In The Beginning
His purpose in coming up with the show was simple: to scare the crap out of his viewers. He said, “Our goal is to provide a scary experience that’s every bit as satisfying as anything that’s in the theaters. We’re hoping that ‘Supernatural’ is a show that makes you walk over and flip on the light when you’re home alone watching.” Well he has had success in this field, with Bloody Mary being on the top of the list of all things frightening! “I hope letters are written and people get upset because it means we’ve done our job,” he said. “We’ve given people nightmares when they go to bed.”
He did, however, have a different approach when he came up with the idea of “Supernatural.” In another interview he revealed, “Originally I wanted to do “Supernatural” as a movie, but this is as close to a dream project as I can get. “ But gladly things didn’t work out the way he wanted! I shudder to think that “Supernatural” could have been such a small part of our lives as a two hour movie – in fact it would never have had the same fan following as it does now.
The crew all found their way to the show in different ways. Jeremy Carver said, “As far as my awareness of “Supernatural,” I was a fan, I was not a huge fan. I mean, I’d seen several episodes, but I was not like an avid watcher. My wife actually was the one who introduced me to the show, because she was a pretty big fan. And that’s what got me into it. But when I came on staff, I had a lot of catching up to do in that way.”
Jensen Ackles was originally asked to audition for the role of Sam, but when he saw the script the character of Dean instantly appealed to him and he asked to read for it instead. He said, “When I read the script, Dean just jumped out at me. With that character there was always a bit more comedy, and a bit more recklessness, and it just appealed to me more. So when I asked to read for that, they were like, ‘That’s what we’re looking for.’ So it was great. I found a character that I really enjoy playing.”
And the characters did fit like a glove for each of the actors.
Eric Kripke said, “When we started casting, we had archetypes in mind, which were Han Solo and Luke Skywalker. We were really looking for Sam to be empathetic, kind, and likable, and really the audience surrogate. The person who the audience would most see themselves as and really carry the story through their eyes. And that required a really unique likability. For Dean, we were looking for Han Solo. We were looking for devil-may-care, charismatic, a little rough around the edges, a little edgy, says things that are not always the kindest thing, as long as they’re funny. And that was really what we started out with. And Jared and Jensen both just so inhabited those parts, and then proceeded to blow us away with how dimensionalized they were.”
About being casted as Bobby, Jim Beaver said, ”I first heard about “Supernatural” in a typical manner. I was invited to audition for the role. As usual, there were four or five of us auditioning for it. But, as I understand the story, when the producer Robert Singer, whom I knew from working with him on another show years before, found out I was among the auditioners, he offered me the role without seeing my audition.” This lovable character, a father figure for Sam and Dean was named after Robert Singer, who revealed in an interview at the 100th episode party that Eric Kripke had named the character in the scripts while he had been busy directing.
Actor Misha Collins who plays the role of the angel Castiel –or as Dean calls him a nerdy little dude with wings- said about his audition, “The audition process was a little bit unconventional, because the audition material that my agent sent me and what I prepared for when I went in was for a demon. I played the demon kind of nasty, kind of snarky, a little sarcastic, and Eric Kripke said, “Great. That was a really good demon, but the truth is this role is for an angel. We’re just trying to keep under wraps that we’re introducing an angel to the series, so that’s why we sent out material for a demon.” So he gave me some adjustments, and I executed them to his satisfaction evidently, because I got the part.”
I enjoyed reading this. Thank you.
Just curious though – where are the other six (alleged) gateways to Hell ? 😛
always a fun read, thank you!
It’s a great article, thank you.
I love the fact that Kripke chose Lawrence because of its proximity to Stull Cemetery, and at the end he decided to use it as the field of the Last battle and the gateway of hell where Lucifer is put back in 🙂
Love this, great to read the history. I wonder if Kripke knew at the beginning that he would have the epic showdown of his 5-year arc end in Stull Cemetery. It would be interesting to find out if he had planned that all those years ago.