‘Gilmore Girls’: Scott Patterson Once Gave Jared Padalecki ‘a Talking to’ on Set
Gilmore Girls marked the beginning of Jared Padalecki’s career. After playing Dean, Padalecki went on to 15 seasons of Supernatural, many movies and now Walker. Now, Padalecki recalls an important career lesson he got on the set of Gilmore Girls. It was co-star Scott Patterson, who set him straight.
Padalecki appeared on Patterson’s I Am All In podcast on Oct. 5. While reminiscing about old times on the Gilmore Girls set, Padalecki reminded Patterson of the talking to he once gave him.
Jared Padalecki was still a teenager when ‘Gilmore Girls’ began
Padalecki had done one movie before beginning Gilmore Girls. He was just out of high school and recognizes that he wasn’t his most professional.
“I turned 18 a couple months into it,” Padalecki said on I Am All In. “But, I was doing something, probably being some little b****. I don’t remember what it was. But you were like, ‘Hey, I want to talk to you for a sec.’ And I was like, ‘All right.’ You walked me into the school, the school there in Stars Hollow and you just kind of took your glasses off and you kind of gave me a little talking to.”
Scott Patterson made a difference in Jared Padalecki’s career
Padalecki no longer remembers the details, but what Patterson said to him stuck with him for the rest of his career.
Again, I don’t know if you remember it, I have no idea what it was about. But you gave me just enough of a talking to where I was like yeah, right. It kind of reminded me because at that time I was just playing. I was doing the same stuff I would do in high school rehearsing for a play or something. The message I remember was hey, we’re working here. I remember going, ‘I needed that right here right now at this age. If I want to make a career out of this, I have to remember we’re not just playing. Someone, the studio or network are spending millions of dollars for us to be here and do this.’
Jared Padalecki, I Am All In podcast, 10/5/22
Jared Padalecki hasn’t changed too much since ‘Gilmore Girls’
To be clear, Padalecki can still have fun on set. He just learned to focus.
“I’ve remained a goofball on set,” Padalecki said. “I get away with it a little bit more now but I think I was never a jerk but I think I was probably goofing around just enough for you to bring me aside, you’d obviously done years of work, and just tell me, ‘Hey, tone it down a little bit’ or whatever you said. I don’t remember, I just remember this feeling of that’s right, this is a job. All these people are doing a job. So that was good so thank you. I don’t know if you remember. It was 22 years ago.”
Patterson remembers that lecture, too. But, his overall memories of Padalecki are fun.
“The things I remember most about you on set were our discussions about training and you wanted to gain weight,” Patterson said. “I just remember, I was like you when I was a kid, just tall and skinny, couldn’t gain any weight, ate like a horse, worked out like a fiend. Couldn’t gain any weight, I was concerned about it. I didn’t really know what to say to you other than just enjoy it while it lasts because it ain’t going to last but it looks like in your case it lasted.”
