Source: SFX Magazine [follow link for complete interview]
CASTLE | FIREFLY - SFX MAGAZINE: Exclusive Nathan Fillion Interview
by Dave Golder
July 28 2011
The latest SFX Special is a countdown of the greatest SF&F icons of the 21 century, as voted for by you. And here we speak to the man who plays the character who won...
It’s official. Captain “Mal” Reynolds, aka, Captain Tightpants, is your number one sci-fi or fantasy icon of the 21st century. Yep, he even beat the Doctor, and who’d have placed a bet on that?
Mal comes in pole position in the Top 100 Icons, as revealed in full in the latest SFX Special (click [here] learn more), on sale now. And there’s an interview with Nathan Fillion, who played Mal, of course, in there too, in which he discusses all the popularity of the character.
But there was an awful lot of leftover material from that exclusive chat, and it would seem a shame to waste it. So here is more of that conversation between Jayne Nelson and Nathan Fillion, purely for this website...
... Q: These days you’re playing writer Richard Castle in Castle. Have you brought anything of Mal into him?
Nathan Fillion: “They’re two very different people. Certainly Richard Castle has lived a life more of leisure and success. He’s a bit namby-pamby compared to Malcolm Reynolds, but I think basically he has some of the same qualities. Malcolm Reynolds doesn’t know when he’s been beat; he will not be beat. Much the same way, Castle thinks he’s really cool! He thinks he’s walking around and everybody just adores him, and sometimes that’s true and it just feeds that ego of his. But when life kind of shows him how cool he’s not, he doesn’t get it. When life knocks him down and shows him that he’s being a nerd or a goober, he doesn’t get it. He keeps going. He thinks he’s cool. That’s the kind of thing your mom told you when you were at school and the kids are teasing you – ‘No, no, you’re cool! You’re real cool! Be yourself! That’s cool!’ That’s kind of what Castle does – he remains himself and he’s cool, that’s what he thinks...”
