|
If you dont want to read any spoilers.... DO NOT READ THIS POST OR LOOK AT PHOTOS IN THIS POST!!! . . . FINAL WARNING! . . . . . Earlier this week I beared the reasonably cold weather Vancouver has had this week to go down to a rare Supernatural downtown location shoot. The 1st location I stumbled on was not yet in use, but was being prepped for a later shoot. It included putting up fake signs for an Animal Shelter in Idaho. Shortly after I came across the current filming location. There I found Sam (Jared Padalecki) & Dean (Jensen Ackles) Winchester doing what they do best. Pretending to be someone else. They were inside a police crime area, with a cop car, ambulance, coroner & a red truck scattered about in the area from "Kootenai County" which a friend of mine from idaho instantly told me is the Couer d'Alene area of Northern Idaho. The boys were doing scenes where they chatted with a shorter older man man then followed him over to a different spot. Short, boring, and not overly spoiler inducing. A little later on there was a scene with a man & a dog coming out of the makeshift pet shelter I talked about earlier. I only stayed for a couple takes of this scene as it was fudgin cold out, and no primary actors were there for it. The scene seemed to be the man walking with a limp, and bringing his dog out of the shelter, putting him on the ground, walking to an alley & then looking down the alley at "something". Last set of the evening was across the street from the "animal shelter" where I saw 2 actors doing a scene. The 1/2 dozen or so hardcore fans that waited around all instantly noticed 1, Mr. Sam Winchester... but I was shocked that I seemed to be the only 1 who immediately noticed the other man... Mark Pellegrino. We were told to all stand back so far that we couldnt see much except the very beginning second or so of the scene that Sam & Lucifer did. It entailed Sam walking into an alley reading a piece of paper, and Lucifer of course tagging along. After that scene was filmed. The main actors were wrapped, and they moved inside for scenes without any of the primary actors, and I decided to call it a night, since I was going to be busy for a couple more days this week, and the weather was expected to be even several degrees colder (which it was) over those days & I was still fighting a cold. If you follow me on twitter, I am sure you have seen me rant frequently lately about how shitty my camera is. Again, I feel it let me down. My old camera, although it wouldnt have aced any of the pics, would have probably still done at least 30-50% better, and thus, there would have been a few less grainy/fuzzy/blurry shots than there is in the batch below.                             
6 Comments
 So this past weekend saw the annual Supernatural fan convention in Vancouver come and go. A variety of the cast, both regulars and sporadic came to talk, take photos with fans, and sign autographs....all at the absurdly exorbitant prices the con runners were able to gouge for. I have nothing against a company running a convention and making a reasonable profit, but when I hear from someone that JUST her convention ticket and extras has cost her over $1000, I think your ripping these people off....aaanyways, back on track. While the majority still were there for the Winchester boys Jared Padalecki & Jensen Ackles. Fans came from around the world to also see the likes of Misha Collins, Sebastian Roche, Alona Tal, Corin Nemec, Chad Lindberg, Chris Heyerdahl, Matt Cohen, Richard Speight Jr, Steven Williams and Colin Lawrence. This is not a report of what happened INSIDE the con. Theres enough blogs to report and document that. I wont pay this companies prices...even though I would have loved to see a couple of the panels. Lots happened that weekend for me. I got every cast member there with the exception of J2 and Colin Lawrence (whom I couldnt find an item for).     The strangest situation that weekend in my opinion, wasnt the completely naked guy running around the courtyard of the hotel on 1 of the days. No, that odd situation 9which I missed luckily) was outdone by me getting an autograph from a person who has publicly on twitter confessed his hate for me. Yes, "Tiny" (aka - Clif Kosterman.. aka, J2s bodyguard) signed a photo I had of him from his role on Supernatural where he played a prisoner that ends up dead. I thought that weekend would be the chance to get him to sign the photo. I had carried it around for over a year, but it wasnt till now that I felt...he might sign it. You see, Clif got in some hot water earlier this month with a single meaty digit on his hand being raised a tad too high in a photo that a local wannabe pap took. Now obviously no one but those on the inside know what was said/done to reprimand him for this action, but the outward view is pretty clear, he is on damage control. He invented the "duck nation" (which I wont lie...if anyone but him was running it, I would think was kinda cool...even if it doesnt have any relevant connection to SPN that I can think of) idea that SPN fans have been contributing to by sending in rubber ducks to the studio. The fact that it came up IMMEDIATELY after the Trudeau salute, and has had "no set cut off point" yet tells you the PR people that peddled the idea for him are playing it by ear. When I saw them in New West a couple weeks ago, I sort of suspected then he was on damage control when he was waving at the fans as he drove away with a duck in his hand. But it was the pushing of this "duck nation" then his suprisingly civil response to me on twitter when I publicly stated that maybe I would ask him for an autograph this time that made me aware, he is on his best behaviour. Even the autograph interaction was shockingly "friendly" from a guy who has publicly belittled me. In fact, 2 of the 3 people he publicly stated a hate for were there for the moment, and not only did he sign for me, he called over the photographer that was the other person in question telling them "you should get a photo of this". It wreaked of "I'm trying my best to look good right now.". All that aside. I say, shockingly, good on him. Whatever the studio/PR team said to him. He got the message. If this new leaf is permanant, perhaps I can put aside some of the past issues I have with him. Of course, if he ever returns to his previous demeanour, this entire damage control kick will be even more transparent. Anyways...good Cas have I talked too much about this....but, I knew from diff emails I got, it was a topic of discussion in places. So theres my take & interpretation of his "Duckspiracy" (as someone who emailed me called it) and his interaction with me this past weekend. At this time...I will give him the benefit of the doubt, and hope this turned leaf is permanent. So back to the Con guests now...right?     Like I said, I managed to meet pretty much all of them. First 2 I met were the day before the Con started. Richard Speight Jr (who I would see 2 more times over the weekend) was first up. I had met the man who was Gabriel/The Trickster last year, and this meeting was just as terrific. He chatted about the show, how much he missed it and about his role as pitchman for Pepsi Max. Truly a class act. I got him to sign a few photos that night, then a couple more later on the weekend. On both occasions, he signed all that was asked of him. Alona Tal would be next. I wont go into all the details...but I will just say, another hound & myself actually scared her by accident. Later on, when we saw her again, she explained her reasoning to her reaction to us, we explained our reasoning, and both sides apologized (although I dont know why Alona felt the need to apologize since we got her reasoning quite well). When we finally did catch up with woman who plays Jo Harvelle that night she was splendid. Signed everything we had, took photos with, and was pretty candid about not just things surround the awkward situation of earlier, but any other topics we could muster the braincells to talk about. Great girl.           Next day was the start of the actual convention, so there was a schedule that some of the guests had that made assessing where to be and when a bit easier. There was a lull for awhile that day, but then in a 5 minute span I got 4 cast members. Corin Nemec (Christian Campbell from season 6) was 1st up. Having met him a couple times before, I knew to expect a chilled out and friendly guy. Again, he was just that. He chatted for a few minutes with us about how things have been around here, the photos we had and how he was disappointed to find out that a photo 1 of the autograph hounds inquired about that he had seen for sale on the shows website was not infact for sale at the convention. Eventually, we let him get on his way. Shortly after 3 cast mates crossed paths in teh courtyard before we could move in on any of them they had started interacting with each other, so we kept a reasonable distance till they were done. However, a fan eventually interrupted the trio and so everyone else then moved in to get the 3 stars. I went up to Chad Lindberg 1st. (Ash) to get my autographs. I didnt get a chance to chat with him because my panic to get the others kicked in (as it turned out they were around for a bit though). Next up was Matt Cohen (young John Winchester). He signed everything I had and chatted with the fans for a bit. I again, didnt speak too much with him as I wanted to get the final part of the trio. Sebastian Roche (Balthazar) was the final 1 of my trio. He too signed everything, again, I didnt get a lot of oppourtunity to chat with him because by this point a dozen or so fans had converged on the 2 actors. Later that night we saw several of the cast leave to dinner together. We got Alona to sign again (I had 1 photo I missed from the day before.) and the group, which included chaperones from the convention people, essentially abandoned her with 2 adult males in the dark (good job guys). Luckily, Alona I am sure was feeling a bit safer this time around knowing it was us & didnt feel the need for security, but still, not a great idea on the staffs part. Its nice that you let her decide for herself whether to sign, but you probably shouldnt walk away from the person your supposed to be protecting.     Day 3 was the Saturday for us. My day started with more Richard Speight Jr. autographs. He remembered my name from the other day & was still as classy as he was in the previous interaction. There was a considerable lull for me. But I saw Corin Nemec again, as well as Speight Jr another time. Another hound who was just getting there asked both of them for autographs and they both obliged. At that point, the convention handlers decided to stop this as much as they could. I saw Steven Williams (Rufus) strolling along with Matt Cohen aalong an inside walk way. So I decided to cut them off at the pass, but was denied when Williams looked at his convention handler, then back at me and said "I think I can only sign inside..get me inside". I frustratingly left wondering if that was the end for autographs. Quite awhile would go by before I had another chance for autographs...again with Mr. Williams as he left the convention to go out to dinner. It was pitch black in the courtyard & all Steven said was "I cant see...what am I signing", so I pointed to an area on the photo, and he signed it. I had a 2nd photo, but with how much trouble he was having with that 1, I let it go. Shortly after that, God himself appeared infront of me. Misha Collins was being escorted by staff to somewhere outside the convention area. I have met the man who plays Castiel many times always been terrific. This time, no different. With a Convention handler literally perched over his shoulder glaring on with disapproval, Misha signed everything I had for him. After chatting with a couple friends. I decided that was enough that night, and headed home.         Sunday was the last day of the Convention...and with the exception of my Clif autograph, a shutout for autographing. I spent the majority of the day hanging out with fans, and chatting with a blog writer. All that I accomplished that day was a couple frames of Jensen ( 1 thats quite blurry) a few frames of Misha Collins and a few of Chris Heyerdahl (Alastair) It started with Jared & Jensen arriving together driven by Clif. Clif was not going to make things easy for me. He had the truck backed up into a loading bay so the boys could get in without reallybeing seen. A little while later I saw Corin Nemec again. We chatted for a bit, asked him if he had any new projects on the go, he said not right now. Then he went on his way and headed home. One of the more fascinating things about this convention for me was how the fans of the show will get anyones autograph associated to the show. I watched the location manager, Russ Hamilton, sign an autograph for a fan in the lobby during my hanging around time. A little while later I saw Guy Norman Bee sign for someone. It never donned on me to get autographs from the people not infront of the camera. As the day went on, I saw Misha Collins a couple more times, Christopher Heyerdahl several times. Chris was the only person all weekend that the convention staff managed to get to, as he told me he couldnt sign for me there... but, that he would get me next time he saw me...which I know is highly likely to happen, so it was not that upsetting. I eventually left that evening, and just as I was getting up...who drove by me? Clif, with 1 (or both) of the boys, he acknowledged that I was there and was on his way. Thats how my Supernatural convention ended...Clif waving at me. Certainly was an unusual weekend at times. As a bonus....heres a couple Jared Padalecki shots from a couple weeks ago that I wasnt sure what to do with since they werent very good and not enough for a blog. You can find us on twitter http://twitter.com/canadagraphs You can find the celebrities written about in this article at these twitter addresses Misha Collins http://twitter.com/mishacollins Alona Tal http://twitter.com/talalona Richard Speight Jr http://twitter.com/dicksp8jr Chad Lindberg http://twitter.com/ChadLindberg Sebastian Roche http://twitter.com/sebroche Jared Padalecki http://twitter.com/jarpad   The 2nd video from the Supernatural filming the other day. Told you there wasnt much to it. Even less to see in this 1, as you really can only see Jared for most of it, since Jensen is behind a post. Thanks to the anonymous filmer of these videos who asked not to be credited (wise move - considering Cliffyboy claims he lets fans take pics). Wonder if these FAN vids will send Clif into an ALL CAPS RAGE and just try to stop anyone from taking pics or filming now. Dont worry Tiny, I'm sure the company thinks your still doing a stand up job of blocking SOME photos from being taken, as well as representing the company in a good light by making disrespectful gestures at people on camera and boasting about it on the internet. The CW must be proud of that. So Thursday there was a couple scenes done for Supernatural downtown. I was lucky enough that someone with a little handheld camera phone taped a few seconds of 1 of the scenes for me. There isnt much to the scene. Just Dean walking away while Sam stands there.... but, I suppose its better than nothing for all of you. I'll post it on youtube sometime later this week for those who arent having luck seeing it here for whatever reasons... so dont try posting this on youtube, or your own personal sites...it will get taken down... as some of you are already aware of. Simply link to this blog. So yesterday there was a Supernatural shoot not far from my house...so I went and squeezed in a couple hours at the set. There was not a lot to shoto (with my $500 semi decent camera...you really need the $1000+ type stuff to shoot from that far away and have great shots every time) because the crew decided to put up screens at a variety of angles & made set personnel stand around the outskirts of the scene to minimize angles for both the pros & fans alike to see, let alone shoot, what was going on... which wasnt even anything season spoiling. It appeared to be a scene where where Sam & Dean walk out of a hotel (earlier they were shot going in...but I didnt get anything off that scene) and Dean walks away on Sam. Not exactly season spoiler, like I said...but the crew acted like they were protecting the ending to Casablanca....and as much as I love Supernatural, the greatest episode of this show isnt fit to even be accidentally put in the same class as an iconic movie. This brings me to a point where I am going to ramble on on a moderately related, but not too likely interesting to most of you, topic. When one crew member takes it upon themselves to start a personal brigade against photographers or fans from seeing or shooting something. It isnt winning over anyone for the show. TV is all about eyeballs on the TV sets. TV industry is a VERY PR heavy industry. It relies heavily on fans being happy...and trying to shun them, and prevent them from seeing whats going on, all to inconvenience 4 people that 1 person on the crew doesnt like, is absurd. You did more harm than good by your over the top antics. I've been told "its distracting to the actors"... and while I did watch an actor once have a bit of a fit over such a thing.. the vast majority are oblivious to people photographing it....since they are 100 ft away. Also, NO, they are not "in the shot". Unless your camera can see around corners with some magic futuristic camera that can bend around solid objects, that too is BS. As for you Clif. Since I know you are fascinated with what I say & do...you will read this at some point. Yes, I am aware you dont like me. I even know why. I am even ok with it...I didnt at anytime think you & I were going to be hanging out together trading cupcake recipes. YET, the 1 and only time you asked me not to bug the guys, I respected your request...and yet, you STILL feel the need to take a pot shot on twitter at me. Seemed uncalled for, and unprofessional. ESPECIALLY, considering, like I said, the 1 and only time you asked me to not do something, I did as you asked. I have both publicly in person, and on twitter, invited you to discuss your problem with me the proper way, man to man...which I think for YOU would be ideal...but you opt not to accept that proposal, then wait a year and take a shot at me on twitter out of the blue. Seems random, and not terribly wise for you to do. Anyways, I didnt get a lot in the way of photos. Infact, most of what you are seeing here was screencaps off a video a friend gave me to see if I could do anything with....but, hey, its free and I suppose, its better than nothing...right?       The local hit show Supernatural sent their big guns down to comic-con to promote their show. Along with Misha Collins (Castiel) & Jim Beaver (Bobby Singer) they pt in the big guns, the Winchester Brothers. Jensen Ackles (Dean) & Jared Padalecki (Sam) went down to San Diego for the festivities. This was a hectic weekend if your name was Jared Padalecki. The towering star had a rollercoaster day & a bit, as he came into Vancouver friday morning for 1 day of shooting, only to turn right back around less than 24 hours later, and head right back out of town for Comic-con. I caught up to him on his way into town & he was in great spirits. He chatted freely about the show, and working with new cast member Corin Nemec (a cousin from the Campbell side of the family). Less than 24 hrs later he was leaving & in a slightly less joyous mood. Those of us that got him the day before let him go freely, but a couple who werent there the day prior went for him & he only did 1 each for them & seemed pretty worn out. Cant blame him really..and neither did they, after his hellish travel schedule. If you are wondering about his shirt, it appears to be for a charity run by former SPN guest star & Golden Globe winning actress, Linda Blair. It says "Linda Blair WorldHeart Foundation" The website is http://lindablairworldheart.org/ it is a non-profiut organization for animals in Los Angeles. Jensen headed to Comic-Con on Saturday & was pleasant & willingly signing multiple items per person. When asked what the directing gig was like he replied it was a lot of work" & when I asked if he was going to stick to just acting for now then, he replied more or less yeah. Guess directing isnt in his immediate future. He also was very positive about working with Corin. Upon returning, Those of us that got him leaving let him go, only a couple of people stopped him & asked for photos with the star who was decked out in a fedora & sunglasses. I was pretty disappointed that I only saw the Winchesters this weekend. I had really hoped to get Misha finally, but so far, the sarcasm challenged angel has evaded me...perhaps thats what I get for trying to track down someone that has his own wings. Like I am ever going to see him getting on a plane pfft. Anyways, thats the story of Supernatural for Comic-con Be sure to check out the polls section of my site for a poll on the best local TV show, which Supernatural is nominated in. BONUS- decided to toss in the 3 Corin Nemec pics I took while he was here. I believe these are the first shots of him in town for SPN, maybe not the first posted, but the first taken.                 |
About meI occasionally argue with inanimate objects, but I usually win. So its all good. Archives
June 2012
Categories
All
|
RSS Feed
