Memento Mori: Kim Manners

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(photo from Issue Five of The Official X-Files fan mag in Caity's personal Planet Vancouver archive)


As your resident X-Files laureate, I felt it my honorable duty to reflect on the contributions of this great man.

Many of us remember Kim Manners as the namesake for Agent Manners, the “bleeping” character from the classic X-Files fan favorite, “Jose Chung’s From Outer Space.” Indeed, Kim certainly admitted to cursing a lot on set, and anyone who worked with him will recall his “colorful” vocabulary. But when I heard the news of Kim’s passing, my mind and heart instantly ran to a particular behind-the-scenes story I read a long time ago about “War of the Coprophages.”

As many will fondly remember from multiple viewings of this episode, cockroaches played a big role in the plot. Wrangling hundreds of insects and goading them into doing your bidding for the camera usually presents a special challenge to any director, but not Kim. Once, during filming, he stuck his head in a bucket of the “little sonofabitches” and said, “Now listen, you little (expletive), I’m gonna give you two cues: The first one is ‘Camera action’ and the second one is ‘Action’ That’s when you little (expletive) run to the top of the [toilet] tank.” As it turned out, they listened and did their creeping duties exactly as they were told. Kim made it work. The episode is perfect testament to that.

Another time, while Kim was directing “D.P.O”, Kim’s best friend died in a drowning accident in Mexico, and despite talk of having someone take over for him, he insisted on seeing it through.

These stories, though only a few of the many he would have told about directing The X-Files, represents to me the sheer power and dedication of Kim’s talent. Whatever he said, colorful or not, was carried out. Whatever he envisioned, with humans or not, it was done. It was done masterfully, and with a dark sense of humor that made it easy for him to reminisce about sifting through fake bloody props at 7:30 in the morning while eating an egg sandwich. What else would you expect from someone who thought Bambi was horrific?

Kim is known for helming the particularly gritty and spooky episodes of The X-Files including “Humbug,” “Quagmire,” the Stephen King-penned "Chinga" and the legendary gross-out fest, “Home.” For Supernatural, he directed such classics as “Dead in the Water,” “Mystery Spot,” “In My Time of Dying,” “Heart,” and appropriately enough, “Bugs.” “Afterschool Special,” airing this week, is the final episode he worked on before his death. All of these episodes sing of a director in the prime of his talent, infusing the stories with both horrific and deep emotional themes that make Supernatural the layered TV series it is today.

We have Kim to thank for the daring visual scope of The X-Files and Supernatural. He brought with him to Eric Kripke’s team an experienced eye for making Vancouver diversely creepy and atmospheric. It was a blessing to have had him so closely involved in bringing two of my favorite shows to life, and we are blessed to have witnessed one of television’s best doing what he loved doing.

Here’s to you, Kim Manners, you bleeping wonderful man.

Comments

[katbaggins.livejournal.com]

What a great and touching tribute... excellent summary of his work and ethic.