Nathan Fillion: The TV Squad Interview

Posted Apr 9th 2009 by Kona Gallagher

When I was preparing for my Nathan Fillion interview, I knew that I had a big responsibility: people love this guy. I mean love -- in a slightly disturbing way. So I reached out. I went on Facebook and Twitter and asked people what they wanted me to ask him, so I would get the fewest number of Firefly fans pissed off at me as possible. Luckily, the questions submitted were mostly along the lines of "will he impregnate me?", so I wasn't too worried about not asking something someone was dying to know.

"Hey, I've got a quick question for you: How long do you think this 'internet' fad will really go?" But before I could ask a single question, that's how Nathan Fillion starts out interview. "Um, you know, I think it's on it's way out. I give it a month, maybe two at the most." I could understand where he was comign from. I was just one in a long line of reporters he was talking to today, so he has to keep himself interested somehow. Why not joke around with me about the fall of the internet?

"Cause I just got high-speed internet," he continued. "I got Beta before I got VHS, I got HD before I got BluRay. Now I've got high-speed internet, and it's on its way out already." "Yeah, you should just get rid of it now -- it's on its way out," I tell him.

Fillion switches gears, and I suddenly feel as though I'm on a job interview. "Can you type fast?" he asks. "Can I type fast? Un, I can type relatively fast," I reply. He seems really impressed when I tell him that I can type 60 words a minute, but I'm quick to point out that Jenna Fisher can apparently type 90. "Actually, that is absolutely true. She's an aquaintance of mine and she can type extremely fast," he tells me. So there you go: we have 3rd party confirmation that Jenna Fisher is indeed a super-fast typist -- and that I'm no Jenna Fisher.

Once we determine that, I'm able to segue into some questions:

So, you kind of brought up the whole internet thing, which we've established is a dying medium, but you're all over it with PG Porn and Dr. Horrible, of course, so people have been begging me to ask: Do you have any more internet stuff planned? Is there going to be more Dr. Horrible? What's going on with that?

We were talking about doing a sequel to Dr. Horrible on our second-- on our first day, actually, of filming Dr. Horrible. But last I spoke with Joss Whedon, he's actually come up with a title for the second installment, so I'm sure we're going to see something, another phase in the Dr. Horrible lifespan.

Now that you're on Castle, and you're the star of a big ABC primetime show. You're not... are you saying you're not too hugely famous to do this?

Jeez. Anytime Joss Whedon says, 'Let's go do..." you say yes. "Let's go do blank." Yep. I'm in. Color me in, man. Whatever you say.

Is James Gunn kind of the same? Because you obviously did Slither with him, and he got you to "nail" Aria Giovanni...

Yes, that was a wonderful experience. What a sweet lady -- I can't even believe it. Joss Whedon and internet spells, "Oh, let's go." It doesn't matter, you'll run into it blindfolded. James Gunn? You've gotta keep a sharper eye on that guy. "Tell me all about this project before I sign on to anything." You've gotta make sure, becausen he's crazy. That guy's crazy. I mean, you'll get involved, but you just want to know what you're getting yourself into with James, because you just never know.

So Castle is doing really well. I've been watching it -- I'm a sucker for that kind of book. I read all the James Patterson stuff...

I was reading some James Patterson -- have you tried Robert Parker? He's got a full line of Spenser novels, if you remember the TV show Spenser for Hire, this is based on his novels. I didn't remember the TV show very well, but the books are fantastic. The Spenser books are hilarious; and they're quick reads. They're just kind of pulpy, "pulpy" is the wrong word, but they're fast little paperbacks. You can grab one and put it in your pocket and head out for the day and you always have it handy. I'm having a really good time with those, and there's, I think, 25 of them, so you can get into it.

So what was it that drew you to Castle, that made you want to commit to this show.

It ws a couple of years ago. I was hanging out, doing nothing, as actors often do, and my agent and my manager would ask me, "what kind of show do you want to do?" I said, "I don't care. I don't care what I do. Just so long as it's with good people, telling good stories, I don't care." And I got Desperate Housewives [...] I was super-excited, and then I realized, when I got to work, that I was doing things at work that I kind of do every day at home, which is sit around and talk. [...] Then I thought, you know what? In my job, I want to have a little more adventure. You know, my life can take care of the sitting around and talking in the living room part. My work, I want to be a little more adventurous; I want to it to be a little more gung-ho; I want to be getting away with more stuff, and Castle completely fit the bill.

I was fifteen pages into reading the script of it, and I turned to my girlfriend and I said, "let's start at the beginning of this pilot. I'm gonna read it out loud to you, and you tell me if you don't think it's funny and would be a lot of fun to do," and we had a blast. We would play up all the scenes together and start reading it like a radio show. We were having a great time.

Well, it's a great show, and you do get a lot of action. You've been handcuffed like three times at least already.

Right (laughs). Which is, again, not like my life in the least.