STERLING ADDITION TO CARS FRANCHISE
As always, affable Canuck combines traits of hero, rogue
It somehow seems entirely natural to be talking to Nathan Fillion about the character motivation of a car.
Not just any car, mind you. He’s Sterling, a.k.a. the Mud flap King of the Eastern Seaboard, a corporate mover and new cast member of the
Cars animated movie franchise. In the latest sequel, Cars 3, he’s the unlikely catalyst for Owen Wilson’s Lightning McQueen, acting as both benefactor and villain as he plots a new road for the beleaguered red speedster.
“Antagonist,” Fillion corrects, as he settles in for a Toronto Star interview during a Toronto visit this week.
“He’s not a full-on villain. If anything, he believes what he’s doing is good.”
This wouldn’t be the weirdest character the Edmonton-born Fillion has played, although he’s always embodied elements of both hero and rogue.
That title would likely go to his “monstrous inmate” character from the first Guardians of the Galaxy or maybe as the tuneful superhero Captain Hammer in the popular web series Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.
The affable Fillion, 46, is best known for playing Captain Malcolm Reynolds in the cult-adored TV sci-fi series Firefly and its 2005 big-screen edition Serenity. More recently, he gained fame as literary gumshoe Richard Castle in the long-running (and recently concluded) TV series
Castle and as oddball weatherman Rainer Shine in TV’s Modern Family sitcom.
Now he’ll happily answer to Sterling, the slick silver buggy who acts as spark plug to the plot of Cars 3. Gentleman, start your engine:
What kind of car is Sterling, exactly? Is he a Jaguar?
I feel like he’s some kind of import. You think it’s Jaguar? What about Bentley? I guess if he was a Bentley he’d have an accent. Let’s go with Jag.
You had a small part in Monsters University, so this makes your second Pixar franchise. Are you fearless now?
I was so very nervous and excited about Monsters University. What I didn’t understand and realize is with Pixar, it’s always a home run. So the risk factor is very low. You’re walking into a giant success.
It says on the Internet that you’re pals with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Could the Internet possibly be wrong, or is that true?
I don’t know where that came out, but I met him before, I met him once very briefly, and he was very charming — oh my gosh, super charming, super friendly, super wonderful. And when it was looking like he was going to be the prime minister, I thought, that wouldn’t be too bad. I could really see that guy as prime minister.
Your career resumé includes a lot of voice work besides Cars 3, with regular gigs in video games like Halo. You do have a great voice, but why do you figure it gets you so much work?
Here’s what I know. I’m like everybody else. When I hear my voice, I can’t believe that’s how I sound. You sound different when you hear your own voice. I can tell you if I filmed or recorded something early in the morning or late at night, just by the sound of my voice. I can tell you there’s a lot of wind, a lot of reed quality in my voice, it doesn’t resonate. But it serves me well. It’s the one I got. It’s the only voice I got.
I know you get asked this all the time, but fans of Firefly would love to think that the series could somehow return, at least for another movie. Maybe?
I think it’s coming on 15 years now since the TV show and 12 since the movie. I’m the guy who said, “This show won’t get cancelled.” And we got cancelled. I’m the guy who said, “We’re never going to see this thing again.”
And the movie actually came out and became a real thing and I didn’t think that was going to be possible. So I have a terrible record for predicting the future of Firefly. I do know this much. Every single one of us involved in Firefly would jump at the chance to do it again.