MICHELE MANELIS talks to the director and stars of the X Files about the second movie adaptation X Files: I Want to Believe - a long time in the making - which reunites the famous special agent duo without an alien in sight
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Fans of the award-winning television series The X Files, will get a kick out of watching David Duchovny (Agent Fox Mulder) and Gillian Anderson (Agent Dana Scully) reunite in this long-awaited, second big screen adaptation.
And, while it's a standalone thriller and touches on supernatural elements which will appeal to the loyalists, fans will be in for a surprise - but not the kind they're expecting. X Files - I Want to Believe contains no aliens, no otherworldly creatures to speak of, and no conspiracy theories to wade through. But the disturbing ripped-from-the-headlines crime stories that creator, director, and co-writer Chris Carter comes up with, including serial killings, black market organ removals (and subsequent transplants), stem cell research, and paedophile priests, is a case of fact being scarier than fiction.
Explains Carter: "I got the idea because I saw this two headed dog on YouTube from a Russian experiment. That is what scares us all the most - the stuff that really could happen and is happening. The black market for organs is a creepy idea, just imagining your body as a salvage yard and people profiting off of selling parts of you. But it happens every day."
One thing remains: the ever-complicated relationship between Mulder and Scully, their struggle between faith and science, and all things of a paranormal nature. Says Duchovny, "It was great stepping back into Mulder's shoes. It would have been depressing if I had to try to play him the same way I did 15 years ago. It's good we were acknowledging that time had passed and it was interesting to figure out how Mulder had changed in the six years since we've seen him. To keep him the same but different was somehow tricky because he's a kind of strange hero," he says. "But I always thought it was a great TV show and thought if the writing was good enough, it would work as a movie."
Anderson, who is six months pregnant with her third child, says, "Since the series ended I have taken on roles as far away from Scully as possible [including The Last King of Scotland, and the BBC's Bleak House]. But the movie was something that I liked the idea of and David and I discussed it before the series ended. We always said if it was the right time and place for everybody we would all come back and do the movie. When it looked like it was finally going to come to fruition, it was something that I approached enthusiastically."
Shot in Vancouver, the entire budget was a mere US$30 million, half of what the first movie cost in 1998; it grossed more than US$100 million worldwide, so if that is any indication, both Carter and the studio need not worry about making its money back.
Due to the hype, the production itself was shrouded in mystery and Carter took great measures to keep it that way. He says, "There were paparazzi on the first night of filming. So we put out dis-information on the internet, saying the movie was about werewolves. There were even photographs staged with me holding a werewolf head," he laughs. "We had fake script pages and fake call sheets. But it worked and there were no leaks."
The six-year gap has seen big changes in the personal lives of Anderson and Duchovny. Says Carter, "They've both had children and that has deepened them as people and I think they've done a tremendous amount of good work since then. They brought back treasures from their adventures and they put them into this experience."
He adds, "Gillian was amazing in Bleak House [she won a Bafta], and I was thrilled that David finally won a Golden Globe [for his cable show Californication].
"He's a very underrated actor and people don't realise that what he does is so difficult. His sense of humour is so dry that I think sometimes people don't know how funny he actually is."
The Mulder/Scully relationship on screen has evolved and remains multi-layered (albeit a little confusing). Carter goes as far as describing the movie as a "love story". Laughs Duchovny, "Well don't expect to see any sex scenes. I do enough of that in Californication. I need a rest". Anderson agrees. "There are probably fans out there who are expecting some crazy sex scene. I don't think this movie called for sweaty bodies and naked flesh between the sheets. Maybe next time. We could call it the Triple X Files," she jokes.
In a stroke of casting genius, Billy Connolly plays a paedophile ex-priest/psychic who is an integral part of solving these grisly murders. "He was perfect for the role and showed a complexity we don't usually see in his roles," says Carter. Concurs Duchovny, "I liked Billy a lot. He's fantastic in the movie, which is of course most important, but he's a really interesting guy. He's not like an "on" comedian 24/7.
Carter is cautiously optimistic about the reaction to his movie. "This is not like anything we've done before. I have no idea how this movie will be received. It's a mystery to me and I'm relying on gut instincts in the hopes there is still an audience out there," he says.
"And of course, we're also introducing the X Files to a new audience because a lot people were too young to have watched the show."
Says Duchovny, "You're always worried whether people will go and see what you do. I'm not more worried about this than any other project. All you can do is the best you can and hope people want to see it."
LOWDOWN
What: X Files: I Want to Believe - the second X Files movie 10 years after the first, and five years after the series ended
When & where: Opens at cinemas today
