David Duchovny: Hiding in Plain Sight

"I used to write this plastic surgery column," I say, "and I met lots of doctors who were addicts."

"Yes. When I was researching my character I talked to a doctor who specialized in drug rehabilitation of doctors, and he said that a good doctor who was smart could probably get away with it for 15 or 20 years. Anyway, it was a great role, because you know how they always say, 'Hey, this isn't brain surgery'? Well, this time it was."

"You've worked pretty steadily since you started--" I begin.

"Well, it doesn't seem that way to me. I went on lots of auditions that I didn't get. I really wanted to do Bull Durham. I read for the role that Tim Robbins got and met with the director, Ron Shelton, and I met with him again for White Men Cant Jump, which, obviously, I didn't get, either. I read for the part Colin Firth got in Valmont. I read for tons of television, but I never got any of that except Twin Peaks. I just figured I must really be bad."

"What was it like the first time you saw yourself on-screen?"

"I remember thinking, This works, there's something happening, it's OK, I haven't deluded myself completely."

"I've heard that the character you played in Henry Jaglom's New Year's Day was you ..."

"See? How the hell do these rumors start? What was true was that I had gone out with the lead actress in the film, Maggie Jakobson [ now Maggie Wheeler, who plays Janice on Friends ]. And that's pretty much where the similarity ended."

"You've never used poetry to seduce a woman?"

"I don't know." Duchovny looks uncomfortable. "God, I was acting. Trust me, that character wasn't me. It was just great to have a job. Then I did Julia Has Two Lovers. And that character wasn't me either--I don't call people up on the phone and talk dirty. Then I did The Rapture, and just recently we narrated it for laser disc, and [writer/director] Michael Tolkin and Mimi Rogers and I sat in the room and watched it, and all Mimi and I could say is, 'God, we look so young in this movie.' On_ Red Shoe Diaries_, the first one, the movie, I learned a lot from Zalman King about acting and that was my first romantic lead, and I have nothing but wonderful memories of that entire experience. Ruby, Beethoven and Chaplin were all small parts. And Kalifornia --"

Duchovny sees me wince. "What? You didn't like it?"

I can't lie. "I could only watch the first half hour. I thought it sucked."

"Because it was so violent?"

"No, because it had no sense of humor about itself."

"OK, granted. But I loved that film. I loved working with Brad [Pitt] and Juliette [Lewis]. Everybody was saying how Brad was about to become, well, Brad Pitt."

"Do you think you're one of those actors who could change into anything you want on-screen ... ?"

"You mean like a chameleon? No, I'm not really a chameleon. The X-Files has given me confidence, but I still try to hide a little, which is just fine by me. I don't like the show-offy stuff. I don't want to go after things that are different just for the sake of being different. But there's definitely stuff, like romantic comedy, that I want to try."

"And how much longer will you be chasing aliens?"

"Just one more year after this, so I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. And then we'll do The X-Files movies. We'll come back every five or six years and have a reunion. They're trying to write the first one now, and maybe we'll do it this summer or next, I'm not sure. But it will be fun to do. Once I walk away from this character, I know I'm going to want to come back."

"Do you think you'll be happy then?"

"Actually, I think I have a lot of latent happiness. I'm a latent happy person. And I think that when you stop wanting so much, you get a lot happier. So for now, I want to want less."

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Martha Frankel interviewed Howard Stern for the Jan/Feb issue of Movieline. Check out more about Martha Frankel here!

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