From FREETIME, July 31st-August 31st 1996

X Communications

     Currently the most popular TV show in the
world is, without a doubt, the science fiction effort
entitled THE X-FILES, a weekly delve into the world
of the paranormal, unexplained and plain interesting. 
Caroline Vincent met two of the series' stars, Mitch
Pileggi and Nicholas Lea, FBI agents Skinner and
Krycek respectively, and attempted to determine just
why the show is so darned successful.

     It's the latest worldwide phenomenon which
has already grossed over $2 billion worldwide, a TV
show which is watched in over twenty countries, and
in each of those areas, regularly ranked among its top
ten most watched shows.

     The mere mention of its name is enough to
inspire a fanatic-like response from its legion of
worldwide fans who fully believe in the authenticity
of the show, and a picture of the two leads on the
cover is all it takes to sell out a slow shifting
magazine in a manner of minutes.

     What's even more impressive about all these
achievements is the fact that this show is what you
might call a "science fiction" one, usually the kiss of
death in terms of family friendly entertainment
values, wherein a show of this genre will either end
up as a final product which is an obscure "cult rated"
late night slot filler, or cheesy special effects driven
drivel that folds at the end of the first series.

     THE X-FILES currently sits pretty as just
about the most popular TV show in the world,
generating so much income and interest it's more or
less a license to print money, most of which
merchandise featuring either of the show's not
unattractive two leads, David Duchovny and Gillian
Anderson.

     They play FBI agents, Fox Mulder and Dana
Scully, who work in the little advertised department
known as "The X Files," an area of the bureau where
they investigate all sorts of strange events, more
often than not of the Unidentified Flying Object
variety.

     But what most people who watch the show
don't realize is that it's a bit more of an ensemble than
the hype machine suggests, relying on the supporting
characters almost as much as your ability to suspend
disbelief while watching, such as Mitch Pileggi, who
plays the pair's boss, Assistant Director Walter
Skinner.

     After joining the show mid-way through its
first season, he has a fairly good inside view on the
ins and outs of day-to-day shooting, and has his own
opinion as to why the show is so gosh-darned
successful...

     "My response is David Duchovny looks great
in a Speedo," Mitch, wacky guy that he is, told
Freetime in a Bristol hotel recently, stopping off west
as part of a nationwide promotional tour for the
show.  "Don't you think he does?"

     Erm, I suppose so, but seriously, Mitch....

     "Okay, I think it's well done, it taps into certain
things in human natures that is appealing," he adds
on a slightly more strait faced note, "the paranoia that
people experience concerning government
conspiracy, regarding extraterrestrials or any other
type of government cover-up, and people like to be
scared, too."

     "It's in human nature that we like the thrill of
being scared, the adrenaline rush, and I think THE X-
FILES scares people..."

     Also present is Pileggi's co-star in the show,
Nicholas Lea who plays Agent Krycek, an actor who
also walked through the X-FILES' door rather late in
the series' life after signing up as a recurring
character for the show's second season.

     And although he initially appears to be on the
side of the angels while working as Mulder's new
partner, it soon transpires that the man has a bit of a
hidden agenda which may mean long term problems
for our heroes.

     Thankfully for your correspondent, none of his
on-screen alter-ego's psychopathic tendencies are
evident today, but instead, the twentysomething
performer comes across as a down-to-earth actor who
likes to chat about the staggering success of the
show.

     For instance, if you ask him if he thought
success for the show created by Chris Carter, (the
man who currently serves in the role of executive
producer), was always in the cards, his carefully
considered response is a humble and philosophical
one.

     "Well, you can never gauge the success of a
show because some shows are wonderful and go six
episodes and get cancelled," he says, "so you can
certainly think you're working on a show which is
good quality but you can never rely on anything."

     "It may not necessarily translate as success but
right from my experiences on the show I knew I was
working with good people, I had ho idea that it would
explode into the kind of success that it's had."

     "I wouldn't say that I knew for sure from the
start that it would be successful, but I knew that I was
in a really good show."

     "I'd go along with that," nods Mitch, on the
very same subject, "this show is written so well, not
only with the material, but it's got an excellent cast
and crew."

     "I was just commenting how comfortable I felt
the very first time I came in, the first episode I did
during the first season, I immediately felt accepted
by David and Gillian, and the crew, right through to
everybody else on the show, and that's a very, very
unusual situation, because quite often you come in as
a guest star and you feel like an outsider because
everyone else is there, established, but this was
immediate acceptance by everybody and it was a
treat, as we like to say."

     "I think that's gone a long way towards its
success."

     Ah yes, the other actors involved, which leads
us to a very interesting point on that very same
subject, because, as you're sure to have noticed, if
you've seen the show at least once, THE X-FILES is
probably the best cast show since STAR TREK in the
sixties in terms of on-screen chemistry between the
main characters.    

     Not only do the two main players receive well
over two thousand fan letters a week, but usually
when they share the same camera shot, the characters
of Mulder and Scully ooze charm and charisma,
coming across as more than a little bit likeable.  

     However, in true Hollywood tradition, it
wouldn't be a surprise to discover that when those
cameras stop rolling, these two overpaid prima
donnas revert back to starlet mode and throw their
fair share of temper tantrums.

     Alas it's not true going by going by Pileggi's
response when quizzed on the subject.  "As far as a
working relationship goes, " he explains, "they're
both consummate professionals and extremely,
extremely good to work with, from an actor's
standpoint, because they give so much, not only
when they're doing their singles but when you're
doing your singles and they're off camera."

     "David often complains that I save my best
stuff for when I'm on camera, he kids me about it, we
have a lot of fun and our working relationship is
extraordinary."

     What about you, Nicholas, how do you find the
actors to work with?

     "Horrible..." he deadpans with a chuckle.

     "Yeah," adds Mitch, "David's a little too touchy
for my tastes...."

     "No, I'm only kidding," picks up Lea once
more.  "Unfortunately, I don't spend a great deal of
time away from the set with Gillian because she's
married and she has a baby, but David, Mitch and I
spent a great deal of time together, we've become
good friends."

     "I go to his house in L.A. and we hang out a
lot, we eat a lot of dinners together, things like that,
movies, basketball..."

     And when they do those things, they probably
have a lot of common interests to talk about, such as
the aforementioned high amount of fan mail they all
get from the millions of X-FILES fans the world
over, or X-Philes as they like to be called.

     However, it must be said that Lea's bulging
postbag may not necessarily be full of the same
adoring adulation which Messrs. Anderson and
Duchovny receive, but on a slightly less friendly
basis.

     Because, since Nicholas Lea's character of
Krycek first showed his true colors as a treacherous
turncoat in the second season episode "Ascension,"
the actor has come in for the traditional bad buy
battering in the fan press.

     Not only have there been lengthy discussions
on the ways to kill the character on the Internet, but
there have also been convention panels discussing
how devious Krycek really is and thousands of letters
telling him off for being such a dastardly scoundrel
who really should know better.  Or something.

     It's an aspect of the job which has delighted
Lea no end.

     "I think it's great because it means I'm doing
my job on the show," he grins, "as long as I don't get
attacked or approached at gun point.  I think it also
means that I'm doing well, or doing what I've been
asked to do.  Hopefully, the character's one of those
guys that you love to hate, you don't just hate and
want him off the show, but you love to hate him."

     "That's what I liked about the character when I
first got the script...He was leading a double life and
you know, he was all polish and shine on the outside
and all bad on the inside, all very devious on the
inside."

     "I wouldn't say he was bad, but he was lying
his way through the very first episode and I thought
that was very interesting, because it gives you the
opportunity to play the good guy but then hopefully
let little bits of things come out between the cracks,
just little indications here and there, you know..."

     "Plus, being in the show has really opened door
for me," he adds, "I go to auditions and people will
recognize me from the show.  I just did a pilot for
Fox this spring and when I went in to audition the
head of Fox Television already knew who I was and
had watched me on the show.  So, I mean, that sort of
focus or spotlight or whatever is priceless, don't you
think, Mitch?"

     "I haven't really had the opportunity," his
coworker counters, "since I've been doing the show,
I've just been doing the show and haven't had the
opportunity to do anything else.  So I don't know, I
haven't tested those waters yet."

     On the other hand, appearing in such a
successful show can sometimes be detrimental to an
actor's long-term career.  

     Take for example the aforementioned classic
TV series, STAR TREK, another science fiction epic
which was highly thought of back then, being that
fans of the genre might describe it as the X-FILES of
its day, equally groundbreaking and innovative
whilst managing to catch the imagination of its
viewers to such an extent that the legend still thrives
three decades later.

     And although that show's two leads, William
Shatner and Leonard Nimoy, didn't do too badly in
terms of their bank balances, after the show had
ended, their careers were somewhat shadowed by the
characters they once played.

     Is that something that could happen to the X-
FILES' actors?  Lea's answer is swift and without
hesitation.

     "I'm not worried about that at all," he counters,
perhaps just a tad defensively.  "I don't think this is
the kind of show that's going to do that for us
specifically, and I don't worry about that in my career
anyway..."

     "There's no point in worrying about it, unless
every single role that I do is like Krycek, then I'll be
concerned, but I don't foresee that in the future at
all...."

     While Pileggi, on the other hand, who has
already played a wide range of characters and been
around the acting block a few times, is a little more
laid back in his answer.

     "The character is a departure for me," he says,
"'cause in other characters I've done, I was
pigeonholed and played a lot of psychos, so I think
this is opening up new doors for me, it's showing
people that I can play different types of characters
other than I've played in the past, so it's been
advantageous for me to play this type of character."

     And when those cameras aren't rolling, has the
show changed the men on a bit more of a personal
level?  After all, as the show suggests, "The Truth Is
Out There," although which truth depends entirely on
your beliefs in the first place.

     So are Pileggi and Lea method actors?  Do they
take their work home with them so they can go home
to their bedrooms and look through their telescopes
in search of alien life?

     The answer, as someone once said, may
surprise you....

     "I believe in invisible elephants..." says Mitch,
japester that he is.

     "I believe, certainly, in government cover ups
and conspiracies that go on," adds Nicholas, keen to
keep things at least semi-serious, "I believe in the
possibility of alien life forms outside of our Earth,
and I believe in ghosts and spirits as well."

     Pileggi refuses to be drawn into this serious
business lark, and decides to have a bit of a sing-song
instead....

     "I believe in magic in a young girl's heart..." he
croons to your correspondent before turning to his
co-star.  "Do you believe in magic?"

     "There's a song in there somewhere."  Lea
chuckles.

     "Yeah, I think so," Pileggi, the silver-tongued
devil, answers.

     So has being on the show changed any of those
beliefs?

     "Nope," states Nicholas, matter-of-factly. 
Mitch picks up once more.

     "My views were established before I started
doing the show," he says.  "So I don't think it's really
made any difference in those views...."

     Which just about all we have time for, as they
say on the news, as the pairs publicist is standing
nearby and eager to wrap things up, thus enabling the
boys to go sign a few more thousand autographs,
have maybe a beer or two, meet and greet those fans
and go on spreading the word of THE X-FILES....

     But before they dash off, just for the record,
lads, what is the latest on the much touted X-FILES
movie?

     "All I know..." answers Mitch, "...is that Chris
has written it, or is writing it, I know he's been
working on it, and they're talking about doing it next
hiatus, next summer, so we'll see..."

     But until that time, the show's legions of the
paranoid, pedantic and just plain normal will just
have to be content with their weekly dose of the
unexplained X-FILES excitement....