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 -- Bob & Grace first meet at O'Reilly's]
KC: 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.
KC: We were bemoaning the fact that we have
to follow that Robin Williams performance.
DD: I know. It's impossible.
KC: 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,
DD: And was craft services.
KC: [laughs] I know that she was very very
involved in this project. Is that what made it appealing to you?
DD: 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.
KC: Also, you co-star with Minnie Driver?
DD: Yeah
KC: And I got the impression when I spoke
with Minnie that you all got along pretty swimmingly. Is that right?
DD: Yeah, you know, we've been coached to
say that.
KC: [laughs] Yeah right.
DD: But yeah.
KC: It seems like you guys had a lot of fun
together.
DD: 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.
KC: 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.
DD: Right. But we make that funny.
KC: [laughs] You do not. You know, I cried
in this movie.
DD: 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.
KC: Sort of real-life situations,
characters, although the plot is pretty...
DD: 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.
KC: I'd say even less, David.
DD: 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.
KC: This is a very wholesome movie in that
there's no violence, no sex.
DD: Well, there's some kissing.
KC: Yeah, yeah, but you know, no
full-out... sex scene.
DD: Did you miss it?
KC: Not at all. Not at all.
DD: I'm insulted. You didn't want to see me
have, like, this is you.
KC: 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.
DD: 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 --
KC: [laughing] Thank you for that term of
art. I appreciate it.
DD: -- 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.
KC: And some things are much more erotic
when it doesn't happen.
DD: 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.
KC: Thank you.
DD: 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.
KC: And you have a money-back guarantee on
that.
DD: I'll personally come to your home and
guarantee it. That's what I'm willing to do for this film.
KC: 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.
DD: Really?
KC: It's a bowling scene...
DD: Oh, I like it fine, it's just, uh, I
think I've seen it before.
KC: 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]
KC: 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?
DD: I don't know. Honestly. I would tell
you.
KC: I'm sure you'd break it here on the
Today show.
DD: I would. I've been holding on to it. I
honestly don't know.
KC: Well, let us know.
DD: I will. I'll call up.
KC: David Duchovny, good to see you, the
movie is called Return To Me. And I really liked it.
DD: Thank you.
