{"id":11743,"date":"2016-01-22T10:43:09","date_gmt":"2016-01-22T15:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/?p=11743"},"modified":"2021-04-22T18:43:31","modified_gmt":"2021-04-22T22:43:31","slug":"the-x-files-david-duchovny-and-gillian-anderson-return-to-the-paranormal-beat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/2016\/01\/22\/the-x-files-david-duchovny-and-gillian-anderson-return-to-the-paranormal-beat\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The X-Files\u2019: David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson Return to the Paranormal Beat"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

There they were in the midst of what looked like a spooky old-growth forest (Princess Park, actually, mere blocks from upscale suburban homes here), surrounded by clumps of moss, overgrown ferns and gigantic Douglas firs, looking for clues of yet another allegedly paranormal crime, the kind they used to solve almost every week. They addressed each other, as they always had, by only their last names.<\/p>\n

\u201cMulder,\u201d said Gillian Anderson, reprising her role as the F.B.I. agent Dana Scully, the look on her face instantly recognizable; part reprimand, part in-spite-of-herself affection.<\/p>\n

\u201cScully,\u201d David Duchovny responded in character, somehow managing to mock her just by saying her name.<\/p>\n

They were shooting the much-anticipated six-episode revival of \u201cThe X-Files,\u201d which begins Sunday, Jan. 24 on Fox, back in Vancouver, where the original series\u2019s first five seasons were filmed. It\u2019s been 14 years since an original episode aired, almost 23 years since the show began. In 1993, the two actors had no idea they were about to start a phenomenon that would propel them to worldwide recognition, demonstrate the power of genre television and mark them, whether they liked it or not, as Mulder and Scully for the rest of their working lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor a very long time, I just could not think about it anymore; I was so ready to be done,\u201d Ms. Anderson said, remembering the grind of doing about 25 episodes a year for nine seasons. Virtually unknown and only 24 years old when she landed the part, she worried for years that the role would swallow her entire career. When the series ended, she moved to England and made a point of taking parts in higher-brow productions such as the BBC adaptation of Charles Dickens\u2019s \u201cBleak House.\u201d<\/p>\n

Only in recent years has the idea of returning to the Scully character seemed enjoyable. \u201cIf I was to look at the bell curve of my ego, I would say that it would have been harder at other times to do this series again, had I not proved to myself \u2014 and to other people \u2014 in the interim that I could do other things,\u201d Ms. Anderson said.<\/p>\n

When it first aired, \u201cThe X-Files\u201d was not a sure thing. The initial audience (an average of 11 million viewers per episode in the first season) was small but intensely loyal, invested in not only the supernatural stories but also the dynamics of the Scully-Mulder relationship. By its fourth season in 1996-97, the series had exploded into a mainstream hit, 11th in Nielsen ratings and averaging 20 million viewers per episode. (It also spawned two films, \u201cThe X-Files\u201d in 1998 and \u201cThe X-Files: I Want to Believe\u201d in 2008, the last time they played Mulder and Scully.)<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout \u2018The X-Files,\u2019 you don\u2019t have shows like \u2018Lost\u2019 or \u2018Heroes\u2019 or even \u2018Bones,\u2019\u201d Mr. Duchovny said. \u201cThere were all these tributaries that came out of the show, this whole Comic Con-ization of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cI think it became more than any of us saw, certainly more than I saw. I was not interested in aliens, and that\u2019s what I assumed the show was about. So I was completely wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chris Carter, the creator of \u201cThe X-Files\u201d and still its driving force, didn\u2019t care much about aliens, either. But he was fascinated by how many other people seemed to be. In the early \u201990s, supermarket tabloids like Weekly World News and airport paperbacks like Whitley Strieber\u2019s \u201cCommunion\u201d were filled with tales of U.F.O.s and alien abductions. The idea of a show about conspiracies, real and imagined, appealed to him. It took several tries before he could persuade Fox, where Mr. Carter had a development deal, to give the concept a shot.<\/p>\n

The underlying premise, Mr. Carter believes, is even more relevant now. \u201cThere\u2019s something in the wind right now,\u201d he said in a telephone conversation. \u201cPeople seem concerned, more than ever, about whether the government is really looking out for their best interest. It\u2019s always been there. But lately it\u2019s ratcheted up.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new \u201cX-Files\u201d episodes will touch on matters of high-tech surveillance, cabals, government conspiracies and, yes, U.F.O.s. But, as in the original series, there will also be stand-alone \u201cMonster of the Week\u201d episodes. The one they were shooting this particular day, written and directed by Darin Morgan, is called \u201cMulder and Scully Meet the Weremonster.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Duchovny, 55, and Ms. Anderson, 47, seem more comfortable playing Mulder and Scully than they ever have. Their on-screen chemistry, always obvious, has only increased, and their off-camera relationship has changed. They weren\u2019t really friends when the show began. Now, they tease each other between takes, sometimes breaking into giggles and falling into each other\u2019s arms. When Ms. Anderson botches a line, she lets loose with a barrage of hilariously obscene self-criticism, using words that Dana Scully would never, ever say.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think both of us are able to savor things more, to appreciate how lucky we are to have had this experience,\u201d Ms. Anderson said. It had not always been that way. Mr. Duchovny was the one who instigated moving the show\u2019s production from Vancouver to Los Angeles in 1998, partly so he could be better positioned for feature film roles. There were arguments. There were lawsuits. There were days when it wasn\u2019t fun.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the beginning, it was a big struggle for him,\u201d Ms. Anderson said, \u201cand there was often a sense that he\u2019d rather be somewhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n

By the time the series ended in 2002, Mr. Duchovny, who was only in half the episodes of the final season, was clearly ready to move on. \u201cI wanted to have other things in my life and the show was all-consuming,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it wasn\u2019t because I was tired of the character. I always thought I\u2019d play Mulder again.\u201d<\/p>\n

And it was Mr. Duchovny who initiated the show\u2019s return, reaching out to Ms. Anderson and Mr. Carter early last year, and once they were on board, approaching executives at Fox.<\/p>\n

None of this would have happened, Mr. Carter said, if not for the continued urging of online fans, many of whom are too young to have seen the show in its original run. At Comic-Con 2013, a 20th anniversary \u201cX-Files\u201d panel drew one of the largest, most enthusiastic crowds of the sprawling event.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d actually had very little direct contact with the hard core fan base before that,\u201d Mr. Carter said. \u201cThat the show would resonate with them when there\u2019s so much else out there, that it would have a life beyond its original life, I have to say I find it incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Source: \u2018The X-Files\u2019: David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson Return to the Paranormal Beat – The New York Times<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There they were in the midst of what looked like a spooky old-growth forest (Princess Park, actually, mere blocks from upscale suburban homes here), surrounded by clumps of moss, overgrown ferns and gigantic Douglas firs, looking for clues of yet another allegedly paranormal crime, the kind they used to solve almost every week. They addressed each other, as they always had, by only their last names. \u201cMulder,\u201d said Gillian Anderson, reprising her role as the F.B.I. agent Dana Scully, the look on her face instantly recognizable; part reprimand, part in-spite-of-herself affection. \u201cScully,\u201d David Duchovny responded in character, somehow managing to mock her just by saying her name. They were shooting the much-anticipated six-episode revival of \u201cThe X-Files,\u201d which begins Sunday, Jan. 24 on Fox, back in Vancouver, where the original series\u2019s first five seasons were filmed. It\u2019s been 14 years since an original episode aired, almost 23 years since the show began. In 1993, the two actors had no idea they were about to start a phenomenon that would propel them to worldwide recognition, demonstrate the power of genre television and mark them, whether they liked it or not, as Mulder and Scully for the rest of their working lives. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11744,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[1779,1960,1968,1969],"class_list":["post-11743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-x-files","tag-the-x-files","tag-x-files","tag-xfiles","tag-xfilesrevival"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11743"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11743\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}