Nathan Fillion, star of ABC’s Castle, has a way of popping up in unexpected places, from Saving Private Ryan (as the wrong Ryan) to Buffy the Vampire Slayer (as a defrocked priest and serial killer), King of the Hill (as a Frisbee guy), Lost (as Kate’s ex-husband), Desperate Housewives (as Katherine Mayfair’s ex-husband) and a Marine sergeant in Xbox 360’s Halo 3.
But he’s never played a monster before now. On Friday, he makes his debut as Johnny in Disney/Pixar’s new animated adventure, Monsters University.
And he loves it.
“Pixar has been a dream of mine ever since I saw The Incredibles,” Fillion says on the phone from his home in Los Angeles. “Seeing my monster move for the first time was a very exciting moment.”
The film is a prequel to 2001’s Monsters, Inc., an animated feature about Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal) and Sulley (John Goodman), monsters who scare human children at night because children’s screams generate the energy they need to run their monster world.
Monsters University shows Mike entering college, dreaming of becoming a great scarer, only to be told he doesn’t have what it takes.
Fillion’s Johnny is the head of the most popular, successful and mean group on campus. As befitting the 6-foot-2 Canadian’s good looks, Johnny also happens to be one of the handsomest monsters, even if he is covered with purple fur and has curved horns on his head. [Read the full interview here]