Nathan Fillion

The Fox Searchlight feature Waitress is a sweet and sassy tale of a small town woman who transforms her hopeless life into a hilarious and unexpected love story. The unconventional romantic comedy, which is also the final film from writer-director Adrienne Shelly (her life was tragically taken in November of 2006), stars Keri Russell (Felicity) as a diner waitress stuck in a lousy marriage whose only solace is baking out-of-this-world pies. When the awkwardly charming new OB-GYN, Dr. Pomatter (Nathan Fillion), comes to town, Jenna is inspired to turn her life into something far more satisfying.

With its themes about the power of female friendship, solidarity and maternal love, Waitress is often driven by its characters’ conflicts with the men in their lives. Taking that into consideration, Shelly gave careful consideration to how she cast the male roles, aiming for multi-dimensional performances that would keep the characters funny, but true. In the film’s most romantic role, Nathan Fillion was cast to play the good doctor who finds himself with an adulterous attraction to Jenna, his pregnant patient. Best known for his role in the cult hit fantasy series Firefly, and the feature film Serenity, Fillion was drawn to the humor and poignancy of the script.

“It’s interesting that both of our characters are being unfaithful to our marriage,”the 36-year-old Canadian tells MediaBlvd Magazine. “But, we forgive Jenna more readily because she’s in what’s obviously an abusive and dangerous relationship that we don’t want her to be in. We’ve all known couples, or people, that are together for some reason or another, where you think, ‘Oh, my God, they broke up? They were so perfect together. What could possibly have gone wrong?’ And, although it’s not abuse, and no one’s getting beat up, something within them is not bringing them together, and they’re not happy. I think everyone knows people who are in a marriage that they’re not happy in. Does that make him a bad person because he’s looking for happiness elsewhere? For me, the movie is about how everybody is looking to be happy, but it’s about the decisions that you make. Are those decisions the right decisions that will bring you happiness?”

The movie is about how everybody is looking to be happy Fillion believes that you can feel when someone is attracted to you, just like with the characters in the film. “There’s something in their action, in their energy and what it gives off that says, ‘I like you more than maybe you realize, or maybe I should.’ I think people read that and feel that, whether it’s subconscious or not. When somebody likes you, not even in a romantic sense, and they care for you and respect you, that’s what keeps you coming around and hanging out with that person. You have that feeling, on some level, that they’re there for you. I think that’s what was going on with Jenna and Dr. Pomatter.”

Waitress_poster With a grueling 20-day shoot, Fillion admits to feeling guilty that he worked for less than a week on the film. “I feel terrible because they all worked really, really hard. I would come in, film a couple scenes and go home, piece of cake. I’d go in and make out with Keri Russell. But, the atmosphere on the set was very friendly and cordial. People had a good time because they believed in the project. It felt very down-home, as far as filming was concerned. It was a lot of fun. It was very positive.”

Although Shelly’s passing prior to the film’s release only adds to the tragedy of her death, Fillion says he will remember how absolutely lovely she was to work with. “I remember when there were times when I thought it was a strange angle she was taking, but in seeing the completed project, now I see her vision and I see the throughline. Writers and directors have that gift or that vision, that I actually don’t share with them. When I saw the movie for the first time, I was more than pleasantly surprised. I knew it was going to be a beautiful story. I knew I loved the story. What I didn’t know was how much it would affect me, and I’m just glad to have been a part of it.”

Now that his short-lived Fox television series Drive has been canceled, Fillion is hoping to spend the summer at home in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. “In the summertime, I like to go home and visit my family because my brother’s not teaching then. It’s beautiful there, especially in the summer, so I like to try to visit in the summer, instead of in the winter.”

I remember when there were times when I thought it was a strange angle she was taking When he’s not back in Canada, Fillion says that he spends a lot of time hiking up in the Hollywood hills. “I love to just go travel up there. It’s a nice place to go when you don’t want to feel like you’re in the city anymore. There are a lot of beautiful hikes, if you want to see something with a waterfall. There are also a lot of beautiful hikes up in Malibu, but that’s an all-day project. I also like to go to the movies. I have a very close-knit circle of friends. I have a cozy little home, and I invite people over and have barbecues. And, I travel. I love Hawaii because it’s got the tropical climate, and there’s no language or money barrier. I think Costa Rica is becoming a little more touristy now than when I was there a few years ago, but I love Costa Rica. I’m going to go back there. I’ll go anywhere in Europe. I love London. I’ve seen Paris. I’d like to try Spain. I just saw Amsterdam for the first time. Everyone in Amsterdam is gorgeous. I’ve never seen so many beautiful people in all my life.”

Waitress_film Being in the film business can take some of the magic out of watching a movie, but Fillion says that it makes the times when he does get sucked into the story, all the more rewarding. “Pan’s Labyrinth did that to me. I wasn’t feeling like, ‘This is some movie.’ I was moved by the story. I was momentarily transported for those hours. Sometimes, I think ‘I just saw the boom. There’s a boom shadow.’ Or, I’ll see continuity errors that will pull me out a little bit. Being in movies does pull the magic out of it a little bit, but when they do the job right and there are no snafus, it makes it that much sweeter.”