Jim Beaver Panel – Cherry Hill Con
The first panel on Day Three was Jim Beaver. He was supposed to only speak for an hour, then sign autographs, then catch a plane back to Vancouver for early shooting on Monday. His schedule changed though, and he didn’t have to go back so he could stay around. He was given a longer panel (an hour and a half) and his autograph session was moved to late afternoon with the others.
– Jim came on stage after the intro and played with the microphone a bit, before delivering his greeting: “Good morning idgits” He doesn’t drink coffee, but was mercifully given his bottle of Dr. Pepper.
– “So, I guess you wonder why I called you here.” Then he took of his shirt, revealing his t-shirt underneath, “anatomically correct.” After cheers someone shouted “bow chicka wow wow.” Jim looked into the audience like someone had gone mad. “More like bow chicka bow wow.”
– He only had 3 ½ hours sleep last night. “If you think my eyes look bad, you should see them from my side.” He got there late last night after five hours flying and seven hours sitting at the airport. He joked that Chicago is a lovely town, and the airport is the best part. “I know every inch of it.”
– He worked Friday night, starting the filming of episode 4-21. He guesses that means Bobby is still around. He attributes that to the fact that he knows personal information on Eric Kripke. “So I’ll be around a lot.” Even though he just started shooting 4-21, he hasn’t done episode 4-20 yet. He’ll shoot episode 4-20 next week, and the week after that will do episode 4-22. “That’s what my agent said.”
– Someone asked him about Deadwood, how did he get that role, what are his favorite memories and if he’s in contact with anyone. He said that in all respect to Supernatural, but Deadwood came first, and it’s the proudest thing he’s done in his whole career. He saw that piece of audition material and he told himself “this one is mine.” He worked with the director of the pilot before, but he didn’t think he remembered him. He did. He’s still friends with most of the cast too. There were twenty five regulars in the cast and there wasn’t a single bad apple in the bunch. “It’s sort of like Supernatural except for Jared and Jensen.”
– The person asked how Jared broke his hand in the second season. After Jim joked “It’s not what you think” and that it wasn’t from petting his dogs, he doesn’t remember. “I don’t remember that he even had a cast on, but then again I don’t remember what I had for breakfast.”
– Where does he stay when he’s in Vancouver? He spends about 100 days a year in one of their hotels. He stayed in an apartment when he did Harpers Islandsince they wouldn’t pay for a hotel. There were cheers for Harpers Island, and he mentioned we’re yelling and it hasn’t even aired yet. He thinks Vancouver is the weirdest place, because even though it’s on a grid, he gets lost so easily. The person asking the question joked “Try riding around in this town” (Amen to that!), and Jim replied, “Those founding fathers.” He went on to mention that Vancouver is a great place, especially if you like rain and cold.
– Jim looked at the picture on the big screen next to his name, and pointed out that’s from another show. He asked Creation where they got that picture, and they said from another season. He told them try HBO.
– Someone asked why Bobby’s always putting the holy water in the beer. “Just that everybody likes it. It’s cheaper than white wine…He slips holy water in people’s drinks every single time the script calls for it.”
– If he could go back twenty years, knowing everything he knows now, what kind of life would he give himself? He’d probably be working in a bank somewhere. He stumbled on the question a bit, but can’t think of anything he’d change. “Everything that’s ever happened to me led me here.”
– How does he prepare himself for the emotional stuff, like when Dean came back or when Sam died? “It’s devastating,” he replied, and then rolled his eyes. Preparing for Dean’s return from Hell was easy because he had mainly believed season four was going to be about Sam and Bobby. (Long pause for audience laughter). “Aw man. So the tears were real.” He accepted there was going to be a little of Dean in the season. “I say the lines and then later they tell me it’s deep and meaningful.”
– A woman came up and she froze, so Jim started teasing her. “During the photo op, it was like watching a tomato blush.” She got emotional, so Jim came down and wrapped his arm around her. “There are only thousands of people and they’re not looking at me.” He asked her name and she said Rose. “That’s my little girl’s middle name.” The audience went “Awww.” (That happened a lot during this panel). He waited for her to get her question out, but she was still a mess. “I’ve got all the time in the world.” He got it out of her eventually. “Who’s his favorite Winchester brother?” She asked. “Who are the Winchesters?” He answered, and wasn’t done with her yet. “How far did you travel to be humiliated?” He asked. “Twenty minutes.” She answered. “Saved up all summer,” he joked. Rose posted the link to the video on this site in the Day Three con article comments, so I’ll share it here too. It is really fun to watch. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sB9SLLcUEYY
– The next question is way too hypothetical for my tastes, and meant to stump Jim. It was something about Robert Singer in the credits implying that Bobby Singer is telling the story. Does he think after the fact Bobby would want the boy’s story to be known? He joked that didn’t she have a questions about something else (I couldn’t make it out) and what were they smoking when coming up with that one. “I suppose if he needed the money…Anybody who knows anything about how much work it takes to produces a TV show knows that Bobby and Robert Singer couldn’t possibly be the same person because Bobby don’t produce. That’s a weird answer to a really weird question.”
– He was asked how his daughter was doing. “She’s doing great. She would have come with me, but she’s busy invading Poland this weekend.” She’s never come with him to one of these cons. “I know what you guys do after we go to our rooms.” She’s in the second grade and busy doing that. “She’s my little Madelyn Rose.” Everyone went “awww” again and he picked on the crowd for being so easy.
– What was his favorite episode? “Dream A Little Dream Of Me.” He liked it because he found out things about Bobby he didn’t know. They’ve all been fun though, and he can’t pick out what’s been most fun.
– A little girl came up and Jim asked if her parents knew she was around. “Actually no.” Jim had so much fun with her. He asked her if she watched Supernatural. Yes, although she’s missed a few episodes. “I’ve missed 40,” Jim told her. Then he told her that when she watches, they know it. “We can see, and we count. So, watch every week.” He then joked he’s so full of himself.
– What does he plan on doing after Supernatural is done? “Go on unemployment.” He mentioned Harper’s Island again and he’s done with it, since it was never meant to be anything more than a 13 episode event. Then he admitted, he’ll probably be in season five.
– He talked about his book, “Life’s That Way,” which comes out April 16th. They have a website too, appropriately titled lifesthatway.com. It’s an email journal he kept the year he found out his daughter was diagnosed as autistic and his wife was diagnosed with cancer. He wrote those pieces every night, and eventually he had 4,000 people worldwide getting them. He did that for a year, and now they’re in a book.
– He was asked if Bobby could do anything on the show, what would he like it to be? Some stuff besides helping the guys out of trouble or the guys helping him out of trouble. He brought up “Dream A Little Dream Of Me” as an example that shared a side of the universe they don’t’ often see and he liked that. He’s very happy about what he does. He shared a funny quote by Robert Mitchum when asked what was he looking for in a script. “Days off.” He’s happy if they give him really interesting stuff to do and have him working everyday, or if he shows up every third day just to say “idgits.”
– Someone asked the ring tone on his cell phone. He thought it was “Eine kleine Nachtumusik” (Mozart). I swear I had that same ring tone once too. It’s really cool, but then again I’m a big Mozart fan. Anyway, he mentioned then nobody calls him.
– The green haired girl asked him a question, and he asked teasingly if that was her real hair color. She wanted to know what would the one thing Bobby would like to save Sam and Dean from. “You guys are crediting me with way too much imagination. I think I’d like to come in and save them from being cancelled. The president of the CW says ‘we were gonna cancel you, but Bobby showed up.’ Now that’s using my imagination.”
– Question about his writing. What are his ideal writing projects? He explained how he’s got a dozen projects floating around right now and the “to do list” has gotten a little dusty. She asked about TV scripts and he’s mentioned he’s done that. That’s how he started off, when “he couldn’t get arrested as an actor.” Then the acting got better, and he “couldn’t get arrested as a writer.”
– Every time a cell phone went off, Jim would pause and give a nasty glare. One went off during that question, and apparently he was counting. “That’s two.”
– People wanted to know what TV shows he wrote scripts for. Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Tour Of Duty, Vietnam War Stories for HBO, and a bunch of stuff that no one made. Writing is hard. “For all the energy it takes to write a script, I could lie around the set of Supernatural for six months.”
– A Japanese girl asked him about him knowing Japanese. Jim started having a conversation with her in Japanese, and when that was over she asked why he chose to study it. “Because it was easier than English.” (Note, a cell phone went off, another mean glare). In his twenties he got hooked on Japanese movies, and he wanted to know what they were actually saying instead of reading subtitles. He studied really hard for two years and has forgotten it all now. All he can do is order a Dr. Pepper.
– He shared a story how he went over on an exchange program as a guest of a bunch of high school students in Osaka. The oldest non-Japanese student had to do a speech in Japanese to the students, so he had to speak. He stayed up the night before writing his speech. He gave it and got laughs in all the right spots. At the end of it he was talking with the teachers, and pointed out that no one is more hospitable or courteous than the Japanese people. Why? It seems when he gave his speech, he phrased a few words incorrectly. The teachers were polite though and didn’t want to tell him, for it was no big deal. After pestering, he got it out of them. When he tried to say “Thank you for welcoming us into your homes,” it Japan it as an idiom and really means “Thank you for putting us into concentration camp.”
– What’s his favorite episode as a viewer? He had to think hard, but it was before he was on the show, involving a teenage boy, really sickly looking, and thought the kid was dreaming something, and then someone pointed out Sam was the one having visions, so it all came back to him, it was “Nightmare.” “I really remembered that.” (more laughs).
– The guy behind me got his turn next, pointing out how he was there on behalf on his wife. He pointed her out, and all eyes came our way. He asked the question about pranks and then Jim came back to his wife and asked if that was the question. There was a funny comment about Jim being part of the pizza (the sauce I think) and he thought he was the ham or the cheese. Then it all went back to the original question. Pranks. “Yeah, we had them.” He gets asked that question more about this show than he’s ever done. They’re not doing them this year, because they lost Kim Manners. Kim was the greatest guy you ever want to meet, and the natural butt of all their pranks. Not to say they don’t have fun. He doesn’t get them at all, because they’re scared of him.
– Someone asked about Bobby’s house before and what was Bobby like. “Married,” he pointed out. He then recalled that he had a nice house and was married until he stabbed her to death. He was also running a wrecking yard, a lot neater and absorbs knowledge. The events in “Dream A Little Dream of Me” probably shook his world a bit, but he probably wasn’t terribly different before that.
– Does he adlib his lines on the show? “Remember what I said earlier about writing being work? I let them do it.” He rarely feels confident enough to change what he’s given. They all say the lines that are written, but they’re written really good.
– Someone asked about Bobby’s Chevelle. He thought it was a 1970 SS. “You can have that car.” He explained how that particular Chevelle is a pain in the neck. It has a custom handle that forces him to shove it into park, so he’s always jamming his fingers into the dashboard. It also doesn’t want to stay in park. There have been shots where he gets out of the car and it rolls backward.
– Someone asks if he knows Italian. No. His book will be translated in Italian, but luckily he won’t have to translate it.
– He was asked about memorable lines, and came up with one from Deadwood. He was asked if he could shoot craps. “No ma’am, but I’m an unbelievably quick study.” Then he tried to remember the line before that, since it’s great too. He couldn’t, so left it where it was.
– He got the cheese and chocolate question. “I don’t care,” he said after pondering the question. “You sure you’re not at the Will and Grace convention?” Huge laughs on that one. To pacify, he said six months one, six months the other.
– Does he want to write for Supernatural? He would be open to pitching an idea. He’d rather do work on something he thought up. On television, unless you’re the creator, you have to write someone’s idea and someone else’s character. If he was asked, he probably wouldn’t be excited about it.
– He was also asked for advice for writers getting started. Write a lot, show your stuff to people you respect, get involved in a writer’s group, and when you have something great go over it two or three times to make it better, and start showing it to publishers. It’s a hard business, harder than acting.
– The Japanese he spoke in “Yellow Fever” was his doing. He told Eric Kripke that he spoke Japanese, and they wrote in the line. What he told Sam was “Since before you were born you igdit.” The line went through a specialist at a university, since they do that with any language including Latin. What came back made Bobby sound like John Gielgud, so he had to “igdify it.”
– He asked a questioner where in Maryland she was from, because his wife was from Maryland so he always wants to know.
– What is the best and worst part about Bobby? “The hats I guess.” He couldn’t come up with anything, so someone shouted, “He’s not on enough.” He agreed with that. The best part is he’s trustworthy, reliable and always there, and he couldn’t come up with a worse thing.
– Any other languages he wants to learn? Learn Russian and something else (couldn’t make it out) and then someone in the audience shouted “English.” He told them, “It’s okay when I say it.”
– The next one is a strange hypothetical about a role switch between Bobby or Sam and Dean. “Stand back, my head is getting ready to explode…When’s the next convention?” He then teased about something he shot the other night, but he can’t tell us about it. He fought with the question some more and finally was let off the hook. He told her, “Thank you for standing in line for so long to ask that.”
– This off the wall question I didn’t mind. Since Bobby is a fatherly figure to Sam and Dean, does he find he has to be the same with Jared and Jensen and stop them from doing something devilish? “No.” In his off screen relationship there’s no sense in him being older, and they relate in being fellow actors. He went on to explain that even though they’re both “kindergarten kids,” they’re thorough professionals and he doesn’t see the need to offer them advice, and they wouldn’t take it.
– The person then asked if there were some favorite moments between him and Jared and Jensen, and Jim assumed that most of the crowd had been to one of these conventions before and heard stories. When a majority of the crowd said no, he got huge applause when he said “We need to get them to New Jersey!” He’s going to have to kick some butt. To answer the question, he referred to the gag reels. He called the boys charming, cute, fun, stupid, and goofy, and they’re always having fun. There isn’t one thing that sticks out. “It’s like going to the world’s longest slumber party.”
– A little girl, whose father just moved away, asked about his bond with his little girl. More “awws” from the audience. “You’re gonna make me cry.” His daughter said the other day, “We’re having a love fest, aren’t we?” She says “I love you” about 900 times a day. “I adore her, she’s the light of my life.” It’s a great bond. He told a story about taking her to school and telling her about Obama. She asked who won the election. This was five months later, and he told her Obama won. She was surprised McCain didn’t win, because he was prettier. She asked who was the president before. “George Bush.” She replied in amazement “George Bush was president? Why didn’t anyone tell me?”
– The girl also asked if his daughter had ever been to the Supernatural set. No, since the show is shot in Vancouver, they live in Los Angeles and she’s always in school. She’s not 100 percent sure what he does. He did take her to the Deadwood set one time though when she was three. Ian McShane had just been in the humongous fight scene and his face was bloody and swollen. He introduced her to Ian and she gave a resigned “Hi.” He also brought her to the set of Dark and Stormy Night, and a few of the actresses dressed her up. He spent most of the time chasing her from running into scenes as they were shooting them. Usually when he tells her not to do something, that ends up being the time she ought to do it (She should hook up with my 7 year old son. Sounds like they’re kindred spirits).
– Someone asked about the books in Bobby’s house. Has he ever read them? He found one book of fairy tales he took home to his kid. He was shocked to discover most of them aren’t really real books. They’re hollow and can be scooped up with a shovel. Some of them are real though. “Apparently somebody was giving away bad books.” Hydro-electrics in the 19th century and novels that nobody ever heard of from people they never heard of.
– “How would you like Bobby to die?” He answered, “Of a stroke in bed.” Bobby should die at the age of 102.
– Someone asked how Bobby felt about how the boys were raised. **SPOILER ALERT** Apparently we see a little of that in 4.22. “Or maybe not, he teased.” The whole John Winchester thing is so weird to him, since he’s never met John Winchester, never met Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and yet they supposedly have this decades long relationship. Bobby has a very strong opinion of how well John raised the boys more than John does. He read the script for 4.22 and read of the scenes and said “Holy, that amazing.”
Alice Jester is the founder, editor-in-chief, head writer, programmer, web designer, site administrator, marketer, and moderator for The Winchester Family Business. She is a 30 year IT applications and database expert with a penchant for creative and freelance writing in her spare (ha!!) time. That’s on top of being a wife, mother of two active kids, and four loving (aka needy) pets.
I love Jim Beaver. He’s so funny. I think he gives the fandom the lighter side it needs.
But OMG, off topic. Those promos for next week’s show…I don’t know if I can handle it guys. This show is so amazing and its going places that are dark and terrible and absolutely wonderful. I have NEVER gotten so emotionally attached to a show and what’s coming down the pipe terrifies me. I don’t want to watch because it hurts but I need to watch because I know that if I don’t, I’m going to miss out on some of the best television, hell the most epic thing ever. This show has ruined me. And I absolutely love it.
/end rant
(Sorry I had to post this. I had to get it out somewhere.)
Hey, I don’t mind. Getting out enthusiasm for the show anywhere works for me.
Which promo did you see? I saw the one from both The CW and Space in Canada. Whoa. The one from Space was especially revealing. They like to give away more.
Yep, I’m scared and excited at the same time. Is it Thursday yet?
I saw the Space one. I just…I was worried that Dean torturing Alastair would be too much but after seeing that promo, I adore Dean even more and my heart breaks for him. He was so broken before, he’s going to be absolutely devastated after all this. I hate the Angels for doing this to him. Dean is doing their dirty work and it makes me so sad.
I’ve seen the Space promo, too, and it both frightens and thrills me to death! The emotions going through both Sam & Dean are indeed epic and I know that I’m watching the most compelling drama on TV today, if not ever.
I ache for the boys and I want everything to work out for them, but things are going to get worse before they get better.I’m still hoping for a happy ending for both Sam & Dean.I don’t think that I could bear any other outcome :cry::
All that reaper talk with Tessa scared me (actually it was weird, that last scene with Tessa and Dean after she took Cole made me more sad for Dean than even his speech about Hell. I cried). To me it sounded almost like they were setting up one of those “Dean dies in the end but its not sad (really) because he’s tired and broken and (permanent) death is the most merciful outcome for him” endings. I don’t want either of my boys to die (for good) or end unhappily, but especially not Dean. It CAN’T happen Kripke, do you hear me?
I would not mind them dying nice proper death, no hell involved.
Really, death is not bad thing.
But I’m afraid they are going to kill off Dean, cause he is so tired, and leave Sam behind, cause he wanted to become an old man, and… that would be mean. Even cruel. For us, watchers.
But I think this is what will be. You know, lesson “how to let go” will be learned, Sam will be happily married to Jo or someone, they will have a son named Dean and they will drive around on Chevrolet Impala, released 1967, and Sam will sometimes watch his brother’s picture and tell to it “We’ll meet again, bro!”
Maybe we will even see a glimpse of his death finally.
But it would still be hard.
No goodbye would really make it alright.
Just… I know that storytelling leads this way, it would be logical. All this letting-go thing.
But I don’t want it! Give me some epic death instead, please!
Panel was interesting too, btw. Thanks!
Not listening, not listening … la-la-la-la, not Thursday yet … see no evil, hear no evil, la-la-la 😆
I just decided it would be even more logical, if Sam would be the dead and Dean the living brother.
Oh, why must it be so sad? I just read very pretty and hopeful fanfiction, and now I will go away and firmly believe that they will continue to living, will renovate an old house, Sam will be a writer and Dean will be Mcyver and sun will shine upon them forever and ever.
Actually I think they will both retire to my hometown. Sam will have an art gallery and Dean, a winery (because we have both a Winchester Gallery and Winchester Estate Winery here). One of these days I’ll even get pictures and post them for entertainment’s sake. GRIN
Dean, running a vinyard! C’mon! More like a brewery with a pole-dancing annex ( playing nothing but Zep tunes, obviously … ) 😆
Oh man, I don’t even want to think about the end! But, call me a conformist…
Let’s see, Dean will have a kid, and they’ll tinker with classic cars together and travel the country to car shows, and once in a while “Uncle Sam” will visit. He’s special, since he’s spent some time in the happy home. He thinks demons are among us, but he’s harmless when he’s not throwing things against the wall with his mind.
No, I’m not writing up that as fanfiction! 😆 Oh God, you guys have me rolling now.