Azazel (Supernatural) - Development

Development

Though the writers modeled Azazel's personality after Al Pacino's demonic sense of humor in the film The Devil's Advocate, they gave actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan free rein over the character's mannerisms for "Devil's Trap". Only directed to "be different from John", Morgan changed his voice and mimicked Jack Nicholson's "freaky" speech pattern from The Shining. This "Nicholson-esque quality" continues with actor Fredric Lehne. Though uncertain of why he was specifically sought out—Lehne chalks it up to his previous working experience with executive producers Kim Manners and Robert Singer—the role was offered to him without an audition. The actor avoided copying Morgan's portrayal, but noted that the writing "lends itself to doing it in a certain way". Since Azazel changes human hosts periodically, Lehne's initial appearance in the second season premiere, "In My Time of Dying", was intended to be a one-time deal. Thoroughly impressed, however, the show runners kept him for the season finale. A minor scheduling conflict forced him to film his scenes with Morgan in "All Hell Breaks Loose, Part Two" a month apart using green screen. Despite the character's death, Lehne returned to the role in the sixth season premiere as a hallucination.

A dream sequence in "All Hell Breaks Loose" hints at Mary Winchester's connection to Azazel. Although the writers intended to address this in the third season, it was pushed back to the fourth season episode "In the Beginning" due to the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. Mitch Pileggi was asked by Kripke to enact this revelation—the two had previously worked together on the series Tarzan—and the actor accepted because Kim Manners and much of the Supernatural crew had also worked on The X-Files. While Pileggi emulated Lehne's performance, he also tried to "put his own spin on it".

Morgan, Lehne, and actress Lindsey McKeon wore hard, colored contact lenses during their portrayals of Azazel. The lenses eventually became painful, and would greatly obscure their vision. The production crew placed sandbags on the floor to help Morgan and Lehne locate their marks, and a grip held Lehne's hand as he walked around a campfire in "All Hell Breaks Loose". McKeon's brief scene in "In My Time of Dying"—she touches actor Jensen Ackles' forehead—took nine takes to film because she kept missing. Although Pileggi was fitted for the lenses, production ultimately added the effect digitally at "appropriate moments".