David Duchovny
David Duchovny
David William Duchovnyis an American actor, writer, producer, director, novelist, and singer-songwriter. He is known for playing FBI Agent Fox Mulder on the sci-fi horror action drama show The X-Files and writer Hank Moody on the comedy-drama series Californication, both of which have earned him Golden Globe awards. Duchovny appeared in both of the two X-Files films, the 1998 science fiction-thriller of the same name and the supernatural-thriller The X-Files: I Want to Believe. As of May 2015, he has...
ProfessionTV Actor
Date of Birth7 August 1960
CityNew York City, NY
We all know people for that length of time and people change. They mature. There is a certain expectation that a fictional character does not change. But you can't go back and play him the same way.
I'll instinctively know that I identify with a character.
People always love and respect characters who speak the truth, even if the truth hurts.
As we age, there are different things that become important to us and that means that different aspects of our character come to the forefront; certain aspects recede. And that's fun. It would be shitty to have to imitate myself.
There is never a personal-life connection between my characters and myself. I'm a professional and I can access what I need to access, so there's no bleed-over. I didn't need to believe in aliens to play Mulder. As for my personal life, everything is fantastic right now.
I love Doctor Who and I remember the first one, which was wonderful in its low-tech quality. I also loved the theme song, which sounded like The Cure to me. Which character would I like to play in Doctor Who? Who's the bad guy? The Dalek? OK, I'll play him.
Those characters are forever searchingeven if we're not watching them, they're out there, in some dimension. Mulder and Scully are still doing their thing, because that's their nature.
People are really much more respectful than they're made out to be and much more discerning about the fact that I'm not the character I play.
I'm not a comic book character. I'm not Indiana Jones or Bond, I'm a flesh and blood guy who is ageing and changing. I don't have to do what I did in '93. I couldn't do it and thank God.
Our human nature is exactly the same as it was 500 years ago, let alone five years ago.
I wouldn't say we were doing that. I think we probably stopped thinking. Though it took a while to stop thinking.
It's rare in movies or even in life where somebody owns up to their needs. I guess in a relationship it's the only way it has a chance to survive it.
I don't think you could function on set if you think like that. I think once you start to think of the impact, then you're not really coming from a truthful place. I think the best thing to do for me is what's worked in the past.
In the general sense, there's a journey to be had. You either start at the top or the bottom for a journey to happen. Our movie has to start at the top and work it's way down. Or start at the bottom and work it's way up.