Happy new year! Perhaps the last year without an X-Files reboot? We continue our catch-up of 30th anniversary interviews with an audio commentary of “5X04: Detour” with writer Frank Spotnitz thanks to The X-Cast: An X-Files Podcast! Summary below:
- With TXF, the writers-producers explicitly tried to make something that would last the pass of time [30 years later, congratulations!]; they had in mind Jaws (leave it to the imagination to fill the blanks); they were conscious to write strong women characters (like when Scully had to protect an impaired Mulder); the smart MSR was at the heart of the show
- Shooting in the woods was a cost-saving measure, but weather made it costly (because of the rain, they had to build the camp fire scene in a set); How The Ghosts Stole Christmas was also a cost-saving ep but set building made it very expensive; Dod Kalm was successful in saving money
- Behind the names: Marty and Michael were FS’s business partners; Louis was a cousin of FS; Michelle Fazekas was a 1013 assistant; West Virginia setting is where FS’s mother is from; Jeff Glaser was a Fox executive that gave them notes (“it’s only scary as it is believable”)
- Leon County: a clue to Ponce de Leon
- FS had done a lot of mytharc at that point, he wanted to do a stand-alone
- Inspiration: things that scared FS when he was a kid, like a dog barking at something unknown at night; was fascinated with tree rings
- Introductiory scenes: invest the viewer in secondary characters before something bad happens; also, FS had just become a parent a few years before
- FBI team-building comedy scene was Carter’s idea
- Brett Dowler had done a lot of 2nd unit directing, this was his first ep as director
- Leonard Betts: Spotnitz-Gilligan-Shiban were in competitiong with Morgan-Wong on which ep would make it to Superbowl
- FS was present in Vancouver for prepping and just the first day of shooting, then back to LA for scripts and post for other eps
- 1930s The Invisible Man on the TV: it was all about whether they could afford licensing costs
- Ground the episodes in reality: Scully is like the smartest member of the audience, if you can erode her skepticism then the script works
- During s2 they had to go to the library for research, by s5 they had internet
- Civilization is encroahing on nature, that’s why creatures react
- Mark Snow wrote so much music, more than the average TV show; editing was done without music, then they’d go to Mark’s home in Santa Monica to hear it with music
- Beyond s6 they were wondering what can they say that is new? s8-9 had a different storytelling format, leaning more into The Twilight Zone influences
- Director of photography Joel Ransom used a lot of steadicam; even in interiors scenes the light is not flat, half their faces are in shadow
- FS developed a show with Adam Rapp (brother of actor Anthony Rapp) but that didn’t get made
- Creature stealing stones: inspired by Planet of the Apes (humans steal clothes), one of FS’s favourites
- They typically had 8 days main unit, at least 2 days 2nd unit (which here did things like POV shots of the forest); the record was Jose Chung’s, 20 days (!)
- Every 12 pages of script there had to be a cliffhanger for the act break, that forced good discipline for script writing; FS still does it even if there’s no need for commercials breaks
- Mulder’s line “I don’t wanna restle” was improvised; there was very little ad-libbing, actors were used to follow the script closely, a lot of pressure to make the air date; today, there are daily phone calls, actors feel more empowered and change lines, the culture of movie-making has moved to TV, sometimes it is for the better
- Running out of bullets: FS compares it to Hitchcock’s “Notorious”, where Cary Grant and Claude Rains run out of champagne
- Mulder’s disappearance: they trimmed individual frames to make it seem sudden
- The monster was a mix of practical and early CG effects
- FS wanted M&S alone scene like in Quagmire; they rarely did character continuity, like Scully reflecting on her cancer
- Originally Scully was to sing Hank Williams’ “I’m so lonesome I could cry” but GA said she can’t sing, the only thing she can sing was “Jeremiah…”
- They were stuck during script writing on how to get them out of that hole; the solution was team building
- The timing was down to the second for the ad breaks, they were shaving frames off shots (!); editing was done in a trailer at the end of the Fox lot
- FS thought DD mispronounced “conquistadors” but he was right
- They were careful with whose POV they were showing, that final shot with the monster was not Scully’s
- Ending: there’s still something left, in typical TXF fashion
