Nathan Fillion

SITTING through the critically-lauded goo-fest, Slither, can be an icky affair.

But lead actor Nathan Fillion said it was every bit as disgusting for the cast as it was for the audience.

In the movie, an alien with an army of zombies takes over a town in the US. The up-and-coming Canadian actor, 35, plays sheriff Bill Pardy, a well-intentioned but clueless everyman.

In a phone interview from Los Angeles, Fillion told The New Paper that preparing for the film, which had many goo-filled scenes, involved copious amounts of sex lubricant.

Never a good thing, especially in icy Vancouver where filming took place.

’They come to you and smear KY Jelly all over you. They put that stuff all over you and put slime in it, they put papier-mache stuff in it...

’Then you’ve got to run outside, where, I repeat, it was cold! And that stuff gets frozen. They don’t heat it up.

’They smear it on you cold, down the back of your neck, down your shirt... it’s awful,’ said Fillion, whom some might recognise for his supporting role in the sitcom Two Guys, A Girl And A Pizza Place.

TERROR TENTACLES

In one scene in the movie, Fillion’s character is attacked and nearly impregnated by the monster’s tentacles.

’Actually, I was very relieved. When I first read that scene, I made a mistake. I didn’t know it said ’tentacles’. I thought it said ’testicles’. So when the tentacles came, I was actually quite happy,’ he deadpanned.

On his character, he said that Pardy is the last man he (or any of us) would want to rely on to defeat an alien attack.

He said: ’If we were invaded by aliens, the people who would be best prepared would be actors. Because, you know, we have had the most experience. I’d call Sigourney Weaver, I’d call Bill Paxton, and I’d call me!’

He added that filming the movie has also forever changed the way he reads scripts in the future.

He said: ’When a script says ’Exterior: Night, Woods’ for more than half the movie, that means you’re going to spend two months outside, in the rain, in the woods, in the mud, in the cold.

’That was torture,’ he said.

But it wasn’t all bad. The affable actor said he enjoyed his experience with the cast and crew, most of whom were fellow Canadians.

During the 25-minute interview, Fillion came across as friendly and full of self-deprecating humour and seemed like the kind of guy you could spend an afternoon with, playing Halo on the Xbox (he is apparently quite good).

He also apologised several times for missing an interview session two days before because of a miscommunication. Apparently, he had to help his niece do her homework. How sweet.

’IT’ GUY

Although he’s a relative unknown, Fillion has been labelled the current ’It’ guy of geekdom.

He has been compared to Army Of Darkness star and B-movie icon Bruce Campbell, and to his own childhood idol Harrison Ford. Sci-fi fans have even touted him as the next Indiana Jones.

This is because of his role as Captain Malcolm Reynolds in the cult hit Firefly (Buffy creator Joss Whedon’s space-cowboy series that got canned after 11 episodes) and its follow-up movie, Serenity.

Being a cult hero is well and good, but it also implies that his shows have failed to reach a wide audience.

Serenity, for example, wasn’t even screened here.

And Slither, which cost US$15 million ($23.9m), made only US$7.8 million in the US despite getting good reviews.

Is Fillion frustrated that he makes good stuff that doesn’t get much attention from mainstream audiences? Sometimes.

’What else can I do? Complain?’ he said, laughing.

’One day, I’ll get a movie that’s a smash hit, and they’re going to say, ’Who’s this guy? He came out of nowhere!’ when in reality, we’ve been doing great movies that no one has come to watch.’

His next film is another horror flick, White Noise 2: The Light, where he plays a man who can predict who is about to die.

A horror fan, he counts The Changeling (which starred George C Scott) and Steven Spielberg’s classic movie Jaws as his favourites.

He added: ’I’m having a ball. I’m from Edmonton, Alberta. I’m from a small city. The chances of me being in the movies are slim to none. I feel like I’ve won the lottery!’