X-FILES MOVIE REVIEW BY GREG TAYLOR AT THE DAILY GRAIL
AND WIRED INTERVIEW WITH CHRIS CARTER

Gillian Anderson Let Down Her Guard

Hasn't Gillian Anderson seen "Alien"? Getting pregnant while promoting a movie about
extraterrestrial life... that takes guts. The actress even walked the red carpet for
"X-Files: I Want To Believe" with long-time TV costar David Duchovny. 

Guess everyone's into aliens these days: The Roswell UFO Festival reported a 25 percent jump
in attendance this year, while local hotels were sold out and the city moved $15,000 of merchandise
over 4 days. In these recessionary times, are we counting on visitors from the sky to save us?

 

The new X-Files movie (subtitled "I Want to Believe") was released today in Australia, reversing a recent trend which has seen Australia at the back end of the queue when it comes to movie release dates (not till tomorrow in the U.S.) [ I Want to Believe] I managed to get into one of the first showings this morning, and thought I'd do a little TDG review of Chris Carter's new feature.

For those wanting a taster of the film, the official X-Files website (linked above) has trailers and excerpts from the movie. Also you might be pick up some insights from Wired's Q&A with Chris Carter. Carter has also just released a new DVD, X-Files: Revelations (Amazon US, a compilation of episodes from the television series which is said to be the "essential guide" to understanding the film. (For those who want to take on the daunting mythology of the complete series, try this.)

The film certainly does revolve around the concept that Chris Carter described as "a story that involves the difficulties in mediating faith and science. 'I Want to Believe.' It really does suggest Mulder's struggle with his faith." But then, that pretty much sums the entire lifespan of the X-Files. Some of those allusions become pretty concrete though in the new film, which I'll discuss after the fold to avoid spoilers. In short though, my summary - without spoilers - would be: Great film, well-directed and acted, excellent storyline with surprises for fans. A worthy stand-alone film - just perhaps not paranormally 'epic' enough for my liking; this is The X-Files dammit!

The X-Files: I Want to Believe Review
by Greg Taylor

The surprise answer to the mystery of Mulder and Scully's relationship is answered fairly early in the movie, though there is some build-up and fleshing out of the storyline first. Set in the present - and therefore years after the ending of the last X-Files storyline - the film opens with cuts between two scenes: one showing a woman being attacked by a strange intruder, the other showing the FBI searching for something, being led by psychic Father Joseph Crissman (brilliantly played by Billy Connolly, a stand-out performance), who had called them with a tip-off.  The trailers for the film, which showed these search scenes, led me to feel that something momentous was buried under the ice, ala the previous X-Files film. However, there are no alien craft or extraterrestrials to be found in the new flick - the solution is much more down-to-earth and grisly: body parts. This was perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the film for me, but more of that later.

Go here for the complete review

Click here for trailer

The X-Files star saw something in the sky
David Duchovny: I've seen a UFO

David Duchovny says he once saw a UFO.  The X-Files actor caught sight of a mysterious object in the sky.

"I believe I saw a UFO once, about 1982, but I don’t know what it was,’ he tells the Daily Star.   I saw something in the sky that disappeared."

But David, 46, says at the time he doubted the experience.

"I was having a hard time then, you know, life, he adds. There was something in the air and it was gone. I thought, “You’ve got to get some rest David."

Q&A: X-Files Chris Carter Talks Paranoia, Secrecy and the
Element of Surprise.....
Chris Carter knows how to keep a secret

The X-Files creator and his writing partner, Frank Spotnize, finished the script for The X-Files: I Want to Believe last November and raced into production over the winter. Along the way, Carter -- who produced and directed the film, opening Friday -- took extraordinary measures to maintain secrecy about his storyline, which catches up with Fox Mulder and Dana Scully six years after the iconic TV series' finale. All we know for sure at this point is Mulder and Scully are together again, searching for answers to a mystery that unfolds amid snowy terrain.

Wired.com got on the phone with Carter to find out about the surveillance cameras he installed on the movie set, his five-year hiatus from show business and the key to bringing stars David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson back together. He also discusses the real-life scene straight out of the X-Files when six Secret Service agents marched into his office on the 20th Century Fox lot. Paranoia lives!

Wired.com: Keeping the story line for this movie under wraps is much harder now than it would have been eight or nine years ago when the X-Files TV series was on the air....

Chris Carter: Without a doubt. That's one reason we were determined to spoil the spoilers. It's a business now, not unlike the business paparazzi are involved [in]. They're cashing in on spilling plots, these websites that actually sell advertising. It capitalizes on and/or exploits something I consider to be of great value, and that's the element of surprise.  If they are going to make book, as it were, on what I'm doing, then I'm going to take pleasure in trying to foil them every step of the way.

Wired.com: You've been very successful at keeping a lid on the leakers.

Carter:  There've been a few peeps, but, yeah, we've managed to keep the story a secret. I think it will probably be spilled in the next 48 hours just because, if people jump the gun now, what's the punishment?  But I'll still consider it a victory.

Wired.com: For a lot of fans, the plot is probably less important than the chance to see David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson together again as Mulder and Scully.

Carter: Yes, that's true.

Wired.com: That kind of onscreen chemistry can be very fragile. Were you at all worried that on the first day of shooting, the vibe between Mulder and Scully we remember from the late '90s  might not be there anymore?

Carter: No, I wasn't concerned about that at all. You could drive yourself crazy with all the things to worry about, but that was the least of my concerns.

Wired.com: So you trusted your stars to deliver the goods once the cameras starting rolling.

Carter: And they told me as much. It was their enthusiasm to do the movie, particularly David's, that excited me to revisit the X-Files, and I'm so glad I did now. It gave me a chance to look at this relationship, which has now lasted 16 years, in a whole new way.

Wired.com: Duchovny was basically nudging you to make a new X-Files movie?

Carter: When I gave him the script, he liked it very much but thankfully, he had very astute notes.

Wired.com: How did you approach Gillian?

Carter: She read the script while I sat in the other room talking to her partner.  Then I took it back from her.

Wired.com: How did she react?

Carter: She liked it, but Gillian is very smart about her character. She had questions, which were more feelings at that point, that helped me to dig back in and refine and polish and rethink some areas.

Wired.com: Between the end of the TV series and the beginning of the movie project, you had a lot of time to decompress from show business. For one thing, you spent a year getting your pilot's license. What hooked you on flying?

Carter: New way of thinking. It's always good for me to force myself into a place where I'm uncomfortable, and I've never been comfortable flying. But I like the fact that, with flying, you have this methodical system with which you solve problems. I'd  recommend it to anyone. It probably helped me be a better director and producer.

Carter: I hope people feel we've deepened the relationship and that the mystery was satisfying ... and creepy.

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