Harry Who?
OMG OMG I MET JARED AND JENSEN LAST NIGHT OMG OMG!
So, ever since blue_soaring discovered that Supernatural is filmed right here in the lower mainland, we've been batting around the idea of going set-stalking at some point in hopes of meeting the boys. She's talked to other people who've been lucky enough to get to meet Jared and Jensen on set or randomly on the street, and we were all insanely jealous. Last weekend we sort of decided that we were going to make a go of it since they were starting filming for S3 this week, and we made a date to get together Thursday night and randomly hang around the studio in hopes of catching a glimpse of the boys.
Then Wednesday night, my phone rang as I was heading downtown. When I answered it, all I could hear was breathless, incoherent squealing which occasionally involved the words 'Supernatural', 'engraved invitation', and 'my backyard!'. After laughingly asking Blue to calm down several times, I finally got the whole story. And what a story!
She'd come home from work that day to find a notice posted to her door, saying that the street beside her building was going to be blocked off on Friday night for filming of a scene from Supernatural, from midnight to 5 am. She'd ripped off the sign, run up seven flights of stairs because she'd forgotten the existence of the elevator in her excitement, and phoned me. *grins*
Of course, we all immediately agreed that we had to go. It was indeed an engraved invitation, after all. Commence the nervous waiting. We weren't even a hundred percent sure the boys would actually be there, but we soothed ourselves with rationalizations like 'well, there aren't many scenes in the show that don't involve at least one of them, so our chances are pretty good'. We went shopping with Blue to get her new clothes that weren't falling off her, chichiri_no_da got her face waxed, and we all generally made ourselves as pretty as possible just in case.
Then the night arrived. We gathered at Blue's at about 8, fluttering and squealing and trying our best to be mature and calm about the whole thing. Blue was still getting ready, so Cnd and I hopped back in the car and headed over to the mall to pick up dinner, a new copy of S1 for Blue (she'd lent hers to a friend just a few days before and couldn't get it back in time to be signed), and presents for the boys. I was a little nervous about the presents, not sure if it was poor etiquette to give stars presents or what, but it was Jared's birthday the day before so we figured 'what the hell'.
We got Jared the cutest little basket of candy with a little teddy bear in it from Sweet Factory, and since we didn't want to come empty handed for Jensen, we got him a bouquet of heart-shaped lollipops. *grins*
Now really getting excited, we drove back to Blue's and wolfed down the food, chattering a mile and minute and all of us constantly reminding ourselves that we were absolutely not to squeal, giggle, or otherwise act like idiots if we did see the boys. Calm, cool and collected were to be our watchwords. Personally I was just praying I'd actually be able to stick to the plan and not spaz out when actually confronted with the real thing. It's one thing to promise yourself you'll be mature, and another thing to actually do it.
There were lots of fantasies about getting to talk with the boys, getting our pictures taken with them, etc, but in reality the best I was hoping for was to get to see them and maybe get our copies of S1 signed quickly. I knew they'd be busy and didn't really expect much.
It was after ten at that point, which was when the notice had said they'd start setting up, but we could see the location from Blue's window and it didn't look like much was happening yet. It was raining off and on and a little bit cold, so we decided to wait until closer to the time when they were supposed to start filming. We watched Asylum, the other episode that has a scene filmed on the same location. It's the pub near the beginning where the not-crazy cop is drinking; when Sam comes out and meets Dean in the parking lot, look at the awning over the door, you'll see it clearly reads 'The Old Terminal Pub'. This time they were filming a different side of the building that doesn't have the name on it, though, so it's not the same place in canon.
Then fireworks started going off, which was totally awesome and really set the mood. They were from the casino down the road and had nothing to do with the filming, but it was still really cool. ^___^
Finally at 11:30 we decided it was time to head down. We passed another couple of fan-looking girls hanging out at a nearby corner, but they were shyly hanging back and we were determined to be a little bolder. We sauntered down the street to where they'd set out cones across the road to block traffic (just in time to see a blue pick-up totally ignore the signs, the PA waving a stop sign at him, and drive straight over the cones to barrel through the intersection). We sort of commiserated with the PA about assholes as he set the cones back up again, then asked him where it would be safe for us to stand and watch so we'd be out of the way.
He obviously appreciated that we'd asked, and chatted with us for a bit. He said we could stand pretty much right where we were but that we probably wouldn't be able to get any closer, and warned us that we might need to hide sometimes. When we asked what was being filmed, he pulled out his shooting schedule and showed us exactly what the scenes were and confirmed that they were all exterior shots. Then he confirmed that Jared and Jensen definitely were going to be there, but warned us that the filming at the studio was running late and it all wasn't going to start for at least another hour, but that we'd definitely know when things were happening because there would be trucks and people everywhere.
We promised to come back later and headed back up the street with the tentative plan of going to sit in the nice cozy apartment until we saw activity. At the corner we saw the two nervous-looking girls again, so we stopped to pass on the information that nothing was going to be happening for a while and got drawn into a conversation with them. Turns out they were also fans responding to the engraved invite; they lived across the street from Blue but hadn't wanted to get any closer to the set for fear of being kicked off.
So we talked for a while, and then trucks did indeed start arriving by the dozens so we headed back down to our indicated spot near Rob the PA, and brought the two girls with us. It seemed to be just the five of us as far as stalkers fans went, which wasn't really surprising as it was after midnight and raining.
We started out on the sidewalk near Rob, just chatting and scrutinizing every truck and trailer that went by, trying to figure out what was going on. Then Rob waved us over and commented 'your boyfriends are here, girls' when a black SUV pulled up. So we inched closer and ended up standing on the street between two trucks in a little knot, craning our necks to try to see down the road to where the cameras were being set up.
For a long time we just watched while they set up all the equipment and started using smoke machines to create fog, and hosed down the street so it would show up better on camera (apparently they do this even when the take is in full, sunny daylight because it makes the street look better).
Then the black SUV moved again and we could see Jensen climb out, stand there briefly and then head for the make-up truck. Jared was still in the SUV, we thought maybe he was talking on his cell phone or something. There was also a dog moving around in the back of the SUV, which made us glee quietly about how cute it was that Jared would bring one of his dogs with him on set.
More standing around, chatting with Rob about being a PA and how stuff worked. He was really nice, explaining about things like why they were hosing the street. Jim Beaver, who plays Bobby, was wandering around randomly talking to PAs and crew, and he spent a few minutes about five feet from us leaning against the other end of the truck. He smiled at us, we sort of smiled nervously back, but he didn't come any closer and we didn't want to be obnoxious fans, so we didn't try to call him any closer. I guess he probably figured that the young girls were obviously there to see the hot stars, not him, but we totally would have loved to chat with him, too. We were disappointed when he moved away, and resolved to call him over the next time he got close.
Then Jensen came out of the trailer, heading for the set, and spotted us. He grinned (OMG, his smile really is just as big and bright as Dean's) and waved, and we all grinned and waved back like the dorks we are. Then we squeed as quietly as possible once he was out of sight about the fact that he'd smiled at us.
There was some filming, and we were good and shut the hell up whenever they said they were rolling. We could see absolutely nothing except the massive crowd of people and equipment at the end of the street, but it was still kind of interesting to watch. Then they took a break to set up for the next scene, and JENSEN WANDERED OVER TO TALK TO US. OMG, fangirl heaven. He was tall and even hotter than he looks in his pictures, his grin was ten miles wide and he was sort of cutely shy with us.
He (like most of the crew who'd spoken to us up to that point) asked politely why on earth we were out there in the middle of the night in the rain. I said something about how most people were out at the Harry Potter release, and Blue commented that Supernatural way outweighed Harry Potter, and Jensen laughed. Then we started talking about the Harry Potter phenomenon with him, or rather he mostly talked and we all laughed and smiled at him.
Then he introduced himself, just stuck out his hand towards me and said 'I'm Jensen, by the way.' So we shook his hand and told him our names, and he repeated each one back like he was trying to remember them. Then he asked if we'd seen 'the big guy' yet, and we said no so he promised to send Jared over at some point, and then he had to leave.
We, of course, spent the next half hour or so once again doing our best to squee quietly and unobtrusively so we wouldn't look like crazy stalker fans - our presence at 2 am in the rain notwithstanding.
Jim did come nearby again and we waved and smiled specifically at him, so he came over to talk to us for a bit. He was nice and seemed a little surprised that we knew who he was and were interested in him even though the boys weren't around. But hey, he's BOBBY. Bobby is totally cool.
At that point the new PA who was near us, an equally friendly woman whose name I unfortunately didn't get, asked us to move up onto the sidewalk because of liability issues for them if we got hit by one of the trucks. Well, actually, she asked us to move up onto the sidewalk and we instantly did, and then had to come back over to hear the explanation of WHY we were supposed to move that she'd obviously launched into with the expectation that we'd object. *grins* Hey, as far as I was concerned, anywhere they told me to go I was going to go, no questions asked. It's their set, we were the intruders and they were just being tolerant of us.
Another actor wandered over to talk to us for a bit, turned out he was going to be one of the baddies in that episode. That was fairly cool, we chatted with him for a while. Then another PA came over with a pair of asian girls in tow, and said something like 'here's another couple of girls for you to entertain'.
Then she read them (and sort of us by extension) a very stern lecture about how it was okay for us to stay where we were, but that we were absolutely not to try to sneak in any closer to the filming, and that if she caught them sneaking up behind the monitors again they'd be asked to leave.
Apparently, these two had parked their car on the other side of the set and sidled up to hover behind the director, right on set. When he noticed them, he understandably got irked and had the PA escort them away. Once the PA left they were bitching about how it wasn't their fault, that they'd asked another PA if the could watch and he'd said 'yes' but hadn't told them where to stand, so how should they have known they weren't allowed to be there?
I'm sorry. It's one thing to maybe be hovering a bit too close to the edges of the action because nobody told you to stay further away. It's another thing to walk right into the middle of the huge crowd of techs, actors, and directors and hang around at the monitors.
Then they proceeded to talk into their cellphones even during filming, even after the rest of us warned them to turn the phones off or they'd get us all kicked out. They obviously didn't have any real idea what the series was about or who the actors were, though one of them boasted that she saw Jared all the time where she worked at the casino, so this was no big deal for her. They didn't respond to our tentative attempts to make friendly fannish conversation and clearly thought they were much better than we were.
Then, thank the gods, they got bored and asked the PA to escort them back to their car. Literally as they were turning the corner and leaving, Jared and Jensen came out of the trailer again for more filming. I take this as divine justice. *grins*
One of us went over to 'our' new PA. We apologized for the behaviour of the two asians chicks and mentioned that we'd been afraid we'd all be kicked off set because of what they'd be doing. The PA immediately reassured us that everyone knew WE were being well behaved and that they really appereciated it, which was awesome.
A note here; if you ever find yourself with the opportunity to be near a set, be polite, friendly and most of all co-operative. You will make yourself stand out from the general fan-rabble, the PAs will probably like you and go out of their way to help you, and the actors are much more likely to come talk to you!
More filming, then there was another brief break and the boys went to the food trailer to grab something to eat. Then they headed over to talk to us, both of them!
And the best part was, it wasn't stilted or awkward at all. Jared is friendly and outgoing and hugely animated, making big gestures everywhere and dominating the conversation. It's impossible to feel shy when he's around. Jensen was much more relaxed with Jared there to run interference, and they were bantering back and forth like the best friends they so obviously are. It's not hard to see what makes the on-screen chemistry between Dean and Sam work so well, or why they seem SO much like brothers. They've got the same chemistry off-screen, too, though the roles are a bit reversed.
Jared was talking a mile a minute, most of the time with his mouth stuffed so full of hot-dog that I couldn't understand a word he said. It didn't help that his accent was much stronger off-screen. It was so adorable! We asked what they were filming, and he said they were trying to get out of the car, but that they were having trouble with the lines. Then he made a joke about how he probably shouldn't have spent the entire day before drinking, but hey, it was his birthday. *HINT HINT NUDGE NUDGE* 'Did you get me a present?' *grin*
He was so clearly expecting an apologetic 'no', and I'm so mad I missed the look on his face when we told him 'yes', because I'd turned to get the present! Blue and Cnd said it was a pretty comical 'O________O Seriously?' face.
So we handed him his candy basket, and he shoved the rest of his hot dog in his mouth and started exclaiming over the basket. Then we gave Jensen his candy heart bouquet, saying we hadn't wanted to leave him out. Jared immediately held his basket up to Jensen's bouquet and smugly declared 'Mine's way better, it's bigger'. To which Jensen equally smugly replied 'Yeah, but I've got their hearts'. Then Jared sort of made a lame attempt at a come-back by saying 'Yeah, but mine's got a little gumball machine and a bear and other cool stuff' and they teased each other for a bit.
Then Jared mentioned that he had a 6:30 flight out of the city in the morning, and how crazy the shooting schedule and flights had been. He sort of generally asked if anyone knew when they'd be done filming, and I blurted out that the shooting schedule said they'd be done at five, but that they were running late. He sort of blinked at me and grinned, then asked 'Hey, do you know if I've got any days off next week, too?' and I blushed and hoped I hadn't sounded like too much of a stalker.
Then he mentioned that Jensen had missed his early flights four times last year, to which Jensen said 'Jeez, you're never going to let me live that down, are you?' So Jared launched into a story about the time when he and Jeff ('Jeffery Dean Morgen, you know') had met up at the airport fifteen minutes before a flight, and Jeff had asked 'Hey, where's our boy?' to which Jared had replied in surprise that he'd thought Jensen was in the lobby or something.
Then he did an absolutely hilarious impression of what Jensen had sounded like upon being awoken by his phone ringing when Jared called him. Blue did a much better job of relating the story, go read it in her post. I'll link at the end.
A tiny little PA (she was shorter than we were and she looked like a little kid next to Jared, seriously) came over to tell them that they were needed back on set, in the middle of Jared's story. Jensen made a little gesture at her like 'wait, we'll be there in a minute' and Jared kept talking. We were totally in heaven. Dude, they made the crew wait so they could keep talking to us!!!
Cnd quickly mentioned that we did have things for them to sign, IF they didn't mind and had more time later on, and they promised to come back. They let the PA drag them off - literally, in Jared's case. He was walking backwards and still telling more of the story, shouting to us as he got further away about how great the gift basket was and how he was going to show it off to everyone. ^_____^ He made a quip about how he was twenty-five so he could finally rent a car, which struck me as really funny for some reason. I guess it's just hard for me to remember that he's actually that young.
So we hung around for a bit more, and they did indeed come back. Jim Beaver was walking nearby when they approached, so I called him over and asked if he'd mind signing as well. He was surprised again, but said something along the lines of 'hey, whatever floats your boat' and looked pleased. Like we wouldn't want his signature too!
We'd brought a pen, and so had the other two girls. Theirs was a blue sharpie that clicked in and out like a ball point clickie pen, and Jared was absolutely fascinated with the thing. He kept clicking it in and out and poking it at his hand until he was covered in blue dots - I'm not kidding. He was so cute! The other girls of course assured him he could keep it, and he was so delighted.
Then he started teasing Jensen about how he was going to sign right over Jensen's face, and explained to us that they'd made a promise to each other to sign over each other's faces whenever presented with pictures to sign. He didn't of course. Blue's got another funny story about them signing, I won't reproduce it.
Then the PA came over and apologized to us first this time for taking them away, and was much more firm about them needing to go back to shooting NOW. They all three said goodbye and goodnight, and commented about how great we were and that they'd see us again. We'd actually been planning to hang around for the whole shoot in hopes of seeing the Impala or some action, but after they so obviously said goodnight it sort of seemed like we might look much more stalkerish if we didn't leave then. And anyway it was 3:30am, we were tired and a little wet and cold, and FAR too giddy with lack of sleep and sheer fangirl joy. If we hadn't left then, we might have ended up embarrassing ourselves after all. And that would have been a damn shame after we'd been so well behaved and they talked to us like normal people and OMG.
So, yeah. That was my night of utter awesome, and I will never forget it as long as I live. It was totally the high point of my year. Moral of the story is: Jared and Jensen are sweet guys, normal people too, and you're going to get MUCH further with them and with the crew if you are nice, normal people as well.
Links, as promised: Pictures: we weren't allowed to take pictures on set, but we got some pics of other stuff before and after.
Cnd's post
Blue's post
So, ever since blue_soaring discovered that Supernatural is filmed right here in the lower mainland, we've been batting around the idea of going set-stalking at some point in hopes of meeting the boys. She's talked to other people who've been lucky enough to get to meet Jared and Jensen on set or randomly on the street, and we were all insanely jealous. Last weekend we sort of decided that we were going to make a go of it since they were starting filming for S3 this week, and we made a date to get together Thursday night and randomly hang around the studio in hopes of catching a glimpse of the boys.
Then Wednesday night, my phone rang as I was heading downtown. When I answered it, all I could hear was breathless, incoherent squealing which occasionally involved the words 'Supernatural', 'engraved invitation', and 'my backyard!'. After laughingly asking Blue to calm down several times, I finally got the whole story. And what a story!
She'd come home from work that day to find a notice posted to her door, saying that the street beside her building was going to be blocked off on Friday night for filming of a scene from Supernatural, from midnight to 5 am. She'd ripped off the sign, run up seven flights of stairs because she'd forgotten the existence of the elevator in her excitement, and phoned me. *grins*
Of course, we all immediately agreed that we had to go. It was indeed an engraved invitation, after all. Commence the nervous waiting. We weren't even a hundred percent sure the boys would actually be there, but we soothed ourselves with rationalizations like 'well, there aren't many scenes in the show that don't involve at least one of them, so our chances are pretty good'. We went shopping with Blue to get her new clothes that weren't falling off her, chichiri_no_da got her face waxed, and we all generally made ourselves as pretty as possible just in case.
Then the night arrived. We gathered at Blue's at about 8, fluttering and squealing and trying our best to be mature and calm about the whole thing. Blue was still getting ready, so Cnd and I hopped back in the car and headed over to the mall to pick up dinner, a new copy of S1 for Blue (she'd lent hers to a friend just a few days before and couldn't get it back in time to be signed), and presents for the boys. I was a little nervous about the presents, not sure if it was poor etiquette to give stars presents or what, but it was Jared's birthday the day before so we figured 'what the hell'.
We got Jared the cutest little basket of candy with a little teddy bear in it from Sweet Factory, and since we didn't want to come empty handed for Jensen, we got him a bouquet of heart-shaped lollipops. *grins*
Now really getting excited, we drove back to Blue's and wolfed down the food, chattering a mile and minute and all of us constantly reminding ourselves that we were absolutely not to squeal, giggle, or otherwise act like idiots if we did see the boys. Calm, cool and collected were to be our watchwords. Personally I was just praying I'd actually be able to stick to the plan and not spaz out when actually confronted with the real thing. It's one thing to promise yourself you'll be mature, and another thing to actually do it.
There were lots of fantasies about getting to talk with the boys, getting our pictures taken with them, etc, but in reality the best I was hoping for was to get to see them and maybe get our copies of S1 signed quickly. I knew they'd be busy and didn't really expect much.
It was after ten at that point, which was when the notice had said they'd start setting up, but we could see the location from Blue's window and it didn't look like much was happening yet. It was raining off and on and a little bit cold, so we decided to wait until closer to the time when they were supposed to start filming. We watched Asylum, the other episode that has a scene filmed on the same location. It's the pub near the beginning where the not-crazy cop is drinking; when Sam comes out and meets Dean in the parking lot, look at the awning over the door, you'll see it clearly reads 'The Old Terminal Pub'. This time they were filming a different side of the building that doesn't have the name on it, though, so it's not the same place in canon.
Then fireworks started going off, which was totally awesome and really set the mood. They were from the casino down the road and had nothing to do with the filming, but it was still really cool. ^___^
Finally at 11:30 we decided it was time to head down. We passed another couple of fan-looking girls hanging out at a nearby corner, but they were shyly hanging back and we were determined to be a little bolder. We sauntered down the street to where they'd set out cones across the road to block traffic (just in time to see a blue pick-up totally ignore the signs, the PA waving a stop sign at him, and drive straight over the cones to barrel through the intersection). We sort of commiserated with the PA about assholes as he set the cones back up again, then asked him where it would be safe for us to stand and watch so we'd be out of the way.
He obviously appreciated that we'd asked, and chatted with us for a bit. He said we could stand pretty much right where we were but that we probably wouldn't be able to get any closer, and warned us that we might need to hide sometimes. When we asked what was being filmed, he pulled out his shooting schedule and showed us exactly what the scenes were and confirmed that they were all exterior shots. Then he confirmed that Jared and Jensen definitely were going to be there, but warned us that the filming at the studio was running late and it all wasn't going to start for at least another hour, but that we'd definitely know when things were happening because there would be trucks and people everywhere.
We promised to come back later and headed back up the street with the tentative plan of going to sit in the nice cozy apartment until we saw activity. At the corner we saw the two nervous-looking girls again, so we stopped to pass on the information that nothing was going to be happening for a while and got drawn into a conversation with them. Turns out they were also fans responding to the engraved invite; they lived across the street from Blue but hadn't wanted to get any closer to the set for fear of being kicked off.
So we talked for a while, and then trucks did indeed start arriving by the dozens so we headed back down to our indicated spot near Rob the PA, and brought the two girls with us. It seemed to be just the five of us as far as stalkers fans went, which wasn't really surprising as it was after midnight and raining.
We started out on the sidewalk near Rob, just chatting and scrutinizing every truck and trailer that went by, trying to figure out what was going on. Then Rob waved us over and commented 'your boyfriends are here, girls' when a black SUV pulled up. So we inched closer and ended up standing on the street between two trucks in a little knot, craning our necks to try to see down the road to where the cameras were being set up.
For a long time we just watched while they set up all the equipment and started using smoke machines to create fog, and hosed down the street so it would show up better on camera (apparently they do this even when the take is in full, sunny daylight because it makes the street look better).
Then the black SUV moved again and we could see Jensen climb out, stand there briefly and then head for the make-up truck. Jared was still in the SUV, we thought maybe he was talking on his cell phone or something. There was also a dog moving around in the back of the SUV, which made us glee quietly about how cute it was that Jared would bring one of his dogs with him on set.
More standing around, chatting with Rob about being a PA and how stuff worked. He was really nice, explaining about things like why they were hosing the street. Jim Beaver, who plays Bobby, was wandering around randomly talking to PAs and crew, and he spent a few minutes about five feet from us leaning against the other end of the truck. He smiled at us, we sort of smiled nervously back, but he didn't come any closer and we didn't want to be obnoxious fans, so we didn't try to call him any closer. I guess he probably figured that the young girls were obviously there to see the hot stars, not him, but we totally would have loved to chat with him, too. We were disappointed when he moved away, and resolved to call him over the next time he got close.
Then Jensen came out of the trailer, heading for the set, and spotted us. He grinned (OMG, his smile really is just as big and bright as Dean's) and waved, and we all grinned and waved back like the dorks we are. Then we squeed as quietly as possible once he was out of sight about the fact that he'd smiled at us.
There was some filming, and we were good and shut the hell up whenever they said they were rolling. We could see absolutely nothing except the massive crowd of people and equipment at the end of the street, but it was still kind of interesting to watch. Then they took a break to set up for the next scene, and JENSEN WANDERED OVER TO TALK TO US. OMG, fangirl heaven. He was tall and even hotter than he looks in his pictures, his grin was ten miles wide and he was sort of cutely shy with us.
He (like most of the crew who'd spoken to us up to that point) asked politely why on earth we were out there in the middle of the night in the rain. I said something about how most people were out at the Harry Potter release, and Blue commented that Supernatural way outweighed Harry Potter, and Jensen laughed. Then we started talking about the Harry Potter phenomenon with him, or rather he mostly talked and we all laughed and smiled at him.
Then he introduced himself, just stuck out his hand towards me and said 'I'm Jensen, by the way.' So we shook his hand and told him our names, and he repeated each one back like he was trying to remember them. Then he asked if we'd seen 'the big guy' yet, and we said no so he promised to send Jared over at some point, and then he had to leave.
We, of course, spent the next half hour or so once again doing our best to squee quietly and unobtrusively so we wouldn't look like crazy stalker fans - our presence at 2 am in the rain notwithstanding.
Jim did come nearby again and we waved and smiled specifically at him, so he came over to talk to us for a bit. He was nice and seemed a little surprised that we knew who he was and were interested in him even though the boys weren't around. But hey, he's BOBBY. Bobby is totally cool.
At that point the new PA who was near us, an equally friendly woman whose name I unfortunately didn't get, asked us to move up onto the sidewalk because of liability issues for them if we got hit by one of the trucks. Well, actually, she asked us to move up onto the sidewalk and we instantly did, and then had to come back over to hear the explanation of WHY we were supposed to move that she'd obviously launched into with the expectation that we'd object. *grins* Hey, as far as I was concerned, anywhere they told me to go I was going to go, no questions asked. It's their set, we were the intruders and they were just being tolerant of us.
Another actor wandered over to talk to us for a bit, turned out he was going to be one of the baddies in that episode. That was fairly cool, we chatted with him for a while. Then another PA came over with a pair of asian girls in tow, and said something like 'here's another couple of girls for you to entertain'.
Then she read them (and sort of us by extension) a very stern lecture about how it was okay for us to stay where we were, but that we were absolutely not to try to sneak in any closer to the filming, and that if she caught them sneaking up behind the monitors again they'd be asked to leave.
Apparently, these two had parked their car on the other side of the set and sidled up to hover behind the director, right on set. When he noticed them, he understandably got irked and had the PA escort them away. Once the PA left they were bitching about how it wasn't their fault, that they'd asked another PA if the could watch and he'd said 'yes' but hadn't told them where to stand, so how should they have known they weren't allowed to be there?
I'm sorry. It's one thing to maybe be hovering a bit too close to the edges of the action because nobody told you to stay further away. It's another thing to walk right into the middle of the huge crowd of techs, actors, and directors and hang around at the monitors.
Then they proceeded to talk into their cellphones even during filming, even after the rest of us warned them to turn the phones off or they'd get us all kicked out. They obviously didn't have any real idea what the series was about or who the actors were, though one of them boasted that she saw Jared all the time where she worked at the casino, so this was no big deal for her. They didn't respond to our tentative attempts to make friendly fannish conversation and clearly thought they were much better than we were.
Then, thank the gods, they got bored and asked the PA to escort them back to their car. Literally as they were turning the corner and leaving, Jared and Jensen came out of the trailer again for more filming. I take this as divine justice. *grins*
One of us went over to 'our' new PA. We apologized for the behaviour of the two asians chicks and mentioned that we'd been afraid we'd all be kicked off set because of what they'd be doing. The PA immediately reassured us that everyone knew WE were being well behaved and that they really appereciated it, which was awesome.
A note here; if you ever find yourself with the opportunity to be near a set, be polite, friendly and most of all co-operative. You will make yourself stand out from the general fan-rabble, the PAs will probably like you and go out of their way to help you, and the actors are much more likely to come talk to you!
More filming, then there was another brief break and the boys went to the food trailer to grab something to eat. Then they headed over to talk to us, both of them!
And the best part was, it wasn't stilted or awkward at all. Jared is friendly and outgoing and hugely animated, making big gestures everywhere and dominating the conversation. It's impossible to feel shy when he's around. Jensen was much more relaxed with Jared there to run interference, and they were bantering back and forth like the best friends they so obviously are. It's not hard to see what makes the on-screen chemistry between Dean and Sam work so well, or why they seem SO much like brothers. They've got the same chemistry off-screen, too, though the roles are a bit reversed.
Jared was talking a mile a minute, most of the time with his mouth stuffed so full of hot-dog that I couldn't understand a word he said. It didn't help that his accent was much stronger off-screen. It was so adorable! We asked what they were filming, and he said they were trying to get out of the car, but that they were having trouble with the lines. Then he made a joke about how he probably shouldn't have spent the entire day before drinking, but hey, it was his birthday. *HINT HINT NUDGE NUDGE* 'Did you get me a present?' *grin*
He was so clearly expecting an apologetic 'no', and I'm so mad I missed the look on his face when we told him 'yes', because I'd turned to get the present! Blue and Cnd said it was a pretty comical 'O________O Seriously?' face.
So we handed him his candy basket, and he shoved the rest of his hot dog in his mouth and started exclaiming over the basket. Then we gave Jensen his candy heart bouquet, saying we hadn't wanted to leave him out. Jared immediately held his basket up to Jensen's bouquet and smugly declared 'Mine's way better, it's bigger'. To which Jensen equally smugly replied 'Yeah, but I've got their hearts'. Then Jared sort of made a lame attempt at a come-back by saying 'Yeah, but mine's got a little gumball machine and a bear and other cool stuff' and they teased each other for a bit.
Then Jared mentioned that he had a 6:30 flight out of the city in the morning, and how crazy the shooting schedule and flights had been. He sort of generally asked if anyone knew when they'd be done filming, and I blurted out that the shooting schedule said they'd be done at five, but that they were running late. He sort of blinked at me and grinned, then asked 'Hey, do you know if I've got any days off next week, too?' and I blushed and hoped I hadn't sounded like too much of a stalker.
Then he mentioned that Jensen had missed his early flights four times last year, to which Jensen said 'Jeez, you're never going to let me live that down, are you?' So Jared launched into a story about the time when he and Jeff ('Jeffery Dean Morgen, you know') had met up at the airport fifteen minutes before a flight, and Jeff had asked 'Hey, where's our boy?' to which Jared had replied in surprise that he'd thought Jensen was in the lobby or something.
Then he did an absolutely hilarious impression of what Jensen had sounded like upon being awoken by his phone ringing when Jared called him. Blue did a much better job of relating the story, go read it in her post. I'll link at the end.
A tiny little PA (she was shorter than we were and she looked like a little kid next to Jared, seriously) came over to tell them that they were needed back on set, in the middle of Jared's story. Jensen made a little gesture at her like 'wait, we'll be there in a minute' and Jared kept talking. We were totally in heaven. Dude, they made the crew wait so they could keep talking to us!!!
Cnd quickly mentioned that we did have things for them to sign, IF they didn't mind and had more time later on, and they promised to come back. They let the PA drag them off - literally, in Jared's case. He was walking backwards and still telling more of the story, shouting to us as he got further away about how great the gift basket was and how he was going to show it off to everyone. ^_____^ He made a quip about how he was twenty-five so he could finally rent a car, which struck me as really funny for some reason. I guess it's just hard for me to remember that he's actually that young.
So we hung around for a bit more, and they did indeed come back. Jim Beaver was walking nearby when they approached, so I called him over and asked if he'd mind signing as well. He was surprised again, but said something along the lines of 'hey, whatever floats your boat' and looked pleased. Like we wouldn't want his signature too!
We'd brought a pen, and so had the other two girls. Theirs was a blue sharpie that clicked in and out like a ball point clickie pen, and Jared was absolutely fascinated with the thing. He kept clicking it in and out and poking it at his hand until he was covered in blue dots - I'm not kidding. He was so cute! The other girls of course assured him he could keep it, and he was so delighted.
Then he started teasing Jensen about how he was going to sign right over Jensen's face, and explained to us that they'd made a promise to each other to sign over each other's faces whenever presented with pictures to sign. He didn't of course. Blue's got another funny story about them signing, I won't reproduce it.
Then the PA came over and apologized to us first this time for taking them away, and was much more firm about them needing to go back to shooting NOW. They all three said goodbye and goodnight, and commented about how great we were and that they'd see us again. We'd actually been planning to hang around for the whole shoot in hopes of seeing the Impala or some action, but after they so obviously said goodnight it sort of seemed like we might look much more stalkerish if we didn't leave then. And anyway it was 3:30am, we were tired and a little wet and cold, and FAR too giddy with lack of sleep and sheer fangirl joy. If we hadn't left then, we might have ended up embarrassing ourselves after all. And that would have been a damn shame after we'd been so well behaved and they talked to us like normal people and OMG.
So, yeah. That was my night of utter awesome, and I will never forget it as long as I live. It was totally the high point of my year. Moral of the story is: Jared and Jensen are sweet guys, normal people too, and you're going to get MUCH further with them and with the crew if you are nice, normal people as well.
Links, as promised: Pictures: we weren't allowed to take pictures on set, but we got some pics of other stuff before and after.
Cnd's post
Blue's post