Интервью с Дженсеном. Просто еще одно интервью.
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The stars of Supernatural sent fans into a frenzy at the Supernatural—All Hell Breaks Loose convention in Sydney, Australia. An audience of more than 500 were charmed by Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki and Misha Collins, who answered questions, signed autographs and posed for photos. Mt Druitt-St Marys Standard journalist Nikolaos Stavrou had a chat with Jensen Ackles about life on and off the small screen.
Technology, Dean and movies
Stavrou: You started on Days of our Lives then went onto Dark Angel, Smallville and now Supernatural. How was the transition from daytime soap opera to prime time?
Jensen Ackles: It’s been good. To be honest, with the soap opera’s daytime format, you really learn a lot very quickly. It’s almost like boot camp. Within the week you either know your lines, hit your mark, find your light or you just sink. So it’s kind of like tossing someone who doesn’t know how to swim into a pool and seeing if they’re going to survive. Sink or swim. I think that early on (I think I was 19 when I started on Days of our Lives) it taught me a lot about the technical aspects of acting. You know, making sure I could see the camera and that the camera can see me, making sure I feel the light, learning pages and pages of dialogue a day. That’s daytime (soap opera). So all that training in that format from television really got me ready for pretty much anything. So when I was done there and moved on to prime time, it was a pretty seemless transition. I knew the technical aspects and that’s one thing that - and (co-star) Jared’s (Padalecki) very good at it too - our camera guys and the people we work with love us for because it makes their job easy. So that’s a big thing. And it’s tough too. All these guest stars come on and they’ll be so involved in their performance that they’re four feet off their mark. Well guess what? The director of photography didn’t light you over here so you’re not in the light. Not to mention the focus puller didn’t have marks for you so you’re out of focus, not lit, so your performance is useless. So that kind of stuff is very important - people don’t realise that. I attribute a lot of knowledge of that to daytime television.
Stavrou: You also went from television to movies. You recently did My Bloody Valentine 3D. How was that?
Jensen: That was cool. That was quite a different experience because of the 3D aspect. I’m kind of a technology geek. I’m really into technology so when they said it was going to be done in 3D I was kind of really interested - I was like ‘yeah, that sounds very interesting’. And it was. It was a different process than what I’m used to - dealing with two cameras simultaneously at all times. Everything’s got to be lit really heavy, really hot, and there are a lot of different tricks you have to play with in 3D. Everything is shot a little wider because you want to feel more of the world as opposed to Supernatural where everything is really tight, right up in your face. You had to be a little more expressive with your body language as opposed to your facial expressions. So it was just little things like that. After the first day of filming, I had to slightly adjust my way of doing things just because of the format in which we were filming.
Stavrou: That was your first big movie?
Jensen: First theatrical release, yeah.
Stavrou: How much do you and your Supernatural character Dean Winchester share in common?
Jensen: We look alike (laughs). I’d say, at first, when we were shooting season one, we kind of shared a lot of similarities. I was still figuring out the character so I was relying on myself - my own experiences, my own traits - to convey that. But over the past several seasons he’s really taken on a life of his own so now he’s definitely a character. He and I don’t have a lot of things in common anymore. But it’s why I do this (points to his beard), grow my hair out a little bit, because it’s kind of a way for me to get rid of that identity for a while.
Stavrou: You tried out for the role of Sam Winchester originally. So if you had gone for that part first, obviously, you’d have a feel for that character as well?
Jensen: Right.
Stavrou: But what about the humourous side of Dean?
Jensen: I would say that’s the main reason I was attracted to that role more than I was to Sam. Not to take anything away from the character (of) Sam - it’s still a very important character, a very well-written character - but I just really liked the humour Dean brought to the table. I felt like it was something I could comfortably do.
Eye of the Tiger, season six and Smallville
Stavrou: What was the inspiration for the Eye of the Tiger outtake at the end of ‘Yellow Fever’? (season four
Jensen: That was honestly a fluke that lasted longer than it probably should have. It really was. Jared decided not to come in when he was supposed to. I kind’ve knew the words to the song and I thought it would be funny to just mouth some of the words. The cameras kept rolling so I kept going. I learnt a lot of sports when I was young and coach used to tell me “play ‘till you hear the whistle” so that’s kind of what I was doing there. I thought “hey, if he’s not going to say cut, I’m going to keep going”.
Stavrou: They’re talking about bringing in another character who’s supposedly your brother. What can you say about that?
Jensen: He’s not joining us; he’s not going to hop in the back of the Impala and be with us for the next two seasons, three seasons, however long we go. But he comes in and kind of lays a shocker down. It’s something to deal with and move on from.
Stavrou: Last month you were picked up for a fifth season - that’s great news.
Jensen: That is great news.
Stavrou: How long are you guys contracted for?
Jensen: For six (seasons).
Stavrou: Are you happy to do six seasons?
Jensen: It all depends. If we do as well as we did this year, next year it will probably look like ... I don’t know what (show creator) Eric (Kripke) has planned. If he can eke out another season then we can probably go six. There’s a lot of x-factors, a lot of x-factors.
Stavrou: Also, you don’t want to go too long? Smallville is now going into its ninth season, and it’s dropped off a bit.
Jensen: Well Al (Gough) and Miles (Miller), the creators, aren’t even there anymore. That’s one thing ... I love Tom (Welling). I think he’s got a great thing going on and I know that he’s made the most of his situation (which is great) but at the same time, he and Allison Mack are the only two left from the original cast. So, do I envy that aspect of it? No. You know, I don’t want the show to change so much that it’s like it’s taken a complete different life of its own, which that one kind of has. You know, they still get three-four million people watching every week ... that’s business then it turns into a business.
Stavrou: was it because of your work on season four of Smallville that they put you on Supernatural - because it was the same network?
Jensen: I wouldn’t say that entirely. Director David Nutter,, who directed the pilot of Supernatural, knew me from Dark Angel so I would probably say it was more because of Dark Angel. I would say it made it a little easier to get me because I was already on the network. So was Jared so they basically just yanked us off their existing shows and gave us a new (one). I was supposed to do two seasons of Smallville but they ended up killing me after the first one just because I had to do Supernatural.
Stavrou: You know, I envy you for working with Jessica Alba (on Dark Angel).
Jensen: You and a lot of people.
Stavrou: Do you have any other movie projects coming up?
Jensen: No. You know, we’ve been pretty much going solid straight since the writers strike ended over a year ago. We finished up on season three then I went off to Pittsburgh to do Valentine. Jared went down to Austin to do Friday (the 13th). As soon as we were done with the movies, we went straight back up to Vancouver to start season four. So, I needed some time (off). I need some time just to take a break, relax, see my family, see my friends, spend some time with my girlfriend - that kind of thing. So for right now, season five is the only thing I’ve got my mind on.
Stavrou: I know a fear of actors is being typecast. Given the theme of Supernatural, you both went off and did horror pictures ...?
Jensen: I don’t think that was necessary, you know. It was really just a sheer coincidence because we has a small limit of time to do anything. It just so happened that there were two movies of the same genre that were filming in that timeframe. I mean, there were several other movies I was meeting on that were completely different. One was a romantic comedy, one was (I think) like a war movie, but the schedules conflicted so I couldn’t do it. So that was the only thing that really fit. Not to say that’s the reason why I did it but, you know, I was considering it before I knew the schedule. But ultimately when it came down to it, those were the only two movies that really fit.
Stavrou: What would you like to do in the future post-Supernatural?
Jensen: Keep doing interesting roles, you know, keep working with talented people. I just love telling stories. That’s what we do and it’s a good business to be in, especially if you know you have talent.
Stavrou: For you it runs in the family anyway.
Jensen: This is true. I did learn a lot from my dad. He’s a big storyteller too.
Stavrou: You actually did a movie together, didn’t you?
Jensen: We did. It was a little independent scary movie and when the director asked (they had already cast me) “listen, any ideas for the role of your father?”, I said, “I’ve got a whacky idea!” It was cool. He came up, we shot a few days; it was good. The movie didn’t really do anything but it was fun to work with him.