It’s hard to believe we are already five weeks into Supernatural season 5 and coming up on the episode with the most controversial guest star the series has ever had: Paris Hilton.
In the 5.0 5 episode Fallen Idols, written by Julie Siege and directed by Jim Conway, Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) Winchester, who have put dealing with the apocalypse aside of a bit as they are learning to hunt together as a team again, find their first job leads them to a small town whose inhabitants are being killed by famous dead icons like Abraham Lincoln and James Dean’s car. With the brothers already struggling to make sense of the goings-on, they become even less sure of what they are hunting when two teenage girls come forward and claim PARIS HILTON kidnapped their friend (the real Paris Hilton in a cameo appearance as an unknown entity impersonating…. Paris Hilton).
When the announcement came down from Supernatural creator Eric Kripke himself that the real Paris Hilton had been tapped for a role in this episode, playing some sort of unknown creature impersonating Paris Hilton, there was a lot of dissident rumblings of “stunt casting” and desultory comments made about Hilton herself; not only in the fandom, but also from a fellow actress who is closely associated with one of the lead actors of Supernatural. Yet despite the somewhat hostile attitude being directed at her, Paris Hilton herself remained cheery making nothing but complimentary comments on her twitter account regarding her role on Supernatural and working with the cast and crew. According to statements made by series leads Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles at the recent Creation convention held in Vancouver, BC after the episode had finished filming, that despite misgivings from those on the production set, Hilton arrived with her lines memorized, ready to work and willing to take on doing her own stunts in the fight scenes.
Fans of Supernatural also had a lot of misgivings about how much press would be following Paris Hilton around since she seems to attract the paparazzi like a magnet and this was what the “stunt casting” might be all about: using Hilton’s immense notoriety to draw more publicity to the show in the form of the paparazzi that likes to follow her every move. If that was ever the game plan on the part of the CW or anyone else (which is still highly speculative as a motive), it didn’t work out as expected. Paris Hilton’s arrival in Vancouver, B.C. was extremely low-key with minimal press coverage. She worked on the set for two days with no interruption, no issues or the kind of high drama that is usually associated with and seems to follow the socialite/actress around wherever she goes.
While I as a viewer and supporter of Supernatural am more than happy it turned out that way, I am wondering who, if anyone might have been secretly disappointed that the likes of Entertainment Tonight and Access Hollywood weren’t taking advantage of the situation? That no tabloid reporters were doing on the spot coverage and putting cameras in the faces of Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki and interviewing them about working with Paris Hilton.
Eric Kripke has stated that this wasn’t a case of stunt casting and the didn’t even expect Paris Hilton to agree to come into a cameo role where, we have been told, she would basically be making a joke of her own public image. As Kripke and Sera Gamble have pointed out, this shows that Hilton has a sense of humor about her public image and is willing to play along with having a go at it. The lack of tabloid style press covering the “major event” of having a high profile name like Paris Hilton guest starring on a Supernatural seems to follow along with Kripke’s assertion that this is not a case of “stunt casting”. Either way, the ratings the episode gets will most likely determine if it was a successful move or not and if Paris Hilton makes the grade. She has a lot of talented guest actors to follow in the footsteps of when it comes to being on Supernatural and it’s quite possible that never will fans be sitting so closely in judgment of a performance as they will be of hers. Kripke and Gamble both have hinted that the Paris Hilton element is being played for laughs, but I am of the mind that what they say is a smoke screen for a possibly more dramatic take on the situation.
Before we move on to taking a look at the sneak peek video clips provided by The CW Network/Warner Brothers Television, I just wanted to share a little bit of speculation I’ve been having about this episode. Figured I would put it out there and see how close or how far from the mark I get with it.
The title of the episode is Fallen Idols and since Supernatural has taken a bit of a biblical turn since season 4, I am wondering if this is still a means to keep the whole “angels pushing the apocalypse” issue. I’m wondering if as the title might suggest, it doesn’t have anything to do with shape shifters or other mundane creatures of the supernatural, but is rather an interpretation of the foils of worshipping false idols. In the old testament, God and the angels visited retribution on those who worshipped false idols and since this is suppose to be the end of days, I’m just wondering if Kripke is throwing that in for good measure. Is this the creature that Sam and Dean Winchester going up against really an angel who has become a bit too fervor ant in his/her duties to punish humans who seem to be worshipping false idols?
Guess just like the Winchester brothers we will have to hang around in suspense and wait until the Supernatural episode, Fallen Idols airs tomorrow night on the CW Network at 9PM EST to see what its really all about. Meanwhile check out the sneak peak clips.
