From The Philippine Star Newspaper, August 8, 1998

The Not-So-Secret Files on David Duchovny
by Baby A. Gil

Though not drop-dead gorgeous like Tom Cruise and not a venerable screen God like Robert Redford, the star of X-Files ranks alongside the most exciting actors today in both movies and television.

David Duchovny probably stepped out of his room at London's Dorchester Hotel with nary a crease on his gray suit earlier that day. Just like any big star with a new film, he must face up to the work required to promote the big-screen version of his hit TV series The X-Files and that day, he was scheduled to meet the international press for several rounds of print and TV interviews. The movie is already a huge success in North America and Twentieth Century Fox is leaving nothing to chance to make sure that it will be as big a hit world-wide.

By three o'clock in the afternoon, Duchovny had already spoken about himself and the movie to about 30 people. His jacket lay carelessly folded in the coffee table before him. He had loosened his silk tie and folded his shirtsleeves. He stood up to shake hands and nod his way through the introductions but was soon back on the couch which was too soft to provide the support his lean frame was obviously in need of at that time. It would have been perfectly understandable had he said he was tired and needed a nap or that he did not want to talk about The X-Files anymore. He did not. Celebrities of Duchovny's stature are not allowed such luxuries.

He was, however, definitely charming, which was not at all difficult as interviewers hang on to his every word and are eager to put in their opinions about The X-Files. His years in Princeton (English Literature major, graduated summa cum laude) and in Yale, where he took up graduate studies in Contemporary Literature and nearly got his Ph.D., prepared him for the book of poetry he intends to publish in the future. But not for this and certainly not for a topic like the kiss. Well, it was almost a kiss between FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, who though they have never kissed in their five years together in the series, still manage to project a kind of erotic tension that keeps televiewers mesmerized and the tabloids busy.

Duchovny is Mulder and Gillian Anderson is Scully. David says they have no relationship and whatever chemistry there it comes under the heading of being good. "There is no relationship because we work so much together," he explains. "I expect her to show up for work and to know her lines and she expects the same of me. That may sound like not a lot but that is actually a lot. At first, they said we were in love. It has been five years since so the tabloids are now saying that we are fighting. I imagine that next we will be in love again. It's pitiful. There isn't much to write about aside from the movie coming up. Everything has been said about my relationship with Gillian. All I can tell you is I am glad she comes to work every morning prepared and professional. But when the whistle blows, I hand in my time card and I do not want to see her or Chris Carter or Rob Bowman or anybody from X-Files. I just want to go home and forget about it. I don't mean any malice. I'm sure she'll say the same thing."

He must have given the same explanation countless times before but Duchovny like his leading lady is a professional and is prepared to repeat it again and again. His only concessions to what he feels is a barely perceptible change in the way he sits and a swig out of the half-full bottle of Evian water to relieve his dry throat. Actually the bottle is one of three before him, the other two are already empty.

"The kiss is a new step, a move forward from a place you've never seen before," Duchovny continues, "You see in the film that they want to. That is something you have never seen before. But luckily, the good thing about our roles is that we have no responsibility to reality. We often have amazing things happen and then forget about them, so I imagine that we'll do the same with this. I don't think Scully will ever say 'Mulder, do you think we should kiss?' We'll just allow it to slip away just as we allowed Scully's cancer to slip away as we allowed other things to slip away and just bring it back when we need it."

This irresponsibility towards reality is what has kept The X-Files on top since the series premiered in 1993. It is about the adventures of Mulder and Scully as they go about investigating cases that involve the paranormal and the supernatural. And as David himself says, because these are always open and inexplicable, "There is no closure." Creator Carter makes it a point to keep episodes open so as to allow the public to draw their own conclusions. "I think people like to think that it's a success because it's the millennium or that people want to belive in aliens or that they don't trust the government anymore. What I think people overlook is that the series is a success because it's good. We have plenty of other shows that have imitated us since we've been on. They are all about the same thing but they're all not successful.

"I also think that what accounts for the worldwide success of the show is that its concerns are not strictly American even though we are playing FBI agents. Nothing can be more American than that. That's Elliot Ness. But aliens have no country affiliation. They have no ethnic affiliation. Magic and supernatural things are prominent in the culture of every major culture the world has. It is in the supernatural happenings, folklore, witches, angels, elves, leprechauns. These are the kind of things we do. So I think every culture has a need for these stories and therefore The X-Files is not just American. Baywatch is very American. ER is very American. Seinfeld, very American. But I think X-Files is not. I think The X-Files is the most popular show in the world because it has universal concerns and is not strictly American."

The popularity of the series worldwide has of course translated into the same degree of success for Duchovny. Though not drop-dead gorgeous in the Tom Cruise kind of way and not yet the venerable screen god of the Robert Redford mold, he ranks alongside the most exciting male stars of both films and television today. He cannot be entirely innocent of his devastating effect on people, but his is a quite charm that is more cerebral than sexual. At a time when even beefed-up action heros need to also be intellectuals or at the very least, sensitive, there is no telling what heights Duchovny might reach if he gets his hands on the right movie role after The X-Files.

But already reasons why he might not make it have begun to surface. Aside from his supposed feud with Anderson, there is the problem with Vancouver where X-Files was shot these past five years, but where shopkeepers now put out "David Duchovny Go Home" signs and the possibility that he will be Hollywood's next David Caruso.

Contrary to what some people are saying, he has nothing against Vancouver. When he firmly requested that filming move to Los Angeles, he was merely calling on a promise made to him when he accepted the series. To prove his point he embarks on a detailed retelling of what really happened. "I actually turned The X-Files down but Chris came to my house and begged me. I was flattered because I was no big star and it was the first time that anybody begged me to do anything except the dishes. I told them I liked it but I had a girlfriend then and I didn't want to commit to living in Vancouver for what could be five years.

"They said we will just shoot the pilot there and then move to LA. After the show was picked up they told me we will do at least the first year in Vancouver because it has the right look and it will be cheaper. We can make better shows and get better production value for the dollar up there. So we did the first year. Then they said we are going into syndication, which means working continuously for three years, after which we get to go where we want. It was tough and in the middle of the third year, my girlfriend and I did split up. After three years, they were saying that we will have five great years on television then we are all going to quit. So could I handle two more years in Vancouver? I didn't have a girlfriend anymore so I had no reason to go to LA. So I said I can handle it because Vancouver is really nice.

"Going into the fifth year, I assumed we would shoot the sixth year in LA, and it looked like it was the first time they heard about it. What happened next was that the press was saying that David Duchovny, infantile, impetuous, whimsical, weight-throwing-around star imperiously makes production move to Los Angeles just because he wants to sit in a jacuzzi with his wife in Malibu. That's the way things happened. Good story no? It reads like a bad fairy tale. Why they kept it a secret is what I want to know."

Duchovny's request only involved fair play from the makers of The X-Files but because of his present stature, the move to LA has resulted in disillusionment among his fans in Canada. "Unfortunately the reason why some actors are being perceived as impetuous, whimsical or infantile is because that's often the only power they are allowed to exercise and the only way they will be heard. Nobody listens to you unless you say, 'I'm taking my ball and going home.' So the press sees that and they say, 'What a baby! Look at all the money he's making.'"

Read by some as also an off-shoot of his Vancouver problem is the adverse reaction to his eagerness to leave The X-Files. This has give rise to comparisons between Duchovny and Caruso. The other David also could not wait to get out of N.Y.P.D. Blue during a time when the popularity of the series was at an all-time high and Caruso was the hottest actor on television. He got out and later starred in two motion pictures that flopped. The same thing can easily happen to Duchovny.

He sees no way though of staying with the series longer than his contract stipulates. "You can't keep doing the same thing. There's always a level of boredom but I can't let that happen. I've got to find a way to be excited about it. There are many ways of trying to get involved and it's my job to figure them out. But to say that I'm not bored would be a lie.

"I'd like to play other roles, read a lot of scripts. Get whatever offers I can get and choose what I think is best. Then perhaps I can do another X-Files movie in five years. That would be better for me." Definitely better than working 14 hours a day every day for 10 months of the year for five years.

More Evian water please and bring in the next interviewer, David Duchovny is at work on The X-Files.

Gil, Baby A. August 8, 1998. "The Not-So-Secret Files on David Duchovny." The Philippine Star Newspaper.