.c The Associated Press

By DAVID GERMAIN

LOS ANGELES (AP) - After seven seasons, David Duchovny may not find much to mine creatively in Fox Mulder, his character on ``The X-Files.'' But the series - its future in limbo - does still offer its star a training ground for what he really wants to do.

It's that old Hollywood cliche of wanting to direct.

This week's episode (airing on the Fox network at 9 p.m. Eastern Sunday) gave Duchovny his second chance at writing and directing for ``The X-Files.'' The hour, titled ``Hollywood A.D.,'' combines zombies and serious discussion of resurrection themes, religious fanatics and filmmaking zealot Ed Wood, yet another tirade by Mulder's boss, and some of the most self-deprecating humor the series has ever featured.

In other words, for ``X-Files'' fans, this one has it all, including appearances by Duchovny's wife, Tea Leoni, and his buddy Garry Shandling as Hollywood incarnations of FBI agents Scully and Mulder.

``Directing the show is great training for me,'' said Duchovny, who would like to try feature-film directing. ``It's an enticement to me, and having done two episodes, I at least feel I know what it may take to write or direct a movie.''

In Duchovny's episode, a producer shadows Mulder and Scully to research a studio film that winds up being based on an X-File.

Duchovny said he wanted to explore ``realness and fakeness on all different levels. You've got a movie of the real case, and you've got the real case, but the real case is actually in a TV show.''

How the Hollywood version toys with the ``real case'' and simplifies it hits home with Duchovny.

``What it boils down to is, you have three-dimensional people, but when you try to tell a story about them or tell a TV story, they become less dimensional,'' he said. ``What bothers me is the kind of simplification of myself through the character of Mulder.''

Duchovny's - and Mulder's - dry wit is apparent throughout the script.

Describing Scully (Gillian Anderson), the producer whispers into a tape recorder: ``She, Jodie Foster's foster child on a Payless budget.''

On Mulder: ``He's like a Jehovah's witness meets Harrison Ford's 'Witness.''' And later, as Mulder and Scully blunder about: ``I like the way you guys work. No warrants, no permission, no research. You're like studio executives with guns.''

Mulder and Scully investigate a bombing in a church crypt, where they find forged religious texts and a freshly deceased body among the bones. They encounter a dogmatic cardinal, a 1960s radical who believes he's Jesus, and pottery fragments that purportedly captured Christ's voice when he ordered Lazarus to rise from the dead.

Framing the case, at the episode's beginning and end, is a screening of the movie based on the case, with Mulder and Scully in the audience alongside celebrities who include ``X-Files'' creator Chris Carter and Minnie Driver, Duchovny's co-star in his current film ``Return to Me.''

As Mulder, Shandling spews bad Hollywood action-flick dialogue at a fiery pontiff and his army of resurrected zombies. The Hollywood Mulder and Scully even tumble into a coffin and embrace passionately.

``After we shot that, I went home that night and thought, that might have been weird, directing my wife kissing a friend of mine in a coffin,'' Duchovny said.

There's amusing interplay between the ``real'' Mulder and Scully and the Hollywood versions, including a twist on the apparent come-ons that Duchovny, playing himself, made to Shandling's character on ``The Larry Sanders Show.''

For all the episode's humor, Duchovny said he views it as one of the weightiest ``X-Files.''

``I see it as funny, but at the heart of the case is a much more serious discussion of life than ever takes place on our show,'' Duchovny said. ``This is probably darker than just about any show we've ever done, if you think about it.''

The episode effectively works in scenes from cult director Ed Wood's ``Plan 9 From Outer Space,'' which Mulder views for the 42nd time.

``It's like a really bad `X-File,''' Duchovny said, ``but told with the best of a storyteller's heart from a guy who was totally committed to what he was doing.''

As for Duchovny's commitment to an eighth season of ``The X-Files,'' the ball is in Fox's court. Duchovny wants more money, though he would not say how much he's asking. He also is seeking a less-grueling work schedule and wants Fox to settle up on his lawsuit, which claims the network underpaid him on the series' profits.

The cast and crew are working on the season finale, not knowing whether it also will put the wraps on the series.

``I definitely could do another year, but I really don't know if it'll happen,'' Duchovny said. ``I'm kind of happy that decision's been taken away from me. I've made my terms clear.''


The newd dated 04/27/00 is from Scifi Weekly.com
04/27/00
And interview was done with David Duchovny about the future of X-Files.


04/27/00
The finale of The X-Files has reportedly been written, though the show's fate remains unclear. New York Daily News columnist Mitchell Fink reported that the season finale, entitled "Requiem," features an angry bureaucratic auditor who grills Mulder and Scully about their expenses over the last seven years.


04/27/00
X-Files was mentioned in this article.


The news dated 04/25/00 is from Scifi.com
04/25/00

Gillian Anderson has gone on the record saying she would like to return for an eighth season of her hit Fox television series The X-Files, according to TV Guide Online. Anderson, who wrote and directed the recent episode, "All Things," told the Web site that she'd like to do it again.

"[But] I'm not crazy about writing a script again during the season," she said. "On the other hand, I can't imagine directing an episode that wasn't mine, so if I am going to direct again on this show, I would just have to bite the bullet and try to write another one."

No decision has been made on whether The X-Files will return, though the current season is winding down fast. The decision seems to hinge on star David Duchovny, whose contract expires at the end of this season.

Duchovny has said he's tired of the show, but has left the door open to returning. "I have my terms that I would come back under," Duchovny said on the morning show on KROQ-FM in Los Angeles. "And it doesn't necessarily have to do with money; it has a lot to do with time commitments. And I made those clear. I'm not the one holding up negotiations. I am not in a negotiation. I have my terms, which will not move. So, that's where I am. It's really up to Fox."

For her part, Anderson is not happy that the show could go out with a whimper and not a bang. "The thought of [taping] two more episodes and that being the end of it is infuriating," she told TV Guide Online. "It hasn't given any of us the opportunity to mourn the ending. And it also hasn't given Fox the chance to advertise the s--- out of it. This could be incredibly lucrative for them [if they] do it correctly, and it tells me that they believe very strongly that there is going to be an eighth season."


04/25/00
Carter May Helm Serios The X-Files creator Chris Carter may direct his first feature film, The World of Ted Serios, based on a true story of a psychic bellhop, according to Variety. Carter is near a deal with Dimension Films to direct the film, based on the novel of the same name by Jule Eisenbud, the trade paper reported.

Carter's X-Files partner Frank Spotnitz would produce and co-write the film with Carter, Variety reported. Serios tells the story of a psychiatrist in 1960s Chicago who studied a bellhop who was able to project his thoughts onto unexposed film negative


04/24/00
Happy first birthday to Madeline West Duchovny!


04/19/00 This is from Official Page
David Duchovny will be on celebrity Who Wants To Be A Millionaire in early May. The following are spoilers for upcoming episodes.

#18 -- An insider helps Mulder and Scully uncover the tobacco industry's latest development in "Brand X" by former HARSH REALM writers Steven Maeda and Greg Walker. Kim Manners directs the episode that will tentatively air on 4/16.

#19 -- Mulder and Scully find themselves portrayed on the big screen in "Hollywood A.D." David Duchovny writes and directs the episode that tentatively airs on 4/30. Garry Shandling and Te� Leoni guest star. "Entertainment Tonight," "Access Hollywood," CNN, Fox and the AP wires will run interviews with David.

#20 -- "Fight Club" centers on doppelgangers, and will tentatively air on 5/7. Paul Shapiro directs Chris Carter's script.

#21--The still untitled episode will be written and directed by Vince Gilligan. It tentatively airs on 5/14.


04/19/00
There was a bomb threat at my school so I'm out today. I still don't know what happened with the bomb. It was actually one of the elementary schools so I'm thinking that they let the high school out so people could watch their little siblings.


The news dated 04/17/00 is from Cinescape.com
04/17/00

In something of a turnaround in recent statements about his possible participation on the show, David Duchovny has briefly hinted on a way that he might be willing to return for an eighth season on The X-Files.

While talking to USA Today, Duchovny has revealed that he might be open to coming back for the eighth season of The X-Files if he doesn't have to do a full 22 episodes. Duchovny explains, "At this point in my career, I can't spend another 10 months this year or next year doing X-Files. I don't want to, creatively or professionally."

In addition, USA Today is reporting that Fox isn't interested in having a part time lead and wants the actor back for another full season� or they say they will replace him if need be.

At this point, the last two episodes of season seven are being written while Chris Carter continues negotiating. Perhaps a season that is a little short on Duchovny might work for the franchise by allowing Carter and company to add new characters to what seems to have been a tired mix last season. If nothing else, Duchovny occasional absences could be incorporated into a big finale storyline.

The clock is ticking�


04/17/00

Starring David Duchovny and Minnie Driver, the film builds an implausible scenario into a credible and utterly charming romantic comedy.

``Return to Me'' marks a worthy directorial debut by actress Bonnie Hunt, who co-wrote the screenplay and co-stars as Driver's solicitous buddy.

Duchovny plays Bob Rueland, an architect who loves his work and adores his beautiful wife, Elizabeth (Joely Richardson), a zoologist crusading for money to build a gorilla habitat.

The movie's opening languidly depicts the Ruelands' ideal marriage as they prepare for Elizabeth's big fund-raiser. She frets, he encourages.

``What's the worst that could happen? You forget your speech and we don't get any donations,'' Bob says, a flip but ominous portent of the evening to come.

Inter-cut with the fund-raising preparations are scenes of Grace Briggs (Driver), a young woman who has lived a secluded life because of a bad heart. Grace is first seen in a hospital bed, enfeebled but holding out hope for a heart transplant.

Ghastly ill, Grace's zest for life, even as it ebbs away, is apparent when she jokingly mutters, ``Rosebud,'' Orson Welles' cryptic deathbed line from ``Citizen Kane.''

After the Ruelands' smash-hit fund-raiser, the movie takes a dark turn. Unconscious and horribly injured in a car wreck, Elizabeth is wheeled into the hospital, her husband racing beside her stretcher.

Bob goes home alone, slumping to the floor, weeping in his bloody tuxedo and comforted only by the couple's faithful dog, which waits by the door for a mistress who's never coming back.

Toward morning, Bob is jerked to attention by a sound he isn't quite sure he's heard. It's the first beat of Grace Briggs' new heart.

What inevitably follows could have lapsed into bland predictability if not for Hunt's witty script and the endearing ensemble of actors who make up Grace's circle of matchmaking relatives and friends. Notable among them are Hunt herself as a mother with five raucous children, James Belushi as her lovably oafish husband, Robert Loggia as Grace's Italian uncle and Carroll O'Connor as her Irish grandfather.

One year later, of course Grace's heart will skip a beat when she passes Bob unnoticed at the zoo, where he has taken on construction of the gorilla habitat in Elizabeth's memory. Of course Bob will somehow wander into the oddly named O'Reilly's Italian Restaurant, the family business where Grace now works as a waitress. Of course they will find romance, and later heartbreak, when the truth is revealed about the source of the organ beating in Grace's chest.

And, of course, the finale: Will Bob and Grace find a life together?

``When she met you, her heart beat for the first time,'' Grace's grandfather tells Bob. ``Perhaps it was meant to be with you always.''

Yes, it's all predictable, but it's the getting there that makes ``Return to Me'' work. Despite its somber beginnings and Bob's sorrowful brooding over Elizabeth, the movie is light and playful as the characters get on with their lives.

Grandpa O'Reilly, always watchful for potential mates for his granddaughter, tells Bob, ``We'll have a pint on that,'' when he learns the new man in Grace's life is a widower.

When her scheming friend fixes her up with a date, Grace is told that he had a transplant, too. Cut to Grace trying to keep a straight face as she shares a drink with a man who has the world's worst hair transplant.

Grace's shyness over her surgical scars prompts a foot-in-mouth reassurance from her grandfather: ``You're beautiful, and no one's going to notice your chest.''

On break from the droll, deadpan Fox Mulder on TV's ``The X-Files,'' Duchovny is warmly human and humorous as Bob, and he shows some real emotional range in the melancholy and anger that follows Elizabeth's death.

Driver (``Good Will Hunting,'' ``An Ideal Husband'') delivers another fetching romantic turn, infusing Grace with captivating coyness, vulnerability and childlike wonderment as she belatedly takes her first baby steps into the world.

Overcoming the unsettling premise of a loved one's most vital of organs coming home in someone else's rib cage, ``Return to Me'' is a gratifying throwback to old-time romantic comedies. The movie is funny without straining toward the hip and trendy, sweet without becoming overly saccharin. And, pun intended, it's eminently goodhearted.

``Return to Me'' is rated PG. Running time 116 minutes.


The news dated 04/12/00 is from Scifi Weely.com
04/12/00
Duchovny Open To X-Files Return?
David Duchovny left open the door for returning for an eighth season of The X-Files in an interview with E! Online. "At this point, it's just about money," he told the Web site. "Anybody that tells you that creatively there is anything left to do on that show .... The only creative thing left to do is the sheer high-wire act of 'How can I keep on making this show?'"
When asked if he thought Fox would cough up the money to keep him on the show, Duchovny replied, "Are you kidding? The X-Files makes a hideous amount of money, a huge amount of money. They could spend $50 million an episode and still make fourfold that. The X-Files is obscenely successful. It's worldwide."
The actor also argued that his lawsuit against Fox and X-Files creator Chris Carter wouldn't be an impediment to his return. "That has to do with my lawyers and Fox's lawyers," he said. "That has nothing to do with me and Chris or [co-star] Gillian [Anderson] or anybody who's been involved with making the show as good as it is. That doesn't even come into my consideration about whether to stay for another season." Duchovny has sued to recover royalties and other payments he claims are due him.


04/12/00
Real TV will air footage of The X-Files' Gillian Anderson reciting poems as a student at the college she attended in Grand Rapids, Mich., UltimateTV reported. The clip of Anderson, complete with nose ring, will air May 3 on the syndicated newsmagazine show.


04/09/00 This is from The New York Times
David Duchovny, With Facial Expressions
This article talks about Return To Me, DD's career, and some stuff about The X-Files.


04/09/00 This is from Seventeen Magazine

(It's been officialized that DD will donate any earnings to charity, some school that was founded by classmates of his)


04/07/00

The award is given "to an individual whose work has substantially influenced the dark fantasy/horror/occult genre," the HWA said. "It honors not merely the superior achievement embodied in a single work, but acknowledges superior achievement in an entire career."

Grant is the author of several novels based on the Fox television series The X-Files, as well as Goblins, Whirlwind and Winter Knight, which is book three of his Black Oak series. Grant's novels have appeared on the best-seller lists of USA Today, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and the London Times. He has also received two Nebulas, three World Fantasy Awards and the British Fantasy Society's special award for lifetime achievement.

Gorey is the author and illustrator of several books of macabre humor. He also provided the familiar animation that opens the PBS series Mystery!. The Lifetime Achievement Awards will be presented at HWA's meeting on May 11-14 in Denver.


04/06/00

When Anderson asked Duchovny, "How do you perceive our relationship?" Duchovny replied, "It's like the roots of a tree. It's very twisted, but it's growing. You know the tree is alive, and it works in its own tree-like way, yet you couldn't untangle it. You could, but you'd need the help of a gifted professional."

When Anderson responded with laughter, Duchovny added, "I always think back to the third or fourth episode. I was sitting in the office with Chris Carter, and he actually wanted us to get help. He was concerned with how we were relating onscreen. He said, 'You seem bored or angry with each other. Maybe you should go see somebody.' I thought, 'What? We'll go as the characters? "Hi, my name is Fox Mulder. This is my partner, Scully. We're here for couples therapy."'"

Duchovny added, somewhat facetiously, "We should have therapy for long-running series actors. It'd be good for the cast of Friends to have group therapy. We'd have couples therapy, because we're not an ensemble. Actually, when Chris said that, I thought he was insane. But we do spend so much time together, and it's a hard relationship to navigate. As soon as I say, 'No, we don't see each other after work,' then it's 'You hate each other.' There seems to be no room in fans' minds--as the fans are portrayed through journalists--for a complicated relationship between us. It can't be summed up with 'I love her. She's the best!' or 'I can't stand her!'"


04/06/00
TV Guide reported that Minnie Driver, who co-stars with David Duchovny in the upcoming romantic comedy movie Return to Me, will make a guest appearance on the April 30 episode of Duchovny's The X-Files.


04/04/00
Happy 17th birthday to me!

to this months news