#his later work as a character actor on tv and film is full of small but superbly realised parts‚ but he was always and remained primarily a

[scotianostra]

Happy birthday Robert Carlyle, born in Maryhill, Glasgow April 14th 1961.

Bobby was brought up in Glasgow, the son of Elizabeth, a bus company employee, and Joseph Carlyle, a painter and decorator. His mother left when Carlyle was four years old and his dad looked after him from then. He left school at the age of 16 without any qualifications and worked for his father as a painter and decorator; however, he continued his education by attending night classes at Cardonald College in Glasgow.

Carlyle became involved in drama at the Glasgow Arts Centre at the age of 21 (having been inspired by reading Arthur Miller's The Crucible), and subsequently graduated from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. In 1991, he and four friends founded a theatre company, Raindog (named after Tom Waits' album "Rain Dog," one of Carlyle's favorites) (a company dedicated to innovative work then, which is now primarily involved in television and film work), and guest starred in The Bill. The same year he starred in his first movie, Riff-Raff, directed by Ken Loach.

I first noticed Carlyle in the excellent ITV series Cracker, as murderer Albert "Albie" Kinsella, it wasn't long after this he had a series of his own with Hamish McBeth, the dope smoking village bobby in a quiet Scottish town on the west coast, the series ran for three seasons from 1995 to 1997.

Since then Robert Carlyle has been able to pick and choose his roles, his films include, The World is Not Enough, Plunkett & Macleane, Ravenous, 28 Weeks later and of course as Francis "Franco" Begbie in the two Trainspotting films.

On the small screen we have seen him in as the title role in Adolf : The Rise of Evil, Human Trafficking and The Last Enemy on this side of the Atlantic, in the US he has starred in the TV movie 24, SGU Stargate Universe and the continuing Once Upon a Time..

The third season of British political thriller-drama COBRA is due on our screens in the coming months

Recently we saw the TV series of the popular film, The Full Monty, which surprised me of how good it was. In February Carlyle commented on X/Titter about a Simpsons episode Ae Bonny Romance, which aired last December. In one scene, audiences are shown an airline called “Planespotting”, with the plane including a picture of Carlyle’s character Begbie on its tail! Robbert tweeted "My life is complete.." As well as the nod, the episode featured the voices of actors Karen Gillan, David Tennant and Paul Higgins.

Robbiewas lastsen in the movvie, The Performance about an American Jew and gifted tap dancer while on tour in Europe, Harold and the rest of his troupe are scouted by a German attaché who leads the troupe to an exclusive performance for Hitler himself. Next up is a mini-series Toxic Town about the tragic toxic waste case in the East Midlands and three mothers fighting for the justice for the rates of upper limb defects in babies born in Corby were subsequently found to be three times higher than those of children born.

#scotland #scottish #history #actor #happy birthday

[beastlycheese]

Does Robert Carlyle, now 62, get his kit off in the new TV series of The Full Monty? ‘Nobody wants to see that,’ he says with a grin. 

Photograph: Alana Paterson/The Observer

Interview

By Rebecca Nicholson, printed in Guardian/Observer

Robert Carlyle’s life has been defined by two remarkable characters: the explosively violent Begbie, and Gaz in The Full Monty. Here, he talks about his Glasgow childhood, Britpop hedonism – and playing the PM…

It was 1997, and Robert Carlyle was in his mid-30s, when he first played the stripping Sheffield steelworker Gaz in The Full Monty. Last year, to get ready to play him again – this time for an eight-part TV series – he sat himself down to watch the film. He seems slightly embarrassed to admit it – he’s not the kind of actor who likes to watch himself. “And I’m not about trawling back through something from 20-odd years ago,” he says. But The Full Monty was calling him to South Yorkshire, so trawl back he did. He decided that he would watch a few minutes, then he would move on. “And I sat there and watched the whole thing.” He was surprised to find that it still worked, even after 25 years. “I don’t know if I can say this, but I really enjoyed it. It really stands up.”

The original Full Monty told the story of six unemployed men from Sheffield who put on a DIY strip show at the working men’s club. It was an indie film, shot on a very small budget, and it almost went straight to video; a last-minute re-edit saved it from obscurity and it went on to be a staggering global success, making £200m at the box office. Carlyle’s Gaz is the ringleader, a schemer and a dreamer trying to keep enough money in his pocket to put the heating on when his son comes to stay.

I had misremembered it as a film about men getting their kit off, a bawdy hen night of British comedy. But rewatching it I was struck by how political it seems now. Three decades later, in the new series, people are still broke and Gaz is still scheming, but the working men’s club has shut down, the school is crumbling and children are going hungry.

‘I love it when I dive into a job. You’ve got a little family unit, you love each other to bits and you think you’re going to be friends forever’

“It’s easy to forget that the film is quite heavily political,” says Carlyle. “It makes a point. And I think the same applies to the TV show. These people have lived through what seems like 25 years of austerity.” He credits the writers, Simon Beaufoy and Alice Nutter, with its gallows humour. “But you see that the older people’s lives have been pretty tough for the past 25 years, and then there’s 20 years of what Simon calls the Young Montys, the younger characters, heading for the same shit. So it’s good that this has been made. It shows what people go through to survive the day to day.” Not just men getting their kit off, then. Does he strip this time? “Nobody wants to see that,” he says, with a grin.

Carlyle is a great talker, open and funny and relaxed. He admits he was not always this way, particularly when it came to the press, though he did have his reasons. He’s calmed down a lot since his wilder days, in part because he is, as he says, “125 years old” (he’s just turned 62, though he looks younger) and also because he now lives in Vancouver, on the west coast of Canada. “There’s a laid-back attitude and quality here I enjoy,” he says. He moved there to film a TV series, Once Upon a Time, in 2011, with his wife, Anastasia Shirley, and three children, and found that he liked the city, though he has kept a home in Glasgow, where he grew up, and the family splits its time between the two. His kids are 21, 19 and 17.

Do they have Canadian accents? “Aye, they do,” he laughs. “My eldest son’s got this strange – hang on, let me see if I can do it – this half-American thing with a bit of Scottish thrown in, you know?”

Carlyle is at his happiest when he’s at home. “I’m a homebody, there’s no doubt about that,” he says. “I’ve got loads of friends, particularly in London, and I enjoy it when I get to meet up with them. It’s brilliant. But I’ve always been a bit of a loner to be honest.” Carlyle was brought up by his father; his mother walked out when he was a child. He has spoken before about moving around a lot, living in communes. “I always think about it as darkness and light, my life, because the first part of it was pretty dark. My mother had left when I was a wee boy. I was brought up by my dad alone in Glasgow in the 60s, and the single- parent family, there was not a lot of that around, especially a single-parent family with a father. That made me instantly different from the rest of the people who were around me.” He seems surprised by his own candour. “Genuinely, I’ve never really spoken about this before. But I guess that’s probably where it started.”

I still love Begbie. It was such an explosion. An absolute avalanche

Did he feel like an outsider at school? “When I was very young, yeah, definitely. It’s the little things.” He has a teacher friend and he says he is pleased to hear that things are very different now. “But back in the day, if you had to get permission for something, the teachers would say, bring a note in from your mum. Stuff like that. Of course, when you don’t have that, that really hits home, even when you’re a wee boy.”

Carlyle left school at 16, became a painter and decorator, and worked with his dad. At 21, he came across a copy of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, and it lit something up inside him. He went on to the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, and set up his own theatre company. For a loner, he has picked a very sociable job.

“Yeah, but I’ve been doing it for so long that I’ve become very good at separating those things. I love it when I dive into a job, whether theatre, film, TV, whatever. You’ve got a little family unit, you love each other to bits and you think you’re going to be friends for ever. Then two months later you never see them again,” he laughs. Family means a lot to him. “I’d always wanted to have a good family unit, to be able to connect with each other and be pals with each other,” he says, talking about his three children. “Thankfully, we’re great friends.”

In 1991, he was cast as the lead in Ken Loach’s Riff-Raff, and worked steadily through the 90s, playing a serial killer in Cracker, which set the tone for more villainous roles to come. But nothing prepared him for the double whammy of playing the sadistic maniac Begbie in Trainspotting at the end of 1995 and Gaz in The Full Monty, 18 months later. “From that point on, they were massive shadows that then followed me around for the rest of my life, the rest of my career,” he says. “So it was something that I had to get used to, the whole fame thing. Because I am, as I’ve been saying, quite a homely guy, a family man, it took me a long time to get used to that.”

To say the films were hits is an understatement. Both were phenomena that travelled around the world. One of the strangest things about watching The Full Monty again, he says, is that it took him right back to that time. “It’s looking at yourself in another life, and all the things that were happening in my life back then. I mean, we can all look back in photographs, but I’ve got this living, breathing thing in front of me.”

What was happening in his life back then?

“Ha!” It was the height of the Britpop era, and because of those films, Carlyle was right at the heart of it. Back in the day, as he puts it, he was invited to everything and went to most of it. “I met all the personalities of the day, the Oasis lads, Damon Albarn, who’s still a great friend. I was right in the middle of that whole thing, enjoying that life.”

Was it as hedonistic as it seemed? He doesn’t pause for breath. “One thousand per cent,” he grins. “It was incredibly hedonistic, but it was exciting. If you think about it politically, we’d just come out of Tory rule. Blair was there, everything seemed to be on the up. And I can remember that feeling.” He appeared in an Oasis video, for the song Little By Little.

Was it easy to be friends with Blur and Oasis, given their famous rivalry? “Hahaha. To be honest with you, I was really good at not getting involved. But I remember when I did Little By Little, Damon was like, ‘Why the fuck did you do that? Come and do one for me!’ I said, ‘But you never asked,’ which was true! And that was the end of the conversation.”

“It doesn’t sound like you were a homebody in those days,” I say. He laughs again. “No,” he says. “There wasn’t so much homebody then. I certainly wasn’t shy in getting out the door.”

But there was a darker side to that era. His fame made him a person of interest to the tabloids. He says it’s nothing compared to what some people experienced, but still it sounds unpleasant.

“At the time, going through that was horrible, to be honest with you, because I didn’t understand it. I was suddenly in this world and I was very open. Probably too open, at times.” The papers responded by reporting on his private life and his family. “They got in touch with my mother and pulled her out the dark, and that was really upsetting. So I slammed the door shut for a long time, because I just hated it.” He was tight-lipped in interviews and wouldn’t do chatshows, though he will say he still regrets saying no to Michael Parkinson. “I think that was probably quite clever, because then you do keep a little bit of yourself. I mean, you see people on these chatshows and everything comes out and you go, ‘My God, I don’t know how you can live your life like that.’”

He does them these days, however. “Because I’m 125, I’m more used to it,” he jokes. “I can do it better now. Time and age is a great thing.”

Is it just time? Has he mellowed with age?

“It’s family, children. My children came in the 2000s, so all the stuff in the 90s, there were no kids then, but once children arrive in your life, everything changes overnight. So that becomes more important. That becomes your focus. And you begin to think, ‘Oh, the other stuff’s not actually worth bothering about.’”

Carlyle has had the chance to go back to two of his most iconic characters. He revisited Begbie for T2, the Trainspotting sequel, in 2017. A sequel was always planned, and Carlyle says he and Jonny Lee Miller, who plays Sickboy, wanted it to be sooner. “But Danny Boyle [the director] always said, we’ll do it, but when you’re older. He was obviously right, because it’s in the face. You can see that life has been lived.”

Even more so than Gaz, the terrifying Begbie is the character who has followed him around the longest. “The terrifying Begbie!” he laughs. “I love Begbie. I mean, who knew? Who knew what was going to happen with that character? It was such an explosion, Trainspotting. An absolute avalanche.” At the time, he knew that the film was going to be something special. “I thought this character is gonna be around for a while. But I thought, maybe a few years.” Yesterday, he says, he went to the butcher’s near his house, and the man in the shop, in his 20s, from Bilbao, recognised him and said he loved him in Trainspotting. “He said, ‘I’ve got a T-shirt of you, of Begbie with the glass.’ This thing I thought was going to last a few years, is still there, in people’s minds, 27 years later.” Wherever he goes now, people still recognise him as Begbie. “That mad character!” He’s not exactly a teddy bear, is he? “I mean, this is a line from the film – he’s a psycho, but he’s a mate, so what can you do? I do love him. And Gaz. Both these characters have given me a tremendous career and a tremendous life, and you’ve got to love him for that.”

Besides, Begbie’s not dead yet. There is a six-part TV series, The Blade Artist, in the planning, about Begbie’s post-prison life as an acclaimed artist in California. Carlyle is working on it with Irvine Welsh and Hex author Jenni Fagan.

“It’s been brilliant, this one. I mean, let’s face it, Begbie is me. So to be right in at the beginning of that and be able to go, well, actually, maybe change this, change that… that’s where we are at the moment.” He thinks they’ll start shooting in the next year or two.

For now, he’s off work, relaxing in Vancouver, travelling with his wife, spending time with his family. “Back in the day, it was all about the next job, next job, next job and I don’t think so much like that any more.”

Recently, he’s been playing the British prime minster, Robert Sutherland, in the political thriller Cobra. “Who would have thought? Begbie, Gaz, the prime minister…” he says. In the original Full Monty, Gaz explains that he can’t go shoplifting because “I’ve got serial killer written on my forehead.” Carlyle nods. “That’s right. That’s probably my issue with parts. Certainly with Sutherland, when he gets angry, I’ve got to really pull it down. Don’t get Begbie-angry,” he says. “Begbie as the prime minister!” I wouldn’t put it past him.

The Full Monty will be streaming on Disney+ from 14 June

#robert carlyle #full monty

[maximumwobblerbanditdonut]

Conor MacNeill as young Edward (Ned) Gowan

Bill Paterson as old Edward (Ned) Gowan. Ned was a lawyer from Edinburgh who knew the law, inside and out and acted as a legal advisor to Clan MacKenzie.

Conor MacNeill is an Irish actor from County Antrim, Northern Ireland, who has experience on both the big and small screen, as well as the stage. He is an actor, producer, and writer, and is known for his roles in An Crisís (2010) Whole Lotta Sole (2012) a Comedy/Crime with Brendan Fraser and Privates (2013) and in the BBC and HBO drama, Industry, as Kenny Kilblane.

He made his London stage debut starring alongside Harry Potter actor Daniel Radcliffe in The Cripple of Inishmaan. He was nominated for a BAFTA award in 2017 for Best Short Film.

He played the Garda, and Detective Ruairi Slater in The Tourist season 2 alongside Jamie Dornan (2024) Conor MacNeill wrote a script with Jamie Dornan it's set in NI'.

The Tourist is the four-time MacNeill and Dornan have worked together – they were both in The Fall, Belfast and Siege of Jadotville together, and became good friends outside of work, even writing a script together during lockdown (more of which later)

Belfast. The film is set in the 1960s. Belfast captures the spirit and atmosphere of the city during a period of significant social and political change.

Conor MacNeill (McLaury) fictional character and Colin Morgan in Kenneth Branagh's “Belfast” film (2021) 🎬

Industry (2020)‧ Drama Young finance graduates venture out into the cut-throat competitive world to get a job during the recession times that followed as a result of the 2008 financial crisis.

Conor MacNeill - Industry’s Kenny belongs in the pantheon of bad fictional bosses.

The Siege of Jadotville (2016) It is a true story. Irish soldiers on a UN peacekeeping mission in Africa, are besieged by overwhelming enemy forces, as UN peacekeepers defend their outpost.

The Siege of Jadotville depicts the incredible true story of the siege of 150 UN Irish troops led by Commandant Pat Quinlan (Jamie Dornan) in the Congo in 1961. Quinlan and his men held out against a force of 3,000 local troops led by French and Belgian mercenaries working for mining companies.

In honour of their courageous actions in Congo at the Siege of Jadotville a specially commissioned medal “An Bonn Jadotville” was awarded to all men of “A” Company, 35th Infantry Battalion and the families of deceased members, to give them full and due recognition. If you haven't seen this film yet, I recommend watching it.

The Fall (TV Series 2013–2016) - Conor MacNeill as Mark Bailey - MacNeill joined the cast of The Fall in 2016 for its third season, in which he featured in the final few episodes.

The Fall is a crime drama television series filmed and set in Northern Ireland. The series, starring Gillian Anderson as Detective Superintendent Stella Gibson, is created and written by Allan Cubitt and features Jamie Dornan as serial killer Paul Spector. 

#ConorMacNeill #BillPaterson #NedGowan #RuairiSlater #TheTourist #JamieDornan #season2 #TheFall #Belfast #SiegeofJadotville

#Youtube

[kishigunpla]

Let's Read: A Requiem for Char: The Red Comet of My Youth - Chapter 1

by Shūichi Ikeda

This post will be an overview of the first chapter, Steps to Becoming an Actor.

Please note this isn't a full summary by any means, just a highlight of parts I found interesting. Very long post under the cut!

Shūichi Ikeda was born on December 2, 1949 in Numabukuro in Nakano Ward, Tokyo. Growing up in the years after World War II, Ikeda recalls that although the scars of the war still remained here and there, the entire country was filled with an upwards surging momentum that could be described as "hope after a long period of suffering".

In 1958, he was invited by a friend to join Komadori Theater Company (��団こまどり). Founded in 1948, it was a prestigious children's theater company that later produced many famous actors, including familiar names like Maaya Sakamoto, Daisuke Namikawa, and Ikeda's wife, Sakiko Tamagawa. He passed the entrance exam and started his career as an actor at only eight years old.

Along with movies, radio had a large presence in popular entertainment in those days. The first experience that Ikeda and the other child actors had was with radio dramas, broadcast on NHK radio. In elementary school, it was his daily routine to go to the NHK studio after school. There he co-starred with popular talents of the time.

In a funny side note, Ikeda recalls fond memories of the bento lunches they had at the studio. The rank of the bento changed depending on the rank of the actor with whom he was working. One particular instance he noted was how when the famous Musei Tokugawa starred in a lead role, lunch was eel bento, a rare delicacy back then.

As time went on, TV dramas became more popular, and Ikeda was offered his first role on television only three months after he joined Komadori. It was a simple role - a child crying in the corner in the background of a shot - but he remembers it fondly as a memorable first step into the world of acting.

In his junior high days, Ikeda starred in Gashintare (がしんたれ), a TV adaptation of the autobiography of playwright Kazuo Kikuta, and the movie Robō no Ishi (路傍の石, "Roadside Stone"), two works that made him seriously consider the job of "actor" for the first time.

In this chapter, Ikeda also talks about his relationship with famed Japanese film actor Yūjirō Ishihara. The two met as co-stars on the TV drama Shi no Hakubutsushi - Chīsaki Tatakai (死の博物誌 – 小さき闘い, The Natural History of Death – A Small Battle). Ikeda says he was immediately struck by his aura the moment he entered the rehearsal room.

Ikeda recalls how on set, Ishihara jokingly addressed him as “Shū-sensei”, as a nod to the fact Ikeda was much more experienced with TV dramas, despite being much younger. 

“Shū-sensei, you're a junior high school student, but you’re more senior than me as a TV actor, aren't you?”

In response, Ikeda replied,

“Well then, I'll call you Yu-sensei. On TV, I may be the sensei, but if I appear in a movie with you, please be the sensei.”

Ikeda fondly remembers him as a star that never faded no matter how much time had passed. Sadly, Ishihara passed away July 17th, 1985, and he never got the chance to film on a movie set with him.

In his words, “Even now, I keep in mind the way of life as an actor that Yujiro-san taught me. And I still call out to him...as Yu-sensei.”

In the spring of 1964, Ikeda began his role as the star of Jiro Monogatari (次郎物語), a TV drama based on the novel of the same name. The story depicts Japan in the early Shōwa period as seen from the perspective of Jiro Honda, a boy of a former samurai family.

The show was a hit among viewers of all ages, and ended up running as a nationally broadcast drama for two years. However, due to the popularity, from that point forward in his childhood acting career, Ikeda was typecast as a similar character - or as he refers to it, the image of “Jiro Shonen”, “a boy in a kasuri kimono”.

Ikeda was around 24 or 25 years old when Kohei Miyauchi asked him if he would be interested in doing voice-over work. The role was in a one-shot overseas drama for NHK about a group of three train robbers. Ikeda remembers struggling to adjust, thinking it might not be the best fit after all.

Soon after he was offered a role in André Cayatte's Mourir d'aimer as the dub voice for Bruno Pradal. At first he was hesitant, but accepted after finding out he would be alongside Tomoko Naraoka (dubbing Annie Girardot), whom he had worked with earlier in his career during his time as a child actor.

Ikeda recalls how this experience helped change his perspective on voice over work.

"Rather than trying to match the voice of the actor on the screen or strictly matching the actual lip-syncing, I felt how the actor and director put together the character, and translated that atmosphere into Japanese-style acting."

After appearing as a voice actor in other overseas dramas, a new opportunity arose. The person who approached him was Kazuya Tatekabe, of Doraemon fame. The two became friends and often went drinking with their fellow co-stars after work.

It was Tatekabe who introduced Ikeda to Noriyoshi Matsuura, who worked as an editor and sound director on various anime. Through some gentle persuading, he convinced Ikeda to give anime a try (while drunk, he admits), specifically the character Radik in Invincible Steel Man Daitarn 3.

However, Ikeda found the speed of the process and inability to preview the material beforehand (like he was used to with film voice overs) overwhelming. He remembers thinking, "this is my first and last anime".

Despite this, Matsuura convinced him to give one more audition a try, with the promise they could go for drinks afterwards. Ikeda agreed, though wasn't enthusiastic about it.

...That audition was for the role of Amuro Ray in the upcoming anime Mobile Suit Gundam.

~

That's all for Chapter 1! I'll continue with these posts for each chapter as I go. Of course I recommend checking out the book for yourself if possible as I've left out a lot of content here for brevity.

#shuichi ikeda #char aznable #kishi reads

[thealmightyemprex]

Halloweenathon:Salems Lot

Well it would feel weird to discuss Halloween without discussing Stephen King so lets look at the second adaptation of his work ever

This 1979 TV miniseries follows writer Ben Mears (David Soul ) as he rturns to his hometown of Salems Lot to write about the Marsten House ,which is now occupied by antiques dealer Richard Straker (James Mason ) and his mysterious business partner Kurt Barlow (Reggie Nalder),which is then followed by mysterious disapperances and deaths

So I have seen a LOT of Stephen King movies and miniseries and I typically associated him with the 80's and 90's.....So it is really cool to see this early adaptation of his work ,and see early examples of his tropes :The writer protagonist ,the small town in Maine ,his take on classic spooky stuff(In this case vampires), and the peculiar kid .....You also get some of his weaknesses that I will discuss later

I'm gonna be honest here folks,I like 75 % of this film .....But there is 25 % that doesnt work .The pace is really bad ,like its a 3 hour film that was meant to be split into two nights ,so I expected it to be slow,but it can be glacial ,and once the plot really gets going it is a little rushed .We also have the King tropes that dont work like a subplot involving a cheating wife that goes nowhere and the history of the evil house really adds nothing to the story .Also as a lead David Soul is just OK and I wish Lance Kerwin as the kid hero had more to do

However I wanna stress that despite how flawed it is.......I still liked it cause there is a lot that works.The Direction by Tobe Hooper is phenomenal and when we get to the horror scenes they are legit scary ! The vampire makeup looks very good ,and any scene with a vampire is chilling ,going for the more monstrus type of vampires and I would be a fool not to mention the iconic scenes of the child vampires tapping at the windows which terrified many a kid . I will also say the film uses its main monster Mr Barlow affectively ,we barely see him ,but what we do see is chilling ,and much appreciation for poor Reggie Nadler who had to endure that makeup and for playing one heck of a beastly creature of the night making a very scary vampire.The cast is full of amazing and recognizable character actors like Ed Flanders,Fred Willard ,Elisha Cook Jr and George Dzundza ,with the stand outs of these character actors to me being Bonnie Bedelia as the love interest Susan and the great Kenneth McMillian as Constable Parkins Gillespie(Which for me is extra fun since while the Constable isnt a great guy ,its a fun change of pace as I am used to him being purely villainous characters in films like Cats Eye and Dune ).However the BIG stand out is James Mason as the films heavy,as Barlow is both silent and unseen for most of the film ,his servent Straker is our main antagonist for much of the runtime . I am a fan of James Masons work ,and it is a joy to see him as this sinister gentleman ,and he is a menacing bad guy .In fact I reddomend the film for any Mason fan

OVerall its flawed ,but it is mostly well done .I say the best course is to watch over two days ,and you will be treated to some good scares and some great acting ,especially from James Mason

@ariel-seagull-wings @amalthea9 @angelixgutz @princesssarisa @filmcityworld1 @metropolitan-mutant-of-ark @the-blue-fairie @themousefromfantasyland

[baronvonkrieger]

A history of Igors

You know him. The hunchbacked assistant of the mad scientist, who performs all those necessary tasks that allows the scientist to pervert normal science to his evil ends. Grave robbing, dusting cobwebs, pulling levers; the little things. We have long associated Igor with mad scientists for many years, but although the modern mad scientist has been with us since 1818, when Mary Shelley published her novel “Frankenstein  or, The Modern Prometheus “, the name Igor character wouldn’t become associated with the character until after World War 2

The hunchbacked mad scientist assistant was a product of the James Whale “Frankenstein”(1931). However, this hunchbacked assistant wasn’t called Igor, his name was Fritz. Played by actor Dwight Frye, the character he created became the iconic assistant to the mad scientist working at the lab at night, robbing graves and pulling levers to assist the madman in making his dreams of a perverted scientist to reality. The third film in the Frankenstein series didn’t give us a Igor, it gave us a Ygor, and Ygor was nobody’s stooge.

 Ygor, played by Bela Lugosi in what may have been his best screen performance, was a man bitter at a community that attempted to hang him him, and discovered the Monster, but alive and in a weakened state. Ygor wasn’t there to serve the mad scientist, he was there to force the scientist to make the Frankenstein monster full strength. That, is the power of friendship. Ygor would somehow survive “Son of Frankenstein”(1939), went on to be in “Ghost of Frankenstein” (1942) and would have played the part once more in “Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman”, with his brain now placed in the body of the monster. Unfortunately it was decided during the production, that the monster wouldn’t speak, which left Lugosi playing the big hulking brute that Lugosi had never wanted to play. With a different actor playing the Frankenstein Monster, all traces of Ygor were gone by “Ghost of Frankenstein”.(1944). With the end of WW2, the era of mad scientists carrying out their experiments in crumbling castles was drawing to a close on the big screen, but not on the small screen.

After WW2, TV sets exploded in popularity, and TV needed ready made material to fill broadcasting hours.Universal found it lucrative to provide their old films to the new media. One of the ways these old movies were to have them hosted by a chacter who would fit the Macabre theme of the movies they presented. One of the earliest, and most successful of these hosts was Zacherley portrayed by John Zacherle , starting in 1957. Being on a budget, if Zacherley needed co-stars, they had to be invisible. That meant his wife (who stayed in a closed casket) and an invisible lab assistant named Igor. Because of the popularity of the old films like the ones that Zacherley hosted, monsters became increasingly popular among young people. One of these, by Bobby Pickett called “Monster Mash” (1962), still popular 60 years later, has practically become the anthem for Halloween, and we have “Boris’ in the song calling his assistant Igor. Five years later, Bobby Picket decided to create a stage musical I'm Sorry the Bridge is Out, You'll Have to Spend the Night, that involved his playing the scientist Boris Frankenstein  and who had Igor as his assistant. This was finally made into a film in 1995 called “Monster Mash”. In the film John Kassir, who played the Cryptkeeper in the HBO series “Tales From the Crypt’, with Bobby Pickett playing Boris the mad scientists. I found the film likable, but it does play like a PG rated “Rocky Horror Picture Show”, and it is little known today.

The first live action filmed version of Igor as the mad scientist assistant could be from 1971′s “The Hilarious House of Frightenstein”. played by Fishka Rais. In “Mad Mad Mad Monsters” the 1972 Animated follow up to the stop action animated film “Mad Monster Party”(1969), Boris Frankenstein’s assistant Igor, was voiced by Allen swift, who seemed to be patterned after the look and way Lugosi portrayed Ygor. It’s as if the decided to blend Frye’s Fritz, with Lugosi’s Ygor, to give us the definite mad scientists helpmate.This would be further defined by a comedy released in 1974 called Young Frankenstein”.

Perhaps the greatest of Mel Brooks comedies, thanks to the brilliant creativity of the film’s star Gene Wilder, an important part of this film was how Marty Feldman’s brilliant performance of Igor. This film is essentially a remake of “Son of Frankenstein”, with Feldman playing the grandson of Fritz from 1931′s “Frankenstein. Of course, the rates have gone up from them. This film was a loving send-up of the first three Universal Frankenstein films. while giving the monster something he would never have in the original films, and that was a happy ending. It’s impossible to think of a mad scientist assistant with a name other then Igor since.

In 2008, Igor got a starring role inhis own film, named Igor. Except, he was one Igor among many. In the country of Malaria, and child born with a hunchback, is called Igor, and the only career option open to Igors, is as a mad scientist assistant, who’s duties include pulling levers, and saying “Yes Master” in a slurred voice. It is a death sentence for any Igor to actually attempt to do any science. However, thanks to the stupidity of the Scientist this Igor worked for destroying himself, he’s able to prove his worth, by the end of the film.

Tim Burton certainly associates the name with hunchbacks who use slurred speech. His stop motion films have given us a couple of Igors. There is the assistant to Dr. Finklestein in “NIghtmare before Christmas”(1993) who is rewarded with dog treats, for successfully completing tasks. Although not an assistant to the scientist in Frankenweenie (2012), the boy named Igor, is clearly based on the archetype.

Although not a hunchback, and not using slurred speach, Rob Zombie gives us the most recent Igor, in his film “The Munsters” released last September. There was an Igor in both the original series, but he was a pet bat. This Igor is the assistant to the Count, who doubles as a mad scientist and a Vampire. He assists the Count in his experiments, including trying to create a mate for his daughter Lily, to keep her from marrying Herman, who is the creation of a mad scientist Dr. Wolfgang. This is the latest Igor to assist a mad scientist, but I doubt this will be the last Igor who will help a mad scientist in his work.

#Igor #Frankenstein #Bela Lugosi #Boris karloff #Universal Monsters #Zac #zacherle #Tim Burton #nightmare before christmas #rob zombie #the munsters

[ekstan]

Erik Knudsen 2006 interview

In October of 2006, Erik Knudsen was interviewed by canadian news website Dose, i found it some years ago and unfortunely the original link with this interview is not working anymore, but i saved it and now i'm sharing this with you, so check it out.

Speakeasy: Erik Knudsen

Christine Clarke

Published: Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Erik Knudsen would like to see George Stroumboulopoulos host The Hour while balancing the budget as Canada's next Prime Minister; he'd like to hear Celine Dion do a cover of Avril Lavigne's "Complicated;" and when he's filming his American-situated series, Jericho, he often gets reprimanded for sounding way too Canadian. It's enough to get one's "eh?"-suffixing Canuck heart pumping.

Knudsen got his start in 2003 with a lead on YTV series Mental Block and he's been a regular fixture in Canadian TV and film ever since, most recently appearing in this year's bilingual Quebec feature film Bon Cop/Bad Cop. But the Toronto native has also been making waves across the border with a role in Saw II and can currently be seen on the small screen as reclusive teen Dale Turner in Jericho. As Turner, he is one of the survivors of a post-apocalyptic America who is cut off from the rest of the world in an isolated, rural town.

"When we were introduced to the premise, our first thought was that this is controversial and it's going to be a scary topic to talk about," says Knudsen of Jericho's hairy subject matter. "But I thought what a perfect opportunity to show how humans would react to a situation that they're so worried about."

So far, audiences have been receptive to Jericho's intense portrayal of the aftermath of a nuclear disaster. The series has boosted CBS's performance on Wednesday nights and the network recently gave the show a full-season order. Some may chalk that up to solid casting and a compelling storyline, but we like to think it's Knudsen's penchant to pronounce "about" in that distinctively Canadian way. In honour of all-things red and white, we asked the Toronto actor to finish a few sentences that we thought were worth starting.

I'm at my most Canadian when I'm... working because I get so many comments that the way that I'm talking is very Canadian. When I'm acting I'll say "Canadian" words by accident. There's certain words like "about" that Americans will laugh at and we'll have to re-take the scene. We had to do voice over lines for a scene where I'm playing poker because I said "out" and I didn't say it right.

If a nuclear disaster was imminent and I was stuck in a Canadian town closed off from the rest of society, the one Degrassi: The Next Generation character that I would take with me is... Toby Isaacs. He seems like a smart kid. We'd talk Canadian politics to pass the time, probably the youth criminal justice act.

I think the CN Tower should be renovated and turned into... a paintball arena.

In the movie of my life the Canadian actor who would play me is... Hayden Christiansen because he's a good looking guy.

My favourite Canadian Heritage Minute commercial is... the origination of the name "Canada." [Jacques Cartier and his team of explorers encounter a band of Mi'kmaq and ask their chief, Donnacona, what the territory is called. The explorers mistake "kanata," which means the village, for the name of the nation]. There's a line at the end that I think was added in but they didn't shoot it. So, as they're walking away they don't show his face and you can tell it was dubbed over one explorer says, "I'm sure it means the village." But, they added it in later, so I thought it was kind of humourous.

In my travels, the one misconception that people have about Canadians is... that we're all friendly because it's not true!

The most stereotypical Canadian thing that I've caught myself doing is... saying "thank you" a lot and often in the same sentence.

If I could create a hockey team full of famous Canadians my top choices would be...

Avril Lavigne because she played hockey. Kiefer Sutherland because he's just a trooper. Is Elvis Stojko Canadian? Yeah, he'd be pretty good on the ice.

Source: Dose.ca

#erik knudsen #erikknudsen

[falsebooles123]

Diary of a Horror Bufff 8.30.22

Ugh two days left bitches two days left.

Also I woke up at like 1 today (in the afternoon) so i feel riproaring to get some stuff done in the meantime what this means is that I'm gonna do a small chore between each of the movies we're watching and since I already sent off a work email I get a freebie ok les go.

Creepshow 2 (1987) dir. Michael Gornick

ok so I speant a bunch of time talking about this on letterboxd so check it out there but the main gist is that while its not as good as the original I still had fun.

Chicken of the Dead (2019) dir. Julien David

A beautiful story about a libertarian telling big goverment to go fuck themselves and they restrictive ideas of "how much food should be in foodstuff" and "not turning people into chicken zombies".

Irradiation (2021) dir. Sava Zivkovic

ok so this animation style is insane, like is this what console video games are like. I'm used to people looking like this.

homegirl with that bullet bra.

this is basically like a full ass video game teaser trailer where this russian scientist treks through a burnt irradiated forest to look at this eldritch anomily. I can't even explain further this is like AAA grade like sci-fi animation. this shit could have a whole ass TV show I am obsessed just fucking watch it.

Satan At Play (1907) dir. Segundo de Chomón

I mean we love a synopsis that starts with UWU "satan was bored"

so this is less narrative then the letterboxd discription implies. This is essentially more like a magic show Satan is bored and so in a revue style he pulls off a series of illisions more daring then the last which even like a hundred years later the effects are spectacular.

Bottom line is that Segudo is a bad bitch.

The Man with Wax Faces (1914) dir. Maurice Tourneur

ok so this would have proabbaly been a lot more impactful if I spoke french since this film uses a lot, and I mean a lot, of intertitles. Bonus points is that it really fun to read french in an absolutely awful french accent.

The plot for this is pretty basis some dude like you bro I double dog dare you to spend some time in the wax museum oh I'm sorry, *said in a horrible french accent* un musee de figures de cire. The dudes goes insane apparently and proceeds to murder his friend when he comes into the musee de figures de cire to play a silly little prank on him.

Vengeance (pomsta) (1968) dir. Jirí Brdecka

not to be confused with Vengeance(1968), the western staring Richard Harrison, (the 60s actor not the guy who runs pawn stars.)

ugh this bussy. fuck it up king

ok so this shit has the same vibe as one of those ted ed riddles videos. you know which ones I'm talking about.

this was the closest gif I could find.

basically some dude being a little beta male cuck and writing a poem to his girfriend when this CHAD comes over and is like you bitch ditch this looser I'm good at fighting and shes like bet. So he goes to his upstairs neighbor whose a witch or something and shenanigans, (faustian deals and idle hands) ensue.

also pretty much every chick in this just straight up got her titties out like shes lady freedom

Isabelle Aux Dombes (1951) dir Maurice Pialat

ok so it turns out "The Dombes" is a place in france thats basically pasture land that has a bunch of shallow ponds.

this movie is sort of non narrative or at least surreal. Essentially the character takes a trip to The Dombes, and just sort of gets lost. the imagedry gets more explicitly about death until the character literally dresses up as Chiron and crosses one of the ponds to look at a gravestone with Isabelle name on it.

gives me this energy.

Ghost Town Frolics (1938) dir. Lester Kline

ok so this is a fun silly little cartoon. this was part of the New Universal and Walter Lantz productions cartoons. Yes Walter Lantz as the guy who did Woody Woodpecker. No Idea who Lester Kline is and the information I have on him is a bit limited. Also the characters for this are the simple simians, who are apparently chipanzee siblings. Normally I find monkeys to be kinda freaky but these ones are cute.

bitch I got good reason

this was cute though it had some fun gags and the characters were fun.

Krazy Spooks (1933) dir. Manny Gould, Ben Harrison

so apparently there are like four directors in this but I'm only including the first two.

so this one featues Krazy Kat who was made by Charles Mintz and produced by Columbia Pictures.

So this is kinda just another random ass huanted house cartoon. Theres some sight gags, some bedsheets ghosts and this one has a gorilla which is actually pretty new. some murder on rue morgue realness I guess.

The Binding Box CRYPT TV (2017) dir. Ramsey Attia

ok so this one was fun. Basically this girl gets a mysterious box in the mail and UWU its a creppy clown in a jack in the box. so yeah obvious spooky thing is spooky. This is just a fun time and we love the aestetic.

I think I have one more video left for today so lets vibe.

Pregnancy Test (2016) dir. Fergal Costello

ok I haven't seen this in years but I fucking love this. basically a women takes a Prenancy test and it comes back as "having the antichrist"??? oh also its a contraception PSA so I mean we have to stan.

anyway bitches thats pretty much it for today I think I won't be doing any blogging tomorrow but I will finish off the challenge.

anyway whores stay tuned cause your getting a full ass video next time.

#Youtube #Vimeo

[tamuramachi]

[Eng] Special Conversation between Yumi Tamura & Masaki Suda on Mystery to Iunakare

Published in the February 2022 issue of Flowers manga magazine (月刊flowers) released on Dec. 27, 2021.

In commemoration of the [Mystery to Iunakare] TV drama adaptation, we held a special conversation between the original author, Yumi Tamura, and the lead actor, Masaki Suda. The conversation ranged from each of their thoughts on “Totonou Kunou” to discussing the highlights of the TV drama, their interactions before the filming, and their favorite manga works! Their conversation reveals at length the appeal of Mystery to Iunakara (abbreviated as Mystery).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Notes:

Spoiler Alert: The conversation touches on contents in volumes 4 and 5 of the manga, some of which I believe starts being revealed on episode 5 of the TV drama (airing Feb. 7, 2022). Though no major plot spoilers are revealed (probably not fully understandable without context anyway), character names, certain events that occur, themes, and suggestions of mood/tone of certain parts are conveyed. If you want to remain completely “in the dark” about volumes 4 and 5 (episode 5 and onward in the drama) until you actually experience them, then do not proceed. If you don’t mind knowing some things without context, then feel free to read on. However, in either case, you may still want to skip over Caption 4 (see Note # 5), as I think it may kind of spoil a surprise later on leading up to volume 9 if you haven't read up to that point.

The terms “original work” and “manga” are used interchangeably in this fan translated version when referencing Mystery to Iunakare manga.

Stating the obvious that this is a fan (amateur) translation for the purposes of practice and spreading awareness of Yumi Tamura and her work. Copyright belongs to Yumi Tamura and Shogakukan. I do not claim accuracy on these translations, and in fact, may revise them from time to time. Corrections are welcomed.

If you’re able, please give support and let the publisher (and manga author) know that you enjoy this manga, this kind of special content, and would like more in the future by purchasing the original publication. Digital version is available to purchase on Book Walker Japan (https://bookwalker.jp/de41a49e7d-4bfd-4a82-a1d4-1536484849b2/). If the link doesn’t work, try copying & pasting “月刊flowers 2022年2月号” in the search bar, even on other sites where you can purchase similar Japanese publications (that accept your country’s currency). Note that you will need to register an account on Book Walker, either a Japan or Global account, to make purchases on the site.

I purposely excluded the images from this interview but included the image captions, except the bios for Tamura and Suda. They are labeled with caption numbers and appear as small, green italic text throughout. So, if you would like the full experience, not to mention a peak at other great works included in the magazine, do purchase the original. 😊

/end Notes

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

TV Drama Adaptation Confirmed…

------First of all, Ms. Tamura, can you please share what your honest feelings were when you received the announcement about the drama adaption?

Yumi Tamura (Tamura): I was so surprised, I wondered if it was even real. I thought to myself, “Mr. Masaki Suda!? It can’t be… Really?” But when I tried to imagine it, he was so perfectly suited for the role. In the first story, Totonou’s character is a little different [from now] because I originally intended the story to be a one-shot, but from the second story onwards his emotions gradually emerge, and parts of him that are a bit cute and careless begin to show. So, when I imagined Mr. Suda in those various forms of Totonou, I just thought, “Wow, so wonderful, he’s perfect for it!”

Masaki Suda (Suda): No, no, you flatter me.

Tamura: When I first received the proposal for the drama from Fuji TV, I was deeply moved by how much importance they placed on the original work. Due to the nature of live-action dramas, some parts will of course be different from the original, but I felt that they created the character of Totonou with great care. Moreover, with Mr. Suda playing the role, there was a sense of assurance like Totonou would be properly represented over there. This is the first time I’ve received a TV drama adaptation, and I am, with all of my heart, so grateful for this wonderful project.

Suda: I, too, am thankful to hear you say that.

Tamura: Actually, when this work was first published, a manga artist and an editor I knew told me that they would like to have Mr. Suda as Totonou if this was ever to be made into a live-action drama.

Suda: Was this before talks of the drama?

Tamura: That’s correct. It was during the very early stages. At the time, I couldn’t even imagine that something like a drama was possible. But after we actually talked, I was able to easily visualize Mr. Suda’s Totonou in my mind. But his Totonou is ridiculously cool! (laughs)

------Mr. Suda, what were your thoughts when the offer came?

Suda: This was during my so-called period of continuous manga live-action adaptations… which I’m really grateful for, but my manager and I talked at that time about whether I should hold off on manga-based works and go after more original works [written specifically for the screen]. But then a few days after that conversation, my manager came to me and said, “So, there’s this project that’s based off a good manga…” (laughs). As I was thinking to myself, “Here it comes,” I replied to him, “Well, I’ll at least read it for now, but didn’t you just say I should stop doing this stuff?” Then I started reading the manga, which was Mystery… and then I was all for it like, “Let’s do it!” (laughs). I pretty much made the decision on the spot after reading the first story.

Everyone: (Laughs)

Suda: I already knew about Mystery to begin with, because there were talks of it among the manga fan community. So, I’m sure I would’ve read it eventually even without the TV drama news… When I actually read the manga, I felt that I absolutely had to do this project.

[Caption 1] From the first story, which instantly captivated Mr. Suda. Totonou’s words are “piercing” and even become hot topics on social media.

Tamura: Thank you. It makes me very happy that you thought so. I’m honored.

“Reverse” Data Collecting before Filming

------It seems that Mr. Suda had a talk with Ms. Tamura before the shooting started, is that right?

Suda: That’s right. The opportunity for us to do it appeared, so I asked on my side for a meeting with Ms. Tamura. After all, wouldn’t anyone be curious to know what kind of person is Ms. Yumi Tamura, the one creating this kind of work? I wondered if there’s really any way one could draw this kind of work just from imagination. Without a great deal of life experiences and various perspectives, one probably wouldn’t be able to draw up something like this. So, I wanted to know what was going on inside Ms. Tamura’s mind.

Tamura: No, no, it’s not like that…

Suda: I’m naturally the type of person who wants to meet and talk with the author of the original story when I get to perform it. I can see what the author values from these conversations, and I like to hear directly from them about their intentions. When I read Mystery in particular, I could feel something immensely that resembled a “wish” [someone’s wish]. It’s not like I’m trying to say what’s right or wrong in this world, but somehow, I could totally agree with the future that Totonou hoped for beyond what was happening in the world he was living in. That's why I wanted to meet and talk with Ms. Tamura more.

------What did you two talk about?

Suda: Let’s see, what did we talk about?

Tamura: I feel like I got so nervous that I couldn’t really talk.

Suda: Wait, wait, wait, but you actually talked a lot! You were talking so much, Ms. Tamura! (laughs)

Tamura: (Laughs) Did that happen? Well, I got anxious and rambled on then... We talked for about an hour, didn’t we?

Suda: Probably around there. It was so much fun. I’m glad to know that there are people like Ms. Tamura, who question and turn over many different things in their mind. I’ve always believed that everyone should think more about the “why” behind all kinds of things. It doesn’t only have to be about the offensive stuff. Contemplating over things by itself is interesting, isn’t it? For example, I wondered why the nice hotels only have toilets with lots of buttons.

Everyone: (laughs)

Suda: I don’t know which button is for closing the lid, flushing, or activating the bidet (laughs). I think we’ve become too smart for our own good [e.g., advanced in our technology,] that the opposite happens and we inadvertently become simple-minded. Even that kind of conversation is fun to have. And the more we talk it through, the more we can see the process that led to the thought behind something. I had many conversations like that with Ms. Tamura. And they were really interesting because I got to hear a lot about Tamura’s writing method directly from her mouth, like she’d say, “I did it this way because I was wondering why such and such is the way it is….” What impressed me in particular was the way that she was kind of saying, “With Mystery, unlike my previous works, I’m just throwing things out there that I’ve been thinking about, that’s it.” And that switched on my light bulb. “That is Totonou,” was my exact thought. That’s why I’m glad I got to meet Ms. Tamura, or else I wouldn’t have been able to bring Totonou to real life.

------It was an interesting and very precious time to prepare for the role then.

Suda: Yes, it was. But thankfully, I’ve been able meet her a lot since filming started because Ms. Tamura has often come on set.

Tamura: I really wanted to see the filming (laughs).

------Does it make you nervous to have the original author on set?

Suda: Of course I’m nervous, but I’m also grateful. It’s like there’s nothing more reassuring [about an adaptation than having the original author’s support]. The general public tends to perceive it as the live-action versus the original work, but I think that’s such a shame.

Tamura: I agree.

Suda: Isn’t the original and the live-action about the same work? Of course, it goes without saying that the original takes precedence, but I want to bring the distance between the the two closer in any way possible. So, if the author can come on set and speak with us directly, then that would be the fastest way to close the gap.

Tamura: I'm really touched that you thought of facing this work in that way. I could feel that sentiment in all your scenes. As the author, it made me really happy. But, before I started visiting the set, despite being excited and hopeful, I still had worries about how Totonou would turn out…

Suda: Well, no doubt about that. I was worried too. I’m still worried.

Everyone: (laughs)

Tamura: Each person holds a considerably different impression of Totonou as a character. It’s going to change depending probably on each person’s own problems, worries, and position in everyday life. That’s why I didn’t know what kind of character Totonou would become if an actor were to play him in real life. I wondered what it would look like if his lines were actually spoken in real life.

------How was it when you actually saw Mr. Suda’s performance on set?

Tamura: I thought, “Ah, so that’s what Totonou would be like if he were real.”

Suda: I’m so relieved to hear you say that!

Tamura: It wasn’t like I had a correct version in mind [for real-life Totonou], or that I doubted Mr. Suda. So, the feeling [of when I saw Mr. Suda as Totonou] was like: “This is it, the correct answer!” Then I was honestly able to think, “Oh yeah, that’s what Totonou would be like in real life.”

Suda: Glad to hear that.

Tamura: The first time I saw him perform was the episode when Totonou is hospitalized, and when I saw Mr. Suda dressed as Totonou speaking quietly, calmy, and steadily, I thought: “I see, Totonou is like this,” and from then I could only see Mr. Suda as Totonou (laughs). So, I was delighted. And I kept thinking “yes, that's it.” Even the director said that only Mr. Suda could play this role.

Dynamic Performances by a Star-Studded Cast

------When you visited the filming site, what did you find impressive?

Tamura: I only saw a portion of the scene, so I don’t know how it turned out in the end, but the interaction between Totonou and Leica was awfully cute!

Suda: Yes, Leica!

Tamura: I got to see so much of Totonou’s adorable side! What’s with that atmosphere [between the two of you]?

Suda: Personally, I have worked with Mugi (Mugi Kadowaki), who plays Leica, several times and she’s someone I have the utmost faith in. No matter the situation, we’re always there for each other. That’s why I was able to push my acting with confidence while having a lot of fun. Also, the beauty of Leica that Mugi creates… it’s kind of like she’s standing right there as an illusion.

Tamura: An illusion… yes, even in the manga, readers often wondered if Leica was there only because Totonou imagined he was seeing her even though she may not be real. So, “illusion” certainly fits Leica. Ms. Kadowaki’s graceful and unwavering presence was truly enchanting…! Speaking of enchanting, Furomitsu is also amazing. The exchange between Ms. Sairi Ito, who plays Furomitsu, and Mr. Suda that I got to see overwhelmed with power. In the drama, they made [Furomitsu’s character] a woman who is trying her best to live with courage in the face of her adverse surroundings. I had many opportunities to meet Ms. Ito, and she was cute, strong, and spirited; I came to like her very much. Other famous people have also appeared and played opposite Mr. Suda (Totonou). I can’t reveal their names yet, but they were all amazing… It was like watching them go at it in a one-on-one battle.

Suda: In any case, it’s an extremely star-studded cast. It’s like a different drama every episode because each one is basically about one scenario and the cast continues to change except for me.

Tamura: I’m excited to see how it will turn out.

Suda: I think one of the reasons why we’ve attracted such an all-star cast is because the roles are just that fascinating. As with Totonou, the characters that come out of each and every episode [of the original work] are interesting and intriguing to any actor. Maybe it’s because the original work was written in a theatrical style to begin with, but many of the actors who appear in the TV drama are actually theater inclined. So, I think it would be really interesting to see if this work is adapted for the stage someday.

Favorite Episode Arc from the Original Work

------Mr. Suda, what is your favorite episode arc from the original work?

Suda: I guess it has to be the Kaeru [frog] one (in volume 5 of the manga). The story was interesting and a heavy one, among other things. How do I put it… it’s just the most poignant. In terms of entertainment, I really liked the Hiroshima episode. There was slapstick comedy, action, mystery solving, etc. Still, Roku’s story struck a chord with me the most. Did you have some kind of literary motif in mind when you wrote it? This was the first story where the theme of “child abuse” was put forth in a big way, right?

Tamura: It’s not like I had a motif in mind, but it’s something that I’ve been thinking about for a long time. In Japan, it’s not easy to separate children from their abusive parents as quickly as in the West, so that must mean there’s still many more children who are suffering. However, in reality, I think it’s less likely that an abused child would truly want to be apart from their parents.

Suda: Yes, that seems to be the case.

Tamura: So I remember drawing that while doubting myself over whether a child would actually choose to summon an angel, who promises to kill [the child’s parents] for them.

Suda: It seems to be a story on what it would be like if one were in that position and told such a thing. I felt the reality in that part of the story when I read it. As Ms. Tamura said earlier, it’s really cruel to make a child choose, and Ms. Tamura’s determination to illustrate this kind of situation is incredible.

Tamura: The experience will become a painful one for the child later on.

Suda: I really got that kind of feeling from the manga. Because before lighting the fire, that child, who I couldn’t tell whether was a girl or boy, was standing there looking like a bean sprout without a single trace of life on their face. That scene was really grim.

[Caption 2] What is the sad secret hidden in the arson incident? The episode of the fiery angel that made Mr. Suda say, “It’s the most poignant.” (From Volume 5 of the manga)

Tamura: It really is a difficult subject. But I figured that incorporating such themes might be possible if they were in the form of an encounter with Totonou.

Suda: So it doesn’t sound patronizing and such.

Tamura: Yes, that’s right. The same is true with the issue of bullying; trying to draw a proper picture of the issue itself may very well be difficult. However, I think there are some issues that can be portrayed with the involvement of someone like Totonou. However, I’m trying to be careful, as I don’t think Totonou could stand something horrible like seeing people get killed one after another right in front of his eyes. Thus, I wanted to focus the story around figuring things out to prevent that from happening as much as possible.

Suda: Good point!

Tamura: On the other hand, I don’t care what occurs in Garo’s part of the story. I’m creating his part with the thought that a different genre is okay.

Suda: Garo’s lines in that one part are so interesting when he said, “I have no intention of interfering in other people’s crimes.”

Tamura: I’m hoping that there will be a time when Totonou and Garo can work together again.

Suda: I’m with you on that. But in Mystery, there’s fascination in seeing the three different perspectives—Totonou’s, Garo’s, and Leica’s.

Tamura: I’m glad to hear that. However, creating a story is challenging, and I struggle with it each time. Mr. Suda must have had a hard time as well playing the role, so I hoped there were some fun parts for you.

Suda: No, no, it was fun. It was fun but definitely challenging. I had to go to the hospital in the middle of the day because I had so many mouth ulcers that I couldn’t talk. That was the first time ever, you know, that I had to stop filming on set because of mouth ulcers (laughs).

Tamura: Really?! It’s tough having mouth ulcers in a role that requires so much talking…!

[Caption 3] Garo Inudo, who has a mysterious connection with Totonou. He is one of the few individuals that Totonou would like to be friends with. (From Volume 9 of the manga)

Suda: It sure is. I’ve played a fair number of characters who have talked a lot, but those times were actually when the characters were in quite a heated state. Roles where there’s a lot of talking often call for energetic style of speaking after all, so playing someone like Totonou had its challenges. In the manga, Totonou talks without using much emotion, right? That’s what’s so fascinating and what I love about him, but I think that kind of expression only has an effect on the audience precisely because it’s in a manga. In a TV drama, if the character is actually played by a real person and there’s no emotion, then the character loses their humanity and becomes just a “character.” Of course, it’s important to perform the character of Totonou well and emulate his expressions, but more than that, I wanted to convey to the audience what’s happening in the story that Ms. Tamura created and what Totonou is seeing. So, I consciously played the role keeping emotions in check but letting them show every now and then.

Tamura: I’m really happy you thought about it to that extent. Thank you so much.

Suda: Oh, but I thought it was such a discovery. It was an eye-opening experience to learn two kinds of conversations between people: those that employ emotions and those that do not.

Tamura: That’s so true. It would be nice if we could have more discussions, or on-the-spot conversations without rejecting or attacking each other’s character. I wonder if we can start that kind of training from childhood…

Suda: Right. Love isn’t all about venting out our emotions.

Next Goal is…?

------Please share with us your hope for the future of the manga.

Tamura: I’ve gained a love for the detectives while observing the filming, so I’m kind of thinking to continue Aoto’s story, and next time Furomitsu’s. And of course, Ikemoto’s.

Suda: I bought the manga as a gift and gave it to friends and to children of friends a few times, so...

Tamura: Really? Thank you very much!

Suda: I contributed to the sales (laughs).

------The manga has surpassed 13 million copies…

Suda: It’s gone that far? So awesome! But really, my friend’s kid, to whom I gifted the manga, has asked if Furomitsu can come back already. Sounds like they’re looking forward to Furomitsu’s parts.

[Caption 4] Aoto, whose daughter was kidnapped. It may be related to the wrongful conviction case from 8 years ago… (from volume 9 of the manga)

Tamura: I’ll do it for sure (laughs). The fact that the work I drew, which I thought was going to be a one-shot of just one volume, has grown this big is thanks to everyone’s support, and that makes me so happy. Also, more than anything, I think Totonou himself is happy to have Mr. Suda play his role.

Suda: I’m soooo happy to hear you say that!

Tamura: I’m really grateful to you as well. There may be some fans of the original work who are worried about the adaptation, but I’m sure they will enjoy watching [the TV drama], and for those who are fans of Mr. Suda and don’t know the original work, I’m sure they will come to love it too. I haven’t seen the final edited version yet either, so I’m looking forward to the day it airs…

Suda: I saw the first episode. I feel relieved. It was good!

Tamura: Okay, then I can’t wait for it!

Suda: I know the show hasn’t even started and I’m already saying this, but I want to play Totonou again. I haven’t actually done a series before, so I’m hoping this could become my first one. Well, I wonder if I can do it, I’m cutting it close as I approach 40 years old.

Everyone: (Laughs)

<END>

Yumi Tamura ✕ Masaki Suda: Bonus Manga Chat between the Two Manga Lovers

Suda: What was the first manga you ever read in your life?

Tamura: The first real manga I read… was Moretsu Ataro by Fujio Akatsuka. When I was in kindergarten, I had a minor surgery and was hospitalized for a week, and at that time my father bought me a shonen [boy’s] manga magazine. I don’t remember what else happened, and I don’t know if it was the only one I liked or what, but I was able to endure the pain of my stitches being removed while reading Moretsu Ataro (laughs).

Suda: So it was enough to make the pain go away? (Laughs) I’ll read it.

Tamura: After that, when I was in the third grade of elementary school, I came across shojo [girl’s] manga and started drawing them myself. The series of works by Moto Hagio are wonderful… In particular, The Heart of Thomas grasped a deep part of my heart. Then when I was in high school, I encountered the Hamidashikko series by Jun Mihara, which is like the bible to me… The power of the words in that work is unbelievable, and I don’t know how many times I cried from them… they pierce the heart a lot. Even now they come back to me in various instances.

Suda: That has my interest now. Thank you for sharing that!

Tamura: Do you like manga as well, Mr. Suda?

Suda: Manga was my only recreation. Whenever I went on location to film, I would buy manga for the number of days I’d stay or frequent manga cafes during in between times. I was thinking that Mystery could be good teaching material in schools. It would be great if everyone reads it together in moral education classes or something. I would do that if I was a teacher. As my mentor, my sixth-grade homeroom teacher really loved manga, and I had wanted to become a teacher too because of him. He left manga in our classroom and called them his bible, and that’s when I came to love manga. Our classroom bookshelf had manga works like Parasyte and Ushio and Tora, and now that I think about it, that environment probably influenced my attraction to works with strong themes.

Tamura: Excellent choice of works, teacher!

Suda: Excellent, right? I think it would be great if Mystery was mixed in with that bookshelf. Or rather, it should be!

#yumi tamura #tamura yumi #masaki suda #mystery to iunakare #do not say mystery #dont call it mystery #flowers magazine #totonou kunou #j drama #Fujio Akatsuka #Moretsu Ataro #Moto Hagio #The Heart of Thomas #Jun Mihara #Hamidashikko #Parasyte #Ushio and Tora

[scotianostra]

The Scottish actor Alex McCrindle passed away on Aoril 20th 1990.

Born on 3rd August 1911 in Glasgow, Alex McCrindle started work at the age of 10 years, probably like many of us, delivering milk. At 15, he left school and got a job in a timber merchants’ office. He started his acting career playing heroes in plays put on by the Boys Brigade. Later, after moving to Glasgow and getting a job as a manager of a hardware firm, he joined the Glasgow Clarion Players. A pioneer Scottish theatre group with strong links to the Communist Party, this was a predecessor of Glasgow Unity and Glasgow Citizens.

McCrindle went to lectures on drama at Glasgow University and had become so engaged in theatrical matters that he had to choose to give up his hardware career. He was lucky to be able to become an indentured apprentice at Queen Theatre in London He finished up as an electrician but became immersed in the world of theatre and actors along the way.

He eventually became a formable actor himself. In the period 1937-9, he appeared in a dozen plays on the first broadcasts of television, including `Juneo and the Paycock’, before the medium was closed down for the duration of the war, sometimes being credited as Alex McCringle or Alex McGrindle, as well as in his own name. he was also in the cast of the classic Hitchcock film, `The 39 steps’, although he was more proud of his nationwide tour of `Six men of Dorset’, about the Tolpuddle Martyrs, in 1937

McCrindle began a history of the actors’ union, Equity, but was unable to finish it due to being called up for the Royal Navy during the Second World War. He produced the first ever play performed on board a RN ship during war, `Androcles and the Lion’, transmitted over the Tannoy!

He starred in the British BBC radio show `Dick Barton Special Agent’ from 1946-51, which ran for 700 episodes and had 15 million listeners. Alex played the role of Jock Anderson one of Dick Barton’s key henchmen and was widely loved for the role and enormously popular in it. In 1947, he was producer of the childrens TV programme `Larry the Lamb’.

Although he also branched out very successfully into scriptwriting, McCrindle was effectively blacklisted because of his Communist and Equity activities for much of the important years of his career, especially from the late 1940s to the end of the 1950s. In the 1950s, he appeared – often uncredited to escape the blacklist – in a string of small budget movies as a character actor. But, in the main, blacklisting resulted in him devoting more time to building up Equity and securing improved pay and conditions for Actors, to meet this objective he was sent by his union to found Scottish Equity, which only had 15 members before he began his work. He worked at this full-time for the next seven years, leaving the union in a flouring position north of the border. In this period, he only worked in British television and then only twice during the early 1960s.

In the later stage of his career, he began to secure significant parts in films and TV programmes from `The Saint’ in 1965, and then through many other projects, with increasingly more significant parts, to `All Creatures Great and Small’ and `Taggart’ and then, in the 1977 first `Star Wars’ movie in which he played a rebel general.

George Lucas, short of capital, offered the actors on the movie "points" in lieu of salary. Big stars such as Alec Guinness, could afford to indulge in some capitalist speculation and take "points" and, in the event, the film proved to be the best move Guinness ever made financially. "Hollywood thought Darth Vader was a tough nut," one luvvie has recalled, "but they hadn’t met Alex."! He campaigned through Equity for bonuses for all actors in Star Wars, among them R2-D2 (who was played, or operated inside, by Birmingham-born Kenny Baker), who also took a working wage and contributed to the success of Star Wars.

Alex had a great love of Scottish poetry and regularly read it aloud to audiences. He produced and read his own selection of 37 poems by William Soutar (Glasgow, Scotsoun, 1989) and raised money for Brownsbank Cottage., the former of the great Scottish writer, Hugh MacDiarmid, now a home for "writers in residence"

He was married twice, the first was Sandy, the second wife, Honor Arundel, the Communist children’s author and Daily Worker film critic. (See entry for Honor Arundel.) The home of McCrindle and Arundel in the fifties was always a hub of Party activity and organisation, as the writer Doris Lessing notes in her autobiography. Alex became close friends with Paul Strand, the famous photographer, and was a major asset to Strand in his `Tir a Mhurain’ photography project. He went onto become Strand’s agent in Scotland, negotiating with Compton Mackenzie and visiting the School of Scottish Studies in order to help set up the project.

In the 1980s, with US screenings no longer debarred to him, he appeared in dozens of major roles on television mini-series, including "Reilly: The Ace of Spies" and in film such as `Eye of the Needle’. As late as 1987 he played the role of a jailer in `Comrades’, the film about the Tolpuddle Martyrs.

Alex McCrindle’s obituary in the Times was headlined "Communist stalwart" and stated that he remained committed to an "unrelenting Marxism which lost nothing of its purity and uncompromising severity". His daughter Jean also became involved in politics and an award for drama was named after him. Alex McCrindle died on April 20, 1990 in Edinburgh.

#scotland #scottish #history #glaswegian #actor #theatre #television #cinema #star wars

[astrovian]

Richard Armitage interview in Reader's Digest UK (due out January 2022) via. Twitter (14/12/21)

Part 1/2

Part 2 here

Full transcript for interview (both part 1 & 2) under cut

Richard Armitage on Hollywood, the Hobbit and Hard Work

From bursting onto the musical theatre stage, the prolific actor has gone on to star in Hollywood blockbusters and hit TV shows – all while being “shy”

 

He’s been in the Hobbit franchise, featured in the Marvel universe and has a string of acclaimed TV performances under his belt. But having got his start in musical theatre, Richard Armitage never envisioned a career beyond the stage.

“I wasn’t sure somebody like me had a place in film or television,” the now very much in-demand actor admits to thinking when he was growing up in Leicestershire. “I thought I might be able to do something on stage but I never dreamed about working on scree and it was only later in life when people started giving me chances that I thought, Maybe I can do this.”

I ask him what he means by “somebody like me” and Richard elaborates: “Somebody who’s a bit shy and not necessarily a showoff. I felt like you had to have this supreme confidence to be an actor in film and TV, but having met a lot more people in the business who are like me I’ve realised there are two kinds of actors – people who have big personalities and enjoy putting them on film, then other people who use character as a skin to hide in or escape to. I fall under the latter category and it’s provided me with the most incredible adventures.”

Those adventures includes playing an assassin in the huge-budget Captain America: The First Avenger, filming the Hobbit trilogy in New Zealand and being directed by Tim Burton in Alice Through the Looking Glass on the big screen, while also starring in Spooks, The Vicar of Dibley, Robin Hood and Hannibal on the small one. And when we catch up via. Zoom, 50-year-old Armitage is dialling in from Seville, where he’s currently filming crime drama The Man From Rome.

The subject at hand, though, is the new eight-part Netflix thriller Stay Close, which is based on the Harlan Coben book of the same name and centres around three people – working mum Megan (Cush Jumbo), former documentary photographer Ray (Richard) and detective Broome (James Nesbitt) – whose pasts come back to haunt them.

Having previously been in another Coben adaptation, last year’s The Stranger he was drawn to Stay Close because it meant being reunited with the same team. Plus, he saw Ray as a fascinating, dishevelled, heavily tattooed, and ultimately down-on his-luck character.

Richard’s hair is shorter and tidier when we chat and his arms aren’t covered in tattoos, but the actor says there is some common ground between him and Ray.

“There’s a slight solitude to him, although that’s through circumstance rather than choice, but I understand that side of him because I have a tendency to be a recluse or introvert. Ray also has quite an artistic brain and artistic mind, which I related to and enjoyed.”

Born in the village of Huncote, near Leicester, Armitage mastered the cello and played in local orchestras before studying drama and dance at Pattinson College boarding school, recalling: “It was quite strict but that served me well because it gave me discipline and it made me a very hard-worker.”

Having worked in Budapest for six months to gain his Equity Card (Equity is a UK trade union for actors), he then returned to the UK and did lots of musical theatre, appearing in the likes of 42nd Street, Annie Get Your Gun and Cats. “Then I started thinking about what the rest of my life might shape up to be and I didn’t want to just move around various musicals in the West End before ending up teaching somewhere – not that there’s anything wrong with that, but I felt there was something else in me, another facet to my personality that wasn’t being fulfilled. I felt I needed a career with more longevity.”

So he enrolled at LAMDA and after graduation worked for the Royal Shakespeare Company before slowly inching his way into television, eventually landing the role of John Thornton in BBC’s 2004 North & South (notably his first and so far only period drama).

Two years later he was Guy of Gisborne in Robin Hood and also got to romance Dawn French in The Vicar of Dibley, saying: “That was like a little diamond in a field of coal. When they asked me, I was like ‘Really? Have they seen what I usually do? That’s not my bag’. But it was great fun and it was my first experience of a live studio audience, seeing the marriage of theatre and TV together and how brilliant Dawn was at bringing the audience in.”

After a regular gig as MI5 protégé Lucas North in Spooks he then found himself playing dwarf leader Thorin Oakenshield under the direction of Peter Jackson. “I was obsessed with his Lord of the Rings films and wished I’d been in them. Then I managed to get in a room with him and by some bolt of lightning he decided I was right for the role. That was one of those life-changing moments where I had to pick myself up off the floor.”

Also in the Hobbit trilogy was Richard’s Stay Close co-star James Nesbitt. “So we reminisced a lot about being in New Zealand for nearly two years, having this extraordinary experience.” He laughs. “Most of my memories are about surviving the costume and make-up because it was so hot and heavy, Most of the time you were sitting in a chair wheezing and trying not to collapse.”

Stay Close was filmed in Manchester, Blackpool and the west of Lancashire. “And it was a really interesting period,” Armitage says of getting back to work after lockdown. “Productions had started up again and we came in at a time when COVID was feeling a little bit more controlled. The world was slowly opening up but we were still in this strict bubble, getting tested twice a week, with masks everywhere. That was an asset having worked with this crew before because meeting people from behind a mask is a bit of a challenge but it was like meeting up with old friends.”

He’s been labelled a method actor but he doesn’t really know what that means, although her does a lot of preparation for a role and writes character diaries to fill in their back-stories. “Maybe some people just learn the lines and turn up but when you’re given a role you start working and you have a plan. That’s my method, I suppose, to read as much as I can, find as many influences as I can and try to get the work done before shooting so when you’re on set your brain can be completely focused on the scene.”

When it comes to his private life, he keeps it very private indeed, not because he’s a guarded interviewee but because of actors like Gary Oldman noting: “The thing that’s great about actors like him is that you only really know them for their characters and you don’t know much about their lives. Likewise I don’t want my life to get in the way of the thing I’m trying to create. If people know less about me and more about the character then I’m doing my job well.”

Richard smiles. “A painter doesn’t paint a portrait, put it on the wall and stand in front of it. They get out of the way.”

#richard armitage #stay close #ray levine #interview

[insanityclause]

There’s a moment that every child who aspires to movie stardom dreams about. They practise it in front of the mirror: graciously thanking their parents, their first drama teacher, their favourite hamster; smiling; waving; trying valiantly to cry. No, it’s not an Oscar’s acceptance speech – at least, not anymore; it’s the moment that super-producer Kevin Feige offers you his hand across a conference table and tells you you’ve landed a Marvel movie.

Yesterday came the first reports that Olivia Colman is in talks to slip into full-body lycra and join the MCU, via the studio’s next small-screen series Secret Invasion. The news follows a recent clutch of arrivals of actresses of a similar age and calibre to Colman to other Marvel projects, including Kathryn Hahn’s show-stealing turn in WandaVision, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ surprise appearance in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

Such casting choices may once have sounded insane. Why would the woman who just two years ago won an Academy Award for her grief-stricken, crumbling performance as Queen Anne in The Favourite, and who is up for another one this weekend for The Father, choose to submerge her pristine brand as the reigning monarch of British acting, both on-screen and off-, in a barrel of brightly-coloured, pop-sountracked, quippy-scripted comic bookery?

Secret Invasion sounds even more deranged than the average Marvel project: it will likely focus on the race of green, reptilian aliens called Skrulls (Ben Mendelsohn will reprise his role as Skrull commander Talos from Captain Marvel), as they invade earth by shapeshifting to imitate superheroes. Colman as an alien reptile? It’s hard to think of a more unlikely piece of casting since Judi Dench dressed up in a catsuit.

But over the last decade, a foundational piece of Marvel’s strategy has been signing-on not just fresh-faced stars like Chris Evans and Tom Holland, but some of the world’s most serious performers: inde darlings (Mark Ruffalo, Tilda Swinton, Brie Larson), BBC-drama-grown Brits (Tom Hiddleston, Benedict Cumberbatch) and awards-laden  powerhouses (Annette Bening, Scarlett Johansson, and even Anthony Hopkins, Colman’s co-star in The Father, who is also up for an Oscar) have all rocked up in the MCU. Much as the Harry Potter franchise once was, the films have become a who’s who of Oscar after-party invite lists.

So why would the great and good of Hollywood acting willingly attach themselves to a franchise that one of the greatest directors of all time not so long ago declared to bear a greater resemblance to theme park rides than cinema? Marvel films are delightful but they are also frequently silly (inevitably, in the transition from cartoon comic book drawings to full-sized, three-dimensional adults leaping around on-camera dressed in skin-tight lycra suits and capes, some space for ridicule is opened up).

The studio is fully aware of this, which is why these films are comedies, but that does not make them any more obvious as vehicles for artists interested in rendering psychological depth on-screen. In 2012, Kiwi wunderkind director Taika Watiti told Interview magazine that he was suspicious of the way feature films can often “turn into commodities”. Yet five years later, his own Marvel movie, Thor: Ragnarok, hit cinemas.

The financial incentives to any actor are obvious and no doubt play a part but there is something even more valuable to someone like Benedict Cumberbatch – not exactly strapped-for-cash following Sherlock, The Imitation Game, and The Hobbit films – inextricably wound-up with those mega pay packages. That something is audience size. Avengers: Endgame, the highest-grossing film of all time until Avatar’s re-release in China in March last year, took $357 million at the domestic box office on its opening weekend.

In America, the average price of a cinema ticket that year was about $9  – that means, by the roughest of calculations, that within 48 hours of the film’s release, 12% of the population, or some 40 million people, had seen the film. An actress like Colman has not exactly been confined to niche audiences – The Crown is not a small show – but even so, the prospect of such unparalleled exposure must be seductive.

The dream of a Marvel movie has not replaced the dream of an Oscar – it all but guarantees it. A symbiotic relationship is emerging between the franchise and the Academy, as the popular reach of one feeds and is elevated by the prestige of the other. There is no better example of this than the tragically-curtailed career of the late Chadwick Boseman.

From a handful of critically-lauded but quietly received biopics (42, Get on Up), he was propelled overnight to global stardom by his MCU roles as Black Panther, Marvel’s first black superhero, culminating in the Black Panther film in 2018. Now, just months after his death from cancer, he is a shoo-in to win a Best Actor award this week for his role in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. The opposite of a Marvel film in almost every sense – it’s claustrophobic, literary (it’s based on an August Wilson play), and tragic – it was Black Panther nonetheless that secured him the part.

This give-and-take between superhero flicks and prestige dramas extends beyond actors: Watiti, who has just wrapped shooting on another Thor film, was nominated for an Oscar in 2019 for his German Resistance drama Jojo Rabbit, while Chloé Zhao, who is sure to win Best Director this weekend for Nomadland, has just wrapped her own Marvel movie, Eternals, which is slated for release in November.

Kathryn Hahn, meanwhile, was brought into WandaVision by director Matt Shakman, better known for directing prestige shows like Mad Men and Succession. His vision, in collaboration with the writer Jac Schaeffer, led to a formally wildly innovative show, providing the opportunity for Hahn and the show’s pair of stars Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany – both outstanding actors – to flex their comic and creative muscles. Such starpower behind the camera is itself an attraction for actors of Colman’s calibre, and while there is as yet no word on who will direct Secret Invasion, there are many exciting possible names in the mix.

A few powerhouse industry figures were instrumental in fostering this mutually-beneficial relationship. The first was Robert Downey Jr, the original posterboy of the franchise. When he agreed to star in the first film, 2008’s Iron Man, it was a huge gamble – director Jon Favreau had to battle the studio to accept him – as he emerged from a wilderness decade marred by drug addiction, but it was also a huge coup. Downey Jr had just been nominated for an Oscar for Ben Stiller’s comedy Tropic Thunder and had recently starred in David Fincher’s instant cult-classic Zodiac; his personal reputation may have been in tatters, but as a serious actor, he brought chops.

His Iron Man would become the emotional and dramatic heart of the franchise over its next three phases. Kenneth Branagh, who directed the 2011 film Thor, also bridged the gap between the big flashy studio and his own thespy circle: he brought his protégé Tom Hiddleston, who at that point was best known for his British TV and theatre work, onboard to play Loki, a decision that Feige apparently described as the most important the studio would ever make. Hiddleston capitalised on rather than abandoned his roots: he approached the character like “a comic book version of Edmund in King Lear, but nastier.” It paid off: Hiddleston is a global superstar, frequently touted as the next James Bond, and his dedicated Loki spin-off show is the Marvel TV release of the summer.

Of course, there’s one thing that Marvel offers its actors that money simply can’t buy: a bit of fun. “If my actors aren’t having a good time on set, then I’m doing something wrong,” Waititi told Polygon in 2016. Reflecting on her playfully heightened performance in the early episodes of WandaVision in a recent interview with the New York Times, Hahn said that her husband said her performance had reminded him of her younger self in her college days. “I haven’t seen that part of you in so long – just you, hamboning it,” he told her. Colman, who is by all accounts is a mischievous on a film set, may simply want to bust out of those period costumes, slip into a bodysuit, and have a good time.

#Olivia Colman #Tom Hiddleston #Kathryn Hahn #Elizabeth Olsen #Paul Bettany #Robert Downey Jr. #Mark Ruffalo #Scarlett Johansson #Taika Waititi #Chris Evans #julia louis-dreyfus #Chadwick Boseman #Anthony Hopkins #Benedict Cumberbatch #Tilda Swinton #Brie Larson #Chloe Zhao #Ben Mendelsohn #Annette Bening #MCU #Kevin Feige

[isaacthedruid]

Please allow me to tell you about one of my favourite cartoons through this informal essay I did for school a couple of months back. 

Gravity Falls and How it Did The Unimaginable

**SPOILERS... KINDA**

The 2010s saw the creation of some of the most iconic animated tv shows ever made, the likes of Adventure Time (2010), Steven Universe (2013), Over the Garden Wall (2014) and The Legend of Korra (2012). To explain why this era’s shows are so admirable is honestly rather difficult. Yet, there are many factors that can be taken into consideration when looking for an answer.

The past decade was very successful in perfecting their craft and utilizing the animated format to their favour, creating some of the wackiest and fascinating cartoons ever made. With the advancements made in both 2D and 3D animation for film, this bled into the world of TV as well.

To mention that 2010s cartoons have stunning visuals would be an understatement. Everything about the animation was beautiful; the strong colour palettes, the clean and imaginative character designs, the colourful and immersive backgrounds and especially the mesmerizing worlds that can be found within episodes that are half an hour.

This era’s cartoons also led to a massive shift in storytelling, writing longer-running stories that spread out across seasons while also swapping out episodic adventures for serialization. This heavily aided in the popularization of these shows, due to the rise of internet fandoms and dropping the taboo that cartoons were only for kids. Many shows acknowledged their older viewers by leaving clues and even puzzles to be solved by the theorists who have a large appearance on social media platforms like Reddit, Twitter and Tumblr. As the shows progressed, their fandoms created many theories for what they believed might happen within their favourite series. The top three shows from this era all utilized these changes, being at the forefront of the shift and helping guide the creative vision of 2010s cartoons.

Often regarded as many people’s favourite cartoon, Gravity Falls presented one of the best mysteries of the decade with two seasons and only 40 episodes. Inspired by Twin Peaks and The X-Files, it’s considered as the kids’ version of these two iconic shows as this cartoon acts as many people’s first introduction to horror through bright colours and fun characters.

This series follows the adventures of Dipper and Mabel Pines, twins, who are sent to spend their summer with their great-uncle or Grunkle Stan in Gravity Falls, Oregon. This town is full of oddities like supernatural creatures, insane and eccentric inhabitants, and many puzzles. The Pines twins must adjust to the weirdness while uncovering the mysteries and protecting their new town.

While living in Gravity Falls, the twins are forced to work in the Mystery Shack, a tourist trap created by their Grunkle Stan that overcharges unlucky tourists, teaching about fake monsters despite there being real creatures all over town. On his first day in Oregon, Dipper accidentally came across a mysterious journal written by an unknown author that explains all the oddities to be found in this strange town. This book acts like an encyclopedic of the Weird for Dipper, an inquisitive 12-year-old kid who seeks answers.

Dipper is an extremely intelligent kid, his brain being far more developed than his body. He’s rather awkward and self-conscious as he often stumbles over his words or gets embarrassed trying to talk to girls. Despite this, the boy is an adventurer at heart who just wants to grow up and skip his upcoming teenage years.

While Mabel is quite the opposite in many ways, she is loud and has an in-your-face personality. Mabel is bouncy and fun, she is so excited to start high school. She is easily excitable and for the larger part of the series, she is in her boy-crazy phase. Mabel is a girly-girl as she likes all things; glitter, unicorns, rainbows, partying and crafting. Yet, she doesn’t often compare well with many of the other girls in town, they see her as weird and “too much”.

(In all fairness through, it is not too kind to either of the characters as their personalities are more complex than just awkward nerd and artsy girl-girly.)

Dipper and Mabel’s personalities are very different but somehow, they—along with their Gravity Falls family—manage to solve mysteries and save the town, multiple times.

Gravity Falls is an honestly genius series that completely changed the way cartoons were made. Originally when writing a series, you’d create a base of your story; characters, the universe and a basic plot. Yet, when creator, Alex Hirsch (who was in his early/mid-20)s and his small team first began constructing their show, they planned out everything they could possibly think of for the first season. Additionally, outlining some answers for their biggest mysteries that would be answered at the end of the series.

Despite being rated TV-Y7, this series really pushed the boundaries of kids’ television. From the teeth being ripped out of a deer’s mouth by a demon, rearranging the functions of every hole on a man’s face to an aggressive pop-rock sock puppet show that ended in a dramatic slow-motion scene of the puppets burning. Gravity Falls wasn’t afraid to get a little weird or creepy. Or create some genuine nightmare fuel. 

From the beginning, Gravity Falls had built a mystery into its series, hiding secrets and clues all throughout the show. Most notably were the backwards-recorded message and cryptograms, using roughly nine different kinds, even creating two of their own.

The inclusion of cyphers and mysteries for fans to solve is possibly the reason why this series was so successful. As one of the first shows to do something like this, Gravity Falls used social media and internet fandoms to its advantage.

As mentioned earlier, cartoon fans have quite a presence on social media platforms like Twitter and Tumblr. They create theories and share fun ideas about their favourite shows. Viewers of Adventure Time, Gravity Falls and Steven Universe were all included in their share of theory fun.

Sometimes, fan theories end up being correct but when you’re Gravity Falls creator, Alex Hirsch, you don’t just watch from the sidelines as your viewers figure out the biggest mystery of your show. No, you create a hoax to get your viewers off your trail and that is what he did. Around 2013, only halfway through the first season of the show, viewers had started to follow the clues, theorizing who was the author is Dipper’s mysterious journal.

Unfortunately for the Gravity Falls production crew, the viewers were right— for the sake of readers who have never seen the show, I will not mention who the author was as it would be the biggest spoiler.

In 2013, a supposed leaked image of a tv showing a younger version of the show’s crazy old man character, Old Man McGucket, writing in the infamous journal was uploaded anonymously (by Alex Hirsch) to 4Chan.

Despite the image only being on up for a few hours, it spread like wildfire. Much to the team’s success, theorists stopped searching for the answer to “who is the author” and just accepted the image of McGucket as the truth.

To further push the fake-out, three words were posted to Alex’s Twitter, “fuming right now.”

The tweet was deleted a few minutes later and fans genuinely believed that someone from the Gravity Falls team had leaked the most important part of the story.

While doing research, I came across a Reddit post from April 10th, 2013, the day after ‘leak,’ Alex’s tweet was uploaded. In this post, user, TheoDW uploaded an image of Alex’s tweet with the caption, “It seems that Hirsch got mad at last night’s leak. He already deleted this tweet.”

Seeing the reactions of these Redditors in 2013 is kind of weird and crazy to look at. “He has every right to be upset. Someone internally released a plot revealing screen shot of series breaking spoiler information,” a deleted Reddit account commented.

“This is Alex Hirsch’s biggest success by far, he spent a huge amount of time carefully planning out the series, and then in a moment someone releases a major spoiler. It would make anyone upset,” the user, Time_Loop commented.

“Seriously, this is a nightmare for a storyteller, and shows a breach of trust. I feel so bad for him–honestly, I hope whoever did the leak gets caught and appropriate action is taken. You don’t f–k with someone’s story like this. It’s unprofessional.” the user, lonelybeloved angrily commented.

In 2014, this ‘leak’ was finally disproven when viewers were given an episode on McGucket’s backstory and an amazing tweet from Alex Hirsch. 

Alex had post an image of himself playfully pointing at a monitor with the supposed leaked picture with the caption, “1) Make hoax  2) Upload to 4Chan  3) Post angry tweet about "leak" 4) Delete tweet 5) Let internet do rest”

It is so interesting to look at these comments know that all of this was orchestrated by Alex.

I wish I had been old enough at the time to follow theories and fandom stuff like I do now with current cartoons but really looking at this from an outside perspective, this was insane!

The real author wasn’t revealed until 2015 and when viewers first got the answer to this biggest show on their screens, they must have freaked out!

Following the finale in 2016, a single frame of a stone version of Bill Cipher, the show’s villain, flashed in after the credits had finished.

Alex Hirsch and his team actually created a real-life statue of their villain for their viewers to find and on July 20th, 2016, the Cipher Hunt began.

By following clues, the Hunters found themselves all over the world; Russia, Japan and then travelling throughout the United States for the final 12 clues. When the hunt took them to Los Angeles, actor, Jason Ritter (voice of Dipper Pines, also a massive fan of the series) and Alex Hirsch’s twin sister, Ariel Hirsch (the inspiration for Mabel) joined in the fun helping the search.

Finally, the hunt ended on August 2nd when someone tweeted out an image of the found statue in Oregon, the same state in which the fictional town of Gravity Falls exists. The Cipher Hunt had ended but finding the statue wasn’t Alex’s goal for the scavenger hunt, it was about the journey and bringing together the viewers, more than having them actually find the statue.

Creating its own hoax, an international scavenger hunt and quite a bit of nightmare fuel, Gravity Falls was a show truly unlike any other.

The 2010s saw some of the strongest cartoons ever made, Adventure Time, Gravity Falls and Steven Universe acting as the leaders for multiple different changes in the medium; storytelling, worldbuilding, interaction with viewers, utilizing social media, representation and further pushing music into the cartoon world. From what was created this past decade and what has already been released in 2020, I’m so excited to see what comes next.

I have another one of these which is on Steven Universe’s representation and music if you would like to see that too!! 

#isaac rambles #long post #gravity falls #cartoons #cartoon review #dipper pines #alex hirsch #OH MY GOD I LOVE ALEX HIRSCH'S BRAIN!!! #disney #disney channel #disney cartoons

[michaels-blackhat]

thoughts on evil Forrest 😈

We are going to start out by apologizing. This is very very late. I’m sure when you sent this ask, you meant it to be in the same joking tone that I approach all of my other propaganda posts. Sadly, this is actually going to be a deep dive into a few Evil Forrest related things, including the moment I feel they changed directions, the perfect wasted build-up, and the implications of the change/how it then negatively impacted the story. As I’m sure you already know, by being on my blog at all, I don’t think the story was good to begin with, so we are going to focus on the weird hoops they made themselves jump through to make that story still work. Additionally, I am only going to mention once, right now, how much of a waste it was to not have Forrest ‘fall for his mark’ and complete one of my absolute favorite tropes. Honestly, I think “because I want it” is a completely valid reason to like Evil Forrest. But, the question was “Thoughts on Evil Forrest” and these thoughts have been developing for over a year and a half. So, I apologize in advance.

The majority of this is under a cut, with highlights in the abstract. If no one wants to read this, I understand completely. Go ahead, skip it.

Note: it pains me greatly to not actually have full sources for this essay. Just know that in my heart I am using proper APA citations, I just absolutely do not feel like digging through tweets to find sources to properly cite.

Abstract:

Previous research indicates that Roswell New Mexico has a history of repeating excuses to explain mid-season changes to plots. This essay explores how those excuses are not only loads of crap, but how they hinder the show’s ability to tell a coherent story, misuse the multiple-plot structure to enhance the themes being explored, and lead to decisions that mean the show continuously goes over budget. This also means that characters are not used to their full potential and has led to what some fans consider to be “out of character” behaviors. While these behaviors are not universally agreed on, evidence can be shown that these behaviors directly contradict emotionally important character arc/plot points in the show.

The author of this paper acknowledges that the show took some strides to mend this problem. However, once again no consensus could be found on whether Forrest was a low-level member of Deep Sky and thus just allowed to fuck off on a bus, or his job was recruitment because he did a piss poor job of making Alex not join.

The concept of Evil Forrest has been with the fandom as early as New York Comic Con (NYCC) in 2019, when it was revealed that Alex had a new “blue-haired love interest”. Speculation abounded within the fandom, with some people, including the author, going “yeah, he’s evil” while others rejoiced in the concept of Alex having a loving partner. Speculation increased as fans discussed Tyler Blackburn’s seeming disinterest in his new love interest, prompting some once again to scream “EVIL” at the top of their lungs to anyone who would listen. Very little was revealed, beyond the fact that the new character would show up somewhere around episode 3 of the second season.

Episode 2.04 aired with some commenting on how he barely interacted with Alex- prompting more evil speculation- and others excited to see the characters interact more. The character appears again in 2.06, where he invites Alex to dubious spoken word poetry (which Alex attends); 2.08, where they have a paintball date and go to The Wild Pony; 2.10, where the two are seen writing together briefly at the beginning of the episode; and 2.13, where Alex performs his song at open mic night, tells Forrest his relationship with the person in the song was long over, and they kiss. Forrest was not revealed to be evil during season 2.

Amidst the season airing, Word of God via Twitter post announced that yes, Forrest had originally been planned as a villain, though not the main villain, but it was changed as filming progressed.

The Word of God Twitter post revealed that Forrest had originally been planned as a villain, but they decided that they could not make their “blue-haired gay man” a villain. This mirrors a similar situation and excuse used the previous season, where the character of Jenna Cameron was originally planned to work with Jesse Manes against the aliens, before it was changed because they just “loved Riley [the actress] too much”. Both of these examples occurred while already filming and reflect on a larger problem with the show. Though not the topic of this essay, it is important to note that both characters are white, both in the show and by virtue of being played by white actors. The fact that they couldn’t be villains for one reason or another is not a courtesy extended to the male villains who are all the most visibly brown, and thus ‘other’, members of the cast.

This also highlights the fact that, via Twitter, it has been revealed two other times that occurrences that were reported in season 1 also occurred in season 2. During the airing of episode 1.02, it was revealed that the single best build-up of tension in the show- when Alex walks to the Airstream not saying a word to Michael after a dramatic declaration- happened because one actor was sick at the time and they had to go back and film the kisses later. At the point of airing for episode 2.08, it was revealed that one of the actors were sick and unable to film a kissing scene. Allegedly, this caused the writers to retool the entire scene and deviate from the plan to make that subplot about Coming Out. The execution of this subplot will be explored later in this essay.

The last occurrence revealed via Twitter also revealed larger issues within the show: lack of planning and poor budgeting. During the airing of season 1, Tyler Blackburn was needed for an extra episode beyond his contracted 10. A full explanation was never given, but speculation about poor planning and to fill in because Heather Hemmens had to miss one of her 10 episodes due to scheduling conflicts for another project. During the airing of season 2, yet another tweet came out saying they made a mistake and Tyler would once again be in an additional episode. No explanations beyond “a mistake” were given, though once again speculation occurred. It is the opinion of the author that this was due to changing plot points over halfway through writing, while episodes were already in production. It has been speculated by some that these changes occurred during the writing of 2.08, which was being finished/pre-production was occurring roughly around the time of NYCC 2019.

Previous Literature:

A brief look at different theories of plots and subplots

Many people have written on the subject of plotting, for novels and screen alike. The author is more familiar with film writing than tv, but a lot of the concepts carry over. Largely, the B- and C- (and D- and E-… etc) plots should reinforce the theme of the A-plot. This can be through the use of a negative example, where the antithesis of the theme is explored to reinforce the theme presented by the A plot, or through other examples of the theme, generally on a small scale.

A movie example of this would be Hidden Figures (2016), where the A-plot explores how race and gender impact the main character (Katherine Johnson) in her new job. The B-plots explore the other characters navigating the same concepts in different settings and ways- learning a new skill as to not become obsolete and breaking boundaries there (Dorothy Vaugn) and being the first black woman to complete a specific degree program and the fight it took to get there (Mary Jackson). A TV example that utilizes this concept of plot and theme is the 911 shows. Each of the rescues in a given episode will directly relate to the overall theme of the episode and the overall plot for the focus character. This example is extremely blunt. It does not use any tools to hide the connection, to the point you can often guess the outcome for that A-plot fairly quickly.

This is not the only way to explore themes within visual media. Moonlight (2016) looks at three timestamps in the life of Chiron. Each timestamp has a plot even if they feel more like individual scenes or moments rather than plots as some are more used to in films. Each time stamp deals with rejection, isolation, connection, and acceptance in different ways. So while there is no clear A-, B-, or C-Plot, each time stamp works as their own A-Plot to explore the themes in a variety of ways, particularly by starting out in a place of rejection and moving to acceptance or a place of connection to isolation.

Please note that there are many ways to write multiple plots, there are just two examples.

While there are flaws within season 1 of RNM, overall the themes stayed consistent throughout the season, mainly the theme of alienation. The theme threads through the Alien’s isolation/alienation from humanity which is particularly seen through Michael’s unwillingness to participate and Isobel’s over participation. There is Rosa’s isolation from others, how her friendship with “Isobel” ended up compounding her existing alienation from her support system due to her mental illness and coping mechanisms. We see how Max and Liz couldn’t make connections. This theme presented itself over and over in season 1. While this essay is not an exploration of the breakdown of themes in season 2, it should be noted that there were some threads that followed throughout the season. The theme of mothers/motherhood was woven throughout season 2, with some elements more effective than others. Please contact the author for additional thoughts on Helena Ortecho and revenge plots.

One of the largest problems within season 2 was the sheer number of plots jammed into the season. These plot threads often ended up hindering the effectiveness of the themes and made the coherence of the season suffer. Additionally, a lot of them were convoluted and difficult to follow.

Thesis:

Essentially, season 2 was a mess. To look at it holistically is almost an exercise in futility. Either you grow angry about the dropped plots and premises, you hand wave them off, or you fill them in for yourself. Instead, this essay proposes to look at individual elements to explain why Forrest should have stayed evil.

We first meet Forrest in 2.04 when he is introduced on the Long Family Farm, which we later learn was the location where our past alien protagonists had their final standoff. He’s introduced. He’s largely just there. The audience learns he has more of a history with Michael. In 2.06, we meet him again with his dog Buffy (note: poor Buffy has not been seen again and we miss a chunky queen). There’s mild flirting, Alex is invited to an open mic night, which he attends. For the purpose of this essay, the author’s thoughts on the poetry will not be expressed. Readers can take a guess.

It is after this point that the author speculates the Decision was made. This choice to make Forrest not evil- paired with the aforementioned ‘can’t kiss, someone’s sick’- impacted the plot. We have Alex have a scene with his father- which the author believes could have been pushed to a different episode- and then have Alex go on a date and then not kiss Forrest at the end of the night. Here, the audience sees Forrest hit Alex in the leg, allegedly not knowing he had lost his leg despite ‘looking him up’, which parallels the shot to the leg that happens to Charlie. Besides wasting this ABSOLUTELY TEXTBOOK SET UP WTF, it also takes Alex away from the main plot and then forces a new plot for him. Up to this point, Alex’s plot was discovering more about the crash and his family’s involvement. Turning Alex’s date from a setup for evil Forrest to a Coming Out story adds yet another plot thread to a packed season. It is also the author’s thought that this is where the convoluted kidnapping plot comes in. With Forrest already in 2.10 for a moment, a plot where Alex is evil has Forrest attack him for Deep Sky rather than Jesse abduct him for a piece of alien glass Alex was going to give him anyway and then for Flint to abduct Alex from Jesse. It’s messy. In a bad way. Evil Forrest would have been a cleaner set up: no taking back a piece of alien glass Alex gave to Michael in a touching moment. No double abduction. Instead, there is only Forrest, who Alex trusts, breaking that trust to take him as leverage over Michael.

Implications:

Now, Alex has two plots (Tripp & Coming Out). The Coming Out plot is largely ineffective, as they are only relevant to scenes with Forrest and have the undercurrent of there only being a certain acceptable way to be out. This could have been used for Alex to discover his comfort levels, mirroring Isobel’s self discovery, but there was not enough screen time for that. Additionally, Isobel’s coming out story was about her allowing herself the freedom to explore. Alex’s story was about the freedom to… act like this dude wanted him to. Alex’s internalized homophobia played out often in the series but it was also informed by the violence he experienced at Jesse’s hands and the literal hate crime he and his high school boyfriend experienced. With that in mind, the “kissing to piss off bigots” line comes off poorly. This is a character who experienced what a pissed off bigot could do- reluctance to kiss in public is not the same as not being out. There is more to be said on this topic, but as it is not actually the focus of the essay, it will be put on hold. To surmise: Alex’s coming out is attempted to be framed as being himself, but it is actually the conformity to someone else’s ideals. It does not work as an antithetical to Isobel’s story, as the framing indicates that the conformity/right was to be out contradicts Isobel’s theme.

Further Research:

MAKE FORREST EVIL YOU COWARDS

Author Acknowledgements:

The author of this paper acknowledges that the show took some strides to mend this problem. However, once again no consensus could be found on whether Forrest was a low-level member of Deep Sky and thus just allowed to fuck off on a bus, or his job was recruitement because he did a piss poor job of making Alex not join.

#anti forrest long #i guess #evil forrest propaganda #I asked and no one said don't post it so... #here it is #I started writing this roughly 7 months ago

[waffles-for-brunch]

This project began as an indirect response to a few negative tweets in the days following the Valentine's Day Destiel wedding. During such time that “certain sources” chose to speak against the impromptu "wedding" and state that the direction of the show never included sexuality or romance. Since this argument has sparked a bit of discourse as to the validity of Dean Winchester and Castiel's relationship and sexualities, I began this edit as an exploration of observations throughout the entire 15 season run of the series. (That's not to say that Sam does not also have his own impactful romances throughout the show -he does have several notable ones- but in his case they are never debated upon or erased.)

There are three complete edits linked below. The differences are explained in their descriptions. (I also recommend downloading for best quality rather than simply watching in the browser, but it’s your choice)

BiDeanEdit: (Click here to download)

Runtime: 18:04:44

File Size: 10.0 GB (10,741,415,805 bytes)

Series long compilation edit (in sequence) of Dean Winchester and Castiel’s relationships and intended expressions of their sexualities (ie interest in both genders). This edit focuses on their relationship as it develops with one another, their other notable relationships (DeanxBenny, CasxMeg, DeanxLisa, etc), and the framework around their sexualities with small scenes of expression (ie Dean in ‘Playthings’ or ‘Everybody Hates Hitler’, or early seasons Dean & his transgressions with women, or Cas in ‘Caged Heat’)

BiDeanMLMEdit: (Click here to download)

Runtime: 14:40:57

File Size: 8.05 GB (8,649,798,685 bytes)

Series long compilation edit (in sequence) of Dean Winchester and Castiel’s relationships and intended expressions of their sexualities. This one is the same as the last but with only MLM content (Otherwise referred to as ‘only the gay parts’). We focus on this more repressed side of their sexuality and see these clues laid out altogether in one fluid edit (these examples are also available in the previous edit, however are just not aligned beside any heterosexual content). DeanxCrowley, DeanxBenny, DeanxLee, DeanxCas, etc. 

DestielOnlyEdit: (Click here to download)

Runtime: 13:08:49

File Size: 7.17 GB (7,709,560,696 bytes)

Series long compilation edit (in sequence) of only Destiel related content. The same as the above edit, just simplified even more to only focus on Dean and Cas’ relationship over the years. 

Keep reading below to find my full analysis of the complete edit regarding these guys sexualities, relationships, and the parallels we can draw. 

To understand why it is that so many queer fans of Supernatural and other similar shows read queerness in characters and their relationships, we should look at the hays code established in 1930. At this time this certain code was established to monitor what was allowed to be depicted outright on film. Within the margins of what was to be stifled, was homosexuality. As such, filmmakers had to plant “queer-coded” seeds into the writing and subtext so that queer audiences watching could interpret these characters and relationships in this manner without the words and actions stating so outright. (At this time homosexuality could be depicted on film as long as said gay character was either a villain, caricature, or met an untimely end- feeding into the blossoming of the kill-your-gays trope. But that’s another topic for a later time.) 

As film changed over the years and times became more accepting of lgbt characters portrayals on screen outside of simple coding, this did not make the code obsolete. Queer-coding and queer-baiting are often used in media in present day as a way to pull in viewership. Networks are able to garner the best of both worlds, in a sense. They can draw in heterosexual audiences that may not want to watch queer media, whilst also drawing in queer audiences by coding some characters and relationships just enough to pull those viewers in. This works simply because there is such a lack of queer representation in most media that we’ll take what we can get. 

This is where Supernatural comes in. There is a reason that Supernatural and thus “Destiel” is known by some as “The Great American Queerbait.” This twelve years long gay slow-burn between one overly masculine character and his awkward angel best friend did not begin with the intention of romance or baiting, as many of these things generally don’t. However, once fans realized the chemistry between these two particular actors and characters, it became something blatantly written into the show. Sometimes jokingly, other times as legitimate moments of emotional intimacy between two characters. So to say that the show’s direction never included sexuality or romance is, to put it bluntly, bullshit. Just because something is not written in clear and concise wording right in your face, does not mean that it is nonexistent and that the writers did not know what they were writing into the show. (Not even to mention the actual love confession in 15x18, but I digress). 

We know very well that queer content has been written subtextually into media for the better part of seventy years. It is a language in media just as much as lighting is a language, just as much as certain camera angles, color design in costumes or set decor, and music design are languages. All of these, outside of the simple words said on screen, make up our media and these characters and our shows. Tv is a world of color, not black and white.

[[ further readings on the above topics: X X X X X ]] 

I decided upon this full edit encompassing both the female and male aspects of Dean Winchester and Castiel’s relationships & sexualities because oftentimes when we’re looking into potentially queer characters we tend to focus on the same sex attraction and neglect the opposite sex attraction. Both are very important to acknowledge and compare, if at the very least to view where they may overcompensate, where toxic masculinity may come into play, compulsory heterosexuality, trauma responses, etc. Sometimes what a character doesn’t do is just as important to interpret as what they do do. 

For instance, Dean Winchester. If we are to operate under the assumption that he is bisexual, any repression we witness throughout the series as to his male attraction is likely to be a result of his difficult upbringing, similar to most queer identifying people with childhood trauma. His father is a marine, the picture of manliness in which Dean himself blatantly embodies in an effort to impress and make his father proud in any way he can. Dean is already unlikely to seek out activities in any aspect of life of which might make John look at him in a different light (ie, in an every day setting, even simply watching Finding Dory- this is not something S1 Dean would have admitted to liking, but we see Dean in later seasons standing up for himself and his appreciation for it). 

Is it perhaps for this reason that we see Dean as an overly blatant and flirty ladies man in season 1 when John is still alive, while this side of him steadily declines as the series continues? It even becomes established in season 3- in light of Dean’s fears surrounding going to Hell, he enters an attitude for coping that Sam recognizes- hypermasculinity, promiscuity, deflection. Heightening the idea that this caricature of himself that he embodies is a mask that he wears in order to cope with something else. He is donning the image he assumes others think he should fit into. Sam calls him out on this through the years, and eventually this becomes something we see in him less and less as he feels more comfortable simply being himself. 

If we take into account the time of which this first season is filmed, this is 2005, a time where gay jokes were still funny and an overcompensating character was a joke attached to it. We see Dean built up in these first couple of seasons through this lens of jokes about a hyper-masculine character being mistaken for gay, however instead of this building up the masculinity to encourage a raging heterosexual characterization, this overcompensation is exactly what inadvertently sows the seeds of queer-coding. To queer watchers this reads as a deeply repressed character with childhood trauma who overcompensates when faced with observations of gayness and uses hypermasculinity to counteract these accusations. 

It is through circumstances such as “Bugs” in S1 or “Playthings” in S2 that we first see these ‘jokes.’ The brothers are mistaken as a gay couple. Dean being the more “masculine’ of the two characters has a blatant reaction to these situations (Overcompensating), and Sam’s lack of a reaction is what solidifies his own straightness all the more. Neither brother is homophobic (this becomes established as time goes on) so why would either have a problem with this mistake? Sam wouldn’t care because he’s clearly not gay- in fact, he usually just laughs it off. Dean would care because he wonders what about him looks gay? Do other people see it too? Do they know? What’s wrong with him? 

We also see another blatant example of this type of freakout in season 8. “Everybody Hates Hitler.”

(Images: “Playthings” S2xE11)

(Image below: S8 “Everybody Hates Hilter”)

We frame these situations in early seasons around girl of the week scenarios and brief bar flirtations. Have to make it clear that our manly straight character looks as manly and straight as possible. Dean is also in his 20s, he’s more carefree/not as traumatized yet, and he is a sexual man so he does sleep around quite a bit. What is notable, however, is how much this drops off in later seasons. As time goes on Dean seeks out less and less the fleeting encounters of one night stands, in favor of genuine connections- even if he himself frequently doubts his own ability to ever have a settle-down type of relationship or life. Lisa is the only long-term female romantic relationship Dean ever has throughout the series run, and this tentatively begins in season 5 and ends in season 6. 

Dean and Lisa’s relationship is founded more in a dream of something that Dean wants to be rather than who he actually is. Although he loves her, their bond is made through trauma and their relationship overall is reminiscent of a soldier who returned home from war with heavy PTSD and begins to burden the family that he will come to realize he doesn’t quite fit within anymore. 

Outside of this, his closest relationships from thereon out are between Benny, and Castiel. 

Let’s start with Benny. Throughout season 8 Benny is framed as an ex and his relationship with Dean directly parallels Sam and Amelia’s. Both brothers must confront their relationships with their ‘significant others’ and decide whether to cut them off or proceed. Both brothers found these people under circumstances in which they did not get along with them at first but were pushed together. Another person comes in the middle of their relationship (Amelia’s husband for Sam, or Cas/Sam for Benny). The brothers each resent the other’s significant other or the circumstances surrounding the relationship. Sam hates Benny because he is a vampire and Sam does not understand why Dean continually trusts him (which is a circumstance inherently queer-coded in itself for comparability to an unaccepting family). Dean does not care for Amelia simply for the fact that Sam chose her over looking for him in purgatory.

Other instances we see parallels between Sam’s romances and Dean’s:

“Sex and Violence” S4 siren: Nick(Siren)/Dean parallel to Sam/Dr Lady

Season 4: Ruby/Sam and Cas/Dean teamup parallels

S1 Dean pulling Sam from the fire away from Jess vs S12 Sam pulling Dean away from Cas who may die approaching Lucifer to fight

Season 8: Dean/Benny vs Sam/Amelia. Dean and Benny, since they’re essentially going through a breakup, are directly paralleled to Sam and Amelia and their breakup. See “Larp and the Real Girl” for Charlie and Dean’s conversation about Sam’s recent breakup and Charlie picking up on the fact that Dean might also be going through one. 

1x05 vs 8x07: Sam seeing Jessica on the sidewalk as they drive down the street vs Dean seeing Cas on the side of the road as he drives down the street

S11: Perhaps this one can be interpreted loosely and not necessarily romantic (esp on Sam’s end), but “O’ Brother Where Art Thou” both brothers are drawn to forces they actively fight against being drawn to. SamxLucifer and DeanxAmara. 

S11: “Beyond the Mat” not a relationship but with crushes/infatuations. Dean with Gunner Lawless and Sam with Rio. 

S15: Cas telling Dean that “We Are” real. vs Eileen being unsure what’s real and Sam kissing her and saying “I know that was real.”

S15: “The Trap” Dean loses all hope following the death of their friends and primarily Cas. Sam loses hope after Eileen’s death. Directly paralleled in the episode. (We also see Sam lose Eileen in 15x18, where Dean also loses Cas)

Additional parallels between Dean/Cas with anyone else:

Season 9/10: Cain/Colette vs Dean/Cas. “She only asked for one thing. To stop.” vs Cas asking Dean to “Stop”. Both circumstances referring to the Mark of Cain.

S12 “Lily Sunder Has Some Regrets” Lily (human)/Isham (angel) vs Dean (human)/ Cas (angel)

Led Zeppelin: This music means something within John/Mary’s relationship, which Dean directly acknowledges in 12x01 with Mary. We find out Dean has gifted Cas a mixtape of his “Top 13 Zepp Traxx” in 12x19. (the implications of Dean having made a mixtape for Cas, being its own point in a different discussion)

When Lucifer contacts a person to try and get them to open up to him, he uses their dead lover as a ploy. SamxJess, NickxSarah, VincexJen, DeanxCas - 15x19 when Lucifer calls Dean using Cas’ voice. 

The parallels of unreciprocated love/infatuation. DeanxCrowley and CasxHannah. Dean likes Crowley but clearly not the way that Crowley likes Dean. Cas likes Hannah like a friend or sister, but she keeps putting the moves on him for awhile and he appears deeply uncomfortable and has to shoot her down more than once. 

Parallels between Dean’s own relationships:

Dean in “Let it Bleed” torturing demons to find the location of Lisa and Ben vs Dean in Purgatory torturing monsters to find the location of Cas “The angel”

“The Rapture” opens in Dean’s dream which Cas visits and says he’s in trouble and gives Dean an address to go to immediately. “The Song Remains The Same” opens in Dean’s dream which Anna visits and says she’s in trouble and gives Dean an address to go to immediately. 

S6 Dean dodging calls from Lisa vs S12 Dean dodging Cas at the beginning of “Lily Sunder Has Some Regrets” (notable also how Sam treats both circumstances the same)

S11: “Into the Mystic” 11x11 Mildred tells Dean the key to living a long and happy life is to follow your heart. Later in the season “All in the Family” 11x21 When Casifer is still captured by Amara, she puts her hand to Cas’ heart and is able to connect with Dean to contact him. Hinting at the link between Cas and Dean’s “hearts.” 

Not necessarily a parallel but an observation. 7x01 when Cas is loaded up on God juice, and Dean has given up but Sam hasn’t and wants to talk to ‘the guy’, Dean says, “He’s not a guy, he’s God.” But in 11x18 Dean refuses to give up on Cas and let him continue to be possessed. Sam keeps speaking about Cas like he’s just a vessel and Dean says, “It? It’s not an it, Sam. It’s Cas.” Mostly this shows the development of their relationship and Dean’s willingness to continue to fight for him. 

Dean’s dream world with Pamela in S14, she says to Dean “How come you only want what you can’t have?” and in S15 during Cas’ confession scene he says to Dean, “The one thing I want, is something I know I can’t have.”

Before we delve into Dean and Castiel specifically, let’s explore a few more things regarding Dean. 

Let’s start with Cassie. This is Dean’s first romantic relationship we see on the show, and is arguably his first love. What is notable about her is her characterization and Dean in relation to her. We haven’t seen him in a relationship before, and thus this is the baseline to which we can draw how he is in this type of vulnerable state.

We see here that he is drawn to strong individuals. Cassie is a very strong willed character and can hold her own. She has a boldness about her. Dean appreciates that. We see similar in his next framed love interest: Jo Harvelle. Jo is another strong character, and though Dean sees her more as someone he needs to protect because she doesn’t have as much experience under her belt, he respects her intellect and strong will all the same. They connect through a love for hunting and mutual daddy issues. Personally, this is a relationship I view more as a little sister dynamic in a similar vein to Dean and Charlie, however this pairing is still worth noting because as it was written it was intended to potentially flourish into a romantic relationship. This did not pan out, though the seeds are still there. 

Next up is Anna. Again daddy issues are a solid connection these two hold, and while this relationship is more of a one-night-stand than anything else, there are still important points to be taken from this encounter. The first is just how much Dean cares. We don’t see very many sex scenes with Dean throughout the series, but of the ones we do see, it is apparent that he is a gentle and tender man. He cares. About even a single night with a woman. (Cassie, Anna, Lydia ’The Slice Girls”) This is a contrast to Dean’s general persona of the masculine straight promiscuous lady’s man. He has all the bravado of a man who ‘loves em and leaves em’, but in reality that is not who he is. This is another example of the faces Dean wears in front of certain people (and what he thinks they expect of him), and the person he is once he lets that mask fall. 

It may be important to note as well that Anna, (it is rumored) was originally meant to be more to Dean than this simple one night stand and connection. She was intended to become a romantic interest but, as it turned out, Dean and Cas had more chemistry so the arc that Anna was meant to follow was instead given to Castiel. 

It is another year until the apocalypse comes along, Sam dies, and Dean falls back into Lisa’s lap. While Lisa is another strong-willed woman who rolls with the punches, her lifestyle deviates from Dean’s usual romantic interests simply because of her offering of a normal life outside of everything he’s usually known. A life with her is dipping his toe into a life he could have had if he didn’t hold the weight of the world on his shoulders and hunt the things that go bump in the night.

This is Dean’s last “official” relationship of the series. After putting Lisa and Ben in danger by being someone that he cares about, Dean accepts that he’s simply not a guy that can have a normal life or a normal family. He cares about people and they get hurt. This is a weight he holds on his shoulders for the remainder of the show. He loves someone, or more accurately, they love him, and they’ll get hurt. End of story. It doesn’t help that immediately following this, Castiel “dies” too. 

Maybe it’s Lisa, maybe it’s Cas. Maybe it’s a combination of the two at this point in time, but Dean is never again the same when it comes to relationships after these events at the end of season 6. He becomes more cautious, tries to keep people an arm’s length away, and we even begin to see less and less promiscuity and flirting with miscellaneous women from this point on. 

Let’s talk about Castiel.

Although Dean has had various queer-coded moments throughout the beginning of the series and up to Castiel’s entrance in season 4, his minimal relationships up to this point have all been with women. Simply exploring the evolution of this relationship from Dean’s side of the picture, Dean doesn’t start to truly warm up to Castiel until perhaps the end of season 4. He begins the season unsure of the angel, perhaps even a bit afraid of him, before the two garner a sort of mutual respect as Dean begins to see that there’s more to him than simply an agent of heaven.

They’re friends in season 5. The quirky, strange angel that doesn’t understand social cues, stands too close, stares too much, and says things like “we’re making it up as we go” and “tonight you’re my little bitch.” He’s a far cry from the ethereal entity that showed up in Bobby’s kitchen just a year ago and threatened to toss Dean back into Hell. What really turns the curve, however, is “The End.” 

5 years in the future in the midst of an apocalyptic war, Cas is still around. He’s human and he’s stuck by Dean’s side through it all, even though this Dean is just a shadow of his former self. Then again, so is this Cas. But still, they stuck together. Dean isn’t used to that. He has very few people that have stuck by him for this many years. Could probably count them all on one hand at this point. Bobby and Sam at the top of the list. Everyone else either dies or leaves. And in this future, Bobby and Sam are dead, but Cas is still there.  

Dean has abandonment issues. His mother died when he was four, his dad was in and out emotionally and physically his entire upbringing, Sam left for Stanford the first chance he got. He’s got strings of dead friends and lost relationships surely in tow for years at this point, and half the time Dean has become accustomed to pushing people away before they have a chance to push him away first. (Ie Cassie, Lisa, often even Sam too at times). Cas won’t make these issues any better during their run together, but up to this point Cas hasn’t let him down. The simple fact that in this one future universe Cas had stuck by him, I’m sure that makes a big difference to Dean and actually may be imperative for their relationship going forward and the trust that forms between them. 

Something that becomes a large part of their relationship is Cas and Dean’s ability to have conversations with just their eyes. This is a shorthand that Dean is known to have with Sam on occasion, especially during times of combat. It takes a certain amount of intimacy and knowledge of the other person to be able to have a shorthand like this. The first instance we see this between them is quite possibly “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester,” when Dean convinces Cas that they can save the town. We see it again in the ‘beautiful room’ when Cas slams Dean up against the wall and Dean seems to understand what’s happening. Another instance, “The Song Remains the Same.” In a way, it’s a locking of eyes that just seems to say “trust me,” and they do. 

Sam wonders if Anna may be right. If killing him and scattering the pieces will stop this whole Lucifer vessel business. Sam asks Cas, Cas looks to Dean, they share a look, and Cas shuts Sam down. In all likelihood that plan could have worked, but Cas wouldn’t do that Dean. He wouldn’t do it to Sam either but at this point he’ll do anything at all for Dean. 

If we take a moment to consider Dean and Cas’ relationship here, it is unlike any of Dean’s previous ones. Dean never has this same kind of shorthand with any of his other relationships, save for possibly Benny to a certain extent. Cas is an odd guy, and Dean frequently describes him as such, but he finds it endearing (if “Free to be You and Me” is any indication this early in their relationship). The previous women in his life all had the same thing in common, that they’re strong willed, brave, and don’t put up with Dean’s shit when he’s being a shit. Cas does fit all this criteria, but he’s also someone that Dean has a hard time reading. Cas is so literal sometimes that Dean can’t tell what’s literal, what’s deadpan, and what’s just Cas’ personality as an angel. But at the end of the day, simply put, he likes him and he trusts him. Getting Dean Winchester’s full trust as quickly as Cas gets it is an anomaly all on its own. 

Dean’s female relationships are fairly surface level. They’re easy and fairly uncomplicated. Boy likes girl, girl likes boy. Girl gets mad at boy, relationship ends. Easy. Expected. His relationship with Cas isn’t easy. But the big endgame relationships seldom are. There’s blood, loss of trust, rebuilding, and there’s a pull that at the end of the day always brings them back to one another no matter how incredibly messy things get.  

And boy do things get messy. If we touch back into the end of season 6 where things end with Lisa and blow up with Cas, Dean is at an all time low in the relationship department. 

Dean takes Cas’ betrayal hard. Breakups are one thing. Leaving Lisa was expected. It was bound to happen eventually. Dean always knew that somewhere inside. He mourns leaving them, but knows it’s for the best. But with Cas’ betrayal at working with Crowley, he’s devastated all over again. 

Dean never expects his relationships to last forever, but again there’s a choice few people in his life he lets take up space on the list of those who might stick around. Bobby, Sam, Cas. I don’t think Lisa was ever on this list, as much as Dean wishes he could tell himself she and Ben were. But they weren’t. That relationship was a ticking time bomb. And when they nearly die because of his life and the creatures surrounding him every day, that’s the end of it.

Fast forward, season 7 is a time of mourning. He’s lost Lisa and Ben, he gets Cas back for all of 30 minutes before losing him all over again and never being able to repair that relationship. But he keeps the trenchcoat. Fishes it out of the lake, bundles it up, and keeps it in the back of every single car that he and Sam drive that year. 

Dean doesn’t keep mementos. Not of Cassie, not of Jo, Not of Anna, or even Lisa and Ben. No pictures, no items, just memories. You know what he does keep? He keeps his dad’s leather jacket, Bobby’s flask, pictures of he and Sam and his mom. Is keeping the trenchcoat in the back of the car for a year similar to those familial keepsakes? Maybe. But it’s also more than that. It’s covered in blood and lake water, and I’m sure Dean would explain it away that Cas was family and that’s why he kept the coat. Probably even believes that too. 

Then we have purgatory. 

Dean prays to Cas every night. He could get out of that place just on his own, but he stays there for months in full combat just to look for the angel and get him out with him.

“First we find the angel”

“Cas, we’re gettin’ out of here. We’re going home.”

“Cas, buddy, I need you.”

“Let me bottom line it for you. I’m not leaving here without you. Understand?”

“Cas, we’re gonna shove your ass back through the eye of that needle if it kills all three of us.”

“It���s gonna work. Nobody gets left behind.”

When we meet Benny, Dean’s only other primary male pairing of consequence, he is not trusted. This team-up is one of strategy and a mutual goal only- at least at first. Dean and Benny fight well side by side, but the trust only runs so far. That is, until during one particular fight with leviathans in which Cas nearly bites it, Benny saves the angel’s life. This is the main turning point for Dean’s entire trust in Benny from here on out. 

“Benny has never let me down.” Dean says later to Sam. And he never did. He saved Cas, got Dean out of purgatory, and then later on he gets himself sent back to purgatory just so he can help Dean’s brother get out of there. 

Dean and Benny’s relationship was “pure” in purgatory. They didn’t have to worry as much about the fact that Benny was a vampire and Dean was a hunter, they were just brothers in arms who earned one another’s trust, respect and love. There’s no way you let a man kill you and send you to purgatory to save his brother if you don’t love him. 

 Their relationship once they broke out of purgatory is where things began to sour, not because of anything either of them did to the other, but more the space they let grow. Regular Earth was different from purgatory and these men had to go back to their roles and say sayonara. “What happened in purgatory stayed in purgatory” and all that. Benny was a vampire and Dean was a hunter. That kind of thing mattered here despite the fact that they did care for one another. 

Dean and Benny’s tumultuous relationship in relation to the people in Dean’s life could be reminiscent of a queer experience in itself. A lack of acceptance from Sam, Bobby, Martin- Dean’s family. Not because of who Benny was, but what he was. Pair this with the already established fact that Amelia and Sam were a direct parallel to Dean and Benny, Season 8 has been one of the most blatantly queer-coded seasons as of yet. 

Which brings us to “Goodbye Stranger.” It is established early on this season that Dean feels that there’s something wrong with Cas, something off about him. The fact that they don’t know how he popped out of purgatory is just one part of it. It’s in the way he acts, how spacey he is, the fact that he doesn’t answer Dean’s prayers. “I always come when you call.” Cas once said. And he did. Until now.

This is another aspect of their relationship which is simply there and not spoken about much- similar to their staring and eye communication thing they do. Dean started their relationship unable to read all of Cas’ quirks very well and unsure of the guy. Now, he’s fluent in the language of Cas. He knows by tone of voice, by shiftiness, by his expressions- when something is up. Maybe he started paying more attention after the whole Rafael situation until he could read Cas like the back of his hand, or maybe he just started paying attention just to pay attention. 

He’s known something is wrong for months while Cas has been under Naomi’s control. Just the same as years later, he knows something is up when Lucifer is taking a ride in Cas’ body. And he knows in 12x15 just by the way Cas speaks on the phone that something is off with him. 

They come upon the angel tablet in the crypt, and Dean does fight back when Cas starts in on him, but he spends even more energy trying to get Cas to come back to him and fight whatever force has him under control. He never once stopped to think that this was just Cas. “This isn’t you! Fight this!” Dean would repeat over and over as Cas beats him nearly to death. 

There was a moment he certainly thought that Cas would kill him, and it seemed like he was more bothered by the fact that it was Cas that would do it more so than the thought of dying. 

Cas breaks through the mind control, heals Dean. Then he leaves. So, again, Cas leaves. He keeps doing that to Dean. I stated before that Dean’s abandonment issues come into play in this relationship, but unlike at the beginning where Dean saw a future that Cas stays in, this Cas keeps coming and going. This makes it difficult for Dean to trust him fully, to rely on him. But the fact of the matter is that he does still trust him completely, and that’s what bothers Dean. 

When Cas does come back again, collapsed and bloody in the middle of the street, Dean puts up a wall. He’s hurt and he’s tired. He doesn’t want to trust him as much as he does and he definitely doesn’t want him to keep coming and going without a thought. (What’s interesting to note here, though, is Dean’s change in character as this occurs through the years. Because while here he may simply give Cas the cold shoulder and not talk much about his hurt in this situation, we see later on in 12x19 after Dean has been fretting for days about where Cas has gone off to, and Cas finally does return, he voices his side of things. “With everything that’s going on, you can’t just go dark like that. We didn’t know what happened to you. We were worried, that’s not okay.”)

Naomi hits the nail on the head when she visits Dean after Castiel disappears and she notices Dean still hasn’t warded the boat against angels. It is moments like these that we realize just how much everyone else around these two also notice their chemistry and their deep devotion to one another, always seeming to fall back to one another. 

“I think you have me confused with the other angel. You know, the one in the dirty trenchcoat who’s in love with you.” - Balthazar S6

“The stench of that impala is all over your overcoat, angel.” - Crowley S6

“Castiel? Oh, he’s not here. See, he has this weakness. He likes you.” -Uriel S4

(to Dean) “Go ask him, he was your boyfriend first.” - Meg S7

“I have tiptoed through all your little tulips. Your memories, your little feelings, yes. I know what you hate. I know who you love, what you fear.” - The Empty S13

“And then after a rousing speech, his true weakness is revealed. He’s in love... with humanity.” - Metatron S9

“I’m sorry, did you just say that you lost a Winchester? Because, one, that’s... interesting. And, two, how is it that you lost Dean? I thought the two of you were joined at the... you know, everything.” - Kipling S14

“And for what again? Oh, that’s right, to save Dean Winchester. That was your goal, right? I mean, you drape yourself in the flag of heaven, but ultimately, it was about saving one human, right? Well, guess what? He’s dead, too.” - Metatron S9

“Don’t lose it all over one man.” - Hannah S9

“The very touch of you corrupts. When Castiel first laid a hand on you in Hell he was lost!” - Hester S7

“Oh, sweet. Almost anything. Castiel? He’s dead. All the way dead. Because of you.” - Miriam S13

“And then you’d kill the angel, Castiel. Now that one, that I suspect would hurt something awful.” - Cain S10

“He should know this- Lucifer, his favorite, isn’t doing so well. Say nothing of the vessel, your friend Castiel.” - Amara S11

“I’m gonna cure you of your human weakness, the same way I cured my own. By cutting it out.” - Isham S12

Bonus: Dean to Sam about Garth’s baby Castiel- Dean: “This Cas keeps looking at me weird.” Sam: “So kinda like the real Cas.”

It is time and again that opposing forces recognize the relationship between Dean and Castiel, and it’s commented on and used against them frequently.

As we move forward to the angels falling and human Castiel, this season opens up with dean in the hospital with a very ill Sam. The first thing he does before contacting anyone else is pray to Castiel. There’s a moment in 9x03 where Castiel walks into a church and speaks with a woman there. He expresses his lack of faith and she says, “I guess that’s why we pray. You need something stronger than yourself.” Dean never prayed until he started praying to Cas. He prayed to Cas during the apocalypse, in purgatory, when Sam was sick during the trials, now in this hospital. Dean might not have faith in God, but he does in Cas. 

Castiel is human, and while Dean tears apart the grid trying to find him while angels are on Cas’ ass, he still watches him die, then has to kick him from the safety of the bunker the very same day. Up until this point, Cas has been a genuine part of their family regardless of their squabbles over the past months, but kicking him from the bunker damages that. Once the reasoning comes to light, however, Cas is forgiving immediately. He’d forgiven Dean even before that. That’s one thing about Cas that Dean never seems to get over either. Dean can get angry and take things out on him, kick him from the bunker, make stupid decisions and nearly kill himself, holler at him, blame him, but Cas comes back every time. He forgives him every time. It’s already overwhelming when Sam does this, but the ease at which Castiel consistently forgives Dean is a lot. 

Dean gets the Mark of Cain. It’s a means to an end, he says. When he becomes a demon as a result, this is when his relationship with Crowley is deepened. This relationship is an interesting one because it’s essentially an unrequited example. Dean likes Crowley, and when he’s a demon he has a good time, but Crowley’s feelings appear to go much deeper- even if he tries not to show it. 

 It is very possible that Dean and Crowley’s relationship is a formation more as a result of a joke than anything else- where the writers are concerned. But whether that was the intention or not, this is a relationship that continues to affect Crowley’s actions towards Dean for the rest of the series. He doesn’t let Dean kill innocents as he’s a demon, he saves Castiel from certain death as his grace drains, he gives Sam the information to find Dean so he can be cured, and he aids in getting the mark removed from Dean even as Sam attempts to kill him in the process. In return, Dean gives Crowley the benefit of the doubt more often, and they share a sort of mutual respect. What differs here, however, from Dean’s relationships with Benny or Castiel, is Dean’s actions. It is clear that Dean doesn’t feel as deeply as Crowley does, so this is an interesting relationship to compare side by side with the others. 

Not only this, but DeanxCrowley in these first few episodes can be seen as a parallel with CasxHannah. Two unreciprocated relationships which do not last long in this particular phase, but do result in a friendship within these pairings as time goes on. 

Still with the Mark of Cain, Dean and Cain have a few things in common. Cain had said that his wife, Colette, before she died had asked him to stop. Stop the killing. It’s several months after that that Dean is going off the rails and Cas, behind Dean as he’s walking away, asks Dean to stop. He nearly kills Cas then, almost fulfilling Cain’s words just weeks earlier: “And then you’ll kill the angel, Castiel. And that, I suspect, would hurt something awful.” This is a direct romantic parallel written into the show. 

When the darkness is released, Amara and Dean are immediately drawn to one another through some sort of connection as a remnant of the mark. This relationship is another interesting one, because it ties in to true desire and consent. Dean is drawn to her, yes, and she is sold as a sort of potential love interest this season, but Dean himself doesn’t want anything to do with her. He’s hypnotized when he’s around her, but as soon as he’s away this energy dissipates. 

So in light of this storyline let’s talk about consent and the sexualization of Dean Winchester for a second, shall we?

Dean is an often highly sexualized individual. He plays along more in his younger days, but the older he gets the more frustrated he becomes with the whole situation. I’m sure there are more but here are some tentative examples (This is also something that happens to Sam a decent amount as well.): 

Wendy at the psych ward in “Sam, Interrupted” kisses Dean

Pamela touching Dean’s inner thigh in “Lazarus Rising” 

Ezra in “Time After Time” kisses Dean without consent

Gets turned into a vampire because he’s “pretty”

Pamela in “Dark Side of the Moon” kisses Dean

Almost becomes a vessel for Sandy’s mate in “The Thing” because she “enjoys looking at his face”

Amara kisses Dean in “O’ Brother Where Art Thou”

Mildred gropes Dean’s leg in “Into the Mystic” and continually makes advances even tho he’s uncomfortable. 

Random girl slaps Dean’s ass in “The Last Call”

Ellie in S8 wants to sleep with Dean and even kisses him randomly

Meg kisses Dean as he’s being held against his will in “Sympathy for the Devil”

Granted, there aren’t a plethora of examples, but it’s still a lot and it is interesting to see how often Dean has been sexualized for someone else’s pleasure. It is bound to work into his characterization as well, and his sense of self-worth. He’s often described as the pretty one of the brothers, and seeing as he is the more promiscuous of the two, it is assumed that he welcomes all of or most of the attention that comes his way.

It is for this reason in particular that the situation with Amara is bothersome to me. Not only is Dean taken advantage of physically, but his mind is essentially hypnotized whenever she is near, not giving him total control over his actions or desires. Amara is in part meant to be sold as a romantic interest, but throughout the season Dean continually expresses his discontent. He’s even ashamed to admit these feelings to Sam and Cas, even though he knows it isn’t his fault he still feels responsible. (Which, if we think about it, this is could be a queer allegory too. The lack of choice, feeling shame, etc.)

What is notable, however, is the day that they attempt to capture Lucifer and speak to Cas to get him to expel Lucifer from his body. Amara makes a surprise appearance and captures Lucifer/Cas herself. Dean yells to Cas. This catches Amara’s attention and appears to confuse her, and even Lucifer, seeing as when Dean is around her he’s meant to have eyes for just her because of their “bond”. His link to Castiel appears to be stronger, however.  

Amara uses this connection between Cas and Dean when she wishes to contact Dean, simply by placing her hand over Castiel’s heart. She says to Dean, “If you should cross paths, if (god) should reach out to you, he should know this - Lucifer, his favorite, isn’t doing so well. Say nothing of the vessel, your friend Castiel.”

If we backtrack a moment, Dean finding out that Castiel is possessed in the first place is a very emotional time for Dean. He doesn’t want to accept that Cas would make such a decision, put himself in that kind of danger, and choose to leave once again. Sam, the arguably more rational thinker at this current time, tries to rationalize that Cas may not come back willingly since he chose to let Lucifer in. “Not possible.” Dean says. It’s simply not possible that Cas doesn’t want to come back to them. It’s not something he can accept. 

The next several episodes are begun with Dean either losing sleep trying to figure out what to do about Cas, or simply moping about. Sam has to comfort him each time. This is notable behavior as well, because Dean isn’t often one to wear his heart on his sleeve this frequently. Certainly he has his moments, but much of the time when he’s distressed he simply buries it all down and puts up a front. He doesn’t do that here. In fact, once they do begin to put together a plan with Crowley, Sam thinks they should still utilize Lucifer in the fight against Amara but thinks it’s foolish to move him into a new vessel. 

((I actually counted up the mopey Dean scenes- between finding out Cas is possessed, to getting Cas back.))

There are four convos with Sam (multiple episodes) where Sam has to comfort Dean and say something along the lines of “we’ll get him back.” (Just as an aside, I don’t think there has ever been a scene in the series where Dean comforted Sam about Cas, it’s always Sam having to comfort a freaking out Dean)

Then, of course, there’s the scene where Dean comforts a victim and she says “I watched the man I love die. There’s no normal after that.” 

There’s the “It’s not an ‘it,’ Sam. It’s Cas.” scene. 

There’s Dean trying to get through to Cas when they capture Lucifer. 

There’s the Dean yelling “Cas?” to Casifer when Amara is in the room. 

There’s two more scenes where Sam comforts Dean again. 

There’s “The Chitters” episode with the gay hunter couple. (This isn’t a direct relation, but more of an honorable mention because it seems abstractly relevant)

Amara connecting to Dean through Cas’ heart.

Dean freaking out about making it to Cas in time and again talking to Sam about it.

Dean asking “what about Cas?” as they’re planning the attack with God against Amara.

Someone has said once that you can tell that Dean is in love with Cas because Sam isn’t. It’s in moments like this that this becomes readily apparent. Yes, Sam cares about Cas, of course. But it’s just different than the way that Dean cares about Cas. When Dean cares about certain people, this love weaves into the very fabric of his being and he just feels it so completely and overwhelmingly, he can’t simply not fight for it. 

“Dean, it’s a strong vessel, it’s held Cas for years, and we know what he’s been through.” Sam says.

“It? It’s not an ‘it,’ Sam. It’s Cas.”

Dean appears almost shocked that these words would pass through Sam’s mouth. He’s confused that Sam wouldn’t fight for Cas just as much as Dean would. The type of love they each have for the angel is just different. Visually, action-wise, reaction-wise. This conversation in “Hell’s Angel” highlights that. 

You know what else highlights it? The fact that when they do trap Lucifer, it’s only Dean who gets through to Cas and talks to him to get him to come back and expel Lucifer. It’s Cas only seeking Dean’s forgiveness in S7 when putting the souls back in Purgatory. It’s Dean in S6 being the only one to defend Cas in “The Man Who Would Be King.” It’s Dean later in that same episode being the one to get through to Cas in the circle of holy fire. It’s “I did it, all of it, for you.” It’s Dean carrying around that trenchcoat for a year and mourning when Sam doesn’t. It’s Bobby checking in on Dean mourning Cas, but doesn’t check in with Sam about it. It’s Sam pulling Dean out of the apocalypse world in season 12 as Dean screams for Cas and physically fights against Sam to get to Cas. It’s Sam seeing Cas dead on the ground minutes later, but still able to walk away while Dean is frozen in place, frozen in shock. It’s Dean being the only one to wrap up Cas’ dead body. It’s Sam always having to reassure Dean that Cas is probably fine, whenever he goes missing for a little while. It’s Dean hardly able to function in S13 with this encompassing grief over Cas’ death and yelling “It got him dead! Now you might be able to forget about that, but I can’t.” It’s S15 when Rowena tells Dean and Cas to fix their quarrel before it’s too late, and later Dean in purgatory not sure of it is too late as he’s praying for Cas to be okay and crying against a tree. 

Sam’s reactions are important to take into account. Sam cares, yes, but Cas isn’t as wholly encompassing in his life as he is in Dean’s. If anything else is to prove that, it’s the way that Dean grieves (I mean, if you were to put Sam in Dean’s place in 15x09 in Purgatory and their fight, there’s no way that Sam would react this extremely). 

There are three different points to highlight Dean’s grief. The first is season 7 with the trenchcoat, which we’ve already talked about. The second is when Cas is possessed by Lucifer, which we have covered as well. The most damning, however, is Dean’s season 13 grief arc following Cas’ death. Dean also loses his mother during this time and a few other friends, but considering how he reacts when Cas comes back, a great amount of this grief has to do with Cas. Dean completely loses hope and faith in anything at all during this time. He hates Jack for giving Cas false hope and getting him killed. He doesn’t believe in their mission anymore. He doesn’t believe anything matters at all. “Right now, I don’t believe in a damn thing.” Dean admits to Sam. When Cas comes back from the dead, however, he pulls a complete 180. He has hope again. He has faith. And all of it begins with Cas.

Lastly, Dean never hooks up with anyone again after Castiel’s final resurrection. We can go through an outline of the steady decline of Dean’s hookups and relations outside of Cas as the decade goes, but during this three year window specifically, Dean’s only pairing is Cas. Sure, he might flirt with someone every now and again, but this never goes anywhere. (Arguably the person he flirts with the most in any episode in these final three seasons is Daphne, but idk if that even counts much considering she is a cartoon.)  And as Pamela says once in Rocky’s bar: “Besides, you don’t want me. You just like to flirt. I’m psychic so I kinda know.” And that was just in Dean’s head anyways so it’s probably even more true than had Pamela actually said it herself. 

When Jack comes in the picture in season 13, and Castiel comes back from the dead, this makeshift little family is formed. All three men act as father figures to this half-angel kid at different capacities, and amongst this dynamic another is formed a bit further between Dean and Cas. They’ve already been acting a bit as an old married couple in recent years (Lily Sunder Has Some Regrets, anyone?) but this co-parenting scenario they’ve found themselves in has solidified this dynamic all the more as they collaborate on the issues that arise with Jack. In “Lebanon” when John Winchester comes back for a brief period, John even says to Dean that he’d hoped he would get a family someday and get out of hunting and such. Dean replies, “I have a family.” Sam, Cas, and Jack are his family. Cas has been family for a long time, but here and now Dean just isn’t looking for anything else or anything normal. He’s happy with himself and the people he’s surrounded by. He’s not looking for anything else or anyone else. 

For a change of perspective, let’s check out Castiel’s relationships over the years.

Unlike Dean, Castiel’s queerness and interest in Dean has been officially canonized. We can speculate all we want on the legitimacy of Dean’s love for Cas, but we can speak in certainties about Castiel. Castiel is in love with Dean Winchester. Speculation can come in when we consider, just how long has this love existed for him? Let’s start from the beginning.

Right off the bat when we meet Castiel, he’s a semi-emotionless soldier of heaven who works under strict orders and doesn’t have much free-will. Dean begins to change this. We can see even in their first couple encounters that Castiel is interested in Dean- in what he has to say, intrigue in the fact that Dean talks back to the angels (despite that these angels are unkillable beings and could smite him on the spot), the fact that he’s snarky and brave and questions everything. Where Uriel finds Dean annoying and blasphemous, Castiel finds the back-talk fascinating. Dean’s words impact Cas, and it’s not long before he starts to have doubts about Heaven. Following these orders blindly and unquestioningly starts to seem foolish when Dean puts things in a different perspective. 

Even after Cas undergoes what some have funnily dubbed “conversion therapy” in “The Rapture” (when Cas had finally decided on going against Heaven and to help Dean stop the apocalypse) it’s still not enough to stop him completely. A bit more time with Dean and he’s convinced yet again to help this one human man stop the apocalypse with his brother. He even dies for him and this new mission of his. 

Castiel throughout this first season is interesting because we see firsthand his struggle to understand beginning to feel emotions and accept thinking for himself. “For the first time, I feel...” He says to Anna. He wants her to tell him what to do. He wants orders because that’s all he knows, and he doesn’t understand why suddenly he cares. It hurts him to send Dean in to torture Alastair. It hurts him even later when in the beautiful room Dean dismisses him with a “What do you care, you’re already dead. We’re done.” 

It’s possible that in these first several months, or even these first couple seasons, that Castiel follows Dean around and does as he asks because he’s allotted Dean as the new being he serves. Because serving is what he knows. But it’s also through this that he begins caring more and more. He learns more how to express certain emotions, he learns more about humanity, he learns more about what is important in life and what is worth fighting for. As Cas will admit himself 12 years later, “Ever since we met, ever since I pulled you out of Hell... Knowing you has changed me. Because you cared, I cared. I cared about you. I cared about Sam. I cared about Jack... I cared about the whole world because of you.”

We start to see sprinkles of this especially throughout season 5 as Cas begins to come to terms with caring and adopting Dean’s mindset to care. Consider Sam for a moment. He and Cas don’t necessarily get along a lot and mostly just tolerate one another in these early days. However, as we see in “Abandon All Hope” when Castiel is captured by Lucifer, Cas gets visually upset at the concept of Lucifer taking Sam as his vessel. “You are not taking Sam Winchester. I won’t let you.” 

Sam and Cas don’t have much of a relationship at this point, but Cas cares because Dean does. In “The Song Remains the Same” not long later, he even refers to Sam as his friend.

By the time S6 rolls around Castiel is in the midst of a civil war in heaven entirely because he has adopted the Winchester’s all encompassing mindset on the importance of free-will. Castiel is making his own choices, and he does everything he can to protect the Winchesters from harm as he does so. He decides not to seek out Dean’s help while he’s raking leaves because Dean had already sacrificed too much in Castiel’s eyes. He raises Sam from perdition because he feels it the right thing to do. He re-sinks the Titanic to keep the boys from being killed by Fate. 

Personally, I think Castiel has been slowly falling in love with Dean this entire time, he’s just not aware what this feeling is. But this becomes even more plausible to me when we get Castiel’s perspective in “The Man Who Would Be King.” Cas cares what Bobby and Sam think of him, sure, but all he focuses on is Dean. Dean’s happiness and ensuring he not sacrifice more. Dean’s loyalty even as Cas seems to be guilty. Dean’s words when they capture Cas in holy fire. 

The problem is, their relationship this season is also rocky. Cas seems to think that he’s merely a tool at the Winchester’s disposal and not much else. But he doesn’t mind because he cares about them so much, so what do his feelings matter? He sees himself as their protector. Their guardian angel. A role he’s fine with filling regardless of how they feel in return. 

But when things get bad, Dean says to him “Next to Sam, you and Bobby are the closest things I have to family. You are like a brother to me. So if I’m asking you not to do something... You’ve gotta trust me, man.” and Cas seems genuinely surprised at this admission. Emotional, even. 

As time goes on, Castiel’s actions nearly primarily revolve around Dean

After Cas realizes his error and is sending the purgatory souls back to their place, he tells Dean repeatedly that he’ll find some way to redeem himself to him. That’s the most important thing to him then. 

When Cas smites the demons outside of the mental hospital in 7x17, all of his flashes of memories coming back were memories of Dean. 

Partially to aid Sam and partially to redeem himself to Dean, Cas takes on Sam’s Hell brain in the asylum and goes crazy.

Cas runs in purgatory to keep the leviathans away from Dean. 

Cas breaks out of Naomi’s mind control/brainwashing because of his feelings for Dean.

Let’s talk about that final bullet point for a moment. The Naomi chapter is damning in “Goodbye Stranger.” It isn’t copies of both Sam and Dean that Naomi trains Castiel to kill hundreds upon hundreds of times. No, it’s ONLY clones of Dean. 

“What broke the connection?” Dean will ask after Castiel heals him in the crypt and takes control back over his mind. “I don’t know.” Cas will say. It wasn’t the angel tablet. That may have unwound the last of Naomi’s control over him, yes, but he’d dropped that angel blade before that. It was Dean that broke that connection. Even if this remains unsaid, it doesn’t make it any less true. Maybe Castiel starts to have an understanding of what his feelings are and what they mean here, but he won’t be truly sure until he soon becomes human. 

Before we get there, though, we’ll take a brief pause to explore Cas’ heterosexual explorations and connections. 

First is Meg. Cas’ relationship with Meg is born of sexual exploration more than anything else at its conception. He’d just been watching porn in his downtime and when Meg kisses him, he goes with it enthusiastically. Later, he seems to have a certain infatuation with her in his “crazy” state, and seems to trust her perhaps simply because she had been watching over him in the institution. 

This is interesting because in his “crazy” state, Cas is a lot more raw and unfiltered and optimistic than he ever has been before. He compliments her, is concerned with her safety, and trusts her. On the contrary, with Dean, Cas is a lot more hesitant and even fearful when talking about certain subjects with him because of his past failings. He tries to keep the peace without directly getting involved because his direct involvement in the past had failed them all so spectacularly. 

He and Meg continue to have a sort of connection whenever they cross paths until her demise the next season, and he still holds a respect for her years later, continuing to use her nickname for him “Clarence” as an alias at various times. 

When Castiel becomes human in S9, he’s a bit lost and overwhelmed. April takes him in for the night. Although this is a short-lived romance considering she tortures and kills him the next day, for a brief enough time Cas starts to become acquainted with human romance and sexual desire. He loses his virginity to her. It is estimated by some that this is merely sexual experimentation on the part of a very confused newly human Cas, and others have used this to say that Cas is not gay but pan or bi. The conclusion in any regard, in my opinion, is purely up to the viewer. 

If I’m to offer my opinion, however, seeing as he has shown interest in both sexes, though remains unlabeled, I consider him simply an unlabeled queer person. Sexual identity and orientation has never seemed to matter much to Castiel, so I don’t see why it should matter to me. He loves who he loves, simple as that. 

When we get to Hannah, she provides an interesting foil to Castiel for a time, and an emphasizing expression on just how much he’s changed since his introduction to Earth and the Winchesters. Where Castiel has been open to a plethora of new emotions and experiences through the years which have made him a bit more human than angel at times, Hannah is still new to humanity and the range and movement of emotions that come with it. Just how little she seems to understand proves how much Castiel has grown and does understand by comparison. 

As such, he seems to pick up on the fact that Hannah has an attachment to him that appears to be forming into a romantic or sexual interest. He gently turns her down multiple times, not expressing interest in her behavior although he does respect her greatly as a person. Though this relationship isn’t considered romantic from Castiel’s perspective, its unrequited nature again is a good parallel to Dean and Crowley’s relationship at this same time. Angel x Angel and Demon x Demon. Both one sided.

Now, let’s get back to Dean. 

Up to the point that Castiel turns human, for however brief a time, he finally gets a look behind the curtain of human emotion. Now, we all know that Cas is in love with Dean already here- and probably has been for some time. Years, even- but it’s my personal belief that during this time turning human is when he actually realizes it and understands where these emotions come from.

Maybe it’s the heartbreak of Dean kicking him from the bunker, maybe it’s seeing Dean again when he shows up in line at the Gas n Sip, or maybe it’s somewhere in between when he sees two people on the street looking at each other and realizes “oh, that’s love. I know what that is. I felt that, too.” And every moment from then on he realizes what that feeling was in his chest when he looked at Dean for a little too long, or why it hurt so much to see the pain in Dean’s eyes at something Cas had done, or why hearing Dean’s prayers to him just felt different than they did with Sam’s. Why everything that he’d done since he rebelled from heaven was in the name of doing the right thing, muddled alongside doing the right thing for Dean. Caring because of Dean. Caring for Dean.

It’s during this time when he realizes what these feelings are, that he also must come to terms with the fact that they’re unreciprocated (or as he believes, anyway). This is for two reasons. The first, he still believes at this time that Dean kicked him from the bunker just because. And the second, if there’s anything that Cas took to heart from Dean’s example as strongly as the concept of free-will, it’s self-loathing. He doesn’t see himself worthy of love. Dean doesn’t see himself worthy of love either. They’re both messy piles of self-loathing that breeds into a blindness to the depth of care they hold for one another.   

Now that we’re on the topic of self-loathing, this leads into Castiel and his decision to become Lucifer’s vessel in season 11. Much like Dean, Cas has a consistent issue with seeing his own personal self-worth, so when the opportunity comes along to “be of service to the fight” and become Lucifer’s vessel, he takes it on easily. He considers himself expendable, and he won’t see just how much Dean struggles with this fact while he’s possessed. In fact, Cas never knows just how much Dean struggles with his absence at all, which is just one of the many divides between the two of them that could easily be resolved with communication, if either were ever good at that. 

Once Lucifer is shoved from Cas’ body, however, Dean makes a point to let Cas know just how important he is in his life. He’s said Cas was family before, but that was before the falling out at the end of season 6. Dean makes it clear that he and Sam both consider Cas family, once again, during a ride in Baby. “You’re our brother, Cas. I want you to know that.” 

Now, here, simultaneous heartbreak and love occur. Because while Cas is likely very much in love with Dean here, and very much aware of it, to hear that Dean simply thinks of him as a brother must ache a bit. However, we’re also talking about Dean Winchester, and for him to call someone a brother is an immense depth of love, probably the most the man is even capable of. Dean never says the words “I love you” to anyone, so this is about the closest anyone could get. Cas knows this, he’s well-versed in the ways of Dean Winchester by now. So, while it aches, his heart is also full. 

Comparable to:

“We need you, Cas. I need you.” 8x17

“We’re gonna shove your ass back through the eye of that needle if it kills all three of us.” 8x05

“Don’t make me lose you, too.” 7x23

“Don’t do anything stupid” 

The entire purgatory confession/apology prayer in 15x09

Cas returns this love just hours later, offering to go with Dean to die taking out Amara.

If we jump forward to the divorce arc of season 14-15, we can hit upon the next great heartbreak of Castiel’s sad little love life. While the Winchester brothers, Castiel, and Jack have all become a family unit, Castiel never wants to lose that. But two things happen. First, Cas’ deal with The Empty is made, and somewhere along the line, silently, he becomes aware that allowing himself to be happy, and that happiness, somehow involves Dean. The second thing that happens is Jack kills Mary Winchester, and Dean says Castiel is dead to him. 

So, The Empty won’t take him, but his family is broken apart. Castiel never gives up on a single family member, though. That’s the thing about Cas. The same way he consistently forgives Dean for all his behaviors over the years, he never loses faith in anyone in this family. And when they come to reunite, he’s happy simply in appreciating any and all time they have together, however brief.

Then, in true Castiel fashion, he sacrifices himself for Dean Winchester in 15x18. 

Their relationship has always left things unsaid, but I don’t think there’s ever been a question on whether Dean loves Cas or Cas loves Dean even if they don’t talk about it. You can’t look at Cas and Dean’s faces seeing each other again for the first time in weeks at the end of “The Last Call” and say that there wasn’t love and heartbreak there. On some level I think that Cas knew that Dean loved him back, but Dean was so buried in trauma at that point that it might take him years more to realize what he actually felt and what he needed. But Cas is such a selfless lover that he was absolutely 100% fine with just being around Dean for the rest of his life, even if he never got a chance to tell him how much he genuinely cared for him, and never got that reciprocation back. Castiel’s love for Dean is so pure and selfless it’s overwhelming to even consider, but for someone like Dean it would be a hundred times harder to accept or even fathom someone caring about him as much as Cas does. 

So Castiel never pushes Dean further, never suggests, barely even touches him. The only liberties Cas takes are small touches to heal him (even though he doesn’t need to touch a person to heal them), a few small hugs through the years, just sharing comfortable space inside the impala, small moments watching Dean’s favorite movies with him, or sharing a moment over beers in the kitchen. And Cas’ happiness was in telling Dean how much he loved him likely because then maybe Dean would actually see how much he was worth. Cas wanted Dean to know how much he loved him and how he viewed him, because Dean deserved to love himself and was worthy of it. 

The five types of love languages are as follows:

Words of affirmation

Physical touch

Gift giving

Acts of Service

Quality Time

One of the reasons Dean and Cas miss the mark with one another so often could simply come down to love languages. A lot of the time, what a person needs in love language is often what they also give. I don’t think this is the case where these two are concerned, though. They’re both so sacrificial that it’s difficult for them to accept this in return, even though this is what they each offer to the other and anyone else around them. 

Both Cas and Dean’s giving love language is “acts of service” which translates into sacrificial actions much of the time, though it can also be more domestic than that as well. It’s Dean grabbing an extra beer for Cas or making food, or it’s Cas healing Dean without any prompting, Cas loading up on pie and beer at the Gas n Sip when Dean’s mad at him. 

What they each need, however, is different. Dean needs “quality time.” He needs his people close, he needs them to answer calls, and he needs to know where they are. This clearly ties in to his abandonment issues, and it hurts his relationship with Cas significantly when the angel just keeps leaving, or disappears without answering his phone for days at a time. And when he dies, obviously. He always comes back, though. And half the time when he’s gone it’s because he’s trying to get a win for Dean against whatever issue the team is facing at the time. 

What Cas needs, best I can tell, is “words of affirmation.” Cas has a consistent problem with thinking that he’s worth less than he is, and is less important to the people around him than he is. Dean obviously has this issue, too, but with Cas it’s somehow infinitely worse, if that’s even possible. Frequently, what he needs to get him going in low points is a few words from Dean or encouragement in general. To name a few:

“Maybe to fix it.” 7x17

“I’d rather have you, cursed or not.” 7x23, Cas then goes with Dean to find and kill Dick Roman

“I’m not leaving here without you.” S8 in purgatory when Cas wanted Dean to leave him behind but Dean was having none of it.

“You’re our brother, Cas.” 11x23, after Cas was possessed by Lucifer and thought he was expendable. 

Over time, Dean does get a bit more vocal with Cas about issues he’s having or just with encouraging words as well. Cas, too, sticks around a lot more. They’re not perfect but they do begin to grow and work with one another in these later years to give one another what they need most to see how much the other is loved. 

In conclusion, there is a significant amount of romance and sexuality written into this show, and simply interpreted as well. And that’s the thing, when a queer person says that they interpreted a certain piece of media as queer, it’s not up to someone else to say that they can’t, or shouldn’t, or that they’re interpreting something wrong. That’s the thing about media, it can have so many different interpretations and meanings to so many different people. 

It’s my personal interpretation to see the queerness embedded in the text here. Maybe it’s not there for another person, and that’s cool too, just don’t tell me how I should see it. The fact is that it was written into the show to be interpreted, and interpret is what we did. 

I’d love to hear any feedback that others may have regarding this. Any other theories, different interpretations, things I may have missed. I hope you enjoy the edits, and the endings I put together for them. We all need a little bit of happiness after that ending, so I hope it leaves you with a lighter heart. :)

Much love,

Taylor

#Destiel #deancas #deanwinchester #Castiel #gay angel #bisexuality #gay #lgbtq #supernatural #spn #Destiel mastercut #bi dean #bidean #bidean mastercut #bisexual dean Winchester #gay Castiel #pansexual Castiel #sexuality in supernatural #romance in supernatural #I swear I’m not crazy with these lengthy edits #working on this project is helping me keep busy while tending to my sobriety #took a darn long time but it was therapeutic to edit #it’s true this project is partially born of spite tho #I thought of it after samanthas tweets the day after the wedding and started downloading the episodes that same day #benny lafitte #lisa braeden #spn tiktok #summerania #can you tell that season 11 is my favorite season #destiel wedding

[i-know-my-value-darling]

Supernatural stars reflect on the show's undying legacy

Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles, and Misha Collins discuss 15 years of fantasy, family, and flannel. 

"We only get one shot at this." Sam and Dean Winchester are surrounded. The monster-hunting brothers are standing on the edge of a cliff. They look to Castiel, their brother in arms — or is it wings? — but even he can’t help. One move in the wrong direction could ruin everything. After years of fighting demons, going toe-to- toe with Satan himself, and saving the world multiple times, they once again find themselves in a position of having to perform under pressure. But this situation is unlike anything they’ve ever dealt with before. All eyes are on them as they have one shot…at getting the perfect picture.

It’s a dry, hot August day in Malibu — when people were still allowed to gather outside — as Supernatural stars Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki, and Misha Collins prepare for the last setup of their final Entertainment Weekly cover shoot. With a bottle of champagne in each of their hands, Ackles once again reminds them they get “one shot” to do this right. But if their characters can shoulder the weight of the world, surely these three can handle a photo. Read the whole story below

The champagne soaking is meant to be a celebration of 15 years, of making television history. Supernatural, the story of two brothers destined to save the world, is the longest-running genre show in the history of American broadcast television. (So old, the first three seasons shot on this thing called film.) What started as an underdog story, living its first few years on the verge of cancellation, has become an institution, a milestone to which other shows aspire. Supernatural not only survived the move from The WB to The CW after its first season — it’s now the final WB show left standing — but became the backbone of the now highly successful CW network. Over the years, the sci-fi series has aired on every weeknight, helping to launch shows including Arrow and The Vampire Diaries. The network moved it one final time, most recently, to Mondays, to help Roswell, New Mexico expand its audience. “Supernatural is a major link to many of the shows that we have successfully built to market,” The CW’s chairman and CEO Mark Pedowitz says. “Almost every one of our shows has had it as a lead-out or a lead-in.”

And to think, it all started as a promise to bring horror to television. After Supernatural creator Eric Kripke had finished working with Warner Bros. on 2003’s Tarzan series, he pitched the idea of a reporter who travels around hunting urban legends. As he puts it, it was a Kolchak: The Night Stalker rip-off. But when he realized the story would benefit from having brothers at its core, he started writing. “At the time, The Ring and The Grudge were huge hits in theaters,” Kripke remembers. “We said, ‘We’re going to take that experience and we’re going to put it on TV,’ and the initial goal was to be scary.” After Warner Bros. passed on his first, what he calls “uptight,” draft, Kripke had to reassess the kind of show he was creating. “I canceled all my Christmas plans and wrote that second draft in three weeks,” he says. “That was when the show got its sense of humor, because I was locked alone, over winter break, in my office. I couldn’t do anything fun, so I started entertaining myself.”

The show was still scary, but it was also funny and, over the years, would continue to evolve. Sure, you could say it’s a little bit X-Files — in its early days, the show often used the line “The X-Files meets Route 66” — and there were definite Star Wars influences (Sam and Dean were originally based on Luke Skywalker and Han Solo). But no combination of pop culture is going to perfectly describe Supernatural because the show has managed to do something remarkably rare in the age of peak TV, where audiences are so overwhelmed with content that an original idea seems foreign: It’s created a truly one-of- a-kind experience.

For starters, it’s a show about two flannel-wearing, beer-loving, blue-collar dudes from Kansas who for a good chunk of their lives traveled from cheap motel to cheap motel, paying for gas and greasy diner food with a mix of fake credit cards and money they earned scamming people at the pool table. “Almost all television is about rich people or, at the very least, middle-class people,” co-showrunner Andrew Dabb says. “The fact that we’ve been able to take this Midwestern blue-collar approach to this genre feels like we’re breaking the mold.”

But the mold-breaking didn’t stop there. Supernatural might’ve started out as a horror show with some snarky one-liners, but it evolved into some of the boldest, most experimental (and certainly strangest) stories on the small screen. “We’re a show of big swings,” co-showrunner Robert Singer says. “I used to say, with every idea, ‘This will be a home run or they’ll cancel us,’ but every year we wanted to do something really nuts." And when he says nuts, we’re not just talking about the episode with the talking teddy bear or the murderer targeting imaginary friends. Those are just some standard monsters of the week. We’re talking about the black-and-white episode shot like a classic Hollywood monster movie, or the episode that introduced Chuck (Rob Benedict), a prophet — who’d later reveal himself to be God — who was famous for writing a book series called Supernatural. That, of course, led to Sam and Dean attending a Supernatural fan convention as the show continued to redefine what it meant to inject a series with meta humor. And the swings never stopped. Season 13 featured a Scooby-Doo crossover as an animated Sam, Dean, and Castiel solved a case alongside the Mystery Inc. gang. And in season 14, after giving God a sister a few years prior, the show made the Big Man Himself its final villain. “I don’t think any idea, barring some production concerns, has been viewed as too crazy,” Dabb says. “Because we know that our fans are smart and that they’ll follow these guys anywhere.”

So long as each episode features Sam and Dean — and the occasional heartfelt talk on the hood of the Impala — the show can do just about anything, which is another reason Kripke had to rewrite his first draft of the pilot. Originally, Dean was the only brother who knew about monsters growing up, bringing Sam up to speed later in life. It wasn’t until Kripke figured out that they needed to be in this together that the series snapped into place. Because at the end of it all, they’re two brothers bonded by the loss of their mother and a life spent on the road with an absentee father. (It just so happens that their mother was killed by a demon and their father hunted them.) The familial dynamic — the irrational codependency, as the angel Zachariah (Kurt Fuller) once called it — is the most important part of the show. “The first inkling I had that we had something special was shooting the pilot,” Kripke says. “It was the scene on the bridge when Sam and Dean talk about their mother. It was the first time that you really saw their chemistry and their connection as brothers on full display. Because I’ve always said this show begins and ends with whether you believe that sibling relationship.” But Sam and Dean weren’t just the center of the show. For many years, they were the show.

Supernatural has never been an ensemble drama. For the first 82 hours of the series, Ackles and Padalecki were the only long-running series regulars — Katie Cassidy and Lauren Cohan briefly joined for season 3, appearing in 12 episodes combined. But Sam and Dean weren’t just in every episode; they anchored every episode. (They skipped table reads because there would’ve been only two actors there.) “I had many moments of not only questioning, ‘Can I keep this up?’ but an answer of ‘I cannot keep this up,’ ” Padalecki, 37, who’s been vocal about his struggle in the early seasons, says. “I borrowed strength from Jensen.” But even Ackles, 42, admits it was a tough job. “The 23-episode seasons were nine and a half months of filming,” he adds. “It was a lot of work, but I always came back to: I still enjoy it, I still like telling the story, I still like these characters and the people I work with.”

Not only did the guys stick around, they built a reputation of having created one of the warmest sets in the business, with a number of crew members staying with the production all 15 seasons. It all dates back to a talk Kripke had with his stars during the filming of the series’ second episode. “I said, ‘The show is about your two characters, and with that comes this responsibility,’ ” Kripke says. Padalecki remembers the exact setting of what he calls their “Good Will Hunting moment,” a bench in Stanley Park in Vancouver, where they film. It was a chat both actors took to heart. “We’d both been on other sets,” Ackles says. “We knew we wanted to enjoy it, to have fun with our crew; we wanted them to like us and us to like them and to have fun doing what we do.” It’s an attitude Pedowitz hopes bleeds into other CW shows, an attitude that launched an annual tradition where the CW chairman/CEO takes his new casts out to dinner with the Supernatural guys, a chance for the vets to share advice. “It’s always the most flattering situation,” Padalecki says, recalling a moment he had a few years back with the late Luke Perry, who was a part of the Riverdale cast. “Luke was sitting next to me and he was like, ‘What y’all have done and what we hear about you guys, it’s really cool to be associated with y’all in some way, shape, or form,’” he recalls. “And I’m sitting there pinching myself.”

It’s a behind-the-scenes legacy that’s perhaps just as impressive, if not more so, than the onscreen legacy. Collins, 45, who started as a guest star and the show’s first angel in season 4, has become the show’s third-longest-running series regular, and he still remembers walking onto set his first day. “When you’re coming onto a show as a guest star, it can be a little bit nerve-racking,” Collins says. “Coming to this set, it was an immediately different vibe. Think- ing about working on other shows in the future, that’s something that I aspire to bring with me.”

A similar reputation extends to the fans as well. Not only is the #SPNFamily one of the most dedicated fandoms out there, it’s also known to be a pretty nice one. (Not many fandoms can say they’ve helped launch a crisis support network for their fellow fans.) But their dedication isn’t just about seeing what crazy twist God throws at Team Free Will next. Thanks to fan conventions and social media, the viewers are just as invested in the lives of the actors. Supernatural’s not just about the words on the page, it’s about the actors saying them. “When you’re dealing with the public taste, there’s an alchemy of great writing, a great idea, and the close-up that’s required,” Peter Roth, chairman of Warner Bros. Television Group, says. “You need stars who you want in your living room.” And you need stars who want to be in your living room, and who, even after 15 years, care so deeply that they get emotional while taking photos in Malibu.

"It's going to be a long eight months," Ackles declares. Standing on that same ledge, an hour before the champagne shot, Ackles, Padalecki, and Collins walk away from a group hug after unexpectedly starting to tear up. It might be the setting — looking out over the ocean — or the occasion: their last-ever photo shoot. Or maybe it’s the fact that they’re almost a month into filming their final season.

It had been a question posed to the stars for years: How long will this show continue? How long can it continue? “Even my mom and dad were like, ‘When are you going to be done with this?’” Ackles says with a laugh. It was a decision the network and studio had ultimately put into the actors’ hands, and it was a conversation they’d been having for a while. Back in 2016, Padalecki told EW, “If we don’t make it to [episode] 300, I think Ackles and I will both be truly bummed.” But in season 14, they hit 300…and then kept going. While filming episode 307, they announced the upcoming 15th season would be the end, which will bring them to a total of 327 episodes when all is said and done. “[Jared] and I were always married to the fact that we never wanted to go out with a diet version of what we had,” Ackles says. “We wanted to have enough gas left in the tank to get us racing across the finish line. We didn’t want to limp across.” Padalecki remembers the moment it hit him — not the decision to end it, but rather the opposite. “We had that moment where he and I both realized that we didn’t want it to end,” he says. “It finally got to a point, ironically, where it was like, ‘I never want to leave this. I could do this until the day I die, and then if I get the choice when I’m dead, I’ll re-up!’ But you never want to be the last person at a party. We just knew. That’s not to say there haven’t been vacillations, but we all trust the decision that was made.”

Starting in July 2019, the cast and crew returned to Vancouver to begin filming the final season, but in March 2020, with two episodes left to go, they were sent home. For years, fans had wondered what, if anything, could stop the Winchesters, and now it seems we have the answer: a global pandemic. As sets closed amid social-distancing measures due to the spread of COVID-19, it didn’t take long for fans to start connecting the dots, sharing relevant GIFs from episodes that featured viruses, most notably Chuck telling Dean to hoard toilet paper “like it’s made of gold” before the end of the world in season 5’s “The End.” (Did we mention that Supernatural is also kind of psychic? In a season 6 episode, Dean calls Sam “Walker, Texas Ranger,” which just so happens to be the role Padalecki has lined up after this ends.)

When production paused, it all felt a little like we were living in an episode of the show, just waiting for Sam and Dean to drive up in Baby, open those creaky doors, and save us. They might not be able to do quite that, but the thing with the Winchesters is that they never stay down for long. When Supernatural is able to safely resume production, it will. And though there are only two episodes left to film, fans will enjoy a total of seven unseen hours, including the return of Charlie (Felicia Day) and a mystery woman who visits the bunker and, for some reason, gives Sam and Dean all the holidays they never got to celebrate. “She makes Christmas for them and Thanksgiving, birthday parties, and all that. It’s a very good episode,” Singer says, adding, “I don’t know when it’s going to air.”

That’s the thing—no one knows, not even the guys who took out Yellow Eyes, stopped Leviathans, defeated Death himself, and are supposedly destined to be the messengers of God’s destruction. But Sam and Dean do know the value of a good plan B. “Obviously it’s a horribly unfortunate situation we’re in, but the silver lining is that it gives us an opportunity to recharge,” Ackles says. “We had just finished episode 18, we shot one day of episode 19, and I was reading these two monster scripts thinking, ‘It’s like we’re at the end of a marathon and they want us to sprint for the last two miles.’ I feel like this almost gives us an opportunity to refocus and go into the last two episodes and hit them with everything we got.” Because when they do return to set, shave their quarantine beards, and step back into Sam and Dean’s shoes for the last time, they’ll have one shot at ending this thing…and they’re determined not to miss. 

Photos: Peggy Sirota for EW 

https://ew.com/tv/supernatural-stars-cover-ew-to-reflect-on-the-shows-undying-legacy/

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