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Serenity Star Ready For Film

Nathan Fillion, who stars as Capt. Mal Reynolds in the upcoming SF movie Serenity, told SCI FI Wire that he doesn't feel a lot of pressure in his first major feature-film lead role, based on his character from Fox's canceled TV series Firefly. "I don't feel a lot of that pressure," Fillion said in an interview during a break in filming at Universal Studios in Los Angeles last summer. "My schedule is much the same as it was on the series: I'm here a lot. But I get to perform with everybody in the cast. I get to have great scenes with all of these great characters that I fell in love with. I don't feel a great deal of pressure. You know what? I'm starting to feel the thing, now that it's wrapping up, [where] I just really hope people enjoy this movie. I really hope they do. I hope folks that aren't fans—that weren’t fans of the series—will catch this and maybe go get the DVD collection and [see] what [they were] missing."

Serenity picks up the story of the short-lived Firefly, about the ragtag crew of a transport spaceship 500 years in the future as they eke out a living in the wake of a galactic civil war. Fillion's Reynolds is the captain of the ship and a war-weary veteran of the losing side in the civil war. "I'm here having a great time with some very talented actors, with a very talented director [Firefly creator Joss Whedon], who are all my good friends. I'm in a very safe place here. I don't come to work feeling, 'There's a lot of pressure on me.' I come to work saying, 'What do we get to do today? Who am I going to get to hang out with today? Who's on the guest list, the call sheet, today that I get to hang out with?'"

Fillion added, "Joss has told me he's under a little more pressure. But you know what? I don't see it. I think when we were doing the series, I saw him working on three series [Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Firefly]. We didn't see him near as often as we would have liked, because he's great to have around. He's a real warm presence on a set. His presence on set is calming. He's very specific in what he wants. He's very confident in his choices, and it's nice to have him around." Serenity is slated for release in April 2005. Universal is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.

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Serenity Gets Darker

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.

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So he's pretty and he's nice and he's funnier than Joss. That would make him something of an enigma in Hollywood, wouldn't it?

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