Variety
Interview Jensen Ackles, who stars as Dean Winchester on CW’s “Supernatural."
Who do you think is the best actor in Hollywood at the moment? (male or female)
Johnny Depp (I was going to try to be cool and think of someone obscure, but he’s too good to ignore)
Who do you think was the brightest star of the silver screen? Jimmy Stewart
If you could play any real-life person in a movie, who would it be and why? Tiger Woods because I would get paid to play golf.
Do you have a dream project?: Any western
Who do you look to for inspiration? My 56-degree wedge
Book I’m reading: “Lullaby” by Chuck Palahniuk
Total number of books I own: No idea
Last film I saw: “3:10 to Yuma,” directed by James Mangold
Three films that mean a lot to me:
“Cool Hand Luke,” directed by Stuart Rosenberg
“Once Upon A Time In The West,” directed by Sergio Leone
“Saving Private Ryan,” directed by Steven Spielberg (I watched it with my Grandfather prior to his death — he fought in that war)
Song currently playing in my iPod: “Staggolee,” Pacific Gas & Electric
Three songs that mean a lot to me:
“El Paso,” Marty Robbins,
“Texas Flood,” Stevie Ray Vaughan
“Home,” Marc Broussard
Concert that changed your life: Michael Jackson in Texas. July, 1984. I was 6 years old, it was my first concert.
Guilty pleasures
* TV: ”Dr. Phil”
* Film: “License to Drive”
* Reading material: Bathroom walls
* YouTube video: Candy Mountain
Best hangover remedy?
Exercise, but good luck!
What's the biggest upside of the Internet ?
Instant information.
What is the biggest downside of the internet?
Consumption of my life.
What advice would you give to someone trying to break into your profession?
Make sure you’re doing it for the right reasons.
What helps you get out of bed in the morning?
My call time
Who was your celebrity crush growing up?
Kelly Kapowski
Are there any activities you do to make you feel un-famous?
Yes, working in Canada
What’s more dangerous: a mountain lion or a bitter ex?
Depends on which ex.
If you were alone in your house one night and you saw a ghost, who ya gonna call? (Okay, this one is a given)
The correct answer:Those two guys from “Supernatural”. That was easy
Would you rather see a Lakers game next to Jack Nicholson or a Knicks game next to Spike Lee?
I’d like to see the Lakers playing the Knicks sitting between Jack and Spike – just to watch them go at it.
What is the single worst purchase you’ve made in the past year?
iPhone
If you were an adult film star, what would your name be?
Pudgy Midway (I think that’s right)
TV Guide Interview Up Close with Supernatural's Jensen Ackles: Part 1
The CW's Supernatural (Thursdays at 9pm/ET) is the little horror show that could. In a two-part interview, Jensen Ackles, who plays the ruthless but somehow adorable older bro, Dean Winchester, speaks with TV Guide about the "thrill ride" of a third season, details an off-the-set scuffle and even opens up about his usually deep-undercover personal life.
TV Guide: Because of his deal with the Crossroads Demon to bring Sam back from the dead, Dean only has this year to live. That must suck. How will he be handling those dwindling days?
Jensen Ackles: He'll keep going out and having fun, calling old flames to see if they want to go Round 2…. He's not wasting any time. [Laughs] But at the same time, he knows there are people out there who need help, so he keeps in the reality of hunting.
TV Guide: Will Sam keep trying to save Dean, even though he knows he'll die if he does? That's a bad bind.
Ackles: Right. I have to stop Sam from doing that. But he's still trying. In each script I read, I'm getting a little bit more nervous.
TV Guide: Don't you know what's going to happen?
Ackles: I don't. They won't tell us.
TV Guide: You seem to have evolved into a real sci-fi/action guy. You've done Dark Angel, Smallville, some movies and now Supernatural. Is that cool with you?
Ackles: It wasn't planned at all. I guest-starred on Dark Angel as Max's brother and died. I went out for a pilot that didn't get picked up, and I went off to Europe where I got an e-mail that they wanted me back full-time. Then I auditioned for the role of Clark Kent on Smallville. It got down to Tom [Welling] and me, and they ultimately went for Tom, which was the right decision. Two seasons later, they called and said, "We've been thinking about you," and pitched me the role of Lana's boyfriend. I said, "Yeah, that sounds cool."
TV Guide: Were you happy with the way the role worked out?
Ackles: It got a little tough in the middle of the season. And then it took some odd turns when I got the call from Supernatural. I had a whole other year left on Smallville, so that drastically changed my storyline. I ended up turning evil a little ahead of the plan!
TV Guide: Would you like to parlay all of that into one of those big-budget sci-fi/comic-book movies?
Ackles: I'm not against it by any means. Comedy, drama, Westerns, sci-fi… it's all fine if the story's compelling and the character is interesting to me. I do like action a lot. The other night there was a big stunt and they brought in my stunt double. When I saw what the stunt was, I was like, "No, no, no. I'm doing this." They'll usually let me do it, unless it's big stuff like a wire-jump off a building — that could be a catastrophe. But [costar] Jared [Padalecki] and I would much rather have a day of action and stunts than a day of the two brothers sitting in a motel room pouring their hearts out. [Laughs]
TV Guide: You realize you have a lot of female viewers because of that emotional stuff, right?
Ackles: This is true. "It's a necessary evil," we like to say.
TV Guide: After all your sci-fi roles, are you used to the passionate and obsessed cult fan?
Ackles: To a degree. They're very avid, those fans. They're very passionate about the show and those characters. I like that they're very protective of those characters. I get protective of the characters as well. If I read something on the pages that I don't agree with, I'll call [series creator] Eric [Kripke] and say, "Eric, what are you doing here, buddy?" We're lucky enough to be able to do that.
TV Guide: There are Samoholics and Deaniacs out there. You each have your own coterie of fans, don't you?
Ackles: What's funny is the network always talks about how we skew to a younger audience, but at the events we go to, the ones who show up at the set are usually women ages 30 to 50. It's actually pretty cool.
TV Guide: There are so many shows filming up in Vancouver — Smallville, Kyle XY, Bionic Woman…. Do you hang out?
Ackles: We don't have a lot of leisure time, but I do play golf with Tom [Welling] and see Michael Rosenbaum every now and then. And Jeffrey Dean Morgan, when he's up here.
TV Guide: Out of habit, do you ever slip into the role of the "older brother" with Jared in real life?
Ackles: There's definitely that dynamic between the two of us on and off screen, but I'd say for the most part we're pretty evenly on par and we get along like a couple of good buddies.
TV Guide: I hear you good buddies hit golf balls together. Who's better?
Ackles: Well, I definitely play a lot more than he does. In fact, I introduced him to it just a few months ago. I got him out there and I bought the biggest box of balls you could possibly find and he ended up losing every one of them, which was funny. He might beat me at hoops, because he's taller than me.
TV Guide: You're not so short yourself, it's just that Jared's sort of a giant.
Ackles: Yeah, I'm 6'1" and he makes me look like a midget! It lends itself to an interesting situation between us on set and the brothers on the show. Dean's such a short-tempered hothead, but he's also not nearly as big as Sam is. [Laughs]
TV Guide: Is it true that you and Jared had a bonding experience when you were attacked by some rowdy Canadians?
Ackles: You mean when Jared, his buddy Jordan and I were jumped by seven or eight guys? There had been this fight at a bar and these guys got kicked out. They were pretty tanked. This one girl sees me walking by and says, "That's the guy," meaning she knew me from the show, but they thought I was some guy she had been fighting with. They started swinging at me and it was an all-out brawl.
TV Guide: How'd you do?
Ackles: We got away and put two of them in the hospital. I got away first, then I turned around and saw three or four guys teaming up on Jared. I was like, "Oh, man!" I ran back in and I was fly-kicking at some kid, hit another guy, grabbed Jared's shirt — of course, I ripped his favorite shirt — and I was yelling "C'mon, let's get out of here!" We were pretty tight after that.
TV Guide: What does it say that the CW put you up against Grey's, CSI, The Office and even Kitchen Nightmares?
Ackles: I understand the pairing of us and Smallville, the only show on the network we can really combo with. Yes, it sucks. It's very, very strong competition. They're all top-10 shows. The network's excuse for it is, "That's not your audience, it's an older audience." I disagree. The same age range watching those shows are tuning in to our show and buying the DVDs and watching them. It's hard being on a new network, a smaller network.
TV Guide: Do you feel supported?
Ackles: Somewhat. They have a lot of other shows they're trying to launch, and they probably figure that once we're up and running, we can survive on our own. We've hardly had any promotion this year. My feeling is, "Take a little time with this show. You've gotten us to this level, why not put the extra energy into it and get us to an even bigger level?"
In Friday's Interviews & Features, Part 2 of our Q&A: Jensen Ackles talks about the two new gals in Supernatural town, opens up (a bit) about his own real-life romance and shares his plea to Eric Kripke.
TV Guide pt 2 TV Guide: You've added a couple of hot new female characters to the show, Ruby and Bella. Eric Kripke [the show's creator] said he's looking to see what chemistry that will bring. Will it be meet-cute, hate each other and then romance each other?
Ackles: I don't know. They tried to do that with Jo [Alona Tal] last year and the audience [reaction] was, "No, no, we just want this to be about the boys."
TV Guide: How do the boys feel about it?
Ackles: We're begging for new characters! I look at a show like Heroes and I laugh. You guys have no idea. Those characters are probably working two or three days a week, whereas Jared and I are in every single scene of each episode. If we get a scene off, we're laughing.
TV Guide: I hear it's a tough shoot.
Ackles: It is. We're going 14, 15 hours a day Monday through Friday. We shoot nights, out in the cold, the rain. I read an interview that Matthew Fox gave about working on Lost in Hawaii and he said, "It's great. I only work two or three days a week. I spend time with my family at the beach." I wanted to kill myself.
TV Guide: You did a stage play this summer, right?
Ackles: I played Daniel Cassidy in A Few Good Men. Lou Diamond Phillips played Colonel Jessup. I hadn't been on stage since high-school musicals 11 years ago. It was back in Dallas, so I got to go home and put on a show for my whole family and friends.
TV Guide: How'd you do? Would you do it again?
Ackles: I would, but not for a little while. It was a lot of work…. If you remember the movie, Tom Cruise was in every scene. To memorize 125 pages of a play was a little daunting. But we made it happen.
TV Guide: You don't like to talk about your life, but you're single, right?
Ackles: I'm not married. [Laughs] I've been dating somebody for about a year. She's an actress.
TV Guide: Who is it then?
Ackles: [Laughs] I don't know if I should tell you. She's an upcoming actress. She's not known. She's good people. She comes from a very similar home. Louisiana. We've got that in common. It works well.
TV Guide: What's happening with all the demons you released from Hell?
Ackles: We're doing our best to fight 'em.
TV Guide: So who or what is pulling the strings now? There's someone above the Crossroads Demon, true?
Ackles: The Crossroads Demon is not someone with the utmost power. There's definitely a lot more — we use the term "celebrity demons" — that have now been released.
TV Guide: More scoop, please.
Ackles: The hunter Gordon is back, of course. He thinks that Sam is the ultimate demon — the anti-Chris — that causes a bit of a problem in episode 8.
TV Guide: So will it come down to Gordon against Sam, mano or whatever a mano?
Ackles: You'll have to wait and see, but pretty much.
TV Guide: What's with Buffy and Angel vampire Mercedes McNab coming in as a bloodsucker?
Ackles: We just finished filming that. Yes, she gets turned into a vampire. It turns into a pretty sticky situation.
TV Guide: Does one of you fall in love and then you have to kill her as usual?
Ackles: Not with her. Mercedes is great. She turned in a great performance. It's not easy playing those kinds of completely outlandish characters.
TV Guide: In what way are you most like Dean? Are you a sarcastic guy?
Ackles: Dean and I share a few qualities. Sarcasm is definitely one of them. Where we differ the most is the short temper before getting into a big confrontation. But when push comes to shove, I can easily turn into Dean.
TV Guide: Do you have a thing for vintage cars now, since you practically live on screen in that old Impala?
Ackles: I do, though not necessarily muscle cars. I'm more into four-wheeling. I just sold a '73 Bronco, all tricked out for off-roading. But after driving the Impala around so much, I'm getting the feeling of that good old muscle car, so I'm kind of in the market right now. I'm going to try to write into my contract to get one of these Impalas, so when the show's over, maybe I'll scoop it on up and get it styled.
TV Guide: Anything more about the show?
Ackles: It's another thrill ride this season. We're really hitting our stride. If the audience likes what they've seen in the last two seasons, it's a little more intensified version of the same. I'm real proud of it.
TV Guide: And you're hoping you don't die, or at least come back in some spectacular fashion.
Ackles: Please write to Kripke. Tell him not to kill me.
TV Guide site now deleted: TV Guide Jensen Ackles (ONTD)