THE CONZINE
Our Time With a Titan
By Shanee D
Supernatural fans have been waiting for their favorite show to do an episode surrounding Greek mythology and after nearly nine-years their wait finally ended. In an episode titled, “Remember The Titans,” we met a seemingly normal man who just happens to die…a lot. Of course, as is the same with every Supernatural episode, nothing is as it seems. Turns out that seemingly normal man is actually Prometheus, the titan who stole fire from Mount Olympus and brought it to mankind. Now there is a twist you don’t see everyday!
Pulling off such a pivotal role in the Greek mythology isn’t easy. You have to be cool, daring, sexy and talented to portray that kind of a powerhouse. Luckily the casting department of Supernatural knew what they were doing when they cast John Reardon for the role. He perfected the role in ways we here at The Conzine never thought possible. For this and many other reasons we knew we had to speak with him and were delighted to learn just how eager he was to connect with his fans.
The Conzine is all about who the fans want to read about, who the fans love. The Conzine strives to connect our readers with their favorites and help them get to know the real person beyond the glitz and glamor of Hollywood, and Reardon made our job exceptionally easy! So feast your eyes on this talented actor and enjoy, as we did, what Reardon has to say about his experience on Supernatural and so much more.
THE CONZINE: Your episode of Supernatural was so thrilling because of all the Greek mythology. Do you enjoy the mythology? What was it like playing such a powerful Greek god?
JOHN REARDON: It was really interesting because I don’t know that I’m a god at first so it was interesting playing a character who really underestimated himself. Then slowly as things come to light and the story evolves, you realize the power that character has. I have memories going a few years back of being an average person and then I’m attacked by this stranger and I start discovering these powers that I didn’t know I had. The one thing I thought when I first read that script was the scene in the first Spiderman when he discovers that he has all theses cool powers and it’s sort of just the realization of oh my god I can actually do that. It was kind of fun that scene where it was like where did all of these fighting skills comes from. Almost discovering there might be a little bit more to myself than I had thought.
CZ: What did you find to be the most challenging aspect of filming the episode?
JR: It was interesting because they did a very good job blending the special effects with the visual effects. In the section at the very end with Zeus, there was magic added so you would be reacting. When there is lighting striking and he appears, all that is the director saying “now lighting strikes” and everybody reacts. Then there were other times that we did stuff like when I get attacked by the grizzly bear, none of that was CGIed it was special effects make-up, having that on my body just toatlly brings you into the scene completely. Instead of having to use your imagination you have the physical prescence of it. One of the funniest parts was when Artemis shoots her arrow and hits me in the chest, we were trying to figure out because he was supposed to magically jump off the ground and into his arms and get hit with an arrow. We unfortunately didn’t have real magic to do that so we shot that I had an arrow in my chest, we had to keep practicing till we had the right sequence. I had to fall forward, twist and land and then we would play the whole thing in reverse. Basically that whole scene where I get sucked up into his arms is me falling forward and rolling onto the ground and they just played it backwards.
CZ: Everyone we’ve spoken with who has worked on Supernatural have commented on how welcoming the cast and crew were, did you find that to be the case?
JR: Definitely. I really loved worked with the cast and the crew. I worked with a terrific group. Jared and Jensen are very welcoming, they’ve been doing this for 8 years and the show runs so smoothly. You go in and everyone is having fun and everybody has a 6th sense with each other because they’ve worked together for so long. It’s a very relaxed atmosphere, there was no hierarchy on that set at all, it was just very welcoming.
CZ: Had you watched the show prior to being cast?
JR: I actually auditioned for the pilot years ago and I remember reading it and thinking “oh this is so cool,” then the show came out and I’ve watched it periodically and I’m a big fan of Jared and Jensen and I think they do a great job on the show and there’s a reason it’s had 8 seasons and going into its 9th.
CZ: Jared & Jensen have been known to pull a few pranks did they pull any on you?
JR: They were good to me because I was sick for most of the shoot. I think everybody on set had just been sick before I got there and then I got to set the first day, and it was a Friday, and when Monday came along I had a 103 degree temperature and was coughing. Basically as long as we weren’t shooting I was probably coughing in the corner somewhere and I think they took pity on me because I was pretty pathetic. It was tough too because on Monday we starting shooting that scene with Zeus and that whole time we’re being flung across the room, getting thrown on the ground, I’m being tortured, being shot with an arrow. It was a great experience regardless.
CZ: Supernatural has a very passionate fan following, have you had any encounters with the fans you can share with us?
JR: Not so much just because it aired a couple of weeks ago and I’ve actually been back in my hometown of East Coast Canada. But I have had a lot of stuff on twitter and I get a lot of people showing support for the episode and saying that they really enjoyed it. One thing I noticed too, I think it had come out a few weeks before the episode aired that I was in an episode and I was astounded by how much publicity with the fans there was on the internet on twitter. It made me very welcomed even before I had been on the show. It was cool being in an episode where they were dealing with content that they hadn’t used in the show before. A lot of people were trying to speculate what it was going to be about, and excited about seeing something new. The Supernatural community is very welcoming and they range very far.
CZ: What talents, other than acting, do you have that your fans might not know about?
JR: I’m surprisingly a good cook. I was really quite terrible when I went to University. I think where my real talent lies is that I can cook anything on a campfire. If I’m at stove I can get a little bit lost, if there’s a couple of things going at once I have a tendency to burn stuff. Over a campfire I can somehow create culinary magic. I have cooked everything from pizza to cinnamon buns, chocolate cake. I’m quite popular with my friends who like camping because they know they will eat well.
CZ: If you were to have a book written about your life what would the title of the book be?
JR: “He looks much taller in person.”
CZ: Do you have any projects in the works that you want your fans to know about?
JR: I’m starting in about 2 weeks I’m a television show called “Continnum” as well. I go back to that pretty soon. It’s a time-travel, sci-fi show. I also have a movie that I have written as well that I’m hoping to get funding to school. Hopefully those projects will keep me busy.
CZ: Who do you admire most (celebrity or non-celebrity)? What has been their biggest impact on you?
JR: Celebrity-wise I admire Paul Newman quite a bit. He was obviously a fantastic actor he had a lot of success, I respect a lot of what he did in his personal life. He raised scholars for charities. He’s been married to his wife for 40 some years, he was a racecar driver till he was 75, that’s pretty badass. As far as somebody in the industry goes I have a great deal of respect for him. As far as someone outside in my personal life, I’d definitely say my parents. My parents have always been so supportive of me being in the industry. At one point after I got out of my undergrad I was going to go to Med School and decided not to and wanted to go traveling and sort of became an actor. I think a lot of people’s parents wouldn’t support that but my parents have always supported me-and-all-my-decisions and are my biggest fans. That’s made things pretty easy.
CZ: In your career you’ve played many different roles, if you had to pick your favorite, which would it be?
JR: I did a mini series called “Merlin’s Apprentice,” this was about 2005 and I played a completely incompetent magician. I played Merlin’s apprentice and he tries to teach me how to handle my magical abilities and I basically just for the first three quarters of the mini series, completely screw everything up. Finally in the last quarter of the movie kind of step up and make it good. I enjoy playing characters who sort of discover qualities much like the Supernatural character. Plus it was running around in the woods with swords and wearing armor and riding horses, it was definitely a fun way to spend the summer for sure. It was being 10-years-old, playing in mud.
CZ: If you could ask your fans any question what would it be?
JR: What was it that I did to fool you?
FROM VAMPIRE TO VAMPIRE HUNTER, THE INCREDIBLE RICK WORTHY
By Jenn Valiquette
In season 6 of the hit CW series, *Supernatural, *we were introduced to actor Rick Worthy as he portrayed the first vampire ever created. It was a violent and powerful introduction that *Supernatural *fans won’t soon forget. In fact, Worthy’s role as the all powerful Alpha Vampire left a lasting mark on the supernatural fandom and he has quickly become a fan favorite. Now tt’s hard to imagine Supernatural without this amazing actor.
Worthy has appeared in many of our favorite television series, most recently appearing as the mayor of Mystic Falls in The Vampire Diaries, a role that we here at The Conzine find quite ironic. Why? Worthy’s role is that of a vampire hunter. If the two shows were combined would he be hunting himself?
CW hits are not Worthy’s only credits, this multi-talented actor has also appeared on Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, NCIS, Heroes, among a variety of other television hits. We here at The Conzine know we’re not alone when we say we hope to see Worthy in many more projects in the near future. In the meantime we hope you enjoy our interview with this incredibly talented actor:
THE CONZENE: How do you enjoy working on the set of The Vampire Diaries? Can we look forward to seeing you in future episodes?
RICK WORTHY: I love it. It’s a cool show. It’s very well produced, acted, written and directed. You can definitely see me in future episodes. When I tweet something about The Vampire Diaries, I usually put hashtag #KeepTheMayorAlive.
CZ: What was it like working in Star Trek? What was your favorite part about being in Star Trek?
RW: The best part about Star Trek is that, I love Star Trek. When I first came to LA, Star Trek was one of my first jobs. I didn’t even have a car at the time. I lived across from Paramount studios, so I was able to walk to the audition, then after I got the job I walked to work. I’m one of the few actors that worked with everyone from Star Trek except for the cast from the 60’s. I’ve seen all the episodes over and over and over. It was a really great experience. I was skeptical about the reboot of Star Trek and the movies but I liked them a lot. Star Trek will go on and on and on for all us Trekkie’s and that’s a good thing.
CZ: What is your favorite sci/fi horror film?
RW: My favorite sci/fi film is Star Wars. I love Return of the Jedi, it’s probably my top two Sci/fi movies of all time. Luke comes back and he’s a man now, not a boy, he’s totally changed. He has the power of Vader in him as well and Vader knows it, and the Empire knows that if they push him in the right direction he could become evil. That power that he has, I just love it. Then there’s the battle of good versus evil. When Luke defeats his father and Vader’s hand pops off, he sees all the wires and looks at his hand, he realizes he’s just like his Dad. He’s becoming his Dad. They want him to become evil. If he hadn’t stopped himself, he would have taken Vader’s place.
CZ: Do you believe in the Supernatural?
RW: I believe that there’s a lot more to the world that we can’t see. I believe in the possibilities of unexplained things. I believe in the extra terrestrial as well. I believe we are not alone. Basically I believe in everything that you saw in the X-Files.
CZ: In Supernatural, if Benny and the Alpha Vamp met, how would you expect it would go?
RW: There is a lot of unfinished business that needs to happen. Not only between the Alpha Vamp and the Winchester brothers, there is also a huge thing between Benny and the Alpha Vamp and it’s just waiting to be revealed. It’s like two boxers going to a ring and the winner is the one left standing and that is how it’s going to go down. If I were to project what would happen, it’s going to be a showdown.
CZ: How does it feel to go from being an Alpha Vampire on Supernatural to now being a Vampire Hunter on The Vampire Diaries?
RW: It’s great to play a Vampire, particularly like the Daddy of all vampires. It’s a great role for me to play. I feel blessed that they asked me to do it. I waited a year and a half to revisit and play him again and so I had a lot of time to think about it. I fine-tuned who he is in the level of terror and fright and the comfort zone from where he is. To go from that
to playing the Dad of a daughter who is a witch, that was a complete flip around from being someone who’s in complete control of the Alpha Vamp. The Alpha Vamp is the ultimate boss. Where in the Vampire Diaries I’m playing a Dad of a teenage girl, she has her opinions and I have mine. I don’t have children, but I have nephew’s around and I understand through them what its like to be a parent and its not easy. I happened to be blessed with two nephews who are great guys and teenagers, and I observed my brother who was raising his kids. Being a parent is a whole different thing. To go from being this all-powerful supernatural being to being a regular earthling who has a daughter was very different. I loved it and I think it’s a great role and hopefully they won’t kill me off.
CZ: What was your character like in Battlestar Galatica and did you enjoy playing Simon?
RW: I loved Battlestar Galactica, for a lot of reasons. I thought the series was groundbreaking, original and unique. It was a new take on the Battlestar Galactica from the 80’s. It was much darker much more disturbing with the themes they were dealing with. I loved it. I played one of the bad guys, Simon, who was one of the 12 Cylon’s who were trying to destroy the human race. The underlying question everyone has is, are they human? Robots? Alive? I think that they do have a soul and consciousness in some way and in some way they are alive. They are descendants from machines, but they look human. It was a great experience. However, I began to grow frustrated with the experience because although they gave me a great introduction as Simon, they severely minimized Simon’s presence in later episodes.
CZ: On twitter, you talk about cupcakes and cakes sometimes. What is your favorite type of cupcake or cake?
RW: Red Velvet
CZ: Have you ever played any musical instruments or sang before?
RW: I did play the tuba in marching band in 11th grade.
CZ: How did you like working on NCIS?
RW: I worked on NCIS in September. It was great working with Mark Harmon and cast and it was also great to work with Pauly P. again. She is a friend of mine from and we did Murder One together. The entire crew were nice people and that is rare. They know how to get everyone home before 7pm. Some times you do a show and its filming and its 11pm at night. These guys had us done everyday before 7pm. It wasn’t about shooting fast it was about knowing how to do the show and they have it down. I love how Mark Harmon would sit down with me and the other actors in between shots and we would talk about basketball and everything. That rarely happens where the stars of the show are chilling out.
CZ: Do you think you’ll be coming to more conventions in the future?
RW: I want to do 2-3 Supernatural Conventions a year. I don’t want to do 8 or 6 a year because it would be overkill, I want to space them out so it’s special. The next one I’m doing is Toronto and that’s not until October but I’m already excited about it. I know a lot is going to happen before then. I think it’s going to be a great convention.
QUALITY TIME WITH NICHOLAS LEA
By Shanee D
Nicholas Lea is an awesome actor who played Elliot Ness in the Supernatural episode Time After Time. He did a wonderful job portraying the 1940’s Prohibition agent who was famous for his efforts to enforce Prohibition in Chicago which was one of the toughest crime states (IMDB). The episode would not have been the same without Nicholas Lea as Elliot Ness. He did a fantastic job portraying the character as well as working with Jensen Ackles. The Conzene is proud to present, Nicholas Lea.
CZ: We loved your character on Supernatural. The episode was awesome.
NL : I thought they made some really nice choices, the music they added, they did a really good job.
CZ: Have you watched Supernatural prior to being on it at all?
NL: I’ve watched it a few times. I don’t watch tons of TV, but I have seen it for sure.
CZ: What was it like playing such an infamous character like Elliot Ness?
NL: He’s a lot of fun. We didn’t stick directly to history. If we have done that, he was alcoholic by that point. Working in Cincinnati helped. I did a little research. The suit was a handmade for me. It was a really beautiful suit, and I had a really great taylor. I had a forty’s hat on and a shotgun in my hand, its easy to imagine that your playing that part. The crew did a spectacular job setting the location too. They had this old 40’s set close to the studio. They really had the set down with the background, hair, makeup and old cars coming down the street. It was kind of magical.
CZ: If they were to have the show come back, and write you back into the show, how would you like to see it all come to a conclusion and end?
NL: That’s a good question, I’ll start thinking about it. Thats up to the minds of the creators and writers of the show.
CZ: Tell me about whats next for you.
NL: I just auditioned for a movie that was shot in Vancouver. Jeff Bridges is doing the movie, a real fantasy. Its a really cool warlock and wizard, its very cool. One of my dreams would be to work with Jeff Bridges. The name of the film is called The Crimes of Mike Reckett. The storyline is, a guy who looses his job, lives on the street. He is on the verge of loosing his wife and child. He goes about trying to pull some deals on people, and finds an interesting women and romanced her, and it goes downhill from there.
CZ: If you were to have a book written about you, what would you want the main plot to be?
NL: The things I relate to, is about people who are trying to do good things in the world. Trying to follow the right path, struggling to do the right things. Being kind to people and being kind to themselves.
CZ: We know your a great actor based on your roles, done in the past. Do you have any hidden talents that your fans don’t know about?
NL: I was an athlete a good part of my life. I tried to do a lot of things in my life. I did a lot of sports when I was younger. I wanted to be an illustrator. I did two years of art school in hopes of becoming an illustrator. I also worked at a job selling colds. I never did any school plays or anything like that. Fresh out of high school I played in the band, I sang with a band I was in. I’m a boatsman. I boat a lot. I like to garden. I have property in the gulf of Vancouver, and it has two acres , and garden, and a tennis court. Its a lot of work to keep that in working order, but its a difficult job sometimes. Straight hard labor.
CZ: In terms of acting, was there a moment in your life, where you thought ‘I actually do want to be an actor’?
NL: I’m a big movie watcher when I was a kid, I was in love with movies and great story lines. I watch so much stuff when I was a kid, in film and television. I never thought it was possible. I never imagined when I was young that I would become so fortunate to be doing a job I wanted to do when I was kid. I never knew anyone who was an actor. It seemed like a far off dream, thats why I did so many things before I went off and tried it. I wish I started earlier. I was late getting it going. Jensen was so much fun to act with, he was really professional and had lots of good ideas. That whole cast and crew was just really wonderful I was fortunate to work on that show. I already had built in fans when I came on the set.
CZ: Say the tables have turned, and you get to ask the fans a question, what would it be?
NL: Probably wouldn’t have to do with movies, or television shows. I would ask them about life.
Corin Nemec, Making Fan Girls Swoon
By Becca Rose
The Campbell’s weren’t what you would call, fan-favorites, on Supernatural but that does not mean that the actors who portrayed them didn’t win the fans over. This has not been truer than the actor who portrayed Christian Campbell, Sam and Dean Winchester’s long-lost cousin. Sure, Corin’s character didn’t win over the fans for being a warm and fuzzy person; the character ended up being a demon so the warm and fuzzy part was pretty much non-existent. However, Corin’s charisma as Christian Campbell gave fans a reason to root for him to last for at least a whole season. He captivated the fans every time he was on the screen and he drew fans in before they had the chance to realize what was happening to them.
Of course, fans didn’t just love Corin as Christian Campbell they loved him as Corin Nemec the actor and person. From the first convention Corin attended fans were completely hooked. He had that same charisma, if not more, during his Q&A panels and he took the time to hear what his fans had to say and he did so with grace and composure. While Christian Campbell may have died before season 6 of Supernatural ended, the fans love for Corin lived on and they will follow him onto other projects he has coming up and well into the future.You can imagine our joy when we were given the go ahead to speak with Corin about his Supernatural experiences, the fans and what projects he has coming up. Here is how the interview went down:
THE CONZENE: What is the difference in the fans between the Supernatural fans and Stargate Fans at the conventions?
CORIN NEMEC: There is a lot of cross over actually. As far as the quality of the people, it’s just the same. There are great individuals who are truly fans of the shows and really support the actors and the shows themselves. It’s a great crowd.
CZ: Of the conventions you have done has there been any moment that has stood out in your mind at a Creation Entertainment event?
CN: The Creation events are really well managed and the kind of clientele they cater to are really open minded. I haven’t had any crazy or off the wall experiences at any event. I was at a Star Trek convention a few years ago and I had a Klingon try to wrestle me in a hallway because I was wearing a pretend wrestler shirt and he decided that since I was wearing a wrestler shirt I should really wrestle. I was wrestled to the ground by this 6’3 280lb Klingon.
CZ: What would you say is your favorite movie genre to watch?
CN: I don’t really have a favorite genre. I love the action/adventure genre, I love the sci-fi genre, and I love the fantasy genre. I am definitely a fan of each type of genre. I don’t have any one specific one that I focus on.
CZ: What projects do you have coming up?
CN: I have a few projects coming up. One of them is called “Nuclear Family.” It’s a post-apocalyptic adventure drama and then I did a movie called, “Sand Sharks,” which I co-produced, which is a light comedic version of a Sci-fi creature feature. I also did another horror film called, “333.”
CZ: What is the biggest difference for you in terms of the role of producers vs. the role of an actor?
CN: As both going onto a project to work as both a producer and an actor there is definitely a bit more creative freedom from an acting standpoint because you have a little bit more sway, politically speaking. It’s also fun to help cast a project.
CZ: If you had a book written about you, what would you want the main focus to be on?
CN: Probably the life experience outside of acting but kind of the effect that being in the industry has growing up, as a young actor.
CZ: Is there any hidden talent that you have that your fans don’t know about?
CN: I have other artistic outlets. I do photography and I do graffiti art with a spray can, painting murals with a spray can.
CZ: Is there any chance the fans will get to see you back on Supernatural?
CN: I have no idea. I have no control over the casting or anything of that nature. If for some reason they hear a big enough rise out of the fandom maybe they will bring me back, but I have no idea. I had a fantastic time working on that show and would love to revisit that character, or another character that looks exactly the same.
CZ: Growing up who were you a fan boy for?
CN: There have been actors that I have great respect and admiration for. More modern actors would be Johnny Depp, Jeff Bridges, who was always a favorite of mine as well as Harrison Ford. He had this dry sense of human that was underlying in his performance that you don’t get out of a lot of action stars.
