The Vulture Transcript: Nathan Fillion on Castle, Firefly, and a Dr. Horrible Sequel
Nathan Fillion first broke out as "Captain Tightpants" on the short-lived (but long-tailed) cult sci-fi series Firefly. Back then, Fillion was a former soap daytime star, just coming off an ABC sitcom called Two Guys, A Girl, and A Pizza Place (he played a third guy). He wasn't a big star, but even then he had a larger-than-life charisma. Firefly was infamously axed by the end of its first season, but by then Fillion's performance as the dark-humored Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds had endeared him to a million geeks"”as did his starring role in the Firefly movie Serenity and as Captain Hammer in Whedon's Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog. He's also played a philandering gynecologist in the indie film Waitress; yet another doctor on Desperate Housewives; and a very Mal Reynolds-ish space captain in the blockbuster videogame Halo. These days, he's the star of Castle, a playful Remington-Steele-like romantic procedural, in which he plays a swaggering crime novelist who flirts, solves crimes, and exudes so much charisma it should be illegal. Emily Nussbaum met him in midtown and insulted him by implying that Edmonton, Canada might be boring
