Today Show (NBC)
June 5, 2001
For the past eight years, audiences have known David Duchovny as the quirky FBI agent, Fox Mulder, who's been trying to prove the existence of alien life on the popular TV show, "The X Files." But now he's starring in a new movie, "Evolution," where he finds himself in a race against the government to save the human species from a rapidly developing alien life form.
(Clip shown from "Evolution")
(Katie Couric yelling)
COURIC: David Duchovny, good morning.
Mr. DAVID DUCHOVNY ("Evolution"): Scary just to look at them.
COURIC: And we like the music in the background.
(Couric and David Duchovny humming in unison)
Mr. DUCHOVNY: A little scary magical music.
COURIC: Exactly. Anyway, you play Dr. Ira Kane...
Mr. DUCHOVNY: Yes.
COURIC: ...who is a college professor at a community college.
Mr. DUCHOVNY: Yeah.
COURIC: Sort of a frustrated scientist who had a bad experience in his past.
Mr. DUCHOVNY: Yes.
COURIC: We don't want to give too much away.
Mr. DUCHOVNY: No, no, no. Yeah.
COURIC: But what was it--mean, when you saw this script, did you think this was insane?
Mr. DUCHOVNY: Well, no, actually, it was the alien business that I thought was insane. Because I--Ivan offered me the script before I read it. And I was like, 'Great!' I wanted to work with--Ivan Reitman does these big, broad, Hollywood "Ghostbusters"-type comedies. And I thought, 'Fantastic! That's exactly the level of performance that I want to try.' And then I went home to read the script, and I was like, 'Oh, damn! You know, aliens again.' It was just a terrible coincidence. And I thought, you know, 'It doesn't make a difference. It's the type of performance I want to give in this movie and aliens be damned,' you know.
COURIC: Yeah. Now, you used that word twice already. Can you please zip it.
Mr. DUCHOVNY: We'll say, 'Aliens be damned!'
COURIC: OK.
Mr. DUCHOVNY: It's different from 'Damn the aliens!'
COURIC: OK.
Mr. DUCHOVNY: Are you afraid of pissing them off or something?
COURIC: Stop it now. Come on. This is a family show, and it's only 7:43 in the morning. So you had some initial reservations, but you got over it pretty quickly?
Mr. DUCHOVNY: Yeah. Yeah. Because it was just--I just wanted to do something different in terms of being an actor from what I've been doing and not--subject matter to me doesn't matter.
COURIC: So you wanted to be in a movie that was completely over the top, right?
Mr. DUCHOVNY: Yeah. Yeah.
COURIC: I mean, that's--how else would you describe this?
Mr. DUCHOVNY: That's--that's very good. I mean, it's like, you know, Ivan kind of developed a genre of comedy, you know, years ago with "Animal House" and "Ghostbusters" that has been really influential, and--and I wanted to work with him in that way.
COURIC: When he first read the script, Ivan, my good friend Ivan, he apparently said--'It--it wasn't a comedy.'
Mr. DUCHOVNY: Right.
COURIC: It was a sci-fi thriller that he turned into a comedy.
Mr. DUCHOVNY: Yes. Yeah. Yeah.
COURIC: Which...
Mr. DUCHOVNY: That was long before, you know, I was even--even a glimmer in his eye, you know.
COURIC: When you--when you were doing this, obviously, there are tons of special effects.
Mr. DUCHOVNY: Yeah.
COURIC: And they're really pretty neat.
Mr. DUCHOVNY: Yeah.
COURIC: Some of the alien creatures that they came up with.
Mr. DUCHOVNY: Right.
COURIC: But that, of course, meant you spent a lot of time talking to a green screen, right?
Mr. DUCHOVNY: Yeah. Yeah. A tennis ball, usually.
COURIC: Really?
Mr. DUCHOVNY: Well, for some reason, I don't know exactly, but they put tennis balls on the green screen for marks when they have to make the computer generated image. So, you're usually looking at a green screen with a tennis ball. And what people at home don't know is that you're not actually here, either, I'm talking to a green--bunch of tennis balls. And what I do is I--I like to bring my own tennis balls, you know, because--and I paint faces on them.
COURIC: You do? Happy, smiley or...
Mr. DUCHOVNY: Yeah, depending on the mood.
COURIC: Sad faces...
Mr. DUCHOVNY: Depending on the mood of what I want.
COURIC: ...annoyed faces when you curse?
Mr. DUCHOVNY: Well, yeah, like scary faces like...
(Duchovny making a scary face)
Mr. DUCHOVNY: ...you know, like I cut a little hole in the tennis ball and make the mouth open.
COURIC: Yeah, good.
Mr. DUCHOVNY: These are the tricks of an actor. You know, some call me a method actor but it's really I'm a tennis actor.
COURIC: Are you?
Mr. DUCHOVNY: Yeah. Can I do something that I've never done before?
COURIC: Yeah.
Mr. DUCHOVNY: Because--look at you. 'Yeah.'
COURIC: What, what?
Mr. DUCHOVNY: I--you know, my daughter's watching. She's never seen me on television really.
COURIC: OK.
Mr. DUCHOVNY: And I want to say hi. Where's the camera? The--the thing with the red thing on it?
COURIC: Yeah, the one with the red light that's one.
Mr. DUCHOVNY: The thing with the tennis ball on it.
Hi, West! Good morning.
That's it.
COURIC: Now, how old is your little girl now?
Mr. DUCHOVNY: I'm embarrassed.
COURIC: Don't be embarrassed, that was sweet. Is she really watching? Are you sure about that?
Mr. DUCHOVNY: I hope so. Maybe she's watching the competing program. I don't know. She doesn't get up to watch...
COURIC: How old is she now?
Mr. DUCHOVNY: She's two.
COURIC: Yeah, and you guys are enjoying, obviously, having a little girl?
Mr. DUCHOVNY: Yeah. Yeah.
COURIC: Is it tough, because obviously you and Tea...
Mr. DUCHOVNY: Yeah.
COURIC: ...are both working actors, happily.
Mr. DUCHOVNY: Yeah.
COURIC: And have pretty busy schedules.
Mr. DUCHOVNY: Yeah.
COURIC: So, is it hard to juggle all this?
Mr. DUCHOVNY: It is--it is hard. But we've try--we've done OK so far. We try not to spend too much time apart. You know, stretches of time.
COURIC: Uh-huh.
Mr. DUCHOVNY: And, you know, you just work it out. What--whatever job is most important, you know, the other guy goes.
COURIC: And Tea just finished a Woody Allen movie here in New York?
Mr. DUCHOVNY: Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
COURIC: What was that experience like for her?
Mr. DUCHOVNY: It was--it was great. I mean, I was supremely jealous.
COURIC: Yeah. Would you like to be in a Woody Allen movie?
Mr. DUCHOVNY: I was like--I was going to the set with the baby, you know. And like, you know, 'Hey! Hi! Put me in. I'm funny.'
COURIC: 'Hi, Mr. Allen.'
Mr. DUCHOVNY: 'I can work with a tennis ball. You know, I can do anything.'
COURIC: So you're going to take the summer off, right?
Mr. DUCHOVNY: Uh-huh.
COURIC: Spend some time with your family? Which is nice.
Mr. DUCHOVNY: Spend some time with them and write, yeah.
COURIC: And what are you writing?
Mr. DUCHOVNY: A bunch of stuff. You know, just whatever.
COURIC: About tennis balls?
Mr. DUCHOVNY: Yeah. Well, yeah. I've got a little thing called tennis ball.
COURIC: All right. Good.
Mr. DUCHOVNY: Not really.
COURIC: And you're leaving "The X Files"?
Mr. DUCHOVNY: Yes.
COURIC: This is your last season.
Mr. DUCHOVNY: Yeah.
COURIC: Do you have mixed feelings at all about that? Because you were on that show for...
Mr. DUCHOVNY: Oh, sure.
COURIC: ...quite some time.
Mr. DUCHOVNY: Absolutely. I mean, eight years. You know, all the--all the feelings that you would imagine that a person would have spending that much time, eight years, on a show with--with the same people pretty much, working with the same actors. And it's--it's very bittersweet. But it was just time--time for me to move on.
COURIC: Yeah. Are you--do you think you'll work in television again or would you--are you more interested in doing movies?
Mr. DUCHOVNY: Well, what I'm interested in is--is doing different jobs, really. And that's the only thing about "The X Files" that I--that got to me at the end was that it was the same job. So, I wouldn't immediately go back to doing it. But I have learned in my career as an actor to never say never. So...
COURIC: Right.
Mr. DUCHOVNY: ...we'll see.
COURIC: And so you, obviously, like trying new things.
Mr. DUCHOVNY: Right.
COURIC: With "Evolution," for example, very few actors probably get an opportunity to say to another actor, 'Please get your hand out of that alien's sphincter.'
Mr. DUCHOVNY: Yeah, that was a--it was actually--the line is, 'Let go of my friend, you big sphincter.'
COURIC: Oh, sorry!
Mr. DUCHOVNY: You know, you just turned a beautiful, poetic line into something completely different.
COURIC: I'm really sorry that I managed to mutilate that. All right, tell me--before we go, I have to ask you about some of the other people in the movie.
Mr. DUCHOVNY: Yeah.
COURIC: Because you're the only person I'm going to be talking to.
Mr. DUCHOVNY: Right.
COURIC: You got quite a great supporting cast.
Mr. DUCHOVNY: Julianne Moore, Orlando Jones, Seann Williams Scott, Dan Aykroyd's in it. Ted Levine is an incredible actor. So, I mean, it was just a joy to be able to do an ensemble work like that.
COURIC: Did you have fun with those folks? They seem like they...
Mr. DUCHOVNY: Well, actually, you know, they--they're great people, but they're--they're very--they're not giving actors. So, usually, I was working with tennis balls. Because they--they would just stay in their trailers and say, 'David's good with the green screen and the tennis ball.' And Julianne would send out a red tennis ball, actually.
COURIC: We've come full--full circle with the tennis ball motif.
Mr. DUCHOVNY: No, they're wonderful.
COURIC: Tell me about the--the one guy who plays the sort of burn-out space cadet. He was in "American Pie."
Mr. DUCHOVNY: Seann.
COURIC: Seann. He's very funny.
Mr. DUCHOVNY: Isn't he?
COURIC: Yeah.
Mr. DUCHOVNY: I--I love Seann. And he's a great--I always say he's a great kid. But he's not a kid. He's just like my younger brother. And I--I look at Seann, and--and I laugh hysterically. He did a scene where he was telling me that the thing was choking, this little beast was choking, and he--he went, you know, like 'can't breathing.'
(Duchovny putting his hands to his throat)
Mr. DUCHOVNY: And you see, you're laughing. I laugh--I still think--when I think of it to this day I go crazy with that thing.
COURIC: OK.
Mr. DUCHOVNY: And so--it's not in the movie, because it was a mistake. But, all right, I'm sorry.
COURIC: Yeah, you're cracking--it's cracking me up. It really is.
Mr. DUCHOVNY: It didn't crack me up this morning. I think I'm over the 'can't breathing' thing.
COURIC: Maybe. Maybe it was sort of the moment. You know what I'm saying?
Mr. DUCHOVNY: It was. No more.
COURIC: Anyway, David, it's good to see you.
Mr. DUCHOVNY: It's not funny at all.
COURIC: Tell Tea we said hi.
Mr. DUCHOVNY: Always good to see you, Katie.
COURIC: And tell West we said hey, as well. There was a rumor that you guys were having another baby. Actually, a local anchor somewhere asked me about that today. But that's not true?
Mr. DUCHOVNY: Really? No. Not as far as I know.
COURIC: OK, great. Thanks, David.
All right. The movie "Evolution" opens nationwide this Friday.
It's 7:49. We'll be back with more of TODAY right after this.
