Nathan Fillion Quotes

It's so great in Hollywood now. You have people past 40 sitting and talking about serious stuff, writing and making movies and TV, but there's laser pistols and superheroes and alien monsters involved. It's viable and mainstream.

There are people who have energy that say don't come near me, don't get too close. There's people like Adrienne Shelley who have the energy of come over here and give me a hug and if you're around me you're going to be happy about it.

I had a Ford F-250. It was a big ol' farm truck, but it wasn't a rig. That's about the biggest I've ever driven. That's what I drove back and forth to high school. I was a poor guy, and it was a truck that my uncle owned and let me drive because I had no money.

My brain is like a hard drive. Once you start adding new information, you start cutting off old information.

There's only one spot in history for the first ever of anything.

I like making sci-fi movies because I like watching sci-fi movies. I like watching horror. I like being in a horror movie. I'm a fan. My perspective's a little different just because I get to participate as well as spectate.

I'm fortunate enough that every job I do seems to be, at the very least, teaching me something fantastic. I make new friends. I work with talented people. And each project and experience seems to be better than the last. I seem to be topping myself all the time. I think to myself: "It can't get better, it can't get better..." And then something happens that makes me feel like I'm truly richer for the experience.

Thank God there is a such thing as hiatus. We got the first 'Dr. Horrible' done in six days, we banged it out.

I've kind of learned this about Joss Whedon. Never say never. I've learned that. I also have another rule about Joss Whedon. Never say no. Just... whatever Joss Whedon wants to do, just do it.

Working on Drive, a lot of fun. This is Tim Minear whom I've worked with before on Firefly of course. He called me up and said I've got a part for you that you will love and I love Tim's writing. I love his stories. I love his characters, his dialogue. He has a knack for reveals and he has a knack for moments.

The nature of the beast is, art needs finance. That's how this industry works.

When you work on a soap opera, that's three years of you working every day. There was no time to do anything other than the soap opera - you're locked in.

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.

Somebody told me long ago that in acting, it's okay to steal, just steal from the best.

Karaoke is something that's near and dear and very close to my heart. I was a karaoke host when I was working my way through university. I was a full-time student and karaoke was my night job.

I don't have 4 or 5 projects in front of me and an offer on every one saying 'what one would you like to do?' Things come along one at a time.

My guiltiest pleasure? 'Untamed & Uncut'. Videos of people being attacked by animals. Yeah. I don't know why. I just love seeing guys who say, 'I'm gonna stick my hand in that crocodile's mouth and see what happens.' And then it snaps down on them. There you go - that's what you get! It's a wild animal, my friend.

I tell you, 'Firefly'? Best job I ever had. Heartbroken when it was canceled, but had it not been canceled, I never would have gotten 'Serenity'. I think 'Serenity' is the most incredible thing I've ever been able to actually get my hands on and do. I can't even tell you how much love I have for that project.

I have jobs that I've preferred more than others simply because I've gotten to meet and make friends with great people. I've pulled at least one very close friend from every project I've done.

You have a dramatic portion of your television program and you treat it dramatically, and then you have a comedic portion of your program, and you treat it differently. Why do you change who are between the two pieces? You're the same person. Just go.

You want to put out a TV show? If you have the money to do it on your own, by yourself, and you have a TV network, you can do it by yourself. But the nature of the beast is, art needs finance. That's how this industry works. So until the Internet becomes our source of entertainment - and watch it, I believe it will - this is how things go.

Castle is a guy living in a fantasy world. He's in his imagination, writing these stories of murder.

Do something today you've been afraid to do. A decision based on fear is the wrong decision.

Improv as an actor makes you present in the moment. You listen, you're attentive. You're not acting so much as reacting, which is what you're doing in life all the time.

Oh, boy. I'm still in touch with about 90 percent of my exes. They would describe me as being unlucky in love.

It's hard to shake a stick at success.

I had an Indiana Jones fedora that I loved. I don't know what happened to it. I don't know where it went. Wish I had it back. Whoever's got it, you suck.

People keep inviting me back. It's nice to work with the same people when you've had a good time previously, and this is one of those cases.

I don't spend a lot of time online.

I was attending the University of Alberta. I was going to be a high school teacher, like my parents. I failed - no, I didn't fail a class, I just barely passed. I really didn't try. It was Canadian history, through the plays of the time. My God, those were boring plays.

Growing up, my parents managed to show me the importance of reading without cramming it down my throat. A difficult task, I'm sure. It breaks my heart to think that there are kids out there, ready to have their imaginations lit on fire, excited and wanting to read, and facing naked shelves in their school or local libraries. Rather than complain or wait till the system stops failing our nation's children this is a matter I feel we must take into our own hands. There are children, right now, waiting-wanting to read. What shall we tell them>

I told myself a while back, 'Love what you do, but don't fall in love with what you do.' That way you won't be brokenhearted if ever it gets canceled five episodes in - which has happened to me.

I love hiking in the hills not far from my house. I'm invested in my hikes. Sometimes kids go up there and spray-paint over the signs; I've found a biodegradable paint cleaner, and I'll scrub the signs so they're nice and clean.

You know, I endeavor to be more like my older brother. He's very magnetic. He's actually very much like 'Castle' in that people are attracted to him, and just want to be near him. You want to know where my brother is in a crowded room? He's the guy with the crowd around him.

Whatever our bedtime was as kids, we could stay up an extra half hour if we were reading. My parents didn't care as long as I was under the spell of a Stephen King or a Douglas Adams. Now I read in bed. I read at work. I read standing in line. It's like, 'Hello, my name is Nathan and I am a reader.'

I think about my own daily choices every day in terms of how to find happiness.

You can't embarrass Joss Whedon, he's got no pride! He fully admits it. 'Oh, it's me. I'm little and goofy.' You can't wound his pride. He's too self-deprecating.

I love when a TV show, or entertainment in general, makes me feel something; be it positive, be it negative, be it happiness, be it awkward, uncomfortable if it can make me feel, it's done it's job.

I've always noticed a difference between working with a director and working with a writer/director. In how much they're invested and how specific they are.

I like to say there's certain things you can't take back: One of them is 'I love you,' and one of them is bullets.

I don't spend a lot of time online. My mother's really good at picking out if she sees a really great review, and she'll forward it to me. She's like my little Internet filter. It's always nice to see something going up; if I want to find something on Nathan Fillion, I do know where to look, but I've got a nice little delivery system in my mom.

When people embrace character, there's latzie. It's the stuffing of a scene that's not written. It's not in the stage direction and it's not in the words. When people embrace character, it informs their living, breathing moments in a scene so well.

I love what I do. And why not be nice? I mean, I've seen people who work and they're apparently not enjoying it, and they're making sure everybody knows it.

I love 'Strange Brew'. I quote that movie all the time, and no one knows what I'm talking about.

I would cancel dialysis to be in the [hopefully upcoming Firefly] movie.

It's a trap I've fallen into earlier in my career - trying to be liked. Don't do it. When I watch TV and I see someone trying to make me like them, acting cute or quirky or goofy, I'm not impressed. Don't act like America's watching you. Just latch onto your character. Characters are flawed. Be unlikeable. Be flawed. Be a person.

I consider 'Dr. Horrible' a tremendous success. The fact that it won an Emmy I just think lends validity to what we were doing and the point we were trying to make: taking the power into someone else's hands and changing the world.

I still buy actual books. The smell, having it in your hands - there's really no substitute.