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Mar
27
2001

People.com: Interview with Chris Carter

Mar-27-2001
People.com
Interview with Chris Carter
Andrew Emmett

X-Files Creator Turns to Light Side

In a room at New York City’s FOX building, Chris Carter, arguably one of the most recognized and prolific producers in television, is sitting back, relaxed and ready to talk. Outside, snow is falling, but Los Angeles native Carter, 44, dressed in a bright-yellow polo shirt and jeans, looks ready for the beach. With piercing blue eyes, shoulder-length blond hair and an ever-present smile, he is surprisingly sunny for a man who has created some of TV’s darker images.

But the truth is, this is the man who had his first job writing for Surfing magazine, and still brings a board to work at The X-Files. “I think it’s interesting that he still surfs,” actress Gillian Anderson, who plays the once-sceptical Agent Scully, comments later in a phone interview. “He’s usually here [at the X-Files set] quite early and leaves quite late. He’s constantly writing and re-writing, yet still comes to work with a surfboard on his car.”

He’s a prototypical surfer dude

Carter was 12 when he began surfing. He and his younger brother Craig, 39, now a professor of physics at MIT, grew up in the middle-class L.A. suburb of Bellflower, Calif., (father William, a construction worker, and mother Catherine, a housewife, are both deceased). After graduating from California State University in Long Beach with a degree in journalism, he got his dream job — Surfing magazine, where he led an idyllic life surfing and writing.

It wasn’t until 1982 when he met Dori Pierson, now 52, a screenwriter, that Carter thought seriously about becoming a writer. Pierson influenced more than his career choice: The two were married in 1987. They live in Pacific Palisades, Calif., not far from the L.A. set of The X-Files. After a few years writing for Disney, Carter signed a deal with FOX in 1992 to create new projects for the network. His first project became The X-Files, the show that catapulted him to superstar producer status, became a film and turned actor David Duchovny into a household word. It’s now in its eighth seaon on FOX.

Now Carter’s in town to talk about his new show, The Lone Gunmen, a comedy spinoff from The X-Files.

“[The three heroes are] loveable geeks, passionate about their operation, which is this little magazine they publish each week that takes on the stories that nobody else believes in or wants to handle,” he explains. So far it sounds similar to the FBI agents of The X-Files, who investigate mysterious cases. But this time Carter has lost the darkness of X-Files and his other series, the shorter-lived Millennium and Harsh Realm. “It’s a comedy with some well-placed heart,” he says. “I think for us it’s just a good storytelling vehicle.”

Godfather for Gillian Anderson’s daughter

A friendly man, Carter enjoys close relationships with the people he works with. He’s the godfather to Gillian Anderson’s daughter, Piper, 6. Anderson says he is “incredibly supportive, incredibly inquisitive and a wonderful storyteller.” Asked if he is a typical “Hollywood type,” she laughs and says, “I think he aspires to be in a sense, but I think it’s distasteful to him at the same time.”

Carter says his relationship with Duchovny is also smooth, despite the suit the actor filed in 1999 against Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. (which produces The X-Files) which basically claimed that he was being cheated out of millions in series-related profits. More to the point, Duchovny’s suit alleged that the studio had paid Carter a substantial amount of money to remain silent on the issue.

“I think we have gotten past the misunderstanding, which is what it was, it was where it was really a result of vertical integration of business and friendship getting confused,” says Carter today. “I think that’s now been sorted out.”

For now Carter says he’s happy to be working with the FOX network. “I’ve done good by them and they by me.” His contract calls for him to produce one more series. “More dramatic than The Lone Gunmen,” he adds. When viewers can expect to see it will all depend on what happens with The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen. Right now Carter and his production company, Ten Thirteen, which is named for what he considers his lucky numbers (it’s his birthday, 10/13) “have more work than four men can handle.”

But there’s still time for the four men — or at least Carter — to catch a couple of big waves.

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Mar
16
2001

Charlie Rose

Mar-06-2001
Charlie Rose

Charlie: In 1993, Chris Carter created a television show that quickly turned into a pop culture phenomenon. The X-Files has drawn millions of devoted fans, an intense internet following, and inspired a hit film. The show launched its two stars, David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson, to stardom. It also made Chris Carter one of the most powerful television producers in Hollywood.

[clip from XF pilot of Mulder and Scully meeting]

Charlie: Now in its eighth season, The X-Files remains Fox’ highest-rated drama and a linchpin for the network. It has inspired a new Fox spinoff series called The Lone Gunmen. Chris Carter is the creator and executive producer of both shows and I’m pleased to have him here for the very first time. Welcome.

Chris: Thank you.

Charlie: Good to have you here.

Chris: Thank you very much.

Charlie: Why X-Files? Do you know? I mean, why do you think it just connected?

Chris: It, well —

Charlie: I mean, the obvious stuff, like good writing and good acting, and all that.

Chris: Right. That’s the simple and complicated formula.

Charlie: Yeah.

Chris: I think it was maybe a show that was of its time. It, uh — I think it represented a certain amount of, sort of, growing paranoia. Technology was sort of taking off, the internet was taking off, we were feeling a little alienated, as technology tends to do. And, uh, without those cell phones I don’t think I could have told these shows, actually. So I think it was — I think it was sort of a mood, sort of a pervasive mood in the country that sort of wanted something like this, and there is nothing scary on TV, which is really the reason I even came up with The X-Files.

Charlie: ‘Cause there was nothing scary on TV?

Chris: Nothing scary on television. When I was a kid there was a show on called The Night Stalker — and I’ve told this story now how many times. It starred Darren McGavin and it was great. It was actually written by this man Matheson, who’s so famous for writing great Twilight Zones and so much other great science fiction, and originally written by Jeff Rice, and it was the scariest thing I’d ever seen in my life and I could have watched it every night of the week. And I was 13 or 14 at the time, and I carried that with me and finally I had a chance after having worked in the industry for a few years to do what I wanted to do, and this was the first thing I — this was the first idea I really got to bring to the screen.

Charlie: So the idea for X-Files comes from The Night Stalker. In a sense, there’s a link.

Chris: Yes. Richard Matheson’s original screenplay about these vampires. There was this character, Carl Kolchak. He would go out — he was a newspaper reporter — no one would believe him. He’d go out and find all these wonderful things. And he was the believer, kind of like Mulder, and I’m sure it was the inspiration for that character.

Charlie: Did you have some sense, I mean, this is what turns you — this is what you like and so therefore this is what you want to make?

Chris: Right. Yes, exactly. These are the kinds of stories I like to watch.

Charlie: Okay. Now, what’s the shared characteristic of the people who like these kinds of things?

Chris: Um, I don’t know… First of all, it’s just good storytelling. It’s good mysteries unraveling in sort of unpredictable ways, but it’s two characters. It’s a point/counterpoint. It’s a believer and a skeptic taking these stories through. And the stories actually are based on a tremendous amount of good, hard science. We’re very careful to make the science good on the show.

Charlie: Where do you get that?

Chris: We have science advisors. We go to various and sundry people. Well, actually, the interesting thing I found out about science is that we’ve been taken to task a few times about the science on the show and what’s interesting is that you’ll find that scientists also have different — science is very subjective about what is accurate, what is not accurate. So science itself has a certain science fiction quality.

Charlie: Now, your role is executive producer and creator.

Chris: Yes.

Charlie: But does that mean — I mean, are you an executive producer in the same way that David Kelley is an executive producer, in that everything — every page, every line, every everything — comes through you?

Chris: Uh, no, but a tremendous amount of it comes from me, for eight years now.

Charlie: Is it as challenging and interesting as it was Day 1?

Chris: It’s actually harder in some ways. When you deal with this subject matter, which is — it sort of skirts or tends to cross several different lines into horror and science fiction and mystery and thriller, you tend to mine the easy ore, if you will, very quickly and the subject matter gets harder to come by. Actually, I think the show gets better but the show does get harder, and you are dealing with essentially two characters until this year and you need to take those characters through personal experiences, so when you get to 180 hours of the show, which is where we are now, that tends to — you’ve mined a lot of the experiences and you’ve developed those characters in pretty complete ways.

Charlie: Someone said to me the other day that they thought the relationship had changed, I mean, that it’s different.

Chris: Oh, it definitely is. Well, what’s happened this year is, for seven years we told these stories with a believer and a skeptic, Mulder and Scully —

Charlie: Right.

Chris: And what’s happened this year is that David Duchovny has opted to stay out of half of the episodes, so we had to create a reason for his absence and make him a kind of absent center.

Charlie: So, she’s the center now.

Chris: She’s the center and she is sort of moved from the skeptic to the believer, a reluctant believer — and these are over-simplifications of the characters — but we’ve brought in a new character who plays the sort of knee-jerk skeptic, played by Robert Patrick.

Charlie: Is that who we just saw?

Chris: That is not. That is actually — those characters were the — that was the Pilot episode, that was the original Mulder and Scully. They look so young there I almost don’t recognize them.

Charlie: Exactly.

Chris: We were all young then.

Charlie: Now, why is David not here?

Chris: You know, I think he decided —

Charlie: Busy with other things?

Chris: Yeah. To pursue other things. He’s a smart person, he’s a talented person. I don’t blame him for wanting to get on with his life. A TV series is very, very hard work and when you have a two-character show like this it tends to — it becomes your life, and I think that he wants a change of pace.

Charlie: Was it disappointing for you?

Chris: It was different. When he first —

Charlie: Were you hurt?

Chris: Uh … it’s funny, when a television show goes on for this many years and you’re close to the actors, you become a kind of family. And every family has its problems and its — and it becomes — the dysfunctional aspects come out and that’s not to say that they did, but what happens with a television show, the dysfunction is really — the business and the personal cross over and I think that’s what happened, certainly last year, is that those things got very confused.

Charlie: Okay. Roll tape. This is a scene from the new show — well, before I roll tape, let me just talk about it. So, why’d we get The Lone Gunmen? Where did that come from?

Chris: The Lone Gunmen are three computer geeks who have been on the series from the beginning — or the first season. They were comic relief and now we’re trying to give them a comedy show of their own.

Charlie: (laughs) All right, now, let me just get this, Chris. So you had these three geeks and you just … Did they — Was it just a natural or did you look at your hit show and say, “I got to figure out a way to have a spinoff here and this is the best thing I have going, right over here”?

Chris: The last thing I ever want to do is, like, just do something because it seems like a way to make money or an obvious idea. We’re really trying to expand our base of operations here and do something completely different, as we always do. And The Lone Gunmen is a comedy, and we’ve never done comedy in the ten years I’ve been at Fox doing, you know, these kinds of shows. This is a real change for us and it’s really a lot of fun.

Charlie: Do you want to do comedy?

Chris: Yeah, that’s where I began, so, uh …

Charlie: All right. Roll tape. This is a scene from The Lone Gunmen. We’ll talk more about it. Here it is.

[clip from the Pilot of the approach to the World Trade Center, ending prior to the climax]

Charlie: Okay, so what makes this compelling for you as the creator?

Chris: Well, this is a great action sequence, it’s a great special effects sequence, which is what we do so well on television and a lot of shows don’t do. It’s what makes The X-Files different.

Charlie: Right, right, right.

Chris: But it’s these three geeks, these three computer geeks basically foiling terrorists trying to destroy the World Trade Center, and they do it in a funny way and it’s what makes The X-Files good and it’s what is going to make The Lone Gunmen good, which is that the stories are very believable but they’re outrageous.

Charlie: Are you as confident of The Lone Gunmen as you were of The X-Files?

Chris: Well, you know, you’re never that confident because it’s a business of failure. Most things fail, and you have to get people to come watch it, and you’ve got to make sure that it’s working and shows need to develop, they need time to develop. Right now I can tell you that we’re doing all the things right that we do right on The X-Files. It’s really just a matter of the audience investing in these characters and liking what we do and liking the brand of comedy.

Charlie: I think everybody wants to know the answer to this, including me. “Trust No One” came from where?

Chris: From me.

Charlie: From your head?

Chris: Yes. Actually, when you … I came up with it and all of a sudden when you start reading literature, Shakespeare said it in different ways. It is a very common sort of mantra out there, but it seemed to sort of perfectly symbolize the show.

Charlie: And “The Truth Is Out There” came from…?

Chris: That came from me, too.

Charlie: From your head?

Chris: Exactly. Those opening titles really needed a button, and because I’m a writer first, language is always very important to me, and so all the shows that I’ve done really have had that kind of language, that sort of textual approach to the material. Charlie: You’re a writer first?

Chris: Yes.

Charlie: Isn’t that a cry to make a film, a feature film for you?

Chris: It is, but I mean —

Charlie: You have no time.

Chris: At the same time I have no time because I have a television job. Two television jobs now. Uh, it is, and the truth is there are movies out there — The Insider, I loved that movie. I thought it was a great movie and I’d love to make a movie like that. It wasn’t a popular movie. It was a critically-acclaimed movie but not a popular movie. So —

Charlie: Yeah. I’ve actually talked to Mike about that, Michael Mann. I mean, he thinks it may have had — when it was released, the whole series of factors that affected it.

Chris: Yeah. Well, I mean, he did a beautiful job. I can watch that movie over and over and I think that’s —

Charlie: What is it about that movie that appeals to you?

Chris: I love the character. I love the approach to the material. I love the storytelling.

Charlie: You love the producer character rather than the Wallace character or anybody else?

Chris: No, no. I mean, I love both of those characters. I love the Russell Crowe character, too. It’s a very sympathetic character who sacrifices so much for something he believes in. You know, it’s an American tragedy of sorts, but it’s a cautionary tale at the same time.

Charlie: But why aren’t you making — if you feel that there’s such a void, why aren’t you making — not that television isn’t great. I happen to think that there are more interesting things on television than feature films being made, personally —

Chris: Mm-hmm.

Charlie: When you look at the full spectrum of television.

Chris: I think you’re probably right.

Charlie: And more — and real opportunities now because HBO and Showtime, they’re all getting into, in a sense, making films, and I think you and I just saw a young man who just made a film called George Washington, who was on this show. I mean, there’s a young — I mean, he’ll be able to make feature films, I’m sure, but, boy, I’d be thrilled if he were making that kind of film also for television. And there have got to be other kids like him.

Chris: And it’s a matter of commercial success. You only get another chance if you do it well. But that’s true to an extent: I think smart people recognize talent and will take somebody —

Charlie: And not only recognize it, they just relish it, I think. Don’t you?

Chris: Oh, sure. I mean, everybody — it’s so hard to come by. The real good filmmakers are few and far between, I think.

Charlie: Are you doing everything you want to do? You.

Chris: Uhh … no. [chuckles]

Charlie: Tell me what you hunger to do, in terms of a kind of complete life.

Chris: Um … well, it’s funny. I tend to — I look back at my life and I tend to want to master things and I tend to want to — In a way, I’ve mastered the television format, although you never master it really because it’s so hard to keep hold of. But I began as a writer, so I would love to write a novel, and I have one in mind that I’ve wanted to write for so long, so if this writers’ strike happens that’s probably what I will do.

Charlie: So the reason you haven’t written this novel is because you haven’t had time to write it.

Chris: It’s really a matter of time.

Charlie: Now, what does it say to you if I would say, “Chris, you haven’t written the novel because you didn’t want to write the novel bad enough”?

Chris: Uh … You’re probably right. It’s probably some fear.

Charlie: I mean, if it was dying to get out, it would get out, right?

Chris: Um, I think that’s true to an extent, but television schedules are such that you are consumed by them. It is a … I liken it to stoking the fire in a runaway train every day.

Charlie: You gotta keep it up.

Chris: Yes.

Charlie: The casting of X-Files … was that easy for you? Did you have some instinct that these two were just perfect and they would have a kind of Moonlighting chemistry?

Chris: Yeah, I mean, I did, but, you know, the chem– the scene that showed, that was the first time I’d ever seen these two people act together and it was the first day of shooting on this show that I’ve been working on for over nine years now. You don’t know that chemistry is — that’s the magic, that’s what you cannot manufacture. And so when these people walk into this room and began acting together, you see something that you can only hope for, which is that thing that will elevate —

Charlie: You had never seen them together?

Chris: I had never seen them act together. They had auditioned separately.

Charlie: Not in rehearsal, not anywhere?

Chris: Not in anything — that’s not true, I’d actually seen them in a room once, but it was really in a very nervous room about, you know, “are we going to go forward with these two people?” And he was a very easy choice and she was a less-easy choice. No one knew of her, she looked much different than she looks now. She was disheveled. She had actually just moved from New York to California. She looked like an urchin. But she had a quality, she had a gravity and a bearing and a seriousness about her as a young woman that could make her believable as this scientist.

Charlie: She could hold her own.

Chris: Yes.

Charlie: Roll tape. Another scene from X-Files.

[clip of the diner scene from “Per Manum”]

Charlie: Dialogue.

Chris: Yeah.

Charlie: I’m addicted to dialogue. Are you? I mean, is that sort of what — do you care a lot about it or do you look for the sort of narrative to move your story forward and dialogue just sort of finds its place?

Chris: Well, dialogue is all-important. I think we’re unlike a lot of television shows, popular television shows, some of the best television shows on TV, because action and suspense — and because this is kind of a thriller each week — camera is so important. So you’re storytelling not with just dialogue but the camera helps to tell the story as well. But dialogue, of course. It’s got to sing or it just lays there.

Charlie: At the end of last season, what did you — what were you expectation about what you would do this season?

Chris: I didn’t know we’d be back this season. It looked very iffy. David Duchovny, one of the stars, did not want to come back, and he was in a lawsuit. It looked like the series may end. Seven years, that’s a nice long run. And I was asked if we could do the series without him. I said, no, I don’t want to do the series without him. He relented, he agreed to do eleven episodes and I had to figure out a way to do eleven episodes —

Charlie: Was that because of you? I mean …

Chris: Uh, it was because of — I mean, I could have said no and the series may have ended, but once again, I call myself a majority stockholder in this show. Fox could have done anything they wanted to do. Luckily we all, you know, were on — of one mind, ultimately, and we’re in our eighth year and looking forward to possibly a ninth.

Charlie: How long can it go?

Chris: It can probably go forever with the right elements, if it had the resources. Meaning if it had the good actors, if it had the good storytellers. I’m not sure how much longer I want to do it.

Charlie: You don’t know.

Chris: [chuckles] No.

Charlie: Could somebody reproduce today Twilight Zone, the kind of Rod Serling role?

Chris: I think so. I think this show owes so much to The Twilight Zone, although the stories are completely different. We both deal with the unexplained, but they were parables and allegories. I actually go back and watch The Twilight Zone alot and I think — we did an episode this year that was much like The Twilight Zone. It would be hard. It’s a tremendous amount of work. You have to have a tremendous amount of writing talent. And it’s all about that. It’s about vision. It’s about people who have stories to tell.

Charlie: Did he write all of them or none of them?

Chris: No, he wrote some of them and in fact he left the show after it turned from a half-hour to an hour show. So he had something he wanted to do and they took place in that little half-hour format.

Charlie: The Lone Gunmen is airing for three weeks in The X-Files’ timeslot on Sundays at 9 p.m. on Fox. It moves to its regular Friday night, 9 p.m. timeslot on March 16th. The X-Files, as you know, airs Sundays at 9 on Fox. Chris Carter, Executive Producer of The X-Files and Executive Producer of The Lone Gunmen. Thank you.

Chris: Thank you.

Charlie: Pleasure to have you here.

Chris: I appreciate it. Thank you.

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Mar
14
2001

Newsweek: Q&A with Chris Carter

Mar-14-2001
Newsweek
Q&A with Chris Carter
Suzanne Smalley

‘The X-Files’ creator Chris Carter, whose ‘The Lone Gunmen’ premiered this week, takes on some of his critics

March 8 – The creator of “The X-Files” and its new spinoff, “The Lone Gunmen,” is as renowned in Hollywood circles for the years he spent chasing the perfect wave as he is for the millions of dollars he now commands for dark tales about government trickery and deep-seated paranoia.

Chris Carter’s days as a freewheeling hipster traveling the globe as an editor for Surfing magazine came to an end after he met his current wife, a screenwriter, who encouraged him to give storytelling a try. It didn’t take long for the former itinerant board bum to rise to the crest of his new profession, despite the fact that most toil for years in the sitcom ghetto before making it big. It was already the late 1980s when Carter started at Disney, where he penned several made-for-TV movies. By the early 1990s, he’d created “The X-Files,” which became one of the decade’s most iconic shows. Hardly a typical L.A. story.

And in person, Carter’s not your standard Hollywood power player, either. With his shoulder-length white-blond hair, piercing cobalt eyes and easy nature, Carter seems an unlikely mogul. In fact, the well-compensated Hollywood writer-producer swears he could walk away from the money tomorrow. And the nasty politics of the town are still tough for him to take. Newsweek’s Suzanne Smalley chatted with the man behind the mantra “The truth is out there,” who still makes time to surf every morning.

Newsweek: Are you surprised that the Lone Gunmen have become such a popular part of “The X-Files”? They’re just dorky, average-looking white guys.

Chris Carter: I’d say they’re below-average looking, actually. I think that’s what makes them interesting for me. They are geeks. I think all of us have a sort of inner geek. They speak to all of our more grounded selves.

Didn’t the fans want to see them get their own show?

I don’t think anyone ever even thought of it until we did it. I don’t think anyone ever said this is the ideal or obvious spinoff.

Will the new show be easier for the casual watcher to keep up with and grasp than its famously complex forerunner?

Yeah, in fact I don’t think you even would have to have seen “The X-Files” to enjoy “The Lone Gunmen.” It actually is a show that owes a lot to “The X-Files” because of where it came from, but it owes nothing to it each week because it is not self-referential. There’s a mythology in “The X-Files” that you kind of have to know about. But I still think you can walk into the show and pick it up very quickly. We’ve made a big effort to make sure that everything is understandable all the time.

No other producer is said to be as involved in their shows. Will “The Lone Gunmen” get the same level of attention from you as “X” gets? Some fans are concerned that you’re not as involved.

Well, it’s got really good people working on it in addition to me. I cowrote the pilot and wrote episode four, and we’ve done 12 episodes, so I am involved, just not to the level. There’s not enough time in the day.

You’re one of the most powerful writer-producers in Hollywood. Is the money ever a corrupting influence? How are you sure your greenlighting a project on its merits not just for the boatloads of cash?

It has nothing to do with money. Nothing I’ve ever done, of all the four shows I’ve done, have had nothing to do with commerce. It was all about telling stories.

Is it ever hard to be limited by network sensibilities? You’ve complained about all the time given to ads and about the censoring of themes like necrophilia and incest on “X.” What kind of daring themes or plot lines do you foresee on “The Lone Gunmen?”

I think that if we did anything that was daring it would be a comedic daring. I don’t think we’re looking to press the limits of anything that is a more hot-button topic, for example, abortion. We’re really looking to entertain people and make them laugh. So, if anything, I think it would be pushing the levels of what you could do comedically, probably physically on network television.

By physically you mean …

Seeing the Lone Gunmen’s butts or whatever.

OK.

I’m teasing.

You’re said to be very driven and hardworking. You write seven days a week.

Only because I have to.

Some in the industry have called you a megalomaniac and overly controlling, but your crews love you because you care. Who is Chris Carter?

I don’t know how people could call me a megalomaniac. I don’t even know how I would respond to that. What are we talking about? What does that mean? I don’t know. All I want is for the work that I do to be good. That’s my mania.

Did you really go to some “X-Files” fans’ Vegas wedding?

There was a couple that sent me a wedding invitation about four months before my birthday. They were getting married on my birthday, which happened to be Friday the 13th last year. And they were getting married in Las Vegas, and they sent a really cute invitation. And so I thought if people are brave enough to get married on Friday the 13th and send me an invitation and they’re getting married on the lawn at Caesar’s Palace, I’m gonna go surprise them and show up at their wedding. So it was a good way for me to get out of the office for half a day, show up, sign their marriage license, wish them well, and lose about $200 at the blackjack table.

Your show “Harsh Realm” failed after three episodes, and “Millennium” was never as big as “X” and even “The X-Files” star has faded a bit. Is their still a TV audience for conspiracy theories?

I don’t do a show about conspiracy theories per se. I just do a show about paranoia. I’m just trying to scare people and conspiracies happen to scare people. They’re an element of the fear. I think there is still an audience for something scary.

What conspiracy theories do you buy? Do you believe in aliens and government coverups?

Because I’ve never seen an alien or had an experience with one, I don’t believe in them. But I’m willing to believe the many people who say they have had an experience with aliens. Let’s just say I have very little faith in the execution of conspiracies, but I do believe they exist. I like the idea of a conspiracy so great and so vital that it is a perfect conspiracy. The thought of a character piercing the veil of that secret appeals to me.

Do the bad reviews ever get to you? For instance, “The Lone Gunmen” recently got trashed by USA Today.

That reporter has never said anything nice about “The X-Files” despite the fact that we’ve had 53 Emmy nominations. The audience obviously knows something he doesn’t. When someone criticizes you, and you know you’ve done good work, it can be maddening.

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Mar
10
2001

TV Week (Vancouver): Hip To Be Square – The Lone Gunmen Shoot From The Hip About Their Techno Geek Personas

Mar-10-2001
TV Week (Vancouver)
Hip To Be Square – The Lone Gunmen Shoot From The Hip About Their Techno Geek Personas
Robin Roberts

[typed by Megan]

As much as Chris Carter would like you to believe his X-Files spinoff, which debuted last week, is a comedy starring the three stooges in question shift oh-so-slightly in their seats when you mention it. Sure, they’ll go along with it; they want the thing to succeed more than anyone. But you get the feeling they’d like to be taken a little more seriously, despite the delight they obviously feel at finding themselves stars of their own series.

“I don’t think any of us seriously for a moment think [we’d get our own series],” says Tom Braidwood (the short one). “We always joked about it, but…”

But Carter warned early on to the notion of a spinoff, if only for relief, comic or otherwise, for his X-Files stars, David Duchonvy and Gillian Anderson. “I think we first did an episode dedicated to them [the Gunmen] the year we did the movie, because we need some time off for David and Gillian,” says the snowy-haired one. “That was the first time the Lone Gunmen had their own episode. And I think it worked so well and it was so fun to do, and it was so successful, I think that’s the first time anybody believed there was a chance we could spin these characters off.”

But the new “stars” – Braidwood, Dean Haglund, Bruce Harwood, all Vancouverites – weren’t among the believers. “The three of us certainly thought that it was a one-off, that we there to serve a purpose for one show,” says Braidwood, an assistant director as well as a series star. “No one was more surprised than the three of us when we were brought back the next year for two or three episodes.”

So in the dark about their destiny were they, the three found out about the spinoff in the Hollywood Trade paper Daily Variety. And you thought your office kept you out of the loop.

“All I remember about the first time I did the character was that I did this thing with my hands in my pockets the whole time,” says Harwood (the tall one).

“What?” asks a stunned Haglund (the blonde one), turning to his co-star. “That just doesn’t sound right.”

“Only to you,” shoots back Harwood.

“I only had one line,” recalls Braidwood, interrupting the hijinx, “which I managed to stretch into two by saying it twice, but I didn’t see a lot of depth in the character at that point.”

“The glasses I wore on the show were pulled out of a giant bag of prop glasses and then I threw them back in [after the scene],” remembers Haglund. “And when we were called back, I was asked to remember which one of the glasses were the ones I wore, and I couldn’t remember. So if you watch the first three seasons on DVD, you see my glasses change every episode. That was literally how much thought we had actually put into it.”

“In the first [X-Files] episode that featured the Lone Gunmen, we’d only had last names,” recalls Harwood. “So I remember that was part of the thrill [with the spinoff]. Getting the script and going, ‘I’ve got a first name! Hooray! Hooray!'”

“Yeah,” adds Haglund, “and before that, we had to make up a back story. We didn’t really know how the three of us would know each other, and then they did a flashback episode, where we learnt that we were selling illegal cable…”

“And I’d been working for the goverment,” cuts in Harwood. “Up ’til then, I thought I was one of those guys who comes to fix the photocopier and is always dressed in a suit and tie for some reason.”

“That’s right,” says Haglund, “and I thought I was a roadie for the Ramones or something.”

Always the more serious of the three – despite the fact he’s the one who tends to meet mud puddles face on in the Gunmen pilot – Braidwood says, “We actually came to the series already with a fair bit of background that had developed over the seven years on X-Files, particularly the two shows that concentrated on us. So in a way we’ve just kind of fallen into it naturally, and if anything’s grown, it’s more of a reationship on a day-to-day basis that we have with each other on the screen. And you see a lot more of that and how we relate to one another, how we develop stories, how we argue over how we’re going to handle a story. I’ts been an odd osmosis and, you know, a lot of people use the word ‘spinoff’ but I’ve never seen [The Lone Gunmen] as a spinoff. It’s sort of like what we do in our life when we’re not helping out Mulder and Scully. It’s like, ‘What do these guys do?” And this is what we do, this is our life, which is very different than The X-Files life.’

The very different lives of the trio computer hacking geeks while they were awaiting their big break. Harwood, who plays John Byers, graduated with a Fine Arts degree in theatre from UBC and quickly landed roles in locally shot series like EarthStar Voyager, 21 Jump Street, The Outer Limits, MacGyver and the feature Honey, I shrunk the Kids before snagging the role of Byers on The X-Files in 1994.

Before his groundbreaking part as Ringo Langly, Haglund was chasing stand-up stardom after earning a theatre degree from SFU. His TV credits include Vancouver-shot series like The Commish Sliders, Robocop and the upcoming animated series The Big Guy, while his film roles, like Harwood, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids as well as the upcoming animated feature Tom Sawyer.

Braidwood, meanwhile, had been toiling behind the scenes as an assistant director, director, production manager and writer in both TV and film before landing the role of Melvin. His producing and directing credits include DaVinci’s Inquest as well as the films Kingsgate, The Portrait, Walls, Low Visablility and Deserters. He’s assistant directed The Sentinel, Strange World, Pittsburgh, Mercy Point as well as Carter’s Millennium and The X-Files. He began acting at the Tamahnous Theatre Workshop Company, where he also wrote and preformed as a musician.

For the leads, being back home is a good thing, as it is for creator Carter, despite the ill will amoung some of the local press and fan base who took it as a personal insult when The X-Files moved to L.A. “I just think people really thought of The X-Files as a Vancouver show, and so when it left, it was hard,” he says. “It was hard for me, very hard for me. But I think all has been forgiven. I’d worked so long in Vancouver and I knew a lot of the crew. And we have three Canadian actors, so it just seemed a natural for us to go back, where we’d established a sort of winning formula. Vancouver could double as anywhere in America, it has so many great looks.”

And those looks will stand in for Anywhere, U.S.A., as the publishers of The Lone Gunmen, their fledging underground newspaper of rampant goverment coverups and conspracies, encounter evil villians while ferreting out the truth, with the aid of high-tech gizmos and blind bravery.

In the pilot episode, Byers’ father, a military man, dies, prompting Byers to, of course, believe it is a coverup for something more sinister. Along the way, he discovers his father is still alive, and the trio’s missing adventures lead them to the beautiful but mysterious Yves Adele Harlow – an anagram for Lee Harvey Oswald – their competitor in the “information business,” who further flames consipracy fires. In a hilarious tribute to Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible, Braidwood at one point hangs from the cable while attempting to intercept incriminating documents. And that’s what will likely help this series succeed – Carter has wisely played it tongue in cheek, with a wink-and-nod awareness of the campy goofiness.

And although there will be crossovers with The X-Files, Carter, who’s also working on another Files film, insists, “Even though these guys come from The X-Files, the show doesn’t owe a whole lot to The X-Files I don’t think, except that it spawned these characters.”

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Mar
09
2001

TV Guide Online: The Truth Behind Gunmen's Lone Crossover

Mar-09-2001
TV Guide Online
The Truth Behind Gunmen’s Lone Crossover
Michael Ausiello

X-Files creator Chris Carter had absolutely no interest in pumping the first few episodes of his spinoff series The Lone Gunmen with cameos by X symbols Gillian Anderson, David Duchovny and Robert Patrick. “I think that that’s a cheap way to get ratings,” Carter tells TV Guide Online. “We wanted the show to stand on its own, to live and breathe on its own.”

Well, judging by the ratings for last Sunday’s premiere, Gunmen got by without a little help from its friends. The quirky Fox series attracted a promising 13 million viewers and won all the major adult demos. Still, Carter “wouldn’t rule out” an attention-grabbing visit by one of his X-Files leads down the line, and reveals that he’s already scripted a crossover for supporting player Mitch Pileggi (Assistant Director Skinner). “I don’t want to give [the story] away, but I can tell you that [Skinner] gets very, very close to the character of Jimmy Bond (Gunmen hottie Stephen Snedden),” he teases. “It will be very interesting.”

Gunmen’s true ratings test will come on March 16 when it moves into its regular Friday at 9 pm/ET timeslot after subletting The X-Files’s home for two weeks. (A third and final Sunday Gunmen airs March 18.) Meanwhile, The X-Files returns with original installments on April 1, and Carter promises that viewers will finally see Mulder do something other than play dead during the final five minutes of every sixth episode.

“From here on out, you see [Mulder] in every episode,” Carter assures, adding that this is not about “punching a timeclock… this is about storytelling and it’s about being true to the story that we set out to tell, which is Mulder’s abduction. [Up to this point,] it would be very hard to do episodes with him in them completely.”

And regarding another season of The X-Files, Carter reports that “Fox is trying to negotiate a ninth year with me. I would come back under the right circumstances.” As would Duchovny, although it appears his terms would translate into even less screen time than he’s had this year. Says Carter: “I don’t think David would come back except for possibly in a very abbreviated way.”

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Mar
03
2001

YahooChat: "The Lone Gunmen" creator Chris Carter

Mar-03-2001
YahooChat
“The Lone Gunmen” creator Chris Carter

Nothing mysterious about it. Chris Carter hits Yahoo! Chat on Friday, March 3 at 5pET/2pPT to talk about his newest creation — FOX’s The Lone Gunmen. Taking you where no X-File has gone before, The Lone Gunmen spotlights some other adventures of Byers, Langly and Frohike. So, gather your questions, log on from your heavy-security underground sanctuary and find out what you can expect from Mulder’s boys and their new series when you step up and quiz CC. Don’t miss it.

y_chat_diva: Welcome to Yahoo!Chat. Chris Carter will be here, talking about The Lone Gunmen, Carter’s new series on FOX. The Lone Gunmen premieres on Sunday in the X-Files time slot .. 9pm. Starring the trio — Langly, Byers and Frohike

y_chat_diva: Please welcome To yahoo!Chat – Chris Carter

adamrs15 asks: What has been the extent of your involvement in the show so far? I know you wrote an episode…

Chris Carter: I’ve been working as producer and now a tireless promoter.

chris_carters_latino_lover asks: Does Frohike *finally* get himself a woman or does he remain single forever?

Chris Carter: He’s a virgin. Though not a committed one.

AlanHurs asks: Which of the LGM is going to be the real babe magnet.

Chris Carter: Frohike, without a doubt.

carterfile asks: “Mission Impossible,” “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” “Risky Business” … do all the eps have a movie homage? Is this a running theme?

Chris Carter: I would say it is a leit-motif. And will be a staple. But first we have to get those Nielsen ratings.

gillybean_x asks: Will TLG have a similar format to TXF with stand-alone eps and monster of the week eps?

Chris Carter: I think that it will have a mythology, but it won’t be as important to the show as on the X-Files.

thesearch_for_mulder11_05 asks: Do you like working on two different shows at one time. Like I saw that you did Millennium, Harsh Realm, While The X-Files was still going?

Chris Carter: I don’t LIKE that it doesn’t give me a life, but I like the opportunities to do something new.

adamrs15 asks: Will we see any prequel episodes in “The Lone Gunmen” as with “The X-Files”?

Chris Carter: Probably.

cokie4us asks: Chris, is has always been strongly implied that the Gunmen actually live in that little bat cave of theirs. Will any of them actually have a personal life or, are they totally work obsessed as is the case with their XF counterparts?

Chris Carter: They are completely consumed by their work.

lauracapo2000 asks: What kind of music will we hear on The Lone Gunmen?

Chris Carter: One of the things that is really fun about this show is the use of music, of songs, old and contemporary.

weinwalk asks: I’m really looking forward to TLG, I love those guys! How is writing for them different, besides the humor?

Chris Carter: It’s different because they are constantly at each other’s throats. Like 3 frat boys, but they all want the same thing.

weinwalk asks: Incorporating a literary sort of questing hero element into a tv series must be a real challenge, and I congratulate you for managing the balancing act so well. Will there be any sort of understory in TLG like that?

Chris Carter: Yes. Episode #12 past the pilot will create what is essentially a lone gunman mythology. Right now, it’s not affecting it at all.

ephesian_x asks: In what ways is the possibility of industry-wide strikes affecting your production plans for both TLG and TX-F?

Chris Carter: Right now, it’s not affecting it at all. But we are mindful of the effects it could have and are not looking forward to a strike.

michael_david_1999 asks: Earlier today X-Files was criticized on NPR by scientist speaking on the existence of life on other planets. They stated that shows like Lone Gunmen will create a false hysteria regarding the existence of life on another planet. These shows will give people a false perception of what life may really be like and perpetuate ignorance towards governments and entities like NASA. I am a great fan of your work!! I was wondering your comments

Chris Carter: I didn’t hear it so it’s hard for me to comment on something I didn’t hear. But, as always, the X-Files is very true to science fact, and anything past that is where the science fiction begins.

klfnb asks: Is Frank Black going to be making any appearances in future episodes of The X-Files or The Lone Gunmen?

Chris Carter: No immediate plans, but I wouldn’t rule it out.

shipper_radikal asks: If LGM is successful… Will there be a ninth season for The X Files?

Chris Carter: One thing doesn’t depend on the other.

lauracapo2000 asks: Will The Lone Gunmen spoof The X-Files?

cokie4us asks: Chris, I loved the Gunmen’s interaction with the Esther Nairn character in Kill Switch. Will you have a similar character in this series?

Chris Carter: Hadn’t thought of it, but could be.

methos_lover asks: What kind of story lines will be in lone gunmen?

Chris Carter: It is a comedy and the storylines should be comedic by nature.

chris_carters_latino_lover asks: Can we plan on Suzanne Modeski making any appearances on the show?

Chris Carter: You’re not the first person to have asked that and the answer is ……. ……… maybe.

adamrs15 asks: Have you heard anything about a possible Kolchak movie remake? Or perhaps a tv reunion of some sort. A producer of the original series has been interested in those projects and even suggested Bruce Willis as Carl Kolchak. What do you think of this and his casting choice?

Chris Carter: I think that it would be interesting to see a remake of Kolchak, given X-Files saturation of the genre.

frohike51 asks: Any chance we’ll get to see Alex Krycek make an appearance on The Lone Gunmen? God knows we haven’t gotten enough of him on The X-Files. *g*

Chris Carter: No plans as of yet.

xphile_rebecca_oz_1013_1121 asks: Hey, Any plans for The Lone Gunmen to be aired in Australia?

Chris Carter: They’re my plans. I don’t know if they’re anyone else’s plans.

radnrc1 asks: Will there be any nudity?

Chris Carter: I’m not allowed to.

xavier1013x asks: What’s your favorite Gunmen?

lauracapo2000 asks: With which Lone Gunman do you most identify and why?

Chris Carter: I identify with them as a group. Because life’s tough when you have to deal with such a number of ignoramuses.

bobafettseviltwin asks: If a show like ER is presented in widescreen why not the X Files

Chris Carter: I’m saving the wide screen for the movies. Yes.

coolestnick15 asks: What is next Sunday’s episode going to be about?

Chris Carter: It’s about Byers’ father and his involvement in a terrorist act

spookysmistress asks: CC, I hear rumors that Mitch Pileggi will appear on TLG. I hear even more rumors that he will be . . .less than dressed. Can you confirm this so that I can start programming the VCR right now?

Chris Carter: Whatever makes you tune in.

scully_gov asks: Is TLG show going to have any serious episodes or just comedy, or both?

Chris Carter: Both.

kimonthejourney asks: Is Mark Snow doing the music for TLG?

Chris Carter: Yes.

bobafettseviltwin asks: Will the Lone Gunman come out on DVD like the other show

Chris Carter: Let’s not jump the gun. 🙂

mdelgado_98 asks: I know that one of the Lone Gunmen has a crush on Scully. Will there be any guest appearances by Scully on the Lone Gunmen?

Chris Carter: Nothing planned yet.

dulcekay asks: Hi Chris, I am from Seal Beach and would like to know what beach you learned to surf at?

Chris Carter: Bolsa Chica.

chris_carters_latino_lover asks: Do we get to see any funky X-Files aliens on the LGM series?

Chris Carter: Stay tuned.

Earth2Kim asks: Hi, I realize you can’t tell us anything about what’s going to happen on XF, but do you think its something the long time fans will be happy with? -Kim from NorCA

Chris Carter: It’s hard to tell this year. So many long-time fans have been critical of Mulder’s absence, even though we had him for as many episodes as we could. This could be his last year on the show, and that might upset them, in spite of the fact there would be no other choice.

scully_gov asks: Are you using the same XF crew in vancouver for TLG series?

Chris Carter: A lot of people we’ve worked with before on X-Files or Millennium or Harsh Realm.

janmg2001 asks: Are Morgan & Wong going to write an episode?

Chris Carter: No plans.

the_gentleman_uk2001 asks: Chris: What’s the most memorable part of ‘The Lone Gunmen’?

Chris Carter: I think the passenger jet nearly hitting the World Trade Center.

Mrs_SPOOKY_1013 asks: How it’s like to write comedy?

Chris Carter: I came from comedy, so it’s just a return to what I used to do.

francine1029 asks: Chris you said the LGM are consumed by their work and live in their little room…who in the world funds them? They have to eat, somehow.

Chris Carter: Watch the show and it will all be explained.

jj3citco asks: The critic at USAToday butchered the show. How do you continue to talk to these guys that rip your shows?

Chris Carter: That critic has never had one good word to say about the X-Files, in spite of the fact that it is a winner of 53 Emmy nominations and continues to have excellent ratings into its 8th season. The audience obviously knows something that he doesn’t.

Mrs_SPOOKY_1013 asks: Yesterday was a Vince Gilligan Frank Spotnitz & John Shiban chat. Are they the only writers for TLG (except for you of course!)

Chris Carter: No. There are others.

lilybart1013 asks: Will Byers and Langly kiss for sweeps?

Chris Carter: Anything for ratings.

sif4dd4evah asks: Chris, how is FOX treating “The Lone Gunmen” promotion, so far?

Chris Carter: We’re pleased.

mulderpause asks: Hi Chris! Spinoffs have at times changed the nature of the characters they’ve spun off. Will we see any changes in The Lone Gunmen?

Chris Carter: You’ll see them developed in ways that they weren’t on the X-Files.

kimonthejourney asks: Will Skinner appear on TLG? More than once? That would be fantastic. More Skinner, please, Chris!

Chris Carter: That would be nice.

xedout1 asks: Are you going to go back to “Maitreya” in FPS?

Chris Carter: Can’t wait!

weinwalk asks: Tell us about the two new characters.

Chris Carter: One is a mysterious Bond-like girl. The other is a hopeless idealist who’s got more heart than sense.

adamrs15 asks: So will Terry O’ Quinn or other of your frequently used actors be popping up on “The Lone Gunmen”?

Chris Carter: That would be nice.

adamrs15 asks: Will Harlow and Jimmy be in all the episodes?

Chris Carter: That’s the plan.

blueyz_915 asks: Chris, you are so good looking, why haven’t you ever made a guest appearance on one of your shows?

Chris Carter: I have. And I was so good-looking, you missed me.

thesearch_for_mulder11_05 asks: Where did you get the idea for Annabeth Gish, and will she be a important piece to the puzzle of Mulder and his Death

Chris Carter: Yes. She will be important to the resolution of this season. And if there is a beyond.

Earth2Kim asks: Will The Lone Gunmen have some noteworthy “bad guys” as TXF has had?

Chris Carter: Yes, I think that we’re looking forward to some very devious villains.

ephesian_x asks: Chris, how many TLG episodes will you be writing and directing this season? How will this impact your input to the final eps of season 8 TX-F?

Chris Carter: My first responsibility this season is to the X-Files. And, luckily, the schedules are staggered.

procyin asks: Which do you consider yourself better at writing? Comedic stories, or more serious storylines?

Chris Carter: I would say more serious, only because the X-Files has proved so popular.

BugSplatt5 asks: I’ve heard many times that you’ve always had an idea of the last episode of the X-Files. Has that vision changed with the absence of Mulder and the addition of Scully’s pregnancy, or is it mostly the same?

Chris Carter: Mostly the same.

radnrc1 asks: Will there be a spoof episode involving Howard Stern?

Chris Carter: We’re game. 🙂

y_chat_diva: Thanks so much for chatting with us today Chris

Chris Carter: Thank you very much.

y_chat_diva: Good luck with the show

Chris Carter: Thanks. Good-bye.

y_chat_diva: Thanks everyone

y_chat_diva: for all your questions

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