Nick Lea - Saturday, May 19

Transcribed by Lucas Henry 

=================================

Yeah! <cheering> New York City!  
You know, I got here like three days ago, and I haven't been able to 
sleep.  And I'm lying in bed last night at like five o'clock in the 
morning, and I can't sleep, and all I'm thinking is, all I can hear in 
my head is <singing> "I'm going to wake up in a city that never sleeps" 
and I'm dying. But I gotta tell you this is one of the greatest cities 
in the world <people cheer> I'm telling ya - this is like a press 
conference.  How's everybody doing?  Good? <cheers> I want to thank you 
for braving the Vancouver-like weather today to get here.  I tell, you, 
boy, I get here, and I can't sleep, it's ridiculous.  Okay?

So, because, unfortunately we had a bit of  - ooh, there's a lot of 
people here too, huh? that's a lot of flashes - because we had a bit of 
a slow start getting people in, they're kind of cutting down my time a 
little bit, so I'll try to be brief <crowd boos> in what I have to say. 
 I'm going to be answering I think a few questions at a certain point, 
so if anybody's interested - you know, I love having my picture taken 
after I've had like three and a half hours sleep.  It's great. 
<laughter> We did a thing here yesterday morning, at like a quarter to 
seven, for Good Morning New York.  I'm telling you, it's a big deal, 
I'm on live television, and I look like my grandfather.

So, this has been 4 ½, 5 years of an amazing ride for me as an actor. 
I would have had no idea that, when I started this show -- in the first 
year, actually -- that I would be sitting in front of you now, doing 
this sort of thing. It's really mind-blowing. You know, you get on a 
show and you hope, if you're an actor with integrity, you hope to be on 
a show that's going to do something different within the industry, and 
I'm very very very very fortunate to be on exactly that show.
Obviously, you guys are relatively interested in the show. 

So, it's, I came on the show in the first year as a guest star, with a 
small part guest star role in an episode called GenderBender. <cheers> 
There's the lovely Frank Spotnitz over here, and I'm told that he's 
<unclear> meeting you. <more cheers> Where's Brian?  Brian? You back 
there?  Come up here, Brian.  So, yeah, I did this small guest star 
role in the first year, and that's where I met Rob Bowman, the producer 
and director, who coincidentally directed the film.  And he and I hit 
it off - had a good relationship right from the very start. And when it 
came time to cast the role that I'm doing now, Rob Bowman was the guy 
who kept on saying "'you've got to see Nick Lea. He's really right for 
the role. <unclear> the time from the first year," and he talked to 
them and talked to them and talked to them, and finally they did come 
to Vancouver to audition me and I got the role. And, it was originally 
supposed to be three, uh, three episodes, but it turned into like four 
years later. So it's -- nothing but sort of good fortune was shining on 
me in terms of this show. And in talking about the kind of people that 
I want to work with, Frank is a shining example of that. I've worked in 
this industry with people who really only want to put something on 
television that's going to make money, and these people are quite the 
opposite of that--  they don't rest until they have the best show 
possible on the airwaves.  So I'm very proud to be part of it.

My character, the role I'm play, is a pretty crazy one, too. Every 
time I'm on the show it's sort of moments of high drama. I'm never like 
hanging around a Starbucks. I'm usually, you know, someone's trying to 
kill me, or I'm trying to kill somebody else or -- you know. So, the 
energy I have sort of invested in this role is usually pretty intense. 
I usually feel like I need a holiday after every episode. Certainly 
massage therapy if nothing else.

[audience member screams 'anytime']

How about tonight at around eleven?

[laughter]

Hey, you guys know who's hosting SNL tonight? [audience screams] Is 
that a yes? [more cheering]  I'm gonna be on it! [more cheering]
That's why I couldn't sleep last night - I was lying in bed going "Oh 
my god - I'm gonna be on Saturday Night Live tonight."

Come up here for a sec, Brian.  This is one of my oldest, best friends 
in the world, Brian <Price? unclear> from Vancouver.  Come on up on the 
stage here, Brian.  Come on.  Okay, can everybody say hello to Brian. 
<audience shouts Hello Brian!> <unclear> going to embarrass him. 
<unclear>

So, because our time is short here, why don't we go straight to some 
questions if anybody has any. There's a microphone - there's a 
microphone here somewhere - have you got that organized? Where?  Oh, 
there it is.  Under the light back there.  I want to thank everybody 
for coming out here in all this.  It shows great support for the show, 
and very obviously this show wouldn't have survived, no show survives 
for a great length of time without the support of the fans.  So I want 
to try to generally thank everybody here in New York and everybody who 
is here today for watching the show, because it's helped my career.  
You know, your response to <unclear - arc?> in the show and the 
character I play have done good things for me and my career, so thank 
you.

By the way, we're doing a - what do you call it - we're doing an 
auction for a good cause here today, we'll auction all different kinds 
of stuff, and I'm going to go back and autograph this.  I know how much 
you really appreciate the sort of things we bring, and it's for a good 
cause, all right?  Somebody bought the chair that I sat on in Atlanta 
for 500 bucks. <shouts>  How absurd is that?  Of course, I wasn't 
wearing any pants at the time... <shouts>

So, let's get to your questions. <unclear> Sorry, how about on the 
right side? Hello? 

Question: Hi.

Nick: Hi.

Question: Hi, I'm <unclear> Do you really know how to speak Russian?

Nick: No. What they do generally about 2 weeks before the show, we go 
to camera, they set me up with a dialogue coach and a lot of tapes. And 
I spend hours sitting in my hotel room, uh, working on them.  Last week 
in Boston, I sort of likened it to -- it's learning, it's almost like 
learning a series of numbers in some respect, it's like 
1,7,4,6,3,9,2,7,9,4,4,3,7, and then acting it and doing it with the 
dialogue -- with the dialect -- and acting it; and acting it, 
hopefully, you know, with the drama that's happening between the 
actors.  You know, a lot of the time the actors are Russian actors, and 
you know, I'm kind of like "What's my first line" and I say it, and the 
other guy gets around, shovels it back at me, and I'm like --

Question: So you don't know, like what you're saying at all?

Nick:  No, I know what I'm saying, I know what I'm saying on the
show, but I don't speak, I would say I don't speak the language. 
Deflating, I know.

Question: Hi, Nick.

Nick: Hi.

Question: <unclear>

Nick: Sorry, what's that?

Question: Hello in Russian. <laughter> My question is which episode was 
your favorite to act in.

Nick: Good question. What was my favorite episode to act in. (sighs) 
They're all -- every time I open up a script, it's like a Christmas 
present. Mitch Pileggi who plays Skinner <audience cheers>  you guys 
like Mitch too? <more cheers> You never know what you're going to be 
doing.  Especially, you know, with my responsibility within the show, 
it changes constantly. I mean I'll open up a script and I'm kissing 
Covarrubias or I'm kissing Mulder. [audience screams] Or I'm hanging 
seventeen floors outside of a building or they're going to blow me up 
in a car or I'm stuck in a silo puking alien out of my face.  It's 
weird and wonderful all the time, and so every experience has been good 
and strong and memorable for me. I, my very first exposure to the show 
in the first season, uh, GenderBender, was a really wonderful 
experience because I, Rob Bowman is a guy who likes to come to the set 
with a lot of ideas and I'm the same way.  And we really had this sort 
of simpatico thing going on, and then I did a scene in a hospital bed,  
and I was quite proud of some of the moments I had in that scene. But, 
you know, I liked the time the kinds of things we did in Terma a lot, 
where we went to Russia for the first time. We did all kinds of crazy 
stuff in that one. And I'm proud of all the shows that I've been in.  
I'm proud of, I feel weird coming out of this <unclear> So it's hard to 
sort of pick one out.

Question: And which hotel are you staying at tonight.

Nick:  Yeeeaaah.   <laughter> Yeah, we're staying at the <pauses><gives 
joking answer> Hi.

Question: Yeah, that hotel is on East 46th Street, I believe. 
<laughter>

Nick: No, it's not.

Question: But anyway, I wanted to ask, has Chris told you at all how 
long Krycek and Marita have been 'boinking' and what are the 
implications of that for the 6th season?

Nick: There was no indication in the script in terms of how long these 
characters have been, you know, in cahoots, so we knew -- Laurie Holden 
and I basically had to make up, we came up with a storyline on our own. 
and it's almost better that way because then you have a strong idea, 
you don't have somebody else's idea of what it is, you have your own 
idea. So we, we, this is funny because we were both equally shocked 
that we were going to be doing this. And, uh, I really like her. She's 
a really nice lady and she's a real professional, and so I'm sitting in 
my hotel room and the phone rings and it's her and she says "So, did 
you read the script?" and I said "Yeah." She says, "Do you believe 
this?' So she says, well, do you think we should get together a
and you know, at least talk about this.  And so we were hanging out in 
the hotel room and she says "like, should we -- should we rehearse this 
at all?'  <laughter> And, uh, eventually we agreed not to because we 
felt we should leave -- maybe let that excitement build up for the 
actual, the actual thing itself, so that in rehearsal we were, like, so 
excited that we, like, smacked teeth. <unclear>  Um, what was your 
question?  Oh - I signed, recently signed a contract -- oh, that's not 
the question -- I signed a contract to do another 3 (sic)  years on the 
show. <cheers> Now, what are the implications and what happens in the 
6th season?  Hopefully, I'll, Krycek will find himself in a situation 
where his hands are firmly around her throat.  She, uh, she backstabbed 
me in a very awful manner, so <unclear - there might be some violence 
there?>.

Question: Hi.

Nick: Hi.

Question: First of all, I just want to tell you, although you probably 
know, that you're incredible.

Nick:  Ask Brian -- he'll tell you how incredible I'm not.

Question: Um, and my Russian question was taken, so, um, I recently 
read that you might be on NYPD Blue -- is this true? Possible?

Nick: Well, I auditioned for Stephen Bochco about 3 or 4 weeks ago, and 
by no means have I got the job. They may turn around and, you know, 
offer it to a movie star -- and they could quite easily do that, it's a 
good show - but the way I understood it at the time was that it was 
down to a very small group of people, so we'll see what happens. 
<cheers> Yes? Hello.

Question: Hi.  Okay.

Nick: <unclear> How are you?

Question:  I saw on the behind the scenes episode that you do all your 
own stunts --

Nick: Yes.

Question: --  and that you like doing it because you like, like the 
rush and stuff.  So I was wondering, when you tell Chris that you want 
to do your own stunts, does he look at you, like, wow, you're funny, or 
like, you know, go all the way?

Nick: Both. They leave that responsibility up to the stunt 
coordinators. The stunt coordinators get quite a <unclear> when you 
tell them, yeah, you can do this, right. When I met John Neville, who 
plays the Well Manicured Man for the first time, he said <in British 
accent>  "So you're Nick Lea - I've heard you'll do anything."  
Because, you know, for example, the, the hanging from the 17th floor -- 
 so originally they built a platform for me outside the window.  And by 
the way, Brian comes to all, every time my character is in this kind of 
situation he always comes just in case it's like the last time I'll be 
doing it. <grinning>  I just thought of something so funny, but I can't 
say it.  So we had a platform, you know, outside the building on the 
17th floor.  And what would happen is I would stand there on the thing, 
pretending to dangle, having a cable through one arm and connected to a 
holster. And they would only shoot me from about here (waist high) up, 
see, and they'd shoot at an angle - sort of at a 45 - so you 
couldn't see my feet. And I said, 'Well isn't it better that you guys 
can see my feet dangling if you take the platform away?  It'd probably 
be a little scary, but wouldn't that be sort of more dramatic for the 
thing?' And they said, "Well, yeah, it'd be better," so they took it 
away.  And I was really brave, you know, and like "ah, I won't have a 
problem with it," and I got out there and I was *terrified*. We got it, 
we shot it, I was like <whimpering> *Get me in!"

Question:  I was just going to say, most of your stunts look really, 
really dangerous; is that, like, the one that scared you the most?

Nick: That scared me the most. The running out of the car with the 
gasoline that was exploding behind me was kind of terrifying too. But 
the people that do the stunts are, like, world class. And they're 
totally professional, and I trust them implicitly, so, you know, if I 
put my trust in them, then it's cool.

Question: Well, it looks --

Nick:  You know, I just thought of something.  I saw a play - a 
fantastic play last night, I saw A View From the Bridge - at the Neil 
Simon theater.  If you ever get a chance, you should go see it.  It's 
got <name> from Murder One.  So, I just <unclear> this great play.  Hi.

Question: Hi.  My name's Nicole.

Nick: Hi.

Question: I have a, I was wondering how many takes did it take for you 
to do the scene where you kiss Mulder? <laughter>

Nick:  About 17. Because we were laughing so hard, we couldn't, we 
couldn't actually commit it to film.  And Chris was laughing, Chris 
Carter who directed it, was laughing behind the monitors. I told the 
story in Boston, and I guess I can tell it here as well, but every time 
I'd go to kiss David he'd [makes a series of funny faces] -- we 
couldn't stop laughing  - it was ridiculous and it just got more 
ridiculous as we went on. And Chris wanted -- the camera was over here 
and Chris wanted me to kiss him really close to the mouth so that the 
camera could see it. And I was going in, it just seemed so quickly and 
it kept on being over here and he's going, "no, no, no, you gotta get 
in closer to the mouth." And I'm like, "Well how close can I possibly 
get without, you know, planting one on him?"  But we eventually got it. 
At a certain point you just have to go <clears throat a few times> this 
isn't funny and you have to think of like dead puppies or something. 
Sounds like my sex life.  That's a Woody Allen line, just so you know.

Question: Thank you.

Nick: Hi.  Oh, sorry.  Thanks.

Question: Hi, Nick.  I want to know.  You are a beautiful man -- <crowd 
cheers>

Nick: I'll thank my parents for that.  Thank you.

Question: But you're dealing with two avid David Duchovny fans right 
here --

Nick: Ah.

Question:  -- and to continue on with that kiss question --

Nick: Yeah.

Question: --we wanted --

Nick: What was it like?

Question:   -- to know --

Question: Right.

Nick: Um. It was a little rough.

<unclear> <laughter>

Nick:  Uh, it was like -- It was *sort of* like kissing David Duchovny. 
<laughter> You know, it was like kissing a man who hasn't shaved.  And 
laughing while you're doing it. You know, speaking from a heterosexual 
point of view, it was, uh, you know, fun and it was funny and I'm glad 
we did it.  We actually almost didn't do it because they -- we worked 
out of the script because of my one arm, and I had to do a couple of 
different things and it didn't look like we would be able to do the 
kiss, but we sort of rewrote the script a little bit so that I could 
get in there and plant the kiss because we knew people would love it, 
so. <cheering>

Question: This is <unclear> I just have to say hello to all the 
regulars at Yahoo's X-Files chat who could not be here today.

Nick: That'll be cool.

Question:  Everybody loves you there.

Nick: Oh, thank you - thank you for the support. I'm like living in 
the, like, early 80's. I know how to play, like, Scrabble on my 
computer and that's about it.

Question: Ratgirl says hi.

Nick: Cool. <unclear> Hello.

Question:  If you could play any scene for Alex that you wanted, what 
would that scene be?

Nick: Um... I think... like lying on the beach and beating up Mulder. 
<laughter> Lying down, getting some sun, maybe getting up occasionally 
and beating him up, then maybe getting a little more sun eventually.  I 
would like to see an episode, you get, from a selfish point of view 
as an actor, I would like to see an episode where we learn about where 
Krycek came from, or at least what drives him to do the things that he 
does. <cheering> So I'd like to do a show about that. <unclear>

Question: Do you see that happening?

Nick: I can't see anything happening.  Believe me -- if I end up 
kissing Covarrubias - it's like, I, I gave up wondering what was going 
to go on a long time ago. It could be almost, literally almost 
anything. If I can be sitting on top of a spaceship oozing black goo 
out of my face like that, I don't even know where to go with guessing 
on what the next thing might be, you know.  I've got three more 
questions. Time flies.  

Question: Hi.  

Nick: Hi.

Question: My name is Joy.

Nick: Hi, Joy.

Question:  And I want to ask a <unclear> question, but I'm going to ask 
it anyway.  You weren't at the Chicago Expo --

Nick: I was not.

Question: -- and so far, you're not scheduled for Detroit. Are
you doing something that we should be aware of so that we can, like, 
videotape it or watch it or are you just afraid of people in the 
Midwest? <laughter>

Nick: Hopefully I'll be sleeping, but...  No, they sort of didn't put 
us on every single one, you know, they...I think I might be, I don't 
know if I'm going to Detroit or not, it's still up in the air; I don't 
really have a firm answer on that.  I'm actually just trying to find a 
place to live in Los Angeles right now, because I just moved back and 
so going away every weekend; it's just. It's like, I go home, I unpack, 
I wash the stuff, I put it back in my suitcase, and I get on a plane 
again. So I need some down time. But I'll be in Washington next 
weekend. Two more.

Question: Hi.

Nick: Hi.

Question:  It's not really X-Files related, but I was wondering, if you 
could sleep with one person in the whole wide world, who would you 
sleep with?

Nick: One person in the whole wide world?

Question: Yeah. 

Nick: I could say someone that would so shock you right now.  No, a 
joke,  it would be a joke. It would probably turn a lot of people 
<unclear>  If I could sleep with anybody in the world... <laughter>  A 
live person? <more laughter>  I mean, what I mean by that is <more 
laughter> my fantasies or a real person? That's a tough one. You know, 
the supermodel thing doesn't really do it for me. <cheers> They're nice 
to look at, for sure. But we went to this Victoria's Secret party the 
other night, you know, and they're all walking -- and I mean, God bless 
them -- but they're all walking around like <body language> "duh".  I 
like women that challenge me, you know, from an intellectual 
standpoint, or at least keep me laughing, for sure. I don't know, I 
don't know. Somebody with a, somebody with a personality

Question: A name?

Nick: Like uh, Meryl Streep wouldn't be bad. You know, that sounds 
weird. But.

Audience member: She's old.

Nick:  She's not that old. <laughter>

Simultaneously:
Question: What about Brian?
Nick: Please help me out here. 

Nick: No. <mock-groans>

<Audience members shouting>  Boxers or briefs?

Nick: What?

<Audience members shouting>  Boxers or briefs?

Nick: Boxers or briefs. <pause> It depends on the sort of trousers I'm 
wearing. 

Nick: <back to the question about who he'd like to sleep with> That's a 
good question, I'm afraid I don't have, no it's not, it's a silly 
question. <laughter> I'm riding you, by the way, getting cheap laughs 
up here.  Hi.


Question: Hi..

Nick: Hi..

Question: Other than the X-Files, what's your favorite role that you'd 
want to play?

Nick: My favorite role that I want to play on the X-Files? I'm doing 
it, actually.

Question: No, I mean, like, other than the X-Files? 

Nick: You know, that's a good one. I, you know what role I would love 
to have played was Jerry Maguire, actually. I love that script. There 
are so many roles out there that I would like to play, but I, I, I 
enjoy, I really love that character.  Tom Cruise I like as an actor. 
I'm not crazy about him but I like him - he's really clever. But I just 
love that role. I love... I like the kinds of roles where you see the 
good guys with some serious problems, you know?  And I'd like to get a 
chance to do those roles, but I like that role - it's one that sort of 
pops into my head - there's so many of them, but, but, you know, the 
one where the guy is just having such a problem dealing with himself 
and the world, you know?

Question: Okay.  Thanks.

Question: How're you doing, Nick?

Nick: Good.

Question: My name's Anthony.

Nick: Hey, Anthony, how're you doing?  

Question: First, I got to say --

Nick: Anthony or Ant-on-y?  

Question: Ant- either.

Nick: A, an.  Cool.

Question: First it's a privilege to meet someone from my favorite show 
--

Nick: Hey, thank you.

Question: <unclear> to meet Gillian Anderson.

Nick: Hey, throw him out of here. <laughter> I think they call that -- 
well, first of all, it isn't going to happen, but I think they call 
that - that's what they call fishing off the company dock.

Question: I was wondering if Chris Carter has any plans to have 
Nicholas Lea losing more limbs?

Nick: Limbs? Not likely. He could do like the tip of my nose or 
something. Maybe in a bizarre, like, scissor accident.

Question: I'm a hard-core fan, I have $8,000 worth of X-Files stuff 
from eight countries --

Nick: My.

Question: -- How do you feel about the popularity of the show? How do 
you feel, how it's taken off? I mean, I feel that it can surpass 
Seinfeld.

Nick:  I don't think of it in terms of that. I think that, well, I 
honestly think that there's a lot more important things going on in the 
world than television shows. <applause> But, thank God that it's this 
show that's so popular and not, you know, like, you know, Saved By the 
Bell.  And, again, that's not a hack on those guys, but I, I, this is 
the kind of show that I'm so happy to be involved in, where they go to 
all lengths -- all possible lengths -- to do something creative and 
interesting week after week. And I said this in the last, you know, 
thing that I, I really believe that there's a real shortage of good 
story-telling in television and in print and in media and in the 
theaters, and I truly believe that this show will be remembered long, 
long after it's gone for really involving the viewers' imagination, and 
it'll be remembered as a show that told great stories. And I think that 
that is almost a passe thing now, unfortunately, but I think that 
that's -- that's what I think about the show.  And I'm proud to be with 
some of the people that are involved, and I'm proud to be on a show 
that doesn't pander to the audience. 

Question: Thank you.

Nick: You're welcome.

Nick: I've apparently been asked to exit the stage --

Audience: Awwwww.

Nick: -- I'll gladly, I'll answer a question while I get my coat on.

Question: Okay, no problem.  Um, how do you feel about the move to LA?  
And is Dave Duchovny that whipped?

Nick: That what?

Question: Whipped?

Nick: Whooped? Whipped?

Question: By his wife.

Nick: No!  David's not whipped. David's way too smart a guy to be 
whipped by any woman. No, uh, David and Tea, from what I understand -- 
I think she's a great match for him. Because he needs, he needs 
somebody who can, like, challenge him on a lot of levels and she's very 
smart and she does exactly that. So I think that it's a perfect 
combination.  And what was your first question?

Question: How do you feel about the move?

Nick: Oh. You know, Vancouver's my hometown, so it was a, it was a 
wonderful opportunity for me to leave Los Angeles or wherever I was, go 
home, do the job, stay in a nice hotel even, and see my family and my 
friends, and hang out in the most beautiful city in the world.  So, you 
know, I'll miss that, but we're going to be working out on the FOX lot, 
which is like one of the old <unclear> in Hollywood, and I'm excited 
about that. Well, you guys, unfortunately, I have to go; this ends my 
portion of your viewing entertainment.  I thank you so much for coming, 
and thanks for your support. <cheers> I'm glad that you like the show, 
I really am, and it was great, and see you later.  Goodbye. 
<applause>




-- End --