Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 26, 1995 TAG: 9501260077
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT WILLIAMS ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
Duchovny, who plays the brooding, UFO-obsessed FBI agent Fox Mulder of ``The X-Files,'' quit his doctoral studies at Yale University in 1987 to act. ``I would have been a failed academic, because I was good at it but it was insincere,'' said the soft-spoken Duchovny. ``I spoke the language, but underneath I was thinking, `Somebody's going to find out that I really don't care.' ''
He remembers what it was like to prepare for his oral examination for his master's.
``In the four months before my orals, I read maybe eight, nine hours a day -maybe more,'' he said. ``The day before, my head felt heavy, like it would roll off my shoulders. ... I remember thinking, `I'll never be this smart again.' ''
Not true. It's Duchovny's quiet, cerebral acting that has helped establish Fox's Friday chiller as one of television's most intelligent series - and certainly its scariest.
``I think I'm the kind of actor you have to watch closely. I don't run out to get you. You kind of have to come to me,'' he said. ``Luckily, enough people looked closely.''
In his early auditions, it wasn't easy to get that understated style across.
``The first stuff that I went up for, they were saying, `He doesn't seem to be doing anything,''' Duchovny said. ``And now, if somebody says that to me, I say, `Well, thank you!'''
Duchovny admits he was skeptical of ``The X-Files,'' a series about FBI agents assigned to the bureau's file of unsolved cases with paranormal or extraterrestrial aspects.
``To make this real ... you have to believe he is a fairly normal human being who happens to have one area where he goes nuts,'' Duchovny said of his character. ``You have to like him enough to give him the slack to go there.''
Sometimes, though, the craft can let you down.
Duchovny recalled the time Mulder cornered a six-foot, humanoid worm. Duchovny had to film the scene before the critter emerged from the special effects shop.
``I knew it was a big worm, but I hadn't seen it,'' he said.
In that situation, he said, the actor's best tactic is ``to give it as little as possible.'' By suppressing the wide-eyed, shock-horror-fear double-take, Duchovny figured he wouldn't look foolish.
Then, of course, the creature turned out to be absolutely hideous: Pale as a slug, bullet-headed, with beady little eyes and the grotesque, sucking mouth of a lamprey.
``Of course, it was the most amazing thing anybody had ever seen,'' Duchovny said, ``So there's me (he replicates Mulder's calm, mildly intrigued expression) going, `Uh-huh. It's a six-foot worm. With human features. Uh-huh. Hmmmm ... Well, What do you think of that?'''
In the scripts Duchovny has seen for the series' second season, Mulder and his partner, Agent Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), will confront voodoo and perhaps even the devil himself.
The two-part season finale will examine Mulder's belief that his younger sister was abducted by aliens when he was a boy.
Last year, Anderson and an extremely apprehensive Duchovny visited FBI headquarters. He was worried the agents would fault his performance as an FBI man who tends to get beaten up pretty regularly - once by a female Bigfoot.
``They were just overjoyed to see us,'' Duchovny said. ``They loved the show and they like the fact that we're polite.''
Duchovny said that when he began conceiving his character, he knew Mulder would have to wear a suit. But how would he express Mulder's individuality?
``I figured I'd wear funny ties,'' he said. ``But it turns out that they ALL wear funny ties!''
Mulder's eccentric neckwear is not lost on ``X-Files'' fans. They frequently send him neckties. Strange neckties.
``I would like to put an end to it as soon as possible,'' Duchovny said calmly.
by CNB