BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. _ Although he hit pay dirt with his successful series "Castle," actor Nathan Fillion is starting all over again.
In his new role on ABC's "The Rookie," he plays a rookie cop. And not just any novice. He's the oldest recruit on the Los Angeles Police Department _ a 40-year-old who has decided to reinvent himself by taking on one of the toughest jobs in the city.
It was a no-brainer, says Fillion, when executive producer Alexi Hawley phoned him one day.
"And he said, 'So I had this idea. We found this thing, and we were thinking about ...' If you know who you are going to be working for, who you are going to be working with, you know that you can rely on their talent, you know you can respect the way they work. It takes a lot of the guesswork and a lot of the tension out of a decision," says Fillion.
Hawley had served as executive producer on 22 of the "Castle" episodes. "I know I can bank on Alexi," says Fillion. "We've worked together before with tremendous success. We've had a lovely time working together. (Executive producer) Mark Gordon's resume speaks for itself, and the man is lovely."
So confident was he in Hawley that Fillion took on the job before the script was even written. "That was new for me, a new a first," says the actor, who also has had roles in the films "Serenity," "Waitress" and "Slither," and TV's "Firefly," "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Desperate Housewives," "Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place" and scores of voice-overs.
"Here I am at 47 years old still experiencing firsts," he grins. "I love it. All the right ingredients were there. All the auspices were there. It's everything we need for a successful show. I feel pretty smart saying yes to this one. I really do. Does that sound weird?"
Fillion says he knows what it's like to be a greenhorn. "My first rookie experience, I was on a soap opera. I think if there is any kind of intense training for acting, daytime drama is what that is. You make a 44-minute program every day of the week, sometimes more than that. It's a lot. It's a lot to do, and it's hard work. But by the end of it, you are ready to attack anything. Not a day goes by in this career of mine where I don't use something I learned on the soap in front of or behind the camera. It has been the most valuable experience of my career," he says.
Hawley _ who is the twin brother of Noah Hawley, creator of TV's "Fargo" _ says it was producer Mark Gordon who came up with the idea for "The Rookie." "I got a phone call from Mark Gordon, basically saying that they had the life rights to a guy who had changed his life and come out to L.A. to be the oldest rookie in the LAPD and was I interested in putting together that show? And I don't have to tell you how hard it is to find a fresh way in _ especially to a cop show in 2018," he says.
"And I felt like I hadn't heard that before. And I also immediately understood the character potential of that character. Then that very quickly became a conversation about whether Nathan would be interested in being that rookie. I was fearful that he didn't want to work so hard again so quickly after 'Castle.'"
But Fillion was excited to work that hard, though he admits the stunts can be debilitating for a guy on the slippery side of 45. "Listen, I'm at the point in my life where, if I can have a stunt guy run down the street for me, these knees will appreciate it. They really do," he says.
"Running in those big boots and with all of that equipment on your belt, it's not a dream. I'm a natural sprinter. That's a marathon. I like that it's rough for (his character) John Nolan. That is not far away from my truth. Like I said, kneeling is a stunt for me."
ABC will air the pilot Tuesday.
SLAM-DUNK 'LOUDERMILK' RETURNS TUESDAY
Viewers who are lucky enough to have AT&T Audience Network will be treated to the second season of the hilarious "Loudermilk," returning Tuesday. The show stars Ron Livingston as the former alcoholic, now counselor for a bunch of colorful substance abusers.
Loudermilk has reached the point in his life where doesn't suffer fools gladly and, what's more, he calls them on it. The phonies that abound in society are not safe when Loudermilk's around to set them straight. He says things we all wish we had the nerve to say.
While "Loudermilk" seems the perfect part for Livingston, he feels it was his role in "Band of Brothers" that proved life-altering. "I think it was a really important project for me and a life experience. It was an experience of being a little bit a student of history," he says.
"That project, probably more than any other job I've ever had, it really felt like the Hollywood part of it was secondary to really just trying to tell a story about these real guys. It was their story. They were the stars of the thing, rather than us being the stars of the thing. I think that's how it should be all the time."
'NOVA' EXPLORES ADDICTION
PBS' "NOVA" will examine addiction Wednesday, especially the opioid crisis that seems to be sweeping the country. Dr. R. Corey Waller, a practicing ER and addiction physician, is one of the show's experts. He says the mechanism of addiction proves to be both physical and psychological. "The brain is run by chemicals, which is physiology, which creates our psychology," he says.
"So when you look at addiction, it's very specifically a dysregulation of the reward system, which we need to want to do better things in life. But when it gets hijacked by a drug and in this case, an opioid, then it's not necessarily reacting like the normal reward that we would have on a day-to-day basis _ like seeing our kids or winning an award or doing good at work. It's now basically taken over by the survival need for the drug that allows for dopamine, this chemical that's very central to how the brain works. Then that changes behavior."
The show examines what inroads scientists are making in controlling and treating addiction.
'HISTORY OF HORROR' EXORCISES SCARY TALES
AMC is offering Eli Roth's "History of Horror" in a spooky synchronization with Halloween. Each of the one-hour episodes will feature experts in the horror genre talking about what makes us shriek when our protagonist runs down into that dark basement knowing somebody's creeping around the house.
Robert Englund, the epitome of the macabre character with his rendition of Freddy Krueger, credits Wes Craven with innovations in the horror film. "Wes Craven changed horror at least three times, to my knowledge," he says.
"He started out with these sort of dark, Bergman-esque films, 'The Hills Have Eyes,' and 'The Last House on the Left.'
"Then the very successful franchise I was fortunate enough to be involved with, 'The Nightmare on Elm Street' films, which even mutated into a kind of graphic novel, fun film, 'Freddy vs. Jason.' And then, he also did the 'Scream' films, which were a huge change, because they were really acknowledging the fan base.
And this was a fan base that didn't get respect for a long time, very overlooked by Hollywood for a long time. And now they're running the town."
("The Slasher Film, Part 1" will be the subject of Sunday's edition, with Jamie Lee Curtis, Quentin Tarantino, Bruce Campbell among others plunging into the subject.)
