Nathan Fillion

Serenity star was ’a geeky kid’

Edmonton-born Nathan Fillion still loves comics and sci-fi movies

Me and the movie star are engaged in an unabashed geek-o-rama.

Nathan Fillion, the Edmonton-born star of the sci-fi action flick Serenity, with the leading-man good looks and poise, claims that underneath it all he’s a comic books and spaceships dweeb.

I’m dubious. So I run Fillion through a classic nerd test by asking him to quickly name his top five all-time Star Trek characters. Just to be fair, I geek first.

Me: Kirk, Picard, Spock, Data, T’Pol. I cheat a bit, with two honourable mentions: Odo from DS9 and the holographic doctor from Voyager.

Fillion: Picard, Kirk, Worf, Data, T’Pol.

"The doctor was good. But I never liked Odo," says Fillion. "And Spock was far cooler before the other shows came along."

And so it goes. He liked the movie Aliens better than Alien. I’m the other way around. He likes any superhero movie. I’ve been disappointed, except for Batman Begins and Spider-Man 2.

This impromptu geekfest took place only because I took a flyer. I was writing my Wednesday column, in which I named Serenity my favourite movie of 2005, and started calling Fillions in the phone book. Second call, I introduce myself to a pleasant-sounding woman. I tell her I’m looking for relatives of Nathan Fillion to interview.

"Why interview us, Scott, when you can interview Nathan?" asks the nice woman. Turns out it’s Cookie Fillion, Nathan’s mom, who confirms his claim. He was a geeky kid.

"Yes he was, but he didn’t look like one," said Cookie. "That was his saving grace. But he was a quirky kid, always a bit different." Which is how he sounds, when he phones back, different, that is, from Captain Malcolm Reynolds, hero of Serenity. How do I describe him? Vulnerable? Wimpy?

To be fair, he’s suffering from the flu. A few hacking-and-horking spells later and I’m thinking it’s best I continue this interview by phone, rather than asking for a face-to-phlegm meeting.

Fillion, for the unaware, left Edmonton in 1994 for a soap opera gig in New York. He then ventured to Los Angeles. He’s been in two Joss Whedon TV vehicles, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly, the cancelled sci-fi series. A ruckus by Firefly fans led to its continuation in the Serenity film.

Fillion has a new horror flick in the can. Slither will be released this spring. And he just wrapped up an independent film, Waitress.

Fillion’s parents, Cookie and Bob, are both retired high school teachers. His older brother, Jeff, is vice-principal at Mary Hanley elementary.

Nathan was heading in that direction, too, studying at the University of Alberta while dabbling in Fringe productions and improv at the old Chinook Theatre. One of his audition tapes made its way to the soap opera, One Life to Live, where he spent three years.

Since then his career has edged upwards and he’s settled into life in Los Angeles. He still visits home about twice a year. Fame, he says, has its ups and its downs. Fans are often respectful. But a few want to cut the big-screen guy down to size.

When I call the Fillion household, I’m politely called on the carpet. The Fillions were not thrilled with The Edmonton Journal’s review of Serenity. I deftly blame CanWest News Service, who gave it just two stars.

But reviewers in cities across North America, cities that aren’t Fillion’s hometown, raved about the movie.

"Critics loved it," says Fillion. "The worst we did was in Entertainment Weekly. And they gave us a B-plus."

I confess to Fillion I felt a few butterflies before interviewing him. Strange, what Hollywood hype does to us. Fillion, because he’s been in a movie, is thereby granted the status of Really Cool Guy.

"I’m glad to hear that because the truth is I’m a dork," says Fillion. "I collected comics. I still love cartoons. I’d rather be at home on a Friday night than out at some club.

"My sense of humour is that of a geek. My likes and dislikes are that of a geek. I’ve memorized every crappy sci-fi movie there is, but still haven’t seen Schindler’s List."

But he has, of course, seen himself in movies.

What was that like? What was he thinking when he first saw himself up there on the big screen?

"Man, I could park a Buick in those nostrils."

Cookie says she only sees her son, not the character, when she watches him on screen. Even so, what’s it like being the mother of a famous Hollywood star?

"He’s not that famous, unfortunately," she says, laughing.

"Really, we’re just happy he found something to do."