But to a man--and this includes Dean Haglund, Bruce Harwood, and Tom Braidwood (Mulder and Scully's geeky helpers, the Lone Gunmen), and Nicholas Lea (dastardly renegade Krycek)--they are baffled by Carter's Mythology. Of the upcoming two-parter, Lea admits that after he read the scripts, ''they needed to be explained about four times. Other than that, it was really clever.'' He laughs. ''But that's kind of like the norm. You read a script, then call someone to explain it.'' Harwood finds hardcore fans helpful. That they can explain it, he says, ''is scary in itself.''
Skinner is the character most in the dark (a visit to the set reveals even his desk calendar is out of it: The date reads August 1995). And it's a state of mind Pileggi can relate to. ''I don't feel either of us has a handle on'' the conspiracy, he says. For the two-parter he stuck to his usual methods of preparation: ''I just read my parts and play it as if I don't know what's going on. It's always a surprise when I watch the shows.''
''I am happy that Mitch sees that as a positive,'' cracks Duchovny a few days later. ''You know, whatever works for you.... I can't believe he's telling people that.''
Duchovny is in his trailer (which, unlike Mulder's apartment, features a big, tousled bed), waiting to be slimed with black goop for an episode involving a hurricane; given that the wait has just exceeded five hours, he's remarkably chipper. It's no secret that Duchovny is occasionally frustrated by the limitations of his character (Mulder, by necessity, is fairly static in his obsessive skepticism and paranoia). So it's surprising to hear him speak eagerly about the inevitable movie franchise: ''Not that I want to play Mulder for the rest of my life, but my fantasy is to take him into different eras of his life.'' Instead of going the James Bond route, he says, where you fire the actor when he gets too old, ''let's see how funny it is when a guy like this is behaving the same way at 53.''
To keep himself interested in the meantime, Duchovny has written and, for the first time, will direct an X-Files episode (airing in April). ''It's about the Negro leagues, and an alien who falls in love with baseball. I really love the script, I have to say,'' he says, somewhat sheepish in his pride. ''I remember finishing it and going, I wish I had a better director, because I think it could be one of the best episodes we ever did.''
Darren McGavin will star, returning as former FBI agent Arthur Dales of last season's ''Travelers''--a flashback episode that featured a pre-X-Files Fox Mulder sporting a yet-to-be-explained wedding band. ''That was just me, you know, fooling around,'' admits Duchovny, who clearly enjoyed the resulting Internet frenzy. ''I had recently gotten married, and I wanted to wear it. The director was really nervous. 'You have to call [Chris] to see if the wedding ring is okay.' I didn't, until [after the scene was shot]. When I did call, Chris goes, 'What!?' I said, 'No, it's good. It's so Mulder to never have mentioned that he was married.' And he says, 'Well, that creates a problem. If we ever do a show that takes place seven years ago, you'll have to be married.' I said, 'Do you really have a lot of shows in your head that are going to take place seven years ago?'''
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