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Chris Carter told Sylvie Simmons about the process of bringing the second X-Files film to the screen.
The details surrounding this week's new cinema release The X-Files: I Want to Believe could almost have come from an episode of the TV series itself: the script locked away in a safe; actors prevented from seeing anyone's dialogue but their own; internet reports of hairy monsters; Scottish psychics...
The sci-fi series created by Chris Carter about FBI agents Fox Mulder (the believer; David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (the sceptic; Gillian Anderson) and their investigations into the paranormal ended six years ago - but not before enjoying a nine-year run that made stars of Duchovny and Anderson. And since it ended it's barely been off our screens (re-runs continue this week on Virgin 1).
A year after the last episode, Carter was approached to make a sequel to the first X-Files film, released in 1998. Then negotiations stalled - for almost a decade. "The truth is I'd worked so hard for ten years that I was ready for some input instead of output," Carter tells RT. "So I went on surf trips and mountain-climbing trips and read a lot and came back at it with a clear mind."
The result: a new script that he says is similar to but better than the original. "The characters - and actors - actually needed a passage of time in order for them to gain a life apart from the TV series."
In fact, David Duchovny was looking for a life apart from The X-Files while the series was still on the air: at one point he sued over royalties, and only made sporadic appearances in the last two series. But Carter insists he needed no persuasion to reprise his old role for the film, which also stars Billy Connolly, Amanda Peet and rapper Xzibit.
"David was actually one of the main reasons why the film was made," adds Carter. "He championed it, he wanted to do it, he saw the beauty in it. Gillian, too. We were all able to look at it freshly and realise what a valuable thing it was in our lives."
Carter describes the day the three of them finally got back together for a read-through as "a family reunion. I could see the twinkle in the eye. Chemistry like that is just really miraculous, you can't manufacture it."
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Now take a look at our full guide to The X-Files.
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