Back in 1997, long before he became a movie star and a TV heartthrob, Nathan Fillion was my next-door neighbor in New York City. He was playing Joey Buchanan at the time, on One Life to Live, and I was hosting a show for American Airlines called On Air TV. We both believed we were destined for something bigger.
Nathan was an excellent neighbor. Funny, generous, helpful, and just a blast to be around. I was sorry to see him move to Los Angeles. We stayed in touch over the years, mostly by watching each other’s careers unfold on our respective TVs. But we hadn’t actually seen each other in 20 years, until I called him out of the blue last month to come on the podcast for a long overdue catch-up.
As always, Nathan arrived with a gift. For as long as I’ve known him, he’s always showed up with a present of some kind for anyone who invites him to their home, or place of work. This time, he gave me a drone. I reciprocated with a bag of beef jerky and a bottle of whiskey. Then, we caught up the way people do who haven’t seen each other in decades.
Mostly, that’s what this conversation is. Two old friends reminding each other about a time that turned out to be a lot more consequential than we ever imagined, and laughing all the way. We didn’t talk too much about his work on Firefly, Serenity, Castle, The Rookie, Spiderman, Guardians of the Galaxy, and so forth. I figured he was probably sick of talking about that stuff. Instead, we just caught up, and I’m so glad we did. In fact, I don’t recall enjoying a prior podcast this much.
I did however, ask Nathan about Saving Private Ryan, in which he made a brief but memorable appearance.Our whole conversation is here.
You’re gonna love it.
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