X-Files Sequel Still Totally Secret, Kinda

David Duchovny and Chris Carter expose how they kept a lid on the new movie's plot

By Fred Topel Jun 26, 2008 6:36 PMTags
The X-Files 2Twentieth Century Fox

Creepy sequel The X-Files: I Want to Believe comes out next month, but the thing is still under info lockdown. Even two clips revealed last week at the L.A. Film Festival shed little light on Mulder and Scully's latest mystery. And it sounds like David Duchovny might not even have read the script yet.

"I actually had to convince [director Chris Carter] to give me a script," Duchovny told an audience at the fest this week. He and Carter then dished on the way extreme on-set secrecy:

Carter tried to improvise an entire night's shooting, and told the crew to follow him. No plans, no advance notice, just leading people around saying, We're going to shoot here and we're going to do this. "It's not a good way to make a movie," Carter admitted.

Plus, of course, Mulder didn't know any of his lines. "That's what I was saying," Duchovny deadpanned.

"We took crazy precautions," Carter explained. "We only let the key people from each department read the script, and they read it in a room with video cameras on them."

Locked in a room and under surveillance? This is starting to sound more and more like a Saw sequel. Could they at least call their moms? "They couldn't call their moms," said Carter."