David Duchonvy - Exclusive Interview

Staci Layne Wilson:  You mentioned that you listen to some DVD commentaries, so... What is it about them that you think keeps drawing fans of film like yourself to listen and watch the movie again at the same time?

David Duchovny:  As a filmmaker, I enjoy listening to the director; not so much the actors.  I enjoy listening to the director and why he made certain decisions and all that, so I really enjoy that part.  A lot of the time, they’re not great, these commentaries, and a lot of the time I’m guilty of just saying what I had for lunch that day. 

I think for the more casual fans, it’s really interesting just to hear actors and directors talk about their work.  There are plenty of talk shows, but you never really talk about your work.  You just tell stories about your work, and I think it’s probably interesting for people to listen to workmen talk about their work.  I like to hear a brick layer tell me how he does it.  I don’t want him to tell me stories of what practical jokes he’s done on the construction site which is what you do on talk shows in America.  It’s fascinating for me to hear people that are good at what they do talk about it.

Wilson:  Now, on your DVD there’s also a bit about the Green production which is one of the new, sort of innovative things that’s come along with filmmaking in the twenty-first century.  What were the challenges of working on a green production, and is there anything you’ve learned in this regard to carry over into your everyday life?

Duchovny:  Well, the second part first.  I’ve been Green for quite a while, so I don’t think there’s anything I’ve learned on this movie that would affect my personal life, but I would just say that there is no difference for myself as an actor working on this Green production.  I’ve been working on another production that wasn’t Green.  There was no hardship at all.  I’m sure it was a difficult problem to solve for the line producer and the UPN from time to time, but that’s not something that’s ever involving actors.  The best thing I can say about a Green production is it’s exactly like all the other productions I’ve worked on.

Wilson:  Were some of the other actors new to the process?

Duchovny:  I imagine we all were.  When I said they were exactly like all the other ones, I’m saying there was no difference as far as the actors can see, or the way the actors were treated, or the way anyone was treated.

Wilson:  I see.

Duchovny:  It wasn’t like we were working cameras by having hamsters running in them.

Wilson:  No?  That’s next.  [Laughter]  We have to unionize the hamsters!

Duchovny:  Right.

Wilson: Since you began with the X-Files on TV, everyone has evolved so much.  I mean, yourself and the characters… but what was it like to work with Chris and Frank again?  In what ways is it good to keep working with the same filmmakers and your fellow actors?

Duchovny:  It’s very pleasant to be able to work with people that you’ve known and liked for so long.  Frank and I were not really in touch over the intervening six years, but Chris and I lived within fifteen minutes of each other and saw each other on the average of two or three times a month, I would say.  [We] played tennis or went to dinner or whatever.  So Chris was really a friend.  He became a friend over the course of the show, and then became a friend with or without the show.  We talked about it in all the intervening time.  We talked about when and how and what we were going to do with another movie perhaps, so when we got a chance to actually get it up and running, I jumped at the chance. 

I also jumped at the chance of Chris being able to direct his first film.  This would be the perfect vehicle for him to do that.  Gillian was fun.  It was fun to get back together with Gillian because after six years and so much intensive work before that, there’s a kind of fondness that remains, but also that we’ve both grown artistically since the end of the show.  To come back and start playing around with each other and the characters again with these kind of new bags of tricks or new parameters that we’ve pushed or new area that we can now access as performers was a lot of fun.

 Read Horror.com's theatrical release review of X-Files: I Want to Believe here