Kim Manners--We will miss you

Via missyjack :

Jim Beaver just posted on his MySpace.

Jim is in mourning for one of the best friends and best directors he's ever known--Kim Manners, who died last night from lung cancer

I'm like...in total and complete SHOCK.  I had no idea he was ill.  If it weren't for the Jim Beaver source, I'd so be doubting this right now.  I'm still not so sure.  Although Kim's Wikipedia entry has 25 Jan 2009 as a death date.

ETA:  From Wikipedia:  After directing the first episode of the fourth season, he learned he had lung cancer. He died in Los Angeles, California, on January 25, 2009.

I am still having trouble even absorbing this fact.  I kept hoping we'd get Kim on a panel some day at a convention.  He was my favorite SPN director.

When I first read Jim's words I kept thinking--who is this "other guy" with the name of Kim Manners?  Because my brain just couldn't wrap around the idea that it was our Kim Manners.





ETA2:  Still trying to absorb this.  mrsr58  posted this interview with Kim that I've included below.  One of the inner circle, original members of the SPN family.  M used the right words to describe this--I'm crushed.  I keep remembering hearing Jensen talk about their first experience having Kim direct "Dead in the Water" (which I just re-watched yesterday.)  Jensen was so expansive in his appreciation of Kim's talent.

Also Kim's entry from Super-Wiki.

ETA3:  And a post by missyjack on Kim from a while back. 

From that post:  "It became clear through interviews with the cast and crew that Kim was an incredible influence and presence on that series behind the scenes. It was the first time that I became aware of the way a director and producer could shape a show."

I totally agree with MJ's statement.  It was also the first time I became aware of the influence of a director.

And here's missyjack's first post of this news.

Kripke talks about Kim's passing...

Posted here by hanncoll .


More context at the post above.  But from Kripke:

"Everyone at 'Supernatural' is walking around in a daze, shocked and absolutely devastated.  Kim was a brilliant director; more than that, he was a mentor and friend.  He was one of the patriarchs of the family, and we miss him desperately.  He gave so much to 'Supernatural,' and everything we do on the show, now and forever, is in memory of him."

ETA:  An additional statement from a writer/producer of X-Files:  (an excerpt)  "Kim had a blazing intensity that inspired everyone -- writers, producers, actors and crew. "Kick it in the ass!" he'd say to us. And "I love you," really meaning it."

You all remember the S2 gagreel where during the filming of Heart Jared kept saying to Kim "I love you."  "I love you, Kim."  I wonder now if that was in semi-joking response to what Frank says in the quote above was Kim's habit of saying "I love you" to cast/crew of his shows (and meaning it.)

"We spend way too much time with each other not to enjoy each others' company"

This is the kind of person I want to work for.

Kim Manners you were a gem and will be very missed.

“We spend way too much time with each other not to enjoy each others' company.”  Kim Manners quoted by Jensen, Summer 2008.

Jim on Kim

From here (via post here by sam_dean ):

"It is with extraordinarily heavy heart that I report the death last night, Jan. 25, of my friend Kim Manners. I first met Kim when he directed me in an episode of The X-Files, for which he was a major figure in the appeal of that show, its look, style, and movement. I thought, in that few days, that I had found one of the great directors I’d ever worked with, and a mensch of the first order. Little did I know.

Several years later, I ended up with a recurring role on Supernatural, where Kim was both an executive producer and a principal director. I have never had such fun working with a director, and Kim became a dear friend….He was an AMAZING director, who knew everything I can imagine a director might need or want to know about directing television. And he was one of the very best people, one of the very best friends, a person might ever want to have….

Rest in peace, chum."    Jim Beaver

ETA:  And from the original post from Jim from here (via hanncoll  here):

"He was the willing butt of the enormous humor on that set, most of it from the two leads, Jensen ... and Jared ..., who delighted in tormenting him, and he was as good at giving it as taking it."