New interview with Kim Manners
Hey all, the folks over at Zap2it have a new interview up with Kim Manners, where he talks about season four, among other things. I really, really like this guy. :-)
Executive Producer Kim Manners talks Supernatural season 4
By Sarah Jersild September 17, 07:44 AM
Supernatural returns for a fourth hell-raising, eyeball-melting season on September 18, and executive producer and frequent director Kim Masters says fans can expect more of the show's trademark blend of twisty storytelling, horrific situations and brotherly interactions -- with the added benefit of an impending apocalypse.
As fans at Comic Con saw, Dean (Jensen Ackles) claws his way back from the grave in the first five minutes of the season premiere. How that happens -- and what the Winchester brothers have been doing in their time apart -- will be the backbone of this season's mythology, Manners says.
"The mythology will carry though almost all 22 episodes this year, but it takes a back seat in many episodes," Manners says. "I think Eric [Kripke, the show's creator] is teasing the fans a little bit to make them want to find out exactly what happened when Dean was in hell and how Sam (Jared Padalecki) lived on his own for four months. Because when they buried Dean, that's it, Sam had nobody else."
But Sam and Dean aren't in a sharing mood when they're first reunited. The secret-keeping we see this season is different from the lies of omission that riddled the past three years. Before, the brothers kept secrets to protect each other or deflect pain. Now, they've each got things they want to hide.
They're also facing an even bigger evil than anything they've encountered before, a big bad that has been discussed but has not yet been seen. In one instance, "the boys go to a psychic to try to summon what they think is a demonic presence, and it is so powerful that the psychic's eyes are burned out of her head," Manners reveals.
In addition, fans can expect old foes to return in season four. Manners hints that Lilith will be back, but he doesn't know what she'll look like. "She could still be a little girl, or she could be whatever she wants to be. Once their meat suit dies, you can put the same demon in any body you want." In addition, he reveals that we'll be seeing the return of Nicki Aycox as Meg, but he doesn't say whether she'll be playing her human or demon side.
It’s a good think Supernatural keeps raising the dead, because the show tends to do away with some talent people. "If you get a job on Supernatural and you’re a good actor, you’re dead," Manners jokes. "Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who played John Winchester: Great actor, kill him. Fredric Lehne, the Yellow-Eyed Demon: Great actor, kill him. Sterling Brown, who played Gordon Walker: Great actor, and I killed him!"
But the backbone of the show continues to be the relationship between Sam and Dean. That’s by design, Manners says. "The only way a show like this works is if it’s based in honest human emotion. Relationships in a paranormal world have got to be more normal than they are in any other setting. If you don’t make the ridiculous believable, you’ve got nothing to look at."
Unfortunately, the powers that be in the television world often don’t recognize the "honest human emotion" in such show. For example, Supernatural received one Emmy nomination this year, for sound editing. Manners is used to genre shows being overlooked. "I directed 53 episodes of the X-Files and never had a nomination for an Emmy. We won 2 Golden Globes, we were never nominated for best drama Emmy. The people that run the TV industry truly think that this is just Sci-Fi nonsense," he says. "Today, if you’re not doing Desperate Housewives or some stupid legal show or a guy with a cane who’s running a hospital, you don’t have a ‘great’ show."
But there are some things Manners says he couldn’t get from the shows that attract the big awards. "Eric is full of surprises," Manners says. "When you read a script like the one where we hit the Impala with a truck [at the end of season one] you go ‘Oh, cool, we’re going to kick the shit out the Impala!' That’s just part of the intrigue and the excitement that is created not only for the fans but for the crew, for the cast, for myself as a director and producer. It’s cool TV, and he’s always coming up with a curve."
Viewers can see what new curves the cast of Supernatural will face when it returns with new episodes on September 18.
Executive Producer Kim Manners talks Supernatural season 4
By Sarah Jersild September 17, 07:44 AM
Supernatural returns for a fourth hell-raising, eyeball-melting season on September 18, and executive producer and frequent director Kim Masters says fans can expect more of the show's trademark blend of twisty storytelling, horrific situations and brotherly interactions -- with the added benefit of an impending apocalypse.
As fans at Comic Con saw, Dean (Jensen Ackles) claws his way back from the grave in the first five minutes of the season premiere. How that happens -- and what the Winchester brothers have been doing in their time apart -- will be the backbone of this season's mythology, Manners says.
"The mythology will carry though almost all 22 episodes this year, but it takes a back seat in many episodes," Manners says. "I think Eric [Kripke, the show's creator] is teasing the fans a little bit to make them want to find out exactly what happened when Dean was in hell and how Sam (Jared Padalecki) lived on his own for four months. Because when they buried Dean, that's it, Sam had nobody else."
But Sam and Dean aren't in a sharing mood when they're first reunited. The secret-keeping we see this season is different from the lies of omission that riddled the past three years. Before, the brothers kept secrets to protect each other or deflect pain. Now, they've each got things they want to hide.
They're also facing an even bigger evil than anything they've encountered before, a big bad that has been discussed but has not yet been seen. In one instance, "the boys go to a psychic to try to summon what they think is a demonic presence, and it is so powerful that the psychic's eyes are burned out of her head," Manners reveals.
In addition, fans can expect old foes to return in season four. Manners hints that Lilith will be back, but he doesn't know what she'll look like. "She could still be a little girl, or she could be whatever she wants to be. Once their meat suit dies, you can put the same demon in any body you want." In addition, he reveals that we'll be seeing the return of Nicki Aycox as Meg, but he doesn't say whether she'll be playing her human or demon side.
It’s a good think Supernatural keeps raising the dead, because the show tends to do away with some talent people. "If you get a job on Supernatural and you’re a good actor, you’re dead," Manners jokes. "Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who played John Winchester: Great actor, kill him. Fredric Lehne, the Yellow-Eyed Demon: Great actor, kill him. Sterling Brown, who played Gordon Walker: Great actor, and I killed him!"
But the backbone of the show continues to be the relationship between Sam and Dean. That’s by design, Manners says. "The only way a show like this works is if it’s based in honest human emotion. Relationships in a paranormal world have got to be more normal than they are in any other setting. If you don’t make the ridiculous believable, you’ve got nothing to look at."
Unfortunately, the powers that be in the television world often don’t recognize the "honest human emotion" in such show. For example, Supernatural received one Emmy nomination this year, for sound editing. Manners is used to genre shows being overlooked. "I directed 53 episodes of the X-Files and never had a nomination for an Emmy. We won 2 Golden Globes, we were never nominated for best drama Emmy. The people that run the TV industry truly think that this is just Sci-Fi nonsense," he says. "Today, if you’re not doing Desperate Housewives or some stupid legal show or a guy with a cane who’s running a hospital, you don’t have a ‘great’ show."
But there are some things Manners says he couldn’t get from the shows that attract the big awards. "Eric is full of surprises," Manners says. "When you read a script like the one where we hit the Impala with a truck [at the end of season one] you go ‘Oh, cool, we’re going to kick the shit out the Impala!' That’s just part of the intrigue and the excitement that is created not only for the fans but for the crew, for the cast, for myself as a director and producer. It’s cool TV, and he’s always coming up with a curve."
Viewers can see what new curves the cast of Supernatural will face when it returns with new episodes on September 18.