Recap: Jared Padalecki at Grand Slam
Home safe and sound from a busy, busy day. Brunch with the WeHo ladies, then a little shopping, then without_me and I took off for the Grand Slam Sci Fi Convention for Jared Padalecki's appearance there. I must say, after meeting Jared and watching him handle fans solo, I'm even more impressed. He's well-spoken, friendly as a Saint Bernard, charming as the Devil and pretty much adorable. His momma certainly raised him right.
I've never been to a fan convention, so this was new territory. I thought it would be more crowded, and that there would be more people in costume than there actually were, (maybe there weren't as many since the convention covered so many different fandoms) but it was great people-watching. I felt like we stuck out like sore thumbs, being dressed for the ballet we attended later in the evening and because we had no clue what the protocol is for a convention, but people were really nice.
After taking a lap around the convention to see the sights, we lined up to take a picture with Jared. There were maybe 30-40 people in line, tops. It was not crowded at all, so the whole process was quite relaxed. There was a young girl in line behind us (who we ended up letting go ahead of us because we wanted to see her meet Jared) who had been having a bang-up day, as she'd taken a picture with Evangeline Lilly of "Lost" already. She was so cute because she was nervous she was going to hyperventilate or not be able to breathe when she met Jared. What was amusing was she has only seen one episode of "Supernatural," and she's not a fan of the show -- she just thinks he's really cute. From the mouths of tweens...
As we waited (for the grand total of 20 minutes or so), we saw Jared walked by with his girlfriend (she's tiny!) to go into the picture area; he wore a brown pullover shirt with a t-shirt under it, and dark jeans with a hole in the knee.
There were some great t-shirts in line. One woman was wearing a shirt she made that said words to the effect, "My boyfriend went demon hunting and all I got was this lousy t-shirt." She also had another t-shirt to give to Jared that said, "I'm the boyfriend!" She was hoping Jared would wear it in her picture. I bet he did, as one of the first people in line gave him a t-shirt and he laughed his ass off at it. The shirt said "Hotter than Bill Murray." Jared held it up or put it on, I can't remember, for that fan's picture.
When the little girl ahead of us met Jared, he introduced himself saying, "I'm -- Jared." He then said he'd almost introduced himself as Sam, and he apologized to all of us laughing nearby, saying he'd been working until 3:00 a.m. this morning. I do NOT envy them those work hours.
When without_me approached Jared, she introduced herself and he replied, "I'm Jared," to which A, ever the subtle smart-ass, countered, "yes, I'd heard that." Jared returned the volley by jokingly asking her, "who told you?" A gave Jared an hysterical "Supernatural" BINGO card she made a while back. Jared took time to read a good part of it, laughing and saying how great it was. He also said he'd show it to Jensen when he got back. A probably shocked Jared by telling him she didn't want to BE in a picture with him, as she hates taking pictures herself, but she asked him to hold his hand up for the picture since some of the ladies we know find his hands very sexy. Jared was a great sport and did it, holding his hand up by his face, palm out, fingers spread, and he was grinning real big. I'm thinking, he's not so much a shrinking violet when it comes to attention -- and a good thing, given his line of work.
Next up was me. I walked up to Jared and tried to do the polite thing by introducing myself and shaking his hand. Of course, at the same time, he said "hey, sweetie, I'm Jared" and reached to put his arm around me for the picture -- until he saw me reach to shake his hand, at which time he tried to pull his other hand around to shake hands, while I was pulling my hand back and trying to place my arm behind him. We finally shook hands, got arms around one another and took a picture but it wasn't my most graceful moment! After the picture I thanked him for doing this appearance and for flying in for the Paley festival. He asked if I'd gone (I had), and he said excitedly "wasn't that fun?" They hadn't expected it to be anything like what it was.
Then my 15 seconds were over and off I went.
Afterward, we waited a bit to see if Jared would chit chat with people after the pictures (he didn't). One man, a Star Trek fan by the merchandise he carried, asked us who was taking pictures. We answered him; he knew of "Supernatural" and asked if Jared was the blonde. A said, "nope, he's that guy" as Jared walked out. Star Trek Man said, "man, that guy's tall!" Bless Jared's heart, he had to duck not to hit his head on part of a low-hanging ceiling on his way out of the picture area, which is what Star Trek Man saw.
I give all of those panelists props for courage under fire. They have to fill 20-30 minutes with commentary, which can be difficult, particularly with no moderator to ask questions. For the "Supernatural" panel, it was just Jared sitting in a director's chair on stage. Jared was ideal for this kind of gig, though -- he'd get asked a question and cover about 10 different topics between starting his answer and getting around to finishing it.
Jared started by thanking everyone for showing up. He also commented that he'd just flown in on a 7 a.m. flight after working until 3, so he'd only gotten an hour of sleep before the flight. He also flew coach(!) and he said he'd been kinda cramped since he's around 6 foot 4 inches tall. That has to suck for a guy that tall. I guess he didn't get any sleep on the flight, since there was a lady with a two-year-old toddler seated next to him. Apparently the baby was not thrilled with the flight, to the point that Jared said everyone around them was looking at the mother as if to say, "seriously, come on," while the mom was saying things like "do you want your car seat" to the toddler, to little avail.
The fans were allowed to ask questions. A asked Jared if they or the writers had considered doing an episode where Dean and Sam switch bodies -- which would be great for comedy. Jared remembered her from the pictures and thanked her again for the BINGO game before answering. Jared said immediately "that'd be funny" and he seemed to like the comic aspects of body-swapping idea. He said he'd run it by the writers, though he did not know if they'd go for it because they'd done the shapeshifter episode already, and because that sounded like it could be so comedic. I asked Jared what would he like to happen to his character in the future (aside from killing the demon that killed mom and Jess) -- like develop additional powers, or see Sam go on a date? Jared joked that yes, he wants to see Sam date lots and lots of women, and that he really wanted Sam and Dean to go look for demons in Hawaii, on Maui, or in the south of France. Getting serious, Jared said he hadn't really thought of anything further, given how much the focus of his character is on finding Jess's killer.
One fan asked where Jensen was and if Jared could get him here. Jared replied that Jensen was back in Vancouver with his girlfriend, probably sleeping. Jared said something like wild horses couldn't drag Jensen out of bed, and neither could Jared. (I'll leave that comment alone, lol.) Another fan asked if Jared and Jensen get along well off camera, given how good their chemistry is on camera. Jared said he and Jensen really hit it off immediately when they met. Plus, they hang out a lot in Vancouver, since there're not really many other people working their hours to hang with. He said they'll hang out and do things like get dinner, play X-Box in their trailers, or get together with their girlfriends, etc.
One fan asked about Jared's favorite scenes. Jared said that there's a difference in scenes he likes for the entertainment value, or scenes he likes because of the filming aspects. He said he likes to watch Jensen's scenes, and as far as filming scenes, he'd really enjoyed the fight scene they filmed during "Skin," I think (the shapeshifter ep). He said they'd trained with a martial arts fighter and the process took about two weeks. Jard said he's not wild about doing scenes where he has to speak on the phone, since instead of the actor with whom he's supposed to be speaking, it'll just be the Assistant Director reading lines to him. Jared also said he really liked the episode "Faith," for "getting to watch Dean die."
On fan asked him to talk about the differences in directing style between David Nutter and Kim Manners. Jared replied that it was a great question, and that he'd talk about how they are both similar. He said both a very passionate about the work, and that both are actors' directors. Jared said he'd been shooting with Kim just before he left to fly here and they didn't even have the script, so Kim was really walking him through what he needed Jared to deliver.
One fan said "I have a question about the power Sam is developing," to which Jared quipped "I have some questions about the powers I developed." He thinks Eric Kripke is going to keep developing and exploring the mythology of the show. Jared compared it to the development of Luke Skywalker's discovery of his powers in the "Star Wars" movies or Neo's powers in the "Matrix" movies.
Re: getting renewed, Jared said they likely won't hear a solid answer until mid-May. He said he'll probably get a phone call then telling him "hey, you're going back to work in Vancouver" or that "you're not going back to Vancouver, go get a job."
When there was a lull in the audience questions, Jared started story-telling. During this story, the Texas drawl started to emerge more and more -- it was pretty enchanting. Jared said that when he and Jensen got the script for the "Bugs" episode, they were finishing filming for "Skin," and they were all pretty beat up from that. Jared said he and Jensen really wanted an episode where they could just sit in the Impala, make a phone call, and kill the demon. When they read through the "Bugs" script and saw the references to fighting off all these insects, they thought "wow, that'll be a lot of special effects." Cut to later, when they are called outside by a PA to "come and meet the bee trainer, they need to introduce you to the bees." Jared and Jensen were shocked but went outside to meet the bees. The bee trainer told them the bees were drones, and thus would not attack unless provoked. The trainer said the actors could wave their arms and make non-aggressive movements. Jared said he was thinking that he's supposed to be fighting off attacking bees in that scene, he's gonna be swatting, so yeah, they're gonna get stung. Ironically, as the trainer tried to show them how the bees could be handled, the trainer waved a bee off his neck, and that bee came straight back and stung him in the face. Jared said on set, Jensen got stung first because a bee landed on Jensen's finger that was pressing the button to spray the aerosol can. Jared said he laughed when Jensen got stung and jinxed himself -- Jared sat down, felt a sting, and said the first I-can't-believe-he-said-that-line-of-the-story: "oh crap, there's a bee in my ass." (*cut for audience hootin' and hollerin'*) Jared said they took him to a tent where a guy told him to drop his pants so he could check and see if the stinger was still in Jared's ass. This scenario prompted the next I-can't-believe-he-said-that quote of this story: "I'm not comfortable pulling down my pants in front of a man I've never met before." (which begs the question of whether he's comfortable dropping trou for men he knows, but we refrained from asking.) (ETA: Jared said that they'd gather the bees after each take by using a vaccum-type machine to slurp the bees back into their container. The bee trainer apparently said they should do that as little as possible, since the vaccuming process made the bees angry. Jared thought, "oh great," since they'd have to do the master shot, then different angles, then close-ups, which pretty much guaranteed the bees were gonna be pissed.) Jared added that the bee scene "probably was not my most favorite scene to film."
Next, a fan asked Jared about the possibility of him reprising the role of Dean on "Gilmore Girls." Jared said he loved working on GG. He said, "I grew up there, it's where I learned the business." He said GG creator Amy Sherman-Palladino was almost in tears when she saw him at an event after he got "Supernatural," because she was so proud of him. Jared doubted he could work out any guest appearances, though he'd like to, based on the fact that GG films in L.A. and "Supernatural" films in Vancouver. He said he'd love to put those clothes on again and just wander through the background of the town as they filmed, though.
Re: practical jokes, Jared said that at the beginning of the season, Jensen had a girlfriend who was a "supermodel" (which made me want to ask okay, how many girlfriends has Jensen had this season?) and who had filmed a commercial for Tag body spray. As a joke, Jared said he got several cans of Tag and sprayed Jensen's clothes and trailer with it. He said Jensen was pissed but hasn't gotten him back yet.
One fan asked about how Jared got the role. He said he doesn't have a great answer. Jared did say that the producers had had everyone who auditioned read for the part of Sam, just to get a feel for who they liked. He also said he and Jensen were the only people who tested for the network, and they thought that was probably a good sign.
Another fan asked whether there's much interaction amongst the shows filming in Vancouver. Jared said because everyone is working so much, there really isn't. He and Jensen did visit the "Smallville" set earlier in the season. Also, while they were filming the "Asylum" episode, the "Smallville" cast and crew were filming nearby. So Jared and Jensen had Tom Welling come to set and hide by laying down in the back of the Impala for one take, in which the brothers were supposed to be driving up to a bar and getting out of the car. Then, as cameras rolled, three people got out of the car instead of two. They heard someone in the crew say "what the fu--?" and Jared said the crew almost sicced security on Tom before they realized who he was.
In response to a fan question, Jared said he loved "Star Trek" and "The Twilight Zone" as a kid. He said that doing this show has taken the fun out of watching this genre of show now, because he knows how everything's done. He said he'd never want to be on set on a James Bond film because he loves those movies, it's where he can escape for two hours, and to know how it all works would take the fun out of it.
One fan complimented "The Benders" episode. Jared joked that "shouldn't the show have been called 'Natural?'" instead of "Supernatural" for that episode, since the killers weren't supernatural? Jared noted that one of the brothers in that episode was named Jared Bender. He said he wondered if that was Eric Kripke's way of telling Jared that he thought Jared was a big hick.
When asked, Jared said he'd love to work with actress Anna Farris because he thinks she's hysterical. He also said he'd like to work with his girlfriend, but that she probably doesn't want to work with him because she'd get sick of him.
At the end of the panel, Jared turned to the screen behind him and saw how he looked on it. He said something about how it was weird to see yourself so big. He joked that you can really check out how you look from the back, and then he cocked his hip like he was checking his own ass out - it got a good laugh. Indeed, the camera operator zoomed in on his ass for the next few moments. Then, Jared signed a banner for the convention and waltzed backstage.
We did not stay for autographs with Jared, as we had dinner reservations and a date with a bunch of male swans (i.e.,Matthew Bourne's amazing interpretation of "Swan Lake"), but it was a great event with Mr. Padalecki.
I've never been to a fan convention, so this was new territory. I thought it would be more crowded, and that there would be more people in costume than there actually were, (maybe there weren't as many since the convention covered so many different fandoms) but it was great people-watching. I felt like we stuck out like sore thumbs, being dressed for the ballet we attended later in the evening and because we had no clue what the protocol is for a convention, but people were really nice.
After taking a lap around the convention to see the sights, we lined up to take a picture with Jared. There were maybe 30-40 people in line, tops. It was not crowded at all, so the whole process was quite relaxed. There was a young girl in line behind us (who we ended up letting go ahead of us because we wanted to see her meet Jared) who had been having a bang-up day, as she'd taken a picture with Evangeline Lilly of "Lost" already. She was so cute because she was nervous she was going to hyperventilate or not be able to breathe when she met Jared. What was amusing was she has only seen one episode of "Supernatural," and she's not a fan of the show -- she just thinks he's really cute. From the mouths of tweens...
As we waited (for the grand total of 20 minutes or so), we saw Jared walked by with his girlfriend (she's tiny!) to go into the picture area; he wore a brown pullover shirt with a t-shirt under it, and dark jeans with a hole in the knee.
There were some great t-shirts in line. One woman was wearing a shirt she made that said words to the effect, "My boyfriend went demon hunting and all I got was this lousy t-shirt." She also had another t-shirt to give to Jared that said, "I'm the boyfriend!" She was hoping Jared would wear it in her picture. I bet he did, as one of the first people in line gave him a t-shirt and he laughed his ass off at it. The shirt said "Hotter than Bill Murray." Jared held it up or put it on, I can't remember, for that fan's picture.
When the little girl ahead of us met Jared, he introduced himself saying, "I'm -- Jared." He then said he'd almost introduced himself as Sam, and he apologized to all of us laughing nearby, saying he'd been working until 3:00 a.m. this morning. I do NOT envy them those work hours.
When without_me approached Jared, she introduced herself and he replied, "I'm Jared," to which A, ever the subtle smart-ass, countered, "yes, I'd heard that." Jared returned the volley by jokingly asking her, "who told you?" A gave Jared an hysterical "Supernatural" BINGO card she made a while back. Jared took time to read a good part of it, laughing and saying how great it was. He also said he'd show it to Jensen when he got back. A probably shocked Jared by telling him she didn't want to BE in a picture with him, as she hates taking pictures herself, but she asked him to hold his hand up for the picture since some of the ladies we know find his hands very sexy. Jared was a great sport and did it, holding his hand up by his face, palm out, fingers spread, and he was grinning real big. I'm thinking, he's not so much a shrinking violet when it comes to attention -- and a good thing, given his line of work.
Next up was me. I walked up to Jared and tried to do the polite thing by introducing myself and shaking his hand. Of course, at the same time, he said "hey, sweetie, I'm Jared" and reached to put his arm around me for the picture -- until he saw me reach to shake his hand, at which time he tried to pull his other hand around to shake hands, while I was pulling my hand back and trying to place my arm behind him. We finally shook hands, got arms around one another and took a picture but it wasn't my most graceful moment! After the picture I thanked him for doing this appearance and for flying in for the Paley festival. He asked if I'd gone (I had), and he said excitedly "wasn't that fun?" They hadn't expected it to be anything like what it was.
Then my 15 seconds were over and off I went.
Afterward, we waited a bit to see if Jared would chit chat with people after the pictures (he didn't). One man, a Star Trek fan by the merchandise he carried, asked us who was taking pictures. We answered him; he knew of "Supernatural" and asked if Jared was the blonde. A said, "nope, he's that guy" as Jared walked out. Star Trek Man said, "man, that guy's tall!" Bless Jared's heart, he had to duck not to hit his head on part of a low-hanging ceiling on his way out of the picture area, which is what Star Trek Man saw.
I give all of those panelists props for courage under fire. They have to fill 20-30 minutes with commentary, which can be difficult, particularly with no moderator to ask questions. For the "Supernatural" panel, it was just Jared sitting in a director's chair on stage. Jared was ideal for this kind of gig, though -- he'd get asked a question and cover about 10 different topics between starting his answer and getting around to finishing it.
Jared started by thanking everyone for showing up. He also commented that he'd just flown in on a 7 a.m. flight after working until 3, so he'd only gotten an hour of sleep before the flight. He also flew coach(!) and he said he'd been kinda cramped since he's around 6 foot 4 inches tall. That has to suck for a guy that tall. I guess he didn't get any sleep on the flight, since there was a lady with a two-year-old toddler seated next to him. Apparently the baby was not thrilled with the flight, to the point that Jared said everyone around them was looking at the mother as if to say, "seriously, come on," while the mom was saying things like "do you want your car seat" to the toddler, to little avail.
The fans were allowed to ask questions. A asked Jared if they or the writers had considered doing an episode where Dean and Sam switch bodies -- which would be great for comedy. Jared remembered her from the pictures and thanked her again for the BINGO game before answering. Jared said immediately "that'd be funny" and he seemed to like the comic aspects of body-swapping idea. He said he'd run it by the writers, though he did not know if they'd go for it because they'd done the shapeshifter episode already, and because that sounded like it could be so comedic. I asked Jared what would he like to happen to his character in the future (aside from killing the demon that killed mom and Jess) -- like develop additional powers, or see Sam go on a date? Jared joked that yes, he wants to see Sam date lots and lots of women, and that he really wanted Sam and Dean to go look for demons in Hawaii, on Maui, or in the south of France. Getting serious, Jared said he hadn't really thought of anything further, given how much the focus of his character is on finding Jess's killer.
One fan asked where Jensen was and if Jared could get him here. Jared replied that Jensen was back in Vancouver with his girlfriend, probably sleeping. Jared said something like wild horses couldn't drag Jensen out of bed, and neither could Jared. (I'll leave that comment alone, lol.) Another fan asked if Jared and Jensen get along well off camera, given how good their chemistry is on camera. Jared said he and Jensen really hit it off immediately when they met. Plus, they hang out a lot in Vancouver, since there're not really many other people working their hours to hang with. He said they'll hang out and do things like get dinner, play X-Box in their trailers, or get together with their girlfriends, etc.
One fan asked about Jared's favorite scenes. Jared said that there's a difference in scenes he likes for the entertainment value, or scenes he likes because of the filming aspects. He said he likes to watch Jensen's scenes, and as far as filming scenes, he'd really enjoyed the fight scene they filmed during "Skin," I think (the shapeshifter ep). He said they'd trained with a martial arts fighter and the process took about two weeks. Jard said he's not wild about doing scenes where he has to speak on the phone, since instead of the actor with whom he's supposed to be speaking, it'll just be the Assistant Director reading lines to him. Jared also said he really liked the episode "Faith," for "getting to watch Dean die."
On fan asked him to talk about the differences in directing style between David Nutter and Kim Manners. Jared replied that it was a great question, and that he'd talk about how they are both similar. He said both a very passionate about the work, and that both are actors' directors. Jared said he'd been shooting with Kim just before he left to fly here and they didn't even have the script, so Kim was really walking him through what he needed Jared to deliver.
One fan said "I have a question about the power Sam is developing," to which Jared quipped "I have some questions about the powers I developed." He thinks Eric Kripke is going to keep developing and exploring the mythology of the show. Jared compared it to the development of Luke Skywalker's discovery of his powers in the "Star Wars" movies or Neo's powers in the "Matrix" movies.
Re: getting renewed, Jared said they likely won't hear a solid answer until mid-May. He said he'll probably get a phone call then telling him "hey, you're going back to work in Vancouver" or that "you're not going back to Vancouver, go get a job."
When there was a lull in the audience questions, Jared started story-telling. During this story, the Texas drawl started to emerge more and more -- it was pretty enchanting. Jared said that when he and Jensen got the script for the "Bugs" episode, they were finishing filming for "Skin," and they were all pretty beat up from that. Jared said he and Jensen really wanted an episode where they could just sit in the Impala, make a phone call, and kill the demon. When they read through the "Bugs" script and saw the references to fighting off all these insects, they thought "wow, that'll be a lot of special effects." Cut to later, when they are called outside by a PA to "come and meet the bee trainer, they need to introduce you to the bees." Jared and Jensen were shocked but went outside to meet the bees. The bee trainer told them the bees were drones, and thus would not attack unless provoked. The trainer said the actors could wave their arms and make non-aggressive movements. Jared said he was thinking that he's supposed to be fighting off attacking bees in that scene, he's gonna be swatting, so yeah, they're gonna get stung. Ironically, as the trainer tried to show them how the bees could be handled, the trainer waved a bee off his neck, and that bee came straight back and stung him in the face. Jared said on set, Jensen got stung first because a bee landed on Jensen's finger that was pressing the button to spray the aerosol can. Jared said he laughed when Jensen got stung and jinxed himself -- Jared sat down, felt a sting, and said the first I-can't-believe-he-said-that-line-of-the-story: "oh crap, there's a bee in my ass." (*cut for audience hootin' and hollerin'*) Jared said they took him to a tent where a guy told him to drop his pants so he could check and see if the stinger was still in Jared's ass. This scenario prompted the next I-can't-believe-he-said-that quote of this story: "I'm not comfortable pulling down my pants in front of a man I've never met before." (which begs the question of whether he's comfortable dropping trou for men he knows, but we refrained from asking.) (ETA: Jared said that they'd gather the bees after each take by using a vaccum-type machine to slurp the bees back into their container. The bee trainer apparently said they should do that as little as possible, since the vaccuming process made the bees angry. Jared thought, "oh great," since they'd have to do the master shot, then different angles, then close-ups, which pretty much guaranteed the bees were gonna be pissed.) Jared added that the bee scene "probably was not my most favorite scene to film."
Next, a fan asked Jared about the possibility of him reprising the role of Dean on "Gilmore Girls." Jared said he loved working on GG. He said, "I grew up there, it's where I learned the business." He said GG creator Amy Sherman-Palladino was almost in tears when she saw him at an event after he got "Supernatural," because she was so proud of him. Jared doubted he could work out any guest appearances, though he'd like to, based on the fact that GG films in L.A. and "Supernatural" films in Vancouver. He said he'd love to put those clothes on again and just wander through the background of the town as they filmed, though.
Re: practical jokes, Jared said that at the beginning of the season, Jensen had a girlfriend who was a "supermodel" (which made me want to ask okay, how many girlfriends has Jensen had this season?) and who had filmed a commercial for Tag body spray. As a joke, Jared said he got several cans of Tag and sprayed Jensen's clothes and trailer with it. He said Jensen was pissed but hasn't gotten him back yet.
One fan asked about how Jared got the role. He said he doesn't have a great answer. Jared did say that the producers had had everyone who auditioned read for the part of Sam, just to get a feel for who they liked. He also said he and Jensen were the only people who tested for the network, and they thought that was probably a good sign.
Another fan asked whether there's much interaction amongst the shows filming in Vancouver. Jared said because everyone is working so much, there really isn't. He and Jensen did visit the "Smallville" set earlier in the season. Also, while they were filming the "Asylum" episode, the "Smallville" cast and crew were filming nearby. So Jared and Jensen had Tom Welling come to set and hide by laying down in the back of the Impala for one take, in which the brothers were supposed to be driving up to a bar and getting out of the car. Then, as cameras rolled, three people got out of the car instead of two. They heard someone in the crew say "what the fu--?" and Jared said the crew almost sicced security on Tom before they realized who he was.
In response to a fan question, Jared said he loved "Star Trek" and "The Twilight Zone" as a kid. He said that doing this show has taken the fun out of watching this genre of show now, because he knows how everything's done. He said he'd never want to be on set on a James Bond film because he loves those movies, it's where he can escape for two hours, and to know how it all works would take the fun out of it.
One fan complimented "The Benders" episode. Jared joked that "shouldn't the show have been called 'Natural?'" instead of "Supernatural" for that episode, since the killers weren't supernatural? Jared noted that one of the brothers in that episode was named Jared Bender. He said he wondered if that was Eric Kripke's way of telling Jared that he thought Jared was a big hick.
When asked, Jared said he'd love to work with actress Anna Farris because he thinks she's hysterical. He also said he'd like to work with his girlfriend, but that she probably doesn't want to work with him because she'd get sick of him.
At the end of the panel, Jared turned to the screen behind him and saw how he looked on it. He said something about how it was weird to see yourself so big. He joked that you can really check out how you look from the back, and then he cocked his hip like he was checking his own ass out - it got a good laugh. Indeed, the camera operator zoomed in on his ass for the next few moments. Then, Jared signed a banner for the convention and waltzed backstage.
We did not stay for autographs with Jared, as we had dinner reservations and a date with a bunch of male swans (i.e.,Matthew Bourne's amazing interpretation of "Swan Lake"), but it was a great event with Mr. Padalecki.