Jim Beaver Panel – Salute To Supernatural, New Jersey 2012
Jim Beaver was the first guest of the day and he was in great spirits. He had just finished working through a long autograph line and he was ready to take on all our burning questions. All in all, these ended up being great questions and Jim gave some great answers.
When he took the stage, the applause was huge and Jim just stood on stage speechless, watching all the flashbulbs go off. He was quite amused by the crowd. Finally after a minute, he spoke. “That was slick.” He gave his traditional greeting. “Morning idgits.” That got a huge round of applause. He kept looking at all the flashbulbs in the room. “Looks like all the people they killed on The Sopranos.”
He took his seat and shared what he was supposed to do to prepare for this panel per the Creation contract. “The artist will be prepared with stories and anecdotes for the Q&A.” He swears he was prepared last night, but now, he’s not so sure. Jim continued to have fun with the crowd, evoking applause by saying, “Are you having fun?” He liked how well it worked. “The surprise is you’re all being executed.”
Jim brought up that he was at Comic-Con a few weeks ago (you can see my roundtable interview with him here), and he ran into Jeremy Carver and Eric Kripke. They both said something really interesting. “Do I know you?” No, that was only Jeremy Carver. Eric Kripke really said, “Stop phoning me.” Yes, everyone, he’s joking.
Onto the first question. If he could write himself into any movie, what movie would that be? “Showgirls. I can dance.” Naturally, the audience wanted a demonstration. He gave his answer in Spanish. “El chanco gordo.” He then tried to imagine what it was like on that set for the crew.
Can Jim imagine any type of crazy shenanigans that took place between Bobby and Rufus? “Oh, I’m so glad you didn’t say bromance.” He thought through the question, but didn’t have a quick answer. "I just try not to think about Rufus. Not unless somebody brings it up." He did come up with a great story to share about filming Rufus’ death scene in “And Then There Were None.” The scene when worm Bobby killed Rufus, “I wasn’t myself that day.” Apparently Steven Williams (who plays Rufus) was mic’d, so they told him to make sure his mic is close when he falls. He didn’t have any lines, so when Steven did the first take, he said while going down (Jim doing his best Rufus Turner impersonation), “Oh, Bobby, Bobby, Bobby, Bobby. This is way worse than Omaha.” The director afterward said they were going to do the take again, and told Steven to remember Rufus is already dead.
After taking in full stride (and much pride) a compliment on how great he looks, even eating up the, “Have you been working out?” line, Jim was asked if there were discrepancies in the scripts that he or the directors caught. Also, are there writers on set? No, the writers are never on set. They work in Los Angeles. “We work, the guys that are still on the show, work in Vancouver.” Yes, that got a lot of “awws” from the crowd. Jim was amused how easy we were. Anyway, as for the questions, the writers have phones. No, he doesn’t remember anything like that.
What’s his favorite Pokemon? “Do you have any idea how old I am?” “To give a serious answer, I haven’t got a clue. That’s pretty much the extent of my knowledge.”
Someone asked JIm what his favorite cuss word was. He wouldn't say it. "I know this is going to be on You Tube and my kid's going to see it. It’s got 12 letters, and it doesn’t relate specifically to anyone’s mom.
Next question was about the TV show “Jersey Shore.” “Jersey Shore falls in exactly the same category as Pokemon. I only know that such a beast exists. There’s something called a Snooki. The Situation? How about ‘The Bonehead?’”
This is the best question of the day. How has Supernatural have impacted him personally? Jim gave an amazing heartfelt answer. He was somewhat emotional while saying all of this. This is most of what he said:
“I have a whole bunch of new people in my life that I know and I love. When I contemplate the possibility of being done with the show, whether it be sometime in the future or if I’m done now, the idea of not working with those people again really bothers me. Everything you see on the gag reels, you get a sense of the guys behind the camera. It’s exactly what that sounds like. We all hug each other when we haven’t seen each other in a couple of days. It’s just been a miracle in my life.” Jim finished by going back to his joking mode. “I’m looking at a whole bunch of people staring at me and nobody’s clawing to get out of the room. When you’ve got a potato face like mine, that’s a remarkable thing.”
What was his reaction to kissing Jody Mills? “YES!” “That was my reaction too,” said the woman asking the question. “Yeah, but I got to do it. Over and over again.” Kim Rhodes (Jody) said she was going to have to call her husband if he didn’t get his lines right.
A fan knows that his favorite movie is The Searchers. Any others to recommend? Jim can think of zillions. “Name them all!” someone shouted from the crowd. Jim went to the A’s first, but then thought of something. Seven Samurai. Not the remake. He’s got nothing about remakes, but nothing beats what was done in 1954 by Akira Kurosawa.
Next a little girl asks a question. “What character other than Bobby would he like to play?” The crowd awws. “Is that aww for her?” Jim asks. He has trouble answering, stopping to tell the girl, “You’re adorable.” Turns out she means a character on the show. Someone shouts “Rufus” and he does a great Rufus impersonation. “Crowley.” Big applause. “I could probably do a better fake British accent.”
Jim stopped a small bit to talk about what he loves when he does conventions. “People come up to be and say, ‘you’re not short.” He loves it even better when they say “You’re not fat.” He does look better when he’s not standing next to Jared.
Back to the questions. What’s his opinion as John Winchester as a father? “I don’t know, I should watch the show.” From Bobby’s perspective or his? “Bobby thinks that John could do a lot better job than he did.” We saw that in “Death’s Door.” “I think Bobby thinks there’s a more rounded way to look out for his charges.” As for Jim, he just met Jeffrey Dean Morgan for the first time last month. He’s a really great guy. “As far as his character goes, I don’t know, I just show up and say the lines.”
How would Bobby have reacted if Bobby had come out of the coma? “I don’t know, I just show up and say the lines.” They went into it knowing that Bobby would die. “They knew the ending and wrote from that ending. I don’t know if they gave much thought to what happened if I did.” The woman said okay after Jim tap danced around the answer. Jim – “Another satisfied customer.”
Someone calls him an idgit, so while she tries to ask the question he throws small insults at her like “shorty.” It took her a little while to ask the question! What did it feel like filming “Weekend at Bobby’s?” It was a lot of fun but it was exhausting. “In the acting world, I don’t think there’s anything harder than carrying an hour long drama.” You get little rest and it’s very long days. He doesn’t have to worry about that most of the time, but in “Weekend at Bobby’s” and “Death’s Door” he found out what it was like. The woodchipper scene was a long day. “If you ever killed a Japanese demon, you know.” He said it was also fun because it was Jensen’s first time directing. “It was cool to show the young fella the ropes.”
How would he have Bobby come back from the dead? “Anyway they want to.” “Crowley is still there, Cass is still there, I figure there’s a loophole there somehow.” He wants to come back to regular old Bobby and his regular old life.
A little girl had a request for him, so he came down and let her measure his wrist. He came back on stage with a warm smile. “I like little girls.” Then he realized what he said. “I have a little girl, that’s what I’m talking about. They’re cute, they’re adorable, they’re sweet, and then they turn twelve.”
He read for Bobby Singer, but it turns out he didn’t have to read for it because the real Robert Singer had already given him the role. They go way back.
They gave Jim the five minute signal, but there were still a lot of people trying to ask questions. “They’re going to have to drag me out of here.”
He talked about being on Twitter. 170,000 people follow him on Twitter. “It’s the weirdest thing, they follow me wherever I go.” It’s really hard for him to respond to everyone.
Anything about “Psych?” Yes, it was a lot of fun. Timothy Omundson’s character and his character were married to the same woman on “Deadwood” but he never knew him on that show. Their kids go to school together and they became good friends that way. He worked his way through college doing stunts at a cowboy amusement park, which is what Ihedid on “Psych.” “It was fun revisiting that.” It was really fun working with Tim.
What episode did he have the most fun shooting? “Weekend at Bobby’s.” He also had a blast shooting “The Curious Case of Dean Winchester” with Chad Everett. He also threw out that quick mention for “Slash Fiction.”
Sadly, it was time for the panel to end. Jim had these words for us:
“For all of you that have watched Supernatural for seven seasons and have made my life a blessing, thank you very much.”
Really how much do I love Jim Beaver. He seems like an incredible human being.
Jim is such a fantastic guy! I can’t wait to see him again in Chicago!
Thanks, Alice!
I kinda love that his answer to favourite movie was Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai.
I so love Jim Beaver. The fact that he loves classic movies sure doesn’t hurt! Akira Kurosawa is one of my all-time favourite directors.