Nathan's filling good
Waitress has already won rave reviews around the world. With an original style, smart script and compelling story, it is set in a southern town and focuses on a charming young woman (Keri Russell) who bakes delicious pies, hates her husband, gets pregnant to him — then falls head over heels for her obstetrician. The handsome Doctor Pomatter is portrayed with wit and humour by rising star Nathan Fillion. His on screen chemistry with Russell, together with his charisma and comedic skills, help to make the film so enjoyable.
Fillion, 36, grew up in Edmonton, Canada. He always loved acting and performing but originally intended to become a high school teacher and studied at the University of Canada. He starred in several plays in Canada before deciding to pursue acting full time. He got his first major acting break with a role on the US daytime soap One Life To Live. Fillion went onto star as Captain Mal Reynolds in the short-lived Joss Whedon TV series Firefly. His film credits include Serenity, Saving Private Ryan, Water's Edge, Dracula 2000 and Slither. His next film is White Noise 2.
Q: What is the film about from your perspective?
A: It is a great film about people looking for fulfillment in life. Even though it deals with pregnancy and motherhood, I don’t see this as a women’s movie. I don’t see this as being about motherhood either or about being pregnant. It is about people trying to be happy. It is the same thing that we are all doing in our everyday lives, just trying to make choices. It looks at what kind of choices people make and whether we make easy choices or more challenging ones, that might be more rewarding in the long term.
Q: Can you talk about who this guy is? On
the face of it, it is outrageous — what he does having an affair with his pregnant patient. How did you perceive him?
A: He’s hardly a dog, he is not a bad guy at all. We have two people here and they are both being unfaithful to their partners, yet we forgive them. We forgive Jenna very easily, because she’s obviously in an abusive relationship, although it is harder to forgive my character, it is true. From what we see of Dr Pommater’s relationship, his wife is beautiful, she’s a doctor, she’s affectionate, they seem affectionate together too. But we all know couples like that, don’t we? You can never really tell what is going on behind closed doors. Couples may seem really happy on the surface, then we find out: Oh my god, they’re getting a divorce and we cannot understand why because they seem so perfect, so what could possibly be the problem, what went wrong, we wonder? But really, who are we to say how hearts communicate and what might either draw people together or pull them apart. It is all about people who are obviously searching for something to fill a void within themselves and make choices to try to be happy. These two people came together because they see a chance of happiness and love.
Q: What was the appeal of this film for you?
A: Well first of all I thought it was a very pretty little story, I thought it was a very cute little slice of life tale. I had no idea how emotional it might be when I started the project; I didn’t have the vision that Adrienne obviously had about what these characters have to say. In some ways, the story seems to be larger than life, yet it is really just a simple, tiny little story. I love it because it speaks to me so clearly I think about my own daily choices every day in terms of how to find happiness.
Q: What are your memories of Adrienne, of working with her and knowing her?
A: My most vivid memory about Adrienne is the first time I ever met her, which was in a little diner on the lower east side of New York. I can’t even remember the name of it, I remember how tiny she was sitting in a little booth and how she had an easy smile and was so friendly. And even in times of stress or pressure when we were filming, she always had that energy that drew people towards her. She was wonderful. She always wore hats — which is an excellent metaphor, because she wore a lot of hats in this movie as an actor, director, and writer. She was very talented. I was in a scene with Adrienne and Cheryl Hines, right at the end of the movie so I did get to act with her, which was wonderful.
Q: Can you talk about your co-stars?
A: One reason I wanted to do the movie so badly was that I wanted to work with Keri Russell and Cheryl Hines. Andy Griffith was a latecomer to the movie and that was exciting too. I couldn’t believe I got to work with him. I had known Jeremy Sisto before; we used to play beach volleyball together. I’d seen his work but I’d never actually had the chance to work with him. So that was a thrilling prospect for me too.
Q: How much medical research did you do to play the obstetrician?
A: Zero. If you notice when you see the film, I never had to do anything technical or complicated at all, or anything difficult. I moved around a sonogram at one point and that is about it. Really, all I had to do was to put on a white coat and be awkward and embarrassed, which is how my character feels a lot of the time.
Q: What was it like working with Keri?
A: Great, I’m very proud of the job we did. What we wanted to do was communicate an attraction, a passionate feeling. These are two people who need and long for something grand and passionate in their lives and obviously they can’t express that in their current relationships, which is why they come together. They have some magnetic chemistry that is romantic and intense and passionate. Keri is absolutely wonderful and we just had a great collaboration. The sex scenes can be difficult and embarrassing, it was supposed to be awkward, because our characters are relative strangers, but she’s just so wonderful and easy to be with. All you want to do in those passionate scenes is be comfortable, in what can be a very awkward situation.
Q: Do you have especially emotional feelings about the film?
Audiences and critics are really enjoying it.
A: I think that judging by the screenings and by how well the show is doing and how it seems to affect people, it is obviously having a great impact as a film in itself, and the critics obviously are just loving it. It seems to be hitting people in just the right spot. What makes it hard for me is that Adrienne is not able to see just how much people love her film. I think she knew she was doing a good project, she was putting her heart into it obviously and it meant something to her. But I don’t think she could ever imagine how much it would affect people so deeply.
Q: When you were making it, did you have any idea of the kind of impact
it was going to have? Was there a special atmosphere?
A: You know when I read it, I thought it was a sweet story, about motherhood, But I actually missed the point. It was not until I actually got to see it for the first time at the Sundance Film Festival that I was really able to see the vision that Adrienne had. This movie affected me and so many other people. It really touched me and I identified with it in many ways, because of the areas of life I have been thinking about myself, looking at my own choices.
Q: What was it like on the set, what sort of director was Adrienne?
A: Here’s what I’ve learned about writer-directors. It often works very well because there is less lost in the translation between what the writer’s trying to say, and what the director’s trying to translate visually. I think with the writer-director, there is far more accuracy, sticking close to the script, to the story, to the spirit of the movie and the intent of the writer, the intent of the story. On top of that, Adrienne was an actress, so now you have a director who can communicate in that language of emotion in the same way that wine tasters live in that realm of sense and smell and taste, and they have those words and that language that they use. Adrienne can communicate extremely well to actors. I remember there were times when she asked me to do something and I said, "I can do it like that" but I had no real idea why she wanted it done in a certain specific way. And I didn’t learn until I actually got to Sundance and saw the film and thought, "Oh, that’s what she meant. It makes perfect sense, and it’s amazing."
Q: Do you have any kind of philosophy or approach to your work?
A: Somebody once said that you can never act and be another person; you’re only acting facets of yourself. I think there’s a lot of truth in that. I look at a role, and I think I basically boil it down to: What would I do, had I experienced those things. How would I react? I know what I would say, but how would it make me feel? I lean very heavily on that approach. So I relate to those characters — and any character I play — in as much as I put myself in their positions and feel how I would personally deal with their experiences.
Q: What are your interests outside acting?
A: My friends and my family, I like to see movies. I live in Los Angeles and I like to do a lot of hiking. I live a very relaxed life. I think that acting can be a very pressurised existence. So when I am not working, I spend very loose and un-pressurised time and I like to meet people who have a similar attitude. I also have a cat. I’m not a cat-person, but she came with the house that I’m renting. I was told she was 18 when I moved in, so I thought, ‘How long can she possibly last?’ And that was 6 years ago — and I don’t know how many hundreds of dollars worth of bump removals, teeth removals, cleanings and vet fees I have been through since then. But of course I love her and she is worth it.