Interview: Duchovny, Carter and Spotnitz of “The X-Files”

The X-Files has always been a mysterious show, full of crazy conspiracies and puzzling cases dealing with the supernatural, the extraterrestrial and the just plain unknown, not to mention the inbred. So it’s perhaps not surprising when they finally give us an official synopsis for The X-Files: I Want to Believe and it tells us nothing.

In grand “X-Files” manner, the film’s storyline is being kept under wraps. This much can be revealed: It is a stand-alone story in the tradition of some of the show’s most acclaimed and beloved episodes, and takes the complicated relationship between Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) in unexpected directions. Mulder continues his unshakable quest for the truth, and Scully, the passionate, ferociously intelligent physician, remains inextricably tied to Mulder’s pursuits.

One might wonder where the ‘passionate’ and ‘ferocious’ stuff is coming in, as one of the conceits of the series was that its two stars spoke in deadpan monotones for the most part, but that’s a digression.

There was a sneak peek planned for the film at the LA Film Festival, but it turned out they only showed two clips - one of a montage of Billy Connolly leading Amanda Peet and Xzibit’s FBI team on a body hunt through the snow interspersed with shots of that formerly alive body getting into a scuffle with a woman and a garden utensil, the other being some dialog between Mulder and Scully re-establishing their “I must do this/You can’t do this/I must do this” give and take. Mulder at one point says that Scully is his “booking agent now,” although he does so sarcastically. So perhaps Mulder tours the country as an Occult Expert or some such.

The subsequent interview with series creators Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz and star David Duchovny didn’t reveal much more at all. They wouldn’t even state whether or not Mitch Pileggi is actually in the film (jokingly or not-jokingly, Carter said “he’s playing a werewolf”), and they only say that the legendary Smoking Man William B. Davis is “referenced.” The Q&A also revealed that psychotic and somewhat embarrassing internet fans of this show have not gone away, and they’re apparently thrilled to get to obsess about the show all over again. “X-Philes,” indeed.

Regardless, here are some of what they actually did manage to tell us about the film:

Carter: We started working on the story a year after The X-Files ended in 2002, and then that got interrupted by business. We were all ready to go, and there was a three, four year period in there where it didn’t look like the movie was going to get made. When the business, which was a lawsuit, was resolved, I swear I was hanging up the phone with my lawyers and Fox was calling on the other line saying “if you want to do this movie, it’s now or never.” There was a writer’s strike looming, so we said ‘now.’ That was a year and two months ago.

Spotnitz: We spent days just talking, not even about The X-Files, just talking about anything. Then, a week or so later, we got together and started working on the story, which is a story we actually wrote in 2003 and lost all of our notes. So we had to remember it, but it got so much better from having to reimagine it. It’s so much more interesting, I think, for the characters. Some of the stuff we talked about in those first few days wound up being the heart of the movie.

Duchovny: I thought the smart first move that Frank and Chris made was to allow time to go on in the world of the X-Files as it’s gone on in the world at large. We wouldn’t be trying to play these characters set in stone as we last saw them, or even when Gillian and I first played the characters back in 1993. The idea of me trying to be like that guy who might be on reruns right now, as much as I’d love to be able to, I think it’d be a little embarrassing to try. Mulder changed over the nine years of the show, and changed again over the six years that we haven’t seen him. I think that’s one of the most interesting things as an actor to try and embody is this same character as time goes by, and not wanting to just be a cartoon who’s frozen in time, but to bring the changes and consciousness that happen to all of us in time.

Duchovny: One of the reasons I wanted to continue playing this character is that I thought he was a very worthwhile character, to take him on this journey that we started back in 1993. I saw him as a quest hero and I wanted his quest to continue, whether or not he gets what he wants. I wanted to see what happens to this quest hero that Chris was able to develop in a completely new and unique form. I was proud to be a part of that newness and I wanted to take him to his end. This is another step towards that.

Duchovny: When we were reading the script the first time, I looked over and Chris was tearing up. I realized watching Chris that there was a heavy burden of the emotion of the characters. We were on set goofing around, and somebody brought one of these compilations, a lot of clips of Mulder and Scully set to a song, and it was very emotional. I was saying “oh, fuck, I gotta deliver.” We on camera on the inside play it off – “we’ll just go in there, we’ll do our stuff and we’ll do it right and it’ll be fine,” but then you realize there is a lot people are expecting. I saw it from the outside. When I saw that compilation, I saw it the way the fans see it. It fills you with a responsibility.

Duchovny: It really felt from inception all the way through the execution that we just wanted to make a good film. We just wanted to make a good thriller. The subject matter holds a certain amount of nostalgia with the characters, but it wasn’t going to be one of these films that was constantly winking and nodding and trying to pander. I think it’s inherent in the enterprise, but we really wanted to make a good film that stands on its own.

Duchovny: Interesting aside. The advancement of the original cell phone was one of the reasons we were able to keep shooting The X-Files. Gillian and I were so burnt out and tired, and we had to be in every scene together until the cell phone came along. That gave us days off. I always think the cell phone led to two or three more years of the show.

On casting:

Spotnitz: We were looking for somebody who had Gillian’s intelligence, gravity and authority to be this really strong , smart, capable young FBI agent. Amanda Peet, we’d been watching her on Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and loved her work and thought this was the perfect person for this, and she wanted to do it. So that was easy. Xzibit was a discovery in casting, we had no clue. As it turned out, he’d done a rap song that mentioned The X-Files. Xzibit was really great. Billy Connolly is somebody who Chris had really wanted to work with for a very long time, and admired him from a movie called Mrs. Brown.

On all the secrecy surrounding the film:

Carter: We thought we were taking precautions when we did a script on red paper so it couldn’t be Xeroxed, then I think it was the first or second or third day of filming, it was in the National Enquirer, so we knew we had to be very careful this time. Just seeing what happened with Indiana Jones and how that was leaked, we just took crazy precautions. We only let the key people from each department read the script, and they read it in a room with video cameras on them. They couldn’t call their mom or they couldn’t make any notes or write anything down or take pictures or anything. We were actually having fun with that as a precaution.

Duchovny: I actually had to convince Chris to give me a script. I came in and read it in his office like these other people, and I actually had to convince him to release a script to me.

Carter: One of the hardest nights of shooting, we were filming in a place that was not exactly in the script and was not exactly scripted, and no one on the crew knew what I was doing. It’s not a good way to make a movie.

Duchnovny: People want to figure it out, and that’s fine. But I think the initial impulse behind Chris and Frank wanting to keep it a mystery was actually a benevolent impulse towards the moviegoing public, because it’s trying to make an experience where you didn’t know everything before you sat down in the theater for the first time. I don’t remember the last time I was able to do that. It’s just an impossibility now, and I respect the attempt and I hope it works.

Spotnitz: That’s the remarkable thing that I’ve noticed over the last few weeks is that the fans are actually supportive of the secrecy and approve. Most of the reporters that we’ve talked to are supportive as well. We’ve still got five weeks to go, and if somebody does leak it between now and when the movie opens, I don’t think they’ll be met with praise and affection. So we’ve got that working in our favor.

On expectations:

Duchovny: It’s a classic thriller. It’s just a hell of a good film, and I was happy that Chris came out of the gate so masterfully as a filmmaker. I think it’s of a piece, it stands on its own as a really classic scary thriller, and I’m happy to be a part of it. The truth is that it’s impossible to please everybody. If we thought about it, we would have driven ourselves crazy. When I saw it and I was pleased as a moviegoer, I think that’s the best that we can do. There are going to be people who don’t get stuff that they want, there will be people who miss stuff that they think should’ve been in there, and that’s inevitable. But the job that we had was to make a great film. I think we did that.

Spotnitz: If it wasn’t for the fans of this show, this movie never would have been made. We wanted it to work for the fans, but we needed it to work for the great big audience out there. We’re especially excited about the idea of introducing this show and these characters to people who were too young to watch The X-Files when it was on originally, which is quite a few people.

Spotnitz: I felt like, at the end of this movie, if this were the last time we saw Mulder and Scully, I’d be very proud to leave them at that moment. I hope it’s not.