OSRIC CHAU: (Laughs) That is, potentially, a spoiler. I think he will always be in advanced placement at whatever he does. I think all those kids in advanced placement, what they’re good at is learning and in life you should be learning always. Whether it’s in school or at work. Whether you’re doing hobbies. You’re always constantly learning so that’s one of Kevin Tran’s big things. He’s good at learning and he’ll continue to do that whatever he’s doing. - See more at: http://www.fearnet.com/news/interview/exclusive-osric-chau-kevin-tran-advanced-placement-and-supernatural%E2%80%99s-eighth-season#sthash.hRMFKO9h.dpuf
FEARNET: Tell me a little bit about what it was like to come on late in Season 7 of this hugely popular show with all these already-established characters and have to pull off a really important role. Were you terrified?
OC: You know, I had no idea what I was getting into and I probably still don’t. One: I didn’t know the extent of the fan base of this show. Two: Any time you go into a TV series, especially one that’s been running this long (this is eight years – a lot of these people have been working together for that long), it’s kind of like you’re walking into someone else’s living room. They have hundreds and hundreds of inside jokes and, on this set in particular, they like to have a lot of fun. So the first few days, I couldn’t tell when anyone was joking or serious. And now I know that they’re always joking. It was kind of terrifying because I didn’t want to step on anyone’s toes. I didn’t know if, you know, “They’re doing that. Should I join in?” It was a lot of really weird situations and that’s because Jensen and Jared just cannot control themselves sometimes, I think. (Laughs) After eight years of working on that show, you do kind of have fun with it.
OC: It’s great. To be a regular on any show is a great thing for an actor and this show in particular is so much fun to be around. Just to be on set. It is like another family that you get to go to everyday. Everyone is really cool to hang out with and it’s very comfortable. It’s just so much fun. Every day we get to do different things. The nature of the show just allows us to have a lot of cool sets and props to play with so it’s definitely a fun one to be a part of. - See more at: http://www.fearnet.com/news/interview/exclusive-osric-chau-kevin-tran-advanced-placement-and-supernatural%E2%80%99s-eighth-season#sthash.hRMFKO9h.dpuf
FEARNET: Were you a Supernatural fan and viewer before you got to play Kevin or was this kind of your introduction to the show?
OC: This was my introduction to the show. I mean, I’d heard of it before just because it’s been shooting in Vancouver all these years and I’m from Vancouver, but I hadn’t seen it before. I’ve watched a handful of episodes now, but there’s a lot to watch. At some point, I will get around to watching all of them.
FEARNET: How did that affect the way you approached the character?
OC: That was a decision I made after I got the role. Usually I would go back and watch everything – especially for a character of this size – but because the Kevin character was an outsider as well, I decided that I wouldn’t. That way, I could just sort of figure things out the same way Kevin has to. It would have taken a lot more work to learn everything and then forget about it for my character.
FEARNET: Is there a different feel, or new sense of urgency, to this season as opposed to last season?
OC: It does for me. I’m still trying to figure that out. It might be due to the fact that last season I came on at the end of the season and now I’m starting at the beginning of the season. The mentality on set is different. You can tell that everyone is a lot more laid back right now. And the story feels more like a quest this season. It kind of reminds me a lot of the role-playing games we used to play. There are all these characters and you’re picking up puzzles and pieces and meeting new people that point you along in the right direction. That’s what it feels like right now.
FEARNET: What was it like shooting that final scene with the big, huge bone sticking out of Dick Roman’s neck?
OC: That was so much fun to film. The bone was real so he actually walking around all day with the bone in his neck. (Laughs) The first time I saw him, I was like “Woah, that looks really good!” And then they start pumping the blood. Yeah, anytime we get to play with props on set, it’s so much fun.
“When I first started off, I was aware of the show but only because I’m a Vancouver resident. You see them all over the place as an actor in Vancouver. I think this was the first and only time I had auditioned for Supernatural, which was kind of odd, but I guess they didn’t have many Asian characters to audition for, prior,” Chau said, adding, “So my first instinct was I’m going to watch as much of it as I could and then I realized how much there was to watch and then I started to shy away. Then I rationalized myself: ‘Well, Kevin’s kind of new to the Supernatural world, it might serve me that I don’t watch all of it right away.’”
What episode did he watch to prepare for his role? The answer might surprise you.
“Before my audition I did watch one episode – which probably wasn’t the best episode to get a feel for the show – I watched “Party on Garth.” It worked out but now I know it probably wasn’t a good one to start off with,” Chau said with a laugh.
“It really does feel like winning the lottery. It’s like [I wonder], what did I do to deserve this? It’s crazy. You do a show and going into it, I didn’t think anything of it. Originally, I declined it because [I thought] this was going to be a really stereotypical character and probably not going to put it in my reel,” Chau revealed. “Then it became this whole new thing. One, they didn’t kill me so that was a huge bonus. They brought me back and they really developed the character, which is crazy. I don’t know if it [would be] with any other show that any of this would have happened: me getting so involved with the fans, going to conventions. This probably wouldn’t have happened with any other show. And it’s just been the nicest surprise and I never forget to remind myself how lucky I am. It’s an amazing community that I’m so grateful to be a part of.”
“He’s still a kid and he has this ability that he can decipher things on stones sometimes, but everything else is the same,” Chau said. “I don’t think Kevin sees himself – in any way, shape or form – special. [Reading the Tablets] was a homework assignment that was assigned to him and that’s how he sees it, not that he’s special and he has to be a Prophet or anything.”
Kevin had some rough times this season, but even when he was strung out, Chau still thought of him as a student.
“This is his parallel to the life he [had] before. He’s studying something different but deadlines are tight and he has to get it done. There’s a lot on the line for him. It used to be for his own world – for academics – and now it’s a world problem. It’s more than just him so he has to be strung out, he has to get it done because he can’t fail this test. So the importance of it is probably the same for him.”
“As much as I would love Kevin to have a stronger story arc, I feel that the way the show is going now – unless they really set it up for the end of the season – I just feel like it would come out of nowhere. I guess this is me developing as an actor – before I would’ve loved my character to do everything and be the best and be the main [attraction], but at the end of the day this is a collaboration. We’re trying to make a good TV show and I can’t be that selfish to think that Kevin deserves to be front and center for everything,” Chau said.
At the time, Chau was talking about where Kevin was before “Holy Terror” aired, but it’s interesting to see now how his words kind of came true.
“So to serve the purpose, I think Kevin is honestly in a great position. He’s not front and center, which is probably why he has survived for so long. He’s there but he’s not in your face [making the writers wonder] ‘Are we going to keep him or are we going to kill him?’ because usually it’s kill him.”
“I love Mark,” Chau said. “I talk to Mark the most on set – or he talks to me the most on set. I love watching Mark work, and because I’m so passionate about learning everything about filmmaking, you really see that in Mark. When he goes on set he’ll look at the script and say, ‘Okay, for the light team I’m going to turn this way’ and he’ll talk to every department. So he does his job in a way that it makes everyone else’s job easier and I love that. He’s so knowledgeable in how the whole process works, technical aspects as well. He’s directed, he’s produced his own stuff as well. Mark is a big role model for me, he’s got a crazy history. He’s done so much and yet I think Supernatural is that one [show] that really boosted his career. And the Crowley character, it really embodies who Mark is. So being able to watch Mark as Crowley has been an absolute pleasure.”
http://insidetv.ew.com/2013/12/19/supernatural-boss-on-mid-season-shocker-what-comes-next/
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: So, is Kevin’s death going to stick? JEREMY CARVER: I know it’s going to hurt. And it’s with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to Kevin. With any luck, being Supernatural, there will be a way to perhaps see him sometime down the line, but it’s with a very heavy heart that we see Kevin be murdered.
Talk to me about the decision to do this and how it propels the characters’ arcs going forward. We were saying from the beginning of the season that Dean has made two very big decisions here. One was at the end of last season when he convinced Sam not to close the gates of hell and the beginning of this season making the decision to essentially trick Sam into accepting the angel Ezekiel — who was actually the angel Gadreel. But he made these two crucial decisions that affected the boys’ mythology and to watch particularly the second one turn into a heartbreaking failure is really what’s going to be driving Dean from here on out in the season, starting with he’s going to do whatever it takes to track down this angel and eject him from Sam. And that’s going to lead him to making alliances that he never thought he’d be forced to make. But he’ll do anything, basically, to try to right what he, I guess, considers one of the biggest mistakes he’s ever made.
How does Dean deal with it emotionally? They were best buddies and he was extremely broken up about it at the end. It really does break him up — frankly, as it did us. Kevin has become a really beloved character on this show and like I said, it’s with a heavy heart that we did this but sometimes you have to go where the story goes. And Dean finds himself, I think, a bit unmoored by this with really no one but himself to blame. And as we know, Dean’s go-to is blaming himself anyway. And the fact that he’s right this time, hits him hard. And I think we’ll find him struggling with this for quite a few episodes. Now, I think things get serious, tense, sad and people get angry. But I don’t think in any shape or form that things get mired in sadness. It’s not like we’ve thrown a 600-pound weight on this. Things are kept moving and brisk. You can throw a pity party all you’d like but there’s always a monster around the corner waiting to be killed. The last thing we’re going to do is, whether he wants to or not, no one is going to get a chance to drown his sorrows. That’s where the unlikely alliances come in and people pulling Dean out of this come into play. They keep things moving and keep it interesting, compelling.
At the end of the episode, Gadreel takes off in Sam’s body. So are we going to see Sam’s body and Dean go their separate ways? That’s a little tricky in that we have people on different paths. We’ve got Sam who’s being possessed and essentially taken over by Gadreel, an angel who’s done this horrible thing. And we’re going to reveal that Gadreel is more complex than we even may have presented him now….I think we’re going to see Gadreel put through his pieces a bit mmre by Metatron in terms of going down a dark path.
I think Jared has done a wonderful job playing the role and I think the real fun thing we find in episode nine that Jared hasn’t just been playing two roles, he has, in essence, been playing three. So that’s a lot of fun to see this other side come out as well. And Jensen has done a wonderful job playing against this. So that’s really what driving the mythology of the boys when we come back.
Castiel has his powers back. Tell me about what’s next for him. You’re going to see that Castiel, now an angel, is going to find himself in this angelic frame more than ever and this might be a little bit of a case of be careful what you wish for. Now that he’s an angel again, he’s going to have to find his place in this angelic battle, and it may not be the place he imagined for himself, which is going to confront him with some choices he perhaps never thought he’d have to make. So he’s right back in the fire, as it were.
In terms of the standalone episodes, what’s coming up? It’s going to be really interesting. It’s going to be a combination of introducing some really really wonderful new characters into the mythology while also seeing a lot more of some of our favorite friends returning in the back half. For example, Dean’s journeys will lead him to an encounter with none other than Cain [guest star Tim Omundson] of Cain and Abel and that will open up a whole new branch of mythology for the show that is going to have significant impact on the rest of the season and throughout the series. That’s a very exciting new story vein we’re opening up. And we’re going to get an answer to where the heck Garth (DJ Qualls) has been this whole time and viewers will remember he sort of went AWOL when put in charge of guarding Kevin back in season 8 and we’ll answer this question, and I think it will be surprising. And there will be hugs. I think we can rest assured we’ll be seeing the return of The Ghostfacers. They will be making a return in what actually is a really fun and pretty emotional episode. And we’re going to do a heck of a lot of digging into the men of letter’s lore. We’re going to be going even deeper into that and introducing new characters and taking a deeper look at some men of letters characters we’ve even met before. That’s a storyline that continues to pay off for us in a fun and exciting new way. Then I can tell you we’re going to see some people we absolutely did not expect to see. And it’s all a result of the events that have happened here in the last season and a half. I can’t go much more into detail than that.
I assume they’re beloved people. I think they are. I think we can say these people are beloved, yes. And I think it makes for some pretty strong stuff.
Last, I have to ask about splitting the guys up. That’s something that’s always met with some mixed reactions. Can you talk a little bit about why that was something you wanted to do at this point and how long that will be the case? We frankly go where the story takes us and the story is about two brothers who go hunting monsters in their Impala — no one is more aware of that than we are. So in the same way that some folks may have been complaining that Castiel was apart from the boys when he was human, I like to think he’s gone on a pretty interesting journey. So to cut right to it, the boys might be apart but they’re not apart that long. We’re invested in good story but we’re also not crazy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERVaO91NR8Y
"typical, overachieving high school kid"
thought was going to die in third episode (finale?)
Finished filming finale, unsure of whether asked back or would fade into background of the show.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z93IWLK5YVA
"everything that I've always tried not to be", mom wanted him to be, "funnily enough that's who I am" Reminded him of himself in high school (IB program), pressure due to high expectations from everyone.