From ‘Firefly’ to ‘The Rookie,’ Nathan Fillion Is Living the Geek Life (EXCLUSIVE)

So which came first, the Geek or the culture that elevated you to geekdom?

When I was a young man, we had, my brother and I, our own rooms, and we would share — every other week, we had to turn it over to the other guy — a comic book rack.

You mean an actual rack with a DC or Marvel logo?

Actually it was “Comics, Fun for all Ages; Hey Kids, Comics” rack — there was no DC or Marvel image, it was generic comics in three tone screen print on the panel at the top — and no bearings, so when it spun, it was just a wire ring on a post, so it squeaked and wobbled as it spun, but it was a comic rack. I have no idea where that is anymore; I wonder if we still have it in our parents’ basement. And then my interest in comics outdid my brother’s — I became a bit of a collector. I won’t say a serious collector, but I got to the point where I filed my comics and would do an inventory of them, which I would constantly have to re-write when I got new comics.

Growing up, was your geekiness limited to comic books?

If you remember the very end of the end credits to Welcome Back Kotter, there’s a kid riding down a street in New York on a unicycle. I was so impressed with that. And then Bosom Buddies came around, and Peter Scolari was doing the same thing — Tom Hanks was on a bicycle and Peter Scolari was next to him on a unicycle. I thought, “How hard can that be?” I saved my money — my dad was always the guy who would put up half for major purchases, so if you could save half the cash he’d give you the other half. So I bought a unicycle, and two of my friends did the same thing, and we all had unicycles for a while — that was kind of geeky. I had an older brother who was very cool, very independent, handled everything — so I think one of those things that brothers do is you want to set yourself apart from each other; you want to be a little different, and geekiness helped me because he wasn’t much of a geek. He was very cool, let me tell you.

So being geeky allowed you to establish your own identity in a sense?

Exactly, and it sure was easy being a geek. So freeing. And now, it’s got to be easier to be a geek, we’re so steeped in it now. For example, when I started doing voice work, had these high-powered people explaining to me how the Justice League is doing this thing, and who the villain is, I’m like, “Guys, I know. I know exactly what’s going on here.” And it’s nice to have that cultural reference, that little niche reference to my past that’s now paying off in spades.

There’s nothing greater than tapping into your childhood as an adult, is there?

It is a dream job like that. I get to be a participant and a fan at the same time, and it’s a wonderful position to be in. “What did you want to be when you grow up? A superhero? I’ve been that.” The dreams come true.

But when they come true, do you sit back and think, “Damn, what do I dream about now?”

It’s true! I had a bunch of goals in life, and I thought, “If I could get to this point, I would be pretty happy.” Now I’ve wanted to buy property in Los Angeles for a while. I was gainfully employed and looking around, but I couldn’t find anything at a reasonable price that was nicer than the place I was renting for dirt cheap, so why buy? Then the recession hit, and I was employed, and I bought a piece of property at a reasonable price and whoo, I’m so excited right now — it took me a long time, I was feeling sort of nomadic and now I have some roots. So that was a big goal of mine, and that being achieved, now I need a new goal.

Go the moon…

I’m afraid of space — just so we know, just to be clear, I’m afraid of space. If we were ever talking about doing a space flight, like those people who want to go on commercial space flights, I am not in.

As you moved beyond comics and unicycles, did you outgrow your geekiness or did it stay with you?

At one point you’re looking at $20 in your hand and you think, comic books or gas in my truck and a date? There’s only a finite amount of resources, and comics were just getting good, but my first vehicle was a truck. It was very reliable and had great character, but I had to put gas in it to get around. So my priorities changed, although superheroes were always on my mind. I would think, “If I could fly, this traffic would mean nothing to me.” Or, “If I could control gravity, I could move that car and park there.” My thoughts were always with superpowers in some way — reading minds, telepathy, telekinesis, flight, controlling gravity, time control… always there!

When you decided to become an actor, did it seem like a fantasy; something that you’d never get a chance to do?

I was studying to be a high school teacher in Alberta, and acting was something I did on the side. Acting is not a “success” career choice. It’s a lot of hard work for not a lot of pay. And if you actually get work, you need another job to support your acting habit. So I thought if I had my education, I’d have something to fall back on. I was going to finish off schooling and four months before graduation I got a job on a soap and moved to New York City. I did three years there, moved to Los Angeles on the advice of Bob Woods, who played my uncle on the show. He said, “Get out there, kid,” and I did exactly what he told me to do. Thank God, because it wasn’t all sunshine and roses. I spent a lot of time unemployed — I paid my rent on credit two months in a row because I was waiting for a tax return so I could pay off my credit bill and then have enough money to move back to NYC and try to get back on the show. But I got a job at the last minute on a sitcom, and that carried me for two-and-a-half years. After that was Firefly, so I didn’t know that acting was actually a possibility — that there was a chance that I could go to New York and be a successful soap opera actor. I didn’t know, “OK, this time next year I’m going to get nominated for a daytime Emmy,” but it just started to happen.

Which has got to be the thrill of a lifetime.

But at the same time I would look around and think someone was going to tap me on the shoulder and say, “You’re not an actor, you’re just some guy who dropped out of university, who was going to be a high school teacher.” I was having that fear, and finally, I looked around and said, “Everyone here is from somewhere, and some of them studied to be actors, yes, but some of them didn’t. It could happen to anybody, so why not me?” So I started enjoying myself and that was a good day. I remember when I made that conscious choice to enjoy it; to accept it as a dream come true. Next thing I know, I’m shooting guns, riding horses, and flying starships.

But not in real space.

[Laughs] Right, not in real space — all the joy and none of the risk.

Do you view Firefly as the turning point in your career?

Absolutely. Unequivocally. I had a lot of jobs before Firefly, and nobody ever heard of me, so what does that tell you? A) It put me on the map, B) it was my first lead role, C) first one hour drama, D) opened the door for me for my first lead in a feature film, E) it taught me so much just about acting — I mean, I did three years on a soap, the hardest work an actor can do, and after all that work, I thought, “Oh I’m pretty good at this.” Then I got to Firefly and it’s one of those things where the more you learn the more you realize you don’t know, and it taught me a lot. Firefly put my life on an entirely different path — I would not be where I am were it not for Firefly.

Why do you think it continues to touch people the way that it does?

It’s a wonderful vision of the future; it’s simple, it’s not about technology and it’s not about space. It’s about people. It’s a very creative backdrop to give to these people who are dealing with hardship, dealing with starvation. You know, “We just don’t want to be hungry, we just want work.” These aren’t the rich guys from the universities, these are the poor guys — people can relate to that. Just scraping by? A lot of people can relate to that. Holding it together when everyone seems to be against you, a lot of people can relate to that. I just think that Joss has a way of telling stories that differs from a lot of people. A friend of mine feels that Joss is such a powerful storyteller because where a story twists — we know this is what the hero does, this is what the villain does — Joss takes those twists and says, “But this is what happens in real life.”

You’ve done a number of web shows or productions for the web, whether it’s Dr. Horrible or The Daly Show. What’s the appeal of doing them?

The appeal is, it’s two guys, one with a mic one with a camera, and people say, “Let’s do this, it’ll be great.” And with the technology that’s available now with camera and flash sticks and music software, you can make something great with your laptop and a camera. And you can really make something great with a minimal investment – technology is really putting “filmmaking” into the hands of everyone. It’s like, “My uncle’s got a barn we can use for a stage. I’ve got a box of old clothes we can use for costumes.” Isn’t that incredible?

‘Castle’ was your longest running gig to date. Did that character remain fun to play?

One season, midway through, I jumped out and did Much Ado About Nothing on weekends with Joss Whedon. Acting is acting, I do it all the time, I do it every day, but all of the sudden it was Shakespeare and there were some very interesting and very new challenges for me. I would say that Castle didn’t hold those kinds of daunting challenges for me on a daily basis – and thank God, because if it did I would be a nervous wreck. But I was still having fun, I was still doing what I want to do, this is my career I chose and I had a place to go every morning at 6 a.m. Do I find it incredibly challenging and difficult? No. Is it boring? No. I make new friends all the time, I meet great people every day and I enjoy my work.

And there was also the security of a steady paycheck.

Being an actor and having someplace to go in the morning, that alone is an incredible feeling. I know many extraordinary actors who are not working. I know actors who are a lot more talented than I am, and they’re going, “Where are the jobs already?” And I get it. I’ve had a lot of failed TV programs, and I know what that’s like. I finally had one that stuck, and now I know what that’s like, and it’s a good feeling — the idea behind telling these stories is you have to have people watching, so if people are watching and are enjoying it, that’s what we’re all here for.

Moving back into geek territory, what would you say are your current passions?

My current passion is scuba diving — I’ve done some diving before, but I just got certified, and my brother and I are very tight-knit. We do a lot together — so he and I got certified and we did a diving trip to Belize, and that is a new passion of mine; it’s very interesting.

How about tech?

Love my iPad. I’ve pre-ordered the Pebble, which is the little Bluetooth watch that you can use to download apps and kind of have it do different things and tell you when a text is coming in and things like that. Then there’s Leap Motion control — it’s a little computer device that you hook up to computers and you can access it with Minority Report-style hand gestures. This thing is very accurate. I’m very much into electric cars — there’s a company I’ve been following very closely, and I’m going to be very soon driving an Arcimoto SRK — it’s an electric car company out of Eugene, OR. These guy s built a three-wheel electric car — it looks like a spaceship and it’s so much fun to drive. I want one desperately. Since I was a kid, I was like, “When are cars going to look like spaceships?” There’s this Tesla sedan, and now Tesla is coming out with a Model X — it’s an electric little mini SUV crossover which has got these falcon wing doors. I’m super-duper into what the next step in transportation will be — LIT Motors has a new motorcycle called the C1, a self-balancing motorcycle with two wheels and no kickstand — it’s enclosed, you never put your feet down.

What is it about you and transportation?

Because it’s the year [2018] and we were supposed to have flying cars in 2000. It’s such a slow-moving industry because big oil and big auto don’t want you buying new stuff that’s going to last forever, they want you to buy the old stuff that’s going to keep them in business. And until people start wanting what’s better and buying what’s better, it’s never going to chance. Well, I see the change now. I’m seeing the Chevy Volt, I’m seeing plug-in Hybrids, I’m seeing the Honda, I’m seeing Mini-Coopers that are electric and little BMWs that are electric. I love the sound of an electric car — that’s the sound of the future to me and I want it in my driveway.

Let’s name some of your more popular characters and get your immediate thoughts on them. Beginning with Captain Mal Reynolds from Firefly.

Awesome, come on! Best character I ever played. The best words that ever came out of my mouth came out of Malcolm.

Your voice work as Green Lantern.

It’s nice to have a piece of something like that — it’s an animated film, and it’s DC super-lore. I like that lore and being a fan it’s nice to have a place in that lore.

Richard Castle.

Richard Castle — I like that he’s insensitive and I like that he’s inconsiderate. I like that he doesn’t care about everything very much — he cares about what’s important, but other than that, he’s a little bit cold and I like him. It’s very freeing — you can’t go around being a turd to people in real life the same way you can’t walk around punching people in the face a lot, but Malcolm Reynolds can do that. I do things on TV that I can’t get away with in real life. That’s what I like about my job.

Is there anything common among the characters that make them such a good fit for you?

Usually, when I’m reading a project, there’s one line that will speak to me out loud and inform me of who that character is. In every character they have one moment or one line that says to me, this is exactly who this character is, and this is what informs all of his choices, this characteristic.

You get to do one dream project. What would it be?

Greatest American Hero. It’s time for a redo. He’s a hero who is unprepared for what’s in front of him; he has an incredibly powerful tool or weapon but has no idea how to use it, which is a real equalizer. You take this guy who is not so super and not really sure of what he’s doing and give him the powers of Superman. It’s far more human to not be prepared, to not know what to do.

From that kid with the comic book spindle to where you are now, what’s the view?

My dad has taken over my old bedroom, it’s now his office and the walls are littered with framed articles and photos of me. There’s a picture of me for some article — it was years and years ago, the late 90s, and I’m sitting on a staircase, looking off into the sunlight. It’s a really casual kind of picture. And there’s a quote right there next to the page, and it’s something I said, that just seems to fit so well the farther I go in my career, and that was that everything is working out not like I planned it, but like I dreamed it would be.
 

The Rookie airs on ABC.