Firefly

Nathan Fillion-who stars in the upcoming SF movie Serenity, based on Fox’s canceled series Firefly-told SCI FI Wire that his character, Capt. Mal Reynolds, will be a little darker than he was allowed to be in the TV show. "I think he’s still on that same vein," Fillion said in an interview during a break in filming at Universal Studios in Los Angeles last August. "I think if anything, I think he’s a little darker than he was before. I think he’s a little more empty than he was before. He, too, has had the rug pulled out from under him a couple of times since we’ve known him in the series. And I also think that, because we’re in a film, another difference versus television is we can be allowed to be darker. ... We don’t have a ... TV producer saying, ’Make him more likable and funny.’"

Fillion plays the captain of a small transport ship 500 years in the future, leading a ragtag crew of survivors from a galactic civil war. The film will feature the series’ creepy cannibalistic renegades, the Reavers, and also give Reynolds a love interest, Fillion said. As for making the film, he added, "It’s a little different. We had eight days to put on a one-hour show. Now we’ve got the better part of three months to put out a two-hour show. So the timing is a little different. But certainly I can tell that the quality is also extremely different."

As for his acting style, Fillion said, "I haven’t made any drastic changes or anything. I have noticed that my nose is a lot bigger on screen. It’s like, there are times when if you could put your arms up, that’s about how wide my nostrils are. I’ve always known I have big nostrils, but now I could park a Buick in them." Serenity is slated for an April 2005 release. Universal is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.