Considering that David Duchovny has only played two major roles in the last decade, he must be the luckiest, or smartest, actor around. Because what roles they’ve been: as womanizer/novelist Hank Moody in Showtime’s hit Californication, and as FBI agent Fox Mulder in the long-running uber-hit X-Files. Now, Duchovny’s two worlds have collided, with the almost simultaneous release of the new movie X-Files: I Want to Believe and the Season Two premiere of Californication.
For those of you with your heads buried in the sand, X-Files featured two FBI agents, Duchovny as Mulder, and Gillian Anderson as his ubiquitous, if reluctant partner Dana Scully. The series ran for 9 seasons, from 1993-2002, and captured the imaginations of fans everywhere with its dark, intriguing and often frightening glimpses of people and phenomena rarely seen by most of us. In stark contrast is the comedy Californication, a veritable romp through the bedrooms of hedonistic Hank’s many conquests.
Making the decision to do a new TV series didn’t come easily for Duchovny. “No, because there was no cable at that time, and I never wanted to do another network season, they do 22 or 24 episodes. I felt I wouldn’t have any free time to do movies, or to write or direct, or raise my family, or whatever else I want to do. It’s a ten month season, so when I left in 2002, whatever it was, 2001, there really was no ‘Californication’ option. There was no ‘Dexter,’ there was no anything like that. And so when the schedule became doable for me, then I started to open up my head towards the characters and maybe doing something.
Enter Tom Kapino, now Duchovny’s co-executive producer on the show. “Tom originally pitched me the idea,” Duchovny explains. “‘Cause I read the script, and I said, ‘I think it’s really funny. But I don’t know what the show is. What’s the show? Is the show just a guy having sex with a lot of women?’ 'Cause I don’t want to really do that. I don’t find that interesting. And he said, ‘No.’ It’s about what if you get it right the first time. What if you had the woman and you lost her. And you want to try to get that back. And I said, ‘I get that, I get that.’”
“I knew it was funny, I knew we were funny,” he continues. “I think comedy is good. I think it’s hard, it’s hard to make funny shows. And I thought, if we just keep being funny, people will find us. ‘Cause I look at TV and I don’t laugh that much.
When asked about what his character wants in life, Duchovny responds throughtfully, “I don’t know. I think that he wants a lot of things. I don’t know if happy is one. He has an image of a family life, of being a father and being a husband, and I think he has this competing image of being an artist. Somebody who needs their time away from the day-to-day of the family to experience many different things. So, I think those things are at war.
When asked about the benefits and liabilities of doing a show on Network TV versus Cable, Duchovny focuses on the ironies. “It’s funny, because ‘Dexter’ can show on CBS, and I said to Tom when that was happening, ‘Is there any way [for our show]?’ And he said they talked about it, but it’s just not really possible for us to be on network, which is too bad. There’s too much [bad] language. I’m sure the nudity could be cut easily, but it’s really language and probably subject matter. You know, you can have a serial killer, you just can’t have a guy that has sex with more than one woman in a year. It’s America.”
He continues, “But on the other hand, in terms of the language, it’s great to have full access to the full flower of the English language, and we all know that curse words are an indispensable part of all of our lives, I think. And to be able to play a character who speaks like a real person is freeing. In terms of the nudity, I never even think of that. Cause I just usually just have a shirt off. I’m rarely, rarely nude.”
When asked if he thinks Hank will settle down with one woman, he replies, “Well, if he does, it would be his girlfriend, it would be Karen (Natascha McElhone). That’s kind of how it seems to be going.”
We know all about Hank’s worst qualities, but what about his good ones? Duchovny could only think of one, “He doesn’t lie, which I think is really powerful. The only thing he lies about is that he had sex with the underage girl, and I think we forgive him that because he loses his love.”
After a while, Dish asked Duchovny about the X-Files coming back, and why he decided to revisit that again. “Oh, I always wanted to make it a movie. We always wanted to have it as a movie franchise just because as I said earlier, the main reason that I wanted out of the show at any time was only scheduling, fatigue, and burnout, and that kind of thing. We did nine years, an average of 23 or 24 episodes, so 11 day episodes, 14 hours a day. So, it was kind of a lifetime in a decade. I never wanted to see the show go away. I wanted to see the show transform into a movie franchise because I thought it was a natural, and I wanted to play that character for longer. I just didn’t want to play him everyday for longer.”
Dish asked Duchovny why it’s taken almost 10 years for the movie to come out.
He explains, “Well, it really hasn’t taken ten years when you think about it, because the show ended in 2002. That’s six years ago, and we didn’t get anybody to come back right away. Chris Carter was more worked out than any of us. So, give him two years to recover, now we’re in 2004, start talking about a script, and you get pushed back, and here it’s 2006, and that’s pretty much how it goes.”
He continues, “In terms of going back to Mulder, that's more of a, you know, the decision that was made to come back after six years after the final show had ended and to catch up with these characters, Chris Carter made the decision to let time go by. So six years had gone by for the two characters, so I found that to be the key for me to get back into this guy that I started playing in 1993. I don't want to play him -- I can't play him the same way. I walk a little slower (He Laughs). So it's just to allow the character not necessarily to age, but mature and grow into another -- another phase of one's life. To me it wasn't trying to be Mulder from1993. It was trying to be Mulder in 2008. And as you know from your own life, you're a slightly different person than you were in 1993, so that was interesting for me to get back into it.”
How exactly has Fox Mulder changed, Dish asked? “No, you have to see the movie. He’s more mature. What’s fascinating about this movie is that it’s a thriller and it’s smart, but unlike other smart thrillers, it has a really adult relationship in the center of it. You have two people really with a long history, and we all know that. The idea is working through a case, while they’re working through each other. I just think we love each other, that’s all. To me, that sets this movie apart, that makes it really interesting.”
For those of you with your heads buried in the sand, X-Files featured two FBI agents, Duchovny as Mulder, and Gillian Anderson as his ubiquitous, if reluctant partner Dana Scully. The series ran for 9 seasons, from 1993-2002, and captured the imaginations of fans everywhere with its dark, intriguing and often frightening glimpses of people and phenomena rarely seen by most of us. In stark contrast is the comedy Californication, a veritable romp through the bedrooms of hedonistic Hank’s many conquests.
Making the decision to do a new TV series didn’t come easily for Duchovny. “No, because there was no cable at that time, and I never wanted to do another network season, they do 22 or 24 episodes. I felt I wouldn’t have any free time to do movies, or to write or direct, or raise my family, or whatever else I want to do. It’s a ten month season, so when I left in 2002, whatever it was, 2001, there really was no ‘Californication’ option. There was no ‘Dexter,’ there was no anything like that. And so when the schedule became doable for me, then I started to open up my head towards the characters and maybe doing something.
Enter Tom Kapino, now Duchovny’s co-executive producer on the show. “Tom originally pitched me the idea,” Duchovny explains. “‘Cause I read the script, and I said, ‘I think it’s really funny. But I don’t know what the show is. What’s the show? Is the show just a guy having sex with a lot of women?’ 'Cause I don’t want to really do that. I don’t find that interesting. And he said, ‘No.’ It’s about what if you get it right the first time. What if you had the woman and you lost her. And you want to try to get that back. And I said, ‘I get that, I get that.’”
“I knew it was funny, I knew we were funny,” he continues. “I think comedy is good. I think it’s hard, it’s hard to make funny shows. And I thought, if we just keep being funny, people will find us. ‘Cause I look at TV and I don’t laugh that much.
When asked about what his character wants in life, Duchovny responds throughtfully, “I don’t know. I think that he wants a lot of things. I don’t know if happy is one. He has an image of a family life, of being a father and being a husband, and I think he has this competing image of being an artist. Somebody who needs their time away from the day-to-day of the family to experience many different things. So, I think those things are at war.
When asked about the benefits and liabilities of doing a show on Network TV versus Cable, Duchovny focuses on the ironies. “It’s funny, because ‘Dexter’ can show on CBS, and I said to Tom when that was happening, ‘Is there any way [for our show]?’ And he said they talked about it, but it’s just not really possible for us to be on network, which is too bad. There’s too much [bad] language. I’m sure the nudity could be cut easily, but it’s really language and probably subject matter. You know, you can have a serial killer, you just can’t have a guy that has sex with more than one woman in a year. It’s America.”
He continues, “But on the other hand, in terms of the language, it’s great to have full access to the full flower of the English language, and we all know that curse words are an indispensable part of all of our lives, I think. And to be able to play a character who speaks like a real person is freeing. In terms of the nudity, I never even think of that. Cause I just usually just have a shirt off. I’m rarely, rarely nude.”
When asked if he thinks Hank will settle down with one woman, he replies, “Well, if he does, it would be his girlfriend, it would be Karen (Natascha McElhone). That’s kind of how it seems to be going.”
We know all about Hank’s worst qualities, but what about his good ones? Duchovny could only think of one, “He doesn’t lie, which I think is really powerful. The only thing he lies about is that he had sex with the underage girl, and I think we forgive him that because he loses his love.”
After a while, Dish asked Duchovny about the X-Files coming back, and why he decided to revisit that again. “Oh, I always wanted to make it a movie. We always wanted to have it as a movie franchise just because as I said earlier, the main reason that I wanted out of the show at any time was only scheduling, fatigue, and burnout, and that kind of thing. We did nine years, an average of 23 or 24 episodes, so 11 day episodes, 14 hours a day. So, it was kind of a lifetime in a decade. I never wanted to see the show go away. I wanted to see the show transform into a movie franchise because I thought it was a natural, and I wanted to play that character for longer. I just didn’t want to play him everyday for longer.”
Dish asked Duchovny why it’s taken almost 10 years for the movie to come out.
He explains, “Well, it really hasn’t taken ten years when you think about it, because the show ended in 2002. That’s six years ago, and we didn’t get anybody to come back right away. Chris Carter was more worked out than any of us. So, give him two years to recover, now we’re in 2004, start talking about a script, and you get pushed back, and here it’s 2006, and that’s pretty much how it goes.”
He continues, “In terms of going back to Mulder, that's more of a, you know, the decision that was made to come back after six years after the final show had ended and to catch up with these characters, Chris Carter made the decision to let time go by. So six years had gone by for the two characters, so I found that to be the key for me to get back into this guy that I started playing in 1993. I don't want to play him -- I can't play him the same way. I walk a little slower (He Laughs). So it's just to allow the character not necessarily to age, but mature and grow into another -- another phase of one's life. To me it wasn't trying to be Mulder from1993. It was trying to be Mulder in 2008. And as you know from your own life, you're a slightly different person than you were in 1993, so that was interesting for me to get back into it.”
How exactly has Fox Mulder changed, Dish asked? “No, you have to see the movie. He’s more mature. What’s fascinating about this movie is that it’s a thriller and it’s smart, but unlike other smart thrillers, it has a really adult relationship in the center of it. You have two people really with a long history, and we all know that. The idea is working through a case, while they’re working through each other. I just think we love each other, that’s all. To me, that sets this movie apart, that makes it really interesting.”
X-Files: I Want To Believe premieres on Friday, July 25, 2008 & Californication: Season 2 starts up again this Fall on Showtime!
www.Dishmag.com / Issue 83 - December 2008
