FIC: Come Play With Me

[lexzilla]

Lights up in the theater

Exclusive: Jared Padalecki looks to the future
PREMIERE talks to the legendary filmmaker about his new dark psychological horror Exploitorama and what’s up next for the most successful director in box office history.
By Karl Rozemeyer

Writer/director Jared Padalecki returns to his darker impulses in Exploitorama, a New York-based crime thriller that explores to what length a couple of poor sisters will go to in order to get rich (or at least, get by) and what nefarious schemes those they encounter have in store for them. Comparisons will inevitably be made to Damaged Goods, Padalecki’s critically acclaimed 2012 thriller about the whims of fate and luck, but this time the onus is less on the tensions between young men and their mentors and more about how far family loyalties can be stretched before they snap. PREMIERE spoke to the director in Los Angeles, where he's currently spending some down-time with his husband.

PREMIERE: We didn’t think you were capable of not working. Are there any specific reasons for the break?
JARED PADALECKI: Ha. That’s too true. I’m most definitely bad at stopping and sitting still for a while, but Jensen [Ackles, Jared’s husband] had been away, overseas, for a few months so he could shoot some stuff for Spielberg and I missed him. I always thought I was cool with it, but my friends have recently informed me that I’m a nightmare when he’s not around – especially as he somehow regulates my sugar intake – and they threatened me until I caved-in and agreed to some relaxing, not just doing movie things with Jen in the same room. Not that I didn’t want to spend time with Jensen obviously, I just didn’t see how badly I needed it or that I should stop working to do it. Also I may have pissed Steven off by phoning his set every ten minutes to check on Jen. Sorry Steven. Drinks on me next time we hang.

Are you going to do anything specific during your time off?
I honestly don’t think I can answer that question in any kind of appropriate way.

Can we talk about your relationship with Jensen?
Sure.

At first it looked like you were good for his career, but since you’ve been together you’ve done some different things and retained great critical reactions to all of it.
Exactly. I’m so pleased you noticed that, man. I mean, yeah, Jen got his big exposure from that first film we did together, but if he didn’t have the talent, nothing would have followed. Instead he carved out an Oscar-winning career and is constantly in demand by the most respected and the hippest directors. Although I’m still his biggest supporter and director.

So how did the relationship help you?
What people don’t seem to work out is that Jensen is utterly and completely my muse. For instance when I got all that praise and all those awards for writing the script for Soderbergh, that’s something I never would have done before. But I wanted to see Jensen act this overwhelmigly dramatic and tragic role because he can totally break your heart, so I wrote a script for him to do that and then I just knew that it wasn’t a film I could do justice to, so I gave it away. He inspires that. Of course, you can’t tell him or he’ll get a big head and leave me for Zac Efron.

You seem to have one of the few stable and long lasting relationships in the movie industry. Is that hard?
No. It’s easy. I mean, it’s Jensen. Would you give up waking up next to that face every morning?

You work with a lot of the same people over and over again, so you must have built other good relationships.
Yeah. All y’all hear all the time is about how shallow and stupid people in Hollywood are. And I agree, there are some absolute idiots. But luckily, I just don’t seem to get involved with them. I mean, Chad’s [Michael Murray] been with me since forever. Mike [Rosenbaum] and Tommy [Welling] are great friends of Jen and I, we still like to hang out and it’s been that way since the first time we all did it. We just clicked. We’re all of similar ages, have the same values, similar tastes and whatever and they’re good people. Jen’s manager, Chris, is my chess-playing buddy. I’m still very tight with Sandy McCoy. She used to be my assistant but has since gone on to do some great writing herself. So yeah, some really good friendships and I don’t always feel the need to add in anyone else. But if, like with Exploitorama, the roles demand that I find two young girls, which I’m a bit too old to have inside my immediate group of friends, I’ll spread my wings a bit and find new people and I’m glad I do.

Going back to your films, one thing that you’re famous for is the breakdown of the conventional story. You've been integral to taking straightforward narratives apart and putting them back together in a different order.
Thanks. That’s a pretty nice compliment. One of the things I'm proud of as far as my writing goes is that, even though I play around with the structure, I'm not monkeying around with the story itself and I like my archetypes. I think I’m a very good storyteller. But a story isn't having everything laid out for you in the first 10 to 15 minutes. It is a constant unfolding. In a real kind of story movie, if you see the end of the movie, but didn't see the first two reels and then you go back and watch the first reel, you should go like, "Wow, how did they get to there from here." That’s what’s cool and intriguing and keeps people watching. No one wants to know what the ending will be just as the film starts. It’s boring. I know I can’t sit still long enough to see a movie like that. What’s the point. When I was a kid, my folks used to take me to the movies, you'd just go in whenever and stay to see the beginning of the next program and say, "OK, this is where we came in." Which was its own fun but…after however many years Hollywood has been making movies I think we need more and that we definitely needed a change. It couldn’t always be ninety minutes of setting up a situation and then watching characters react to that situation. Dullsville. Unfortunately, that was the only style in town for a long time. But I suppose that not wanting to see that, led me down a really cool film path and I'm truly very proud of my films when it comes to that because they don’t do it. You do not know all there is to know for the first half hour. And if you watched Mondo Macabre say for an hour and ten minutes and then walked out, you can't say you saw that movie, because you haven’t and you’d have no idea of how things are resolved or even how they came to be. And I think that’s kinda turned people’s view on the possibilities of films and now we get to see some interesting stuff coming out.

What else are you most proud of with your career?
Geez. That’s a hard question. I guess, or I hope, that I’ve brought some respect back to genre movies that maybe the mainstream media were missing before. Also, that I’ve been lucky enough to work my ass off doing what I love for y’all. Oh yeah, and that my folks said they were proud of me. That’s pretty cool.

When you get people to discover these old low budget movies, some people love them and others say, “What are you thinking?" How does that make you feel?
Well, you know, different strokes for different folks, or whatever. The thing about it that is so cool is the fact that yeah, people try or they say, "Do you think younger people who have never experienced this before are going to get it?" Well, they don't have to get it. If you have to get it, then it doesn't almost work. It’s not a cerebral thing, it’s an instinct in your gut thing. You've got to be able to just sit down and enjoy it. That’s what Chad and I did when we were kids and it was a fantastic and amazingly wonderful round-the-world journey that led me to my career and my family. So of course I want that for everyone.

What do you plan to do after your self imposed break?
What I do best, make movies. Seriously, I’m going to do another movie with Jensen. I’ve got some of it planned in my head already because I decided I want to see him sweaty and shirtless and suffering humiliations in a Filipino prison before he has to seduce his way out. Wouldn’t that be an awesome sight?

END

Index | Trailer | Main Feature Part 1 | Intermission | Main Feature Part 2 | Main Feature Part 3 | Lights Up In The Theater | OST - The Blood Spattered Samurai

 

 

Comments

[leodragon1.livejournal.com]

FIRST! I think.

This looks so amazing, and I haven't even read it yet. OMG, can't wait to get home from work. Will knock off 15 mins early, they'll never know.

[leodragon1.livejournal.com]

How AWESOME was this? I hope I don't flail too much. *takes a deep breath* Here goes...

Okay, first? I loved the format. The interviews and gossip speculation interspersed throughout the story was great for outside POVs, plus it made the story more like something that had really happened. Oh, I wish!

When Jared and Chad flipped out about the convention, that reminded me of my own recent squeeing about Jared coming to my hometown for a convention. I was so dizzy it wasn't funny. Unfortunately, the rumours turned out to be just that, and not actually happening. So it was fun to relieve that excitement and utter fangirling, and enjoy it vicariously as well.

Jared as a Quentin Tarantino-like director was the BEST thing. It made him very cool and funny, and I loved how you mixed up the real stuff with Jared's work. The script for the opening scene of Samurai was awesome. I'm not much of a gore fan, so is that from an actual movie?

Jensen was a movie horror twink! *falls about laughing* It also makes his initial shyness even more adorable, because it's like, "Hello? You've been in movies practically naked!" And the awesome review he gets at the end? That was a really great moment. It was like a validation for Jensen's talent and Jared's belief in him.

The dates and finally the sex and their sappy cuddling as boyfriends was the icing on the cake. I loved the interview at the end about Jared's husband and thier careers. Great ending. And I wanted more! :-D

So yeah. I really enjoyed this and I'm going to be coming back to it a LOT.

[naanima.livejournal.com]

This1 OMFG! THIS! I AM IN LOVE WITH THIS!

I'm amazed at how well you managed to catch Jared's voice and his rambling intelligence. I love the way you used 'real' quotes and mixed it up with your own, and it is just seamless, and this made me laugh so hard.

Just- gods, this has been my favourite bigbang so far.

Thank you so much for this fic.

[lexzilla.livejournal.com]

WOW. I'm so glad you liked it. And it's awesome that it made you laugh. But the fact that you liked Jared's voice...so cool. Thank you :-)

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

Wow, that was absolutely fantastic. The last two lines completely made me die laughing, but if he did write that movie for Jensen it would be taking him back to his roots, wouldn't it, with all those films where he was half-naked and being chased around by older men? (And God, your TITLES! Twink Hunt and Space Station Sexcapade? So damn funny)

I think part of what I loved about this story was the awkwardness of the romance, and how Jared, just being his big dorky self, kept messing up the dates. But the whole premise of Jared and Chad as fanboys-turned-filmmakers was also entirely FTW. I really loved this. (And I think I would pay money to see Twink Hunt. And also Blood Spattered Samurai, of course, which sounds like an aweseome film-- but like Jared I think I'd have a secret fondness for the films where Jensen gets naked).

[lexzilla.livejournal.com]

LOL. Definitely. I think that Jared was such a fan of Jensen in those films, that he just wants more & if he has to do it himself, then so be it (you might be right on the naked part *smirks*). And YAY. I'm so ridiculously pleased that the funny translated.

I'm glad you enjoyed it. Thank you so much for saying so :-)

[twofourteen.livejournal.com]

I think I am in love with you.

THE SNARK! THE. SNARK. You rock a the casual sarcasm that makes me LOVE Jared and Jensen.

WILL. YOU. MARRY. ME. AND. HAVE. MY. BABIES?@!?

[lexzilla.livejournal.com]

Awww. Hon. THANK YOU ♥ ♥

Hee. The snark is where it's at! And as its you, of course I'll have the babies!

[ingenius-inc.livejournal.com]

this is possibly one of the best stories ever. I really liked the interviews and gossip blog extracts, think they added a lot to the story telling. Anyway, you're wonderful, the story is wonderful and everyone involved deserves cookies :D

[lexzilla.livejournal.com]

Cookies? AWESOME :D

Thank you so much. I'm so happy you liked it!

[ifyouweremine.livejournal.com]

!!!

OMFG, BRILLIANT! #hearts you liek whoa#

Oh, this was so, so very well-done and engaging and uplifting. Your characterization--of Jared in particular, but also of Jensen, Chad, and all the others--was absolutely superb.

I just adored everyone in this fic, and I so wanted Jared and Jen to get their happy ending, so I'm of course all happy-flaily and fangirly over the ending, LOL! And the dynamics between the characters--the relationships between them--were so superbly real and warm and comfortable, and I loved that as well.

Lovely job on this, thanks so much for sharing! <333

[lexzilla.livejournal.com]

*blushes*

Man, that's so nice of you to say. I really wanted them all to end up like it a little movie making family, so its awesome that the relationships felt good to you. THANK YOU SO MUCH :-)

[woodstarling.livejournal.com]

OH MY. I absolutely loved this. The characterizations, the build-up, the awesome little shout-outs to actual events.. xD

I stayed up much later than I should have to read this, but I'm so glad I did :D

[lexzilla.livejournal.com]

Hee. The real bits were so much fun to sneak in. Who can resist the "whore in church" quote?

THANK YOU. I'm so pleased you enjoyed it :-)

[mariaalejandra.livejournal.com]

This was just brilliant, from the characterizations to everything in between.

Wonderful job.

[lexzilla.livejournal.com]

Aww. THANK YOU for saying so. I'm glad you liked it :-)

[dollydolittle.livejournal.com]

That was phenomenal! I loved fanboy!Jared in the beginning, and the way he and Jensen got along was so cute.

[lexzilla.livejournal.com]

*blushes* Thank you :-)

[audrarose.livejournal.com]

OMG, hilarious! Absolutely brilliant, hon! I loved the structure and the details (Twink Hunt!!! *wheeze*) and oh, man the dialogue -- the whole thing is just wonderfully done, start to finish. Thanks!

[lexzilla.livejournal.com]

YAY. I'm so pleased you liked it. Also that you found it funny so it wasn't just me laughing at my own jokes! *g* Awesome. THANK YOU so much. And thanks again for sorting everything.

[indusnm.livejournal.com]

Great story! I loved that their dates went so horribly at first, but that Jensen could laugh and move on.

Like I said, amazing job, and I can't wait to read more.

[indusnm.livejournal.com]

By more, I should explain I meant big_bang in general. This is an awesome venture and everyone is doing so well at it!

[machinistm.livejournal.com]

You had me at Twink Hunt! Awesomely hilarious and fun, and I love the format. Brilliant job!

[lexzilla.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much :D

[fleshflutter.livejournal.com]

Oh my goodness, this was so adorable and funny and warm, and your Jared is unbelievably cute, and suited so well to your Jensen, and I am totally in love with this fic, and its beautiful artwork. ♥

[lexzilla.livejournal.com]

Aww. Thank you so much :D
gwentastic went over & above with the art. *g* I kept getting so excited every time I saw a new piece.

[blincolin.livejournal.com]

OMG some of the details in this made me laugh so hard I had to leave my computer screen for a bit.

Well done, this is hilarious!

(And, um, the thing, with the underwear? And it ripping off? Couldn't breathe.)

[lexzilla.livejournal.com]

Yay. To hear that the funny stuff worked is the best compliment I can get. THANK YOU so much :D

(Man, if only it happened in Supernatural!)

[cormallen.livejournal.com]

This was so much fun to read! I loved the awkward, dorky, still fanboy at heart Jared, and oh, god, Twink Hunt! *dies of laughter*

[lexzilla.livejournal.com]

*g* If only that was his next project!

Thank you so much :D

[iyalode.livejournal.com]

Hilarious. Jared is a ginormous dork who is simply unstoppable and no wonder Jensen caved. Utter fun and pleasure to read.

[lexzilla.livejournal.com]

LOL. That would have made a great summary :D
Thank you so much!

[lycaness.livejournal.com]

What a great story. Jared's so sweet and really funny when drunk.
Jared and Chad went on such an amazing journey, from film geeks to successful in the business.
I really liked this story and your insight into what makes a good film was so spot on, some directors and writers could take some hints from you. ;)
Jensen's lovely, so shy and unsure but totally willing to say 'no, this isn't what I want' if the need arises. Good he learned from previous drama's, I guess Chris had a lot to do with that.
A great fic, with brilliant characters. Loved it. :D

[lexzilla.livejournal.com]

*blushes*

Yay. I'm glad you noticed that Jensen is a little bruised rather than broken. I wasn't sure if that read the way it did in my head. And I'm really pleased you enjoyed it. THANK YOU so much :D

[vorpalblades.livejournal.com]

I was hooked from the beginning because, let's face it, everything's better with Udo Kier. :D But seriously, you created this beautiful and realistic universe (plus, your little nods to Jensen's tried-and-true stories were awesome), and I loved every bit of it. And your art was awesome too.

[lexzilla.livejournal.com]

LOL. That's so true! I can't think of how many utterly awful films I've watched for that man & still had so much fun.

Yay. I'm so glad you enjoyed it. And I agree that gwentastic's stuff was fantastic. THANK YOU so much :D

Is it sad to say that after I read (loved) yours, I imagined your Jared & Jensen watching a my Jared & Jensen film? *geeks out*

[spae.livejournal.com]

This was lovely to read ... I smiled through enormous parts of it - and had to go and thank your artist, you were hella lucky to get someone inspired to complement your fic the way she did ...

The slow burn of the J2 storyline was lovely - and so nice that Jensen would be exactly the way you portrayed him, and Jared being all Tarantino-esque - even down to the crazy energy and total geekness - yet totally Jared. I totally cracked up at his moping and how you rectified it ...

(And because I am a sucker for protective!Chris - THANK YOU!!!!! *smishes you* ♥♥♥)

Awesome story. Kudos and thanks for putting it out there to be enjoyed!

[lexzilla.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah. gwentastic just went above and beyond. She is awesome.

Hee. Chris being all "grrr" over Jensen is totally one of my fic kinks too ♥ I'm so pleased you enjoyed it. THANK YOU :D

[estei.livejournal.com]

This is so awesome! I love it! The sarcasm, the actual movies, Chad! Mike and Tom!

*squee*

[lexzilla.livejournal.com]

Yay. I'm glad you liked it. Thank you so much :D

[peach-gurl.livejournal.com]

Okay, that was the cutest thing ever! I really, really loved your Twink Hunt trailer, just the image of Jensen "sweaty and shirtless and suffering humiliations in a Filipino prison before he has to seduce his way out" makes me love you forever and ever. Don't even get me started on how cute Jared was!

[lexzilla.livejournal.com]

Hee. It was almost a wish list of Jensen roles. Glad you enjoyed it. THANK YOU :D

[the_milky_way]

Awesome. :D
I laughed a lot and I really like the whole voice of the story.

The boys and girls,the dorkiness, the gang in general... all of them are hilarious.
*g*

[lexzilla.livejournal.com]

THANK YOU so much. I'm really pleased that the funny worked for you :D

[cjmarlowe.livejournal.com]

Jared as a non-douchey Tarantino! Oh, this is brilliant, just brilliant! I love the way the story is structured, and Jensen's whole backstory and career path, and just everything. :D

[lexzilla.livejournal.com]

LOL. A "non-douchey Tarantino" is exactly how I was picturing him! But with better film making skills ;-)

I'm so pleased you like it. Thank you ♥

[smidgy06.livejournal.com]

Holy crap, this was freaking amazing. I loved the characters and the voices you gave them. Just ... Everything. Bloody wow.

[lexzilla.livejournal.com]

*blushes*

I'm glad you liked it. THANK YOU :D

[nachekana.livejournal.com]

What a great fic, I really enjoyed reading it! I remember reading the summary on the big bang page a while ago and thinking it was a good damn idea. This totally lived to my expectations! I really love how it starts, with Jared and Chad being all dorky and acting like fanboys (I laughed a lot reading about the debates at the convention... And Jared and Chad getting all excited, that totally reminds me of, well, me and my friend when we decided to go to our first Supernatural convention!). And the photo shot, with Jensen being all shy... *dies of cuteness overdose*

Jared's shitty dates cracked me up. In real life, nothing's perfect, right? I love how you used the interviews to tell us what happened between the two parts and in the future. So, really awesome fic! I have to go and say how much I loved the art now, because it completes your fic so well!

[lexzilla.livejournal.com]

Yay. I'm so glad you liked it. Jared and his bad dates was so much fun to write. He really doesn't want them to go wrong, but just can't help being distracted by shiny things.

Man, you've got to go to a con! So cool. Did you get to meet the boys?

Thank you for the lovely feedback ♥