As Agent Mulder's search for his sister reaches a
conclusion, the end of The X Files could also be in sight for David Duchovny,
who believes his future is out there - making movies.
IF there's one thing driving FBI Agent Fox Mulder in his ceaseless quest to
explain the unexplainable, it's the hope that one day he'll discover the truth
about his sister Samantha's childhood disappearance. So when a young girl is
'taken' from her home in this week's episode of The X Files [in the UK], the
G-man is quick to draw parallels to his own loss.
What he eventually finds in the two-part tale [Sein Und Zeit/Closure] which
concludes next Sunday, leads him to close the case bearing his sibling's name.
And for actor David Duchovny - who exclaims: "Seven years of trying to find my
sister is enough already" - closure couldn't come quickly enough...
"At this point I can't spend another 10 months doing The X Files," says the
39-year old star. "It's been a great show, a great seven years and I do love
Mulder - I certainly wouldn't want anybody else to play him. But I don't enjoy
playing him all year every year." Even so, it's still unclear whether he and his
co-star Gillian Anderson will return for an eigth series [season]. Rumour has it
Duchovny's participation rests on: his lawsuit over the show's royalties being
settled; his being able to write/direct more episodes; and a lighter workload
enabling him to make more movies such as Return To Me.
The soon-to-be-released [in the UK] romantic comedy sees Duchovny as a
widower who falls in love with a waitress (Minnie Driver, above with Duchovny)
who, unbeknown to either of them, received his dead wife's heart. It's a role
that's brought the actor comparisons to Cary Grant.
"I loved the old-fashioned quality of the movie: the simplicity of the humour
and characters couldn't be further from the convuluted movements in The X
Files," explains Duchovny. "And it was a way to remind everybody I had a career
before the show and I'll be having one after."
While Return To Me was loved by the American public, not all Duchovny's films
have gone down a storm. Even though he had much success with the doggy drama
Beethoven, Chaplin, Kalifornia and the $200million-grossing X Files movie, the
first film he made suring his X Files tenure, Playing God, was a huge flop.
"It wasn't a good movie," Duchovny concedes. "But then I'm just a TV actor, I
can't do movies," he adds sarcastically, referring to the snobbery afflicting
actors such as ex-ER star George Clooney. "Lots of big movie actors came out of
TV: Alec Baldwin, Clint Eastwood, Bruce Willis. Yet they always throw (NYPD
Blue's) David Caruso at you. So he stars in a few movies that don't do well?
That doesn't make him a bad actor. "I don't feel I'm making a transition - The X
Files is similar in quality to movies. All I need is a good script and that's up
to the gods."
