Subject: Xpose talks to MP, NL, CO, BH & DH Transcribed by alfornos@aol.com (ALFORNOS) Date: Sat, Jan 30, 1999 13:46 EST Xpose issue #31 includes an article about season 6, with comments from Mitch Pileggi, Nicholas Lea, Chris Owens, Bruce Harwood and Dean Haglund. [photos: 1 full page color photo of DD at 1998 SAG Awards (yellow shades) 1 small color photo of leather-clad GA at Mighty premiere (nice smile) 1 smaller color photo of Bruce Harwood 1 color photo of Dean Haglund sans glasses 1 medium sized photo of M&S in Triangle 1 publicity photo of Mulder & Fowley in The Beginning 1 small color photo of NL at FTF premiere 1 small color photo of MP & wife Arlene at FTF premiere] DREAMLAND As season six of TXF approaches its half-way point, some of the lead players look back over this pivotal year in which the show moved to sunny Los Angeles. By PJ Sloan. It's been almost a year since news broke that TXF would move from Vancouver, its production base of five years, to LA for its sixth season. For those who had helped the series develop from its cult roots to mainstream success, this was a tough blow indeed. For some of the regular cast, who were Vancouver locals, it meant travelling thousands of miles, on a semi-permanent or recurring basis. "I miss Vancouver a lot," says MP, best known as Skinner. "But the move has been good in the fact that I've been able to do things other than The X Files. I've done two movies since the season started. My wife and I have bought a new house here in Los Angeles. "We have an exceptional crew working on the show. I miss the crew from Vancouver, we were very much a family, but our crew here is fitting in well. We're developing a great relationship and they've been doing a really wonderful job so far." CO, who has played a larger role this season as Agent Spender - son of the CSM - concurs with MP's feelings. "The move has been great for me because I came down with a job," he smiles. "As an actor all you can ask for is steady work. This crew is fabulous and I'm having a great, great time. LA is a great city to explore. The crew in Vancouver was like a family, but the folks down here are hand picked and if anything will make a family out of you, it's working on The X Files because after those long, long hours together you either make it or you don't, and these guys are making it." Fan reaction to the news of the move was initially negative, as many feared that the show would lose its distinctive XF atmosphere, which was created by the wet, wintery climate of British Columbia. Maybe it has, but the dark, dank sense of unease has been replaced by a searing, sweltering haze of heat. The sweaty Californian sun of Fight the Future has endured into the sixth season, retaining the mystery of before - just witness the horrific atmosphere generated in the season premiere, The Beginning. "I think we've still managed to get a lot of the creepiness and shadows into the show," says CO, "but they are playing with the idea that there is a lot more light available. When you see Mulder with his shades on they are having fun with it, and I think that's great. There was an episode on the Queen Mary [Triangle], so there are exotic locations here too. That's an episode that looked so easy to do and it was so hard to pull off. That's the one that really brought the crew together." "Professionally it's the same in terms of the actual work because the dialogue is the same, the characters are the same, the locations are the same for the most part," adds NL - aka AK. "But at the beginning we were basically working with a group of strangers. The show has been trying to find its feet again, because it's jarring. To the bystander it probably sounds like a simple thing, but for them it has been a dramatic move." BH, who plays Lone Gunman Byers, has once again made recurring appearances in the series - and admits that he has greatly enjoyed his trips to California. "Down here I get put up in a hotel, I'm given a per diem and I'm driven to the set," he explains. "LA is a bigger city and it seems to take longer to get anywhere. That seems to be the main difference as far as I can tell. "I spent five years with the crew in Vancouver, so I'm a little more familiar with them. The guys here are very nice and they are increasingly nicer to us [the Lone Gunmen] as we keep coming back. They are getting familiar with us. My sense is some of the crew knew the show and some didn't. I think the look of the show is very crisp this year. I remember in the first year it was very crisp back then too." Fellow Lone Gunman DH, who plays the long-haired, bespectacled Langley, is used to traveling. After all, he has toured with his improvizations comedy act for years, and in 1998 visited several US cities as one of the frontmen of the XF Expo. "The move has been surprisingly pleasant," he admits. "Don't you notice my killer tan? I'm cut like David Hasselhoff. I'm tanned and blonder than Pamela Anderson! I was anticipating that the move was going to be such a culture shock, but what's surprising is how similar LA is to Vancouver. I could not feel more for the new crew because they came into a show that had such a reputation and they did such an amazing job. I've talked with people who haven't noticed a difference between season five and season six. If you don't notice a difference in the look, that's the testament to the quality of the crew. The tone of the show is more about the writing and how the writing has changed." One aspect that many fans have noticed is the sheer increase in comedy episodes this season. So far we've had the offbeat two-parter Dreamland and How the Ghosts Stole Christmas, while Triangle journeyed into extremely bizarre waters. "David loves comedy and he's very good at it and Gillian is very good at it too, so I think it's a nice touch," claims MP. "We'll get into our heavy stuff." "To a degree I think the lighter episodes this season have to do with the fact that there are two new writers on the show and they are of a lighter appeal," DH offers. "But, at the same time, watch the upcoming episodes 11 [Two Fathers] and 12 [One Son], there's nothing light about them." The two-parter, scheduled for the Feburary sweeps period, is probably the most eagerly awaited XF episode ever, promising to resolve many of the mysteries that have been built up over the years. "A lot of things are revealed," says CO, who plays a major role in the story. "I'll be continuing in the show in some capacity, I just don't know what Mr Carter's plans are. It's always a big mystery. The show has had a wonderful run and Chris has done so many imaginative things with it. I think David and Gillian want to do The X Files movies and other things in their careers. God bless them, they've earned it. They've worked really hard. I think the show will come to a close at the end of season seven. As we've seen with Seinfeld and Larry Sanders, some shows seem to know when it's time to quit. To go while you're a champion." "I think the show should follow its natural course," agrees NL. "Michael Jordan just quit the NBA [National Basketball Association] and he quit when he was on top. That's the best time to stop. "It's very interesting working on this show. It's not like any other show I've ever worked on because you never ever know what's going to happen, and even when it happens you still don't fully understand it. I like the enigmatic side of my character. The only thing I would like to see is something that really centers on where my character came from. I've no interest in seeing where my character goes until it happens." There may be more deserts, brighter sunshine, tanned performers and sprawling highways, but when it comes to distinguishing LA XF from Vancouver XF, DH has the answer. "A friend of mine called me up and he said he'd noticed the change in the Christmas episode with Ed Asner and Lily Tomlin as ghosts. Mulder and Scully came to the house in two separate cars which is so LA! If you go to a party everybody takes their own car. So they're not driving together anymore, that's the biggest change!" END alfornos