Katie Couric - David Duchovny get to see his lighter side. The actor who plays Fox Mulder, the paranoid FBI agent on 'The X-Files' now stars in the romantic comedy called 'Return To Me'. This time out he plays a widower who falls in love on a blind date.

[RTM clip -- Do we know each other?/I think so]

K -What he doesn't know is that his new love is the transplant recipient of his late wife's heart. Oy. David Duchovny, good morning, David, nice to see you.

David Duchovny - Good morning.

K -We were bemoaning the fact that we have to follow that Robin Williams performance.

D - I know. It's impossible.

K -I think we both need more coffee to do that -- and a lot of other things. So tell me about this movie. I know that Bonnie Hunt wrote, directed, produced,

D - And was craft services.

K - [laughs] I know that she was very very involved in this project. Is that what made it appealing to you?

D - I knew Bonnie. We both did a movie called Beethoven together back in 1990. We were both actors, I say that in quotes, and we just always stayed in touch, she was one of the smartest, funniest people I had ever met in Los Angeles. And then when I heard she had written a script and was going to direct it, I just thought that I would love to do that. Actually the whole -- it just all worked out so smoothly. There weren't any problems along the way. And I've just -- it's a really great situation where you have a friend and get to take a chance on them professionally, and you get to put your life in their hands. And they come through for you. It's just a wonderful turn of events for me, professionally, personally.

K -Also, you co-star with Minnie Driver?

D -Yeah

K -And I got the impression when I spoke with Minnie that you all got along pretty swimmingly. Is that right?

D -Yeah, you know, we've been coached to say that.

K -[laughs] Yeah right.

D -But yeah.

K -It seems like you guys had a lot of fun together.

D -We did. Minnie's a lot of fun. She's smart and she's quick and she's game. And, you know, you can't ask for anything more in a co-star or in a working partner. I mean, she shows up for work every day very prepared and fun and funny.

K -Now this is a very sweet, sort of romantic comedy, although it obviously has some tragic moments which you do play a widower who loses his wife very suddenly.

D -Right. But we make that funny.

K -[laughs] You do not. You know, I cried in this movie.

D -You know, it's an interesting thing, because people weep hard in it and they laugh hard in it. And what Bonnie's able to do is that she doesn't really tell punchline-type jokes. She manages to direct scenes that are just funny all the way through. There are scenes -- mostly the ones that I'm not in -- that I laugh all the way through in. Jim Belushi is hysterically funny and David Alan Grier. It's just a testament to the way Bonnie can work and to her sense of humor. Her ‘guy’ sense of humor. She's just able to be funny without relying on punchlines or cheap tricks. It's all human.

K -Sort of real-life situations, characters, although the plot is pretty...

D -Yeah, the plot is bizarre. You know, it's funny to me because I say the chances of this ever happening are like winning the lottery.

K -I'd say even less, David.

D -You would? Yeah, I guess. But you know, it's always funny to me because people are perfectly willing to accept what we do on The X-Files and this is more within a possible realm than anything we've ever done on The X-Files.

K -This is a very wholesome movie in that there's no violence, no sex.

D -Well, there's some kissing.

K -Yeah, yeah, but you know, no full-out... sex scene.

D -Did you miss it?

K -Not at all. Not at all.

D -I'm insulted. You didn't want to see me have, like, this is you.

K -I didn't say that, but do you think that -- it's almost too sweet and romantic in this day and age? It's unusual to find an adult movie that doesn't have those things in it.

D -Well, I think it is adult in the way that it doesn't use what we call 'adult' tricks. An adult film would be pornography. And I think that it's adult in that it speaks to how people fall in love rather than the special effects making love that we have in romantic comedies and in all of Hollywood films. It's really obligatory at this stage that if you have a man and a woman, you're going to have to have them simulate coitus onscreen. Not that there's anything wrong with that, I like that, it's just --

K -[laughing] Thank you for that term of art. I appreciate it.

D --- I'm all for simulating coitus, whenever and wherever it happens, but it's really like a bomb exploding onscreen at this point because we know these people aren't having sex. It's just a convention.

K -And some things are much more erotic when it doesn't happen.

D -It can be and we share some really nice kisses in this and you're not gonna see... you're not gonna see Minnie's private parts or some body double's private parts, for that matter, you know, and you're not gonna see mine. But other than that it's very romantic and I guarantee, personally guarantee to the men out there, they'll get laid if they see this movie with a date. I'll personally guarantee that.

K -Thank you.

D -The sex will happen after the movie. The sex will happen for everybody after the movie, rather than having to watch it in the movie. And I think hat's a much more enjoyable moviegoing experience.

K -And you have a money-back guarantee on that.

D -I'll personally come to your home and guarantee it. That's what I'm willing to do for this film.

K -We've got a clip from the movie that I understand you don't like very much but we're going to show it anyway.

D -Really?

K -It's a bowling scene...

D -Oh, I like it fine, it's just, uh, I think I've seen it before.

K -Well, that's alright, because a lot of people watching today haven't so we'll show it and then we're going to chat some more.

[Bowling scene clip]

K -Bob, Bob, Bob. Couldn't bowl but could do a lot of other things well. Tell me a little bit about what's happening with you and The X-Files. You going back?

D -I don't know. Honestly. I would tell you.

K -I'm sure you'd break it here on the Today show.

D -I would. I've been holding on to it. I honestly don't know.

K -Well, let us know.

D -I will. I'll call up.

K -David Duchovny, good to see you, the movie is called Return To Me. And I really liked it.

D -Thank you.