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Kevin & Bean: Interview with Chris Carter

Nov-04-2000
Kevin & Bean
Interview with Chris Carter

Transcribed by ‘C’ [from The Haven]

This the Kevin & Bean Show on the world famous KROQ 106.7 and it’s 8:42 am

We have been SO looking forward to this weekend. Ladies and Gentlemen Sunday night, Nov 5, on FOX at 9 is the season premiere, Season 8 of the X-Files. Joining us in the KROQ studios, our old friend Chris Carter. (applause)

Kevin or Bean: Hey, Chris!

Chris Carter: Hey guys

Kevin or Bean: How are you?

Chris Carter: Good.

Kevin or Bean: You know the funny thing is we’ve known you for many, many years now and you’re one of the hardest working guys we’ve ever met. And your show is the very last show to debut. You are the last television program to debut, is that right?

Chris Carter: I’ve been on a little vacation (laugh)

Kevin or Bean: How come you picked this weekend?

Chris Carter: After the world series, after the Olympics… we sort of wanted to wait until the dust settled before we started up.

Kevin or Bean: Did you make that decision?

Chris Carter: No, but actually I’m glad though, it makes my job a little bit easier.

Kevin or Bean: Because you only have to produce 3 new shows and then you are off for next summer. (All laugh.)

Kevin or Bean: Well, we have a lot of ground we have to cover, a lot of things we’ve got to catch up on since the last time we talked to you. First of all, how close were we to not having a season 8 of the X-Files? Was it ever a serious consideration?

Chris Carter: Oh. Yeah. I didn’t think it was going to happen, actually.

Kevin or Bean: Really? You were convinced it was gone?

Chris Carter: I thought we were going down. I thought it would be the last episode but uh, we found a way to do it and actually, there are really good things this year on the show. We’ve got a new character, Robert Patrick plays a character named John Doggett. I think it’s really good story-telling now.

Kevin: I’ve seen this uh, this episode that is going to air this Sunday night with him, and he’s a great choice.

Chris Carter: Yeah.

Kevin: He is a great choice. He’s a perfect fit for the X-Files.

Chris Carter: Thank you. Yeah, he is.

Kevin: For people who don’t know, he’s from Terminator 2. He was the bad guy? Good guy? The liquid guy?

Chris Carter: The metal man

Kevin: Yeah, he changed into metal in Terminator 2.

Bean: Chris, did you know that sometimes Kevin signs autographs as that guy because he looks so much like him? Because people come up to him all the time and say “Hey, aren’t you that dude from the Terminator?”

Kevin: It’s happened like twice or three times. (Lisa laughing) And I’ve signed the name Robert Patrick.

Bean: Chris now, be honest, were you angry when David Duchovny decided he didn’t want to come back or were you completely like understanding– hey, this guy’s got to have a life of his own, too?

Chris Carter: No. I understood. I mean. .. It was… We are all working hard and it’s.. it’s… you know the work is actually too hard. And so, these guys are still young, they have careers. They want to go out and do other things. So, it made sense and he didn’t have a contract. So, it was a good time for him to leave. But fortunately, we found a way to have him back.

Kevin or Bean: Yeah, but you were thinking when he said “I don’t want to come back” … that’s why you were thinking this is going to be the end because at that time until you come up with a new plan and with a new agent and everything you couldn’t see it going on with one agent missing?

Chris Carter: Yeah. I told FOX I didn’t want to do it without David. And they had asked me to bring the show back. And Uh.. so when he came to me and said that he would.. uh.. would do 11 episodes. I thought this is a chance to do something interesting and different.

Kevin or Bean: Sure, you could.. now how far from the end of last season did you realize that he… that you had to start on a plot line to get him out .. to get him abducted?

Chris Carter: um..

Kevin or Bean: Or whatever happened. Well, that’s what we are led to believe, I think at the end of the last season.

Chris Carter: yeah.

Kevin or Bean: Sure.

Chris Carter: I had to plan for that last show to be the last show or the beginning of a new era.

Kevin or Bean: So, you had both in mind?

Chris Carter: Yes.

Kevin or Bean: So, you were going to leave us with him getting abducted?? (laughing) That was going to be your ending??

Chris Carter: No. I hope to do movies so I hoped to have the chance to work it out..

Kevin or Bean: Ah, there ya go. How’d you get Robert Patrick? How’d that come about?

Chris Carter: It was actually a… I can’t believe we got him because we wanted him. He was under contract. Uh.. FOX was able to work out a deal with Paramount to spring him from his contract. He’s a guy we’ve wanted to work with for a long time so this was like an opportunity to do something else that we didn’t think was going to happen and at the last minute they figured out a way to make it happen.

Kevin or Bean: Wow…What has he been doing all this time? He’s not like a guy we’ve seen alot. Has he just been doing alot of smaller projects?

Chris Carter: He works alot actually. He’s in a couple of different things coming out. He’s done some television projects recently. But he did a turn on the Sopranos which I think a lot of people saw.

Kevin or Bean: Oh sure. He was the guy who was running the sporting goods store, who was in all that debt. Right. Yeah, totally forgot about that.

Kevin or Bean: Obviously the chemistry between him and Agent Scully had to be there. What lengths did you go through to make sure that would work on screen?

Chris Carter: Well, Scully’s pregnant now, so the idea presents (Yeah, ding sound effect) a whole new sort of dynamic on the show. So, when he comes in…we figured the audience would not really like him because.. uh… he was sort of coming into.. NOT to replace Mulder, but in Mulder’s absence, so Scully doesn’t like him either actually, so there is tension between the two of them that plays out for a little while and you’ll see then the partnership develops in an interesting way.

Kevin or Bean: At the end of the last season two things that happened were he gets abducted

Chris Carter: Right

Kevin or Bean: And she gets pregnant

Chris Carter: Right

Kevin or Bean: Ok. How much do you want to tell us about how he.. comes in…with the oversight committee, etc?

Chris Carter: Well, the whole season is really about the search for Mulder. Ah, we don’t know what’s happened to him. And Scully, who has been a skeptic all these years, all of a sudden to find Mulder, she has to adopt kind of Mulder’s work which is a belief in the existence of extraterrestrials. So, she has to become kind of believer now. This new character comes in as a knee jerk skeptic. He’s a former cop. He just doesn’t believe any of this stuff. He thinks it’s all B.S.

Kevin: And he’s put in a position where he’s over her and running the investigation. It’s really… It’s GREAT! (Bean whispers: Kevin has seen the episode)

Kevin: It’s really great! I don’t want to give away too much, but I want people to know that it totally works!

Bean: After what happens to Scully in the movie though it’s inconceivable that she could be anything less than a die-hard 100% believer. She’s seen it with her own eyes for God’s sake!

Chris Carter: Yeah, she’s seen alot so I think we are playing true to the character. We are playing that she’s still a scientist, but now she’s playing with a side that she’s seen a lot of thigns she can’t explain.

Kevin or Bean: Let me ask you one mroe thing about the season finale from alst year. And then we need to take a break. And if you have just started with us, we have Chris Carter in our studio. The shroud of secrecy around her being pregnant must have been something. Was it one of those deals where you went over to her in the last scene on the last day and whispered to her what he line was?

Chris Carter: It was almost like that. I brought in pages. They were filming and I brought in pages like 15 minutes before they filmed them.

Kevin or Bean: Really?

Chris Carter: And I told no one. Only one other person knew and she guessed what we were going to do

Kevin or Bean: Oh so she said “I thought you were going…”

Chris Carter: Yes.

Kevin or Bean: Because it was a shocker. The last line of the show is “I’m pregnant” and you went “WHOA, IT’S GOING TO BE A LONG SUMMER. HEY!!!” (All laughing).

Chris Carter: Yeah, you didn’t think she’d ever had sex.

Kevin or Bean: YEAH!

Kevin or Bean: I mean people had been.. you know.. people speculate about everything. They tear your show apart more than any other. So, they’d seen her mysteriously waking up in Mulder’s house at least one time, right?

Chris Carter: Right

Kevin or Bean: And it was never really addressed. We never really knew what that meant. I mean are we sure? Do we know for sure it’s his? Yeah, is it fair to assume that? What do you want us to assume?

Chris Carter: Uh.. actually, it’s something we are going to play with during the season. We are going to find out clues to who the father is. And it will be part of the…

Kevin or Bean: It’s going to be an alien baby! She’s got an alien inside her (Chris laughing)

Lisa: No!

Kevin or Bean: Is it…

Lisa: Does she know who the dad is?

Bean: Yeah, that’s a good question. Does she know? Or is she just a slut when she’s off work?

Kevin: She’s had no sex, I’m telling you it’s an alien baby.

Chris Carter: It’s one of the lone gunmen. (all laugh).

Kevin or Bean: You are such a tease, Chris.

Kevin: Let me ask you just one more thing and then we need to break. And I know you might no be able to tell us. Is it Gary Coleman’s baby? (all laugh)

Chris Carter: Gary Coleman’s a virgin, I thought.

Kevin or Bean: That’s right! We forgot. Chris Carter is in our studios. Creator of the X-Files. We’ll be right back. Commercials.

Kevin or Bean: We are here with Chris Carter of the X-Files. You wrote the first 2 shows right?

Chris Carter: Actually, I’ve written quite a few of the 1st 10. I’m working on 10 right now.

Kevin or Bean: Sunday night. 9 Fox Channel 11 here in Southern California. Are we allowed to talk about the spin-off project you’ll be working on?

Chris Carter: I hope you will (all laugh)

Kevin or Bean: What can you tell us about it so far?

Chris Carter: It’s a spin-off of the X-Files starring the 3 computer geeks, the Lone Gunmen, and will premiere in the springtime when the X-Files takes a little vacation.

Kevin or Bean: I will tell you. I don’t know how it will end up playing out, but I do know they are some of the characters you see on tv that you wish you could see more of. Every time they were on this show it’s so much fun.

Chris Carter: Well, you’ll be seeing them in…

Kevin or Bean: a lot!

Chris Carter: Yeah.

Kevin or Bean: We’ll take a few phone calls– Sydney

Question: Hi. Um. Chris, how are you?

Chris Carter: Good.

Question: I was wondering if there is going to be another X-Files movie. And if so, what is David Duchovny’s role in that?

Chris Carter: There will be another X-Files movie as far as I am concerned, and I know FOX wants one. The story is kind of developing right now. We have a big idea, it will be a stand alone, rather than a mythology episode like we did in the 1st one.

Kevin or Bean: Right, but the question is… If you’ve got the new guy coming in…

Chris Carter: We haven’t quite figured that out yet.

Kevin or Bean: Are they going to battle to the death?

Chris Carter: Gladiator (all laugh)

Kevin or Bean: Would it be summer 2001? Is that a reasonable prediction of when the next movie will be?

Chris Carter: Uh, I think that’s a little premature.

Kevin or Bean: Dude! Get busy. Come on. Write us a movie! We like your movies… Ok. Thanks for the call. Jamie–

Question: Hi, Chris, First of all I want to thank you for giving us a great show for the past 7 years.

Chris Carter: Thank you.

Question: The first question I have is about Robert Patrick. There has been from what I’ve seen, a really big fan backlash against him even though he hasn’t appeared in an episode yet.

Chris Carter: Right.

Question: I was wondering what you think about that and what you want to say to the fans out there who are reacting so badly against him already?

Chris Carter: Well, I hope everyone watches and they’ll see how we use him. It’s not like he’s replacing Mulder. Mulder is missing. And he comes in to find Mulder. So, he’s an addition to the show. And I think.. he’s a great actor, and I think you’ll like his character. .. Scully doesn’t like him… so, Uh, just give him a chance.

Kevin: I’ve seen it, Jamie, the one that airs Sunday night, and he’s great! I think people will really like the way he’s brought in, the way he’s used.

Bean: Chris, remember the weird acid flashback you were on the day you wrote about the bald kid playing Chess. Remember? (all laughing) Then we never saw him again. We never heard about him again. He just kind of vanished? What were you on back then? (laughs). What is going on there exactly? Is he ever coming back?

Chris Carter: Yeah, he’s actually coming back Sunday night.

Bean: No!

Chris Carter: yeah.

Bean: You’re kidding? I was just joking. I figured the kid has got be like 30 years old by now.

Kevin: I thought you had heard he plays a major part in Sunday night?

Bean: well, good because you’ve got some “splaining to do there, Lucy!” Steve from Irvine…

Question: Hey, Chris

Chris Carter: Hey

Question: In an episode a couple of seasons back, Agent Spender was apparently killed off with no explanation. I was wondering what the deal was with that?

Chris Carter: Well, there was an explanation but you didn’t actually see the death, but his father actually did him in. And uh.. he’ll be back but it will be in flashback, but he will play a part.

Kevin or Bean: . Ok. Thanks, Steve.

Kevin or Bean: It’s amazing to me, Chris, that you are able to keep this universe straight in your mind at all times. Now that you are 10 shows into it…

Kevin or Bean: Does it get easier to write an episode of the X-Files?

Chris Carter: No, It’s actually.. I don’t know how, but it gets harder and harder.

Kevin or Bean: Does it?

Chris Carter: Yeah, because the stories are harder to come up with. But I still think the harder they are to come up with the better they are.

Kevin or Bean: How long does it take you to write an episode?

Chris Carter: Too long. Uh.. sometimes it takes as little as a week, and sometimes a couple of weeks. But the whole process is 10 1/2 months a year.

Kevin or Bean: Wow. Do you have any cool guest stars coming up this season? You’ve had so many memorable ones over the years.

Chris Carter: Yeah, uh, it’s really the same cast of character actors we’ve done so well with. Joe Morton is in an episode.

Kevin or Bean: But no Lily Tomlins or Ed Asners?

Chris Carter: Not yet really. We’re really going back to our bread and butter which are good, scary episodes. Which are always more scary when they seem like real people…

Kevin or Bean: Can I make a suggestion?

Chris Carter: Yeah.

Kevin or Bean: Can you kill Carrot Top? Wouldn’t that be awesome?

Kevin: What? One of the characters just drives over Carrot Top for no reason?

Bean: Like Carrot Top is at Universal or something like that. They are in there looking for.. you know… an alien and something happens. The bullet goes wild and just kills him on stage, and the kids are crying. It would be cool.

Chris Carter: Uh.. I think you went to see Carrot Tops show last night (garbled)

Bean: No, I was not. (Laughing)

Kevin or Bean: Chris, always great to see you. We are so delighted that you were able to figure out how to keep the show on. And it sounds like everybody’s happy with it. So that gives us hope too for this weekend! Brand new season. Season number 8 for the X-Files. It’s on Sunday Night. 9 pm on FOX. Let’s do this again soon.

Chris Carter: Thanks.

Kevin or Bean: And say Hi to everyone on the set for us.

Chris Carter on the Kevin & Bean Show

Oct-08-1999
Chris Carter on the Kevin & Bean Show

KROQ 106.7FM Los Angeles

[Transcribed by Keyg]

K: Kevin

B: Bean ([1]recently moved to Seattle and co-hosts from his home)

L: Lisa (third co-host/traffic reporter)

K: This is the world-famous KROQ, 106.7 K-R-O-Q. Kevin and Bean Show at 8:12.

B: I don’t know if this is true or not, maybe I’m just assuming, but I like to think that we’re a good luck charm for Chris Carter. That’s why he comes in to see us every time he has a new project.

K(laughing): I’m sure that’s it.

B: With each new launch.

K: …I’m sure that’s it. Chris, welcome.

C: Thank you very much.

K: Always glad to have you on KROQ.

B: Chris, I’m glad I’m in Seattle[1] now cause I don’t have to go down and do that thing in your car like you always make me do. (laughing)

B: Ya know what I mean?

Lisa(laughing): …tgeez, Bean, hehheheheh…

B: …it’s nice. How, uh, how you been? What cha been up to?

C: Uh, you know, I’m working hard, I’m doing X-Files and this new show, Harsh Realm. So, uh, plenty of work, that’s for sure.

B: …plenty of work. That’s the thing about you. You never seem to take a vacation for very long.

C(laughing): No, I don’t.

K: Wh– H-How– Why?

C: Uh, you know, it’s–

K: Take the business when it’s good or–

C: –Contracts and you– You ride the wave till it crashes.

K: Yeah. And when it crashes, are you gonna go, “Wooo. That was a hell of a ride.”

C(laughing): …probably so…

B: Maybe you ought to just start making crappier shows. (laughing)

B: I mean, that would get you out of the contracts faster.

C(laughing): That’s the Hollywood way.

B: Yeah. You could just relax. You could go, “All right, I tanked that one, now if I could tank one more, then I’m free.”

K: Now, let’s start, let’s start with The X-Files. Cause there’s a lot of X-Files, uh, talk about Duchovny not being around, blahblahblah… You still have two more years of The X-Files. Is that right?

C: Uh, we don’t know. Uh, this could be the last year of The X-Files. There’s– There’s lots of stuff that, uh, needs to be decided before we can really, uh, make that decision.

K: And what is some of that stuff?

C: You know, there’s– There’s contracts. I don’t have a contract. David doesn’t have a contract. Gillian has one more year left in her contract. Uh, but, uh, you know, there’s this, uh, this lawsuit hanging out there. So things need to be resolved right now.

B: Now, the lawsuit is, uh, is Mr. Duchovny has actually sued you.

C(laughing): whoops,uh (laughing)

C: No, he’s not– I’m– I’m actually not–

B: You’re not named.

C: No. no.

B: It’s the suits.

K: He sued… What’s the story? He sued Fox for selling it?

C: It’s a contractual dispute. So it’s, uh, you know, it’s– business. Heheh.

K: That you can’t talk about.

C(laughing): yeah

K: All right. I understand.

B: But here’s the thing though. If the show is going off the air after this coming season — I would imagine you’re already several episodes in to the new season, right?

C: Yeah. Uh, yes.

B: So you’re going to have to start wrapping up some loose ends over the next ten episodes that you write or whatever it is.

C: Yeah. We have to kind of decide sooner or later, probably, you know, round middle of, uh… first of the year, uh, you know, what we want to do, uh, if this is going to be the last season and to wrap up the Mulder, you know, mythology, uh, to do with the sister and stuff.

K: I know you’re gonna– That’s the plan, if this is the last year, you’re going to wrap up all–

C: Well, no. Heheheh.

K: Cause if you tease, to wait for a movie, I’m going to have to beat you up.

L(laughing): And yet I sense that’s exactly where he’s going. Yeah.

K: That’s the thing, right? You’re still planning on doing movies.

C: Yeah. Well, that’s the big, you know, uh, hope is that we can turn this TV series into a movie series.

B: Like they did with the Star Trek

K: Next Generation.

C: Yeah, sort of like that.

B: What do you hope happens, Chris? How would you like to see it play out?

C: I don’t know right now because, uh, (laughing) it’s, uh, what is it, October, and we’re already, you know, just scraping the Christmas to get two weeks there and to scrape to April to finish the work, so right now, all I’m trying to do is to make this season good. Um… You know–

K: You tired of it?

C: No, I’m not tired of it. Actually, what’s the great thing about X-Files and, I hope, about Harsh Realm is that they are really good vehicles for telling stories, and so you never get tired of that cause if something works, it makes it fun, it makes it fun to write for the…

K: But don’t you just sit there sometimes and go, “All right, let’s see, I used bees in the movie…”

K: “…and I got the alien with this and that, and there’s people who can tell the future, and… I come out.”

B: I think Chris has twelve hundred post-it notes on his refrigerator.

B: That’s what I think. And that’s how he keeps all the plotlines straight.

K: You ever come to a point where you think, “I can’t think of another interesting idea.”

C: You don’t because, uh, what you realize is when you really start to think about it, it’s kind of limitless, you really could go on forever, but it does get harder– Your mind– Sort of easy subjects and genre, uh, but, uh, I think, actually, the stories get better as you go because it’s stuff nobody’s ever thought of.

K: And do you feel that you’re getting stronger as a writer working this hard at it for so long?

C: You– You develop by the instincts, and you start to trust them more.

B: It also does help when you get to a point where the, uh, the characters are so well established that you can do a lot of things with them that the audience will understand.

C: Right. Uh, so, there’s a lot of shorthand, and you– Actually, the thing about a show like The X-Files is that it’s very elastic, you know, it can parody itself, it can make fun of itself, in a way that, uh, only a show that feels confident of itself can do.

K: I’ll tell you what’s cool is that you are good at writing those moments that blow people away. And one of those moments is one of my favorite movie moments from the X-Files movie when the guy sits down in front of the Coke machine and just sits there till it explodes.

C: Yeah.

K: I mean, that kind of thing is just great.

C: Yeah. yeah.

K: Is that part of the fun of writing a series like this or…

C: It is. Of course, you can’t do that on TV, so you know, you have to wait until the movies to do, you know, the real, uh, good stuff.

K: Do you have an idea of what the next movie is uh…

C: Yeah, we have an idea. We want to do a stand-alone, just really good scary movie not something that’s tied into the mythology of the show.

K: oh really

C: Yeah.

B: Can Gillian Anderson be a Catholic school girl who smells her armpits?

K: That’s already taken care of. That’s “Superstar.”

B: Oh yeah, that’s right. That’s the Saturday Night Live movie. I’m sorry.

K: What does that look like?

B: …bad thing…

K: Let me ask you two more casting things about The X-Files then we’re going to move on to the new show. One is we heard Lance, our friend, Lance Henriksen from–

C: yeah

K: –late of “Millennium”–

C: yes

K: –is going to be on The X-Files in some capacity. Is that true?

C: He’s going to play Frank Black on an episode of The X-Files that actually, uh, is our millennium (laughing) episode. So we actually get to sort of wrap up that character and, uh, something very significant is going to happen on New Year’s, as you might imagine, between Mulder and Scully.

K: oh, interesting…

B: That really, uh– It occurs to me, although we haven’t seen you officially since “Millennium” was pulled off the schedule by Fox, but that really sucked that they didn’t give you another six months to actually carry it through to May of 2000 which was such a central point for the program.

C: Yeah, uh… The show went three years and it wasn’t really a big ratings getter, so I was happy to have it on for that long. But, you know, uh, it would have been a tough year to do that show because the climate, right now, is very sensitive, uh, to, uh, that kind of drama.

K: yeah

B: Yeah, I was going to ask you what you thought about that because– We haven’t even talked about this on the show– but you probably know that NBC has this movie that is going to portray a whole host of end-of-the-world problems–

C: right

B: — with the electricity going out, the ATM machines not working, and people looting. And they have just been lambasted by people who say how irresponsible it would be to put that on the air prior to the millennium and kind of get everybody worked into a frenzy. Do you run into situations often where you kind of can’t tell a story because of what the audience will do?

C(laughing): No. That’s exactly what I want to do, uh, is I want to, you know, create hysteria.

K: That’s why you’re our kind of guy.

B: You’re going to whip everybody into a needless frenzy as much as possible. And Terry O’Quinn, who is also from “Millennium”, he’s going to be on The X-Files this year, too, right?

C: Yeah. Terry O’Quinn, uh, actually, yeah, right, he was on the X-Files Season Two, I believe, and, uh, then had a reoccurring part on “Millennium”, and was actually in the X-Files movie too, so he’s now a big part of our show.

B: He is one of the most underrated actors on television. That guy should be a huge star. He is great.

C: He is great. My– My wife has a big thing for him.

K: Oh, is that right.

B: Mine– Mine too.

K: …doesn’t everyone. All right, Chris Carter is in the studio. We do need to take a quick break. But when we come back, you have a brand new series that debuts tonight.

C: yeah

K: It’s called “Harsh Realm”. And we’ll find out all about it when we come back on KROQ.

K: This is the world-famous KROQ, 106.7 K-R-O-Q. It is the Kevin and Bean Show at 8:27.

B: play the music now [music]

B: There it is. That’s the theme song for a show that you’ll see for the first time on the FOX network tonight, 9 o’clock. It’s called “Harsh Realm”. Our friend, Chris Carter, is in the studio. He created the show. And, uh, we talked to D.B. Sweeney, one of the stars, a couple of days ago, and, let me tell you, the way that he described it, sounds pretty ‘f’ed up.

K: I’m gonna describe it from what I remember. There’s video games and the guy gets sucked in and somehow his subconscious fights the battle and he’s in a coma…

L(laughing): Kevin, that’s pretty bad.

K: What the hell’s going on with that show, Chris?

B: It’s an alternative universe, right, Chris?

C: …another dimension.

L: …virtual reality.

K: Explain it to us.

C: Well, it’s a, uh, it’s like a virtual reality game where you plug your mind in to it, and, uh, then you are virtually in it, and, uh, everything’s real, uh, and the consequences to every action is real. So it’s a duplicate, or parallel, of this world.

K: And you’re– I think he explained it, you’re in a coma–

C: right

K: –when you’re in the game–

C: right

K: –cause your mind is not here.

C: Yes, you’re laying on a slab.

K: Dude, that’s pretty cool.

C: Yeah.

B: Here’s what we were trying to figure out — and I think we asked D.B. this, but I’m not sure what he said — are there any kind of– If you do something in the real world, does it affect the alternate universe and vice versa?

C: Uh, yeah, there’s consequences for action on both sides. We’ll learn as, uh, as the show progresses, we’ll learn that, actually, Harsh Realm may be all that exists in the end.

K: All right, let’s say that they take my mind, and they put me in to Harsh Realm and I get, uh, my left arm cut off.

C: yes

K: Then what happens in real life? Is my left arm gone?

C: No, your left arm is not gone.

K: oh

C: But uh–

L: But it hurts like hell?

C: It hurts like hell.

K: Where did this idea come from? Is this a comic book?

C: Yeah, there’s a comic book called “Harsh Realm”, but we just kind of took the title, and then, uh, went from there, really.

K: And where did the idea come from? Have you always wanted to do something with the virtual reality?

C: I’m interested in the virtual reality, and the funny thing is, we were making the show, and we kept seeing trailers for this really cool thing called “The Matrix”.

K: Yeah.

L: Yeah.

C: So, obviously, other people are interested in it too. But it’s a good way to tell stories, and it’s not a new way of telling stories, it’s telling stories about another dimension, a parallel dimension, which is equivalent to ours where you have a double, and, uh, these are sort of staples of science fiction.

K: So we all have doubles.

C: Yeah. Kevin and Bean are in Harsh Realm.

K: Are they funny in that realm?

C: Yeah. They’re– They’re really funny.

L(laughing): …as it turns out…hehehaha…

B: So it’s an opposite universe.

B: They’re also immensely popular.

B: Uh, you– I know that you’re a guy who seems to be comfortable with science, and you don’t mind doing the research. Uh, where do you see this headed for us other than 1999? I mean, they are developing virtual realities all round the world.

C: right

B: What do you envision in the future we’re going actually be able to do?

C: heheh

B: I mean, already, there are suits that you can put on where you can simulate sex with somebody on the other side of the computer, you know–

C: right

B: But, I mean, now are we going to get to a point where it’ll seem like we’re walking around in our house or going on a– driving a car or whatever.

C: Yeah. I think that will all happen, I think, in the not-too-distant future. Actually, I was just listening to something last night about artificial intelligence, and they said that machines will actually be voting pretty soon, and I bet you they’ll do a lot better job than us.

K: heheh. Well, that’s a little scary.

C(laughing): …it is scary.

K: Um, so– But the plotline in this is that there’s some kind of a killer… that he’s going after– Do you want to or not go into–

C: Yeah, I’ll tell you the whole thing. The whole thing is that there’s a guy named Santiago who’s gone into the game, and he’s a decorated combat veteran. He’s taken over Harsh Realm, and he’s going to become the sort of King of Harsh Realm. And they send Hobbes in to take him out, like a game, but what we realize is that Santiago actually wants to control– not just control Harsh Realm for his own purposes, uh, to control it, but because he wants to destroy the real world. If you will.

K: How different does the alternate universe look than the real universe on the TV show?

C: It looks exactly like it, except that– Imagine all the rules are taken away, and it’s survival of the fittest, uh, you know, the strongest survive.

K: What do you mean by all the rules are taken away? Like, they can… fly?

C: Well, there’s no, uh, government in place that– It’s really just, uh–

K: Chaos.

C: It’s chaos, and, uh, this guy Santiago though, has created this emerald city. He actually has created a utopia, but you have to play by his rules. So he’s kind of a fuehrer, if you will.

K: That sounds great.

B: Will Kevin understand it at all?

L: heheheh

C: It’s actually– it’s really easy. I think that some people think it’s difficult because it’s science fiction, and, uh, you know, once you get in to it, the rules are real simple.

K: If I don’t, can I call you and…

C: yeaheheh

B: heheheh

C: …hotline…

B: Chris Carter Cliff Notes?

K: heheheh

B: Now what is– What’s the deal they’re doing? They got it on tonight, but then they also have it on Sunday night–

C: Yeah. They–

B: What is– What is your real time slot going to be?

C: Friday nights at nine, which is actually where the last three shows I’ve done have premiered, so, uh–

K: Isn’t that a tough time slot?

C: It’s a tough time slot because, uh, a lot of people go out on that night.

K: yeah

C: So you have to really– You can’t steal an audience, you really got to build an audience.

K: Why do they keep giving you Friday night at nine?

C: Well, you know, I–

K: Is it a curse?

C(laughing): It’s a blessing and a curse.

B: It seems like you’ve earned the time slot that you want.

C: Yeah. But it’s– It’s not a bad time slot. It really is, uh– We did well with The X-Files, and when we went to Sundays, we became this giant hit.

K: right

C: Uh, but, uh…

K: So you should say this time, “Hey, I want to be on Sunday.”

C: Well, you know, I’m– I’m happy to be here, and hopefully, we can do the same thing as X-Files.

B: Let me ask you about one more show because one of your friends is behind this “Roswell”.

C: Yeah.

B: One of the guys who worked on The X-Files.

C: David Nutter.

B: When I saw that show this week– It was so X-Files-like. I don’t know if you’ve had the opportunity to watch it or not, but, man, it seems like a show that you should have been doing.

C: heheh

K: heheh

C: Uh… heheh. M-Maybe.

B: Did you like it? Did you see it?

C: You know, I saw the beginning of it. Uh, and I read the script, so, um, I knew what the subject matter–

B: The kid walks in. He’s an alien and heals someone by putting his hand on her, on her wound, and I thought, well, doesn’t that look familiar.

K: Hey, I saw that on The X-Files.

C: Season Three.

K: heheheh

B: Have we seen that before?

K: heheheh

C: hmm…

B: It’s weird. And I don’t know if it has anything to do with what you were talking about a little bit ago about the pre-millennium tension that seems to be in the air, but people seem to really be in to sci-fi right now.

C: yeah

B: I mean, it seems like a great time for the genre because you could have gone a lot of years on television schedules in this country, and there wouldn’t have been any shows about science fiction.

K: That’s true.

B: And now it seems like, thanks to the success of The X-Files, that there are a bunch of shows that are out there that are doing it for who like this sort of thing, so “Harsh Realm” is coming at a good time, I guess.

C: Uh, I hope so. I mean, it’s more science fiction than I’ve ever done, so, uh, it’s– It’s something new for me.

K: Does it feel weird to you to be named Time Magazine’s, like, one of the Most– What was it? One of the Most– 25 Most Influential People?

C: Yes. Heheh.

K: Is that just like–

C: Yeah. I–heh–

L: …cause he’s out surfing in the morning.

K(laughing): Yeah, you know, what the hell.

C: It’s weird.

K: Do you pick– You know, do you pick up chicks and stuff with that?

K: Time! Time Magazine! I need a table! Time Magazine!

B: How many copies of that do you have in your truck right now that you need to pass out, know what I mean?

K: Front of the line! Disneyland, front of the line! Time Magazine!

B: Chris, by the way, is going to be doing a live chat for folks who have their own questions for him. Certainly, you can do a better interview than we can. Uh, that’s going to be next Friday at 7 o’clock on www.fox.com. That’s next Friday. And your birthday is next week too, Chris.

C: yes

B: What are you going to be doing for that?

C: Uh… (laughing)Nothing.

B: Just working, aren’t you–

K: –working.

C: Work, like every year.

K: …man, oh man… Well, you know what fans we are of you, and we don’t just say that cause you’re sitting in the room. We always support your shows. We always talk about them cause they’re really quality television. We’re going to be tuning in tonight, 9 o’clock, for “Harsh Realm”. And, as usual, we thank you for coming into the studio today.

C: Thanks.

GA: Hi, this is Gillian Anderson from ‘The X-Files’ with a warning from the government. If you listen to the Kevin and Bean show, you will die. Good luck.

Chris Carter on Art Bell

COAST W/ART BELL
Interview date: October 6, 1999

Highlights

-Midnight Express
-Carter’s bio
-Harsh Realm

-6th Extinction
-Millennium
-Where Chris gets his ideas from
-Gov. agencies

-Lance Hendrickson
-Keeping Gov. conspiracies secret
-How X-Files was conceived

-Future of X-Files
-Y2K, an event?
-New ideas

Kevin & Bean: Interview with Chris Carter

Oct-30-1998
Kevin & Bean
Interview with Chris Carter

Transcript from PA X-files site
K/B: Kevin or Bean (can’t tell these guys apart on the show)
LM: Lisa May (traffic girl/girl in the two-guys-and-a-girl formula used for any kind of show these days)
CC: Chris Carter

K: …people who haven’t met him, think a guy who writes all this, just, bizarre weirdness, is… He’s just, like, a — he’s just, like, a… easy-going…

LM: …surfer dude…

B: …surfer dude, yeah.

K: Like, a nice, just a really nice — doesn’t want to upset any-anybody — kind of a guy.

B: Yeah.

K: It doesn’t make sense. [gives off an abrupt puff of amusement]

B: People who are famous in horror are — I mean, you expect when you meet Wes Craven, he’s gonna have fangs.

CC: Right.

B: You know what I mean?

CC: But he doesn’t either.

B: He doesn’t either. He’s a very normal nice guy. Yeah, exactly. It’s a surprise. I guess it all, it just comes from the mind. Did you — Was Halloween fun for you when you were growing up? Was that a holiday you enjoyed?

CC: [says this in the middle of starting to laugh] I, actually, I hate Halloween. [KBL chuckles]

B: No! Really?

LM: [in a mocking tone] …don’t want to dress up…I hate the pumpkins…

CC: It’s-it’s like a-a, uh, day for closet drag queens. [KBL crack up]

B: So the people who are doing Halloween year ’round, those are your folks.

CC: Yea-heh-heh… [KBL still chuckling]

K: [chuckling] …closet drag queens, I like that.

B: So how you’ve been? How was your summer? How’s your fall been?

CC: Uh–

B: Just crazy? Busy?

CC: — It’s been busy…with two shows again now and uh, (takes a breath in) travelling to Vancouver now and again. It’s just been a, uh, whirlwind. (lets the breath out)

K: Oh, you’re gonna forget about all those Vancouver people. [C chuckles]

K: What the hell, you’re back in L.A. now.

CC: I-I– Millenium’s still back there. So I still…

K: Oh, it is…

CC: yeah, yeah

K: I didn’t even realize that. No wonder you go back and forth.

CC: Yeah. And I love it actually.

K: Yeah, well, it’s a great city.

CC: yeah, yeah

K: Been up there a couple different times. It’s a great city.

B: What–

K: You have a lot–you have a lot, uh, to do with Millennium, too, this season again, right?

CC: Yeah, I’m back on the show. I-I left the show last year to do the X-Files movie. But I’m back in full force this year.

B: We love that show so much and you, you probably know this, but every week, we talk about it and every week, we urge people to check it out.

CC: thank god

B: Cause it’s on, I mean, let’s be honest, it’s a tough time slot, as you found out when The X-Files use to be on Fridays.

CC: yeah

B: It’s just a tough time slot.

K: I tape it every single week and watch it over the weekend.

CC: Although, we’ve hung in there. This is year three and, uh, last-last (?) we got a big victory over, uh, some new shows. So we’re still [some more proverbial CC-stutters here] we’re, uh, uh, still, uh, a strong show on the Fox network.

B: Alright let me ask you this because I know they’re a lot of Millennium fans who are wondering. You made quite a few changes in the off season

CC: mm-hmm

B: with, uh, with, uh, Frank Black and his family–situation. What was the, uh, what was the, uh, impetus behind jettisoning the wife?

CC: uh… [CKBL chuckle]

K: Do you consider it jettisoning the wife?

CC: The, uh, the truth is that she was a terrific actress and we just could never write enough story for her, uh, because Frank Black tended to, uh, get all the, uh, all the, uh, drama. So, uh, it was an over-idealized marriage, uh, he loved his wife, there wasn’t, there were no issues and so, uh, it was something that seems like it was time to go.

K: There wasn’t, uh, there wasn’t enough for her to do.

CC: Yeah, exactly.

K: Which is what– When we’ve had Megan Gallagher in here before, I mean, that was her fear that when she first signed up was just cause she knew it wasn’t gonna be a traditional relationship show, she was afraid she would be squeezed out.

CC: And I-I promised her otherwise but [L chuckles]

CC: in the end [starts to laugh] I couldn’t do it. [CKBL laugh]

LM: oh, well. heheh…

B: Let me, uh–

K: You’ve had a lot of these problems lately, Chris.

B: what–

K: Chris has convinced everybody in Hollywood that he’s the King… [CKBL chuckle]

K: …and now he’s got, like, 75 different projects to do… You gotta come through on them — that’s kinda tough.

B: Hey, let me read this, uh, email, because, uh, Chris, uh, wrote in yesterday with this question for you, Chris Carter. “As a loyal Millennium fan, I was glad to see Megan Gallagher’s character eliminated as the character grew tiresome for me. Ask Chris why we didn’t get to see her death though. It left this viewer really cold.” [CKL chuckle]

B: “Is there some way you could do some flashbacks? I understand she may not be under contract anymore, but someone dressed up as her should suffice.”

K: Cause we never actually got to see what happened to her. She just kinda wandered off into the…

CC: This-this guy wanted to *see* her die. [L laughs]

K: Yes, he wanted to see her.

CC: He really didn’t like her character. [KBL laugh]

K: I guess not. But, uh, there’s probably no plans for a flashback or anything of that, uh, sort at all, right?

CC: You never know, I mean, uh, the truth is I’d really like to get Megan back on the show and she is part of the mythology, if you will, of the show so, uh, I think there is reason to bring her back.

B: She should come back as a member of the Millennium group.

K: Yes, exactly. That’s right.

B: Dude, and Frank sees her and says, “What’re you *doing*?”

CC: Can I–

K: “I’m a member of the Millennium group.”

CC: –can I have a pen? [KBL crack up]

B: And then it’s a big end-of-the-season show-down between Frank and her! [pause]

B: You know, Chris can have this written by nine a.m., Lisa? (It’s 8:15) [K cracks up]

LM: I know, he’s that fast. [K still laughing]

B: Alright, now, what– Can you get rid of the, uh, the kid, though? Can you get rid of the annoying little girl? Is that possible? [K chuckles]

LM: She *is* annoying.

CC: I-I– She’s great. I like her.

B: Nooo. Nooo.

LM: in an annoying way

K: Bean doesn’t like kids at all. So you have to know that… [C chuckles]

B: She’s really annoying, Chris. [K chuckles]

B: What is she doing for ya? Does she just give– Is she supposed to give Frank some humanity? Is that why…?

CC: E-exactly. And it-it’s what grounds him. And it’s his reason for, you know, for doing what he does.

B: I wanna see her hit by lightning or something cool. [KLC chuckle]

B: Alright, now, uh, so now tell us about, uh, now on Millennium, Frank has kind of-kinda an unofficial partner…

CC: Right, right.

K: Let’s take a phone call about that real quick.

B: Oh, we have someone…

K: Right, we have Keith. Hello Keith.

Keith: Hi, I have a question about, um, someone who I really liked, was C.C.H. Pounder

CC: yeah

Keith: I know you made her, uh, a bad, uh, guy, as it were a bad woman,

CC: uh-huh

Keith: but I would’ve loved to see her becoming the new partner or something.

CC: She-she’s coming back this year.

Keith: Oh great.

CC: Yeah. So, uh, stay tuned.

B: Alright, what is the, uh, so, why does Frank now have, a, kind of a partner? Why did you decide to do that? Cause he’s kind of famous as a, as a loner.

CC: Right. Well, I-I didn’t want to do another cop show with Millennium so I wanted to do something different and I-I went outside of the-the typical t.v. franchise thing with the show and, uh, what I found was that, uh, moving to season three, we needed that franchise again and so we brought Frank back to the FBI again and gave him a partner, a woman, we didn’t want to do the Mulder-and-Scully relationship, um, so we gave-made it more of a teacher-student relationship and I think it’s worked out really nice. She’s a terrific actress and she’s really fun to write.

B: She is good.

K: yeah

B: She’s real good. And tonight you have KISS on the show?!

CC: Yeah.

B: Now you don’t picture a lot of stunt casting on a show like Millennium. [KL chuckle]

B: I was really surprised–

K: Would you consider this stunt casting?

B: When I saw this in the promos, I thought, well, it’s Halloween weekend. It kinda makes, uh, sense. We talked to Gene and Peter from-from KISS, earlier and they were telling us from their perspective. Now tell me where the idea came from.

CC: Um, Fox told me they were doing some promotional stuff with KISS and would we consider putting them on the show? And my first response was “You-you must be kidding.” [KB chuckle]

CC: Then we sort of tossed it around and thought why don’t we do a sort of spoof, a Halloween spoof, for, uh, Millennium, for, you know, Halloween, and, uh, uh, and so that sort of, uh, gave us an idea to use KISS. And, uh, they need the money. [KBL crack up]

K: Oh yeah, KISS really needs the money, alright. Did they need to do any sort of acting? Or are they pretty much playing themselves?

CC: They have cameo roles and you might not recognize them out of make-up, uh, we certainly didn’t. [K chuckles]

B: They are really *the* most unattractive band–of all time.

K: They’re the four ugliest guys in America.

B: I mean they really are.

CC: They’re hanging in there.

K: But they were good on the show then?

CC: yeah

B: They’re alive if that’s what you mean by ‘hanging in there.’ They are alive…barely. [K laughing]

K: Uh, so they’re, uh, so they’re playing themselves. And they– Did they perform on the show?

CC: They perform on the show too.

K: Wow, that’s wild.

CC: yeah

B: Now what if Fox had come to you and said, you know, “Hey, we’re doing a big Celine Dion pay-per-view.” [KL chuckle]

B: “Can you work” there? Would you have done that? I mean, are you a whore now? You sell yourself out? What’s the deal here? [CKL crack up]

B: Whatever Fox says, you know, you do?

CC: (chuckling) I-I actually like Celine Dion. (chuckling)

K: Oh!

B: Chris!

K: for god’s sake!

B: Dude, you could kill her on the show though. That’d be cool. [C still chuckling]

B: W’ that be neat?

LM: Drown her.

K: Come on, kill Celine. [L cracks up]

B: You’ve got the power to do that, Chris… [C still making little chuckles in the background]

B: Alright, we need to take a quick break. Uh, so, Millennium, nine o’clock tonight with the big Halloween spectacular, uh, with KISS on the show. We want to take a break. We want to find out some more about what’s coming up with The X-Files this season. And uh–

K: If it’s ever gonna start. [CC chuckles anew]

B: As the, officially, the last show *ever* to premiere, with the new season. The first show is the Christmas episode, right? [K chuckles]

B: …the way it’s going? And we’ll take some phone calls if you want to speak to Chris Carter.

(BREAK)

K: Chris Carter is in the studios. Millennium tonight, nine o’clock. Uh, X-Files is returning on the…eighth? Is that right? The eighth of November?

CC: Yes.

K: Coming up a week from–a week from Sunday, it’ll be coming up. Uh, let me ask you a couple X-Files questions and then we’re gonna take, uh, take some calls for you, Chris. First of all, we had an interesting conversation on the air last week when FX re-aired the incest episode.

B: Oh man, that was ‘f’-ed up.

K: Which is one of the all time great hours in the history of television. [KBL chuckle]

B: You wrote that?

CC: No.

B: Oh, thank god.

K: Uh, here’s the question, is it true or is it just hype: Does that one not rerun on Fox?

CC: Yeah, the, uh, network will not, uh, will not rerun the show.

B: That’s the one where the mom is kept

LM: …under the floorboards…

B: under the floorboards.

CC: It’s funny cause it’s one of the all-time favorite episodes for, uh, for fans.

LM: oh yeah

CC: And yet there were enough complaints that…

B: And rightfully so. That was ‘f’-ed up. [KB chuckle]

K: When-when the thing– I-I wanna hear cause you were there at the time, when the episode was turned into Fox

CC: yeah

K: was there a phone call made to you from some big-wig at the network who said “Listen, you know, Chris, we love you, man, but we can’t–with the woman–and the–under the floorboard–and the kid–” Did they make a call to you and say “Don’t make us air this.”?

CC: There was a lot of nervousness before it ever aired, um, uh, just even in script form. Uh, Standards and Practices had a little, uh, problem with the, uh, scene where the son gets into the trunk with his mother–

K: yeah [KBL laugh]

B: But isn’t incest one of the great American values though?

CC: But it leaves a lot to the imagination and, uh, actually, people thought it was a very violent episode but if you look at it carefully, um, the violence is all imagined

B: yes

CC: it-it’s actually edited in such a way as to, uh, uh, you know, make the violence, uh, implied.

B: Mm-hmm. And, uh, did they ever, did they run it again at all? Or did they just run it one time on the Fox network?

CC: It aired one time and, uh…

B: It didn’t even come back for repeats.

CC: nope [K chuckles]

B: Wow, but, but FX, are they not getting the same complaints when they air it?

CC: Uh, they, they may be. Actually they asked us to edit out, uh, for network run again, scenes that we decided we didn’t want to edit out, so I-I don’t know what’s been edited out of the FX version, but, uh, all those FX episodes have at least a minute edited out of them. so.

B: oh I see

K: oh they do

B: We, uh– I hope you won’t be offended by this, but I taped it when it was on last week and now I’m selling copies to my friends for ten bucks a pop. [KL chuckle]

B: Uh, and this was weird. I had never seen the black-and-white episode

CC: yeah

B: that aired this past week, which was your Halloween show.

CC: yeah, yeah

B: That was *very* funny

CC: thank you

B: very funny. And Jerry Springer was on the show.

CC: Jerry Springer

B: The last person you’d except to show up on an X-Files but he was very funny on that thing. That was cool. It was a good episode.

CC: thank you

K: Alright, let’s take a few phone calls. Ted?

Ted: Good morning.

K: Say hi to Chris.

CC: Hello.

Ted: How are you?

CC: good

Ted: Good. Um, I was wondering about the X-Files expo. Are you gonna make it more intimate? It just seemed kind of…not as intimate as the previous ones.

B: Are you having trouble stalking Gillian? [KL chuckle]

B: What’s the problem here?

Ted: No, actually, thanks to KROQ, I got to meet her at the, uh, X-Files post party. So thank you.

K: okay

B: I don’t know but, Chris, you don’t have much to do with the expos, do you?

CC: Um, we do but, uh, I think right now they’re on hold, uh, until we figure out how to do them a little bit better.

B: Because they were getting a little too big?

CC: It-it-it’s just, uh, uh– We-we went around the country, uh, last year, and, uh, there were places where the expos really were, uh, big turn-outs for the expos and some places, they weren’t so we have to figure out where to do them again.

K: Oh I see. Okay. Hey thanks for the call. By the way, we talked to Gillian a, uh, couple of weeks ago. She seems real happy about being back here in Los Angeles.

B: yeah

K: She sounds like she was just having the time of her life.

CC: Both Dave and Gillian, I think, are very happy to be close to home.

B: How has it been for you, uh, envisioning the show, here in Southern California.

CC: It was a lot of work for me because we came back here and I had to hire a whole new crew and figure out how to do the show in Los Angeles. I’m still figuring it out and we’re in episode–doing episode nine.

K: yeah

CC: So, uh–

K: Where the aliens come on to the beach surfing? [KB laugh]

CC: Yeah, exactly. [C chuckles]

K: I mean, that’s kinda tough, isn’t it?

B: You’re just, uh, you’re just, uh, you just have to look at everything a little bit differently. I mean, that’s what Gillian said

CC: yeah

B: is you’re just doing a lot of deserts

CC: yeah

B: and stuff like that.

CC: David was funny. We were out in Lancaster for, I don’t know, a week straight or something. He said, “When’s the show coming back to Los Angeles?” [KB chuckle]

K: Alright, let’s, uh, say good morning to Ron. Hello Ron.

Ron: Good morning.

K: You have a question for Chris?

Ron: Yes, Chris, I, uh, was just wondering now that Frank is involved with the, uh, FBI,

CC: mm-hmm

Ron: is there a possibility of a Millennium/X-Files crossover?

CC: Yeah, this is the year to do, if we do it.

Ron: Yeah, oh great.

K: Wow, that was kind of a non-answer answer. [C chuckles]

B: Wouldn’t that be funny though if Frank’s walking down the hall of the FBI and, uh, Scully and Mulder just walk right past him and they don’t say anything, they just see him…

K: bump into him

CC: That would be the [chuckles] easiest crossover.

B: yeah, no kidding

K: Like, these guys, like, your staff has any more time to do a crossover, right?

CC: yeah, yeah. Well now, of course, you’d have to either get the Millennium people down to Los Angeles or the, uh, David and Gillian back up to Vancouver.

K: Now you said this year would be the year, if you were going to do it. Are you thinking of doing it?

CC: Yeah, actually, I thought about it but, um, I’m still trying to figure out the best way to do it, so it doesn’t just seem like some, sleazy, you know, ratings–

Ron: Hey Chris–

CC: yeah?

Ron: How ’bout, you know, um, uh, Scully and Frank kind of getting a thing on for an episode or two? [B chuckles]

K: Yeah, that’s not a sleazy, uh, ratings thing.

B: No, no, no, that, uh, that Lance Henriksen, man, he’s, uh, he’s a sexy guy. [CKB laughs]

K: I could certainly see that one working out. We had the director of your movie, Rob Bowman, in a little while ago and he was telling us that there’s additional footage on the home video too.

CC: yeah

K: What, uh, what kind of stuff did you leave in that was not on the, uh–

CC: There was some stuff to do with, uh, Mulder’s sister that was explained, and, uh, we just thought it was too much information for the, uh, for the movie, which was, uh, pretty complex. So we decided to take it out and deal with it in season six of the show, but, uh, we put it back in for the widescreen movie version.

B: So for folks who’re watching on the t.v. show, they’re not gonna get that, they’re not gonna know what that information is. You’ve gotta see the movie on home video, right?

CC: Yeah, you can get it in the movie or, you know, season six will explain a lot that, uh, was set up in the movie.

B: Yeah, if season six ever starts, dude. [CKB crack up]

B: Come on, get with the program.

K: Chris Carter’s in the studio. Can you stay for one more?

CC: Yeah, yeah.

K: Do you mind? We’ll take some more phone calls.

B: We have our big interview with the Los Angeles Kings coming up next. That’s my only fear with Chris.

K: We can move that.

B: Okay, I didn’t know that.

K: Yeah, we can move that. Trust me. Everything can be worked out.

CC: Trust no one. [KB crack up]

(BREAK)

B: Hey, speaking of Billy Corgan, by the way, Chris, you know him, right?

CC: Yeah.

B: Hasn’t he been up to the set of The X-Files in Vancouver?

CC: He spent some time on the set but I got to see, uh, one of his shows up there and go back and meet him and he was cool.

B: He’s a hell of a guy. I can’t remember if it’s–if he told us this story or Duchovny told us this story, but somehow somebody got somebody’s watch. Do you know anything about that?

CC: Yeah. He got–[chuckles]

B: He got Dave’s watch.

CC: I-I was informed that an X-Files watch had disappeared, uh–somehow, someone had stolen [chuckles] it and then I later learned that David had actually just given it to Billy.

K: Given it to Billy. [B chuckles]

K: Well, we can, you know, we can ruffle him up and get it back for ya if you want–we’re gonna talk to him in, like, thirty minutes here or so. Alright, Chris Carter is in the studio, with two great shows, uh, on the Fox network. Millennium, tonight, nine o’clock. It’s the special Halloween episode. And then The X-Files premieres a week from Sunday. By the way, before we go to some more phone calls here, what did I read in the paper about you, uh, signing, uh, a big contract for some–to write some books.

CC: Yeah, it’s a little premature. It’s not finished.

B: It’s not gonna happen.

CC: yeah, yeah–well, it may happen.

K: Have you written books before?

CC: Uh, not books. [pause]

B: But there’s *nothing* he can’t do. [K chuckle]

K: What kinds of stuff are you interested in writing?

CC: It-it actually has to do with, a little, with the supernatural but they’re period pieces–something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. And just an opportunity arose.

B: Could there–could this be the, uh, could this be, the, the, genesis of some new series down the road, maybe? Or–

CC: Quite possibly.

K: Who knows.

B: Wow.

K: Man, you’re just, uh, you’re a tumultuous (?) machine.

B: Well, with all your spare time, you think you gotta write books, right? You gonna do a Broadway play? [CKL chuckle]

B: A one-man Broadway play?

K: Why not. Alright, let’s take a few more calls. Cathy in Pico Rivera. Hello.

Cathy: Hi. Hi Chris.

CC: Hi.

Cathy: I wanted to know how can you, um, cast your extras. It would be kind of fun to be a creepy person on one of your shows.

K: Now that you’re down here.

B: Well, they let Tad audition for the show before. (Tad is an intern on the show who tried out for the part of the pizza boy in Bad Blood.) So there’s not much of a process. [K chuckles]

Cathy: Yeah, that’s scary.

CC: I think you have to be a member of the, uh, Extras Guild, which is a part of SAG now, so you actually have to go through a process to, uh, be, um, considered.

B: Is that true? Even to be on just one time?

CC: Uh, no, you could, you, I mean… if-if you know me [chuckles] you could be on– [CKBL laugh]

B: Alright, then let’s dust Cathy and let’s hit up Chris again. And how many times have we said this to him? Kill us on The X-Files.

LM: Yes, kill them.

B: Chris, you’re here in L.A. now.

K: You got some kind of scene where we flash onto the screen for maybe two seconds, and then a train, and then just, like, a train hits us. [C chuckles]

K: Come on.

CC: It’s a deal.

K: We’re not asking for that much.

LM: Whoa, whoa. Did you hear? It’s a deal.

K: Are you gonna do it though?

B: Yeah, but he’s said that five times last time.

LM: Oh he did?

K: And he’s already, he’s already in episode nine for this season. You’re telling me you haven’t killed *anybody* in the first eight episodes?

CC: We have, uh, a year and a half to go.

B: alright. [K chuckles]

K: Chris… [L groans]

K: Don’t be stretching it out ’til the last episode. We’ll have to hunt you down.

B: Chris–

CC: Let me know if your ratings are descending. [B chuckles]

K: Dude, we want you to put us on the show as bodies, as corpses. [C chuckles]

K: seriously [C chuckles]

K: we’re not joking here, pal

CC: Don’t-don’t you want do something else besides be corpses?

K: No, we just–

LM: –wouldn’t look good as anything else. [C chuckles]

B: Well, we want the audience to see the process of going from human beings to corpses.

K: We wanna die.

B: I mean there are times when people, uh, uh–very brief roles where people get killed on the show.

CC: That’s true.

K: That’s all we’re asking. I mean, we can be bad guys who get shot or something. We don’t care how we die. We leave that up to you. We just wanna die.

CC: Okay.

K: Alright.

B: It can be like an Airplane, uh, scene, like the movie Airplane, where Dave and Gillian drive up in a car, and they just hit us for no reason. [CL chuckle]

B: Alright, let’s say good morning to JoAnna. Hello.

JoAnna: Hello my funk soul brothers. [B chuckles]

K: Yes, JoAnna, you’re on with Chris Carter.

B: I think Chris Carter would, uh, would be, uh, a funk soul brother too.

K: I think so.

B: If I’m not mistaken.

K: Alright, go ahead JoAnna.

JoAnna: Uh, I had a question about the movie.

CC: mm-hmm…

JoAnna: Where is that in the planning stages right now? Is it being shot? Is it still being written?

CC: You mean the next movie?

JoAnna: Yeah.

K: Oh, your staff is gonna commit suicide if you get them on another movie right away.

CC: Yeah, we’re think–it’s in the thinking stages right now. Uh, there was some talk about trying to do it, uh, this coming summer so it would come up at the end of the X-Files series, which would be after season seven but, uh, that’s not gonna happen.

JoAnna: What ever happened to the last movie that came out? The rumors were it was supposed to pick up where the season finale ended and that didn’t happen.

CC: It-it kind of did. Um, the X-Files had been closed and, uh, Mulder and Scully began anew in the movie. So that was really where one picked, uh–left off and one picked up. Um, but now when you watch the season opener this year–November eighth–um, Sunday night [KBL chuckle]

CC: uh, you will see that, uh [ching sound] [C chuckles]

CC: it emphasizes both the season finale and the movie, and, uh, we pick up from there.

K: Was the plan when the movie came out–and was obviously very successful–is that when you started thinking “hey we should do some more of these, you know, every couple of years maybe. I mean, even perhaps like they did with the Star Trek movie where the show is not on anymore but the movie’s still come out.

CC: It’s kind of the idea. I think it’s a chance for us to get together and do some, something every year or two. Uh, and, um, the t.v. series will become the movie series, I hope.

B: How do, uh, how do your actors feel about that in terms of the long-range plans?

CC: I think they’re cool with it. Uh, I think everybody’s going to be, after season seven, happy to, uh, you know, call it quits for a time. But, uh, I don’t know, we have fun working together I think, so, um, I look forward to it.

K: It’d be cool to have a new X-Files movie every year or two.

B: In your mind–so you have two seasons left, right–in your mind, do you already, kind of know, where it’s all, uh, going? Are you already now starting to put the pieces in play?

CC: For this year, I do. Uh, next year is a big year, of course, because, uh, we’re headed toward, you know, the, uh, the end

K: millennium

CC: the finale and so–yeah, the millennium, exactly–so there’re lots of questions to answer.

B: Do you know what the ultimate end is going to be? You just don’t know how to get there?

CC: I-I’ve had some ideas and they’ve changed over time but, but uh, I have a rough idea. I’m not telling anyone of course.

LM: Of course. [K chuckles]

B: I think that’s wise. [CKBL chuckle]

B: I can’t disagree with that as a strategy really.

K: Where you want to go to here?

B: Uh, let me see–blah…blah–I don’t know what Lisa’s calling about. Let’s try Lisa.

K: Lisa? Hello?

Lisa: Hello?

K: Hi. Lisa, are you west L.A.?

Lisa: Uh, yeah.

K: Go ahead. You’re on with Chris Carter.

Lisa: Oh, hi, um, actually, I work for Scientific American magazine…

CC: oh yeah?

Lisa: and we had read somewhere that you sometimes use the magazine as a background for some of your storylines.

CC: uh-huh

Lisa: Is that true or–?

B: Are you calling to sue? [CKBL chuckle]

Lisa: Oh god, no. [laughs] No, no, I’m just a listener of the show and I’m on my way to work.

CC: Actually the show has, uh–If it weren’t for, uh, Scully’s good science, uh, the show wouldn’t be, uh, would have no counterpoint to Mulder’s weird science. So we use, uh, magazines like Scientific American, journals and all sorts of really good, uh, scientific foundation to, uh, to do our stories.

Lisa: That’s great.

B: That woman that was profiled in People magazine as being kind of the science–

CC: yeah

B: We had her on the show.

CC: Dr. Ann Simon?

B: Yeah, yeah. She was terrific.

CC: She’s great.

K: She is a party waiting to happen. She, uh, she says she just does it for the love of science. I mean, she’s not interested in showbiz really and she didn’t really know much about the show. She just said “hey I’m just happy to be able to spread good information.”

CC: Yeah, she’s been great. Uh, anything to do with genes or viruses.

B: Yeah, yeah.

CC: she’s an expert.

B: She seems like a nice lady too.

CC: very nice

B: Alright, do we have one more, our big closer?

K: We’ll try Jeff.

B: alright

K: See what he’s got. Jeff in Tustin.

Jeff: Hey, how you guys doing.

K: Good, thank you.

Jeff: Chris, just want you to know that I’m a huge fan, right off the bat, of X-Files.

CC: thank you very much

Jeff: Yeah, and the Peacock episode was awesome, unbelievable. But, um, one of my favorite things about The X-Files is the use of a lot of your hidden meanings and stuff. How you use a lot of your relatives and influences’ names and characters and birthday numbers and file numbers and just any type of number, anything that comes up, sometimes have meaning behind it.

CC: uh-huh

Jeff: And I was just wondering if you could give examples of upcoming or unknown ones in future episodes or maybe where we could find out more about that.

B: He wants to know if there’s a key to crack the code of what everything means. [chuckles]

B: The internet is your friend, Jeff, I’m telling you.

Jeff: –behind it and a lot of information that you put out there.

K: Wow, this guy frightens me.

B: Yeah, it’s very scary.

K: I don’t care where you come up with your numbers. [L chuckles]

B: I’m a big fan of the show. I didn’t know all that stuff.

CC: Neither did I. [KBL crack up]

K: Do you do that? Do you put relatives’ names–

CC: Uh, yeah, there’s lots–there’s relatives’ names. I’ve got, uh, dead girlfriends, uh, strewn across the, uh, five years of the show. [CKBL chuckle]

K: Is that right?

B: Wow, how many dead girlfriends do you have, Chris? That kind of concerns me. [K chuckles]

CC: Um, I got a letter from, uh, an old friend high school who thanked me for being a dead person on The X-Files. [L chuckles]

K: Oh very nice.

B: Hey, uh, wouldn’t it be great to see Kevin and Bean get killed on The X-Files? [chuckles]

B: Alright, here’s one more plot idea, Chris. And I know you get tired of this because everywhere you go, people, I’m sure, everywhere you go, people go “dude, I got this great idea for the show.”

K: But we really do.

B: This is, no, seriously, I know this sounds fantastic, unbelievable, it could never happen, but I think you could pull this off on X-Files. You got a guy who’s running for sheriff, okay, but here’s the thing: he’s dead but he still wins. (This is a real news story in California right now.)

CC: That story is…too weird for me. [CKBL chuckle]

K: Isn’t it though?

LM: It could never happen.

CC: That headline this morning was unbelievable.

B: Here’s the headline in today’s Los Angeles Times. Tell me if you’ve ever seen anything stranger in a newspaper. “Sheriff Block Dies, His Campaign Still On, Backers Say.”

K: Everybody wants to vote him, still, sheriff.

B: Seriously, that’s the weirdest thing–it is stranger than fiction. [chuckles]

K: Alright folks, let’s say goodbye to our friend, Chris Carter. Millennium, tonight, nine o’clock on Fox, the big Halloween show. That is a terrific program. Lance Henriksen is one of the finest actors on t.v. It really is a great show. We’re so proud of that.

CC: Thank you very much. Thank you.

K: And we urge everyone to watch that. Then on The X-Files, premieres, like, in eight weeks or so.

B: I think it’s Valentine’s Day. [L chuckles]

K: That’s right. Valentine’s Day is gonna be the first one of the season.

B: No, actually, it’s gonna be a week from Sunday. It’s finally here–a week from Sunday.

CC: That’s right.

B: We can’t wait. Chris, say hi to the cast for us–

CC: Uh, David and Gillian and Lance and Claya–and–

B: everybody, everybody you know

CC: I want to say hi to my wife too cause I know she’s listening.

B: Okay, you can call her on the phone too, you know. [CKBL crack up]

B: We’re trying to do a radio show here, Chris. You can take care of your personal business– No, I meant, *when you see them,* when you see them: Hey, Kevin and Bean say hi.

K: We can say “Hi Dave” now, ourselves.

CC: I gotcha. [CKBL chuckle]

K: Chris Carter, everybody.

CC: Thank you.

Kevin and Bean: Interview with Chris Carter

Apr-??-1994
Kevin and Bean
Interview with Chris Carter
KROQ

This is a transcript of the interview that Chris Carter did on the L.A. radio station KROQ. The morning show hosts are Kevin and Bean… It’s much more entertaining to listen to than to read, but anyway here it goes…

K: 8:27…Our favorite TV show,(x-files theme in the background) as you know is the X-files. It’s on tonight on FOX, uhhh…9 o’clock, channel 11?

B: Correct..

K: Our friend Chris Carter on the telephone now…producer, creator director…behind the scenes pulling the strings guy, writer…Chris, good morning.

CC: Good morning.

K: You know Chris, we were…Geez, what are you the voice of God?

B: ‘Good morning'(mocking Chris’ deep voice)

K: We ahhh, were much more impressed with you Chris, when ya’ know we met you up there, in ahhh…Canada.

CC: Uhn huh…

K: We were much more impressed with you until we were reading through your biography, and…It says here that you wrote “The Nanny.”

CC: It wasn’t _that_ ‘Nanny,’ it was uhh, it was a previous and less successful ‘Nanny.’

B: You mean, it wasn’t even the successful ‘Nanny?’

K: (laughing) What did you write, ahh the pilot or something for a show called “The Nanny?”

CC: Yeah, it was a long time ago…and somehow, it ended up on my uhhh (laughing) my biography.

K: Ohhh, see you gotta fire some people, Chris…Anyone who’s putting “The Nanny” on your…especially if it’s not even the one that they might like.

B: (laughing) It was the bad ‘Nanny.’

K: That’s embarrassing.

CC: (laughing) It was the paranormal ‘Nanny.’

B: Yeah, right.

K: Now, you wrote other pilots for other TV shows before the “X-files,” it’s not like this is your first foray into TV, right?

CC: Nah, I’ve been doing tv for about, uhh I guess 10 years.

K: How does a guy, uhh, and we may have asked you this before, but I’ve forgotten the answer if you gave it to us…When you have an idea like you did for the “X-files…”

CC: Yeah…

K: Do you take it to a network? Or who do you take it to and say, here’s my plan for a tv show…How does that work?

CC: It, it’s kinda like that, uhh…You have a reputation, so they, uhh… as a person who can possibly create a tv show, so a studio enlists you, and you come up with the idea…and then you pitch it to the network and they uhhh, they either buy or they don’t.

B: Now, did you pitch the “X-files” to other networks before FOX?

CC: No, FOX was the first choice, uhh…

B: Uhh, were they your first choice?

CC: Uhh, they were.

B: Hey, we heard the other day, and maybe you know if this is true or not, this is what one of our friends in the ‘biz’ told us… That FOX turned down the “Friends” pilot…That it was offered to FOX first, they turned it down.

CC: That happens all the time, NBC turned down “Roseanne.”

B: That’s amazing … And it’s so easy now to look back, and go ‘Wow, what a dumb move,’ but I guess at the time, you never know, there are so many shows pitched, you have no idea which one’s are gonna be hits.

CC: Exactly…

K: Now, when you walked into FOX, and you said ‘okay, here’s what I wanna do…I wanna have these two agents, and they look for UFO’s.’ They didn’t go, ‘okay Chris, thank you…next?’

CC: Actually, they did do that…

K: Oh, did they?

CC: They turned it down at first. They didn’t know what it was, and then I went back with uhh, a guy named Peter Roth and we went back and were able to sell it to them.

K: Wow, that’s cool, now the episode that’s on tonight is a brand new show, I think…Uhh, of course we’re in sweeps now, and so we get new “X-files,” what, for like the next three weeks I would imagine.

CC: Yeah, yep.

K: We were up in Vancouver when y’all were filming this, and I am telling you that you would expect…because the show, the “X-files,” and many of our listeners are watching it…because it’s, uhh.. It’s a dark, moody, smoke-filled show…You would expect that that’s what it’s like to be there, but you people just party up there…

CC: (laughing)

K: There’s…I mean, it’s just a terrific set…

B: Also, when we were in your office Chris, you were sitting there on your laptop computer, and you were writing the final episode…

CC: That’s right.

B: And if I remember correctly, I sat down in your chair and added a scene to the final episode…I trust that’s still in?

CC: It changed everything…

B: I trust it’s still in.

CC: It is, that…Now that cliffhanger…

B: …Involves nudity…Okay, very good.

K: (laughing)Which is not a uhh, not a bad thing. But, I mean your uhh, your director and your camera people are all fun people, and we were just so surprised…and I think we told ya about Dave and Gillian, the stars of the show…Now I know that they’re really good actors because they couldn’t be any more different than they are on the show…

CC: I know it.

K: They’re just goofy and silly…Ya’ know?…Hey, there’s one more thing I wanted to tell you about, and I know you’re probably now uh, with the popularity of the program, you’re probably keeping your eyes open for like copyright infringements and stuff like that?…

CC: (laughing) Yes…

K: Ya know, people selling like t-shirts outta the back of a station wagon down on Hollywood Boulevard? We talked to a guy yesterday who just wrapped a major porno movie called “The Triple X-files.”

CC: (laughing) Uhhh, yes we’ve already been uhh, celebrated with “The Breast Files,” so this is, uhh…

B: (laughing) Oh really?…(laughing)”The Breast Files” and “The Triple X-files,” I like it.

K: Well, you guys got something to watch at the cast party at the end of the season then (laughing). Now this is always funny…for the people who have not yet discovered the “X-files,” try and describe the plot for tonight’s show.

CC: Uhhh, it’s a tough one…It’s uhh, a possible contagion that uhh, affects the prison, or infects the prison…and uhh, two of the prisoners uhh, possibly are infected with it and escape…And, Mulder and Scully are uhm sort of put on a, sort of uhh, an abnormal assignment to track them down…And uhh, they are used as uhm, stalking horses, I think they call it, for the uhh, for the government.

K: I have bad news for ya, as I read my TV guide, that’s the same plot of Suzanne Sommers’ “Step By Step” for tonight…

CC: (laughing)

K: So, there’s gonna be some confusion.

CC: Yikes!

K: Chris by the way, you have the voice of God…I don’t know if you’ve noticed yet.

B: (Imitating Chris, again) ‘Yes, tonight on the “X-files,” they’re going to track them down…’

K: (laughing) Alright, so it’s three more new episodes and then uhh, what we’re.. you’re off for the summer? At least…

CC: Uhhh, yeah, let me see…Uhhh, I think actually there are four episodes, counting the one tonight…

K: Cool. Hey, did you see that you were number 6 in L.A. last week?

CC: Seriously?

K: Number 6 in L.A.

CC: That’s amazing, ’cause last week was rerun.

K: Yeah, no joke…It was just crazy, we couldn’t believe it…Alright Chris, terrific, we hope you’ll stay in touch with us.

CC: Thanks, you guys.

K: Give uhh, our best to the cast.

CC: Come back to Vancouver.

K: Ya know, we still wanna die on an episode of the “X-files.”…I mean, the next time you’ve got some sort of like mass slaughter thing happening…seriously, we want to be there for it.

CC: (laughing)You’re there.

B: We’ll fly up if you’ll let us do it…

CC: (laughing) Okay…

B: We want to be on the screen for like a half a second, then get hit by a truck.

CC: (laughing) Okay…

B: Alright, thanks a lot.

CC: Thanks, you guys.