On Thursday October 30th at 9PM EST the hit Warner Bros/CW Network series Supernatural will air it’s Halloween episode, titled ‘It’s the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester’. As the Winchester’s say, every day is Halloween for them when it comes to dealing with all manner of beasties, demons, ghouls and witches. Plus this season there is even an angel or two thrown in for good measure. Those Winchester boys sure have their work cut out for them!
In this spooktacular frightfest, which was written by Julie Siege and directed by Charles Beeson, Sam and Dean Winchester (Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles): the two monster hunting, demon fighting brothers will be facing off against every type of horrific creature they have every encountered as they investigate some strange Halloween-related deaths that are taking place in a town during the days leading up to the holiday itself. As they begin to solve the mystery, they also learn the real origins of Halloween and find themselves trying to save the entire town itself from a surprising pair of would-be assassins. The episode also guest stars Misha Collins (“24”) as ‘Castiel’ and introduces Robert Wisdom (“The Wire”) as ‘Uriel.’
While fans and viewers of Supernatural are waiting on the edge of their seats for this next episode to air, Eclipse Magazine.com has a real Halloween treat in store for it’s readers as we catch up and ‘go behind the scenes’ with Todd Stashwick, the handsome and talented actor who portrayed the shape shifter with the penchant for impersonating classic movie monsters in the Supernatural episode Monster Movie, which was filmed in retro black and white to pay homage to those classic horror movies of yesteryear.
Todd Stashwick, who describes himself as ‘quite the sci-fi horror geek’, is no stranger to appearing in these types of roles in his career having played all manner of beasties and ghouls before coming to Supernatural to play the shape shifter. The versatile actor has been in such notable scifi/horror series as Angel, Dark Angel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Enterprise along with a slew of other guest appearances on more mainstream hit series such as Monk, The Riches and The War at Home.
The first thing I learned about Todd Stashwick when I asked him if he was familiar with Supernatural before getting the role as the shape shifter was that he had a prior work connection to Jared Padalecki who plays Sam Winchester.
“Oddly Supernatural was off my radar. I’m quite the sci-fi horror geek but I missed it. I knew it was out there and that Jared was on it, he and I had done a pilot together 7 years ago, so when I saw his mug on huge posters around town I was like “Good for him!” I have since dived into season 1 on DVD and have to say I love it.”
Another new convert to the awesomeness of Supernatural. That’s always a good thing to learn about.
Todd also tells us that it was more than the chance to work with Jared again that drew him to take on the role of the monster movie loving shape shifter. It was the character itself and how the role was going to be presented that fascinated him, as he just like the character, is a long time fan of the classic horror monsters the role was based on.
“How often do you get a chance to recreate such an iconographic performance? We rarely get to play that broad on TV. That style of acting is outdated but quite fun.” It was also the very human side of this character that intrigued him as an actor as well. “Combine that with the emotional admission toward the end of the episode, which made for a complicated monster.”
In this reporter’s opinion, Todd Stashwick did an amazing job of bringing his character to life, especially in the persona of Dracula. The attention to detail in the accent, body language and hand gestures all harkened back to the early days of Bela Lugosi’s riveting work in the role. So I asked Todd if he had studied the old movies for inspiration or was the material for this provided in the script or by the director Robert Singer?
Being both the dedicated actor and fan of the old horror classics that he is, the actor revealed that when he booked the role on Supernatural in the episode Monster Movie, he bought the 75th anniversary edition of Todd Browning’s Dracula with Lugosi on his own for reference and inspiration.
“This shape shifter wanted to BE Lugosi’s Dracula,” Stashwick explains his take on the character’s motivation. “So I broke down what Bela (Lugosi) did technically. How he moved and spoke depending on whom he was talking to.”
Todd tells me that in order to keep himself on track with his source of inspiration, that he kept the DVD on his laptop in his trailer and watched it in between takes. “It was fascinating for me to study the ACTUAL performance versus the parody it has become through the years, I didn’t want to do Sesame Streets “The Count” I wanted to be so loyal to Lugosi that when the gave me my fangs I raised the issue that Bela never had fangs in the original. I lost that argument.”
So what was the most challenging thing about this role on Supernatural and his decision to stay as true to the Lugosi version of Dracula as possible?
“Making sure my accent was consistent. Also staying sympathetic and grounded while still being over the top. I gained a great respect for Lugosi, how clean and stylized his acting was,” Stashwick says of living up to this challenge.
So what was the most fun? “Please, I’m Dracula, it was all fun,” he says laughing.
As to the Mummy and Werewolf versions, those, he explains were played by stunt performers so he really didn’t have to do any research on them.
Speaking of stunt work, I pointed out that his character had quite a few scenes where he mixed it up in fight scenes with the Winchester brothers, especially Dean. How much was stunt work and how much did Todd as the actor actually get to mix it up in the two lead actors?
Apparently all three actor’s, were quite involved in the ‘hands on’ approach to these scenes.
“I did all my own fights with the guys. The stunt guy did the leap over the fence.”
Todd Stashwick considers working with Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles on Monster Movie to have been a special treat for him as an actor. “I had a great deal of fun on this project. The guys are hilarious, a lot of laughing. At one point I had Jensen (Ackles) in a choke hold against a wall, fangs in place and we both just busted up at the fact that here we are both grown men and this is how we are spending our evening.”
Knowing that the two leads are notoriously known for pranking people I asked Todd if he had ended up on the receiving end of any pranks by them or by others on the set?
“Can’t kid a kidder,” he responded cryptically.
So I wonder does this mean that Jared and Jensen may have met their match? Since Mr. Stashwick didn’t elaborate, I guess this will remain one of life’s little mysteries in the Supernatural lore.
What Todd was willing to elaborate on was upcoming projects that fans/viewers can see this highly talented actor in.
“I’ll be on Ghost Whisperer in November. I just shot an episode of Sarah Conner Chronicles. I got to play a terminator and that was very cool. I’m currently shooting an episode of The Mentalist. Also Surfer Dude comes out on DVD in December, beyond that who knows.”
While we are looking forward to seeing more of the talented Todd Stashwick in his upcoming projects, Supernatural viewers can tune into the CW Network this Thursday at 9PM EST to catch the new episode of Supernatural season 4, It’s the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester.
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