Supernatural: Misha Collins on His Directorial Debut, That Sam T-Shirt and Getting a Pie in the Face From Jared and Jensen

We chatted with the fan favorite angel about his directorial debut and what Castiel will be up to when he pops up on the CW hit again

By Tierney Bricker Mar 25, 2014 1:30 PMTags
Supernatural, Misha Collins, Jensen Ackles Cate Cameron/The CW

Lesson of the day: never trust Supernatural's Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles around pie.

In anticipation of his directorial debut, which airs tonight at 9 p.m. on the CW, we chatted with the always entertaining Misha Collins, who revealed the pranks those "monkeys" Padalecki and Ackles pulled on him (Pie! Water balloons! Chair shenanigans!) and why he was wearing a Sam Winchester T-shirt on set. (Is he playing favorites?!)

Plus, he was kind enough to preview what Castiel, his fan favorite character, will be up to when he makes his highly anticipated return and sounded off on the chances of coming back for Season 10...

E! Online: OK, so be honest, how do you think your directorial debut went?
Collins: It went, I would say, relatively well. I mean there were moments when I was floundering and didn't know what I was doing and felt helpless. There were a couple of nights where I stayed lying awake staring at the ceiling with my heart pounding, but for the most part, it was thrilling and exciting and a very educational experience. I really enjoyed it. It's a big job...I learned a lot, gained an appreciation for the position and hope to do it again.

Castiel isn't in this episode, so you didn't have to direct yourself. Was that by choice or coincidence?
I think the intention originally was to make sure that I was not heavy in the episode, but I think that it just worked out storyline-wise that it didn't end up being a Cas episode. I think I would have liked to direct myself, you know, as opposed to Jared and Jensen, it would be nice to be working with an actor who I know I can respect and who can take direction, which I would be able to do. And obviously working with those monkeys is a challenge for any director, so that would have been nice, but that didn't pan out.

Cate Cameron/The CW

Speaking of those "monkeys," which one was harder to direct? Was there any pranks or hazing going on?
No, I wouldn't say there was any hazing. I mean, they did each throw a pie in my face while I was directing, literally, and they did peg me with water balloons and they did very delicately remove the seat on the director's chair, the traditional director's chair that folds…they sabotaged my chair so that when I sat on it, I fell to the floor. 

This sounds a little bit like hazing.
No, I think you're putting it a bit harshly...no, they totally hazed me. They tore my script out of its binding.

Give us the backstory on the pie. Did Jared and Jensen have it delivered to set?
They did. They had it delivered to set. In fact, there was a moment…when we're shooting, we have video village, which is basically where the director sits and watches the monitors  of what the cameras see and listens on the headphones, but it's not on set. It's right next to set. Jared and Jensen were waiting for the pies to be delivered to them on set, but they hadn't yet arrived. So they wanted me to stay in video village until the pies got to them. So they were stalling by Jared pretending to forget his lines during the take so that we had to keep going again and again, and Jared normally is pretty good with his dialogue. That's not a flub he normally makes and he was being so polite about it. Like he kept apologizing, saying "Oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I don't know what's wrong with me, let's try it again," which was very uncharacteristic of Jared, but I was totally duped and thought that it was real. Then they finally got it and I yelled "cut," and walked onto stage, the minute I open the door to the set, I received a pie in my face.

Some pictures of you directing were released and there was quite a stir because of what you're wearing. So let's set the record straight: why were you wearing a Sam T-shirt?
That's an excellent question. We get, in our trailers at Supernatural, a box full of fanmail at the beginning of the week. And for some reason, a fan had sent me a Jared T-shirt, which I thought was funny, so I put it on. So there you go. But I was actually glad that I had it, because I needed a change of clothes, because I had pie all over me. It ended up working out. 

Diyah Pera/The CW

We know Cas will be in four more episodes this season, so can you preview what he's up to when we see him next?
Well, Cas is continuing his hunt for Metatron, and he is continuing to be a reluctant leader of angels in his building of an army against Metatron and his chief mission is continuing to hunt and take down Metatron. So that's a brief synopsis of Cas' goings-on. 

Dean has been spending some time with Crowley, so we imagine Castiel is going to have an opinion on that.
Yes. I think, you know, Cas has never been a big Crowley fan.

OK...Castiel has also gotten to spend more time with Sam this season. We're kind of hoping Cas will act as a mediator for the brothers soon. Maybe a therapy session?
I would like to see that as well. I think Cas probably does have the skill set to be a good mediator. He does have the capacity to remain fairly emotionally detached and can easily restrain either one of them physically if they get violent, so that's handy.

Katie Yu/The CW

The show has been picked up for a 10th season. Are you currently in talks to come back?
I have not been actively engaged in any discussions about Season 10. I think that at this point, everybody is trying to figure out where the storyline wants to go for the end of this season and the beginning of next, so I think once the writers sort that out, they'll either be talking to me about that or they won't. 

Castiel has been such a cool character in that you've played so many different variations of him throughout the seasons. Is there a side of him you've yet to play that you'd want to explore in future episodes?
God, I don't know what is left other than cross-dressing Cas. He's been crazy, he's been megalomaniacal, he's been contrite, he's been self-loathing, he's been whimsical, he's been human, he's been a leviathan. I think that there's enough here that if they wanted to go back down any of those roads, there's plenty to mine. But he has not done cross-dressing yet, so that is a pretty wide-open field right there.
 
Supernatural airs tonight at 9 p.m. on the CW.