From TelePoche (French), October 30, 1998
Transcription from Sure, Fine, Whatever
Translation by Caroline.

Mulder and Scully confess all
by Blandine de Dreux

The French are spoiled. While the paranormal adventures continue on M6, the movie they've all been waiting for has finally hit the big screen X-Files: the movie comes out on 21 October. An event. Mulder and Scully take on the aliens again. A good time to take stock with the actors who play them. Tele Poche met Gillian Anderson in London and David Duchovny in Paris.

DAVID DUCHOVNY
I did not want to renew my contract

Q:Were you involved in the development of the movie?

A: That wasn t possible! During the preparations, I was filming the series. In any case, we are in a constant state of collaboration with the writers. I consider myself to some extent Mulder's guardian. I speak for him. If I feel that a situation doesn't gel, I make a point of flagging it up.

Q:What was the most difficult part of filming?

A: Filming for television is exhausting, but it makes you concentrate all the time. In a big Hollywood machine, the worst thing is the waiting around. And especially in an action movie, interpreting the role comes second to the technical side. The challenge becomes not to fall asleep. All the time, you must be at the ready, as soon as the team gets going to check that the explosions, the lighting, are OK.

Q: Are you like Mulder?

A: On the contrary. Like all actors, I take things from myself and put them into the character. That said, he does influence me. Without getting as far as convincing me of the existence of aliens, he has taught me that magic, the irrational are sometimes tangible.

Q: Nevertheless, you sometimes seem fed up with the series...

A: This is how it goes: you're signed for an episode, for six, then for a year... And without you realising it, there you are on board for five years. At the beginning, you are not well paid. But if, two years on, the series is still being broadcast, that means it's clearly a success. So you renegotiate your contract and stay another two years. I did not want to renew, but I wanted to have my share of the success. Odd situation. As for knowing when we'll stop, it's the public who decides, not us.

Q: Will you make other action movies?

A: I like the X-Files. I like making films like that but I'd prefer to be heroic in life and portray more artistic characters. I have no ambition at all costs to be an action hero, because that's the least subtle sort of role to play.

Q: What type of acting attracts you?

A: I love comedy at which my wife's a knockout. Téa is the best at imitating Charlie Chaplin. She gets me in gales of laughter. She's not afraid to mar her good looks in giving it all she's got. That's rare in an actress.

Q:Will you ever make a film together?

A: If the script was good and she wanted to as well, why not? But Téa values our relationship more than work.

Q: You have been described as a real charmer. What do you think about that?

A: If I deny it, I ll sound like a hypocrite and if I say to you: Oh Yes! I think I'm really great at it, you'd find me unbearable... and you'd be right, because if you behave like that, nothing good will come of it. I'll content myself with telling you 'Ask Téa!'

Interviewer: Blandine de Dreux

GILLIAN ANDERSON
Our relationship is complicated

Q: X Files the movie will thrill fans of Scully and Mulder....

A: The script anticipated a relationship between the two heroes, which is what the fans were waiting for. Nothing of the plot filtered out during filming. For Chris Carter , the scriptwriter, it was essential to preserve this air of mystery which we also have in the series. Something which adds to the suspense. As I m naturally not much of a gossip, it suited me to keep quiet.

Q: Was filming hard work?

A: Certain scenes, yes. Particularly those which take place in the frozen north. We filmed these in the Fox studios in LA, we were shivering with cold, frozen to the bone!

Q: The X Files has been very successful at the American box office. Are you ready for a sequel?

A: Oh, I would like that! But the workload of making the series is too heavy at present.

Q: Don t you worry about being typecast in one role?

A:Up to now, the parts I ve played have been very different to Dana Scully. This is true of Dancing about Architecture which I ve just finished filming with Sean Connery, Dennis Quaid and Gena Rowlands. It s a beautiful film which has as its theme faith in love. It s exactly the sort of movie I want to appear in. Big budget productions don t interest me, I prefer emotion to action!

Q: With David Duchovny is it the case that you don t get along?

A:Our relationship, it s true, is a little complicated. Let s say that there are a lot of concessions we both have to make. But overall, we do get along.

Q: At the beginning, didn t you take umbrage that he was more successful than you?

A: At the time, I was pregnant. I looked more like a housewife than a sex-symbol. The media talked about David, about how sexy he was. I wasn t jealous, but most of the attention was going to David, although I was putting as much effort into my work on set as he was.

Q: What quality do you admire in you partner?

A: David has a great sense of humour. On set, he lightens things up. And that s something I really appreciate.

Q: If you were to be unfaithful to him, which actor would you choose?

A: I d like to play opposite Anthony Hopkins, Johnny Depp, Robert Duvall or DeNiro. As for actresses, I admire Emma Thompson, Jodie Foster.

Q: In five years, your life has changed a lot...

A:I got married, had a little girl, then I got divorced... I ve changed, matured, I feel a much stronger person today. The fact of having a child has a lot to do with it. I just love being a mother, it makes me appreciate life more. {Translator s note: I guess this is what she meant for the last bit: what she appears to have said doesn t, imho, make sense in any language!}

Q: Piper, your daughter, is with you on set...

A: As she s growing up and will be able to do it less and less , she ll soon be going to school full time. Piper is a very sociable child. I just adore her!

Q: The series is now being filmed in LA. Do you miss Vancouver at all?

A: I ve got into the habit of splitting myself between the two, My daughter will be going to school in LA. I often go back to Vancouver, it s a city I like.

Q: What sort of mother are you?

A: I am patient, and give Piper lots of love and attention. I have fun with her like a little kid myself.

Interviewer: Franck Ragaine

de Dreux,Blandine. October 30, 1998. "Mulder and Scully confess all ." TelePoche.