He stars in Return to me and in the new episodes of Chris Carter's serial Agent Mulder's good conscience (there's a double meaning here, the words used - buoni sentimenti, good feelings - has a pejorative meaning)

Duchovny: yes to XF, but only 8 times.

In the movie, written and directed by the actress Bonnie Hunt, he's an architect who looses his wife.

By Maria Pia Fusco

Rome
"Yes, I'll be in XF next season. There will be 22 episodes and 10 months of work. But I signed a contract for 8 episodes and I will work only for 3 months." David Duchovny expected that, he reads the answer from a sheet he takes from his pocket and to close the unavoidable Fox Mulder subject he shows to everybody a sheet where he made a smiling "smile". Duchovny is in Rome for the coming movie Return To Me, together with the actress Bonnie Hunt, who wrote and directed the movie which is his debut movie. It's a story of very good will (here again the pejorative meaning) where Duchovny is an architect who looses his beloved wife Joely Richardson, cries for one year, then casually meets Minnie Driver and it's love, even something more, a mysterious and strong recall which might be caused by the fact that the girl had an heart transplant and, now that's surprising, the heart is the same that once pumped in the departed wife's womb. All theese facts happen between a italian-irish restaurant in Chicago, which belongs to the grandfather of the pretty young lady, and Rome, the one Hollywood loves: sun, childs, narrow streets, washing hang out, nuns. And we also got the blessing of God, in fact the author got a catholic upbringing (note please the choice of words: mrs Fusco clearly hated the movie).

Pale, with stubble and a bit shabby, at first sight Duchovny seems to emerge from one of those arcane hallucinations he quite often crossed with his colleague Scully. Then he speaks, he smiles, he can be ironic ("Organ donations? I'd rather keep mine as long as possible, then if it's true that I won't need them in heaven I will donate them easily") and you understand why he got awards for his comic TV appearances. "If you want to make people laugh or smile you should be under tone, you must say it without exceed, there's nothing worse than an actor that makes every effort to make you laugh and it shows. Even in the funny moments in Return to me I did the same, I followed Bonnie's directions literally, because she is also a good actress and she knows how to direct the interpretation. Before filming, she showed me Notorious and I learned the lesson from Cary Grant, a very cool actor who leaves all the scene to his beautiful partners".

He really likes the comparison with Grant, a comparison suggested by the director. "David it's a bit like Harrison Ford, who's been Indiana Jones for everybody for quite a long time, then finally find his personality close to Clark Gables's David is closer to Cary Grant instead" she says. [Duchovny says] "I got nothing against XF, economically and artistically speaking. The only problem is the full time commitment, with no chance to do anything else. Whit the new contract and a commitment for 3 months I'm happy, I got a future, I'm reading some scripts, I'll have time to write, maybe I'll direct my script. I already directed some XF episodes. I'm not afraid of being stuck on Mulder, I'll try to do the right choices. As for the supernatural in the serial, I don't care about it at all: I'm an actor and the hardest thing in XF is to get free of strange creatures that hold my ankle. That's not spirituality". But he does not complain about TV and the kind of success the comes from it. "It would be crazy to deny that's funny to be recognized in the street. The important thing is to keep the privacy." Duchovny, born and grew up in NY (he now lives in LA with wife actress Téa Leoni and their baby girl) admits that "if you want to grow up as an actor, cinema gives you more chances, especially if you have the courage and the ability to do the movie you want and you don't let Hollywood's suggestion have you. That's how Bonnie Hunt works. Return to me is the product of a major, but it's a movie based on simplicity and immediacy, and that's is the opposite of Hollywood cynicism".