Transcript - David Duchovny talks about Evolution, 14 June 2001
y_australia_host: Hi Everyone
y_australia_host: Please welcome star of the new sci-fi movie Evolution... David Duchovny

chewingzafat: Have you always been into sci-fi?
y_david_duchovny: I've actually never been interested in sci-fi
y_david_duchovny: the X-files was a job I auditioned for
y_david_duchovny: because I liked the script
y_david_duchovny: and I liked the character of Mulder
y_david_duchovny: at that time it was a lot different to the kind of roles i'd done
y_david_duchovny: which were more sexual
y_david_duchovny: and i found this character to be edgier and more asexual
y_david_duchovny: The same happened with Evolution
y_david_duchovny: I took the role becausee I wanted to do a comedy


lotsachat2000: Are you enjoying promoting the film?
y_david_duchovny: It's difficult
y_david_duchovny: I had 2 weeks in America
y_david_duchovny: and now a couple of days in Japan
y_david_duchovny: a couple of days in Australia, London, Berlin, Paris
y_david_duchovny: It's difficult
y_david_duchovny: It would be a great opportunity if I had time to travel and enjoy these places
y_david_duchovny: but my priority is to do this as quickly as possible so I can get back to my wife and daughter


chewingzafat: What was it like wearing the containment suit in Evolution?
y_david_duchovny: It chaffed a bit (laugh)
y_david_duchovny: hot, stuffy, chaffy ... but slightly sexy


chewingzafat: Are you going to be in more comedy films?
y_david_duchovny: I hope so
y_david_duchovny: I enjoyed this
y_david_duchovny: and I just try to do as many different things as interest me
y_david_duchovny: I love a good comedy
y_david_duchovny: and it's a real challenge to make some
y_david_duchovny: and there are some funny directors I'd like to work with
y_david_duchovny: and hopefully they'd like to work with me
y_david_duchovny: I feel like I'm discovering my own comic voice
y_david_duchovny: in a way.


babbbyface: What's your next project?
y_david_duchovny: Last year I did 12 episodes of the X-Files
y_david_duchovny: and Evolution which I just finished a few weeks ago
y_david_duchovny: so I haven't had much time
y_david_duchovny: plus the threat of a strike
y_david_duchovny: has put things on hold until June 30
y_david_duchovny: so I don't have anything lined up.
y_david_duchovny: But I've blocked up a certain amount of my time to write


sassy_chicau_2001: what was it like making the film was it FUN:/
y_david_duchovny: Yes, it was fun.
y_david_duchovny: The illusion that you want to create in a comedy
y_david_duchovny: is that you want to make it look like it was fun to make,
y_david_duchovny: and we certainly had fun as actors.
y_david_duchovny: But the real truth is that making a comedy
y_david_duchovny: makes you worry about whether what you're doing is funny
y_david_duchovny: for instance if the crew is laughing
y_david_duchovny: are they laughing because they know you
y_david_duchovny: or are they laughing because what you're doing is funny
y_david_duchovny: things like that.


roussepetite19: I've heard you and other cast members refer to scenes in interviews that didn't make the final cut in the movie (ie, Ira's girlfriend breaking up with him) -- are there any you particularly wish hadn't ended up on the cutting room floor?
y_david_duchovny: Probably that one most of all
y_david_duchovny: because I felt that it was the introduction to the character
y_david_duchovny: and established his lack of interest in anything...
y_david_duchovny: the fact that he was aimless, rock bottom
y_david_duchovny: it established his character in I liked.
y_david_duchovny: But in movies speed matters, and that speed made that scene a casualty.


cybamuse: Has David been happy with the American reception to Evolution?
y_david_duchovny: I'm not sure what that means
y_david_duchovny: It's my estimation that a movie like this doesn't get reviewed well
y_david_duchovny: because it's a crowd pleaser
y_david_duchovny: and they generally don't get reviewed well.
y_david_duchovny: But in terms of box office it's doing well
y_david_duchovny: I think it's a movie that will hang around for awhile
y_david_duchovny: because it has good word of mouth movie


morgana917: What were the most difficult and most enjoyable aspects of making 'Evolution'?
y_david_duchovny: The difficulty is that it's a big special effects movie
y_david_duchovny: so to make everything perfect is a painstaking process
y_david_duchovny: and for actors that can be a tedious process.
y_david_duchovny: The more enjoyable aspect was
y_david_duchovny: getting to work with actors like Orlando, Julianne and Seann.
y_david_duchovny: It was fun to play with people who were so different


sassy_chicau_2001: what did you think of it when you watched the final product?
y_david_duchovny: I was really happy.
y_david_duchovny: As I said before...
y_david_duchovny: when you're doing a comedy
y_david_duchovny: you just never know
y_david_duchovny: firstly whether what you are doing is funny
y_david_duchovny: and secondly whether it will be cut together funny.
y_david_duchovny: With a sci-fi comedy
y_david_duchovny: you really need the believability and the comedy
y_david_duchovny: and those two things can undercut each other...
y_david_duchovny: the balance is really important,
y_david_duchovny: and I didn't know how those 2 things would work.
y_david_duchovny: The defining moment for me is when I sit in a screening room for the first time with an audience that is neutral
y_david_duchovny: This movie wasn't really my usual style but sitting with the audience I could see it was working
y_david_duchovny: so I was really happy to be involved in it.


secret8979: What was it about the role that interested you?
y_david_duchovny: It wasn't really the role
y_david_duchovny: it was the tone of the movie.
y_david_duchovny: it was the chance to try my hand at Ivan Reitman's brand of comedy...
y_david_duchovny: like Animal House, Ghostbusters which was a precuroser for this movie.
y_david_duchovny: I knew that the role would grow
y_david_duchovny: the role as written I knew I could handle
y_david_duchovny: but the way I played it was in the style of an Ivan Reitman film.


morgana917: Are you sick of being asked questions about the X-Files?
y_david_duchovny: No. It's only been a month that I haven't done the show
y_david_duchovny: I appreciate that people are interested in the show
y_david_duchovny: and it's not like it's been 10 years since I was on it.
y_david_duchovny: People want to know why I left.


mulderimyours: Was it emotional filming your last scene on TXF?
y_david_duchovny: Yeah - it was ending an 8 year relationship basically, that's the best way to put it
y_david_duchovny: and that's emotional


essendon5au: Are you going to be going another X-files movie in the Future?
y_david_duchovny: I don't know
y_david_duchovny: I imagine that because the first one was a success
y_david_duchovny: that they'll make another at some point
y_david_duchovny: I'd prefer it if they did that when the show was over
y_david_duchovny: I'd love a few years off then come back to make the movie.
y_david_duchovny: it would be a kind of reunion.


ltkper321: What is your fondest memory of working on the XF and developing and molding such a wonderful character as Mulder?
y_david_duchovny: Probably the first couple of years
y_david_duchovny: just working my ass off
y_david_duchovny: and trying to make something as great as it could be
y_david_duchovny: working with Chris Carter, Glen Morgan, James Wong, Kim Manners
y_david_duchovny: constantly talking to these people and being consumed
y_david_duchovny: in mmaking this a great show...
y_david_duchovny: the passion, the focus, the excitement.
y_david_duchovny: I hope for that in every project from now on, but
y_david_duchovny: you can't maintain the naievete and passion that you have at the beginning...
y_david_duchovny: All of us coming together and doing our best work
y_david_duchovny: is my best memory.


ozeeyore: WHat's the best role you've ever played ? ..erm.. on screen that is (we were told to keep the questions clean )
y_david_duchovny: I don't know
y_david_duchovny: They're kind of like children in a way
y_david_duchovny: you don't want to play favourites
y_david_duchovny: Some are more successful than others no doubt
y_david_duchovny: but the best?
y_david_duchovny: I couldn't say.


blinkbunni: Would you ever consider working on a film with Gillan, but not as Mulder & Scully, as two new characters?
y_david_duchovny: Sure
y_david_duchovny: If I liked the script


hennyfur: Fans: flattering, annoying, or downright scary?
y_david_duchovny: Yes!


guitar325v: Do you still take your dog Blue onto the movie sets with you? (give her a hug for me)
y_david_duchovny: I wish she was with me here in Sydney :)
y_david_duchovny: but she's home with her boyfriend George.
y_david_duchovny: Blue came with me every day when I worked on the X Files in Vancouver
y_david_duchovny: because my stand in,
y_david_duchovny: a guy named Yaap,
y_david_duchovny: was in love with Blue.
y_david_duchovny: But when we moved the show to LA
y_david_duchovny: the studio wasn't as friendly to dogs.
y_david_duchovny: My wife also has George,
y_david_duchovny: her dog,
y_david_duchovny: so they paired up.
y_david_duchovny: I do take her occasionally
y_david_duchovny: but not like in the old days
y_david_duchovny: where we'd go to work every day together
y_david_duchovny: like a team.


rhoannan: Is there a role you've always want to do?
y_david_duchovny: No, no I think that you always think of Shakespeare roles
y_david_duchovny: and the great thing about Shakespeare is there are roles for every age
y_david_duchovny: so as I grow older
y_david_duchovny: I look forward to those roles.


sassy_chicau_2001: who was or is Your role model
y_david_duchovny: I've never had a role model.
y_david_duchovny: I've had people that influenced me.
y_david_duchovny: I wouldn't say I wanted to be them,
y_david_duchovny: but they had influence over me...
y_david_duchovny: hopefully good,
y_david_duchovny: but I wasn't a hero worshipper.
y_david_duchovny: I loved certain athletes
y_david_duchovny: but I recognised that they were them and I was me


becky_sculder: Mr. Duchovny, What do you prefer the must: write, direct or act?
y_david_duchovny: Yes :)


hot_red_house_blues: Hey david do you like australians?
y_david_duchovny: What kind of a question is that?
y_david_duchovny: So far so good, but I've only been here 8 hours
y_david_duchovny: so yeah, I like them
y_david_duchovny: I had an Australian relative!


alexxos250: david, why is the second name of your daughter "West"?
y_david_duchovny: It's a family name of my wife's


morgana917: What was your daughter's first word?
y_david_duchovny: More
y_david_duchovny: which meant "again ... keep doing it", rather than "more food"


mulderpause: David, you said during your Japan press conference that Tea hadn't seen Evolution as of Monday. Has she seen it yet and what did she think?
y_david_duchovny: She saw it Tuesday, and she thought I was great
y_david_duchovny: She gave me a lengthy critique
y_david_duchovny: and I was very happy to have pleased her.
y_david_duchovny: And she thought my ass looked good!
y_chatmoderator: OK, we have time for one more question


sassy_chicau_2001: when did you know you were a star?
y_david_duchovny: When did I know that I was a star? Probably
y_david_duchovny: when I went home back to New York.
y_david_duchovny: It's where I grew up,
y_david_duchovny: and was perfectly anonymous.
y_david_duchovny: The fact that people recognised me in other cities
y_david_duchovny: didn't really mean much
y_david_duchovny: but to get recognised in New York
y_david_duchovny: is weird.
y_david_duchovny: To walk around with my mother and have people screaming at me
y_david_duchovny: "Hey David" and "I loved Evolution"
y_david_duchovny: My mother would say to me "Who's that?"
y_david_duchovny: and I'd say
y_david_duchovny: "Mom I'm on TV", but she always asks when she hears someone call out to me.
y_chatmoderator: Thanks for taking the time to chat with us David.
y_david_duchovny: Thanks everyone - hope you all enjoy Evolution as much as I enjoyed making it and I look forward to talking with you in the future.
y_chatmoderator: that's it for our chat with David Duchovny.
y_chatmoderator: Thank you all for joining us

Transcript courtesy of Yahoo!.