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Jul
16
2008

Los Angeles Times Hero Complex: David Duchovny: ‘The X-Files’ is equal to God

Jul-16-2008
David Duchovny: ‘The X-Files’ is equal to God
Los Angeles Times Hero Complex
Geoff Boucher

[Original article here]

xfilesgod

These days, every major genre film and hit show has a significant presence on the Internet, but that wasn’t the case when “The X-Files” became a spooky sensation in the 1990s. David Duchovny said that, like his character Fox Mulder, the relentless faith of true believers is astounding to behold.

” ‘The X-Files’ was said to be the first Internet show,” Duchovny said over coffee on a recent morning in Los Angeles. “We had chat rooms and fan sites and all that. Look, I’m usually five or six years behind whatever is hip. So it was around 2000 that I started doing e-mail and finally started understanding what all that was about.”

And what was it about? The answer is religion, apparently.

“My initial response — and I still hold this to be true — is that it takes the place of some of the functions of a church in a small town: A place where people come together, ostensibly to worship something. But really what’s happening is you’re forming a community. It’s less about what you’re worshiping and more about, ‘We have these interests in common.’ Someone has a sick aunt and suddenly it’s about that, raising money to help her or sharing resources to make her life easier. That’s what it was about with ‘The X-Files’ on the Internet.”

Duchovny and co-star Gillian Anderson are back on autopsy and trench-coat duty on July 25 as “The X-Files: I Want to Believe” pulls the FBI tandem away from the complicated conspiracy plots of the old series and puts them in the “monster of the week” mode of investigating an isolated supernatural threat.

Duchovny said that he has come to view the most loyal fans of the show as celebrants of self, not of celebrity.

“When I was at Comic-Con it felt the same as the small-town church thing. I’m not denigrating ‘The X-Files,’ but that fellowship isn’t essentially about the show. The fans came to Comic-Con to honor us but I think they’re honoring us because we inspire them to have a certain kind of fellowship. Now, I’m not saying we’re not worthy of that kind of honor. I want to be clear about that.”

Oh, that’s very clear; essentially, his point is that “The X-Files” is bigger than God and religion, right? “No, no! You’re going to get me in trouble. I didn’t say bigger than God. I said ‘The X-Files’ is equal to God.”

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Jul
01
2008

TheDeadbolt: X-Files Stars David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson "Want to Believe"

Jul-??-2008
TheDeadbolt
X-Files Stars David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson “Want to Believe”
Jordan Riefe

[Original article here]

After waiting for an eternity for Mulder and Scully to reunite for another “X File”, fans of the popular supernatural sci-fi series can now head to the theater for the second feature film in the franchise, X-Files: I Want to Believe, which opens this Friday, July 25. At the film’s recent press junket, David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson got together to revisit the series, delve deep into the new movie, and look ahead to a possible third movie in 2012 to coincide with the end of the world on the Mayan calendar.

There’s a legion of fans who are anxious to return to Scully and Mulder’s world. How about you guys? Where you anxious to slip them back on again? How much arm twisting did it take?

GILLIAN ANDERSON: I wasn’t anxious.

DAVID DUCHOVNY: I wouldn’t say arm twisting.

ANDERSON: I think it was something – I’ll speak for myself – that I was interested in if it was something that was going to become an eventuality. I was on board for it. I was less active than I think David was in helping it come to fruition, but it was always something that I was enthusiastic about should it see the light of day.

DUCHOVNY: Yeah, you know, it seems like a long time. You know people are asking me, you know, 10 years, which is the last movie – but I think of it as 6 years since the show ended. And when you think about like a 9-year run for Gillian and Chris and then I think the burnout will take you at least 3 years to get over, honestly. And then you’re talking about trying to develop a movie – it’s really not that slow when you think about it. It’s actually kind of on the heels of what was possible given the amount of work we did on it over that decade.

ANDERSON: Good answer.

A lot of fans would say, “On the show, Mulder was always saving Scully…”

DUCHOVNY: Oh, that’s not true.

ANDERSON: No, I saved his life sometimes.

Well, certainly in the movie, though it’s a nice turn around.

ANDERSON: Did I save you? Okay, then didn’t I pass out and then you saved me?

DUCHOVNY: No, that’s the first movie.

ANDERSON: Oh, in this movie – oh, you’re talking about this movie. Oh, I forget you’re part of the new league of people.

DUCHOVNY: The only ones who can… we can speak to them. They know what we’re talking about.

ANDERSON: But you saved my life in the first movie, then you pass out. I’m sorry.

DUCHOVNY: I just saved your life in general. Spiritually, I saved it.

What surprised you most about the script when you got it?

DUCHOVNY: I thought I was kind of intrigued by the kernel of the idea that we wanted to keep secret for a long time, which Chris was protective of because he thought – not because he thinks – if you see the movie, if you know it before you see the movie that it’ll ruin the movie. But I think he was afraid that it was something that could be copied and get out there before our movie got out there, and that would take the wind out of our sails. So we effectively got around that. But it was that idea that I’m not talking about that was kind of fascinating and disgusting and horrifying and interesting. I’m speaking about me with my shirt off.

ANDERSON: And I was surprised by the relationship, I think. And how much a part of the mood of the whole film the relationship is. Somehow it’s, it’s just – it’s there. It’s almost another presence and it’s set up very early in the film. You get to witness very early on that the weight of the history, in a sense. And I feel like this script and also the film itself carries that with it. And it’s tangible, and I like that.

DUCHOVNY: And when you think about the kinds of movies that you might compare our movie to, you say it’s a thriller. You say it’s kind of a horror movie. You say it’s an intellectual – we’ll just say it’s an intellectual caper, whatever. But at the heart of it is this relationship between Mulder and Scully, which is like a real adult relationship; two people trying to figure out their relationship while they’re doing their job, which just happens to be a very heightened reality of a job, you know. And so if you think about any other movie, all other movies, like, in this genre, there’s never an actual relationship in them. There’s never actual – it’s usually a loner. If it’s a couple, it’s kind of rudimentary, you know, meet. So I think that what’s. . . no, not ‘m-e-a-t’.

ANDERSON: It’s either meet or meat.

DUCHOVNY: They meet and then meat. So then that’s what I find kind of interesting, and the balancing act that Chris was able to pull off is that while this horrifying stuff is going on, or interesting or thrilling stuff is going on, you’ve got these two people, not quite bickering but trying to figure out where they’re at, which is, I think, a potent combination.

What do you think it is about “The X Files” that six years after the series finale that people are anticipating more?

DUCHOVNY: I don’t know. I think we’re just lucky in a way. I think the characters were drawn as complimentary of one another so they kind of fit very well like puzzle pieces and became another entity. I know that people used to yell, “Scully” at me all the time. And I’m sure people yelled “Mulder” at Gillian. And we were kind of interchangeable in that way even though very distinct. So I think we’re kind of a romantic idea of a marriage of true minds, you know, of a real marriage even though we were never married. And I don’t know – did we ever have sex? I don’t know? Did we did? We did.

ANDERSON: Yes. I can’t believe you don’t remember. But also I think that because we weren’t married and we weren’t actually in a relationship. We also got to keep the respect for each other…

DUCHOVNY: Because you never respect the person you’re married to.

ANDERSON: You never do. You know what I mean? There was something different. It was like we were like a married couple and yet we saved each lives. We would do anything. We would stop a bullet for each other, which you don’t find in most marriages.

What’s the back story, were you pregnant in the show?

ANDERSON: Well, I actually forgot that I had a baby. When we started shooting somebody had to remind me.

DUCHOVNY: William.

ANDERSON: Yes, William. Yeah, apparently we gave him away.

DUCHOVNY: We had to give him away because as I recall there were forces that were going to take him and do horrible things to do him, so… Actually in the last episode when I came back, or right before the last episode, the one I directed, actually, yeah, Gillian gave him away; made a horrible choice, a “Sophie’s Choice” to give the baby away so that he could live. So he’s still out there and waiting for…

ANDERSON: … the next movie.

Did you guys have a chance to give input for this movie? What was your participation as far as scripting?

ANDERSON: None.

DUCHOVNY: None, really. I mean, my only involvement would have been in a discussion with Chris for – to throw my two cents in, that it should be a stand alone. It shouldn’t have anything to do with the alien mythology and show, really be a movie that somebody who’s never seen an ‘X File’ can enjoy. And Chris had already made that decision, so… that was really my only– my only point of view on it.

That said, how important are the tips of the hat to people who do know the mythology and can recite every line in every episode?

DUCHOVNY: I think it’s just like sprinkles on the top in this movie. You know there’s a bunch of kind of winks at the audience. And Chris was very kind of into, you know, having these winks. Not so much me because I always feel like that’s not part of the realism or the drama, you know. You don’t know we’re winking at anybody, but it’s something that fans, I think, enjoy. And I can’t remember any that are actually in it.

ANDERSON: Well, I think the impression was, you were saying yesterday, that the previous movie was winking. But in fact, it was mooning. You know, there was an attempt to hint at little areas of stuff that had to do with the mythology to get people involved enough who were previous fans but still attract people who weren’t. And it was actually much further in that balance than this one is by any stretch.

If there is another one – and supposedly 2012 is the year the world ends according to the Mayan calendar. Would you like to see a further film go back to the black oil and the aliens?

DUCHOVNY: Sure, I mean I think that’s like the bread and butter of the series, and it’s kind of a natural for 2012. And I think that’s what Chris and Frank are thinking of. Yeah, bring on the aliens.

Going back, it’s one thing to read the script. It’s another thing to be in front of the cameras that first day. Was it a little surreal?

DUCHOVNY: It felt like, in a way, I was there two weeks before Gillian just running my ass off and pulling a muscle. And none of it is in the film, which is fantastic.

ANDERSON: Is that – really?

DUCHOVNY: A little bit, you know, it’s just ridiculous. But then after, then we broke for Christmas and then came back and I started working with Gillian almost immediately, and, you know, in a weird way it felt like absolutely no time had past because we were in Vancouver. It was– it just seemed like we’d come back from summer hiatus or something, which was kind of terrifying sometimes to think about. But for me, in terms of getting back into the character it really was – when I started working with Gillian was when I started to discover Mulder again, for real instead of kind of faking it. I was running so it doesn’t matter how Mulder runs, really.

ANDERSON: But even for me, the first couple of days that I worked were, were in a particular scene with Billy Connolly and, you know, 6 years on and never addressing, you know, having an experience with that character before and jumping into some big emotions on the first day that have nothing to do with the grounding of the show, which is the relationship between Mulder and Scully was kind of hard and really disconcerting. And I felt like I had nothing to grab onto, that I was, I kept trying to hang my coat on something that felt familiar, and there wasn’t. It felt really odd. And it wasn’t, again, until, I think it was day 3 that we got to work together that I was kind of like, “Oh, I forgot. This is what it is.”

DUCHOVNY: It was a real relief.

You were talking about working with Billy Connolly whose sense of humor is so infectious. Were there moments between takes where that would come out?

DUCHOVNY: Oh, yeah. There were no moments when it didn’t.

ANDERSON: Well, just the few seconds when he was on camera.

DUCHOVNY: No he’s a really – he’s a really talented actor. And he goes back and forth very quickly, and, you know, he’s a restless mind and if he wants to talk… He doesn’t really want to entertain so much. He really wants to have a conversation, but wide ranging and odd and interesting, always.

In the interim you’ve obviously you’ve grown as people but presumably grown as actors, too. And I’m wondering were you able to bring experience to the roles now that you couldn’t back then?

DUCHOVNY: Oh, yeah. When I have the misfortune of catching one of the early shows, like from 1993 or something, and I see myself or that version of myself, I just think, “Thank God that I got the chance to continue to work and figure out what kind of an actor I am.” Because the guy that I see up there in ‘93 is just barely hanging on. And that gives it a certain kind of tension and earnestness and eagerness to please, which kind of works, but it was not intentional. It was just panic. So yes, I mean, now, 15 years on, it’s a whole different ball game, completely. It’s night and day the way that I work and the kind of things that I want to do. But still you have to honor the character and you can’t just change him. So it was interesting to have the same box and to fill it up with different stuff.

It seems like there was a rowboat scene at the end of credits. How did that come about?

ANDERSON: Not ours.

DUCHOVNY: Well, you know we were sitting in a tank in a lot in Vancouver.

ANDERSON: With a crew around us.

DUCHOVNY: And towards the tail end of winter, and I was shirtless, and Gillian was–

ANDERSON: –in a bikini.

DUCHOVNY: In a bikini, and it was really silly. But it was very important for Chris that that be. Because to him the movie is about the relationship that the final image be, you know, two people together alone on the wide open sea. And that’s his image of this relationship, you know.

You’ve said, “Vancouver is one of my favorite places.”

DUCHOVNY: Vancouver is one of my favorite places. Unfortunately, yeah, no one believes.

Can I ask you a couple of Hank Moody questions, cause “Californication” has become a real guilty pleasure. . .

DUCHOVNY: Don’t be guilty. Don’t be guilty.

How much of a reflection is it of the reality, or is it just pure satire?

DUCHOVNY: Well, it’s not satire so much as it’s really a character study. And it’s not, it’s our goal on the show is not realism. It’s, you know, we’re making a comedy, and that’s always what we’re trying to do. And we’re trying to make the comedy real, and we’re trying to make the real comic. So that’s always what we’re thinking about. It’s not really satire in that way. It’s really just an extreme character sketch of a guy who has no censor.

Gillian are you working on anything right now?

ANDERSON: Well, the first thing actually is How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, which is with Simon Pegg and Kirsten Dunst. And that’s about a book, or it’s an adaptation of a book by Toby Young about his experience as a writer at Vanity Fair, as a Brit writer at Vanity Fair and his inappropriateness in the world and also not having any censors. And Boogie Woogie is a satire about the art world. It takes place in London, and I think it’s very funny.

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May
08
2008

Los Angeles Times: David Duchovny, Mr. X-Files, says, 'God, what a great love affair'

May-08-2008
David Duchovny, Mr. X-Files, says, ‘God, what a great love affair’
Los Angeles Times
Geoff Boucher

[Original article here]

The actor is paired up and on the hunt again for aliens and freaky folk. But first (and unlike Mulder), he declares his feelings for his FBI partner.

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THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE: Of the movie’s plot, Duchovny, in true FBI style, says: “You can ask, but my job is to not answer.” (Karen Tapia-Andersen / Los Angeles Times)

THE CAST and crew of the upcoming “The X-Files: I Want to Believe” were just a few weeks into filming in Vancouver when Frank Spotnitz, the co-writer and co-producer with creator-director Chris Carter, called star David Duchovny over to a laptop computer to watch a fan-made video on YouTube. It was a montage of scenes from the old “X-Files” show set to Sarah McLachlan‘s forlorn “When She Loved Me.” ¶ “It was intensely romantic and it almost brought tears to my eyes,” Duchovny recalled. “It really did. And it reminded me that we have at the core of ‘The X-Files’ this very powerful relationship. We have to honor that and not shy away from the sentimentality of the fans or of the relationship itself. When we were doing the show, Gillian [Anderson] and I had got tired of it. And we wanted to be ourselves outside of it. I remember struggling. But now I think, ‘God, what a great love affair.’ ” ¶ Those are healing words for the intensely devoted fans of the television series that became a pop-culture phenomenon in the 1990s and made Duchovny’s Fox Mulder and Anderson’s Dana Scully a sort of Tracy and Hepburn, albeit with alien autopsies. The show debuted in 1992, peaked with audiences in its fifth season but ran out of gas in 2002. On July 25, the flashlights come out again and FBI agents Mulder and Scully will restart their spooky romantic tango.

The plot of the film has been intensely guarded and, sitting in a coffee shop in Santa Monica, Duchovny carefully sidestepped questions about the story cooked up by Carter and Spotnitz. “You can ask, but my job is to not answer,” said the lean 47-year-old who this year picked up a Golden Globe for his work in “Californication” on Showtime.

Duchovny did confirm that “I Want to Believe” will be in the tradition of the “stand-alone” episodes of the old series, meaning it’s not part of the long, complicated story arc concerning a shadow government and alien life; this will be more of a “horror and suspense movie, the creepy stuff as procedural,” that finds the agents more on Scooby-Doo duty rather than in Oliver Stone mode.

A good portion of the movie was filmed in Whistler, the alpine skiing hub in Canada’s Coast Mountains, and the intense snow on screen is both majestic and unsettling as the agents chase their mystery.

“It’s not a James Bond film,” Duchovny said with a wry smile. “We’re not chasing a guy on a snowboard. Not that that wouldn’t have been cool. But it’s not that. I’m lobbying already to make the next one in Hawaii. It’s not going so well. But the snow looks amazing. The flashlights in the snow look great.”

The franchise hit the silver screen in 1998 with “The X-Files: Fight the Future,” and a sequel was expected in 2001 but legal quarrels between Carter and 20th Century Fox delayed the process, and then script and scheduling issues hampered the process further. The film will acknowledge the time passage and even have a bit of fun with it, such as a scene early on in which Mulder and Scully, in a corridor at FBI headquarters, both glance purposely at the portrait of President Bush on the wall; the Clinton photographs from the 1990s are long gone.

“It’s not like other science-fiction shows where time is frozen or you’re in an unfamiliar world,” he said. “You’ve got to make these actual people who have aged and changed. For me, I thought I could kind of slip back into the character pretty easily, but early on in filming I found myself wondering whether I had done enough work. It was more of a challenge than I expected.”

What helped? “Working with Gillian again and that rhythm between us, that was probably the easiest thing and very helpful for me. It was key for me to get back to Mulder and nice we didn’t have to kind of play it up or emphasize it or exaggerate it. I really didn’t do any research, per se. I have seen the show over the past six years. Usually when I can’t sleep and I turn on the TV and it’s there. I do watch it for a few minutes and it’s nice now. It’s like home movies. But with autopsies.”

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Apr
16
2008

Shock Till You Drop: Interview: The X-Files' David Duchovny

Apr-16-2008
Interview: The X-Files‘ David Duchovny
Shock Till You Drop
Ryan Rotten

[Original article here]

ShockTillYouDrop.com spoke to David Duchovny on the set of Fox’s new X-Files sequel, opening in theaters on July 25th.

ShockTillYouDrop: So much about the plot is being kept in the dark, so what can you tell us about some of the themes of the film?
David Duchovny: I think the reasoning behind being mum about what’s going on the film, at least for Chris, is to give the audience an experience of surprise which is so hard to do with trailers. Having said that, the themes are the same as the show [which were] belief and faith and the relationship between Mulder and Scully and how that develops over the past four or five years the show has been off the air. As if they’ve been living, as we’ve all been living – they’re not stuck in time. They’ve moved on in some fictional realm as we all have, yet their issues remain the same.

Shock: How has the X-Files changed now that the world has changed?
Duchovny: Has the world completely changed? People say the world changes all of the time, yet human nature remains the same, good stories are good stories and people are going to see them. I don’t think people go to movies because of what’s going on in the world. They go usually to escape what’s going on in the world and that always remains the same. I think what changes is the size of our cell phones.

Shock: Why is now the right time for you to make this movie?
Duchovny: I don’t know. I always felt, at any time, it would’ve been fine, whenever Chris was ready to come up with a script, when his burnout was over. As actors, our burnout was probably a little shorter than his – I think he carried a heavier load, producing, writing and directing. I know it took me about a year to feel whole after the show was over. After that point, it was always my intention and desire that the show would continue on in movie form. It was never my intention, when I left the television series, to sabotage the show in any way. Yes, we’ve done all we can on television, let’s take this into movies like we always said we would. I wouldn’t see any reason to do X-Files unless it [was carried into film]. It’s a serial show by its nature. The frame and the characters throw off an infinite number of stories and situations. It’s a classic, archetypal relationship between a believer and a non-believer with this unrequited love in the middle of it. That all works and it can work forever as long as your stories are good.

Shock: How excited were you to slip back into the Mulder persona after all of these years?
Duchovny: I was very excited to do it, then as the date to do it approached I started to wonder if I needed to work more. To get back into that. So, there was a certain amount of fear, because maybe I haven’t changed… I think what happened was that my facility, my range or interests might’ve changed, so this character might’ve represented a narrower box than I’ve been working in the last four or five years since I left. I had to bring what I’ve learned the last four or five years into this box. Last night, they have internet access here, and somebody pulled up one of these homages to the show with this romantic song [cut to] all of these kisses between Gillian and I. That was actually really helpful to feel the show again, because it was this overview and very romantic. It was like, Oh, I can watch that, and it would help me get into work. Whoever put that together, I thank them.

Shock: In the past you’ve had input in some of the X-Files scripts, have you contributed anything here?
Duchovny: Not in the initial conception or first writing of it, hardly at all because we signed off on the script right as the [WGA] strike happened. We had discussions about particular scenes and things we might try when we get there but it’s a tightly-plotted thriller. In essence, if you have a tightly-plotted thriller there’s not a lot of rewriting that should be done. The story drives forward. If you f**k around in the scenes you’re not going to drive the story forward. It’s not a form that tolerates improvisation and it was well enough put together when it was presented to me and Gillian, I thought there was nothing to add in that way.

Shock: This film reportedly delves into the realm of the supernatural, was it a relief to find that the story breaks away from the classic mythology involving aliens, etc.?
Duchovny: I like the mythology stuff, I always liked it more when we were doing the show because it usually gave Mulder an emotional stake through his sister – he was personally involved in the episodes. That was a relief and more fun as an actor to approach that during the yearly grind of the show. I could understand it, chew it up a little bit rather than being just a Law & Order procedural. So, in a way, I think I had an opposite reaction, I wish this [movie] was more about me. [laughs] But in effect, it’s more about the show and about establishing the parameters of the show for those who don’t know it, for those who’ve forgotten and even for those who love it – they’ll get that part as well. If there is [another film] and I hope there is, I think we would get into a story where more of the mythology [comes in], because that’s the heart of the show.

Shock: If there is another X-Files film, how interested would you be in taking the helm of that?
Duchovny: I’d be interested, but it’s not in my wheelhouse to direct a big action film like this. I would feel out of my element which is probably a good thing. I wouldn’t offer it to me. I might try to get it, I don’t know. No, I think I’d stay away from this. I might try to direct an action film, but I don’t think it’d be wise trying to direct myself in an action film or to screw around with this franchise. I feel like there are other opportunities to direct and I have other interests. If it was my only way into directing, then I might. It’d be fun and great but there are better people for it.

Shock: A lot of actors on hit television shows run the risk of, and fear, being typecast, but obviously you feel comfortable now playing Mulder.
Duchovny: I gave up a while ago worrying about the whole phenomenon of typecasting once I realized it happens across the board. It doesn’t just happen in terms of television shows. Some comedy actors get trapped in there, some dramatic actors can’t do comedy. Even movie actors who have long careers have two or three roles that they get stopped for unless you’re Brando. So, I don’t worry about that. What overcomes that is my sense of love for the show and belief in the show’s legitimacy as an interesting movie franchise with a lot to offer – the thriller aspect, the horror aspect but also the intelligence. All of those things make it a very fertile area to move on in.

Shock: Why do you think people love your character?
Duchovny: Isn’t that for you to answer? [laughs] Why I love Mulder, first and foremost, was always the truth and the case – yet he wasn’t so single-minded that it was kind of a drag, which that character could’ve been. I always liked that he was so narrow-minded in his pursuit. I think that’s attractive, I think people respect that in somebody and they yearn for a quest. He’s a guy on a quest and he always will be.

Shock: At this point in the game, has your working relationship with Gillian changed much from the series?
Duchovny: Yeah, it’s probably different in that we’re not exhausted all of the time. We’re excited to come and do what we think is the heart of the relationship. So, we’ll do these scenes that are action-oriented with Billy Connelly but then we come back to scenes like the one we’re doing today – and this is where the heart is, where the movie is. Then we have to trust each other to hold each other up in these scenes and bring back whatever was there.

Shock: Is there still a sense of discovery in this journey or is it business as usual with you and Gillian back in the groove?
Duchovny: I think there’s a real sense that we don’t want to cash in on the past. We all want to do something new, we don’t want to throw a piece of crap out there for people to go look at for nostalgia’s sake. I wonder and worry, how did [Mulder] change in the last five years? When I started, there was a certain boyishness to the guy I don’t feel I can play anymore physically. Like Mel Gibson’s Hamlet, yeah it was a good performance but the guy was twenty years too old. There are certain things energy-wise. How has he grown up? Remaining the same, how do you ease him into a different stage in his life? That’s a creative endeavor, certainly with Chris, directing a big movie like this which is different from anything he has done.

Shock: Has your dialogue with Chris changed much?
Duchovny: Oh yeah, I have ways I like to work and he has ways he likes to work and they’re not always the same. With respect, and privately, we deal with it. That’s a matter of getting older, too, and of being a professional. It happens privately. And it’s not a big deal, it’s like telling a lover, That finger there, that wasn’t great. [laughs] I know a lot of people like it, but me personally, that’s not me, just so you know. I know how I like to work now, I know how I like the director’s hands on me.

Shock: Does this film strike a balance between the shout-outs to the series and new stuff for those who have never seen the show?
Duchovny: I’m not a fan of the shout-outs, but in this they’re small, like Where’s Waldo? things. I think this movie is actually more accessible to the non-fan in terms of story and everything else. In terms of this water bottle maybe having the name of one of our producers on it, this movie probably has a ton of those things, but I’m not even paying attention. Sometimes I’ll see them and go, That’s stupid. [laughs] But there’s a lot of that going on and it’s fun for people.

Shock: There was some exhaustion on the fanbase’s behalf as the series entered its final seasons, do you think the film will lure them back?
Duchovny: I don’t know. You know there were nine years of one-hours. I can’t think of another show that did that with the same cast, although I wasn’t in most of the ninth year. You look at any drama, any long-running drama, and they don’t run that long normally. So, the exhaustion is mutual. [laughs] But I would think in the good will of trying to tell new stories you ultimately reach further in all directions. Probably by the seventh or eight years, the writers were forced to reach and I think there are fans who sit on that moment and wait for that sign of creative bankruptcy which has to come, naturally. A show like this is idea-driven, it’s not like, Oh, we’ve got good jokes, you’ll watch. It’s not like a sitcom that can run twelve years. If they were exhausted, and they fell in love with the show for the characters and the premise, for the execution and the writing, then that’s what we’re back to. This is more of a story we would have told in season three or four.

Shock: How scary does this movie get? When those early seasons you refer to went for scary, they were scary…
Duchovny: It gets scary. It’s pretty dark, there’s some nasty stuff going on. In a way you could do more on TV. Some of those TV shows were getting close to an R, but I know the mission is to make a PG-13 film. It’s more of the ideas behind it. What is Saw, rated R?

Shock: Yeah.
Duchovny: That should be X. This movie has some danger in there. Twisted, weird – there’s no torture. To me Saw doesn’t have a point, it’s some guy teaching people a lesson, through torture. X-Files was never about the nasty stuff, but hopefully there was a story with a purpose. We’ll torture for a reason, like the American government. [laughs]

Shock: I’m just curious if the film leans into my favorite episode which was Home.
Duchovny: There’s some of that, but I don’t know how much of that you’ll see, but it’s in the story. You’ll come away with, Wow, that’s what you were doing? Home is probably the most controversial show we ever made and it was pulled out of rotation and yet it’s one of maybe four or five shows somebody always brings up. Obviously, people have enjoyed that part of the show also.

Shock: There’s always been a place for humor with Mulder’s dry wit. Does the new film feature any laughs?
Duchovny: There’s a place for it, I was always looking for a place in the TV show and it’s an essential part of the character so I certainly always look for those moments. We’ve done them here, but whether or not they stay in the film, it’s always a matter of juggling the tone. In the show, it was, Is Mulder going to deflate the danger of the scene? In my opinion, it never did, but Chris and the writers and producers have different ideas, so I don’t know. I like to have some funny stuff in there.

Shock: When old episodes of the show come on, do you watch them or flee?
Duchovny: I don’t flee. I don’t seek them out. I’m not an appointment television watcher. I’m a child of the ’70s television watcher which is, I sit down in front of it and if something is on I’ll watch it, so I’m sometimes open to watching an X-Files if I’m flipping around. I don’t TiVo, I’m not silly that way. If something comes on, if I’m in bed with [wife] Téa, and we’re just going to sleep watching ten minutes of TV we’ll watch a bit.

Shock: Do you know of any major DVD extras that are planned for this film’s release?
Duchovny: Yes, a lot because I think there’s a lot of extra gore. We’re not just shooting a PG-13 version.

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Jul
17
2007

TV.com: X-Files movie sequel still in works

Jul-17-2007
X-Files movie sequel still in works
TV.com
Tim Surette

[Original article]

Conspiracy theorists’ ears perked up yesterday, as a few remarks from former X-Files star David Duchovny led them closer to the truth–the truth about a new X-Files movie.

On hand at the Television Critics Association press tour to promote his upcoming series Californication, Duchovny told members of the press that he was due to see a script for the movie next week.

“I’m actually supposed to see [the script] next week,” Duchovny said, according to E! Online. “Before I would just say that because [executives] told me [to say that].”

Duchovny also said that his X-Files co-star Gillian Anderson and series creator Chris Carter were on board for the film. The movie would be based on a script from Carter and series writer Frank Spotnitz, with Carter attached to direct. Production could start as early as November, pegging the movie for a summertime 2008 release, according to Duchovny.

The X-Files ran from 1993 to 2002, and followed paranormal FBI investigators Fox Mulder (Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Anderson) as they worked their way through a web of conspiracies, aliens, and other spooky situations. A movie based on the show was released in 1998 to mediocre reviews and managed to rake in almost $200 million worldwide.

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Apr
16
2004

TeenHollywood: David Duchovny: He's Funny! Honest

Apr-16-2004
David Duchovny: He’s Funny! Honest
TeenHollywood
Lynn Barker

[Original article here]

He’ll always be known as Agent Mulder from “The X-Files” but actor David Duchovny is so much more. He’s very funny, which Mulder rarely was, he gestures when he talks and he is more interested in comedy timing than UFO’s.

In the new comedy film Connie and Carla, David plays Jeff, a really nice guy who falls for Nia Vardalos…in drag. Being a straight man, Jeff wonders why he’s so attracted to this drag queen. In casual blue tee and matching long-sleeved shirt, the actor buzzed in to our interview room at the Regent Beverly Wilshire hotel in Beverly Hills (where Pretty Woman was shot) and was willing to answer all questions, including those about another possible “X-Files” movie, his on-set pranks and his previous experience with being in drag.

TeenHollywood: Is this character Jeff similar to you? Or, having played a guy in drag, did you give advice to Nia and Toni?

David: I suppose Jeff is similar, but in my history, from “Twin Peaks”, I’m the one usually wearing the dress which is what I would’ve preferred, but they wouldn’t let me. It’s been 15 years since I did that and my a** isn’t as good as it used to be. There were real drag queens in this movie though. I’m just a dilettante, a dabbler. I’d done it and really enjoyed doing the character and thought I was decent at it. But these guys, they were real performers. I wanted to show them, I wanted the chance to dress up and dance and sing, but they wouldn’t let me.

TeenHollywood: Not even between takes?

David: Well, it’s really hard to all of a sudden bust out in a dress and a wig. It’s not something you can do, ‘just give me 30 seconds and I’ll come back with my own drag name’. No, it didn’t happen, but maybe if there’s a sequel, Connie and Carla and That Guy.

TeenHollywood: How did you get that famous “Twin Peaks” cross dresser role anyway?

David: That part was written for James Spader who knew the producers of “Twin Peaks”. And he, for some reason, had to drop out and they were desperately trying to cast the role and I think I came in on a Friday with an emery board. That was my big deal. That’s all. That’s what I did during the audition and it worked. I just remembered thinking ‘oh my God, I’ve never been in a dress or shaved my legs and now I’ve got to go do this on Monday’. And I had no idea what I was doing. I was thinking why, aside from sexual preference or liking to wear a dress, would a man want to be a woman? And I just felt well, you get to be more spontaneous and open and friendly. That’s kind of the approach I took. A very innocent, friendly kind of point of view.

TeenHollywood: Did you look hot?

David: (laughs) Not good. I had good legs, but as Bill Murray said in Tootsie, “Don’t play hard to get.” That’s probably what I would be told. (note: Hey, we saw him in drag on that show and he was cute!)

TeenHollywood: Talk about what attracted you to this role in Connie and Carla? There’s a nice relationship between Jeff and his cross-dressing brother in the movie.

David: I saw the fun kind of Cyrano part of falling in love with a woman that you think is a man, the Shakespeare in Love part and I thought that was a fun and classic comedy set up in a way, but on top of that or below that was this relationship with the brother… and I thought that was really interesting. One of the difficult things in trying to do the performance was to strike a tone in the movie and in the performances that could withstand both the wacky comedy aspect but also a very real kind of family situation and two brothers coming together.

TeenHollywood: Did you go try out for the role?

David: Well, we had to meet in the middle somewhere. They came to me to express interest but I think that there is always this thing where they wonder too if I was funny. They thought I might be funny, but they wanted to see me be funny. So I went and I was really funny. Then we did the movie. And I just look at auditioning as rehearsal, because there’s so little rehearsal that we get to do in movies. They spend millions of dollars and then the first time these actors are saying the words to one another is on film, and it’s ridiculous.

TeenHollywood: We hear you are famous for on-set pranks. Did you pull any pranks on this set?

David: I seem to remember that I gave Nia a Polaroid of my a**. I can’t remember why, or how I took it. Because when you do it in the mirror, it flashes out and you don’t get anything, because I’ve tried that 100 times. When I’d gotten to my trailer, they had already been up for like two weeks working and Nia had done something to my trailer, something bad. I can’t remember what it was but I had to avenge it. I saran wrapped her toilet seat at one point. You know that trick? It seems clear and it’s not and then you, you know. But she never said anything about that which leads me to believe- – well, we all know she doesn’t have to go. She’s perfect.

TeenHollywood: Okay, here come the “X-Files”questions. Do you still have to box your way out of being typecast?

David: For sure. I’m always joking with my manager about how people always say to me, “I didn’t know you were funny.” It’s just part of the baggage of being on a show that was that big. It doesn’t make any sense to run from it or deny it. It just is what it is, I’m proud of “The X Files”, I’m happy that it made so much happen for me as a person, as an actor. I wouldn’t want it any other way, but it also brings these other barriers. If you look at it the right way, it can be fun to overcome because you can surprise people.

TeenHollywood: Will there be another “X-Files” movie?

David: I think it definitely will happen. Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz are busy at work. They have an idea which they like and they keep threatening to tell me. I wish they would. They’re going to tell me soon. They’re just setting about writing it now, so we’ll be doing it in the next year.

TeenHollywood: How will the character develop?

David: I don’t know if Mulder should develop. I mean, Mulder is Mulder. That’s one of the things I learned fighting for the last three or four years on the show trying to change the guy or give him a French accent one day. The nature of the character and what I eventually learned to love about him is he’s set. He’s set and he’s a great character. So the great thing about Mulder is we know what he’s going to do and we know what he likes and what he loves and what he hates. We’re just going to play with that I’m sure.

TeenHollywood: Will the film start where the series left off?

David: I don’t know. My feeling about the second “X Files” movie was, since it’s going to come after the show is not running anymore, is that it had to be like a stand alone show with a really great part for a guest star, another actor who’s not part of the show. So apparently, that’s what Chris and Frank have is a great X-File idea with another actor or actress who can really score in a really great thriller/sci-fi role, so I hope that takes the show towards the fans but also towards new fans. And Mulder will wear a dress of course.

TeenHollywood: We’d pay to see that. Would you star in something opposite your wife Tea?

David: Tea and I have chemistry, obviously I think we do in life, but sometimes that’s a very sacred thing. We’re married and we consider our chemistry sacred. So in a way, if we were to act, it might feel weird exhibiting this sacred chemistry and in a way, we might be more inhibited as performers with one another than we are as people with one another, or it could be great, I don’t know. But it’s my feeling that I would feel a little more inhibited showing people what I feel about this woman because I feel like that’s my business. Whereas I can fake showing how I feel about any other woman. That’s my show business. That was well put, come on.

TeenHollywood: Connie and Carla are great musical theater lovers. Are you?

David: I can’t stand it. No, I kept saying I could dance as long as you don’t tell me I’m supposed to be dancing. I never was a big fan of musical theater. When we all did the big table read before we were going to start shooting, Nia and Toni had all these song cues and they had the actual song arrangements down and they sang. And at first, I thought, “Oh my God, this is going to take forever.” And it did. But, I kept turning to Nia and I go, “That’s a really good tune.” And she was just laughing at me because it was all these really famous tunes that I was hearing for the first time and I was like ‘That’s from “Cats”? Really? If I had to sit through three hours to hear that one tune, I wouldn’t do it but the good thing about this movie is it seems like they had all of the good tunes put together. It’s fun.

***

Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter.

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