2024/06/26 - David visits SiriusXM Studios in New York City

David Duchovny Jokes He 'Discovered' Angelina Jolie During Playing God Audition: I 'Knew She Was a Movie Star'

"I told everybody we've gotta cast her," Duchovny recalled

By Ingrid Vasquez
Published on June 27, 2024 10:24PM EDT



David Duchovny knew the magnitude of Angelina Jolie's talent from the moment they first met.

The actor, 63, who starred alongside Jolie, 49, in the 1997 thriller Playing God, recently appeared on SiriusXM's Andy Cohen Live and explained how he knew the actress would be a big star one day.

"I feel like I discovered Angelina Jolie," he joked while speaking with host Andy Cohen.

After Cohen, 56, asked, "Really?" Duchovny replied, "Yeah, because I was casting, I was part of the casting of, I didn't discover her, but you know, she came in, and I just knew she was a movie star, and I told everybody we've gotta cast her."

The film featured Duchovny as Eugene Sands, a disgraced surgeon who reinvents himself as a "gunshot doctor" for criminals, and Jolie in the role of Claire, one of the criminals' girlfriends.

Jolie shared in an interview for the June 1997 issue of Interview magazine that the role was "wild."

"[Playing God] was very rock-'n'-roll and fun and loud and say-what-you-want-to-say, dress wild and love wild — you know that fantasy. I really allowed myself to get into that world," she told the outlet. "Being the age am, I sometimes feel like a punk kid walking onto certain sets, but I didn’t this time. I felt very much a woman."

Jolie's star continued to rise with her starring role in George Wallace, which earned her a Golden Globe in the best performance by an actress in a supporting role in a series, limited series, or motion picture made for television in 1998.

Two years later, she won an Oscar in the best supporting actress category for her role in Girl, Interrupted at the 72nd Annual Academy Awards.

June has been a busy month for Jolie as The Outsiders, the show she produced with her daughter Vivienne, who served as a producer assistant, won four Tony Awards. The month also marked Jolie's 49th birthday.

"Angelina will celebrate her birthday with a quiet day at home with her kids. Zahara is home from college, and she looks forward to everyone spending the day together," a source told PEOPLE of how the mom of six planned to celebrate her special day.


People