MoviesOnline caught up with Emmy nominee Nathan Fillion ("Firefly,” "Serenity”)
at the Los Angeles press day to promote his new film, "Waitress.” An audience
hit at the Sundance Film Festival, "Waitress” serves up a sweet, sassy and delicious
slice of life tale -- as it reveals the power of friendship, motherhood and
the willingness to take a chance. It’s the story of a small town woman who transforms
her hopeless life into a hilarious and unexpected love story.
This vibrantly different romantic comedy is the final film from writer-director
Adrienne Shelly. Starring in the title role, Keri Russell ("Mission Impossible
3,” "The Upside of Anger”) leads a dynamic cast as a diner waitress stuck in
a lousy marriage whose only solace is baking out-of-this-world pies. When the
awkwardly charming new ob-gyn, Dr. Pomatter (Nathan Fillion), comes to town,
she’s inspired to mix-master her life into something far more satisfying. "Waitress”
will surely do for pie making what "Sideways” did for Pinot Noir.
As a favorite waitress at Joe’s Diner, Jenna (Russell) is also a "pie genius",
naming her tantalizing confections after the tumultuous events and emotions
of her daily life. She’s hoping that one of her pastries, like her "Kick In
The Pants” Pie, might even change her life – if she can just win that $25,000
pie contest. But when Jenna discovers that she’s pregnant, she immediately bakes
an "I Don’t Want Earl’s Baby” Pie – a quiche of egg and cheese with a smoked
ham center. After all, her husband Earl (Jeremy Sisto, "Thirteen,” "Six Feet
Under”) is a jealous jerk that is essentially a child himself and the last thing
they need to do is start a family together. But the pregnancy eventually changes
the course of events in her life, giving her an unexpected and newfound confidence
via letters to her unborn baby. "Waitress” also stars Emmy nominee Cheryl Hines
("Curb Your Enthusiasm,” "RV”) and Adrienne Shelly ("The Unbelievable Truth,”
"Trust”) as Jenna’s quick-tongued fellow waitresses along with classic television
star Andy Griffith ("The Andy Griffith Show,” "Matlock”) as the curmudgeonly
Old Joe of Joe’s Diner.
Fillion portrays the other leg of Jenna’s yin-yang love triangle in the film’s
most romantic role as the new and only ob-gyn in town, Dr. Pomatter. To play
the good doctor who finds himself with an adulterous attraction to a pregnant
patient, Adrienne Shelly said that she wanted to find "the quintessential sort
of handsome guy who has no idea that he’s handsome." For Shelly, Nathan
Fillion, an up-and-coming star who gained a cult following in Joss Whedon’s
fantasy television series "Firefly" and feature film "Serenity", was
perfect in that regard. "He’s really a big dork", she laughed on the set,
"but he looks like Harrison Ford or something. He was perfect for the role."
Fillion notes that his role was a bit of a departure: "I’ve played space
captains and chiefs of police, but this is the first time I’ve played a gynecologist!"
Like his cast mates, it was the humor and poignancy of the story that drew him
to the part. "My favorite thing about the screenplay is that this isn’t
a story about presidents or spies – it’s about real people in a real café,"
he comments. "It’s a slice of life, a slice of life pie."
Nathan Fillion gained a cult following when he portrayed Captain Malcolm Reynolds
in Joss Whedon’s critically acclaimed television series "Firefly". Next,
he was seen in the Universal film "Slither", a horror-comedy directed by
James Gunn and co-starring Elizabeth Banks. Most recently, he starred in the
Fox series, "Drive". The show, from executive producer Tim Minear, chronicled
an underground road race across America. Fillion plays a landscaper who unwillingly
joins the race in an effort to secure his abducted wife’s return. He will next
be seen on the big screen starring in "White Noise 2".
Fillion’s other film credits include "Serenity” which reunited him with director
Joss Whedon, "Saving Private Ryan” in which he portrayed the soldier misidentified
as Private Ryan, the independent film "Water’s Edge,” "Blast from the Past,”
"Dracula 2000,” and "Doubting Reilly.” On television, Fillion earned an Emmy
nomination for his role in the daytime drama "One Life to Live.” His other television
credits include the ABC movie-of-the-week "Ordeal in the Arctic,” as well as
roles in the series "Two Guys and a Girl", "Buffy the Vampire Slayer",
"Pasadena” and "Miss Match.”
A native of Edmonton, Alberta, Fillion wanted to be a high school teacher
and studied at the University of Alberta. He later starred in productions at
the Edmonton Fringe Festival and performed with comedy groups in town before
moving on to pursue an acting career in New York and Los Angeles.
Nathan Fillion turns in an impressive performance in his latest film and
we really appreciated the opportunity to talk to him about it. Here’s
what he had to tell us about "Waitress,” a rare and sparkling comedy:
This doctor, he was....
...awesome. I agree. Next question. [Laughs]
You were actually playing two characters: the good guy and the bad guy. I mean the good doctor and the bad guy sneaking around with his patient. Did Adrienne have that vision of you being those two personalities?
Well, tell me, was Jenna a bad guy then because she was cheating on her husband? It’s interesting that we’re both being unfaithful to our marriage, but Jenna we forgive far more readily because she’s in what’s obviously an abusive and dangerous relationship that we don’t want her to be in. But we’ve all known couples or people that are together for some reason or another – I think we talked about this earlier – where it’s ‘oh my God, they broke up? They were so perfect together. What could possibly be wrong?’ And although it’s not abuse and maybe no one’s getting beat up, certainly something within them is not bringing them together and they’re not happy. I think we all know people who are in a marriage that they’re not happy in. Does that make him a bad person that he’s looking for happiness elsewhere? I think that’s what the movie becomes about for me at least as far as everybody is looking to be happy. But it’s about the decisions you make. Are those decisions the right decisions that will bring you happiness?
But when we see how adoring your character’s wife ends up being, what did you imagine he was looking for elsewhere?
Again, I put it in that nebulous ‘what could it possibly be?’ that these two people are together. They seemed so perfect. I obviously don’t know their relationship so I put it in that nebulous thing that obviously he’s unhappy for a reason. The reasons why were not important – not important to the story, not important to He was looking for happiness, she was looking for happiness. If they found something together that stirred something within them, there’s obviously an attraction. He was obviously attracted to her. Did he instigate? Man, I think she was all over him if you know what I mean. I’m hoping you don’t write that down, but she jumped on him.
What do you think was so attractive about your character’s stilted dialogue?
I think you can feel it when someone is attracted to you. There’s something in their actions, there’s something in the energy that somebody gives off that says I like you more than maybe you realize or maybe I should. Whether subconsciously or not, I think people read that and feel that. I think it’s part of when somebody likes you, even not in a romantic sense, but somebody truly likes you and cares for you and respects you, that’s what keeps you coming around and hanging out with that person is that you have that sense, that feeling on some level that they’re there for you. I think there’s certainly that going on with Jenna and Dr. Pomatter.
Did you do any research in order to be authentic in the role as a doctor, such as when you perform the sonogram?
Well that was actually the only technical thing I had to do and they had a nurse who told me the baby was a little lower, a little farther south. That was fine. And basically the way to angle it and how to find where the baby would be and what that motion would look like. Otherwise you’ll notice that Dr. Pomatter never straps on any gloves and gets any more intimate than actually making out with Keri.
After having done so many action projects, is it nice to do a movie where you just talk and kiss?
Now this is where we get into another area that we talked about earlier today. There are people who say, ‘this is a real departure for you’ because they’re only familiar with my last few projects whereas if you go back a little further, I was a romantic foil in a sitcom, before that I spent three years on a soap opera. This movie screams soap opera – infidelity between a doctor and a patient.
I know that’s not all you’ve done. I mean just having a stretch of that and then getting back to this sort of thing.
Everything I do I try to ground in reality and if you’re on a spaceship, you’re still playing the reality of what that relationship is. If you’re in a speeding car, you’re still playing the reality of a relationship, so regardless of the backdrop and the setting, I just try to always be truthful. It’s fun. There are different challenges with every job, of course. I’m always having fun.
How was it working with Adrienne as a director?
Lovely, absolutely lovely. I remember there were times when I said to her, ‘I can do it like that. That’s how you want it? Alright.’ It was a strange angle she was taking and I wasn’t there for the filming of the rest of the picture, but in seeing the completed project, now I see her vision and now I see the throughline that writers and directors, they have that gift of that vision that I actually don’t share with them. When I saw the movie for the first time, it was in Sundance at our very first screening. I was more than pleasantly surprised. I knew it was going to be a beautiful story. I knew I loved the story. What I didn’t know was how much it would affect me and I’m just glad to have been a part.
What was her vision? What was her message to the public?
Good question on that. I knew what I got out of it as far as seeing people, like we talked about, trying to be happy and trying to make the right decision. Andy Griffith pretty much hits the nail on the head when he says, ‘in my life when I’ve been faced with choices and I could take one path or another, I always took the wrong one, I always made the wrong decision. It’s not too late for you to do what’s right’ trying to save her from the life that he’d had that had made him a crotchety old lonely fellow. That’s the message I take away from that. We all want to be happy. It’s the decisions we make. Are they going to make us happy? Are they the right decisions, the right thing to do?