Making a big-screen feature film in the midst of making a network television series was unheard of, and no easy feat. We were not only producing 24 episodes of The X-Files at the time, but the 24 episodes of Millennium’s first season as well.
To get it done, Chris Carter and I spent a week over the Christmas vacation at his hotel in Hawaii breaking the story. Then Chris disappeared for two weeks in January to write the first draft of the screenplay.
It was quite a mind game – we were in the midst of writing and producing the fourth season of the show, but the film would be set after the fifth season, and per the studio had to deliver big answers about the show’s increasingly complex alien mythology.
We were determined to keep absolute secrecy, and by June we were filming the movie – codenamed Blackwood – with scripts printed on red paper that was meant to be impossible to photocopy.
It ended up being a wonderful experience, with David, Gillian and our immensely talented director, Rob Bowman, all at the top of their game. On opening night, the studio took us around from theater to theater in Los Angeles so we could see how the film played with audiences.
We were in Grauman’s in Hollywood for the scene in which Mulder and Scully nearly kissed in the hallway outside his apartment. When their embrace was interrupted by a bee sting, the thousand people in the audience screamed at the screen. I remember thinking to myself, “It will never get better than this.” And it never did.
Cast:
Awards:
- ASCAP Film & Television Music Award - Top Box Office Films - 1999
- Blockbuster Entertainment Awards - Favorite Actress - Sci-fi - 1999
- Bogey Award - 1999
- COLA - Location Team of the Year - Episodic Television - 1999
- OFTA Awards - Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror Actress - 1999
- The Joey Awards - Best Actress in a TV Drama Featured Role 4-9 Years - 1999