Jared Padalecki - On-Set Interview
The Platinum Dunes remake of Friday the 13th was shooting on location in Texas last year, and Horror.com was there.
Here's an interview, conducted in the dead of night, beneath a treeful of bats and with bugs the size of hockey masks whizzing by… it's with a shadow-cloaked Jared Padalecki, who plays one of Jason's potential machete sharpeners.
Q: It seems coincidental, on "Supernatural" at one point you guys were talking about having Jason on the show and now you finally get to fight him after all.
Jared Padalecki: Now I finally get to fight him, you know what's funny? I've heard that from a few places that they'd talked about it on the show. They had never brought it up with myself of Jensen [Ackles], I think it was just writer ideas or fan ideas or something but it would have been a lot of fun. But, now I get to do it on the big screen so it's even more fun.
Q: Jensen is elsewhere doing the My Bloody Valentine remake, right?
JP: In Pennsylvania.
Q: But you get the cooler bad guy to fight.
JP: I totally get the cooler bad guy. He's doing 3D so all his imperfections will be... I mean, if I was in 3D I'd be much more worried. But here I am on the flat screen so…
Q: There was debate amongst we genre geeks here about who the real hero in this movie is. Whether it's your character or whether it's Jason.
JP: That's interesting, I mean, I'm going to go to the movie to watch Jason as I think 100% of the other audience members are. It's funny 'cause we had to do a photo shoot for the movie last week, or two weeks ago, and my singles were part of the photo shoot. I was like, no one wants to see a picture of me like [does a pose] Friday the 13th! I was like, "the poster is going to be Jason and his mask no one wants to see Jared!" So, I totally go with Jason. I mean, I guess I would be the protagonist but he's the hero in my eyes.
Q: You've done a horror remake before, the actors never get any of the flack, it's always the producers and the filmmakers. You know like, you're remaking a classic and "oh my god how could you do that?" Do you hear that much as an actor?
JP: It depends. There are certain forums where, you're obviously not going to please everybody. I think for the most part it goes to the producers and the people who decide to make it. We actors get the easy way out a lot but, you know, don't blame us - blame the writers, blame the director, blame the producers! But, you're not going to please everybody and there are some people that are very dedicated and loyal to the original so they don't want to see it remade. But, then there are other people who don't want to see a new story and a lot of people who like to take on the Texas Chainsaw remake or the Amityville remake. I think they want to see what Platinum Dunes will do with Friday. When I very first started acting, I read on WB.com or something, I was on Gilmore Girls, it was like, "Jared's hair makes him look like a girl!" It was like, I don't like that! So, a long time ago I swore to myself that I wouldn't let it get to me so I think I will probably get a little bit of flack but you have to put it away. When you're on set, you've seen Amanda, she's gotten banged up and bruised up, the last thing you want to do is get banged up and bruised up and be thinking people are like, "Amanda Righetti is like blah blah" and "Jared Padalecki is shouldn't be in the role." So, you just have to drop it all and do your thing.
Q: Your character is looking for someone, correct?
JP: Yes, I am looking for my sister, Amanda Righetti.
Q: Was it lost on you, like, in "Supernatural" you're looking for your dad and now you're like, "Damn, I've got to find somebody else now!?"
JP: It's my niche. I do horror remakes and find somebody. (laughter) I like it because, after I read the script I wasn't worried about it, but I heard people asking if I was a police officer or a detective or a ninja or something. That wouldn't be as interesting a character to me as a guy, an ordinary guy put in extraordinary circumstances and trying to find his sister. I didn't want to be, "Da-da-da-dum here I am!" In Supernatural, my character is more of the hero - he knows what he's doing and going after these guys and here on Friday, he's just trying to find his sister. So, I don't know, maybe it's because I've gotten so used to doing it for a couple of years it's coming easier.
Q: Is that knife going to into somebody?
JP: It does. It does, this one is just a nice little plastic or rubber one. I've broken a bunch of these because of the way it sits in my pouch if I sit on it wrong. I have to keep going to the prop guy, "I broke your knife...I'm sorry." And they're like, "it's fine." But it does, yeah, I knew ultimately there comes a time in the movie where I come into contact with Jason - I don't want to ruin anything - but I was like, if I have a knife on me then I kind of have an unfair advantage but then he's gonna knock it away so...but it does find its way into somebody - I'll let you all make guesses. I stab Danielle Panabaker. She pisses me off in the movie. (laughter)
Q: You're going to be fighting Jason on top of a school bus, isn't that the story?
JP: I am yeah. This is sort of in the heat of the climatic end of my chase sequence, but I'm not fighting so much as getting my ass kicked. But, we're on the run, obviously, as happens in Friday the 13th movies. We're trying to get away from the scary guy in the hockey mask and he comes up on us and catches us unawares and basically makes me into a little pile of mincemeat, which is fine, I also want to be very careful to, I am sure you all have an idea of what can happen but I wanted to make sure it was never, like in the photo shoot like "here I am!" I didn't want to be like, "Here I am, a fighter to fight Jason." I want to be a guy who's like, "What's goin' on?" Just survive with instinct. Jared has taken fight training and Derek [Mears] is a big-time actual fighter but no one wants to see Jason get up there and do a roundhouse kick. No one wants to see Clay and Jason Muay Thai kickboxing. So, it's just very brutal and raw and animalistic, which is kind of exciting for me.
Q: And did you rehearse the fight sequence already?
JP: We've rehearsed it, we've been here in this set for a few days now because we had a big scene in the barn for a couple days so we rehearsed it a few times and my stunt double is here and Amanda's stunt double is here and Derek is, obviously, his own stunt double so they make sure we are comfortable with everything and they check it out and make sure it's safe. I actually just about a half an hour ago went and smashed my head into fake glass because Clay gets his head smashed into fake glass, or into real glass but they had to make sure I was comfortable with head banging on a piece of break-away glass. So I was over there impressing myself.
Q: I know we're here for Friday the 13th but I have to ask a few "Supernatural" questions! Like, when do you go back to start shooting?
JP: The strike is a huge issue, but as of right now, we're supposed to start first week of July. They want to have it airing with Smallville and Smallville starts shooting really early so they want us to start shooting really early also so they can air new episodes of each together.
Q: Have you seen any scripts for the first couple of episodes?
JP: No, I haven't seen anything. I haven't talked to Eric [Kripke], the only person I've really talked to is Jensen. He and I have been keeping in touch. But I haven't seen scripts, read scripts or heard any ideas.
Q: Fans are freaking out because, at first, they thought Jensen was completely off the show, but clearly not.
JP: I'm assuming clearly not, I mean, I think his plan is to be in Vancouver when I'm in Vancouver. I pray to God not because that means all day, every day, I'll bear the burden, but no, I'm sure Jensen is going to be a huge part on the show like he always has been. He's just in hell.
Q: Can you talk about Marcus [Nispel] as compared to other directors you've worked with in the past?
JP: Marcus is a very, very, very visual director. He's sees it. I watched Chainsaw when I did House of Wax. They sat us down before we did House of Wax, Jaume [Collet-Serra] sat us down and had us watch Chainsaw, his remake with Jessica Biel. I remember watching it and being like, "Wow, this is really well done." And it speaks to you, and I met with Marcus and Brad Fuller before I did the movie and they were talking about the script and talking about the ideas and talking about how he shoots and it's sort of flattering because they were like, "Listen, we're hiring actors that we trust, you know, that will take care of their own number." I mean, Marcus is not as much a director of like, "Hey listen, I want you to be more sad or I want you to remember that you're sister blah blah blah." He tells you what's going on and how the scene is going to be and then it's like a crazy guerilla style, "hey the camera is here go! Camera's here go!" And it's almost, you hear stories about certain directors that piss off their actors when the character needs to be pissed off and how to be chaotic and a lot of pandemonium when things are chaotic and so it's almost been good acting by default. It's almost like, I don't know what's going on or where I'm running and so they go action and I'm like, "I don't know, where am I going!" So, I'm gonna watch the movie and be like, "Dude, I believe Clay didn't know where he was going!"
Q: Chainsaw is famous for the Jessica Biel ass shot pointed to you, is this going to be the Jared butt cam?
JP: Who knows, I hope so 'cause I've been doing my squats. I'm kidding, I don't know, I didn't realize the Jessica Biel butt cam was a big part of it.
Q: Of course it is! So, are you used to being in a production where the producers are so involved?
JP: No, I am not used to that. And it's been really pleasant. It keeps egos in check when someone doesn't have all the power and there's some balance of power. The Beatles said it, I get by with a little help from my friends, I think there are a lot of people with a lot of ideas and I think it's valid.
= = =
Staci Layne Wilson reporting
For more details on the actual set visit and what was shot, please read our article