*all
photos used are by me
So yeah. I pretty much fly around the world…well
over the Pacific…just for this guy. I don’t even remember how it started. Well,
I guess it started with Dean and blossomed into Jensen. The more I found out
about him, the more I dug him. Of course now, I’ve met him a few times and each
time seems more awesome than the last.
Once again, I had a really good photo op experience
with him. This time, I was surprisingly lucid! Jensen was in incredibly high
spirits. Maybe it was the birthday party the night before, maybe it was just
being home in LA. I don’t know, but he was obviously feeling good and he was
looking fine! So, to say I was excited about my meet and greet with Jensen at
Burcon would be…well, an understatement would be an understatement!
Jensen’s
Meet and Greet….Or 30 minutes in Heaven.
I had front row for Jared’s meet and greet, but
unfortunately for Jensen, I was in the back. Hazel sacrificed her 2nd
row seat to come and sit next to me. It was her AMOK act for the day. We’re a
little joined at the hip at these things so I was very happy she did. I managed
to orchestrate a moving of the seats. I suggested we squish the rows
up…anything to get closer to the man…and everyone did. I then sort of sat/knelt
on my chair to get a bit of height and waited…….
I love the way Jensen moves. There I said it. He has
a way to his stride that feels very familiar, amongst other things. Maybe it’s
those bandy legs of his. So when he came into the room…striding….I was all
sixes and sevens. I so dig being this close to him. I don’t think I’ll ever get
used to him just coming in and saying “Hi” all friendly and relaxed and then
recognising a bunch of us. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to sitting with him
in this kind of situation, in this little room, with him right there. Never, ever.
Which is kind of nice right? It’s almost too much for my Jensen lovin’ heart to
cope with. Plus he was looking particularly spectacular in a soft, black, wool
hoodie and scruffy jeans, with a bit of scruffy stubble….yup…..
One of the things I really love, well one of the
million things I really love, about Jensen, is his listening face. That’s what
I call it. He has this expression. He really concentrates when you speak to
him. He leans right forward in his chair, one eyebrow arched, as he listens
intently to what you have to say. Then he sits back, has a think and then
answers, zeroing right in on you, holding eye contact while he thoughtfully
responds to your, probably months in the making, question. It’s amazing, it
makes you feel special, it makes you feel like he’s interested in talking to
you, like he’s enjoying interacting with you and, well, it’s completely
discombobulating!
Anyhoo, the first thing Jensen said was, what was with
the separate buildings? He joked that they needed a tram to get everyone back
and forth. He wasn’t kidding. It was like a mini marathon every time you had to
go from one place to the next! It was funny that he mentioned it. I mean he had
to go from the photo room at the back of the other building all the way over to
another wing for the meet and greet and then back again for the panel! I wish
I’d seen that, him being walked past the fans with that ridiculous caricature
of a security guard that was with him the whole time (not Clif, some man
mountain who never took off is sunnies and looked like he came straight out of
a box from the cliché security guard store), but I was sitting in a small room
waiting for him to arrive, with baited breath, so I missed that particular
circus!
He rocked up with a friend called Chris who sat in
on the meet and greet to “Audit the class” as Jensen put it. From something
Jensen said later I got the sense that he was a pal from high school. I wonder
what on earth he thought of the 19 women and 1 man hanging on every word his
buddy had to say! Weirdness I’m sure.
Right of the bat we heard how Jensen found the
shooting of Bobby shocking. He was busting to read the follow up script to “How
To Win Friends And Influence Monsters”. Usually the scripts are emailed to him,
but not this time. The script for “Death’s Door” was hand delivered. Because of
that, he knew something was up and it must be big. It wasn’t a complete
surprise as he and Jared had been given a heads up, but he was still blown away
by it. And though I get the distinct feeling neither of the guys are at all
keen on the killing of Bobby storyline, they both admit that “Death’s Door” was
an amazing episode, their favourite in fact.
I got to ask Jensen a question. Having been in the
Chicago meet and greet and hearing how he sometimes has to ‘Deanify’, as I like
to put it, dialogue, I wondered if he ever had to tackle anything in the
script, around an action or plot point, that just didn’t feel right and how he
dealt with that. He said, yes sometimes an action but rarely a storyline or plot
point. More often than not it’s simply just a tweak to the dialogue to make the
script sound true to Dean. He spoke again about how they have one outside
writer a season submit a script. He asked his buddy Chris about this, as apparently,
Chris is a writer. Chris didn’t know. Jensen chastised him. We all grinned like
idiots. He then spoke again about the scene where Sam finds out that Dean
killed Amy, and how it sounded like a rom-com until they rewrote it while sitting
in the makeup trailer and he said Amy…while looking right at me. Amy. That’s
me. Amy! I think my heart shot out of my mouth! Yes, I’m that ridiculous….
One of my favourite moments was Jensen’s Bob Singer
impersonation. Bob seems to talk to Jensen in some kind of, mumbling, body
language, arm-waving code. He basically just has to shrug his shoulders and
make an “Ermmmmm” sound, put his hands in the air and walk away and Jensen has
it! It means, slow it down, make it longer, or do something different. Jensen
got up and acted the whole thing out complete with crazy arm movements and
funny faces. Bless.
Like Jared, he also talked about hitting the reset
button. He wants to get “the band back together” as he put it. He wants all the
old characters back, the dead ones. He also said he didn’t think they’d be
listened to because they’re the actors not the writers. But I thought it was
really interesting that they both want this. I don’t think it’s necessarily
that they don’t like the direction of the season, because both commented on the
old school vibe of season seven, which they both like, but I think it’s more as
actors, having an ensemble to work off is more rewarding than just having the two
of them and as Jensen said, this far into the series, really, they’re making
the show for us now, they’re not going to get a slew of new viewers, so if the
fans want people back, that should happen. I love that they think they’re
making the show for us. It makes me appreciate everything they do, all those
long hours away from home, even more. I have to say I don’t mind the reset
concept, but not the lose a whole season, disregard what the brothers, but more
importantly we, have invested and gone through over the last year or more and
just throw it in the trash concept. Uh-ah. Not like! Seems like a jip to me.
But I know many people do like the idea. Having said that, I would love to see
the band get back together. I would love to see some of my favourite dead guys
and gals come back. But if they do it, it better be perfection, s’all I’m
saying. I didn’t say any of this to Jensen of course. That would have required
me to be coherent!
One thing to look forward to, the Air Supply, All
Out Of Love scene in “Slash Fiction” has an extended version that’ll hopefully
make the gag real. The song was in the script but then they took it out because
it was too expensive. But John Showalter thought they should do it anyway. So
in true Jensen style, he went for it. They did the whole song and John said,
“You just cost Warner Bros 20 grand” because he knew there was no way they
couldn’t use it once they saw it. Personally, that was one of the highlights of
the season for me! I loved the moment…when Dean turns, closes his eyes,
scrunches up his nose and nods his head to the beat….gold. I can’t wait to see
the long version! Jensen can be a huge goof.
Hazel asked a question. She asked if post
Supernatural, is there was anything he wouldn’t do. Like, if there was a role
that was morally opposed to his beliefs or if there was a line that he wouldn’t
cross. He was beautiful about it. He said his grandmother once said to him
about acting that it’s in here – points to his head – not in here – points to
his heart. So for him, there is an intellectual separation between the content
and his personal beliefs. But yes, there are lines he will not cross. He didn’t
share what they were. Not that I expected him to. It’s funny, Hazel and I
discussed this question and both said, he won’t tell us what that line is. I
like that about Jensen. I like that level of privacy.
Someone else commented to him about how amazing the
end of “Adventures In Babysitting” was, with the fake smiling. He talked about
how that was in the script and sometimes that makes him nervous, when a
reaction is actually written into the script like that. He’s worried that he’s
reading it right, that he’s doing what the writer wanted. But the fan that
asked the question said it was amazing. Jensen thanked her. I wanted to tell
him, I barely know a single soul who can get through that scene without
bursting into tears. But I couldn’t get my brain and my mouth to connect
quickly enough. Blame it on the Jensen effect. Jensenated. Totally.
He also talked, once again, about how his music
taste is very much like Dean. He loves classic rock. Add a bit of blues and a
bit of country and you have Jensen. He turned to his friend Chris and said how
he’d been like that since high school right? Chris smiled and nodded. Poor
Chris. Honestly…what on earth must he have thought? He looked like he was
enjoying it though, but I wonder if it was an eye opener for him, to see his
pal in the light of adulation.
There was also a question about his best and worst
working experiences. His best of course is “Supernatural”. He said it was the
best thing that every happened to him. That he’d made life long friendships and
that the crew was like family. The worst was “Devour”. He suggested we don’t
watch it…we all shuffled uncomfortably, because obviously, we’ve all watched
it! He said that the movie was rewritten as they were making it, so the movie
he signed on for was not the movie that came out. I found myself wondering if
that chair scene was in the original script or not. You all know what I’m
talking about. Do not pretend for a minute you don’t! Anyway, Jensen said he
still couldn’t figure out what the Hell the end meant. I have to agree with
him, I have no clue either! He also said that “Ten Inch Hero” held a special
place in his heart, because that was where him and Danneel fell in love.
Nawwww.
I can’t remember what the question was, but Jensen
ended up talking about when Supernatural ends. He said he’s looking forward to
getting back to his life. To seeing his wife again, to going and spending some
time with his family in Dallas, to being able to hang out with friends. He said
he’s not there yet, he still loves the show and doing the show, but he can feel
it’s coming and he can feel that he’s going to want to move on and have a
change, just not yet. This is what I was saying in the Jared report when he
discussed 8 and a possible truncated 9. I got the distinct feeling they’ve got
a vision for the next couple of years. We know that they’re all for one and one
for all, so I guess maybe they’ve discussed it. I must admit I found it a tad
confronting. But realistically, we all know it has to end in the next couple of
years and we all know that this, brilliantly talented pair have to move on
eventually. Of course we will follow them! They can’t get rid of us that easy!
At the end of Jensen discussing this subject, me being the smartarse I am, said
“But what if after Supernatural you got offered the most an amazing opportunity
on an amazing show, and it shot in Vancouver?” He looked at me and said he’d knock it back. If it was in LA
yes, but he’s done with working away from home…
I saw him do a little nod so I knew the whole thing
was coming to an end. Hazel rounded it out with a question about the giant
slinky, did he really love it as much as it looked like he did? He laughed out
loud. I gotta say, Hazel was beyond stoked that she made him laugh like that!
No, he wasn’t in love with the slinky…he was acting. Well, yeah, we knew that,
but it was fun to see you bust out a laugh Mr. Ackles.
And it was over. He got up and thanked us for
coming. He said it’d been a pleasure to talk to us and I believed him. Jensen
puts so much thought into his answers. I love how thoughtful he is. He’s
respectful and conscious of giving us all the time we need. He makes sure he gets
to everyone who has a question. Man, I can’t even….
Then he strode out of the room and I knew I’d have a
long, long wait until I got this opportunity again. But I also knew that I
would definitely have this opportunity again, because like I said in part 1 of
this longer than long report, I just can’t see me ever giving up the
opportunity to sit in a small room with him. I just can’t. Jensen’s meet and
greet is the cherry on a huge pile of delicious convention ice cream and I
wouldn’t miss it for the world.
That’s it! I guess if you didn’t know before how
much of a Jensen fan I am, you sure do now!
I hope you enjoyed my reports. Thanks so much for
reading. See you next time.
You'll find part 1 here
You'll find part 2 - Jared's meet and greet here
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