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.

Crave Online: How much does Chris encourage a sense of humor?

David Duchovny: Very, very, very little. Chris and I have always kind of battled over that. In the series it got in more and more for both of us as we went on and did what we thought of as the funny episodes and we both enjoyed doing those because they were like vacations and certainly Chris, as the show runner, was guiding that and letting that happen and saw the virtue in what a huge tent this show so that it could encompass everything from stand alones to mythology to parody of itself. I can't think of another show that ever did that. We just never did the musical. We never did that, but that's the only thing, thank goodness. But in terms of me coming up with stuff in the moment, usually Chris doesn't like that because he has a different theory about the tension than I do. He really feels like it lets the air out of things and he doesn't like to do that. I feel like I like to let the air out. So that's just a difference opinion we have. I don't know what your take on that is.

Crave Online: We know you wanted to leave the show for the last year, but then you were instrumental in getting the second movie made. Do you have a love/hate relationship with The X-Files?

David Duchovny: I wouldn't characterize me as the one who really wanted to get it going, but I'm certainly someone who would always say yes whenever Chris and I would talk about it. The love/hate has nothing to do with the actual content, the actual people, the actual anything. The love/hate had to do with me wanting to get on with the rest of my life, the rest of my career and when you think about it, that I did eight years and Gillian did nine, that's a lifetime. There are no other dramas that keep the same characters that run that long. If you look at Law & Order or ER, they're twenty years old or whatever they are, but they're completely recast. So it's just not something you see. You don't see actors not get fatigued and not get frustrated in a drama where we're working, cell phones or not, everyday for many, many hours playing the same characters. So it's just natural to burn out. There was always love for the show and love for the character. There was never any hate for that. Yes, I love The X-Files and I love Vancouver. Those things are true.

Crave Online: How did it feel to get back into a snowy X-Files?

David Duchovny: In this particular movie, it's the right image. Obviously there's something buried beneath and that's a good image for The X-files and a good metaphor for The X-Files if we're going to stay terrestrial. In terms of for a filmmaker, you saw how beautiful it is and how eerie it is. Just and eerie, otherworldly, beautifully filmic location so I think for those two reasons, Chris Carter might like snow. The places we were able to film, Vancouver itself doesn't really have snow. It did a little this year but generally it doesn’t have snow. We filmed a couple hours north of Vancouver. I had to work in one of the most beautiful ski resorts in the world for almost three weeks. Pity me. I think it's hard sometimes. The logistics of it is if you're out in the middle of nowhere and you're running around in the freezing rain or snow you don't get a chance to go off and warm up in your trailer because you're seeing so much that your trailer is on the other side of the town. So you are stuck in clothes that aren't fitting for the environment for a long time. So, yeah, it's a pain in the ass, but you just suck it up and it's not going to be that long and your feet are cold and your ass is cold and your hands are cold and your muscles are cold. You just suck it up. But when you see it on film it's just gorgeous. You look at those big snow flakes coming down in the movie and it's worth it.  You have to know that when you're putting up with it, that if you're experiencing this discomfort it's probably going to look pretty good on film.  

Crave Online: Was the George Bush/J. Edgar Hoover thing scripted or did it just come about?

David Duchovny: Yeah, that was completely scripted and that was an example of where I was trying to be what I thought was funny and Chris was like, "No. No." So no. That was actually always in it and was written in, literally as George Bush and J. Edgar Hoover. It was funny. I can't remember.

Crave Online: Have you had any real supernatural occurrences during any time on The X-Files?

David Duchovny: But I've never really had a paranormal experience per se in my life. I believe in the spirit and the energy, but I've never seen it. I've felt it, but not seen it.

Crave Online: What are you doing next?

David Duchovny: I believe I will be doing this movie called The Joneses and then Californication season two is coming out in September. I have just three more days of filming of that and then we're done.

Crave Online: Are you going to Comic Con?

David Duchovny: When is it?

Crave Online: This week.

 

Duchovny: No. [Laughs]