Nathan Fillion

EVEN THOUGH ’DRIVE’ IS OVER, NATHAN FILLION KEEPS ON TRUCKIN’

Captain Tightpants from FIREFLY and SERENITY spills on his latest series effort

Nathan Fillion has had the odd luck of gaining passionate fans for shows and films that haven’t hit hard in the mainstream. He’s probably still best known at present as Captain Mal Reynolds on Joss Whedon’s FIREFLY and its theatrical sequel SERENITY, but also toplined the hilarious horror comedy SLITHER and won critical kudos for his work as a lovelorn ob/gyn doctor in the indie comedy WAITRESS. Fillion may have had a flash of déjà vu in heading up the ensemble cast on DRIVE, an action drama that debuted as a midseason replacement this year. Like FIREFLY, it ran on Fox,was executive-produced by showrunner Tim Minear (Joss Whedon’s fellow executive producer/showrunner on FIREFLY) and, like FIREFLY, it got canceled very early – in this case, with only six episodes in the can. The final two air back to back on Friday, the Thirteenth of July. This interview was conducted before DRIVE’s fate was known.

iF MAGAZINE: What attracted you to your DRIVE character, Alex Tully?

NATHAN FILLION: That he’s just an average guy who’s being forced into something that he doesn’t actually want to do, but that he’s an Everyman. I think I’ve found my niche, and I think my niche is just everyday, regular people. I love watching F.B.I. shows. I don’t think I’m F.B.I. Guy. I love watching STAR TREK. I don’t think I’m the military-type STAR TREK captain. I’m the captain of the spaceship that, he bought it himself, that’s why he’s the captain [as on FIREFLY]. The character is just a regular guy who just wants his regular life. Obviously, he’s had a past, so he’s not just an average Joe, but he’s chosen the average Joe life, and it’s what he wants and what he’s willing to fight for. And of course, the attraction of [working with] Tim Minear. Like I said before, when it’s somebody whose talent you’re aware of and abilities you have confidence in … I don’t have a whole list of jobs that come to me and I go, ‘You know what? I’m going to take this one because it’s an ensemble and because it’s Tim Minear.’ Jobs come along and I say, ‘I get to do that? Let’s go!’ I’m very, very fortunate that the job opportunities that come along for me are in some way extremely fulfilling, challenging and lots of fun. It’s acting, so it’s always going to be lots of fun.

iF: Can you define an ‘ordinary guy’?

FILLION: Absolutely. Somebody who’s not afraid of hard work, somebody who’s not afraid to get his hands dirty. Alex Tully is guy much like me – I can handle problems if I can put my hands on them. I’m not a handyman, by any means, but I’ll take it apart and I’ll clean it and I’ll try to fix it, I’ll say, ‘That looks broke and I can try to fix that up.’ I’ve taught myself how to weld. If I can put my hands on it, I can [deal with it] and I think Alex Tully is much the same kind of person. So now he’s thrust into this race with no apparent finish line, his wife his missing – these problems are ethereal, that he cannot put his hands on. And he’s unsettled and he’s frustrated and it’s making him angry.

iF: Do you take a beating in this show?

FILLION: I take a beating in every show [laughs].

iF: And what do you drive in DRIVE?

FILLION: I start off in a nice garbage truck.

iF:They’re filming DRIVE in Santa Clarita and you live in Los Angeles county – how’s the commute?

FILLION: It’s a piece of cake, because all the traffic’s coming in when I’m going out. So far, so good with that one. But it hailed – it kind of snowed one day on the way up there.

iF:In DRIVE, there’s a lot of speeding. Have you gotten any tickets in real life?

FILLION: No, I’m not a ticket guy. I did accidentally run through a stop sign in my own neighborhood the other day, but I didn’t get caught. This is by no means a confession.

iF: Do you have any road trip stories?

FILLION: Not too recently, I took a New Year’s trip to Austin, Texas with some friends of mine. And when it was my one friend’s turn to drive, I woke up in the middle of the night in the back seat to look at the speedometer to see that he was doing a hundred and twenty-five. [alarmed tone] ‘I guess we’re making great time!’ I don’t care when I get there.

iF: How do you feel about WAITRESS?

FILLION: I feel awesome. I’m very excited about WAITRESS.

iF: Any films you’ve liked lately?

FILLION: PAN’S LABYRINTH – I really enjoyed that. I just went to SMOKIN’ ACES the other night and I really enjoyed myself. That was an exciting ride. I don’t know if it’s going to be in Oscar contention, but there’s a lot of really solid, solid work going on in that movie.

iF: What shows do you watch?

FILLION: ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT. I will not miss THE OFFICE. LOST I will not miss. What else? THE FAMILY GUY I watch. I watch a lot of National Geographic, I watch a lot of Discovery, I watch a lot of History Channel documentaries. I put in a search on my TiVo for the words, ‘shark,’ ‘bear,’ ‘attack’ [laughs].

iF: You had a guest-starring role on LOST as the Evangeline Lilly character’s husband. How did that come about? Did they know you were a fan of the show?

FILLION: I don’t know how they came to me – I heard I was in contention for the role, so I just waited until they were going to decide either way, and a couple days later, I called [my agent] and I said, ‘Listen, call and whatever I have to do to get on that show, you tell them I’m willing to do it. Let me go down and read for it, let me get in there.’ It all worked out very well – they’ve been very kind to me.

iF: Have you met any of the other LOST cast?

FILLION: I met Jorge Garcia [Hurley] in London and he’s awesome. What a nice man.

iF: Is there anything that strikes you as unique so far about the DRIVE experience?

FILLION: It’s been a very interesting experience, in that it’s the first time I’ve been able to watch a television program [a pilot was made with some different actors prior to Fillion’s involvement] before I go in and actually make it, because they already made it. So I was able to go in and watch it and get a sense of what it was going to be like. When I start a show, I have to rely on the vision of people like Tim Minear and Joss Whedon, which is fine. I trust them implicitly. But I don’t have their vision, I can’t see the end result that they can see in their mind. Whereas now I can and that’s been interesting.

iF:What’s it like to have an action figure of yourself?

FILLION: What I’m told is, from if you watch James Gunn’s movie THE SPECIALS, is that action figures are the Oscars of superheroes. And I’ve got two. There’s Mal and Battle Action Mal. I have a collection of them in my closet, so that when I’ve I go to a fan event of some kind, I can grab a couple of those and stick them in a bag and give them away to some fans.

iF: What’s your perspective on the experience of having been Mal Reynolds these days?

FILLION: I’m always at peace with that guy. That [SERENITY] was my vindication. Saying goodbye to Malcolm Reynolds was premature when the series [FIREFLY] was canceled, but being able to come back with SERENITY was a real treat. More than I could ask for.