David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson have opened up about working on The X-Files and how they drifted apart.
The duo starred in the Fox sci-fi series together as Fox Mulder and Dana Scully in 11 seasons as well as two spin-off films.
But on the latest episode of his Lemonada Media podcast Fail Better, Duchovny said it got to a point where the pair drifted apart off-screen during the show’s original nine-season run from 1993 to 2002.
“There was a long time, working on the show, where we were just not even dealing with one another off-camera,” he recalled.
“And there was a lot of tension. Which didn’t matter, apparently, for the work cause we’re both fucking crazy, I guess. We could just go out there and do what we needed to do.”
Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny in the ‘This’ episode of ‘The X-Files’ CREDIT: Fox Image Collection via Getty Images
“That is kinda crazy,” Anderson agreed. “I mean, it’s crazy that we were able to present on camera, you know, the various feelings and emotions and attraction and all that kind of stuff, but then not speak to each other for weeks at a time.”
Duchovny suggested that it may have helped with the on-screen performance, adding: “Because we’re, like, savin’ it up. I don’t know. But I could’ve handled myself better, you know? And as you know, we went through a crazy-making kind of a process with this thing.
“We went from – I mean, I was pretty inexperienced. You were really inexperienced. And all of a sudden … It was like a global phenomenon before the Internet. And we’re just scurrying, trying to figure out who we are.”
Despite that, the duo have remained friends over the years, with Duchovny telling People that they are like “family”.
He added: “When you share a seminal kind of experience in your life – this huge success with the show that we had – only we know what it’s like to be in the centre of that.
“It’s almost like being in the same family. We know what it was like to be raised in that time. There’s a certain kind of shared experience, knowledge, and past that never goes away.”
Meanwhile, it was recently confirmed that Black Panther director Ryan Coogler is set to reboot The X-Files without Mulder and Scully.
Original series creator Chris Carter revealed that the rebooted version will take the story in a different direction with a diverse cast.
The post David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson remember drifting apart during ‘The X-Files’ years: “There was a lot of tension” appeared first on NME.
