I love "Supernatural" - it is a great show, with awesome
writing and special effects. What I most love about it, however, are the
actors. They really make it great. Misha Collins plays angel
Castiel, one of the stars of the show for the past few years. As
you can see, he's gorgeous, and on the show (and on the phone) he's very
funny with a dry wit.
Misha is very
active on Twitter and has started his own charity.
Go to his website
and you can see his video and learn about the upcoming charity run he is
doing. You can
pledge money,
like I did, to help people and pay it forward. Our chat was mostly
about the charity and the run (I only had about ten minutes).
I would have liked to asked him more. For
instance, I was curious about his voice...it's much higher on the phone
than in the show. I was also fascinated to read that he was an
intern in the Clinton Whitehouse. Well, there's always next time,
I hope!
I was having a little trouble understanding him on the
tape, particularly at the beginning, but I think I got most of it
here....hopefully without misquoting him too much.
Suzanne Lanoue: Well, thank you for talking to
me.
Misha Collins: Thank you for talking to me!
Suzanne Lanoue: Let me tell you that I have watched every episode
of "Supernatural" since it started, and it's one of my favorite shows.
Misha Collins: Oh, wow!
Suzanne Lanoue: I love your character, and you do a great job. I
also follow you on Twitter! I have for a while, though, but I'm not
stalking you! (laughs)
Misha Collins: You're certainly in the loop here.
Suzanne Lanoue: I don't always understand what you're saying on
Twitter, but...
Misha Collins: I rarely do myself.
Suzanne Lanoue: (laughs)
Misha Collins: That's a sign of emotional health not to
understand what I'm saying, so...
Suzanne Lanoue: It's great how you are able to use Twitter to
connect with fans and to help you raise money.
Misha Collins: Yeah. It's pretty cool. I'm looking forward to
seeing how this evolves.
Suzanne Lanoue: How did you get this idea to start this charity?
Misha Collins: I guess, it's a little bit like what you were
touching on just now, it was kind of an effort to connect with and
collaborate with the followers a little more...it seems like I wanted to
find some way to take advantage of the opportunity to bring people into
doing something nice.
I want to feel like I'm doing something meaningful with my
time when I can. As much fun as I have on Twitter, there is a nagging
element in my conscience saying, "yes, but why are you doing this?
What's the point?" Maybe this is just to ease my guilty conscience a
little bit. I've actually been really enjoying myself putting this
together, so....I don't know.
Suzanne Lanoue: How long have you been running? You look like you
know what you're doing.
Misha Collins: I've been running for a long time, but I've never
been a long, ultra-long distance runner. I've run a few marathons, but
I've never run more than a marathon. You know, there are people who run
across the Gobi desert. There are people out there who have unbelievable
endurance. I've really been daunted by the prospect of running all day.
(something I missed her) I'm just counting myself lucky that I'm not
doing a 1,000 mile run.
Suzanne Lanoue: So has it been tough to train for this run?
Misha Collins: I've been running more than usual in the last
couple of months. About as much as I can. I've done a couple of weekends
where I've done 8 hours of running over the weekend.
Suzanne Lanoue: Doing any of the Rocky thing of running up the
stairs at the library? (laughs)
Misha Collins: It gets a little boring after a while. I'm
actually looking forward to being done with this long run. The training
and running really takes a lot of time.
Suzanne Lanoue: Yeah, I can imagine.
Misha Collins: Are you a runner?
Suzanne Lanoue: No, I'm barely a walker! (laughs) My husband runs
a lot just to keep the weight off...he hates it, though.
Misha Collins: Right. That's actually the biggest perk to
running. When you're running a lot, you can eat a lot. It's very
gratifying.
Suzanne Lanoue: Well, you're younger. (laughs) When you get
older, your metabolism changes, and then, ha ha! How did you
decide what kind of pay-it-forward things to do?
Misha Collins: Well, we've actually put together the website and
the events we've done quite quickly, in the video - those were all done
in the past six weeks or so. As we move forward, I think we will have a
little more time and resources available to us to a little bit more
meticulously and having an eye towards more fun while we're doing it. We
tried to identify people who - some of the people. I don't know if you
got a chance to see the video?
Suzanne Lanoue: Yes, I have.
Misha Collins: The kid there that we bought shoes for? He was
just someone we met on the street, who looked like he could use a new
pair of shoes. Clearly not a well-to-do kid. some of the other things we
did...we gave a computer to a poor family; we gave a mattress and new
Barca loungers to an elderly couple that needed furniture. Those
recipients were people who had done a lot for their communities and were
generous people but had very little themselves. That was kind of a
criteria we were looking at. we wanted to do kind things for people who
were doing kind things for others but weren't really taking care of
themselves, or didn't have the resources to take care of themselves.
We're also trying to have fun with it, have it be an irreverent and
delightful process for everybody involved.
Suzanne Lanoue: That makes sense. Do you have a committee or some
group there that decides these things?
Misha Collins: We have a committee, we have an organization.... I
am shocked by how well these things are being run, through absolutely no
fault of my own. We actually have a proper functioning, tax-exempt,
non-profit organization. We have a board of directors, we have a
committee in charge of web development and fund-raising, it's really
well-organized.
Suzanne Lanoue: How long did it take you to pull that together?
Misha Collins: Fairly quickly. It started with one woman, Lisa
Walker. I kind of mentioned in passing on Twitter a year ago, "Hey, we
should try to get some stimulus money from the U.S. government. How do
we go about doing that?" I don't have time to read all of the replies
that I get on my Twitter feed, but I happened to see one that day from a
woman that said, "Well, I'm a grant writer for a non-profit, so if you
need any advice, let me know." And I responded to her, and eventually we
exchanged email addresses and spoke on the phone. Together, she and I
have spearheaded setting this all up.
Misha Collins: She's been a great springboard, and it was really
cool. We just happened to find each other like that.
Suzanne Lanoue: Yeah, that sounds pretty awesome. Twitter's just
amazing that way.
Misha Collins: Yes, it's really kinda cool.
Suzanne Lanoue: Do you have plans for more runs or other events
after this one?
Misha Collins: No, nothing concrete, but I'll probably do
something again next year. Another event of some sort.
Suzanne Lanoue: I did pledge, so, don't run too far! (laughs)
Misha Collins: Okay, well then I'll have to be nicer to you.
Suzanne Lanoue: (Laughs) Are you getting any of your fellow
actors involved?
Misha Collins: I haven't yet. This has been kind of a whirlwind
and coming together very quickly, so I really haven't been reaching out
beyond the online community yet. I'm about to, though. Yeah, it would be
great to get them. I really haven't tried to work that into the fold
yet...
Suzanne Lanoue: Yes, I follow Jim Beaver and he's on Twitter all
the time.
Misha Collins: I'm thinking maybe we'll do something meaningful,
but something else? I have to get with them.
Suzanne Lanoue: I think Alyssa Milano is into a lot of charity
stuff and she's on Twitter all the time.
Misha Collins: That's true. She does some pretty good
fundraising....yes, I should email her. She also has like a million
followers on Twitter.
Suzanne Lanoue: Yeah, she does. Ha ha!
Misha Collins: Although she's so constantly posting fund-raising
things online, I don't know if anyone pays attention out there after a
while. But I will email her, that's a good idea.
Suzanne Lanoue: What about the other guys from Supernatural?
Misha Collins: Yeah, I don't know. I haven't yet.
Suzanne Lanoue: Will we see a lot of Castiel in the upcoming
season?
Misha Collins: Yes, you will, and we'll see Castiel in a slightly
different capacity than we've seen him in the past. He's gonna be a
little bit less the sidekick in the back of the impala and a little bit
more a man on his own mission. Castiel is bringing order to heaven and
keeping that civil war from spilling out over into the earthly realm.
Sam and Dean are occupied with their own problems earthside, so it's a
very different dynamic. Their relationship is very different this year.
Castiel certainly has a pivotal role. I don't want to say much more
without ruining it for anyone.
Page updated 4/14/15




