Life away from The X Files seem to agree with David Duchovny. Jenny Carillo traces him to a hotel in Beverly Hills on the eve of his return as Mulder in the February "sweeps"

Q: So why return to The X Files part time? Why not be all in or all out?

A: I didn't want to go all in and I wasn't that comfortable with going all out, either. I really can't talk about the legal deal with the Fox settlement but for me, coming back for a certain amount of time had something to do with settling that. It's weird not being part of the show and it's definitely a psychological transition to make because instead of sitting I'd be working. I always go through a day and think ' Well, what would I be doing if I were still doing the show? I'd be working!' So that transition had to happen at some time and it's just happening for me now. 

Q: So how does this affect Mulder as a character?

A: I really can't answer that because I'm not really that involved with the show this year. I'll do the last four to six episodes, bit before that I'm kind of floating through it but not really in it. Obviously Mulder is absent because apparently he's been abducted and he's somewhere else.

Q: Is that the way you're leaving it for a while?

A: I think the aliens have forgotten how to get back to earth! In true X Files fashion, I'm sure there will be a question as to whether it was a true alien abduction or if Mulder had fixed the whole thing himself. I'm sure there will be three or four interpretations for Mulder's absence, but I don't think the character will change. I'm looking forward to having another guy to play with when I go back. It will be fun to work with Robert Patrick and have another presence on the set and a new dynamic to look forward to.

Q: So what are you doing with your time away from The X Files?

A: I did a few days on Ben Stiller's movie ZOOLANDER, which is about male models and is very funny. It's not really a spoof because it's far out but I'm playing a hand model; it's really a cameo. Then I'm doing Ivan Reitman's Evolution, before I go back to work on The X Files. Even though I'm only doing half the shows, it's still a scheduling nightmare trying to work in other projects that I'm interested in. 

Q: What can you tell us about Evolution?

A: I play a professor that worked for the government and did a bad experiment that we find out about later. I don't know how much I can give away but , fortunately or unfortunately, there is some alien involvement in this but it has nothing to do with any kind of X Files theme! It doesn't take itself seriously in that way but is more of a comedy about alien life, if you can imagine.

Q: How is fatherhood these days?

A: It's great. It gets better all the time. Babies really start off as lumps and I think for the man it's hard because you can't do anything for them, you can't even breastfeed - although I tried! So now, she's a little older it's gotten really exciting for me because I can relate to this person that is evolving. It's not my choice for us to be split up for any length of time but we keep it two weeks at the most. It's the same for any household with two working parents; you just try to remember what's the most important thing, and that is making sure the child gets attention. The questions that we ask now are not so much 'Do you really have to go do that movie?' but ' Do you want to do that movie?', because we only work when we want to.

Q: Have you and Chris Carter mended your friendship now that the lawsuit is settled?

A: Yes. There was a rift, but I'm back on the show and we work together. Obviously we're not working closely together because I'm not working that much, but we're friendly and things are definitely better between us than last year. He's a big part of my life and I'm sure I'm a big part of his, but it's not really a close friendship anymore. I think we respect the influence we have on each other and just acknowledge it.

Q: Are you still interested in doing an X Files movie?

A: I would have to see the script [and] hope it wouldn't just be two episodes written large on the screen. I would be excited to make a great movie, not because it's an X Files movie or anything like that, but I would hope that's the direction they want to go in. It's such a great subject and just worthy of a big-screen treatment.

Q: In retrospect, what is the best thing that came out of The X Files for you?

A: It's been a self-education in terms of acting. I had to go to work every day for seven years in a row and really figure out the kind of actor that I am and the kind of work that I do, want to do, am capable of doing, and so on. The kind of expertise that I have now compared to what I had when I started, I'm just a completely different kind of professional actor, and that's everything. I like telling stories. I think that's what I'm interested in doing with my time here on the planet, so acting in movies or television is part of that storytelling process. 

Q: You joked about your new movie having an alien theme. Seriously, are you deliberately trying to avoid that genre now in your other work?

A: I would rather that it didn't have aliens in it, but I've always said, if I have a good script that I want to do and the character's name is Fox Mulder and he was involved with aliens, I would probably do it because it was a good script and I'd want to do it. I wouldn't sit down and say 'The next movie I want to do is involved with aliens', but in a weird way any movie can be twisted into an X Files frame of mind. When I did RETURN TO ME, people would ask me if it was like The X Files because he falls in love with a woman who gets his dead wife's heart.

Q: What about the sci-fi genre in general? Were you a fan before The X Files and are you more or less of one now?

A: I think as a kid I was a fan of sci-fi, like a lot of kids. It's not necessarily something as an adult I was drawn to watch. It's definitely not something I was drawn to act in, but it's something I found myself doing. I can't say what the future holds, but I just want to do the best material that is available to me, and if it has to do with science fiction then I'll just swallow my pride and do it. The fact EVOLUTION has aliens in it is just a cosmic joke to me at this point.

Q: Last year you directed your wife, Tea Leoni, and Garry Shandling playing you and Scully in the X Files episode Hollywood AD. Do you have other plans to work with your wife?

A: I had a great time doing that because it was just so much fun working with my wife and a good friend of mine. It wasn't like going to work at all. I would love to direct Tea because I think she makes any director look good because she's really good. It was kind of frightening to be on the set with her because she was so flawless she made me a little angry, actually. It's a funny thing to say and it sounds like something a husband is supposed to say, but it's the fearful truth.

Q: Many critics say that The X Files has lost its edge compared to its early days. Do you share that view?

A: I never watch the show as a fan, I watch the show as somebody who is involved in making the product and I watch it with very different eyes, but anything is going to lose its edge after five, six seven years, it's formula. It's a serialised television show with two characters that are kind of set in stone and you run out of stories to tell, sooner or later. We run into areas where we give knowledge and then we take it away and people get tired of being toyed with or they long for the days when we toyed with them. You give them answers, they don't like that. You withhold answers, They don't like that. So there's a dance that goes on. When the show's really hot, where the fans and the show are kind of inter-relating with that, by its nature that aspect has to die at some point. So there is a very real chance that the shows are better than they were five years ago, but people just aren't as interested in them. I still think The X Files is the best produced, best looking, most cinematic show on television. It's just that people know that already and they want to know something new.

Q: Have you come to terms with your image in the press?

A: It doesn't bother me because it's exactly that, an image. I don't know what I really am. I'm as mystified as you. I don't think you actually spend that me time thinking about 'me', but when you think of yourself, you are many things and you are mystified by them as well so....image schimmage! The only time these things bother you is when they are hurtful lies, but even that I've learned to separate from myself because you can't control your image. Some people try but they've got more energy than I do!

Q: Is your father still living in Paris?

A: My father has a book coming out, a novel called Coney, about growing up in Coney Island in the thirties and forties. His name is Amran Ducovny, without an 'h' (he changed his name). He does live in Paris with his wife and they lead a Bohemian existence. I was over there doing press for RETURN TO ME and we spent a day or two in Paris and it was like a time warp, kind of walking around going to cafes where he writes and stews and thinks.

Q: Do you envy his lifestyle?

A: I kind of did that when I was in graduate school but not in Paris. I kind of know that life and know that it can wait for you. It doesn't go anywhere. There's always going to be a coffee shop somewhere and a newspaper to read and an idea to think about, but these days I'm enjoying being exactly where I am.