O Death

The latest issue of The Official Supernatural Magazine features an interview with Julian Richings, who played Death on the show so memorably. The following extract from the interview begins with us asking whether it was any coincidence that he had played the Grim Reaper before, in a short film entitled Dave vs. Death...

A weird coincidence. The writer/director of that has never actually seen Supernatural. I have to say, though, I have played the Grim Reaper or different versions of Death, undertakers or the Ferryman before. For Dave vs. Death, [the director] wanted me to do this jokey thing, which was much more of a sort of comment on modern corporate sensibilities. In Supernatural, there's a sense where the character's got much more to it; there's a sense of real possibilities in all sorts of directions.

Out of all the roles you've played, would you say Death is the most powerful? After all, he implies he's even more powerful than God!

Yeah, well, it's gotta be. And it's a lot of fun, too. I'm fortunate in that I get cast in a lot of idiosyncratic roles, but, yeah, I think Death pretty well caps it.

Before you were cast on Supernatural, had you followed the show or the horror genre?

I came to it relatively fresh. I mean, I've done my homework. I checked things out and tried to figure out the mythology and what's what and who's who, but no, I came fresh to the show. I like the horror genre. I've been in many horror films. I'm often the bad guy, or the guy you think is the bad guy who ends up not being the bad guy. I have a sense of the genre, but I approach each role as a different acting challenge.

Was creating your version of Death a challenge? It's such an iconic character. Did you reference any past incarnations in TV, film, or other media? Or did you do any research into people's beliefs in a supernatural creature called Death?

I went more with instinct, more with what's required for the scenes; for Death's relationship to the brothers, for instance. I've had a lot of scenes with Jensen Ackles, and for those I just figure out how I can best interact with him and give him what he needs, and then sit there and let Death get under Dean's skin. Sometimes when you do too much research you come into the project and play what you found out rather than what's pertinent to the actual scene. So I go more on instinct, go on what Jensen and Jared have for me, and how I can really make the scene work.

To continue that idea, I think what's so brilliant about the writing on Supernatural is that I've been given this nice kind of casualness and that I'm playing against type. Like the pizza and fast food stuff. There's a sense where if I can focus on something else it keeps the menace underneath the surface. So the writers have given me some gifts there and I'm just holding onto those and not coming in with too much of my own agenda.

You can read the full interview with Julian Richings in Supernatural Magazine #30 (US numbering).

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