The X-Files
Australian Conne-X-ion
Australian Media
February 2001

The truth is out there for the X-man

A more assertive Gillian Anderson and newcomer Robert Patrick hope to give The X-Files a stellar boost, with David Duchovny scaling back his involvement in the phenomenal show. Kathy Mc Cabe reports.

Series eight, episode one of The X-Files, and Dana Scully throws a glass of water into the face of The X Files' freshest sceptic, Agent John Doggett. Her actions echoed the feelings of many fans of the enduring sci-fi drama who were not entirely happy Fox Mulder would be spending a lot more time off- screen with the aliens.

Journeyman character actor Robert Patrick had mutant sized gumshoes to fill with Duchovny scaling back his appearances to half of the new series.

But the on-screen chemistry is already starting to sizzle between Gillian Anderson and her new co-star, and fans have not only tempered their disapproval but seem inclined to welcome the Terminator 2 villain to The X- Files.

Patrick was pleased with his introduction, saying: " It was good that Doggett was willing to risk the first impression because that's the conflict, the whole drama.

"Chris Carter (the show's creator) told me that people might not like the Doggett character or the fact I'm joining the show.

"We kind of built that into the character and I think as you watch the show, you realise he's a guy who doesn't really care whether he's liked."

Off screen, Anderson and Patrick have become firm friends.

"That really has been the highlight of the show for me- how much I enjoy working with Gillian, " Robert said.

"She keeps me in great supply of triple- shot soy lattes, which help us get through the work day.

"She is a great gal and I enjoy working with her."

Fans who may want to fantasise some animosity between Patrick, whose character is charged with finding the missing Mulder, and Duchovny, will also be sorely disappointed.

"David and I have sat together and spoken in my trailer, actually," Patrick said. "We discussed many things- certain aspects of the writing, his character's background- and I expressed a genuine interest for joining the show and working with him and Gillian.

"We've had some mutual friends and I've known David's wife (Tea Leoni) since about 1992, so we had a few things to talk about."

Patrick also is at pains to assure viewers his character is not a replacement for Mulder.

"I see Doggett and my role as a brand new character who has been brought in to investigate Mulder's disappearance," he said.

"And in no way would I presume to think that I could ever replace Mulder or David Duchovny."

After watching the series return, there is no doubt The X-Files' creator Chris Carter picked the right man for the job.

"There were a lot of actors were suggested to us but not a lot who fit the character we were writing," Carter told Entertainment Weekly. "The character was this hard- boiled cop, salt- of- the -earth Everyman, who was going to be a non-believer to the core."

Best known as the cyborg assassin in Terminator 2, Patrick has worked on 55 films in his 16-year-career.

He also impressed as a sicko gambler on The Sopranos.

The 41-year-old has played more than his fair share of cops, particularly police officers from New York, including his X-Files character.

Riding around with New York's finest, researching his role in Sylvester Stallone's Coplands, prepared him well for his turn as the facts-only FBI man.

"I had played police officers before and I'd done a lot of ride-alongs with police officers, " he explained.

"Believe it or not, I played a bunch of FBI agents, too. That's about all I did to prepare for the role."

Patrick has been cleverly courting the X-Philes via the show's official website, well aware that the show's custodians are its viewers rather than its creators.

"The fans are passionate and it's their show. I've never been on a project where, after the show airs, you get on the Internet and see fans' responses," he said." I really appreciate the fact that the fans have an emotional response.

"That's all I can ask for as an actor."

Well, besides the fact that the fans also go to check out his new film roles.

Patrick stars with Matt Damon in All the Pretty Horses, directed by Billy Bob Thornton.

He has also completed the films Texas Rangers, opposite Dylan Mc Dermott and James Van Der Beek, Eye See You with his mate Sylvester Stallone, and Spy Kids opposite Antonio Banderas.

Inset: About this series

When Fox Mulder was spirited off to outer space by the aliens at the end of series seven of The X-Files, the future of the top-rating sci-fi show was looking grim. After David Duchovny announced he would only be returning in a limited role, the phenomenally successful show was further dented. Enter Robert Patrick and Chris Carter, back on the computer to write his entry into The X-Files. The immediate tension between his character, Agent John Doggett, and stalwart Dana Scully has re-ignited the show's pulse, which had fluttered last season as Anderson and Duchovny looked decidedly bored. With Scully's pregnancy further pushing the storylines, The X-Files should keep fans happy and win converts.

The X-Files Reopened
Last year Chris Carter-creator of The X-Files-walked into the office of the series' executive producer Frank Spotnitz and started talking about an idea for a new episode.

Spotnitz, Carter recalls," looked up and said: You realise we only have five episodes left on this show possibly." And I couldn't believe it, I couldn't believe the show was going to be over…and that we would never be able to tell that story.

"And that gave me pause, like there's still a lot of good work left to do. I don't want to go on with the show unless the show can be good. We have thrown our lives into this show…and none of us want to see it peter out or just fall away into ruin."

But that's precisely how it appeared that X-Files- one of modern television's seminal shows- would come to an end.

After six successful seasons, the series unravelled in its seventh year.

Some individual episodes were still good, but many were not and -worse-a number were recycling story lines and themes from previous years.

The contract of star David Duchovny was up, and he wanted out.

Co-star Gillian Anderson was also under contract for another season but also was looking for a quick exit. (It showed in their performances.)

Even when Duchovny agreed to another season- actually, half a season since he will be in only 11 of 21 episodes this year-it seemed as if darkness and gloom had settled on X-Files.

But now the X-Files has returned for a new season with the first episodes screened on Channel 10 pulse-jolting, high-energy episodes, arguably the best back-to-back shows the series has done in a couple of years.

The first two-parter was written by Carter with the plot artfully finding a way around the (relative) absence of Duchovny's Fox Mulder, abducted by aliens last season, and cast a new light on Anderson's Dana Scully.

The opening episodes established a compelling new character in Scully's new partner, Agent John Doggett, played by Robert Patrick.

They refocused the role of Deputy Director Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) and brought back some players key to the show's mythology, such as young chess whiz-part alien Gibson Praise, now a 12-year-old.

It may be too early to call The X-Files reborn but there are a lot more reasons to be optimistic about the show's future than there used to be.

Certainly, those involved in the series sound a lot happier.

Anderson, who has now signed for a ninth season, admits that she "had expressed a lot of reservations about returning…It wasn't about the creative aspects of the show. It was about doing the same thing for seven years and losing track of myself, of my life and of my responsibilities as a mother and-at the same time-trying to make this character interesting with the same equations in front of me, day in and day out."

But, she says," what has happened for all of us is that the introduction of this new character is like a new energy, like a new baby in the family; it's a new something that starts a fire."

Carter says that the limited number of time Duchovny will spend on the series -his on-screen time in the two-parter was crucial but brief- forced the producers and writers to rethink their approach to the show. And that, he suggests, was for the good.

"The problem made for an interesting solution, I think," Carter says.

"There have been several different times on the show during the early years, notably Gillian's pregnancy, that presented a problem and actually turned into a great part of the show.

"David's absence really kind of frames the year as the search for Mulder. It creates a nice problem to solve. And I think that's part of our job here- to take the problems as they occur and turn them into good creative solutions."

One solution is that, to a certain degree, Scully has become Mulder, the driven character who takes the lead.

"Now," says Carter, "Scully is the one holding the remote on the projector and taking Doggett through the cases- and Doggett is the one shaking his head and saying that this can't be."

For his part, Patrick-best known for his "killer cyborg role in Terminator 2 and a recurring part in The Sopranos - is fully aware that he risks the wrath of hard-core X-Files fans by essentially stepping into Duchovny's lead role.

"That's something that was brought to my attention early on, and its something we're all aware of," he says.

"And I've chosen to look at it very much the way John Doggett is looking at it."

"All I can do is do my work, work as hard as I can, and the rest is going to have to take care of itself."

To the delight of just about everyone involved, The X-Files-known for its deadline drama in producing episodes- is already in the midst of filming the 10th episode of the season.

And, says Carter," we have roughly the second half of the season worked out, although there's a lot more fine detail work to do to figure out how we're going to tell the stories with the reintroduction of…Mulder and how he is going to play against the character of John Doggett."

Carter is, as always, elusive when talking about future storylines. He did say that Scully's pregnancy will be"in keeping with a nine-month pregnancy."

And while dodging the question about the father of the baby, he does note that" the 14th episode of the season will explore this in a very significant way."

"Is that vague enough for you?"

And the Cigarette-Smoking-Man-Mulder and Scully's long-time nemesis-who was pushed down some stairs in last season's finale and was last seen lying in a heap? Is he really dead?

Says Carter with a laugh: "We haven't taken his pulse yet."

WHO'S IN THE NEWS
David Duchovny (seen in this month's Return to Me) is taking full advantage of his free schedule since leaving The X- Files. Early buzz on the new sci-fi comedy Evolution has been extremely positive. Directed by Ivan Reitman (whose Ghostbusters was a very successful blend of sci-fi and comedy), the film tells the story of a small community in the middle of nowhere which witness an object crashing into the earth. Local scientists (including David) discover simple one cell organisms in a sample they take… an hour or tow later, they are multi-celled organisms… and soon the entire earth is under threat! Julianne Moore and Seann William Scott (who is hilarious in this moth's Road Trip) also star.

Return to Me
Return to Me marks the directional debut of comedienne/actress Bonnie Hunt (The Bonnie Hunt Show, Random Hearts, Jerry Maguire).

As zoologist Elizabeth Rueland's (Joely Richardson) heart bulges with all things good (such as raising money for a gorilla enclosure), Grace Briggs (Minnie Driver) lies in hospital with heart disease hoping for a donor. And when a car accident land Elizabeth in hospital, Grace gets her heart.

A year later a heartbroken (no pun intended) Bob Rueland (David Duchovny) determined that while he will always love his deceased wife, it's time to move on. And who should he unknowingly decide to move on with but the recipient of Elizabeth's heart, Grace.

While Duchovny and Driver are quietly creating screen magic, it is Grace's relatives at the Irish-Italian restaurant who offer the real entertainment in this film. Hunt also provides many laughs as the outlandish friend, long-suffering wife of Joe (James Belushi) and mother of five. This romantic comedy is bound to tug at the heartstrings.