Nathan Fillion Had An Unorthodox Way Of Keeping Firefly's Cast Entertained
The cast of the cult TV series "Firefly" is still one of the best ensembles out there. Heck, it's still one of the best shows out there. There are certainly things that don't hold up, and after recent revelations about the creator, some of it can be a little uncomfortable, but I have to be honest and say that I can still rewatch the hell out of that show. It's got some of the most quotable lines ever written for television, and I love it with my entire heart. It also sounds like it was a total blast to shoot, and having moderated convention panels for a number of the cast members, they seem to agree.
At a Long Beach Comic-Con (via Chronicles of Comic Con) held before the pandemic hit, the cast of the series got together on stage for a "Firefly" panel to talk about the series and answer audience questions. Star Nathan Fillion who played Captain Malcolm Reynolds (aka Captain Tight Pants), spoke about his memory of shooting the series and a game he used to play with the rest of the cast. (It's at 6:10 in the linked video.) He said that he doesn't remember every day of the shoot, but that "there are days where I have perfect recall. Everything." He looked around with a mischievous look at the rest of the cast before going on.
'Yes Sir, Captain Tight Pants!'
He looked over at Jewel Staite who played Kaywinnet Lee "Kaylee" Frye and Sean Maher who played Simon Tam and asked if they remember playing a game he referred to as "Find the extra." He described:
Whenever there's a crowd scene, and you're just kind of hanging out, and you know, there's a crowd of people around, there's always one person as you scan the crowd, one person is like this [makes a weird face]. Like kind of hungry and wide-eyed, and like they're gonna maybe pounce, I don't know. But I would play the game, I would say, "Okay, let's play 'find the background guy'," and I would be the background guy. And I would go into the background somewhere and say "It's just me guys, just ignore me, just ignore me," and then they would turn around to try and find me, and I'd be like [makes the face again].
It's worth watching the video just to see the face Fillion is making when he says that. Having been on a number of sets, I can say that yes, there is always that person with some sort of weird face, as though they're acting silently so hard that someone in authority is going to notice them. It's a pretty cute story, and you'll have to excuse me. I have to go rewatch "Firefly" again.