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April 2000 I felt there was a possibility for freedom, for an ease of expression. I don't know if it's more me. I did know there is an innocence about the character and the whole movie that I wanted to get back in touch with. I understood the heart of the film and after that there wasn't a lot of thinking. I just made unconscious choices. This film shows you at your most appealing. Is this what an actor prays for? I don't think I've ever prayed for it. From now on, I will. Actually, from now on this is what I'll be looking for in a director. Does this movie say that you should keep looking for love? I don't know if there's a moral in it. I just know in the theater when I watched it, I felt good. It sounds like a lame-brained thing to say but there aren't many movies you feel good at. What did you find out about Chicago while you were there on location? I love Chicago. I was at the Ritz-Carlton and right down the street there was a little community center and I got into a pick-up basketball game with these off-duty Chicago cops. We played every Saturday. And we went out drinking a couple nights. How did you do against the cops? Drinking or playing? I play better than I drink. Does this mean they threw out your speeding tickets? Um, we don't like to talk about that kind of stuff. Then the answer is yes! No! They love to put celebrities in jail. Are you kidding? You've wanted to distance yourself from Fox Mulder, yet you've said you'll do future X-Files movies. I have a great love for the character and for the show. I wouldn't want anybody else to play Fox and I do enjoy playi ng it. Just not every year. It really has nothing to do with this idea of, "I've got to get away from the stigma [of being a TV star] or the character!" [With film] you're not making 22 a year, you're making one every three or four years. It's a whole different thing. Is there another movie installment in the works now? Not that I know of. I think they're just trying to figure out what to do with the TV show now. It's about money. If they ain't got no TV show, they'll make money with the movies. How important is it to have a movie career? Jimmy Smits got upset when I asked him about it, but it's what everybody tries to do. Yes, but it's always, "You're trying to make it in movies." What's true for most people in our position is you just want to do something different. You're not tying to become a star, you're an actor looking for a different part. I have a great amount of respect for actors like David Caruso, Jimmy Smits, or Julianna Margulies. They turned down a lot of money to do something very uncertain. Instead of applauding them, people attack them. But your stardom is assured on a long-running show. People often ignore actors once they're off the air. People looking from the outside think it must hurt [an actor's] feelings not to have their picture taken. If you talk to those celebrities, they might say, "Thank God I can go somewhere without having my picture taken." But in this business, you're hot or you're not. Do you worry about that? Sure, you worry about it because if you're hot, you get your choice of good material, and if not, you've got to get lucky. That's the only reason why hot is good, not because people take your picture. You get to do great work and get great roles. The phenomenon of being hot in and of itself is worth nothing. And when you're in the middle of it all? You just get back to that fear of it all going away, so you just try to keep working. That fear's not necessarily a good thing. At some point in your career you just have to go, "My talent brought me to this point. If people walk away at this point, my talent doesn't walk away too." That's the perspective I'm always trying to get. You're in a lawsuit against Fox. Why are you still able to write and direct an episode this season? The lawsuit has nothing to do with the day-to-day working of the show. The lawsuit is just business; I had a different view of my contract than they did — and when they have my view of my contract, the lawsuit will be settled. Not until then. You've said the lawsuit has destroyed your relationship with Chris Carter. Do you think down the line you'll forget the bad blood? I think we'll forget what happened after a while. But I think there's been some irreparable stuff that has happened. I don't think it will be the same. What do you get from directing that you don't get from acting? I've been acting for about 10 years and on X-Files for seven years and I kind of have that job down. Directing each show has a bigger demand. I decide the tone of the story and how to tell it and it's a big mental challenge every time. Do you have a favorite episode? Hopefully, this one I'm working on now. It's called "Hollywood A.D." Skinner has been talking to a producer in Hollywood about one of Mulder's cases, unbeknownst to Mulder. Then you see the difference between when Mulder and Scully were on the case and the movie they make. I've heard that you and Gillian Anderson don't talk to each other off of the set and that you both have assistants who make sure that you arrive on the set simultaneously. That's pretty close. I'm sure if we pass each other we wouldn't ignore each other. We don't run from trailer to trailer to exchange the news of the day. We have a successful working relationship and that's the best way to go about this job. Otherwise we'd hate each other by now. Your fans are pretty rabid. Have they been intrusive? It's all on an individual basis. People are people. Most are sensitive and have a good idea that we're all pretty much the same, we're just doing jobs. There are a few out there that don't get that. One kind of rude encounter will ruin a lot of good ones, but for the most part the encounters are fine. Do you think X-Files will run on for another year after you leave? I don't know. I think that would be stupid. If they want to keep making money, I guess they should. It's all about money at this point, seven years. If anybody says after seven years of a show it's about creative challenges, they're lying to your face. It's just about money: making sausages and donuts. It must feel odd. In a few weeks you'll be done. In a good and a bad way it feels like graduation. I'll feel unprepared to deal with the world. For the last seven years I've had somewhere to go every day and a sheet of paper that says exactly where I'm supposed to be and who I'm supposed to be. So there'll be some readjustment. Does it scare you? Sure. It's comforting and easy for me to go to work. It pays well and I get approval and it's a great show. And having a baby now, it's not a bad thing with a TV show. For an actor, that's as steady work as you can get and you don't have to go out of town. In fact, it would be really good for me to continue on the show. But creatively, it's just not there at this point. Any regrets? I'm sure I'll have some regrets. I've been deeply involved with this show and I'll miss it. Would you make appearances on the show after you left? I think that would be terrible. Do you want to work with Téa in a movie? I'd love to. I really think she is like a Marilyn Monroe, not that she's like her, but in the sense that if she wants to, she stands above and beyond this time and will be somebody people will watch forever. I don't know if she wants to work that much to do that. But it's totally in her power. It seems like she disappeared after she had the baby. It's a year when you can't work. And a year turns into two years when you've finished a movie. She's done a movie with Nicolas Cage called Family Man and that will be seen this Christmas. Did you plan to have a child immediately? It wasn't planned, but we weren't being careful using birth control. We just let it happen if it was going to happen. How did becoming a dad change your life? It changed it completely and I'm not exactly sure how. Were you ready for fatherhood? You're not ready until the moment that little head comes out and from that moment you better be ready. Were you good in the delivery room or freaking out? I was good in the delivery room. The head was coming out and everyone's going, "Don't look at it! You'll never want to make love to your wife again." You know, if I get dirty, I'm not afraid if my wife sees me because she knows I can shower. So it was nothing like that. What kind of a dad are you? I'm pretty mellow and my wife's the worrier. I'm the big worrier and she's the worrier of little things. I worry if there's going to be water on the planet when she's 25. And my wife worries if she's going to eat today. So when she's older she'll always go to you to get permission. That's the great thing about having a girl: You know you're going to win in the end and she's going to love you. She'll never hate me, she'll just hate Téa. That's what guys tell me. Even when they go through adolescence, they never hate their dad. Is that true? What's the secret of your marriage? It's her. She's a great person and I'm lucky she likes me. She's so level headed and real and she has great integrity and amazing priorities. A wonderful mother, incredible mother, just caring and concerned. I can't say enough about her. Were you a shy kid? I am shy. I have probably less apparent shyness but my nature is to be watchful and be quiet. A little known fact about you is that your older brother would tell people you were retarded. [Laughs] Because I was so quiet he'd make fun. It's not as abusive as it sounds. That's how quiet I was. I just remember being afraid of adults and girls. When did that change? I guess in high school I started feeling more confident. I went to an all-boys school. Do you remember the first girl you asked out? My first girlfriend was this girl in another school in eighth grade. I had a friend and she decided we'd make a good couple. You know how girls do that? This girl was really, really cute and we were going to have a dance that Friday, and on Wednesday I was informed I'm going out with this girl. I'd never spoken to her in my life. The dance came around and I got nervous and ran away. I couldn't ask her to dance and she called on Monday to break up with me. So you never spoke to her? Never. The first time I spoke to her was when she called up to break up with me. She said, "You kind of have to talk to somebody to go out with them." But I got the good one at the end. I think it's the last one that counts. What's next? I'm taking it slow now and I'll see what happens at the end of this TV season. The good thing about this year is I didn't have to find something that's shot in two months that fits into my TV schedule. What happens is you get scared, when you're doing a TV show, that people will peg you and you will do anything during your hiatus. What's the biggest misconception people have about you? I hesitate to answer that, because it perpetuates whatever I believe is the misconception. You can't deny anything in this world; Freud says the unconscious knows no "No." [Pauses] I always had a problem [with] being conceived of as arrogant. I just felt I had opinions and I didn't feel like playing stupid or saying that I loved things that I didn't because I had to sell them or play the game. Do you ever think how different your life would be if you finished your Ph.D. at Yale and became a professor? No, because I just have energy for one life. And barely enough to do that, let me tell you. |