‘Supernatural’ TV star talks about his role in latest installment of legendary slasher series

Jared Padalecki plays Clay Miller in the “re-imagining” of “Friday the 13th,” which opens tomorrow. Clay is searching the area of Camp Crystal Lake for his younger sister who has gone missing after her camping trip with a few friends.

Padalecki also stars in the CW’s hit series “Supernatural,” which may have inhibited his preparation for the film.

“We stopped shooting ‘Supernatural’ on April 28th,” Padalecki said. “On April 29th, we started shooting ‘Friday the 13th.’ I had no time to change over and try to familiarize myself with the role.”

Although Padalecki hadn’t seen the full finished product by the time of the interview, he said he’s always been a big fan of the “Friday the 13th” series.

“I was a fan of the movie when I was a kid, and I get to go head-to-head with Jason in this one,” Padalecki said. “The 20-minute part that I saw was amazing. I just kept thinking, ‘This is cool, this is scary.’ It’s better than it needs to be, and it’s scary loud.”

He said he never thought he’d be a part of the series growing up, but when he heard about the latest film from the same team who re-created “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” he knew he had to try to be a part of it. Once he saw his co-star Derek Mears as Jason, he was instantly drawn in.

“He’s a big dude and an athlete,” Padalecki said. “His height and athleticism just scream, ‘I’m bigger than you and faster than you.'”

Once Mears was in costume as Jason, Padalecki knew the character would be scary.

“In this movie, it’s not the slow, fat Jason,” He said. “He’s fit and capable, and he just lives in the woods. That’s creepy in itself: He lives in the woods. The most exciting part for me was the mask and the size.”

With such inspiration, Padalecki said acting scared was not a challenge for him, even when he knew what was coming.

“There’s definitely a technique to acting scared,” Padalecki said. “It’s hard to be scared, so it’s a little interesting, but there’s so much done after I’m done shooting that make everything I did almost new.”

He said he did some of the fight scenes but left the major stunts to the professionals.

He said he wasn’t sure how they’d come up with different kills, “but they did it.” Amidst the new and innovative kills, Padalecki refused to offer any details on his own death in the movie (if there even is one), but he did say he was sometimes superstitious.

“I’m a little superstitious, not big time,” he said. “But I can’t fly on Friday the 13th. One time I had to fly on Friday the 13th, and I just flew the next day. That’s the appeal of the movie. There’s still an aura on the day.”

Contact all reporter Robert Checkal at [email protected].