NATHAN Fillion was late for this interview because he was helping a neighbor get a cat out of a tree. He had just finished shooting Episode 5 of "Drive," Fox's mid-season replacement. Fillion was the star of Joss Whedon's series "Firefly" and the ensuing film, "Serenity." He also stars in Adrienne Shelly's final film, "Waitress," coming out next month.
You were recently on the set of "The Office." Whatever were you up to there?
James Gunn is a friend of mine, and his lovely wife, who is also a friend of mine, plays Pam, behind the desk. I'm a huge fan. Was trying to get there a week before because Joss Whedon was directing an episode -- was trying to scramble down and have lunch. So I did a little tour of the set, a little personal tour from Pam -- rather, Jenna.
That show is really working well -- and we were all so up in arms when it started!
Recently there was another American television program that took the success of an English show. But boy, you've got a lot of extremely talented people. I'm very entertained. It's rare that I will say something aloud to or laugh at the television. It just gets me. It's hitting me just right.
"They" say we're in the golden age of television.
Are we? I don't know about that. There are a few shows -- "Lost," "The Office" -- I don't want to do without. There's a couple others that entertain me, but those are ones that I will not miss. This is good, because I've been working.
Have you guys got a handle on shooting all that green screen yet?
I've done some of that before -- most of it spaceships though. Now I've got this. We started off in this big old truck. You're acting with this 1930s-style directing; for the silent movies they didn't have to worry about the director's voice, so they shouted: "Crack the window! You're very afraid! No, not that scared. Pull it back! Good. So go to the table!"
We do that a lot during green screen. "He's behind you! Bam! Now on your left! Check your rear view! He's against you!" It's crazy. It's hard not to feel goofy. I won't lie to you. There's a guy with a 2-by-4 wedged under your truck, so you've got some motion. If there's two cars that are involved and they're side by side, they'll put them up on the rigs. It's like riding a puck in an air hockey game -- they pump air in.
