What We Learned From Chris Carter, David and Mitch

‘The X-Files:’ What We Learned From Chris Carter, David Duchovny and Mitch Pileggi



himself Mitch Pileggi, sat down with the press and shed some more light on the 6-episode mini-series.

Here’s everything we learned about The X-Files revival from Chris Carter, David Duchovny, and Walter Skinner himself, Mitch Pileggi.

The six episodes will vary between mythology and case-of-the-week. “If you really look at the way we structured it, it looks like  a quarter of a regular TV season,” Mr. Carter said. “So we put in as many mythology episodes as we’d put in a quarter season, as many standalone episodes, and one comedy episode. It was really also a feature of who came back to do the show. So when [writer Darin Morgan] came back we knew we’d get a comedy episode. When [writer Glen Morgan] signed on, we knew sort of what we’d get.”

Cast and creative wanted more than nostalgia, they wanted the revival to be timely. “When the show first went off the air, we were putting all our faith in the government after 9/11. We’re in a different time now,” Mr. Carter said. “If you’re paying attention to what’s happening online and on alternate media, you see people talk about possible conspiracies everywhere. We wanted to be true to the time we’re living in.”

“I think [the revival] is very valid right now, with the way our world is, and the way our government interacts with people. It’s so fucked up,” Mr. Pileggi added. “I think there’s a lot of stores to be told through this show about that stuff. We’re in a mess, this world is in a mess. If I was an alien I wouldn’t be coming anywhere near this neighborhood.”

Episode two will drop the overall mythology. “Episode 2 is what I would call a classic ‘monster-of-the-week’ episode,” Mr. Carter said. “You’re going to see the flashlights in the dark [in episode two,] all those familiar aspects.”

The biggest change for David Duchovny? Everyone is better at acting. “Some of it is harder, and some of its easier,” he said.”The hours are harder, and the acting is easier. We’ve all gotten better since the beginning. I can look at – I don’t — but I could look at the first season next to the seventh or eighth season, and I’ll see different actors, talking about Gillian and I.”

But David Duchovny is still probably much less obsessed with the X-Files than you. “I don’t process [the hardcore X-Files fandom], I don’t think about it. It doesn’t affect me, it doesn’t occur to me,” Mr. Duchovny said. “The show has affected my life in that it started my career, it gave me opportunities, it gave me a lot of money, which are all great things. Most of all it gave me the chance to go to work and act for 14 hours a day, for eight years. I got to create my own acting school for eight years.”

“Yes, I’m happy to do it. I enjoy the people I work with, and I think the show is great. I couldn’t be prouder of the entire show,” he added later. “There’s so much of it I’m grateful for. But it’s such an interior thing to me. It’s like when you play a sport, at some point you stop thinking about hitting a tennis ball. You just hit the tennis ball. I just do The X-Files.”

If you’re new to X-Files, you will be confused. The premiere episode does begin with an explainer montage, but then launches into the world already established by the original run. “If you’re coming to the show new, you have some catching up to do for sure,” Mr. Carter said. “We brought the show back for the hardcore fans.”

Mr. Pileggi is disappointed in some original X-File episodes, and a one-off on Criminal Minds is his personal favorite performance of his own. “I lost myself in that character [on Criminal Minds] so much,” he said. “Sometimes I don’t think I lost myself in Skinner nearly enough.”

Agent Monica Reyes is back. “Reyes is back,” Mr. Carter said. So, there you go.

Finally, look for the “The Truth is Out There” poster in the premiere episode. There is a moment, involving the poster, that lasts about a second but to me was the stand-out moment of the episode. It’s a beat that signals to the audience the X-Files you loved is back, and that nothing is the same.

Beautycribtv.com

‘The X-Files’ Miniseries Premiere: 5 Things You Should Know

By Pfeff-Bot | Sunday, October 11th, 2015 at 10:28 am



We at Geeks of Doom were at The X-Files panel at New York Comic-Con on Saturday, and were able to see an exclusive screening of the first episode of Season 10 before its January air date.

The season will air on FOX starting on January 24, 2016 as a 6-episode miniseries event, and see David Duchovny back as Mulder and Gillian Anderson as Scully, along with some other familiar faces.

Here are 5 things you’ll want to know about the first episode, and the highly anticipated return of The X-Files.

5. David Duchovny is invested in The X-Files

In fact, show creator Chris Carter started the process of reviving the hit show after he found out Duchovny was interested in doing it. He said, “If David’s interested, then I am, too.” Moreover, Duchovny is interested in continuing the series after this six-episode miniseries: “If it so happens that there’s an appetite for more, you have my number,” he said.

4. Mulder and Scully are not together

Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) may have hit some bumps in the road, as creator Chris Carter says, but they certainly still have the chemistry we saw all those years ago. Although the relationship appears strained, the show does regain momentum seamlessly from where it left off. Mulder is still searching for the truth and challenging Scully to think beyond typical understandings of situations, and Scully is still a caring skeptic keeping Mulder in line. The fact that they have a child together entangles them further, and it is clear that both of the protagonists understand the complexity of their relationship.

3. There will be familiar characters

Besides Mulder and Scully, we also see the beloved character of Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi), who seems to almost have a fatherly role over Mulder. Additionally, Mulder’s arch nemesis, The Smoking Man (William B. Davis), is back and creepier than ever. Beyond these, we do know that the Lone Gunmen will be back in this miniseries at some point.

2. Longtime fans & newcomers will enjoy the new X-Files

The X-Files still feels very much like the same show, but with a more cinematic feel and a 21st century upgrade. Of course, we see the characters we love and hate, and we see the old team getting back together, but we also accept that the world has kept on going since the show (and its film sequels) last ended. The government conspiracies revolving around events such as 9/11, the wars in the Middle East, and the Patriot Act are a big part of the new series, and bring a fresh perspective to viewers. The show doesn’t necessarily validate all of these, but it addresses them and brings to light that not everything is what it seems.

1. The truth is out there

Already in the first episode, Mulder starts to realize that it’s possible that all the assumptions he’s been working under for much of his career could be false. How much does the U.S. government actually know about aliens on Earth? As usual, it’s difficult to find reliable sources, but Mulder is able to keep his mind open to the fact that truth can come from the most unlikely of places. He wants to believe, he knows the truth is out there, and he’s determined to team up with Scully again.

Two-Night Season Premiere of THE X-FILES:

– Sunday, Jan. 24, 2016, 10:00-11:00 PM ET/7:00-8:00 PM PT, following the NFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME;
– Monday, Jan. 25, 2016, 8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT


Geeks of Doom

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The X-Files at New York Comic Con: 6 things we learned

by Kelly Connolly


(Ed Araquel/Fox)

The X-Files

Posted October 10 2015 — 6:50 PM EDT

The truth is still out there, and it’s a hit. X-Files fans packed the Main Stage at New York Comic Con on Saturday for the anticipated U.S. premiere of the series’ first new episode in 13 years. Following the screening, stars David Duchovny (Fox Mulder) and Mitch Pileggi (Walter Skinner), along with series creator Chris Carter, took the stage for a panel hosted by Silicon Valley’s Kumail Nanjiani (who, in addition to hosting the X-Files Files podcast, is also appearing in the event series). Here’s what they had to say to everyone who still wants to believe:

1. The cast is excited, too.
Nanjiani made no secret of how intimately he knows The X-Files, even referring to aliens by the old-school moniker “E.B.E.” (“It’s called The X-Files,” he joked when the panelists didn’t catch his references. “You guys gotta watch it.”) He also alluded to how surreal it is to move from longtime fan to active participant in the series, opening the panel by asking the audience to “please take pictures of the screen; I’ll pay you thousands of dollars,” and at one point begging Duchovny and Pileggi, “Don’t look at me!” But the host wasn’t the only one having a moment — he said that when Pileggi’s name and badge made their appearance in the opening credits, he looked back and saw the actor whisper, “Wow.”

2. The signature plot structure remains intact.
The X-Files helped set the standard for series balancing an ongoing mythology arc with standalone stories, and Carter confirmed that fans of both type of episodes will be pleased: The premiere and finale — each of which he wrote — will be mythology based, while the remaining four will be monster-of-the-week outings penned by original series writers Glen Morgan, Darin Morgan, and James Wong.

3. The stars fell back into the show’s rhythm easily.
Duchovny said that even though it took him a few takes on the first afternoon to find “that Mulder flow,” the actors have a “kind of group memory” for their characters. “Not even with words,” he said. “It’s more instinctive at this point. We can kind of feel when Mulder is right or when Scully is right.” 

4. Carter wants fans to give Mulder and Scully’s split a chance.
“This is when the sniper gets me,” said Carter when the topic turned to the dynamic between Mulder and Scully, who find themselves on the outs. “We wanted to be true to the passage of time, and Mulder and Scully have their differences,” argued the showrunner. Nanjiani agreed, adding that Mulder would be a “very intense man” to live with. “ ‘Hey, where are the Cheerios?’” he deadpanned. “ ‘I WANT THE TRUTH.’”

5. The cast is having fun with technological advances.
A lot’s changed since the original series went off the air in 2002 — for one, the cast joked about the addition of texting to the series. Nanjiani is convinced that Skinner has a burner phone, and he and Duchovny theorized that the Cigarette Smoking Man shows up on Mulder’s caller ID with an image of the phantom of the opera.

6. More episodes are not out of the question.
When asked if they might go another round, Duchovny didn’t rule it out. “I’m grateful to all of you guys and to Chris for making it possible for us to come back and play these characters again, and if it so happens that there’s an appetite for more,” said the actor to Carter as the audience cheered, “you have my number.”




EW.com

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