Screen Rant » serenity

Nathan Fillion Talks Trucker, Castle, Joss Whedon & Superheroes

Paul Young — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 03:09:33 +0000

Quick, think of the most underrated, under-appreciated Canadian in Hollywood! If you said Céline Dion then I will hunt you down and flog you with a mackerel. The correct answer is Nathan Fillion. This 37 year old, chiseled jaw specimen of a man (my wife made me say that) has an acting career going back to 1993 with several small roles in films and shows you probably never heard of until 1998 in Saving Private Ryan. From there, his career started building, mostly in TV, and he started gaining fanboy support that almost rivals Bruce “The Chin” Campbell.

And just like Campbell, all of his TV shows were canceled. Two Guys a Girl and a Pizza Place went down after 4 seasons, Firefly (which to this day remains one of the best shows on TV never to finish), the very short lived Drive, and now Castle which almost didn’t have a second season and could be in danger of not seeing a third. Even Fillion was shocked at Castle picking up a second season, to which he “tweeted”:

“I can’t remember the last time I had a second season of ANYTHING. I don’t know if I remember what to do. Step one: go to Canada. Relax.”

It’s that style humor, his nonchalant attitude towards roles and his sly grin that are the main reasons people enjoy watching him on screen. It’s also due to the fact that he works a lot with Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), who has a good size cult following in his own right. From Firefly to Serenity, to the WGA strike induced Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, Whedon and Fillion go hand-in-hand like chocolate and peanut butter, jam and toast, skittles and mayonnaise.

So what show would Fillion like to be involved in if Castle should ever fall? Well Aaron Hillis at IFC caught up with him and had a great interview which you can read in its entirety here. What would his dream project be and what show would he like to do next?

“If I had a dream project right now, I’d like to grab a hold of a superhero. There are so many superheroes out there, I feel like there’s none left. But there is one I think I could handle, and that’s a redo of “The Greatest American Hero.”

When I heard that Barry Sonnenfeld was considering bringing the bumbling, red tight superhero back to TV screens, I couldn’t help but think that Scott MacIntyre, from this past season of American Idol, would be the best choice visually; but now that Fillion has expressed an interest, I can totally see him playing the character. He doesn’t just want to be the character either; Fillion has some ideas of his own for the series.

With the technology we have available today for effects, I’d say it’s largely the same idea, the same story, but the suit would be able to change and morph into whatever it is you needed him to do. So it could become armor, a scuba suit — you could do that stuff.

Interesting ideas, and if the show gets the correct writers, then I could see it working with Nathan Fillion’s involvement…for at least one season that is.

Click to Continue Reading about Nathan Fillion and his current projects…

Nathan Fillion’s Castle Stands Strong

Rob Keyes — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 03:10:54 +0000

Can you believe it?! Nathan Fillion is the lead in a television series that made it to a second season!

Castle, the new hit ABC series is moving full steam ahead into its second season and it looks like it just might have a bright future.

I don’t get it. Everyone who watches Fillion on screen immediately falls in love with the guy and the characters he plays, yet he’s had two shows in a row canceled on him early. Join us as we look back at some key moments in Fillion’s career and talk about his recent successes…

Although, he made a name for himself with Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place alongside Ryan Reynolds, Nathan Fillion’s cult following began with Joss Whedon’s Firefly, which was incredible, but was unfairly treated by Fox and thereby canceled only a fraction into its first season. Fan support managed to bring a great feature film (Serenity) to theaters but it didn’t bank well at the box office.

Next, Fillion played a part in the final 5 episodes of Whedon’s Buffy series which also soon ended. Then, he starred in a show called Drive which lasted approximately one night before it got the axe. I don’t feel too bad about that one though.

After a stint on Desperate Housewives and his role as Captain Hammer in the internet phenomenon that is Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, the Canadian actor finally has a steady gig in a lead TV role.

His latest show is called Castle and if you’ve not watched it, you should. He plays the title character, Richard Castle, a cocky, humorous and lovable New York writer who specializes in writing murder mysteries. The show is about him using is connections with everyone who matters in New York (including the Mayor) to force the department (whose entire staff also loves him) into a partnership with Detective Kate Beckett (Stana Katic), an officer who happens to be an obsessed fan of his work.

While entirely reluctant to work with Castle, she has no choice and must allow him to tag along to write stories based on their adventures (he loves it when they get called to horrible crime scenes). The show follows Fillion’s character and Beckett as they solve the crimes of the city and while Fillion writes novels about a character based on her. They have their ups and downs as their relationship continues to develop and the viewers get to watch their great interaction on screen.

The show is funny, well-written and full of heart. The best example of the latter is when we get to see Castle at home with his daughter and mother. They represent three extremes that make the perfect family and their relationship and interaction is a treat to watch. The comedy bits of the show only work because its Fillion and I can’t picture the series working with anyone else in the role – he’s made for this part.

Click to continue reading about Castle’s ratings and Nathan Fillion’s other current work…

Shepherd Book Gets A Book, Serenity Fans Rejoice

Bruce Simmons — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 05:59:14 +0000

Shepherd Book always had a calm bit of wisdom to bestow. An insightful man of experience seeming to know a lot more than maybe he should. Book could distill wisdom beyond his years, even if certain captains didn’t heed his words.

As Book put it early on in his stay on Serenity, “I think I’m on the wrong ship!”

What do we really know about Book, the apparent “man of the cloth?” He’s rather well versed in the criminal element, he knows how to shoot, he knows his way around a firefly, and at one point, the bounty hunter Jubal Early said “that ain’t no shepherd.”

We can guess at various ideas about him: A retired Alliance officer, an ex-con, a double agent for the independents? Have you ever been wondering exactly what his back story is? Yeah, me too. Joss-Verse fans really want to know!

Strangely, so does Ron Glass, the man who played Shepherd Derrial Book in the TV series Firefly and movie, Serenity! One day he told Joss Whedon that he’s tired of facing fans at conventions knowing what they are going to ask and not having answers.

Well, now he’s going to get some info to answer those questions with.

Whedon said that if there were ever by some fortuitous miracle, a Serenity sequel, there would never be enough room to explain Book’s back history. So Whedon derived the only way possible to expound on his own universe. The place where he has the control he needs to pour forth his inner imaginations.

Comics.

A Shepherd book, about Shepherd Book. A book, er… well, you get it.

Ron Glass as Shepherd Book

Whedon already has the outline in his head and the book is going to be called The Shepherd’s Tale. The comic will outline Book’s entire history, covering some of the most asked questions about the character. It will be vignettes as you will of who he is and how he came to be on Serenity.

The Shepherd’s Tale will come out as a three-issue online comic that will be scripted by Jim Krueger and we ain’t gettin’ no insights from Whedon. He says we’ll have to read it to find out the little things like the man Book once killed and things like that. Wah!??

Right now Krueger is writing the MySpace Dark Horse Presents online comic: Serenity: The Other Half.

But for the moment, all the good details about Book will have to wait until next year when the issues come out. As Joss put it, It’s taking longer than they thought. Patience my readers, patience.

Sources: MTV, Firefly Wiki