NEWS
Ein Interview mit Chris Carter: > von comicbooksource.com >
Q Despite the lukewarm critical reception and box office, actual X-Files fans seemed to love it.
CC I do think the fans did love it, although the popular media didn't pick up on that. My impression is that it was overwhelmingly well received by fans.
But there is no denying that the box office was very disappointing. We've done dramatically better overseas. We'll probably hit $70 million worldwide, which is a profit.
What is interesting to me is that people have overwhelmingly embraced the decisions we made about Mulder and Scully's relationship. We thought it was very risky. Even though Mulder and Scully were involved romantically off-screen before the series ended, we had never shown it before. It felt like we were really messing with the DNA of the series by having them in a bed together. But [fans] accepted it, and accepted it quickly. That was the riskiest thing about the movie to me, and the most rewarding thing.
Q Were you ever thinking about bringing Doggett and Reyes back for the second film?
CC Yes. We love those characters and ultimately decided we wanted this to focus as much as possible as Mulder and Scully. There was a point where even Skinner didn't make an appearance. In the writing of the script, Chris saw an opportunity to bring Skinner into it, and it was a great chance to work with Mitch again, and it would make the fans happy. But we still wanted to be as streamlined as possible.
Q Why did you decide to put in the bonus scene halfway through the credits?
CC A couple of reasons. One is that we could not presume that there would be more X-Files movies. If this was going to be the end, we wanted a moment that was more appropriate and rich to the whole scope of the series than just having Mulder say goodbye to Scully at a car. We wanted to leave fans with something more meaningful,
and there is definitely a lot of meaning to the two of them in a rowboat.
The second reason is that it is a summer movie. It felt like you want to leave people with something more than the uncertainty and fragile faith that Scully had in that last moment.
Q The journey that Scully took over the course of the film seemed like the same journey she took over the course of the series, which was nice to see again.
CC It's so complicated. There were so many problems we had to address, and not many people have talked about it. Mulder believes his sister is dead, so we needed to know what drives him now. Scully has gone from being a skeptic to a believer, so where would she be now? We had to consider an awful lot in order to be true to the characters, which is that Mulder always needs to save the girl. Is he being misguided and allowing himself to be manipulated?
What I love about Scully's storyline is the question of whether or not she is right to want to treat this boy. I can't tell you the answer, and no one can. The priest is completely reasonable to want the child to go to a hospice to die. It's a practical suggestion. Scully is wrestling with her own issues, and whether she is attaching herself neurotically to this child because of the loss of her son.
Q And then there is this pedophile priest, who would be natural for Scully to be skeptical of, even after all she's seen. And then the priest says to her not to give up, and it plays off her own wants and desires.
CC That's what is so rich to me about the movie, and the fans picked up on this even though a lot of critics didn't. The movie is designed to service Mulder and Scully in a very real and adult way. These people have dealt with loss all their lives, and this case really presses all their buttons in a really elegant way, not to pat myself on the back. Each of those investigations deals with their own ghosts, and in the end the two paths are, in fact, one.
Q You've said you've had this idea since the series concluded. How much did the relationship between Mulder and Scully change and evolve since then?
CC We came up with the story in 2003. We knew that Scully would have a patient. And then we dropped the movie for years.
The line "Don't give up" was a slogan Chris has heard at a speech given by the religious scholar Houston Smith, and it spoke to both of us profoundly about life and the struggles of life. As you get older, you get more appreciative of how hard life is and more respectful of those who do persevere. We knew it was a message that was timeless and valuable to everyone out there, even the critics who slammed this movie. (laughs) It was something we talked about in conversation when we sat down for coffee and had not yet begun on the script back in 2007. It ended up being the heart of the film.
Q Inoring the critics, ignoring the fans and ignoring all the hoopla,
how do you personally feel about "The X-Files: I Want to Believe?"
I feel very proud of the film and think it will age very well . I certainly wish it had gotten a warmer critical reaction and done better at the box office, but I have no regrets about the film itself.
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