MSN Chat Transcript with David Duchovny and Ivan Reitman
June 2nd, 2001

David_Duchovny_Live says: I think they should have a smiley face with 3 eyes. (laughs)

DishDiva says: Welcome to MSN Live! Tonight we are pleased to welcome both Ivan Reitman and David Duchovny to MSN Live!

David_Duchovny_Live says: Ivan: Thanks for listening in!

DishDiva says: Ivan you have such an interesting off beat sense of humor. Will "Evolution" live up to you reputation?

Ivan: The movie is "Evolution" and it tells a story, not of a normal alien invasion, it tells about a one cell organism that becomes multi celled organism until they become a real threat.

David_Duchovny_Live says: Our heroes are played by David Duchovny, Orlando Jones, and the lovely Julianne Moore.

betty_smile in Onstage asks: David, has fatherhood changed the types of characters or scripts that appeal to you?

David_Duchovny_Live says: I don't think so. I think that fatherhood changes you fundamentally, but not specifically. No, I don't. I feel that whatever I do as an actor, my child will grow up and accept. I wouldn't do movies that promoted certain behaviors I didn't approve of, but I wouldn't have done that before I was a father.

deftone says: Ivan, you've worked with some amazing talent--from this film, David Duchovny, Julianne Moore, Orlando Jones, Robert Redford, Sigourney Weaver, and Arnold  Schwarzenegger to name a few. Do you contact them directly to star in your films?

Ivan: Sometimes it's a direct contact. I met David a while ago, he had a small role in "Beethoven" and I thought here's a guy that's attractive, smart and has a wry sense of humor and when I was working on this movie, I got a hold of him so I could pitch

persephone_minerva in Onstage asks: What's attracted both of you to this huge sci-fiction comedy?

David_Duchovny_Live says: it to him. He was the only one I had in mind for this film.

David_Duchovny_Live says: For me, it was, Ivan because I had wanted to work in his style. Wanting to do what I do, work in his house, so to speak. So I was saying yes when he handed me the script before I even read it. In the meeting before I read it, he was looking for a big idea to make a movie around, something like "Ghostbusters" and this was just waiting to happen.

Ivan: It being 15 or so years since "Ghostbusters" I was looking for something of that scale with special effects and comedy. Now there's a whole new age of technology, "Ghostbusters" was all rubber and now we can do special effects like never before.

David_Duchovny_Live says: Except for some scenes in "Space Jam" where I got to work with CGI, I am able to work with some great special effects in this film.

jd4gore in Onstage asks: David, I saw the HBO special on "Evolution" last night, and I can't wait for the film. Is there a favorite scene of yours?

David_Duchovny_Live says: I think my favorite scene where we're in a cave and an alien fly works his way into Orlando's suit and up his butt and it cuts to us in the hospital trying to relieve him of this problem. I've seen it four or five times and I still laugh every time.

sharons9000 in Onstage asks: What part of making "Evolution" was the most fun? Like did anything really funny happen? I know when you were on X-files bloopers were constant, and did anything like that happen during the filming of this movie?

Ivan: I'll say for me that the fun was to work with these actors. It's popular in these junkets to say everything was fine, but they really were a great bunch.

David_Duchovny_Live says: We were always punctual. (laughs!!)

Ivan: And they've all become good friends.

David_Duchovny_Live says: Not in a lonely old man kind of way.

Ivan: Each contributing and creating great music.

penny1121 in Onstage asks: What was audience reaction like at the premiere yesterday? Were you both pleased with how the movie was received?

Ivan: Yes, we've had a bunch of screenings, this is the moment you've been waiting for, that the audience would accept what you've been working on for so long. This is one of those movies where you are laughing and laughing and something happens and you

David_Duchovny_Live says: leap out of your chairs, and it's so fun to see them while sitting in the back. "Evolution" has a lot of those great kinds of sequences.

David_Duchovny_Live says: My problem with the screening, was that people were laughing so hard they missed some of my best jokes. So my advice is not to laugh so hard, I'm serious. (laughs)

Delynn_0 in Onstage asks: How many of the jokes that you and Orlando Jones added were kept?

David_Duchovny_Live says: I think adlibs people have a misconception, the script has been worked on for 2 years and people don't blithely go onto the set and say hey I had eggs for breakfast and I think that's funny and use it. We would tell Ivan what we thought, and he would say if he got what he wanted for the scene and then he would let us have fun.

David_Duchovny_Live says: if he got what he wanted for the scene and then he would let us have fun.

Ivan: They did a great job with it and there was one part, involving Mr. Duchovny's butt, and they were very giving.

David_Duchovny_Live says: I take it as a compliment when people say it looks improvised because that means it's so smooth and real. I don't think there's a lot of improv. in this film though.

BlindingSugar in Onstage asks: My 6 year old daughter made the "Evolution" happy face with her pancakes and bacon the other day. What would you say the age of a kid should be to see this movie?

Ivan: The film is rated PG-13 and that means anyone over 12 is safe to see it. We've had kids in the theater younger and there's some frightening parts, "Ghostbusters" was PG-13 and I think parents should be cautioned about the scary parts, but I'm sure that it will also work with kids younger.

NicolaLea in Onstage asks: Did you all stunts by yourself?

David_Duchovny_Live says: There's not a lot of stuntwork, a lot is computer generated. I climbed up on a fire-truck latter.

Ivan: You almost lost your toes one day. (laughs)

David_Duchovny_Live says: I almost lost my nose and my toes. (laughs) I got hit in the nose by Orlando's double and Ivan wasn't concerned because there was slime on my nose.

ClarisseHarris in Onstage asks: Are you and Tea looking for a movie to do together?

David_Duchovny_Live says: Not really. I think she's a great actor, but it would have to be a perfect script that we couldn't pass up. When actual couples are on screen, there's something icky that happens.

GoodCharlotteGoth in Onstage asks: What was it like to work with computer generated images?

David_Duchovny_Live says: It would be fun.

Ivan: There's good and bad news, good news is you can do anything and bad news, you can do anything. There's a great level of decisions to be made and this movie couldn't be made before CGI. The monsters couldn't be done in any other way.

David_Duchovny_Live says: As far as I'm concerned, there's enough pre-production, the creatures were all mapped out and we had a mental image of what they were going to look like after they were generated. It helps to know the scale, cuteness, all things that help when you're

David_Duchovny_Live says: working with nothing there.

DishDiva says: AllorraDanon says: Ivan, in your vision of how you wanted the film to turn out, did everything work out as you had planned?

David_Duchovny_Live says: Ivan: I know that this sounds self-serving, but I think it's better than I hoped. I attribute it to the cast. There's a breezy, humorous quality that I don't think audiences have seen for 20 years.

SoleilMichaud in Onstage asks: Soleil_From Brazil: Would you consider doing theatre?

David_Duchovny_Live says: One of the things I talked with Ivan before, I wanted to do a level of performance that I hadn't done before and this was more theatrical than I had done before. We called it "taking the stage." I would love to work in the theater, but I'm interested in making movies right now and I feel that I'm finally understanding what it's all about and I would like to continue growing in that medium. And I can't sing or dance.

DishDiva says: Let's talk about painting then...

David_Duchovny_Live says: (laughs) You can see my brush in the movie. (laughs)

*foxfire4DD in Onstage asks: Regarding your recent paintings Have you painted before? Do you plan on more? Are you trained in art? And are you considering taking up the paintbrush in the future?

David_Duchovny_Live says: No, I've never painted before and the reason I painted with my butt, is because I don't have any talent and I figure people will give me a break because they won't expect that much.

Megan86ET in Onstage asks: My roommate and I are going to see "Evolution" opening day -- is there anything in particular that we should be on the lookout for?

Ivan: I think that there's a lot of little things and you may have to go back a few times. I would hope that rather than getting too heady about appreciating the movie, but sit back and have a good time.

Ivan: Have a fun time!

RebelGirl138 in Onstage asks: What was the weirdest thing that happened while filming?

Ivan: We had a fire once. We had been preparing very carefully, doing an explosion inside a stage is dangerous and we had a fire crew and worked out escape routes, and we had been doing it for a while successfully, but there was a cave with plants that move and they were built by a company that didn't fire proof the plants, and when the explosion went off, they caught on fire and some of the scenery was destroyed, but no one was hurt.

David_Duchovny_Live says: And I got to go home early. (laughs) Unfortunately, I felt like the principal that day. (laughs)

DishDiva says: ks says: David, I like your daughter's middle name--West. Is there a story behind it and are you naming your future kids Dweezil or Tatum?

David_Duchovny_Live says: Hmm, that's a good idea. I think West is a family name of my wife's, a surname that she likes as a first name. We called her Madelaine West and knew we'd call her West, my wife being Elizabeth Tea.

DishDiva says: memaw says: What did you both keep from the set?

Ivan: I have one, I have a long tradition of taking the rubber animals that are created and put them on wall plaques in my office. I have the Teradog.

CannonFodder747 in Onstage asks: Do you you feel that you have one defining moment in your career that you will carry forever?

David_Duchovny_Live says: I think whatever you come to notoriety in, is your defining moment. I think I'm running with fame from the "X-Files" and I have to know that that's how people come to be visible, and I'm sure when people come up to Deniro they say "You talkin to me?"

Ivan: I had a show called "The Magic Show" and what I wanted to do was direct movies and called up National Lampoons Magazine and wanted to do a film with them, but they had a show they wanted me to help with that starred John Belushi, Dan Ackroyd, Gilda Radner, these were people that no one had heard of and they were the funniest people I had worked with. We went on to make more films like "Animal House."

Ivan: Thanks, this was fun, it was my first online chat. "Evolution" will be opening soon and I hope you enjoy it and spread the word.

DishDiva says: Thanks to you both for joining us today on MSN Live. Best of luck with "Evolution."

David_Duchovny_Live says: I'm very proud of this film and I want to share it with you.

*Question posed by BastBlack

Transcript courtesy of Cynthia, Bast, Carol and the MSN Network.