Nathan Fillion

So what’s Nathan Fillion’s eponymous novelist character like on ABC’s new playful procedural CASTLE which airs Mondays at 10 PM?

Executive producer (with Rob Bowman) Andrew Marlowe acknowledges that, yes, the name Richard Castle is “a little nod to Stephen King, but also, since our character is kind of a rogue, and is always getting into hijinks and trouble and going places where he doesn’t belong, it’s certainly a way when you’re yelling his name, if you take the ‘C’ away, for it to sound a little bit like …”

It’ll come to you.

But that’s fine with Fillion, forever beloved for playing Capt. Mal Reynolds in the Fox series FIREFLY and its film sequel SERENITY, as well as the beleaguered small-town sheriff in the horror comedy SLITHER and the lead in the short-lived Fox actioner DRIVE.

NATHAN FILLION: I spent a lot of time [last season] on DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES. Lovely group, really nice people. I made a lot of friends. They were very kind to me. But I spent a lot of time sitting around a living room saying, "Uh-huh. Yes, that’s right. Well, I’ll back you up on that." I’m an actor. I have that wonderful job where every day can be an adventure for me. That’s what Castle is. Every day of his life is a field trip. He’s a child inside. I’m more of a child on the outside. My advantage is I look grown up. But I wanted to have fun every day, and that’s something that CASTLE has in spades.

iF MAGAZINE: Your character writes detective novels. Are you a fan of the genre?

FILLION: As soon as I got the part, I started getting into them. I’ve been reading some Clive Cussler, some James Patterson. I love to read. I’m not a fast reader. I can read as fast as I can put it together and play the movie in my head. The huge HARRY POTTER novels, I went back and reread all the LORD OF THE RINGS, right before the movies started coming out, I wanted it to be fresh. I like that kind of stuff, mostly fiction. I like to be transported for those periods of time. I like escaping. Right now, I’m deep into Robert Parker with the Spenser series. I’m reading them for pleasure. Something that Robert Parker does very well is his attention to detail. I think that’s one of Castle’s strengths. He pays very, very close attention. He is a spoiled brat. He does his own thing. He’s kind of in his own world, but he’s very, very clever.

iF: Do fans still ask you whether there will be more FIREFLY?

FILLION: Constantly. [laughs] I loved it. Best job I ever had. It was fantastic – but nothing is on the horizon, not yet.

iF: Do you think your fans from the science-fiction realm will follow you into the mystery/comedy genre?

FILLION: They better. [laughs] I think so, yeah. I mean, I’d like to think that I’ve come to count on them and rely on them. They’ve always been very kind to me. I don’t see any reason they should stop now. We’re going to have a lot of fun on this show. The humor, the light side that’s drawn me to the show – they’ve been very kind in letting me play. I think that people who have seen my work before will enjoy it.

iF: Did DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES introduce you to a different audience?

FILLION: It certainly did. I actually thought it would just be ladies, ladies, ladies. I was at a Kentucky Fried Chicken one time, picking up some popcorn chicken, and there was a fellow next to me. He was about six-foot-four, big as a big frat house, and the Caterpillar baseball cap, kind of a greasy handlebar moustache, and he leaned over me sideways and said, "You’re that fellow on DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES, right?" He whispered it, and I said, "Yeah." He said, "I don’t want anybody to know I watch it, but my wife got me started on it – now I can’t stop." So I was very interested to know that they’ve got a very wide and diversified audience.

iF: Do you see any similarities between the premise of CASTLE and, say, MURDER, SHE WROTE?

FILLION: They hate it when I say that. That’s what I like to say – if Angela Lansbury was more manly, but just a little.

iF: Do you get a kick out of playing the title role?

FILLION: There’s a little part of me inside that’s the insecure action. Having the title character means I probably won’t get killed off in the second season.

iF: How do you play Castle as a character?

FILLION: I think a lot of times actors fall into [a] trap, where they see in the script it says, ‘This guy’s very charming.’ I think a lot of people see ‘charming,’ and they think ‘sleazy.’ [sleazily] ‘Hey, how ya doin’? Nice to see you, what’s your sign?’ That’s not what charming is. Charming is, ‘I’m interesting and interested. More so the latter. I’m interested. I’m not here to bug you.’ And they’re not contentious in any way. You don’t feel that you have to feed them, they don’t ask for too much. They’re just happy, they’re glad to be there. That’s charming. And I think that’s Castle. He’s having a good time all the time. People are attracted to a good time, and that’s what Castle has in spades. He’s not a pick-up line guy, he’s just honest and in the moment. I think that’s his strength, is that whatever kind of occurs to him, he doesn’t have a filter that says, "Maybe I ought not to say all that." He’s just out there. He’s just honest and frank.

iF: Having had some personal interest directed at you as a public figure, are you bringing any of that experience to playing Castle, who’s also a public figure?

FILLION: Well, certainly I know what it’s like to be up in front of a bunch of people and talk to them, do panels. It’s old hat on my resume now. So yeah, I guess it’s a piece of cake for a guy like Castle, it’s a piece of cake for a guy like me.

iF: Did you do any research for the role, either in terms of police work or mystery writers?

FILLION: Sure. They had a couple of wonderful detectives on set when we were filming in New York. And my lord, the stories of how they chased these guys down and where they go and what they have to go through and how you can trick a guy into saying something. It was phenomenal the stuff that they can do. But I didn’t sit down with any authors, except for Andrew [Marlowe].

iF: You’ve done some writing yourself ...

FILLION: I’ve written. I actually wrote a pilot for ABC this past year that they didn’t pick up – we actually wound up doing CASTLE instead. My first pilot – it just came to me a little bit in a dream, a little bit with a private joke between Alan Tudyk and I, a good friend of mine from FIREFLY. I wrote the show to be a buddy comedy with the two of us playing brothers and writing the one [script] was fun. As it got closer and closer and as ABC actually bought it and started talking about doing a series, the pressure started hitting me as to being responsible for having a great script every week, great ideas every week. That’s a lot of responsibility with a lot of pressure that I don’t think I’m built for.

iF: In the midst of CASTLE, you did a two-part guest turn on the daytime drama ONE LIFE TO LIVE. How did that come about?

FILLION: Nobody said, "Don’t do it." The fact of the matter is, that was my first job on television [in 1994]. Those people took very, very good care of me. I’ve heard that other people on other shows had a similar experience to mine. It was tragic and terrible and nerve-wracking, but those people were very nurturing and this is coming from a guy – I was going to be a high school teacher and I got pressed into that job. It was like I won the lottery. Those people [at ONE LIFE TO LIVE] are all very near and dear to my heart, so I would do anything for them.

iF: You also voiced Steve Trevor in the recent animated WONDER WOMAN DVD. How was that?

FILLION: I had a good time. I’d done some voice work with those people before, they’re very, very friendly, they’re very, very kind. I always love the opportunity, although not work alongside Keri Russell [who voices Wonder Woman and starred with Fillion in the live-action WAITRESS], but to work on a project with her.

iF: Did you ever watch the Lynda Carter WONDER WOMAN series?

FILLION: I sure did. Remember that one where she spun around and she had the Wonder Woman wetsuit on? And she jumped into the ocean, but it was apparent that it was a swimming pool? Loved it.

iF: You worked with FIREFLY creator Joss Whedon recently on his Internet musical DR. HORRIBLE’S SING-ALONG BLOG. In addition to its artistic merits, there has been a lot of talk about that project as a new business model for the industry. How did that work for the actors?

FILLION: [The actors were not paid] up front. What we did was, we all got a piece of it. It’s this wonderful new kind of idea, where there are no producers involved deciding who gets what and taking a huge chunk for themselves. We all own a piece and our contract was half a page and it was the sweetest contract I’ve ever signed. A, it’s a Joss Whedon project, B, I finally get a piece of one of his musicals – they call them ‘Whedonverse trifectas,’ if you’ve done three projects with Joss Whedon, you’re a trifecta. Well, I was up to four [Fillion also had a recurring role on BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER]. I had wanted to do that musical idea and that was my chance.

iF: There are some real-life mystery writers, including Stephen J. Cannell, playing themselves as Castle’s pals in the show’s onscreen poker game. Any chance of getting Joss Whedon to join in on that?

FILLION: Oh, I hadn’t thought about that. But I should. I’ll give him a call about that. It’ll be a lot easier if the show hits the Number One spot right away and we’re super-popular!