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Crave Online: Did you get any nostalgia coming back after six years?

David Duchovny: I don't think there was any kind of nostalgic feel to the film. It really felt from the inception all the way through execution that we were just making a good film. We just wanted to make a good thriller. The subject matter called a certain amount of nostalgia in the characters and everything but it wasn't going to be one of these films that was constantly winking and nodding and trying to pander that kind of nostalgia. I think it's inherent in the enterprise but we really wanted to make a great film that stood on its own. What I've been saying is I think it harkens back to the kind of beginnings of the show. The first couple years, the first three years where we were really the only thriller, horror, scary show on television. I know that everybody loves Mulder and Scully and the relationships and all that but I think originally, that's what people fell in love with. Here's a show that's doing this. There hasn't been a show like this that's doing that. In many ways, we got back to our roots of the show.

Crave Online: How did you get back into character?

David Duchovny: I thought that was the smart first movie 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 so that we wouldn't be trying to play these characters set in stone as we last saw them, or even when you look back when Gillian and I first played the characters in 1993. I think that's probably one of the most interesting things as an actor to try and embody is the same character as time goes by and not wanting to just be a cartoon guy who's frozen in time but actually working with changes of life or consciousness that happen to all of us with time. 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 would be a little embarrassing to try. So Mulder changed over the course of the nine years of the show and changed again over the six years that we haven't seen him.

Crave Online: Were you ever worried whether the old magic would still be there?

David Duchovny:  I think when we did the initial read through of the script at Chris's house a month or so before we were going to start filming, it became apparent to all of us sitting there that there was still, the fact that we spent so much time together and did so much stuff together just gives you a richness to a relationship that you can't really fake. So we just try to access that honestly and hope that it reads. So far we've been lucky enough that it always does read.  As an actor what I focused on, just trying to be honest and truthful to life's changes, trying to mature this guy. This is one of the reasons I wanted to continue playing this character. I thought he's a really worthwhile character. To take him on this journey that we started 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. So I was proud to be a part of that newness and I wanted to take him to his end. This was another step towards that.

Crave Online: Were there any specific things you wanted to see in the script?

David Duchovny: No. My coming back was not based on script. At this point I have almost complete blind trust in Chris and Frank to come up with the goods. So my only concern was that it should be a stand alone and not something that you needed specific knowledge of The X-Files to enjoy. When I read the script I saw that it was that. Other than that I had no hopes or plans for what this would be. I just knew that the world we'd made and the world that Chris and Frank would remake was going to be satisfying to me.

Crave Online: What's the secret to your chemistry with Gillian?

David Duchovny: I don't know why in the beginning, maybe just luck in the beginning. But after this long we actually do have a history and so when I look over at Gillian or I'm Mulder looking over at Scully, there's a lot of sh*t that I can call on. We have a lot between us and so you don't really have to make it up. I think that just as people, now fifteen years later, we have just shared so much regardless of how much we speak to one another. I expect to see Gillian even if I haven't seen her for a year. I mean, there's chemistry in life and there's acting chemistry. I'm not saying they're the same thing, but they're as mysterious.

Crave Online: When you played Mulder for so long and then it stopped, how much of it stayed with you in life?

David Duchovny: That's a very interesting question and I wouldn't know how to answer it. I mean, it impacts your life because strangers can see you that way. I'll sit here and I'll answer questions about this fictional person and so it stays with me in that way. I wouldn't say that I ever get up and think of Mulder unless I'm working on it. I think that I liked a lot about the guy. When I played him I liked his courage and I liked his energy to get to the truth and to the quest and all of that and I think that at one point I'd learned a little from that, like a fan might. I was a fan of the guy. So that's as far as I go in terms of saying that he lives in me.

Crave Online: Didn't Scully and Mulder use cell phones before it was the cool thing to do?

David Duchovny: The cell phone question is interesting because I think that it extended the life of the series because Gillian and I were so fatigued and the advent of the cell phone, in what year, '96? I don't know. But it was instrumental in us being able to have time off because we could split up and we didn't have to be in the same room to have a conversation. I'm being totally serious. I could have some time off and Gillian could have some time off and we'd just talk on the phone to one another rather than being in every scene together. So if not for the cell phone, no second half of The X-Files.