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Nathan Fillion was a shy comic book kid. Now, he's a Green Lantern in Superman
Nathan Fillion was a shy comic book kid. Now, he's a Green Lantern in Superman

CBC

time3 days ago

  • Entertainment
  • CBC

Nathan Fillion was a shy comic book kid. Now, he's a Green Lantern in Superman

Nathan Fillion knows what it's like to be a fan, as well as a person at the centre of intense fandom. In an interview with Q 's Tom Power , the Edmonton-born actor says he was a shy comic book kid who loved Spider-Man, the X-Men, Batman and Superman. Now, he's playing Guy Gardner — one of the characters known as Green Lantern — in the latest Superman blockbuster. "Having a love for it myself, I don't feel like I have to service fans out there, I feel more like I have to service me because I'm one of the fans," Fillion tells Power. "I am the fan with the fortunate experience of not only having a front row seat, I'm actually in the catbird seat." WATCH | Nathan Fillion's full interview with Tom Power: Fillion's character in Superman is one of many Green Lanterns in the intergalactic peacekeeping force known as the Green Lantern Corps. As a Green Lantern, his responsibility is to enforce the law and resolve planetary issues, but he's a deeply flawed man. "He's a jerk," Fillion says. "He has a chip on his shoulder. He has had a very tumultuous life growing up. He doesn't like the idea of being passed up or overlooked. He is a sexist. He is a narcissist. He is egomaniacal. He is self-centered." The actor reportedly fought to keep the character's iconic blonde bowl cut from the original comics. For his performance, he took inspiration from Sophia Petrillo, Estelle Getty's character on The Golden Girls. "She had a stroke and that part of her brain that filters out 'maybe I shouldn't say this' had been damaged," he explains. "As was Guy Gardner. He was in an accident. He was hit by a bus and spent some time in a coma at one point. And I said, 'I'm going to take that and say there was a click in there to an already damaged guy. Now, he just doesn't have that filter anymore.'" WATCH | Official trailer for Superman: Growing up in Edmonton, Fillion never could have imagined that he'd one day be sharing the big screen with one of the superheroes he admired. "I didn't know acting was a thing," he says. "I didn't know people would pay you to act. I had no idea what that was all about. I just wished I could be a superhero. I wished I could fly." Looking back, he credits his love of comic books for leading him to where he is today. "I am a fan," Fillion says. "I am a fan of comic books. All the stuff I got in trouble for when I was a kid, daydreaming and drawing in the margins of my binders when I should have been studying, it's all prepared me for this moment." The full interview with Nathan Fillion is available on our YouTube channel and on our podcast, Q with Tom Power . Listen and follow wherever you get your podcasts. Interview with Nathan Fillion produced by Catherine Stockhausen.

Bad Day singer Daniel Powter shares the dark side of writing a life-changing hit
Bad Day singer Daniel Powter shares the dark side of writing a life-changing hit

CBC

time6 days ago

  • Entertainment
  • CBC

Bad Day singer Daniel Powter shares the dark side of writing a life-changing hit

Twenty years ago, B.C.'s Daniel Powter wrote the song Bad Day, which quickly became one of the biggest hits of 2005. It earned him a Grammy nomination, sold millions of copies and launched his career as an artist. But before he wrote the song that would change his life, Powter was simply trying to make it as a songwriter. His only aspiration was to be behind the scenes, not the centre of attention. "I wasn't truly invested in being an artist at all," he tells Q 's Tom Power in an interview. "I actually had a record deal offered to me and I was not inclined to sign it…. It wasn't until I was completely broke that I decided, well, maybe I'll just become an artist. I had no more money left." The inspiration for Bad Day came to Powter during a ferry ride between Victoria and Vancouver, when he saw a poster that read, "Having a bad day?" WATCH | Official video for Bad Day: "I just wrote that line and then the rest wrote itself," he says. "I really don't feel like I had much to do with it because the entire melody and chord structure was done in 10 [minutes]." While nobody wanted the track at first, Powter says that all changed when someone in France picked it up as the theme song for a Coca-Cola ad campaign in Europe. From there, Bad Day became a major international hit that got bigger than anyone could have ever imagined — and that scared Powter. As his star began to rise and people around the world started to recognize him, his mental health took a steep decline. "That's when things got really depressing for me," he says. "I kind of went straight down at that point…. You really don't know if you want to be in the spotlight until you're actually in the spotlight. You can say you want to, and you think, 'Oh, man, I'd love to be Taylor Swift.' Really? No, no. It's a prison." Powter adds that Bad Day eclipsed him as an artist, making it extremely difficult for him to get any of his other singles off the ground. "It was like a virus that would not go away," he says. Feeling suffocated by his success, he turned to drugs and alcohol to "anesthetize" himself from the public. "I was constantly, if not constantly, almost 90 per cent of the time either inebriated or couldn't get out of bed," he says. "It got really bad." Today, Powter is sober and happily living with his family in Portland, Ore. While his relationship to Bad Day remains complicated, he says he feels blessed that he doesn't have to worry about money anymore. "I am proud of that song," he says. "It took me a long time to come to terms with that…. Now, it's like, dude, look what it's done for you. Look where you are — and it's great."

'I'm still that kid': Finn Wolfhard on Stranger Things and his debut solo album
'I'm still that kid': Finn Wolfhard on Stranger Things and his debut solo album

CBC

time10-07-2025

  • Entertainment
  • CBC

'I'm still that kid': Finn Wolfhard on Stranger Things and his debut solo album

At age 12, Canadian actor Finn Wolfhard shot to fame after landing the role of a lifetime on the hit Netflix show Stranger Things. But growing up in the spotlight wasn't always easy. The day after the show came out, Wolfhard started experiencing feelings of anxiety that eventually resulted in severe panic attacks. Fans would often conflate him with his Stranger Things character, and he felt like he had little control over his public image or his artistic life. Plus, he was so focused on working that he missed out on some of the big coming-of-age milestones that other kids his age had, like going to prom. Now, Stranger Things is coming to an end and Wolfhard has launched a solo music career with his newly released debut album, Happy Birthday. In an interview with Q 's Tom Power in his hometown of Vancouver, the 22-year-old actor says he's "establishing some kind of freedom." WATCH | Finn Wolfhard's full interview with Tom Power: "I spent my entire childhood doing what was safe because I had to," he says. "If you're 12 years old and you're famous, you're on your best behavior. And even now, it's not like I'm going rogue, but I'm definitely exploring other things in my career." While Wolfhard has released music before with the bands Calpurnia and The Aubreys, this is the first time he's gone out on his own. His new song Crown explores his childhood while asserting a more grown-up identity. "That song is basically me being like, 'I'm still that kid from that show, but I am now older and now my own person.' … I wanted these lyrics that were kind of childlike and talking about nostalgia and talking being a child, but like with this kind of gnarly, loud song." WATCH | Official live performance video for Crown: When Wolfhard was writing the album from about 18 to 20, he was thinking a lot about his transition from childhood to adulthood. That reflection only intensified when filming for the series finale of Stranger Things wrapped up last year. "[This record] is just me asking myself all these questions that I didn't get to ask myself in high school," he says. "Just like, 'Who am I? Who am I to people? Why do I act this way?'" Though Wolfhard is now seeking some separation from Stranger Things, he says he feels extremely lucky and grateful to have had such an incredible opportunity. "That's why I never am jaded about the show ever," he says. "I don't care that I'll be 50 and someone comes up to me and is like, 'You're the kid!' Like, that's great. I'm so proud of that show." WATCH | Official video for Choose the latter: The full interview with Finn Wolfhard is available on our YouTube channel and on . He also talks about Stranger Things. Listen and follow wherever you get your podcasts. Interview with Finn Wolfhard produced by Vanessa Nigro.

R.T. Thorne's post-apocalyptic thriller 40 Acres is a love letter to his mom
R.T. Thorne's post-apocalyptic thriller 40 Acres is a love letter to his mom

CBC

time09-07-2025

  • Entertainment
  • CBC

R.T. Thorne's post-apocalyptic thriller 40 Acres is a love letter to his mom

The Canadian filmmaker discusses his feature film debut in a conversation with Q's Tom Power CBC Arts · In R.T. Thorne's directorial debut, 40 Acres, the Canadian filmmaker imagines a post-apocalyptic world where food is scarce, society is in ruins and your family is under threat. It's an intense movie about fighting for survival, but it also explores the complicated relationship between a mother and a son. Thorne joins Tom Power to share how his mother's experiences as a Trinidadian immigrant in Canada shaped the mother-son relationship in the film, and how his background making music videos still informs his work today. WATCH | Official trailer for 40 Acres:

Phil Rosenthal might have never made Everybody Loves Raymond if he hadn't fallen asleep on a 300-year-old bed
Phil Rosenthal might have never made Everybody Loves Raymond if he hadn't fallen asleep on a 300-year-old bed

CBC

time03-07-2025

  • Entertainment
  • CBC

Phil Rosenthal might have never made Everybody Loves Raymond if he hadn't fallen asleep on a 300-year-old bed

Before he created his long-running sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, Phil Rosenthal was a broke New York City theatre student who worked a number of odd jobs, like managing a deli and patrolling The Metropolitan Museum of Art as a security guard on the graveyard shift. Though he couldn't have known it at the time, his brief stint working at New York's largest art museum would have a significant impact on his future career as a TV writer — and it all has to do with how he got fired. "I thought I could stay up at night and have another job during the day, probably a theatre job that didn't pay anything," Rosenthal recalls in a live on-stage conversation with Q 's Tom Power at the Banff World Media Festival. "On the third day without sleep, I did not report back to my post after doing a route. I was asleep and they found me asleep in a period room, which was a replica of a 300-year-old room with [an antique] bed as part of the exhibit. And that's where they found me — on that bed." WATCH | Phil Rosenthal's full interview with Tom Power: In addition to losing three days of sleep, Rosenthal says he was also on cold medication that made him drowsy. When he saw the bed, he thought it'd be a good idea to lay down for a few minutes. But when he didn't return to his post after an hour and a half, museum staff started looking for him, concerned that maybe a crime was being committed (art thefts are often inside jobs). "I'm drooling on the pillow of this thing and I just remember looking up at this lady supervisor and thinking, 'How did she get in my room?'" he says. "The museum frowns on you touching the art, let alone sleeping on it. And so I was fired. It was the most humiliating thing that ever happened to me." Several years later, Rosenthal was living in Hollywood, trying to make it as an actor, but not having much luck. When his friend asked him if he'd like to collaborate on a spec script for the show Roseanne, he knew exactly what the story should be about. "John Goodman's character, the dad, they need extra money, and he gets a night job working as the night guard at the local museum and he falls asleep on a 300-year-old bed," Rosenthal explains. "We write this script. And people all over town read it and go, 'What an imagination!' And we got hired instantly on a sitcom." Today, Rosenthal's advice to emerging writers is simple. "Write as specifically as you can," he says. "Specificity is the key to being universal."

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