Jared Padalecki Tried to Negotiate Himself Out of 'Walker': Here's Why He Failed
Apparently, sometimes your employer can simply be willing to accept any condition you can come up with.
'Walker ' star Jared Padalecki was actually doing his best to negotiate himself out of the titular role, entertaining the idea of retiring from acting entirely – but, as we can see, he never managed to do that.
Speaking on 'Inside of You' with Michael Rosenbaum, Padalecki recalled the times when he was developing 'Walker', planning to only be responsible for creating the story and exec producing the show, not star in it. And he had a strategy to make The CW executives ditch his candidacy as the titular actor.
"I was like: you know, frankly, I live in Austin, it'd have to be in Austin, and he's like: 'I understand that'", Padalecki said, revealing the conditions he had for signing up as a star. "And I was like: well, you know, I would need to be involved creatively, not just saying the words that are written on page, but, like, directing the storyline. He's like: absolutely!"
Padalecki continued, saying that he then requested a day or two off filming every episode, and the network was still okay with that, responding with nothing but "Of course, we want you to be with your family!"
"And I was like – Jesus Christ, I can't negotiate myself out of this deal!" Jared laughed.
Unsurprisingly, he accepted the deal and became a star on 'Walker', while also enjoying the creative freedom to do what he wanted with the story, casting and directing.
And it looks like Padalecki doesn't regret it, saying that he is "proud" to be the part of the show and its upcoming prequel that is going to explore the story of other characters, not Cordell Walker. So this time, Jared won't have to do the acting… unless The CW comes up with something even more enticing to offer.