David: Well, in this movie I'm playing an architect/construction design worker. It's kind of between a blue-collar and a white-collar worker. He has suffered a great loss. He's lost his wife and he's pretty much shut down. He's not enjoying life at all. He's not enjoying anything. He's not open to anything. Then he meets this woman, played by Minnie Driver, and opens up again to her for reasons that are plot driven and interesting.
ET: Is there anything in real life that has happened where you have lost something that precious?
David: Not a wife. I haven't lost a wife and I haven't lost a mother or father. I've lost grandparents. We all can relate to loss. Some people are more unfortunate than others in the age that they lose loved ones, or in the suddenness that they lose them. I think I've been pretty lucky. But I think it's a feeling that everyone can relate to.
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ET: What do you think of when you work?
David: Whatever you have to do to make yourself into a person that would shut off that way. But then again, it's an interesting movie because it's also a comedy. It's not a case study in grief and mourning. It's supposed to get into these emotions, but also bounce on them lightly.
ET: I wondered about that. I thought that it was a romantic drama.
David: It is. It's a strange beast. It's definitely a melodrama. My wife's heart goes to this woman. It's an impossible happening. It's a fairy tale, really. Like any fairy tale, it has elements of horror and grotesque comedy. I think the tone that we're trying to get is kind of a realistic fairy tale. It's hard to get.
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ET: Why did you take the role?
David: Well, I love BONNIE [HUNT]. I've known Bonnie since we did 'Beethoven.' Bonnie's just one of the smartest, most passionate, funniest people in the business. I didn't know she wrote. Actually GEORGE CLOONEY was on a flight with me and he told me about this script that Bonnie had written. I asked about it and I got it. I thought it was a great idea and a great script. Pretty much anything that Bonnie was going to do, if she would have me, I would love to work with her. Especially the chance to do Bonnie's first film, which is not going to happen again. I really think she is going to be a major director.
ET: What is it like working with her?
David: She had the whole movie in her head. It was just a matter of her getting it down on film. It's nice to work with somebody that can give you that much direction and support. She's extremely loving and supportive. Her commitment is sometimes scary and most of the time contagious.
ET: Does she turn off her funniness when she's in this world?
David: Off and on. She definitely doesn't want to distract everybody when she's directing. She's also acting in the film. Her sense of humor is not separate of who she is, so it's always going to pop out.
ET: How do you meet Minnie Driver's character?
David: She's a waitress in a restaurant. The first time that I go out after my wife has died, it's been a year and I've done nothing but eat Chinese food with my dog. I finally agree to go out on a date. My date is horrible, but Minnie's a waitress in the restaurant and there's something between us. It's kind of a metaphor for whatever it is that is between all people, you know. Whenever you feel a connection, obviously it's not because they have the heart of someone you used to love. That's kind of the fable aspect of it.
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ET: We're not used to seeing you in a romantic role. What's it like for you to play it?
David: It's not so much that it's a romantic role, but it's different than the kind of role that I've grown into unconsciously over the last six years. It just feels scary. Anything that I'm doing outside of playing Mulder at this point just feels awkward. I just haven't had time to do anything else, really. I've done one other role in the last six years.
Romance is not really the challenge. Snapping myself out of the hypnosis of what I've been doing the last six years is the challenge. When I go home at night... when I'm working on "The X-Files" at this point, I know how to do Mulder and I don't lay awake at night thinking what I could've done differently. But here I do. It's stressful and it's fun. It's fun to care that much again. I remember when I first started doing "The X-Files" it was like that.
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ET: In this film, after you fall in love with Minnie's character, you have everything. You've got the perfect love and you've got the career. Do you feel that your own life is a lot like that?
David: I feel like I should be a lot more grateful than I sometimes feel. I feel very lucky to be living the life that I'm living right now. Yet, I'm still strangely unfulfilled at times with work and what I want to do. There are moments when I can sit back and think that things are okay.
The wolf isn't at the door right now. But I don't want to be complacent. It's never over. Life is tricky and life is hard. Things are wonderful right now, but I don't think that has anything to do with me. It's a lot of luck and timing. I'll do everything I can to keep it that way for my family and me.
ET: Is this the only thing you're doing on hiatus?
David: Come on, give me a break! This went until mid-July and then I took a month off and relax with TEA [LEONI] and the baby. Then I went back to doing the "X-Files," which was fun to go back to.
ET: What it sad to be away from Tea and the baby?
David: It was. I only had to spend six days apart from them. That was hard, especially at that point. The baby was only five days old and I had to leave them. That was terrible. But, at that point, the baby doesn't even know I exist, really. It was only about the nipple... and it was not my nipple, but her nipple.