Nathan Fillion

Nathan Fillion has amassed an interesting body of work. He was the star of the cancelled but beloved cult show Firefly and the almost unheard of achievement of the feature film that emerged from its ashes called Serenity. He then was seen in the horror comedy Slither which was - uncharacteristically for that genre - well received by the critics. More recently he showed up in the indie darling Waitress alongside Felicity star Keri Russell, in what many are calling a breakout role.

Fillion was last seen on television on the FOX network in Drive, which had a lot of fans upset when it too was cancelled before its time. He’s now headed to Wisteria Lane for an upcoming role on Desperate Housewives, as he and Dana Delany join the cast as the new couple in town in Season 4 of the hit ABC comedic soap opera. We had a chance to talk to Fillion at the ABC party during the recent Television Critics Association event in Beverly Hills.

Out of this conversation came a quick news story we already published about Fillion possibly working on a new project with Joss Whedon (which you’ll read about below as well). Fillion reacted to this story on his MySpace Blog saying that he was misquoted by IGN. He clarified there that the project he was talking about was not something he and Whedon were developing, but a project in development by someone else that they wanted to be involved with. See the Editor’s Note at the end of the interview for our explanation of how this confusion occurred.

IGN TV: As you know, our readership is mostly geeky…

Nathan Fillion: Like me.

IGN TV: After the news came out that you were cast on Desperate Housewives we actually received mail saying, "Why is he doing this and not another Joss Whedon show?"

Fillion: What other Joss Whedon show?

IGN TV: That was our response as well. They were yelling at us! I think there may be a misconception of how this all works.

Fillion: Exactly. I think people have a strange understanding. They have an idea of how the industry works. Someone said to me at one point when I did Slither for James Gunn — I did it with the wonderfully talented Elizabeth Banks and Michael Rooker and Gregg Henry and Jenna Fischer; fantastic people and great friends. People said to me, why do you keep picking Sci-Fi? I think they must imagine me with six scripts sitting in front of me and I’m going, "I think I’m gonna do this Sci-Fi thing, yeah I’m gonna stick with Sci-Fi for now. I could do these other things, but I’m gonna stick with this." It’s not how it happens. You’re out there and you’re banging away at it, auditioning for jobs just like everybody else. And if it hits, it does and if it doesn’t, it doesn’t. And you get a job and you’re locked out and you can’t take these other ones. It’s all about timing and what jobs you get and what jobs you don’t. It’s less about choice for me.

IGN TV: When you did Firefly nobody said, "Why are you doing Sci-Fi?"

Fillion: That’s exactly right, exactly right. When I got Desperate Housewives some people said, "Oh finally you’re getting a departure and doing something different." Well, I actually spent three years on a soap opera, so if anything it’s a return to my roots. So I think people are under a different impression, like the people sending you those emails. They have a somewhat unusual understanding of what’s going on.

IGN TV: And then some people went to Sundance and saw Waitress and said to me, "Have you ever heard of this actor Nathan Fillion?

Fillion: (laughs) Maybe once or twice?

IGN TV: Do you ever feel as if your career moves through somewhat self-contained parts of the industry? Whether it’s TV or independent film?

Fillion: Hmm…that’s a good question. I’m certainly seeing a pattern, as I’ve been in Los Angeles for ten years now. And I’m seeing a pattern where somebody either sees your work and says, "I really like what he did with that, and I have a vision that he could do this really well." And that’s how I get invited to different opportunities. I also see myself and working with the same people like Tim Minear, who I worked with back at Firefly and he said "Let’s do Drive. Let’s do another project together." So I’m seeing that a lot, these repeat performances and me working with the same people again. And I’m only too happy about it.

IGN TV: You’ve done major studio films, independent films and television shows big and small. Do you see a distinct difference in those arenas? Parker Posey is doing a show for FOX and was asked questions like, "How did you choose to enter the mainstream?" And she said she never looks at it like that.

Fillion: No, exactly. As an actor whether it’s a major motion picture or an independent film or a TV show, the only difference is the catering and what kind of trailer they put you in. The work is exactly the same. I look at jobs for who I’m going to be working with, who I’m going to be working for and the kind of character I’m going to be playing and how much fun I’ll have doing it. I’ll see something in the role and say, "You know I really want this part because there’s a moment in here for me that defines the entire character. It informs everything he does, where there’s just one or a series of moments." Whether it’s a major motion picture, an indie film or Desperate Housewives, it means little as the process is the same. The job for me is the same. It’s the perception that’s different.

IGN TV: What was it about Desperate Housewives that got you on board?

Fillion:They’re obviously having a good time. And they’re obviously playing notes that are resonating with people. People are enjoying the show and having a good time. That appeals to me as an actor. This isn’t rocket science or manual labor of any kind. We’re play acting. I watched them doing it and I know they’re having fun. And I get there and I’m a guest in their house and they’re warm and welcoming and they’re sweet. It only makes it that much better, you can relax and just start playing with this wonderful game that they have.

IGN TV: So in between Drive and Desperate Housewives what did you turn down?

Fillion: What did I turn down... That’s a good question (laughs). The ones I turn down I never remember because if they don’t resonate with me or if the story doesn’t speak to me in some way, I forget all about it.

IGN TV: So there was no major franchise you said no to?

Fillion: There’s nobody huge coming after me, no there’s nobody doing that.

IGN TV: So a quick question about Whedon - Have you said to him, "What are you doing next?"

Fillion: I’ll actually tell you this. Two days after Joss finished writing Wonder Woman, which he’s no longer doing, but he’d just finished writing it, I sent him an email that said, "Okay, you’ve had two days to relax, let’s start thinking about your next project." So I threw this idea at him which somebody else has already bought and has the money for I’m sure. I wrote a couple scenes of this one particular project that I thought would be really cool and I said, "You writing it and making it awesome. You directing and me starring in it. Let’s go. Let’s run with this."

IGN TV: Can you tell us about it?

Fillion: I don’t want to tell you because it’s still in development. I’ve got my fingers in it and I want to be involved.

IGN TV: Can you give us a hint?

Fillion: It’s a western. I can tell you that it’s a western.

IGN TV: And you want Joss...

Fillion: I want it to be with Joss…

IGN TV: How much like Malcolm Reynolds is this new character?

Fillion: That’s a good question. I don’t actually know much about the character. (laughs) He’s me. I think Malcolm Reynolds certainly has some of me inside him. He also has a bit of a pussycat about him, but I think this guy is me.

IGN TV: So with only 13 episodes of Firefly and the movie, are you surprised that Malcolm Reynolds shows up in things like TV Guide’s list of the top Sci-Fi characters of all time?

Fillion: I was flattered. I’m always flattered. This is really rotten and spoiled of me, but I have a sense of pride about it. I’ve come to expect this kind of thing from Joss Whedon’s work, and Tim Minear’s work. Their work tends to speak to people on a level deeper than "oh that’s a cool show!" There’s something going on with their characters. They write characters. They write about people, and they write about these relationships.

A friend of mine once said, and I think he’s right, that we are the most story literate culture that’s ever graced this planet. We know, and not just Americans, but the planet as a whole has more story in their lives than they ever have before. It’s not just passing stories around a tribal fire. Now we have newspapers, we have television, we have radio, we have the Internet, movies; we have so much story in our lives that we understand how story works. There are conventions that are repeated time and time ago so we have an expectation as to how story works. Joss Whedon, Tim Minear, they take story conventions and twist them, so as far as story convention goes it’s a twist. But as far as reality goes, it’s right on the money. As an audience member I think you find it very satisfying. It’s not conventional but it is realistic, and it is entertaining.

IGN TV: What is like to have this cult following and do you ever feel you answer to them in anyway?

Fillion: I don’t feel I answer to them, no certainly not. Nor do I think that there would be people out there that figure that they own me in anyway. I have always found Firefly fans to be very reasonable. I’ve certainly had some weird and unusual fans, but very rarely are those the Firefly fans. I will say that I have something in common with Firefly fans, which is that we’re all passionate about that show. I’m a fan of Firefly. I think Firefly was a great show and I loved playing that character. I loved acting with those actors and interacting with those other characters. I had these fantastic friendships with those actors and these incredible relationships with those characters. I lived the best life a fan could live. I was The Captain. And I got to do a movie. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, if there’s one thing that will help you feel better about your TV show getting cancelled, it’s getting a major motion picture.

Editor’s Note: After reading Fillion’s post on his MySpace Blog reacting to our initial news story, we attempted to contact Fillion and his publicist to clear this confusion up, but we have not heard back so far. If you compare the original news story and this full interview you’ll see the line "I threw this idea at him which someone has already bought and has money for I’m sure" was omitted from the news piece. In our initial posting of the news story we found this line a bit confusing and left it out because it seemed a detail about the development process that didn’t make sense in this context. Now we know that Fillion meant that somebody else had bought the idea — apparently an existing property — and was developing it on their own. Fillion felt that our news story made it sound like he was taking credit for writing or developing this project - which he clearly was not.

Hopefully that clears things up and we apologize for creating confusion while we were going for clarity.

Desperate Housewives: Season 4 premieres Sunday, September 30th at 9:00 pm ET/PT on ABC.