The Fox Mulder depicter reveals he nearly missed out the role of a lifetime in the classic sci-fi television series because he didn't want to pull out of his pal's project.
- Apr 4, 2021
AceShowbiz - David Duchovny almost turned down his career defining role in "The X-Files" because he was shooting a TV movie with a pal.
The actor didn't want to let his friend down and quit the project, so he told his agents he wasn't interested in what became the role of a lifetime.
"I had gotten... a couple of scenes in this movie of the week, and it was a director who I was friendly with, and I was going to have to... pull out of that part to do The X-Files pilot," David told Rob Lowe on his "Literally!" podcast. "I said to my agents, 'I don't want to do that. You know, she's a friend, and I don't want to pull out.' (I said), 'X-Files, this is about extra-terrestrials. How long can it go? It's a good pilot but you're either going to see the aliens or (not).' "
"I wasn't interested in conspiracy theories, and I was perfectly willing to just say, 'I'm going to have to pass on that pilot, because I said I'd do this other project.' "
Duchovny is glad his agent talked him into taking the role of Fox Mulder, "It's scary to think back on; if you didn't open this door, or you took that left instead of that right. It's, like, none of it had to happen. You talk about actors being dumb... well, that was me."
The show ended in 2002. It was revived in 2016 and returned to TV again in 2018. It was also adapted for the big screen in 1998 and a stand-alone film in 2008.
