Karen’s Toronto Con Report: Traci Dinwiddie and Richard Speight Jr. Panel

Between guests, I was able to meet Jen, who was not only my seating neighbour but had sold Alice the ticket that enabled me to go. Jen is from Massachusetts, and this was also her first “Supernatural” Convention. So we got to experience this together.

Between guests, I was able to meet Jen, who was not only my seating neighbour but had sold Alice the ticket that enabled me to go. Jen is from Massachusetts, and this was also her first “Supernatural” Convention. So we got to experience this together.

 

The next Guests were Traci Dinwiddie (Pamela Barnes) and Richard Speight Jr. (Trickster/Gabriel).  All photos of Richard Speight Jr. were taken by Ardeospina at the San Francisco convention in January.

Traci came out first.  The audience cheered.  After looking around and commenting on the size of the room, she asked if we wanted to go straight to talking about the boys.  She started by thanking everyone for liking her character.  She told us about her first day of filming, how the hair and makeup crew had warned her about how hardcore the fans were and to stay away from the chat rooms. Of course, she went to the chat room. I don’t believe she ever went back.

She asked if there was any T Bugs in the room. Many cheered.  She then asked if we wanted to do Q & A or Yoga or African drumming.  She said she would like to come back with a vengeance.  And in a sexy voice she would love to ‘Kiss them’, ‘Hug them’, ‘Pat them’.  She then suggested we Rock a Beat.  She brought out her African drum and ankle bells.  She then took off her jacket as she was ready to get serious. For such a slim woman, her arms were very muscular. Even the girl in front of us turned around in shock saying, “She’s f#@ ripped!”

Traci had asked for a volunteer, so a young woman named Mackenzie came up. Traci had her hold up her mic while she played the drums.  Since the room was made up of three sections of seating, we were asked to come up with three words.  Pudding, Assbutt and Pie were chosen.  The first row was to repeatedly say Pud – ding, middle row would then follow with Assbutt, last row in a higher pitch would follow with Pie.  The whole time Traci was keeping us in beat with her drum.  I have to say, it sounded pretty good; everyone stayed in rhythm for at least a couple of minutes before everyone started to laugh.

We then went into the Q & A.

Q – Asked about her experience on ” Supernatural.”

A – ‘The cast and crew are terrific. They are kind, super fun.  Jared and Jensen work long hours. They get along and bring their dogs to the set.  A cozy puppy pile.’

Richard Speight then came in saying how really sick he was of hearing about Jared and Jensen.  Everyone cheered him and laughed.  Richard then commented on Traci’s drum playing and wanted to know why she wasn’t at Karaoke last night.  She asked him if he sang, he said he did “Sweet Home Alabama,” but whether they could consider it singing, was a different story.  Richard then advised Traci to go back to talking about the ‘ Love, love, love’ while he visited the back of the room.

Q – Do you believe in Psychic abilities and would you want to have them.

T – She does believe in them and said she does get premonitions.  She has a friend that made a prediction about her and it did come true, but she didn’t want to discuss it as it wasn’t a happy situation.

Q – What was the most awkward thing to happen on camera?

R – ‘My own camera at home?’ Everyone laughed.  ‘I had to rape someone.’ 

T – ‘I can’t top that one’

Q – Who in history would you want to play?

T – Joan of Arc, Susan B. Anthony.

R – Hendrix  

A girl from Quebec started to ask a question but Richard stopped her to ask if she was French. He then started speaking the little French that he knew and she, in turn, spoke in French.

Q- What was it like kissing Jensen?

T – ‘Like sucking on a Jolly Rancher’

Traci asked if we had heard the story. She explained that when you’re going to do a kissing scene, the actors make sure their breath is fresh.  That day Traci had some kind of tea and Jensen had a candy called Jolly Rancher.  However, when Traci gave that same response in Europe, it was translated a little differently. To them she was saying she was sucking on a jolly(happy) rancher(farmer).

R – The next day there was a line of farmers showing up at the hotel.

T – He was a gentleman and I was a lady, to a certain extent.

Q – I didn’t hear the full question but it was about doing the scene when Gabriel was trapped in the Ring of Fire?

R – Advised that the scene wasn’t as hard as it looked, that it was mostly dialog.

Q – Again I had a hard time hearing the full question but it was about with the Trickster being badass did he use his characters intimidation to an advantage?

R – No, I was more concerned about what it was going to be like with the crew.

T- With being on the show, she loved the bloopers and hoped she would make it into them. She was worried about the kissing scene and whether she would get hate mail, but it was all happy.

Q – What was their funniest moment?

T – When she had coughed and tooted at the same time during the scene when she was dying or as she put it ‘When Pamela was going down’. Of course once she realized what she had said, she explained she didn’t mean it that way.  She had told both Jensen and Jared about cough/fart between takes, figuring Jared would understand the most being a Bean Fart Machine. However, when they went back to filming, all she could hear was the boys snickering.

Richard added that with Jared being so tall, you had to be careful where you stood when he farted. He then demonstrated being farted in the face.

R – His funniest moment was his first scene in “Tall Tales” when they are walking up the stairs and reached the landing. The cameraman was saying that Jensen was good and Jared was good but he couldn’t find Richard.  Richard then demonstrated kneeling behind a table with just the top of his head peaking out saying ‘I’m right here’. The cameraman still couldn’t see him so he ended up having to stand on 4 apple crates to make the scene.  He made the comment ‘Man you guys are tall!’ then he imitated Jensen with ‘Yeah, I’m 6’1,” and I’m the short one. It sucks.’

Q – In “Band of Brothers,” there was a scene where Richard had eaten a type of cheese where it was suppose to be bad. Was it really that bad tasting?

R – Yes, it was awful.

Q – Do you actually prefer Pepsi Max?

R- ‘Is this being filmed? Why of course!’

Q – Did Richard always know he was going to be Gabriel?

R – No. His manager had called asking if he wanted to do an unknown show in Vancouver, you play a janitor. He said yes. When he got the script, he thought, ‘Hey, I’m a janitor with superpowers.’ When he found out he was Gabriel, he had asked Jeremy Carver about what he needed to know about being Gabriel. Jeremy had told him ‘Well, we don’t really follow the word of the Bible.  He later found out he was a neighbour of Jeremy’s. Apparently, it was garbage day and Richard woke up to hear the trucks outside and realized he hadn’t gotten his garbage out. So he ran out with just his skivvies and a housecoat. While on the street, Jeremy walked by and greeted him.

Last Question.

Q – What was it like filming the Erotica Scene?

R – He told the story that usually in the small scenes they have as little people around, just the main crew, one producer, the director, however with this scene, every Producer showed up. The room was crowed. He felt really awkward for the actress as she was topless. Between cuts he would quickly look way while she covered herself.

I was really taken by both actors. Traci had such a powerful presence to her and what a sweetheart.  Richard was adorable and so active. He never stood still for a moment. Constantly going up and down the aisles. I never knew where he was.