WFB Roundtable Interview With Mark Sheppard, San Diego Comic Con 2014
I’m going to be honest, I think Mark Sheppard was in a bit of a mood. Don’t get me wrong, he’s always avoided spoilers and dodged our questions about the upcoming season and what to expect of Crowley, but he normally has a little fun with us. This time, he really didn’t give us much at all and came across as snippy with several answers. He even admitted he was the worst person to interview, and sadly what we got does seem to prove his point. Still, Mark did give a couple good answers, so here’s the transcript, dodges and all.
Here’s the video of the Interview, attitude and all!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQZ18WnWusE
Your performance in season 8 and season 9 I absolutely loved.
Thank you.
Did you enjoy transforming Crowley from the King of Hell to basically a drug addict.
Transformed him into the King of Hell from a drug addict? The King of Hell is a drug addict. Rendered to be a drug addict. A very interesting concept. The idea of addiction and subsequent idea of Dean’s addiction in the last season which I think is a very interesting place to go. What is humanity, what are we…did you enjoy?
Yes.
That was the idea.
What does Crowley want?
Oh who knows. You’re going to find out though, you always find out.
How does he take advantage of Dean’s circumstances?
In a very Crowley-esque way. Why would I tell you?
You’re keeping the cards very close.
I don’t have any cards. The guy with the glasses has the cards, that guy (points to Jeremy Carver at another table).
It seemed like they got pretty close, Dean and Crowley, within the last season, maybe as close as they’re going to get. How would you describe where their relationship is going in season ten?
Close. (Points to Carver again).
As a season regular now…
Series regular.
…You seem to have a lot more involvement in the story now.
Before I was a series regular…you haven’t seen me as a series regular yet. I’m a series regular in season ten, so you’ve only ever seen me as a guest star.
Okay.
I don’t know, Crowley’s position has increased in canon I guess. I have no idea what’s in store. If I did I wouldn’t tell you.
Do you bring a lot of improv to the character?
Do I bring a lot of improv? We have amazing writers on this show. They work so hard to provide me with dialogue that makes them giggle, that makes me giggle, makes you giggle ultimately. That’s the path. The path is they’re giggling with it, they give it to me with hoping that I’ll giggle with it, then I get to giggle with it and then you guys get to giggle with it. That’s maybe the easiest description. There’s been stuff that’s come up but only really situational things. The (?) Crowley is the product of me having to get off the ground and keep the kid’s attention while he’s trying to kill me. It was just random conversation, you want to say something, it was a physical thing. It’s not actually in the script, because in the script I’m not being helped up, the cycle changes. Great writers, great people. They fight over my dialogue, I know they do. Ask him (points to Carver again), have you talked to him yet?
Yes.
You see, you lost all the opportunities to talk to him. Those are the questions you should have asked.
Are we going return to the story line of Crowley’s son?
Guy with glasses (points again to Carver).
Is there anything you can tease?
No, never will. I’m the worst interview ever.
Let’s go back to your promotion as series regular.
I don’t know that it’s a promotion. I don’t know that it is. It’s complicated. It’s appreciated, I think it’s a practicality. I don’t feel any more love or any less love.
Are you going to sing in the upcoming 200th musical episode?
(Points to Carver again).
Would you like to?
(Shrugs)
Are you an avid TV watcher?
Yeah, I can be.
What are some of the television shows that capture you this season?
This season? I haven’t gotten to see a lot of this season stuff. Breaking Bad was fabulous, True Detective was amazing, there’s a lot of things. Watching a lot of Shipping Wars…
Have you shipped yourself yet with anyone?
Yeah, funny.
What’s been the biggest challenge of playing Crowley, has it changed throughout the seasons?
Biggest challenge? It’s the questions. Just watch it, enjoy it, love it. I do. You’re not quite ready for them. I’ll never tell you the truth anyways, it doesn’t really matter. Yeah, he’s going to grow wings and fly and be an angel next year.
Would you let your children watch “Supernatural?”
My children do watch “Supernatural.” My nine year old and fourteen year old both watch, they have for many years.
With that Mark got up and left since it was his time to move on. Were all less than happy with the answers we got, but that’s the world of blogging. Next time I think I’ll just bring up the weather. Or perhaps we can play a hand of cards for five minutes.
Boy, he does sound a little bit hard to be interviewed…
Or having a slightly bad day in general… I think he was like this on some other interviews also.
Lucky you had patience. 😀
– Lilah
Wow… you should have given him some human blood to chill out; I guess he wasn’t in the best of moods that day. He says about as much as Jeremy Carver usually says, except much less politely 🙂
I hope that he was having an off day and this isn’t how he actually is normally.. you’d think he’d try a little harder at such a big event like Comicon…:(
I think he was just in character, yeah that’s it.;)
Yeah, I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt because this doesn’t jibe with other interviews I’ve seen nor with what his co-stars say about him. Let just say he was having an off day. Still though, it’s a pet-peeve of mine when a person in a snit for personal reasons takes their snit out on those around them. I HATE that. As Dean said…”there are YOUR issues, quit dumping them on me!”
If Jared, Jensen and Misha can be gracious and kind and funny con after con, then I think Mark can learn to suck it up and be courteous even if the question is not one he cares to or can answer. Pointing to JC and saying “ask him” seemed unnecessary. I saw him do it in a little interview he had with someone else where he also seemed out of sorts. He is a series regular (which btw he seemed pretty meh about) now and more will be expected of him at these things so I think he needs to learn to put on a pleasant front even if he isn’t feeling it. Jared had his arm in a sling, had just had surgery and he was delightful.
So, Jared ended up having surgery on his shoulder? How do you guys find these things out anyway?
E – News, twitter, videos, spoilers. Among a chat group and here. 🙂
– Lilah
Didn’t think he was so bad. He told us several times that he doesn’t and never will offer any spoilers-he is true to his word. His voice was OK.
You all surprise me, I read the intro. and was expecting Mr. Sheppard to be in a bad mood. Gang, he’s not in a bad mood.he has a cheeky (sarcastic) British sense of humor. I can see that you didn’t get many scoops but I think the actors are under contract to keep scripts to themselves. I saw the J’s sharing info only after Mr. Carver had said something first. I think it was Jared that said –Oh did Jeremy tell you that? — I guess we can talk about that. Please don’t taint the interview. I found Mark to be charming yet thoughtful and cautious while teasing about info he should not share. Personally I want to be surprised when the show airs. I would have loved to talk to Mark in person and learn nothing. Consider yourself very fortunate and keep up the good work.
Yeah, I can’t argue with this point. I’ve interviewed Mark before and know what to expect. I just expected…better. We got it last year.
I have to disagree. He wasn’t cheeky, he was rude and dismissive. Part of an actor’s job is to promote his show or movie. He could have been polite without revealing spoilers. Alice can’t taint what we saw with our own two eyes. It’s unfortunate he couldn’t be more gracious with these interviewers.
Alice- Yikes! Stay positive, you got a good interview and this one was not from last year. so, onward.
I didn’t think he was that bad. Rowan Atkinson is way worse! 😉 But seriously, he looked a little tired and LadyofJoy is right, the Brits have a very cheeky sense of humour. Hugh Laurie anyone? I guess after interviewing Jared and Jenson, Mark is a little more difficult, but that’s the way we like him, isn’t it? :p
Well I like Mark but he does come across as prickly in the interview .
I loved that interview. I thought he was funny, charming and somewhat of a tease. 🙂 I don’t know if it is a case of his British sense of humour or not, being British myself, but I enjoyed the interview. Just wish it could have been longer. Thanks for posting..
I get British humor. My mother is British as is half my family. I’ve interviewed Mark about 3 or 4 times now and I’m telling you, he was in a mood that day. This was not the typical “cheeky” interview we get from him. He was a bit irritated with us.
Given Mark’s proclivity for ‘no spoilers or get ganked’, I’m surprised you got anything out of him. Unlike the J’s, he has less weight on the show so an abundance of caution is probably warranted. Speaking of which… he really seems to have really slimmed down over hiatus. Could you tell? The shirt was doing him no favors in showing off the bod but if you picked up on anything, I’d be curious to hear.
As for being a regular — I can kind of relate. While it guarantees him a certain amount of pay, it also stops him from working many other shows. I think he did the math and it worked out but this guy has been prolific on TV for the last few years so I bet the math was pretty close. OTOH, I’m convinced that with Crowley in their “available” box, the writers will be using him a great deal. He’s not wrong — they get to put so many great lines into Crowley’s mouth. And Mark delivers so well.
Thanks for asking about the junkie bit. I think we assumed he was a junkie but it sounds like that was definite. There was a wee bit of ambiguity in my head and this interview removed that.