David Duchovny is living in the past — at least, onscreen.
The 54-year-old actor dished with Access Hollywood’s Liz Hernandez this week about his new ’60s-era detective series “Aquarius,” and revisiting the iconic “X-Files” role that made him famous more than 20 years ago.
As brooding skeptic Fox Mulder on the ’90s phenomenon, Duchovny’s breakout project helped him get used to solving fictional mysteries. With the series now returning for a six-episode run next year, the practice likely aids his concurrent work on NBC’s “Aquarius” in which he plays a Los Angeles police sergeant investigating real-life cult leader and convicted murderer Charles Manson.
READ: ‘The X-Files’ Is Back With David Duchovny & Gillian Anderson!
“It’s just like time passing. It’s like looking at an old picture. It’s like looking at an old house, or some image from time gone by,” Duchovny said of reading a first script for the “X-Files” update, which started shooting last Monday.
“1993 would have been the first time I looked at a script and saw ‘Mulder, Scully, Mulder, Scully,’ so it was like that,” he explained. “It was like looking at an old photograph.”
READ: David Duchovny & Gillian Anderson Kiss On Stage After Singing Together
The wave of nostalgia translated into his “Aquarius” prep that required the actor to transport himself into a time period he realized might not be as long ago as it seems.
“I think, as a country, we keep coming back to the dreams of the’ 60s,” he began. “The progressive, social dreams and the anti-war movement, and black power, feminism … all these great civil rights movements that began then, that’s kind of where the heart of the country still is.”
“I think, for me, Manson is a symbol,” he added, touching upon society’s continued fascination with the criminal’s disturbing legacy. “The person is less interesting to me – an unfortunate person, a murderer, somebody who’s hurt a significant amount of people.”
Like the determined crime solvers he portrays on TV, Duchovny demonstrated a desire to get right to the bottom of things – even in the face of emotional circumstances.
WATCH: David Duchovny On The Case For ‘Aquarius’
“I’m a crier, I guess,” he chuckled, when asked how he reacted to returning to his “X-Files” roots. “I didn’t sob uncontrollably or weep, I just felt a welling and that was it. And then I just got to work.”
“Aquarius” airs Thursdays at 9 PM ET/PT on NBC.
— Erin Biglow
Copyright © 2024 by NBC Universal, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
This material may not be republished, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.