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Compiled by: Jack Foley
Q. The fan nick-name for your character seems to be traced
directly back to you. Can you tell us where that came from?
Joss: My Wimpy-Drawers?
Nathan: Captain Tightpants. Joss actually wrote
that. That was in an episode of Shindig. I was actually called
Captain Tightpants and it stuck because I actually wore pants
made of canvass-type material that honestly was extremely strong.
The seams, however, were as weak as they could be, apparently.
One time in an episode I had to pick up Kaylee and I bent down
to get her and 'oh', split my pants.
One time I sat on a rock in the scene and split my pants, and
one time they split for no reason, they just spontaneously split.
Q. Can you describe the experience of walking back onto
the set, given that they had been destroyed from the series?
Joss: I got emotional! Particularly because we were filming
Nathan's scenes in the locker, which were pretty emotional.
And also because when Nathan and I walked on for the first time
together, he said 'captain on deck'. I still don't know if he
was talking about him or me, but it really moved me either way.
For me, it was extraordinary. The one part of filming I remember
the best was when we were actually on the ship again, kids...
Nathan: I remember when we came and we visited
the cargo bay. We got a tour of the ship before it was actually
finished being created. I remember a couple of us were a little
put out... 'this isn't the same, this is round in the original
ship and this isn't round; and these stairs go down, they're supposed
to go up'.
There were some minor differences and people didn't take right
away to any changes to the ship. It was quite personal they were
taking it. But once the ship was actually finished it looked very
home-like; it looked very much like home and we took a liking
to it real quick.
There are some subtle differences and a couple of us were thrown
a little bit - Alan Tudyk cried a little bit but that's his way.
Summer: The thing is it doesn't feel like a set,
it's really built like a ship. It's a real ship. It's not just
like a wall here or a wall there. You really feel like it's your
home. I remember when we were doing the series even, people would
have their special places and we would never go back to our trailers.
We would just find a couch and rest on the couch.
And during the lunch break, a crew guy would always sleep in my
bed. It was just my little room but it still feels like our home,
which is why I think we got so attached to every little detail.
Joss: A different crew guy in your bed every
lunchtime. My God!
Q. Is it too simplistic to suggest that playing Mal was
both a logical but hard to realise as a kid extension of playing
Han Solo or Indiana Jones?
Nathan: Is it too simplistic? I would say yes. If you
were to ask me to go and play Han Solo it would be a completely
different experience to going and playing Malcolm Reynolds. He
is not the same man. There are certainly the space scallywag similarities
but whereas I would invite Han Solo to a party, Malcolm Reynolds
not so much. I'd be afraid he'd start a fight for no reason.
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Q. But it's fair to say as
a kid you played those games?
Nathan: Absolutely fair. Actually, I didn't have any
of those action figures. My parents got us Lego, which meant we
had to build the toys we wanted. But my next door neighbour had
a bunch and we always had the comics. So I'd rent action figures
for as long as it would take him to go through a stack of my comics.
That's how I got my Han Solo jollies.
Q. Apart from Joss' vernacular for the characters, you
also have to get your head around a lot of Chinese. Is that a
pain?
Nathan: I think it would be the worst for all the Chinese
speaking people in the world and I whole-heartedly apologise for
the terrible, terrible Chinese. I remember doing some dubbing
for the film and they brought in a lady who spoke Chinese. She
was watching something I said on the film in Chinese and she said
'I don't know what you're trying to say' and I said 'neither do
I'. We were on the same page. It was pretty terrible.
Q. Which were your individual famous scenes? And Nathan,
what is your dream role?
Nathan: Malcolm Reynolds man. You're looking at me living
the dream. I'm sorry, Malcolm Reynolds is the best character in
the movie. I know you think differently but hear me out.
I find Malcolm Reynolds really satisfying and really enjoyable.
I'll come up with ideas for how to play it. He's so cool and I
get to play all that cool and reap the benefit of Joss' great
ideas.
As for a favourite scene, it's Malcolm Reynolds meeting The Operative.
There's some nice stuff with Inara there. Their banter betrays
their relationship. And the one on one, the two finally meet.
Here is your enemy. I found that really interesting - and the
fact that he was clearly out-matched!
Summer: My favourite was the fight scene between
Malcolm Reynolds and The Operative at the end. Again, they're
so well matched.
Joss: My favourite is River's in the maidenhead.
Literally, 11 months of editing and not once could I go through
that on fast forward. Every time, whatever we were doing, I just
watched. I just love how she's actually doing it all. It's not
a bunch of slow-mo, Matrix-style effects (50 stunt-men and four
CGI doubles). It's just Summer and a camera and some guys going
'ouch'. It's kind of glorious to watch and there's this incredible
kinetic energy and then it cuts to Nathan with his fan. It's such
a civilised gesture and it's so wrong.
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