X-Files mythology, TenThirteen Interviews Database, and more

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Fox All Access: 'X-Files 3: The Truth Is… Gillian Anderson Doesn't Know!

Jul-29-2011
Fox All Access
‘X-Files 3: The Truth Is… Gillian Anderson Doesn’t Know!

[Original article here]

Are rumors of a third “X-Files” movie the truth?  Or are they just out there?  That’s what we wanted to find out when we spotted Gillian Anderson this afternoon at the Television Critics Association meetings today in Beverly Hills.  She told us she wishes she knew what was going on, and that she’d be happy to read a script — if only somebody would give her one!  (Click on the on the audio player to hear Gillian Anderson)

 

Kevin & Bean: Interview with Chris Carter

Nov-30-2001
The Kevin and Bean Show, KROQ radio
Interview with Chris Carter

Kevin: How are you doing, Chris Carter, creator of The X-Files? Good morning.

Chris: Thanks for having me.

Kevin: Sure.

Bean: Good to see you. What have you been doing? How you been?

Chris: I’m good. Doing the same thing, ninth year of The X-Files.

Kevin: Nine years!

Bean: Ninth! Damn you!

Chris: Ninth inning. And, you know, just sort of doing the same thing. I went on a big surf trip this summer. That was my big summer vacation.

Kevin: Oh, really? Where’d you go?

Chris: I went to Indonesia.

Kevin: Indonesia to go surfing?

Chris: Yeah.

Kevin: Wow. It’s good to be Chris Carter.

Bean: Why — Chris, by the way, has a deep background in surfing, has done a lot of it — why Indonesia? Is there something special about the water or the waves down there?

Chris: Yeah, it’s this perfect surfing destination, and that’s where everyone wants to go.

Bean: Oh, is that right?

Chris: Yeah, so I went on a three-week trip.

Bean: That’s, like, the ultimate place?

Chris: It is right now.

Kevin: Now, did you run into any trouble? They’re having bad times down there in Indonesia. They’ve got a civil war going on. Was there trouble for you on land?

Chris: I was there just before all hell broke loose.

Bean: You weren’t dodging bullets as you were surfing?

Chris: I was dodging a lot of things but they weren’t bullets.

Kevin: Wow. Well, that’s good. A guy like you — and we’ve visited Chris on the set and we know how hard he works and the deadlines that he’s up against — you just need some time where you can just forget it, right? Just not think about the job.

Chris: Yeah, one of these days.

Bean: How do you keep — I know it’s an impossible question to answer, but you have to keep coming up with interesting storylines after nine years.

Chris: Yeah.

Bean: I mean, at the beginning at least you hadn’t exhausted everything.

Chris: Actually, I think what happens is that when you have exhausted the obvious stuff it actually gets better because it’s stuff no one else has thought about, so it forces you to work harder.

Kevin: So, the original stuff is just basically off the top and then you start really having to delve deep.

Chris: You have to figure out new ways to deal with the characters and new stories, just new ways to tell good X-Files stories.

Bean: Do you have what most writers consider writer’s block, where you just throw up your hands and say I can’t get past this place? And what do you do when you hit that spot?

Chris: They have a gun to your head so you’re just (laughs) not allowed to —

Kevin: You can’t do that?

Chris: You can’t have writer’s block.

Bean: In other words, you’ve got to write it even if it’s bad because it’s got to be done at a certain time.

Chris: It’s never bad, Bean.

Bean: I don’t mean — I don’t mean you — I mean — (Chris chuckles as Bean sputters) (all three laughing)

Kevin: What did you mean, Bean, exactly?

Bean: I’m just saying sometimes you just have to write. You don’t have any choice, and that forces you to pull from places you didn’t even know you had because of the deadline.

Chris: Well put.

Kevin: Do you have — A lot of writers have to figure out a way to get input. Do you? What do you do to try and replenish the well? Do you go to books? Do you read, watch movies?

Chris: I think we just really go to what scares us most. And then try to figure out interesting ways to tell good stories with the characters, take them through the journey so the audience kind of goes through it, too.

Bean: The truth is, there aren’t a lot of shows that have ever been on nine years on primetime television. That’s pretty remarkable.

Chris: Yeah.

Bean: And isn’t the show on X — I mean —

Chris: FX. Yes, and in syndication. You can’t miss The X-Files, it’s on at least three times a day. (laughs)

Kevin: It’s everywhere!

Bean: And you tune in and you go, “Man, Duchovny was, like, 17 when he started this show! Look at him!” And obviously Gillian didn’t have a stylist back then. It’s just so funny because you have literally seen these people grow up since they’ve been on TV.

Chris: Yeah, it’s true.

Bean: Now, I was telling Kevin earlier, I got the opportunity to get a sneak peak of the show that’s airing this Sunday night at 9 on Fox, and tell me if I’m overstating this — the best vomit scene in this history of primetime television. (Kevin laughs) Wouldn’t you say that’s accurate, Chris?

Chris: I think it is, actually. The guy who wrote and directed the episode, that’s his metier. That’s his deal.

Kevin: What’s that mean? He’s good at vomit?

Chris: Yes. He puts vomit in every script he writes for us.

Kevin: Really? Why?

Bean: In other words, he’s the vomit expert? If American Pie 2 is filming and they need some guy to throw up, they call your guy?

Chris: They should.

Bean: There is also one of — and you talk about having to mix it up, you think about how many people have been killed on The X-Files, I don’t know what the body count is over nine seasons, but one of the great murder weapons of all time, I think, is on the show this week, too. You know the one I’m talking about, Chris?

Chris: Which is?

Kevin: Are you guys just going to tease us all day, or what?

Bean: That’s the whole point of Chris coming in. The doctor in the chair. You know what I’m talking about.

Kevin: Doctor in the chair. Doctor in the chair. He must use a needle?

Bean: Come on, Chris. You’ve seen the episode.

Chris: (laughing) You’re gonna have to tell me. Oh, you mean the hypodermic needles?

Bean: Hypodermic needles all over her.

Kevin: Oh, ouch.

Chris: Human pin-cushion.

Bean: Yes! I mean, you just talk about something that just creeps you out when you see it, you’re like, “Oh man, I wasn’t prepared for that at all.”

Kevin: I see what you mean about stuff that scares you. That would freak me out. I am not a needle guy. We had your friend Robert Patrick in a couple of weeks ago, had not had him on the show before. What a terrific guy he is.

Chris: Yeah, he’s great.

Kevin: And you think about what he went through. He made it clear when he was on, “Look, I wasn’t brought in to replace Duchovny, no one replaces Agent Mulder on the show. I was brought in to play another character, to do something else.” And he’s just so good on that show.

Chris: Yeah, we actually lucked out. Not only is he a good actor and it’s great to write for him, but he’s just a great guy, a really hard-working, solid guy.

Bean: Is it hard to find people that are both good actors and good people?

Chris: Well, um … no, it’s just one of those things. When you get both you are blessed two ways.

Kevin: And tell us about — because I didn’t fully understand the need to bring in — I guess it’s Annabelle?

Chris: Annabeth.

Kevin: Annabeth, and also Cary Elwes. What was your thinking in terms of expanding the cast so much this year?

Chris: Well, it had been Mulder and Scully for eight years and so we just thought, let’s see if we can tell these stories in a different way, try not to repeat ourselves or duplicate ourselves, so we kind of went to an ensemble situation. But it’s really still a three-lead show now with Gillian still on the show.

Bean: How many times do you come up with an idea and then somebody else says, “Uh, no, that was year two?” “Sorry, we did that in year four.”

Chris: Every day.

Bean: It’s hard to keep track of, I imagine.

Chris: Yeah.

Kevin: What’ s your goal now for the movie franchise? Is it going to be difficult to bring back Duchovny for the movie, as we’ve always heard that he would do, now that he’s not on the TV show?

Chris: No, that was always the plan. I think it can become a movie series. We probably have 3-4 movies, X-Files movies to make. We’re very excited.

Bean: Really? Do you know in your mind where those three are gonna go?

Chris: Yes, and I tell no one so they can’t fire me.

Bean: So, you pretty much already have that figured out?

Chris: Yeah.

Bean: Damn, if it were me, I’d be going, “Oh, my God! I got to come up with three movies? How the hell am I gonna do that?” You’ve already got them in your mind?

Chris: Roughly.

Bean: Now, the first one was so great. It was better than anybody expected it was gonna be, because people looked at it as, oh, they’re cashing in, it’s a TV spinoff, or whatever. But it was terrific, and it held up on its own. You really took advantage of the things you could do on the movie screen that you couldn’t do on the small screen. It was just fantastic.

Chris: Thanks, and I think this next one will be even better.

Kevin: We need to take a break. We have Chris Carter in the studio. I would like to bring up — they always give us bio information on our guests that come in, and I had forgotten that you wrote and directed The Nanny. (laughing)

Chris: It’s not The Nanny that you know. It’s another Nanny.

Kevin: Good, because I was telling Bean, “Did he do The Nanny? Chris Carter — The Nanny?! No way!” All right, good, that’s good to hear. We’re gonna take a quick break. We’ll come right back with Chris Carter and talk The X-Files next.

Bean: In the studio, one of the guys who has been on our program many times over the years. We are always happy to make some time for Chris Carter, creator of The X-Files, Sunday nights on 9:00 on Fox. You know, porn legend Ron Jeremy is coming in next hour, Chris. He wasn’t in The XXX-Files, was he? He didn’t star in that movie, did he?

Chris: I think he wasn’t.

Bean: Because he was in Ally McFeel, so we weren’t sure if —

Kevin: He was also in I Love Juicy, so… (laughs)

Bean: We are talking about The X-Files. The 200th episode is on Sunday night. Is that right?

Chris: Uh, no, it’s coming up this year. We are in the 190s now, I think.

Bean: Wow. That is unbelievable.

Kevin: That is amazing. You got time for a couple of calls, Chris?

Chris: Yeah, sure.

Kevin: ‘Cause every time you come in, the fans have questions they’re burning to ask you.

Bean: Let’s say good morning to … Katrina?

Woman: Katrinka.

Kevin: That’s a made-up name.

Bean: That’s what it said, I just didn’t believe it. All right, Katrinka from Cyprus.

Katrinka: Hi. Chris, I just wanted to say thank you. I’m a big X-Files fan, such a big fan, my 4-year-old son knows that Sunday night is X-Files night. We love it. My question is, we just started watching Smallville this season and started noticing a big similarity in the show, especially Tuesday night, they did one where the girl was sucking the fat out of people —

Chris: Yes.

Katrinka: And that was a big X-File once. When stuff like that happens, do you feel flattered, does it upset you, or you don’t care, or what?

Kevin: You don’t have anything to do with that show, do you?

Chris: No, I have nothing to do with that show.

Kevin: Okay. They copy you?

Chris: You know, actually, I saw a little bit of the pilot. People have been saying they have been seeing some X-Files stories on the show. I don’t know, I guess it is flattering.

Kevin: Well, they do draw from the same well, too. So, there are people who come up with ideas independently who are working in the same genre.

Bean: You have developed that well for quite some time, too.

(K&B ask the caller about her name, etc.)

Kevin: How much time do you have to even watch TV or movies, Chris? Any?

Chris: (chuckles) None.

Kevin: Really?

Chris: Yeah.

Bean: Chris has a miserable life. I’m telling you right now, Chris is miserable. He sits in front of his little computer screen and just types. Twenty hours a day.

Kevin: That’s so sad.

Chris: (defensive) No, I watch enough TV.

Bean: No, you don’t.

Kevin: What are your favorite shows on TV?

Chris: I like The Sopranos.

Bean: So this is great for you, ’cause you got a year off. You don’t have to worry about watching that.

Chris: That’s true. I want that job.

Bean: What else? (silence) You can name one TV show.

Chris: I’m a surfer. I watch NYPD Blue. I think it’s great.

Bean: Yeah? What’s the last movie that you enjoyed?

Chris: I saw Spy Game the other night. That was kind of good.

Kevin: I liked that a lot.

Chris: And … um …

Bean: And that’s it. (all laugh) Let’s talk to Joe from West LA. This is a question that is asked of every person who creates entertainment in Hollywood these days. Joe, good morning, you’re on with Chris Carter.

Joe: Hi. When you did the movie, you blew up a building in Dallas which looked reminiscently like the Oklahoma City bombing —

Chris: Mm-hmm.

Joe: And also the pilot episode of The Lone Gunmen, you had a plot for a passenger jet to be crashed into the World Trade Center. I’m just wondering, in light of the September 11 events have you gotten more self-conscious with your writing?

Chris: You think about it every day. So, it’s something that we won’t touch on the show. I don’t think we have any perspective on it, and we do entertainment.

Bean: So, you’ve tried to stay away

Chris: Yeah. It’s a very sensitive subject right now, and I don’t think that it’s subject matter for us.

Kevin: You also depict people high up in the Government and for a while after September 11, you weren’t allowed to cast aspersions on the President or any of his staff.

Bean: Boy, did we find that out the hard way.

Kevin: Yeah, we sure did. I mean, your presentation of the government, even, some people could look at and kind of feel weird about it because it’s not patriotic right now.

Chris: Well, we deal with factions inside the government, so it’s not the government, per se. It’s not the big bad evil government, it’s factions within it.

Bean: And that’s how you make yourself feel better at night? (laugh)

Kevin: One more, from Mike in Hollywood. Hello, Mike? (no answer) Oh, he’s gone. He wanted to know if you were going to release seasons 5-8 on DVD.

Chris: Yes, we are.

Kevin: I imagine that makes sense. Isn’t it great to be have DVD, to be able to have the entire collection?

Chris: Yeah, it’s incredible to me

Bean: Have you been able to do stuff? What kind of things have you been able to add to The X-Files DVDs?

Chris: We add some stuff in, scenes that were missing or deleted or had to be taken out for time, and then there’s commentary. So it’s got a lot of bonus stuff.

Lisa [a show staffer]: Will it help us understand?

Kevin: No.

Chris: Follow the bouncing ball?

Bean: Nothing will do that.

Kevin: Although we’re convinced — we didn’t even bring this up — Chris has no idea what’s going on in The X-Files.

Lisa: He lost control in season two.

Bean: He doesn’t have a clue.

Kevin: All along he said, “I know what’s going to happen, I know what’s going to happen.” And we just doubt him.

Bean: We are calling bogus on that. Absolutely calling bogus!

Kevin: We have to go, but what else you can tell us about Sunday night’s X-Files, except the throw-up scene? What else have you got for us, anything? Whet our appetite?

Chris: It’s a stand-alone episode, which means it’s not a mythology episode. It really does what The X-Files, I think, does best, which is scare the pants off of you.

Bean: It does that. I’ve seen it, I recommend it, folks. You should check it out, Sunday night on 9 on Fox.

Kevin: There you go. Chris Carter, thanks very much for coming in.

Chris: Thanks for having me.

Kevin: We appreciate it.

Kevin and Bean: Interview with Chris Carter

Mar-02-2001
“The Kevin and Bean Show” KROQ radio
Interview with Chris Carter

[Transcribed by CarterPhile]

(Chris called in from NYC for the interview. Also, I’m not 100% sure on the deejay’s IDs, but I tried to be consistent, anyway — I figure at worst it’s a 50-50 shot as to whether I’m consistently right or consistently wrong! *g*)

Kevin: There is good news and there is bad news. The bad news is: no new “X-Files” for the next four weeks, folks. We were left — we were left hanging with Mulder out in the middle of a field looking dead, is what we were left hanging with last Sunday night. But the good news is: in its place a spin-off show from our friend Chris Carter called “The Lone Gunmen.” Chris, good morning, how are you?

Chris: Good morning. I’m great.

Bean: Chris is the one that left us hanging, by the way, just so you know.

Kevin: You bastard!

Bean: Tell us about “The Lone Gunmen,” Chris.

Chris: It’s the three computer geeks from “The X-Files.” If you’ve been an “X-Files” fan, you know them as the three guys that Mulder and Scully go to when they can’t even get the answers.

Bean: Right.

Kevin: Sure.

Bean: How did you come up with them originally? Because that’s a pretty funny idea, to have computer geeks that somehow have answers that even the FBI can’t get.

Chris: They were not my original idea. They were actually the creation of Glen Morgan and James Wong, who worked on “The X-Files” for the first year and a half or so and then came back for a little while. They were three guys that were even more paranoid than Mulder, and they were really comic relief for about the first five years. All of a sudden we needed an episode without Mulder and Scully in it ’cause we were doing the movie, and then we did an episode about the Lone Gunmen — it was good, funny — and we did a second one that was even better and funnier, and all of a sudden we realized these guys could maybe star in their own TV show.

Kevin: Yeah, you know — I was a little worried, to tell you the truth, when I started thinking about this because they are comic relief and a lot of times what makes them so effective is they are two or three funny minutes in the middle of a show, and they do break the tension a little bit, and I was worried that maybe it wouldn’t be possible to spin it off. But like you said, you’ve already done that where you’ve spun them off for an hour, and they were able to carry it, so they got a lot more depth maybe than just what you had time to use them for over the years on “The X-Files.”

Chris: Exactly. Now we’ve surrounded them with some other people, so now all of a sudden, like Mulder and Scully, they’ve got other people to bounce off of.

Bean: And how — uh, how do we start off Sunday night? What’s the episode? Does it tell us how they came about?

Chris: A little bit. You learn a little bit more about their background, particularly one of the characters — Byers — about his father, and, uh — His name is John Fitzgerald Byers, so you learn a little bit about that.

Kevin: Interesting.

Chris: Yeah. It’s a caper about people who are trying to actually fly a jet into the World Trade Center, so it has great special effects. It’s really a funny story. It’s got tight plotting. It’s all those things you’d expect from “The X-Files” but with three new guys.

Bean: Do you write it?

Chris: Yes. I actually — I am writing “X-Files” and not as much on “Lone Gunmen” this year because I’ve got three guys who I call my Lone Gunmen who are the co-creators on this show and that’s their gig this year.

Kevin: It’s their baby. Now, what do we know about these guys, what kind of personal information? I sense that none of them have ever had a date, and it seems like they live in that laboratory down there.

Chris: Yeah, they are all 30-and-over virgins.

Kevin: It seems like that. Is there any vaguely homoerotic content between the three of them, Chris?

Chris: That’s in season two.

Bean: Are the storylines gonna cross any with “The X-Files”?

Chris: Yeah, there are some crossovers, and hope to make good use — you know, “X-Files” as a source of storytelling device.

Kevin: Let me ask you this: I know you’re not quite as involved in this show as you are “The X-Files,” but is this paranoia that we sense in all of these shows — including “Millennium,” including “Harsh Realm” — is this paranoia real in you? Do you sometimes sit around and think, “Wow, I wonder what the government’s really, really up to,” or is it all fantasy for you?

Chris: I think paranoia is a healthy thing to have, and I think that you pick up the paper every day and there’s something: they let radiation out on you, they’re conducting some secret study, there’s all kinds of stuff being done. And I grew up in the era of Watergate, so I’m suspicious —

Kevin: Skeptical by nature.

Chris: Yes.

Bean: That giant distrust of the government.

Chris: And I work in Hollywood, too, so …

Kevin: No kidding! So, “Lone Gunmen” for four Sundays and then what, you’re going to go to the Chris Carter Fox timeslot: Friday nights at 9, right?

Chris: Fridays at 9.

Bean: Very cool. We’re excited about it. We just wanted to touch base with you and find out what to expect. And I guess it’s gonna be on this Sunday night, so we’re looking forward to it.

Chris: Please do.

Bean: Thanks, Chris. We’ll talk to you later.

Kevin: Have a fantastic weekend.

Chris Carter: Thank you.

Kevin & Bean: Chat with Chris Carter

Mar-??-2001
Kevin & Bean
Chat with Chris Carter

DJ’s: There is good news and there is bad news. The bad news…there are no new XFiles for a month. We were left hanging. We were left hanging with Mulder out in the middle of a field looking dead. That’s what we were left hanging with last Sunday night. But the good news, in its place the spin-off show from our friend Chris Carter, called, The Lone Gunmen. Chris, good morning, how are you?

Chris Carter: I’m great

DJ: Chris is the one that left us hanging, by the way, just so you know.

Other DJ: You bastard!

DJ: Tell us about The Lone Gunmen, Chris.

Chris Carter: It’s the 3 computer geeks from the XFiles, uh.. if you watch the show, it’s the three guys that Mulder and Scully go to when they can’t even get the answers.

DJ’s: Right

DJ’s: How did you come up with them originally? Because that’s a pretty funny idea to have computer geeks who have answers that somehow even the FBI can’t get.

Chris Carter: They were not my original idea. They were the creation of Glen Morgan and James Wong, who worked on the XFiles for a while. They were 3 guys even more paranoid than Mulder, and they were really comic relief for the first 5 years.

DJ’s: Yeah, right!

Chris Carter: All of a sudden we needed an episode without Mulder and Scully in it because we were doing the movie, and then uh… we did an episode about the Lone Gunmen. It was good, funny. And we realized we had, maybe a tv show there.

DJ’s: Yeah, you know, I was a little worried, to tell you the truth when I started thinking about this because they are comic relief. And a lot of times what makes them so effective is that they are two or three funny minutes in the middle of a show, and they do break the tension a little bit. So, I was worried that they wouldn’t be possible to spin them off. But like you said, you’ve already done that where you’ve spun them off for an hour, and they were able to carry it. So, they have a lot more depth maybe than what you’ve had time to use them for over the years on the X-Files.

Chris Carter: Exactly. We’ve surrounded them with other people, so like with Mulder and Scully, they now have other people to bounce off of.

DJ’s: And how? uh.. how do we start off Sunday night? What’s the episode about. Does it tell us how they came about?

Chris Carter: A little bit. You learn more about their background, particularly one of the characters, Byers, about his father, and uh…. his name is John Fitzgerald Byers, so you learn a little bit about that.

DJ’s: Interesting (laughing)

Chris Carter: Yeah. It’s a caper about people who are trying to actually fly a jet into the World Trade Center. It has great special effects. It’s ..uh.. really a funny story, it’s got tight plotting. It’s got all the things you’d expect from the XFiles except with three new guys.

DJ’s: Do you write it?

Chris Carter: Yeah. I am writing XFiles, and well, not as much Lone Gunmen this year because I’ve got three guys who I call my lone gunmen…

DJ’s: Right. Sure.

Chris Carter: They are co-creators on the show. They’re.. uh… it’s their baby.

DJ’s: Now, what do we know about these guys, any personal information? I sense that none of them have ever had a date. And it seems like they live in that laboratory down there.

Chris Carter: Yeah, they are all the 30 and over version.. of … uh

DJ’s: It seems like that… and any homo-erotic content between the three of them?

Chris Carter: Uh.. season 2.

DJ’s: Will the stories cross over at all with the XFiles?

Chris Carter: Yeah, there are some crossovers, and uh.. we hope to put to good use… you know XFiles as a good source of storytelling.

DJ’s: Let me ask you, I know you aren’t as involved in this show as you are the XFiles, but this paranoia that we sense in all these shows including Millennium and Harsh Realm, is this paranoia real in you? Do you sometimes sit around and think what is the government really really up to, or is it just fantasy to you?

Chris Carter: I think paranoia is a healthy thing to have. And I uh… pick up the paper every day, and read that they used radiation, all sorts of things being done. And I grew up in the era of Watergate, so…

DJ’s: Skeptical by nature.

Chris Carter: Yep.

DJ’s: That giant mistrust of the government

Chris Carter: (muffled under the DJs laughing) can’t blame me now (?)

DJ’s: So, lone Gunmen for the next few Sundays and then on the Chris Carter Fox timeslot, Friday nights at 9, right?

Chris Carter: Friday nights at 9, right.

DJ’s: Very cool. We’re excited about it. We just wanted to touch base with you to see what we can expect. It’s on this Sunday night, so we are looking forward to it. Thanks, Chris.

Chris Carter: Thank you.

DJ’s: Fantastic meeting you.

Chris Carter: Thank you.

DJ’s: That was the low key Chris Carter, unlike our other friend (plays a clip of another guy screaming).

Kevin & Bean: Interview with Chris Carter

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

Transcribed by ‘C’ [from The Haven]

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

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

Kevin or Bean: Hey, Chris!

Chris Carter: Hey guys

Kevin or Bean: How are you?

Chris Carter: Good.

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

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

Kevin or Bean: How come you picked this weekend?

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

Kevin or Bean: Did you make that decision?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chris Carter: Yeah.

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

Chris Carter: Thank you. Yeah, he is.

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

Chris Carter: The metal man

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chris Carter: um..

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

Chris Carter: yeah.

Kevin or Bean: Sure.

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

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

Chris Carter: Yes.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chris Carter: Right

Kevin or Bean: And she gets pregnant

Chris Carter: Right

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kevin or Bean: Really?

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

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

Chris Carter: Yes.

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

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

Kevin or Bean: YEAH!

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

Chris Carter: Right

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

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

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

Lisa: No!

Kevin or Bean: Is it…

Lisa: Does she know who the dad is?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chris Carter: I hope you will (all laugh)

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

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

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

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

Kevin or Bean: a lot!

Chris Carter: Yeah.

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

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

Chris Carter: Good.

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

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

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

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

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

Chris Carter: Gladiator (all laugh)

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

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

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

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

Chris Carter: Thank you.

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

Chris Carter: Right.

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

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

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

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

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

Bean: No!

Chris Carter: yeah.

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

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

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

Question: Hey, Chris

Chris Carter: Hey

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

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

Kevin or Bean: . Ok. Thanks, Steve.

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

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

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

Kevin or Bean: Does it?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kevin or Bean: Can I make a suggestion?

Chris Carter: Yeah.

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

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

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

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

Bean: No, I was not. (Laughing)

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

Chris Carter: Thanks.

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

Chris Carter on the Kevin & Bean Show

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

KROQ 106.7FM Los Angeles

[Transcribed by Keyg]

K: Kevin

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

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

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

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

K(laughing): I’m sure that’s it.

B: With each new launch.

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

C: Thank you very much.

K: Always glad to have you on KROQ.

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

B: Ya know what I mean?

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

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

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

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

C(laughing): No, I don’t.

K: Wh– H-How– Why?

C: Uh, you know, it’s–

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

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

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

C(laughing): …probably so…

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

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

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

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

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

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

K: And what is some of that stuff?

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

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

C(laughing): whoops,uh (laughing)

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

B: You’re not named.

C: No. no.

B: It’s the suits.

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

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

K: That you can’t talk about.

C(laughing): yeah

K: All right. I understand.

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

C: Yeah. Uh, yes.

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

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

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

C: Well, no. Heheheh.

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

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

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

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

B: Like they did with the Star Trek

K: Next Generation.

C: Yeah, sort of like that.

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

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

K: You tired of it?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

C: Yeah.

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

C: Yeah. yeah.

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

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

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

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

K: oh really

C: Yeah.

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

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

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

K: What does that look like?

B: …bad thing…

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

C: yeah

K: –late of “Millennium”–

C: yes

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

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

K: oh, interesting…

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

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

K: yeah

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

C: right

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

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

K: That’s why you’re our kind of guy.

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

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

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

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

K: Oh, is that right.

B: Mine– Mine too.

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

C: yeah

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

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

B: play the music now [music]

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

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

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

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

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

C: …another dimension.

L: …virtual reality.

K: Explain it to us.

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

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

C: right

K: –when you’re in the game–

C: right

K: –cause your mind is not here.

C: Yes, you’re laying on a slab.

K: Dude, that’s pretty cool.

C: Yeah.

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

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

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

C: yes

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

C: No, your left arm is not gone.

K: oh

C: But uh–

L: But it hurts like hell?

C: It hurts like hell.

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

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

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

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

K: Yeah.

L: Yeah.

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

K: So we all have doubles.

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

K: Are they funny in that realm?

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

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

B: So it’s an opposite universe.

B: They’re also immensely popular.

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

C: right

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

C: heheh

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

C: right

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

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

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

C(laughing): …it is scary.

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

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

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

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

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

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

K: Chaos.

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

K: That sounds great.

B: Will Kevin understand it at all?

L: heheheh

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

K: If I don’t, can I call you and…

C: yeaheheh

B: heheheh

C: …hotline…

B: Chris Carter Cliff Notes?

K: heheheh

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

C: Yeah. They–

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

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

K: Isn’t that a tough time slot?

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

K: yeah

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

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

C: Well, you know, I–

K: Is it a curse?

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

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

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

K: right

C: Uh, but, uh…

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

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

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

C: Yeah.

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

C: David Nutter.

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

C: heheh

K: heheh

C: Uh… heheh. M-Maybe.

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

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

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

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

C: Season Three.

K: heheheh

B: Have we seen that before?

K: heheheh

C: hmm…

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

C: yeah

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

K: That’s true.

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

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

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

C: Yes. Heheh.

K: Is that just like–

C: Yeah. I–heh–

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

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

C: It’s weird.

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

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

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

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

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

C: yes

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

C: Uh… (laughing)Nothing.

B: Just working, aren’t you–

K: –working.

C: Work, like every year.

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

C: Thanks.

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