In 2005, Carter filed a lawsuit against Fox Television over syndication profits; he now says that suit was ''the'' thing that prevented the movie from happening two, or even four, years ago. Once the case was settled (the terms are not public), he and Spotnitz finally began writing, and a rough script was completed by August 2007. With both actors available and the pending writers' strike breathing down everyone's neck, the studio was more than happy to give the green light. ''It's always been a project we were interested in,'' says 20th Century Fox vice chairman Hutch Parker. ''The audience hasn't had a chance to connect with these characters in a while.'' Neither have the actors: Anderson says it was ''really f---ing weird'' to slip back into Scully's high but practical heels. ''I'd do things, and Chris would go, 'I don't think...' and I'd go, 'That wasn't her, was it?''' Carter says this ''jet lag'' didn't last. ''They're both so smart about those characters,'' he says, ''and they always have been.''
But if the actors had trouble remembering Mulder and Scully, how much will audiences care about The X-Files in 2008? Will the fanboys (and girls) who felt betrayed by the show's deterioration stay home? ''I understand why a lot of people checked out,'' says Spotnitz of the post-Duchovny season. ''It wasn't Mulder's quest anymore.'' But he thinks six years gave people a chance to miss the show, and if this year's comic-book convention WonderCon is any indication, he's right: An X-Files panel was greeted by 5,000 fans making ''that screechy sound,'' as Duchovny puts it. ''It's always surprising to me to see that there are people out there who still are engaged in this show on almost a daily basis,'' admits Carter.
Duchovny, for one, would prefer not to speculate about the film's commercial prospects. ''If you try to anticipate an audience, then I think you get into trouble,'' he says. ''We'll make it, you enjoy it. And if you don't enjoy it, then we didn't hold up our end of the bargain. I hope that we deliver. I think it's possible that we could deliver. I don't think it's just bulls---, just trying to cash in on something that's half dead. I always felt like The X-Files as a movie franchise had real life in it.''
More X-Files! See what Chris Carter told EW.com's Hollywood Insider about his hopes to do an X-Files 3
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