that speech, Mark said that the first half was Crowley eulogising a lost friend but the second half was very much about him laying ground work because he knew when Dean awoke as a demon, he was going to be powerful and Crowley was covering his ass!

Mark also made us question how Crowley was in the bunker. I said I assumed he walked in like every other supernatural creature seems to these days! He also asked us to think about why Crowley didn’t go when Sam summoned him, and I said I assumed that Crowley was able to decide whether he went or not when summoned, if it didn’t work in his favour, he didn’t go. Mark questioned that, saying that Crowley has got himself into devil’s traps when called upon, and that he even had to go during the massage scene. He said we need to consider how Crowley was actually there. Which made us say, “Are you saying he wasn’t actually there?" to which in typical Sheppard form he just smirked! (Misha had something to say about this!)

Where else do you get this kind of opportunity, to talk one on one with an actor you admire in a show you love about a character point! It was beyond fantastic.

During Mark’s panel the next day, he elaborated a little on the scene where Crowley was being massaged when Dean summoned him. He said that the actress playing the demon massaging him, never stopped massaging him in between takes! So for 2 hours, Mark got an awesome massage while the crew actively glared at him! He also talked about the scene during “Blade Runners” where Crowley had sex with another demon. He and the actress playing that role had to do ADR and drop in the sex noises in postproduction. He said he was horrified as he stood and watched this woman over a 20-minute period, fake making the most realistic noises he’d ever heard. He said it suddenly dawned on his how easy it is for women to do that! He also said, rather proudly, that when the episode went to censorship, the producers were told that Crowley’s sex noises were too big. In fact it was told to them as, Mark Sheppard’s sex is too big. Mark was most proud.

He also told a great story about what Jensen did in that final scene of the finale. It was the last scene for both of them for the season. After that, they were done and heading home for hiatus. He said jokingly, he thought maybe Jensen had been drinking! Mark was full into Crowley’s speech, as he said “Chewing up the scenery.” The crew were all engrossed as he went through the scene. It was absolutely silent. Mark got the First Blade out of his jacket pocket and moved towards Jensen, who was playing dead. Mark puts the Blade in Dean’s hand and closes Dean’s fingers around it. Just as he was moving Dean’s hand to press against Dean’s chest, Jensen suddenly sat up and screamed at Mark! Mark said he shat his pants he got such fright! I do so hope that’s on the gag reel! Mark said Jensen is a lot of fun.

Mark’s panel was full of saucy teasing (about torture and us meeting him in room 602) and laughter. He’s a wonderful storyteller and loves to have fun with us. Of course he finished with a speech about how important we all are to him in his life and how thankful he was for us because it was because of us that he was made a series regular for Supernatural season 10. And of course, I cried!

Misha Collins.

Misha came to our table and said, “What was Sheppard talking about?” so we told him and he said, “He’s f***ing with you.” Oh Misha, never change. For a lot of the conversation with Misha, we discussed GISHWHES. He was excited because when he got back to the States he was going to be meeting William Shatner for the first time! He’s as baffled as the rest of us by Mr Shatner’s attraction to Misha and the Supernatural fandom and why he wants to be involved with GISHWHES, but Misha is most obviously thrilled. We got the chance to chastise him for everything he does being at a shocking time for Australia, like the special TSA shorts screening he did at the Supernatural Washington DC Con, for which most of us at the table got up at 2am to watch! He made a note to himself…like literally, typed it into his phone…to make the GISHWHES start time as horrible as possible for Australia. Serves us right. Not like we don’t all know him.

I got to ask if he’d had a chance to talk to the writers at all about where they were going with his character, Castiel next season. He hadn’t and he said he had no f***ing idea what would be happening with Cas.

The next day, Richard Speight Jnr. brought Misha into the auditorium early for his panel, which was the last panel of the day. Richard was auctioning a t-shirt for children’s charities that he’d drawn on, and felt a bit of Misha DNA would push up the price. So he went and got Misha and didn’t tell him why, until he was on stage, when he told Misha to put the t-shirt down his pants! Misha borked at this at first (why I don’t know, I’ve seen him do worse), but eventually acquiesced putting the t-shirt down the front of his pants and masterly pulling it back out the back of his pants! Now that’s DNA (and a bit gross!)

During Misha’s panel, he wore a flower crown throughout the pretty much the whole thing. A girl gave it to him about 10 minutes into the panel and he wore it without flinching. Typically, Misha said very little during his panel. He’s an expert at not answering questions and at teasing people who try to ask questions! I wish I could remember more but I was laughing too hard! Misha’s such a wonderfully weirdo and one of my favourite human beings. He did come down into the crowd to do a selfie with us, which I JUST got in to!

Richard Speight Jnr.

Another one of my favourite human beings!

Three of us at my table had been to Supernatural Vegas convention in March and all had done Richard’s meet and greet. Richard knows each of us by name. So he sat down and said, “Really? Ladies?”

Like most of the cast at AHBL Richard had just come from the Rome convention, Jus In Belo. And he did so, via LA. Why on earth! So he was in the air for 28 hours. That’s in the air! Not including transfers! He did 4 flights! We all just stared at him with our jaws hanging! He was travelling with Matt Cohen and Matt’s wife Mandy. Matt had something to say about his later!

I got a chance to ask Richard about his character, the Archangel Gabriel, making a reappearance in season 9 after being killed off in season 5. Did he see Gabriel as being real or a construct of the angel Metatron for whom Gabriel appeared to be working and how did that inform how he played Gabriel’s return. Richard said he played Gabriel as real. He’d had 2 meetings with the writer of that particular episode, Robbie Thompson, and Robbie had definitely wanted Gabriel to be portrayed as real. He put in two actions to reinforce this. One was Gabriel’s apparent control over his environment with the finger clicking and the other was his trademark eyebrow waggle. So as far as Richard’s concerned, Gabriel is alive. He doesn’t know why or how or if that means there’s room for him to return again, but he’s alive and out there somewhere. Yippee!

He asked us if we were surprised when he popped up on screen, as he had no credit in the opening titles, and we all said, well yes and no. Richard had been photographed in Vancouver with the crew. At that time, he was actually shadowing an episode director as he did his prep, but Supernatural fans have been tricked by cast members creating fake scenarios before, so we weren’t sure if Richard was actually shadowing the director of if he was using that as a cover in case he was spotted in Vancouver. In actual fact, he was shadowing the director. I asked if that meant he was going to get a chance to direct an episode and he said, who knows, maybe in season 11(!!), but he was just taking the opportunity to learn because the crew on Supernatural are all his friends.

I adore Richard; he’s a real Southern gentleman, a sassy gentleman, but a gentleman all the same.

Richard did his panel with Matt Cohen. Matt and Richard have become great friends and travel the world doing the Supernatural convention circuit together. They host the karaoke, both in Australia and at the Creation run conventions in North America, where they have turned karaoke into an event not to miss!

Matt Cohen.

When Matt sat at our table, he had a specific question he wanted to ask us; what did with think of the Supernatural spinoff pilot “Bloodlines” which was not picked up. He’d been asking fans ever since the pilot aired and wanted to know what we thought. FYI, I work in TV, so I came at that pilot from a slightly different angle than a lot of the fans and I looked at it in the big picture of not only the Supernatural Universe and how it did or didn’t affect that, but also from a Network branding and demographic attraction approach! So I gave Matt my opinion on it and he listened silently and then said he’d not heard my view from any other fan and was pretty interested in how I saw what it was and why they went that direction. He then asked us what we thought would make a good spinoff, ensuring that we understood he wasn’t asking for anything about his character, Young John Winchester. We all agreed that the show could do a great spinoff around the Men of Letters origins, which would add to the mythology of the current show, without cannibalising its story or cast. It was a fabulous conversation! Also, Matt is stupid pretty. It has to be said. 

And as I mentioned, he did talk about that 28 hour flying business and was not at all impressed with how Richard organised their flights from Italy to Australia! He won’t be letting him do it again!

The next day, during Matt and Richard’s panel, Matt told another fantastic story about flying which took place during the previous year’s visit to Australia. Richard, Rob Benedict (who attended the convention in 2013), and Misha were on the flight and not many others. Matt decided to sit next to Rob, because Richard is terrified of flying and Rob is pretty calm. Matt isn’t a keen flyer either, so he was hoping that Rob’s calm would rub off on him. Unfortunately, the flight hit an air pocket and dropped a substantial amount. Calm Rob freaked out! Matt freaked out and then freaked out that Rob was freaking out who was not supposed to be freaking out! Meanwhile Richard, who was supposed to freak out slept through the whole thing, and Misha, who was in the bathroom at the time, came back to his seat covered in his own pee, as hitting an air pocket whilst your midstream does that! It was way funnier than it sounds. Matt and Richard set the chairs up on stage like they were on a plane and Matt acted the whole thing out while Richard pretended to sleep!

Matt is also fascinated by how Australian’s say tumblr, as in tumblahhhh (see photo). I will never hear tumblr any other way.

Corin Nemec.

Corin was the last guest to our table at the cocktail party and stayed to chat long after the event was called to a close and he was told he could leave. It was great to see Corin, who played the Winchester brother's cousin, Christian Campbell. He was supposed to have attended last year but had a horrific accident and nearly lost not only his leg, but also his life. I had seen Corin at the Supernatural convention in Dallas in September 2013 and he was walking with a cane and quite a bad limp. When I saw him again in Vegas in March of this year, the cane and the limp were gone, though there were still traces of the injury in his walk. Come Sydney in May, he seemed even better. To see his progress as he healed has been amazing. Corin is a sunny guy. Happy, friendly, smiley. 

He’d spent the day doing a mural in Bondi – he’s a street artist and had been commissioned to do a piece while in town. We basically talked about his art. He showed us a photo of the piece he’d done that day. We talked about other murals he’d done around the world. We randomly chatted about Corey Feldman, who it turns out Corin knows – both being teen stars of the same era. My friend Shelley and I had met Corey at a convention last October and Corin told us was a great guy he is. He also said Corey had parties at his house where he showed his own movies on a big screen! So also a bit of a character it seems. We basically just shot the breeze with Corin, we talked about Australia and food, I discussed Venice Beach, L.A. with him, as it turns out it was a favourite spot of both of ours. Eventually and long after everyone else had gone – except Mark Sheppard who stayed around for most of the evening – Corin excused himself because he was shattered from jetlag. He’s such an interesting and nice guy.

During his panel the next day, Corin told a hilarious story about a Star Trek convention he went to. He was booked for the convention and he wasn’t sure why as he’d never been on Star Trek, he was on Stargate! But he went along anyway. It was his first.

When he was making his way back to his room after a day of panels and whatnot, he ran into a very drunk, very large Klingon who wanted to play wrestle him. There was nothing at all Corin could do about it. The guy was twice his size and basically attacked him! He ended up on the ground with this drunk Klingon on top of him mashing his face into hotel carpet – which seemed to disturb Corin more than the wrestling bit, because hotel carpet…ewww! He said, people were walking past and just kind of glancing at them like it was the most normal thing to see a giant Klingon wrestling a skinny guy from Stargate! He finally got free and raced off to the lifts to escape! He decided to write off going back to his room. He said he made his way downstairs, trying to find somewhere to chill and hangout and he came across a bunch of Klingons in a hot tub, drinking blood wine and being serenaded by the original Flash Gordon, Sam Jones! This was Corin’s introduction to conventions and fandom. I’m glad he decided to give it another shot!

The karaoke on the Friday night was a little smaller than usual, but Rich and Matt held the fort and made it a lot of fun. Mark hung around for a while – he got birthday cupcakes given to him! Corin and Mitch hung around for a bit too, later we found out Mitch’s room was directly above the karaoke room, so even though he went to bed, he still heard the whole thing!

The next day, prior to the panels, I had photos with all the cast members…I wasn’t going to, but in the end I couldn’t resist! I also got an “angel sandwich” with Rich and Misha…because it’s Rich and Misha! They squeezed the bejebus out of me as usual.

Last part of the day was autographs, where I discovered Misha also knows my name! I have met him about 10 times I guess, and he did come to my work once to do a morning TV show and I surprised him in the studio for which I got a hug and a kiss…so maybe I shouldn’t have been so surprised.

As usual, every guest was warm and gracious and a lot of fun…as were all the fans.

And then it was finished, and we all went back to real life...which is nowhere near as fun as convention life!

I attend a lot of conventions, three Supernatural ones per year as well as a few multi-fandom cons, and one of the best things is getting to hangout with all the friends you’ve made at various conventions and getting to meet and make new friends.

That was All Hell Breaks Loose for another year. No date has been announced for next year as of yet, but when it does, you know I will be there!

For more from All Hell Breaks Loose 5 - listen to me and Jules from the Supernatural Wiki, who attended the Melbourne day, chatting about all the shennanigans in the Women of Letters Podcast - click here to listen and download.

Thanks for reading!

-sweetondean

Supernatural - All Hell Breaks Loose 3 convention report

Part 2 – Cossack dancing, sing-a-longs and penis t-shirts….. 

(photos by sweetondean)

Warning…contains some coarse language and adult themes

Previously on All Hell Breaks Loose 3 – sweetondean had just wrapped up an eventful breakfast with Misha, Richard, Jim, Traci and Corin…

Now….

With breakfast finished, we all had to rush over to the University of New South Wales where the convention panels were being held. This is about 10 minutes away and a 20-minute cab ride in the splendid Sydney traffic.

My pals Courtney, Emma and Sarah and I all dived into the first cab...waving to the rest of the breakfast goers standing in the cab line as we tore our way across town to jump head first into the next part of the con. As we pulled into the gate for the area of the University where the auditorium is, what did we see? BABY! There, gleaming in the sunlight was a black, shiny Impala. Meeep! Ok…so in actuality, she only had 3 doors, so you know, but my goodness she was pretty and yes we all had photos taken with her.

The cast were immediately behind us in a mini-van, so we were hurried into the auditorium by the convention staff and told to take our seats. I found mine and gasped. It was front row, right in the centre. I was just about on the stage…seriously, I was pretty much in the cast’s laps…where’s Jensen when you need him… *sigh*. The first thing that happened was a hug-a-palooza! Out of everywhere came people I knew. It must have been a funny sight to see a bunch of fan-girls, front and centre hugging it out. Like I said, as much as I love and adore hanging out with the cast, this for me is the highlight of the conventions (except when Jensen is around then he’s the highlight…sorry friends, but you know me well enough to know that!). So we hugged and squeed and hugged some more. I got a few texts from behind me (because nearly everyone was behind me) and I scoured the seats to see where everyone was. I ran and said a quick hi to my friend Amanda, nipped up to see my friend Mel and to meet the wonderful Jules of Superwiki fame, said a hi to Kate, whom I met from the comments section here and eventually sat down. I got out my new camera, which I’d bought for Burcon and a brand new lens, which I was worried was going to be way too zoomy for my seat, but it wasn’t, as evidenced by my pics and I started the waiting.

Suddenly Corin popped out to welcome us and we were off! The guy should always wear green by the way and I totally love how he has a snazzy hanky hanging out of his back pocket, plus he was wearing colourful striped socks! Bless. After Corin did his bit, it was photo time! First up Misha. It’s ridiculous to say that even though I was just chatting to him a couple of hours ago, I was still a bit nervous about my photo with Misha, not Jensen nervous, because that’s some weird level of nerves that causes my motor functions and communication skills to become non-existent, these nerves are more like, I don’t want to look like a nit and I’m not sure what he’s going to do, nerves. Of course he was totally lovely as usual, so….hug, flash, thanks, smile, moving right along. Next was Richard. Now Richard’s photographer was having trouble with his light reflecting thingy so most of us that went up and got our photos had a little cuddle while we waited. I love Richard. He’s an absolute favourite of mine. Such a nice and funny guy and damn handsome… Anyhooo…after the Richard cuddle, umm photo, I hightailed it to grab my friend Shelley because we were sharing a Misha op. This was Shelley’s first con and though the two of us had been chatting on twitter and FB for ages, this was the first time we’d met! Yay. I decided to freshen up before my next Misha photo and grabbed some gum, then grabbed Shelley and her bro, who was super excited to be there too…ok, side note, I am so proud of Aussie men (not a statement you’ll hear that often from an Aussie woman) because at this convention, there were a lot of guys. The most I have ever seen at any convention. If you looked around, it didn’t appear to be an oestrogen fest. There were guys! Anyway, Shelley and I got on either side of Misha and snuggled in. Snap, flash… Photographer: ”We’re going to have to do that again, you looked like this” points at me and chews. Gum. Damn. I turned to Misha and Shelley, “Oh I’m so sorry I was chewing my gun” Misha: ”You’re so unprofessional” Me mumbling…”Umm yes sorry, you can’t take me anywhere” Gah! So I did a Jensen and tucked my gum up the back of my mouth (surely you’ve noticed that boy is always chewing gum). Smiled again…this time without the jaw movement and moved along.

Next photos were Jim and Traci. Jim first. Jim gives good hugs. He’s such a snugly bear of a man. Traci and I cuddled and had a little chat, she called me sister again and then I was on my way. Last stop was Corin. Ok, let me just rave one more time. This guy is a darling. Can he come to every convention please and can I, like, go out to dinner with him or something? He’s so nice, lovely to talk to and very easy on the eyes. I just love that he hugs everyone and I’m talking after the photo, it’s hi, hug, photo, thanks, grin, great big hug! Nawww. He’s awesome. Then I had my Angel sandwich! Squished in between Misha and Richard. They were having a huge conversation and I just stood there between them with their arms around me as they continued to chat. I said “Just talk amongst yourselves.” Misha: “Thank you we will” Richard: “Yes don’t mind us” and that was the end of my photos. I really wanted the one with all the guests, but it was expensive and I have Vancon looming, Vegascon booked with ops to be purchased and Dallascon2013 calling my name…a gal has to draw the line somewhere!

While I write this by the way, I am sitting drinking tea from a Metallicar mug, snuggled under a Dean blanky…

So now was the time for more sitting and waiting. Everything was running really late but no one cared. We watched fan vids and Changing Channels while we sat. I popped out to grab a water from the café and bumped into Corin outside. He was getting some photos with some boys….told you….boys! I just said hi and moved along and let him have his break in peace. Our first guest on stage was Traci…

Traci:

Wonderful, beautiful Traci. Traci talked about being an actress and how everyone assumes that because she’s an actress she has money, but as a working actress she sometimes wonders where her next pay check is coming from and how she’s going to make her rent that month, But she loves it and wouldn’t do anything else. (Ooo while I think about it, at breakfast she mentioned how she taught Ashton Kutcher yoga and he wouldn’t take off his socks….we pondered the reason, Corin thought it might be because he has Hobbit feet!). Traci’s influences are Meryl Streep and Marion Cotillard. She said her favourite thing about acting is being able to wear another person and she slipped on a few personas to show us including Pamela. She also loves being able to tell a story. But her most favourite thing is the fan interaction. She spoke about how lucky she is to have us and to have that instant feedback and close contact with everyone via the conventions and twitter etc.

She talked about the porch scene in Lazarus Rising when Pamela first meets the boys. She said she asked Jim if she could sort of pick him up when she hugged him, of course he was all for that! She talked about the Dean kiss. She said that she thought for sure it would’ve been Sam she was kissing so she was surprised it was Dean. She said everyone said how lucky she was to get to kiss Jensen, but she thought HE was lucky! She also said, you really can bounce a nickel off that thing. Nice! Traci told us that when they killed her off Eric rang to tell her personally. She was in the car so pulled over so she could concentrate on the phone call, which was a good thing, because when she hung up she burst into tears and had a really good cry. Then she talked about how she’d hoped that we would have got to see Pamela’s Heaven. She figured her and Ash would be up there going to concerts and rocking in out together. She told us how difficult it was to do the scene where Pamela’s eyes burned out. She had to keep them wide open for the CGI guys and keeping your eyes open while you scream is tricky, so she crossed them! So basically the raw footage of that scene is Pamela screaming with her eyes crossed! Why was that not on the gag reel? There was lots of talk about farts, fart jokes, Jared’s massive eating causing his equally massive farts, of which, she says, he’s very proud. She said farts are big on set. Hey, everyone loves a good fart joke right? She also talked about how it’s such a family atmosphere up there in Vancouver, with dogs running around and everyone just enjoying everyone else’s company. 

Then she talked about love and how love is love. She discussed same sex marriage and the support she feels out there in the Supernatural community for same sex marriage and equality in all relationships. She talked about how she married a couple in New York recently, whom had contacted her via twitter. Years ago she got a one of those online certificates so that she could conduct weddings, but this was the first time she’d used it. Then, before the panel was over she popped off stage to grab her drum. She asked us if we’d mind if she conducted a ritual to finish off the session. She then had us repeat after her the words to And When I Rise. Then, she drummed and sang while we sang along with her. Except I couldn’t sing very well, because it was about now that I started to get teary! It was one of the most wonderful things I’ve experienced. Traci’s voice is beautiful. She drummed and sung as the whole auditorium harmonised with her. It was a moving and simply amazing experience. I find Traci an inspiration. Her spirit shines through. She’s so connected with herself and with the world around her. She looks bright and happy and healthy. What a fantastic woman. After the convention she was off to Uluru. She’s going to write an article on the experience. She had to get all the appropriate permissions from the Aṉangu people, the traditional land owners of Uluru, because she’ll be visiting and photographing some of the sacred areas not open to the public. I can’t wait to hear what she thinks of our Outback. I have a feeling visiting Uluru and talking to the original people of that land, will be something that she will connect with deeply.

Next up was lunch…which consisted of a Devil’s trap cookie made by my friend Kat. Then Corin and Richard hit the stage.

Corin and Richard:

I think Richard should do stand up. The guy is funny! And I’m pretty sure you could pair him with anyone and he’d be ok. I thought the Corin/Richard duo was odd for a panel, but of course it wasn’t. They bounced off each other wonderfully.

Richard talked about doing a scene with the Js and their height difference. How when everyone hit their mark you actually couldn’t see Richard in frame. Everyone was “Richard, just get on your mark” and he was “I am!” but you couldn’t see him. So they stood him on a box. Still no good. So then they stood him on a bunch of boxes! Corin mentioned that he’s 6ft and Richard was highly unimpressed. He said the Js are uncomfortably tall...and also dreamy…so handsome. His words! One of the girls asking a question had it written down on a flash card, so Richard went and took it off her. He read the whole card and decided to answer the Jim question instead, which was what was his/Bobby’s favourite dance. Richard then did a full on Cossack dance. No kidding. The arms crossed leg kick out thing and the whole deal!

The next girl got dragged on to stage and was made to sit down as Corin and Richard exited. They went back into the green room with their mics on and basically issued instructions to her. Before they would come back, they made the poor girl get up and dance like a maniac. Bless her for doing it! I’m thinking a bunch of people high tailed it out of the question line after that! The guys were asked what the most disgusting thing they’d ever eaten was; Richard said Vegemite (sacrilege!) and Corin said he dug Vegemite (see…he’s awesome). Corin said he’d eaten calves brains in Belize and Armadillo meatballs, which he considered tantamount to eating road kill. A girl in the line was dressed as Cass. She had on a t-shirt that had the blue tie on it and was wearing the trench and a mini skirt. Richard was impressed with Cass’ legs! He made her parade across the stage!

The guys talked about their on screen deaths. Corin was totally surprised when Christian turned out to be a demon. He had no idea. He still doesn’t know if he was ever human or was always a demon and just faking it the whole time (we all yelled out yes he was). Richard said that he was totally bummed when he read the script where Gabe got killed in. He said he went (excuse the language) “Fuck they killed me….oh no wait, I’m not dead. Oh fuck, he killed me. Dick! Oh hang on, I’m in a porno!” Richard has a whole scenario created as to how they can bring the Trickster/Gabriel back. He’s really over thought it! He thinks maybe Gabe took over the Trickster and his meat suit or something…I don’t know, he ranted it out really quickly and then said something about blaming the drugs. There was then a question about going back in time. Richard wanted to go back and stop Hitler from writing Mein Kampf. Corin wanted to go back and invent the paperclip, except he’d call it the Corinclip. They discussed their favourite actors – Richard: Gary Oldman, Steve Martin in his early years, Misha, because he’s like a father to Richard. Corin: Johnny Depp, James Bridges, Sam Rockwell and he loves Sigourney Weaver.

They were asked what their least/most favourite thing about Australia is. Corin said his least favourite was that he didn’t live here! Richard said Corin was hitting on Australia. Richard said his least favourite was the flight. He doesn’t like to fly or sit still so 14 hours on a plane is hard work (hey, we’re used to it!) and his most favourite thing was the unstoppable sexiness of the people. Word. By now of course the guys were in the crowd. They were walking the steps of the auditorium. Some poor girl chose exactly the wrong moment to go to the bathroom and then try to get back to her seat. Corin blocked her. Side step. Block. Side step. Block. Side step. Block. Side step. Block. Honestly, you have to admire her tenacity! She ended up getting one of the awesome Corin, all enveloping hugs…so actually it was a good move on her behalf. Then they were done. Richard and Corin’s panel was great fun. Lots of laughter. These two guys are a couple of my favourites for panels. I remember Corin’s one in Chicago was hugely entertaining. Thankfully Corin comes to Aussie a lot for various expos etc., so fingers crossed I’ll see him again soon. (Yes Amy has a crush).

Next on the stage was Jim.

Jim:

“G’day Idjits!” Jim’s a well read, well versed in just about everything, man. He sung us an Australian folk song. The Ballad of Moreton Bay. He was surprised most people didn’t know it and that we weren’t taught that particular song in school. He’s known it since he was a child. He has a nice voice. Jim talked about acting in a wheelchair. He said he didn’t like it because he likes to move when he acts. But being in that chair, he was respectful of people who live in a wheelchair because he could get up and walk away when he was done, so he was conscious of all the people who can’t. The old prank question was asked again. He said it was the one question that he can guarantee he will always be asked at a convention. Yep. Anyway, he said he’s never been pranked per say, not like Misha and his car full of coins, but basically, Jared will always try and make him laugh. Most recently, they were shooting the scene in Survival Of The Fittest where Bobby was saying goodbye to the boys and telling them when it was their time to go, go. He said that the camera was on him and all he could see was Jared poking his head above the camera and in a gap in the equipment pulling crazy faces. Here he was delivering his death eulogy and Jared was trying his hardest to make him crack. Jared does it to him all the time. “And you thought they were professionals” Jim said.

He discussed GhostBobby again and how he didn’t like it. Well he said with GhostBobby the pay was better than being DeadBobby but he preferred the status quo. He liked the relationship Bobby had built up with the brothers and he enjoyed playing that dynamic. But he understood why the writers did it. He understood the drama and the storytelling and from that point of view he thought it was great, but from his point of view, the point of view of both the actor and the character, he preferred it when Bobby was alive. He has no idea what the future holds for Bobby, he only hopes that he is back at some point, preferably whole again and not as a spirit. Jim then said after being overseas for a while, he loved that we spoke English. After that he pretty much didn’t understand about 50% of the questions! We do speak fast. Then the dancing question came up again. Jim said, Bobby doesn’t dance, however Jim does, if he’s drunk enough. He’s been known to do the Timewarp. Oh Mr Beaver, red rag to a room full of Aussies. Yes we all taunted him into doing it. We yelled out all the words. I think we got a partial jump to the left, and then a step to the right, we got the hands on the hips and sort of got the knees in tight…he drew the line at the pelvic thrust!

Jim talked about whether he ever thought he’d have been on Supernatural as long as he was. He said, that no, he thought it was a one shot deal. But when he was leaving after wrapping his first episode all the crew were clapping him on the back and saying, we’ll see you again, you didn’t die. Now, 53 eps later…. The kissing Crowley question came up…again. Jim said, he has a soft beard but Mark’s stubble is scratchy! He told us to be careful what you wish for because he’d been teasing Kripke for ages, asking for a love scene and then of course he got a kissing scene, but with Mark Sheppard! He said Mark’s been riding that one kiss to fame ever since. Jim did enjoy kissing Sheriff Mills. He likes Kim/Jody a lot. He said, “It was gooooooood.” By the way, I pretty much think everyone flirts with Jim. There’s a lot of very easy teasing and flirting going back and forth.

Jim was asked if he’d ever thought about writing for Supernatural and he said, funnily he had. He’d started working up an idea that all took place in Bobby’s house…and then they burnt Bobby’s house down. So then he came up with another idea….and then they killed Bobby. So then he stopped. He said that was it because he wasn’t going to write something he wasn’t in! Though if he did write something for Bobby, he’d make sure Sheriff Mills was in it. Adorable! He was asked about his relationship with the Js. He said they get on great. He loves working on the show because it’s so much fun. Everyone gets along and has a great time on set. Everyone loves each other. He talked about how his relationship with the Js is that of a friend and a peer/colleague. That they are equals. He’s not like a father figure to them, that’s just the character he plays. He said the Js are both great at what they do, talented, Jim’s just a little “…older than them, 6 months….ok 8”.

He talked about his favourite onset memory. It was during the shooting of Death’s Door. They had what he thought was one of those emergency training deals where everyone has to muster and watch a movie. He went and hid out in his trailer, but a PA knocked on the door and said, sorry Jim but you really need to do this. So he grumbled and grizzled his way over to where they were all supposed to meet and walked into the room to see everyone in the crew there. He knew something must have been up because Jensen and Jared were there and they’re never on set before he is! He sat down and waited for the health and safety video to start but instead it was a Bobby tribute video. He was incredibly moved. Many people cried. He ascertained that he didn’t. He said, “Jim don’t cry.” Yeah, I’m sure. He also talked about Jensen directing and how, as an actor, he felt totally safe and supported by Jensen. He said he’d watched Jensen essentially training for that role for years, asking questions of every guest director that came on board, absorbing as much of the technical information that he could. Jim was never interested in that stuff. Directing is too much work and he just wanted to act, but he said, Jensen was always interested. He’d been preparing for the role of director for years. (Side note….I get irrationally excited when the cast members pontificate about Jensen, I remember Jim saying on one of the WinBros podcasts that Jensen is a “Magnificent human being.” Seriously. I feel like getting that tattooed across my heart.). Anyhoooo, that was it. Jim wrapped up by signing a hat for auction. He wrote Balls and Idjit on it. Of course he did.

Last on the days agenda was the inimitable Mr Collins.

Are you all still with me?

Misha: (warning…ahead be bad language and smut)

This is the 5th Misha panel I’ve seen and I think it was the best. The man was on fire. He was suitably dirty for the Aussie audience…we aren’t very pc at best of times, and we really love a bit of cheek and smut…and he wasn’t too smart assed as sometimes I’ve seen him get. Like at Chicon, where he obviously thought the questions were inane and basically told everyone off.

Misha made several comments at this convention about the mythology of the series. He said it at breakfast, on stage and at the autos. Basically, he says he doesn’t understand how they can kill off and then bring back Cass with no explanation. I remember at the breakfast he was saying about how Cass was walking around naked, how did he survive, why wasn’t that explained? I’d said what about the wife thing too, he said, exactly! Then he added, though if any of us saw him walking around naked we’d put him in our car. He’s probably right. He said he thinks it’s interesting the writers don’t seem to bother using mythology to explain that kind of thing anymore, they just do it. At the panel, he said this in relation to the fact that Cass is back and obviously, for him that’s a good thing. But what I heard at the breakfast and at the autos came across as a bit snarky quite frankly! Misha is Misha, so you kind of expect that bluntness from him and he tended to say it as a throw away line, so if you wanted you could take it in jest, but I’m torn by his openness in saying that he’s not impressed with how elements of the story are being written. As an ongoing cast member, I always wonder if it’s cool to be bagging out the writers like that? I mean, I guess I’ve heard Jensen do it a couple of times too, they really let their guard down a bit the conventions. They know we love and respect them so I think they’re more honest with us than they sometimes intend to be. Jared totally bagged out Dawn Ostroff in his meet and greet! Jensen’s criticised a few things but then he sort of professionalisms his way right over the top of it. Misha just basically out right said he thought it sucked! He said, how many times has Cass died anyway? We all started yelling out answers. He said, “This is not a guessing game!” I do appreciate his candour (amongst other things) and the trust he shows in sharing these opinions.

There was a question about furniture making and failure. I guess this came from the Rome con with his resume saying he makes furniture and Jensen confirming that Misha’s pretty good at it. Misha had no idea what this girl was talking about. She soldiered on asking again if he’d had any furniture failures. He still didn’t get it. He came forward to the front of the stage and leant down and said to me and the ladies sitting next to me. “What? What is she talking about?” We’re going, furniture, you make furniture right? Have you had any failures? He was so confused. He’s looking at us like we’re insane and then I think the penny dropped. “Oh furniture. Yes I make furniture.” He then talked about how the only failures he’d had were ones involving blood. Basically every piece of furniture Misha has ever made is tinged with his blood! He said he always nips off the top of his fingers with the rotary saw (he needs to be more careful, my dad cut three fingers off with a rotary saw!). He says he’s accident-prone at the best of times and he doesn’t like wearing the stupid safety gear so he’s continually injuring himself. So all of his furniture is imbedded with his DNA. Then he asked if the girl was satisfied. This became a running joke. Was he satisfying us. Yes, you know what he’s talking about….

Then there was a badly cloaked Destiel question. Why did Misha think Cass has bonded so strongly with Dean? (Language warning) Misha: “You mean why bond with Dean over Sam when obviously Cass wants to fuck Sam so much?” *Audience tries to pick themselves off the floor* Then he said to all of us “Now see what you made me do. Shame on you.” And yet, he continued…. He said Cass likes Dean for conversation where as “…Cass and Sam, its just sex. It’s more shallow.” He said that basically they can’t put him into scenes with Jared, because Jared just wants to pull Misha’s pants down. The poor girl asking the question sort of tries to slink off… “Are you satisfied? Wait, did you just fake it? Or did you come twice?” Yes…it was that kind of panel. He then apologised, “I’m sorry I’m very vulgar today.” We all yelled out, don’t worry about it you’re in Australia mate! Then he told us how a certain convention organiser in the US had the nerve to ask him not to swear…he issued a string of expletives to illustrate his point! I think by this stage we were all in tears and finding it hard to draw a breath!

He was asked if he thought things would’ve been different for Cass had he not met the Winchesters and he said, well yes, he wouldn’t have got drunk, he wouldn’t have been to a brothel. Then he stopped and said, “Cass is such a nerd isn’t he.” He talked about how Cass had really been through the ringer but that he’d finally got the hug. I think we all yelled out…well only sort of! He talked about Win Wenders’ Wings Of Desire and that basically Kripke just stole the idea for Castiel from that movie. Because in Wings Of Desire there’s the Angel Cassiel, who falls. But Cassiel got lots of sex and Cass didn’t. Misha was hoping that when Cass fell he’d be able to explore more human emotions and failings and get loads of sex, but that didn’t happen. Misha was disappointed, mostly through the lack of sex I gathered.

The next girl up managed to stop Misha in his tracks and leave him speechless. Girl: “Congratulations on your face…it’s fantastic.”

Misha:………………………………………………..

Yeah. He literally had no idea what to say! Finally he said, “Well thank you!” She asked him about candy, because she was going to send Richard and Corin some Tim Tams (a yummy chocolate biscuit) and what would he like. We all started yelling Fantales. He should remember these from last time he was here because he gave us all a Fantale at the cocktail party. I may or may not still have mine (I still have mine). Anyway, someone pegged a Fantale at him, which he ran and got and ate. Big mistake, they are very chewy. Then someone gave him another lolly called a redskin. It’s this red/pink, impossibly hard stuff. He said that was the real deal, the Fantale was more like foreplay. Then he took off his jacket while the congratulations on your face girl sung stripper music!

He was asked if he ever improvised in his scenes and he said no, he’s been specifically asked not to! He said he did however improvise the look down at his crotch in the pizza man porno scene. He thought they’d cut it out but we said, nope they left that in. He was surprised they could get away with it. Obviously he hadn’t seen the episode or he’d have known even Dean said he had a boner!

Then he was asked a question about Random Acts. Cue serious Misha. He sat down to tell us about how Random Acts had recently bought a car for a family with a 3-year-old daughter who had cancer. With the car it made it easier to get back and forth for her treatments. He said it was wonderful to see how something like that could make a substantial material difference in their lives. He’s continually impressed by the enthusiastic and generous energy of the fandom. He spoke about Haiti and the orphanage he’s involved with there and about one little boy who’s father, a widower, didn’t know what to do with the boy while he was at work so he chained the boy to a table. Now the child lives at the orphanage is learning to walk and talk…at age 4…and has completely changed from being in a sustainable loving environment. The girl who asked the question said, “See you in Haiti” Misha said, “No way, will you be there?” and excitedly ran over and met her properly.

The next question continued this serious note, if there was a zombie apocalypse, which 3 real people would you take and what would be your weapon. Misha’s answer… Spiderman, Batman and Wonderwoman and a Fantale, because if the zombies were eating those they wouldn’t be able to bite him. True fact and great idea. Fantales take forever to chew. He was asked about a possible Cass spin-off. Misha said he thinks that Cass has an addictive personality; “Obviously” so Cass would be up to no good and strung out the whole time. He talked about when he grows old how he’s going to explain Supernatural to his grand children. “There was a time when women would scream for me.” He said he’s saying this while weighing 400lbs and being stuck to the couch. As a last question, he was asked what Cass’ theme song would be and he said it would be violent gangsta rap, something about bitches. Then he was done…well not quite done, because next up was the auction!

Misha decorated his shirt. He didn’t know what to draw, so people yelled stuff out and he started to draw Angel wings…then he realised we were all watching so he ran into the middle of the stage, turned the chair over and hid behind it while he drew. Then he jumped up, with his back to us, pulled the t-shirt over his head and proudly spun around. Here it is. It went for $1600AUS.

Next Corin came out and decorated a t-shirt…. He chose to put his on a little differently. I’m sorry I can’t remember what the t-shirt sold for…for obvious reasons it was the least of my thinkin

 

And then it was all over. Boo. After the convention I went with Jules from Superwiki, Shelley and her brother and Amy and Rebecca to the local pub, where we relived all the fun, looked through my photos on my camera and talked conventions, genre TV and Vancon over several….like SEVERAL….bottles of champagne. It was a good day. It was a good night. Supernatural conventions and Supernatural fans…yeah, you’re all my happy place!

That’s it. Oh my gosh I am so sorry it was so long! But I warned you…I took notes!

I hope you enjoyed the write up. Sorry about the language…but blame Richard and Misha! Thanks for reading.

NEXT STOP VANCON!