by Johanna Edwards - Arts and Entertainment Editor
April 24, 2001

It's tough to concentrate when David Duchovny is in the room.

And that's a bad thing, considering I'm supposed to be interviewing him in about five minutes.

The 40-year-old actor, best known for his role as F.B.I. agent Fox Mulder on the wildly popular TV series The X-Files, is stunningly handsome in person.

On this mild California afternoon, he's the epitome of calm, cool and collected, dressed in black pants and a simple gray t-shirt.

As he takes his seat across the table from me, it's hard to remain focused.

I met up with Duchovny in Los Angeles this past weekend, at a college press junket for his upcoming film, Evolution.

Duchovny portrays Dr. Ira Kane in the sci-fi comedy, which also stars Julianne Moore, Orlando Jones and Seann William Scott. The film revolves around the tale of a group of scientists who must do battle with alien creatures.

Which brings up an interesting point -- was Duchovny at all concerned about starring in yet another science fiction project?

"When I sit at home, I don't think, 'God, I wonder if people think of me as Mulder, I really don't.' I guess it exists in some kind of reality, but it doesn't go into my decision making," Duchovny admits. "I just felt like, 'Ah, damn, I wish there were no aliens in this movie, but you know, I'm gonna do it anyway.'"

Duchovny said he probably wouldn't have done a straight science fiction movie, but felt Evolution was different.

"For me the similarities of the subject matter (to the X-Files) are really superficial. The kind of performance and the kind of tone of this movie couldn't be further from the X-Files. For me, as an actor, it's probably a 180 degree turn," he said. "The other similarities are kind of unfortunate, and I think it's probably something that people will kind of grab onto."

His role in Evolution afforded Duchovny the chance to work with a strong case of actors, for whom he had the highest praises.

"Julianne is completely unpretentious and sweet, and obviously a great actress. Orlando's great, he's funny, he's full of shi*t," Duchovny joked. "But he's a great guy, a good friend."

"Seann is a wonderful guy. Seann is a great, great I'd call him a kid, but I guess he's older than you," Duchovny said, laughing.

A large part of what prompted him to take the role was the chance to work with famed director Ivan Reitman (who has helmed such blockbusters as Stripes, Private Parts, Animal House, and Ghostbusters).

"It was really Ivan, because Ivan works in a style of movie-making that I hadn't tried," he said. "You usually hear the word vision with (someone like) Coppola and I'm sure that's true, but Ivan's vision -- he doesn't doubt it."

And while Reitman may not doubt his vision, at times Duchovny did. However he quickly learned to trust his expertise.

"The best thing an actor can have is not to agree with the director but to have a strong director with a lot of vision. After awhile you just kind of give in and say, 'okay I'm going to be in this movie, in your vision," he said. "I started to have endless confidence in his vision because it wasn't mine at all and if I were to make this movie it would be different and probably not as good. Ivan has a very particular way of making a movie."

Oftentimes, Reitman's vision put Duchovny and the other actors in some very strange situations.

"We do a scene where we have to do battle with (a giant monster's) waste pore. To actually have to see a whole wall of the studio occupied with this anus and to actually have to *act* with a six foot anus; it's not the first time I've done it," he joked.

It's an odd premise, and prompts me to ask Duchovny how he selects what roles to take.

"It's really a script-by-script thing for me," he said. I don't think about what I should do next. I don't think, 'What would be good for my career. How could I position myself so that when I'm 65 I'll really be getting all the roles I want to get.' It's just whatever interests me."

These days, Duchovny is finding himself more and more drawn to work behind the camera.

"What interests me, now more than anything, is just writing my own stuff and directing," he said. "I just feel like I've got some stories to tell, and I've got some things to express that I haven't been able to do through acting and I'd like to do it."

He certainly has the brains and background to make a transition into writing. After obtaining his undergraduate degree from Princeton, Duchovny went on to earn a master's degree in English literature from Yale University. He was on the fast track to getting his Ph.D. at Yale when he decided it wasn't for him. Just a dissertation away from a doctorate, Duchovny opted out.

"There was not Ph.D.," he said smiling, "and there never will be. I could go for the honorary doctorate, though."

After leaving Yale, Duchovny faced a tough road ahead.

"I didn't go to school to act, and it wasn't always something I wanted to do. I kind of found myself at the age of 28, trying to make my living as an actor and totally unprepared to do so," he said. "I felt like I'd been in school my whole life. I had to start living."

In the beginning, finding jobs proved difficult.

"My manager's here, and she can tell you," he said, laughing. "Every time I talk about leaving her, she reminds me, 'I was here through 150 rejections.'"

Duchovny managed to use his inexperience and naiveté to his advantage.

"I think a lot of times when actors get better at what they do they can get worse at being actors because they fall into habits or they just build up one side of themselves," he said. "When you start, you're completely raw and you're just using your wits and whatever it is that you've got."

Duchovny's wits did manage to land him roles, which were often out-of-the-ordinary. He credits this to his own natural ability to play bizarre parts.

"You're obviously going to give a better audition for something that you have an affinity for, and I think I probably have an affinity for odder, weirder type things," he said. "I was better at getting those jobs as opposed to the guest starring role on Quantum Leap, which I didn't get. I didn't get any guest starring roles."

One of the first big parts he did get was a little out of the norm.

"I got in on Twin Peaks, where I played a transvestite, so I think there was something in me that kind of came alive when these weirder, edgier things came around," he said.

In the future, he would like to try his hand at more comedy. Duchovny says he'd love to do some slapstick, though was uncertain about whether he'd be good at it.

"I think you really expose yourself, and that's the fun part," he says. "I'd like to try, I don't know if I'd be so good at it. But my wife is really good at slapstick humor."

His wife, of course, is actress Tea Leoni, who starred in the now defunct TV series, The Naked Truth. An accomplished actress, Leoni has lately appeared in Deep Impact, The Family Man and Jurassic Park 3.

Since reducing his role on The X-Files (he only appeared in six episodes this season) Duchovny has made it a point to spend as much time with Leoni and their daughter as possible. In the past, their rigorous schedules made it difficult for them to be together.

"We have a baby, so obviously we spent some time together," he joked.

So, what's in store for David Duchovny?

I'm going to a Laker game this afternoon," he joked. "No seriously, I'm going to run around and open this movie, then I'm going to New York and be with my family. After this movie comes out, I have no plans. I'm going to kind of take my time and think about what I want to do, as boring as that sounds."

David Duchovny, boring?

Not a chance.

Article courtesy of University of Memphis Daily Helmsman, transcribed by Joyce.