Playboy magazine excerpts
Playboy: You told PLAYBOY a few years ago that Fox Mulder was on an inward journey and
asked, "Why is this man in so much pain? Why is he obsessed? Why would anyone want to live
their life this way? How do we heal him? How do we show him the truth?" Any answers?
Duchovny: I said that? That's good. I think his pain comes from the fact that he feels he could
have protected his sister but didn't. She was taken from him when he was 12 and she was eight,
and he's come to realize that she was abducted by aliens--at least he thinks so--and that he
might have been able to stop it in some way. Then, during the journey we've had for the past
five years, he found out that he was the one who was supposed to have been taken and not his
sister, so there's a lot of survivor guilt going on. He can't enjoy himself. He can't rest until he's
sure they've done everything to find the girl he let go.
Playboy: Are there any actors you particularly admire?
Duchovny: I admired Bogart. He didn't give it all away. He was underplaying. If you look at a
film of Bogart's, he may have the same expression for the entire movie except for that little
twitch, and yet he trusted his own power enough that his moves would be evident. I like actors
who don't condescend, who let the audience make up their own minds. Brando has always
been my favorite. I love Pacino and Duvall. Meryl Streep is so gifted it's hard to even place her.
She's a real actor. Brando, Pacino, Duvall, they're great actors, but they're forceful
personalities. You really get a sense of the man. Streep-I've never seen an actor, male or
female, who comes close to what she does. I'm not saying I'd rather watch her than any of those
guys--sometimes I wouldn't. But her gift as an actor is greater than anybody's I've ever seen.
She's like a freak, like Michael Jordan.
Playboy: You've said that Tea is "beyond gifted." Is that like saying there are no words to describe her talents?
Duchovny: I know I sound biased, but I truly believe that Tea is a unique performer. She could
have been in Show Girls, Speed 2, in one bomb after another, but she would have survived
because she has something that's undeniable. Her performance is always wonderfully
enthusiastic, funny, smart, sexy. It's like she can hit and field. She's like Willie Mays, great with
the bat and on the field. She's a beautiful woman who's a really talented comedian, and that's
rare. She just hasn't yet found the writer and director who can service her, because she's able to
do it all. And if she doesn't get too depressed about the business and quits, she will. You don't want to step onstage with Tea, because she will cut you up.
Playboy: Speaking of being upstaged, isn't that how you and Tea met--during a preinterview for a guest shot on The Tonight Show, which she got and you didn't?
Duchovny: Yeah, that's true. The audition for The Tonight Show takes place over lunch. It's like
a meeting, and if you're not famous but a working actor, somebody at the show might know
who you are. Then they meet you to see if you have any interesting stories and whether they
want you to take up the last five minutes of the show, from 12:20 to 12:25 A.m. That's the
spot I was going for. For some reason my manager convinced me that it was a career move of
some kind. Tea's manager probably convinced her of the same thing. She was doing a sitcom,
Flying Blind, at the time, and I had just finished Kalifornia and Twin Peaks. Unbeknownst to me
they were meeting with Tea at the same time. It's brutal enough that you have to audition with
your life--it's not like being an actor where you do material. It's like, Am I interesting, enough
for you, Mr. Leno? And he's not even there. Tea was much more effusive and interesting and
funny. She took over the meeting and I sulked. She got on and I didn't, and every time I'd hear
her name after that I'd spit, because I thought she had ruined my chance at the big time.
Playboy: And there was no attraction to her at the time?
Duchovny: She was married then. I remember talking to her before the producer showed up.
We had both arrived at the restaurant on time, but she doesn't remember that part. I thought she
was lively, funny. And she turned it up a notch when we sat down. She hates that story because
she thinks it makes her look like some showbiz All About Eve. When I finally went on The
Tonight Show I told this story and then I made up notes that the producer had taken, like, "Tea
Leoni is gorgeous and funny and talented, we should have her on the show immediately"; "David
Duchovny is a morose loser." And the audience thought it was real. On talk shows I guess I
have a deadpan delivery, and people assume what I'm saying is true.
Playboy: Are you more in love now than when you married?
Duchovny: Yeah. It feels different.
Playboy: You said before marrying that staying monogamous requires constant vigilance. Now that you're married does that still hold true?
Duchovny: It's not like you don't notice that a woman is attractive, it's that you know what's at stake. The great benefit of monogamy is that you get to trust the person you're with and she gets
to trust you. And so much comes out of that. So whether or not men and women were meant to
be monogamous--and we can debate all the theories until we die--I know I gain something
great from it. Whether or not it's natural.
Playboy: Does Tea expect you to be different from who you are?
Duchovny: No, the wonderful thing about Tea is that I've never felt entirely comfortable as a
stereotypical man. I was a successful male figure in that I was respected by boys because I was
athletic, I was big enough, I wasn't beat-up on. But I never felt totally comfortable with that. I
was never macho. I never wanted to hunt or box or kill. Tea, on the other hand, was a tomboy,
athletic, tough, strong. She also was successful as a girl because she was attractive and could do
girl things, but she had a strong masculine side. We understand each other's anxieties about
gender identity and stuff like that. I'm not talking in terms of sex at all, I'm talking about the roles
that are given to us and how we fit in. You would look at me and think I was the most macho of
guys, the captain of all the sports teams I ever played on, yet I never felt that way. And you
would look at her and think she's a beautiful girly girl, and yet no.
--------------Playboy magazine, December 1998
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