Alien evader

David Duchovny in "Evolution."

By Jack Garner
Democrat and Chronicle

(June 8, 2001) -- Eight years on the 'X-Files' is enough for David Duchovny, who wants to try his hand at something other than sci-fi

Perhaps it's only to be expected that the term "unexpected" could often describe the career of one who made his name on The X-Files. Take this recent turn of events in David Duchovny's life:

With his eight-year run on the show at its end, Duchovny wanted a change. He was thrilled when Ivan Reitman asked him to star in the new comedy Evolution.

"I wanted to work with him, and he wanted to work with me. What's better than that?" Duchovny says.

And what better way to distance yourself from a sci-fi TV drama than to jump into a big-screen comedy? But wait -- here's the unexpected part.

"I took the script home and wanted to kill myself when I saw that Evolution was about aliens," the actor says. Duchovny was so passionate about escaping space invaders, he almost didn't do the picture.

"I told Ivan about my hesitation, because I was breaking away from The X-Files, and he said, `Why do you want to do the film?' "

That's when the 40-year-old actor realized that, even more important than the search for a different subject was the search for a different kind of acting.

"That's what Ivan has in his movies," Duchovny says of the comedy director. So he decided to do the alien film because it's a comedy.

"I wasn't looking to skewer my old show -- it was just an outrageous coincidence."

However, Duchovny and Reitman both recognized the shadow of The X-Files when Duchovny's Evolution character remarks on not trusting the government. The audience laughs.

"Ivan said he didn't realize it was a funny line. Turns out, he never saw The X-Files."

A native New Yorker, Duchovny holds a bachelor's degree from Princeton and a master's in literature from Yale -- and is only a dissertation short of a Ph.D.

He initially explored acting merely to help his writing. But the result -- predictably so -- defied his expectations.

"I had been in rigorous schools, developing my intellect, but not my `emotional intellect.' This was an area I had left unexplored. So, acting became a human quest for me.

"It became my profession -- and still is -- and I'm impressed with how it still works as an emotional expression for me."

Duchovny's first break was a brief but memorable role as a transvestite DEA agent on David Lynch's Twin Peaks. He also served four seasons as narrator on Red Shoe Diaries.

But The X-Files, which made its debut in 1993, made Duchovny a household name. A spooky drama about aliens, government cover-ups and rampant paranoia, it defied expectations to become a sensation.

"There was no really creepy show on television till this came out," Duchovny says. "It just hit. It was creepy, and people love to be scared."

But after eight years, Duchovny needed a change. "The only thing that got me about The X-Files was that it was the same job all the time.

And after a year of occasional Mulder sightings, don't look for more.

"I'm gone. I feel cheated when people cameo it up like that it. It's usually just a ratings ploy."

Duchovny is looking to keep acting in a variety of projects and to also crank up his writing-directing career. (He describes directing two X-Files episodes as "blissful.")

He looks forward to spending more time with his wife, actress Tea Leoni, and their 2-year-old daughter, Madelaine. And to defying his expectations.

"I'm just looking to do as many different things as possible," he says. "I want the challenges, but I won't know what they are until they smack me."