quarta-feira, setembro 03, 2003
Entrevista com Chris Carter, publicada aqui em junho. Esse filme tá empacado, mas sai :)
Exploring the Unexplained With Chris Carter
By David Martindale
In a mathematical equation, the letter "X" stands for the unknown. So it's fitting that throughout nine freaky, fascinating seasons of The X-Files, mysteries were many and answers were eternally elusive. For the FBI agents who probed cases involving the paranormal, the conspiracies were ever-widening and the plot continually thickened. The show's famous tagline promised that "The Truth Is Out There"—yet agents Fox Mulder (played by David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) seemed never quite capable of pinning the WHOLE truth down.
"That's because you can't presume to explain the unexplained," says Chris Carter, the show's creator and executive producer. "When it comes to tackling the big questions about life, about science, about religion, about the grand scheme of things, it usually works out that everything you discover just prompts more questions."
When The X-Files premiered on Sept. 10, 1993, many dismissed it as a cheesy "creature and conspiracy of the week" show. But what began as a cult favorite grew into a bona fide hit. Its "The Truth Is Out There" catch phrase became part of the national lexicon. The creepy theme music embedded itself in our memories. Mulder and Scully became pop-culture icons. The show's success even spawned a feature film in '98 (The X-Files: Fight the Future, which grossed more than $185 million worldwide).
Today, the show is still popular in reruns and on video and DVD. It has a passionate Internet following. There have been countless fan magazines, episode guides, trading cards, comic books, novels, action figures and fan conventions. All of which, Carter admits, surpasses any expectations he had. "I just set out to do a good show," he says. "I never anticipated anything more. I never dreamed the show could be a cultural phenomenon. I knew we'd do good work, but everything that has come as a result of that good work has been a great surprise."
What wasn't surprising, Carter adds, is that he made the right calls in '93 when casting Duchovny and Anderson. "David was an easy choice," Carter says. "I didn't know then how smart he actually is, but I could tell he was ironic and funny. I was looking for someone who was offbeat and he was that. I saw him as Mulder immediately. But Gillian Anderson—I had seen many, many actresses. It was hard to fill the role of someone who would have the gravity of a young scientist, somebody who could have a Clarice Starling/Silence of the Lambs quality. When Gillian came in, she looked nothing like she looks now. She looked like a ragamuffin. But I felt that here was a person who had that seriousness, that dramatic quality."
The next hurdle, once Carter had found his two stars, was getting them on TV. "David at one point had dropped out of the show and had to be lured back by our the casting director," Carter recalls. "And Gillian had to go back and read twice for the network because they weren't sure she was the right person. But it all worked out. I pat myself on the back every day for making these choices."
It was midway through the 2001-02 season when Carter decided the time was right to call it quits. The series had begun to show signs of ratings decay. "I didn't want to just fade away. So I thought, 'Why not stop now, while the franchise is still strong, and hopefully have people miss us when we're done?'" Artistically, that's far more appealing than being booed off the stage. "Oh, no, I would never want to go out that way."
If Carter had any misgivings about quitting when he did, it's because, "We were still doing good work. That's one of the sad things. Robert Patrick (who joined the show in season eight) did really great work. So did Annabeth Gish. But they didn't get the attention they deserved, because there weren't the eyeballs on it."
It's worth noting, though, that the franchise isn't dead. "We still want to do movies," Carter says. "And even though the movies will not owe to the mythology, per se, there will be elements of continuation. The way I'm choosing to look at this: Our ending isn't the end; it's more like the beginning of something else."
posted by
Viviane at 6:32:00 PM
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