The X-Files: I Want to Believe
Encyclopedia
The X-Files: I Want to Believe is a 2008 science fiction
-thriller directed by Chris Carter
and written by both Carter and Frank Spotnitz
. It is the second feature film
based on The X-Files franchise
created by Carter, following the 1998 film
. Three main actors from the television series, David Duchovny
, Gillian Anderson
and Mitch Pileggi
, reappear in the film to reprise their respective roles as Fox Mulder
, Dana Scully
and Walter Skinner
.
Unlike the first film, the plot does not focus on the series' ongoing extraterrestrial based mytharc
themes, but instead works as a standalone thriller horror
story, similar to many of the Monster-of-the-Week episodes that were frequently seen in the TV series. The story follows Mulder and Scully who have been out of the FBI for several years; with Mulder living in isolation as a fugitive from the organization and Scully having become a doctor at a Catholic-run hospital, where she has formed a friendly relationship with a seriously ill patient. But when an FBI agent is mysteriously kidnapped, and a former priest who has been convicted of being a child molestor claims to be experiencing psychic visions of the endangered agent, Mulder and Scully reluctantly accept the FBI's request for their particular paranormal expertise on the case.
The film was first anticipated in November 2001 to follow the conclusion of the ninth season
of the television series, but it remained in development hell
for six years before entering production in December 2007 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The film was released in Australia
and Germany
on July 24, 2008; in North America
on July 25, 2008; in Israel
and Kuwait
on July 31, 2008; in the United Kingdom
on August 1, 2008; in Hong Kong
on August 4, 2008; and in Japan
on November 7, 2008. The world premiere took place on July 23, 2008, at Grauman's Chinese Theatre
in Hollywood. The U.K. premiere was held on July 30, 2008, in London's Empire, Leicester Square. Since its release, the film has gathered mixed to negative reviews by critics and viewers alike.
(Gillian Anderson
), a former FBI
agent, is now a staff physician at a Catholic
hospital; she is treating Christian, a young boy with Sandhoff disease
. FBI agent Mosely Drummy (Alvin "Xzibit" Joiner
) approaches Scully for help in locating her former partner, Fox Mulder
(David Duchovny
), who has been in hiding as a fugitive since the events of the series finale
. Drummy states that the FBI will call off its manhunt for Mulder if he helps investigate the disappearances of several women in Virginia
, the latest of whom is a young FBI agent named Monica Bannan (Xantha Radley). Scully agrees and convinces a reluctant Mulder to help.
The duo is taken to Washington, D.C.
, where Agent Dakota Whitney (Amanda Peet
) wants Mulder's expertise with the paranormal as they have been led to a clue - a severed human arm - by Father Joeseph Fitzgerald Crissman (Billy Connolly
). He is a former priest
defrocked for the child molestation of thirty-seven altar boys, and claims God is sending him visions of the crimes. Whitney and Drummy take Father Joe and Mulder to the kidnapped Bannan's home, where the former priest overcomes the others' skepticism when, in anguish and on his knees in inexplicable pain, he begins to bleed from his eyes. A second woman, driving home after swimming in a natatorium
, is run off the road by a truck driven by Janke Dacyshyn (Callum Keith Rennie
), who then abducts her. Father Joe is again recruited for help with the second abducted woman. After a grueling nighttime search in a snow covered field, he leads the FBI to what turns out to be a frozen burial ground of people and body parts. Analysis of the remains, and a car crash of a recent missing person, eventually leads them to Dacyshyn, an organ transporter in Richmond, Virginia
, and his husband
, Franz Tomczeszyn (Fagin Woodcock) who was among the youths Father Joe sexually abused.
Later, Scully goes to Father Joe's apartment to confront him about his religious visions, particularly the cryptic message he directed to her: "Don't give up." To her despair, he says he knows nothing more about those visions than what he had told the FBI, and then collapses suffering a seizure, as we are shown at the same moment Tomczeszyn - who now possesses an extremely feminine arm - begins to suffer a seizure too. Scully calls for an ambulance, and later learns that Father Joe, who is admitted to Our Lady of Sorrows, suffers from advanced lung cancer
.
During an FBI raid on the organ donor facility where Dacyshyn works, he ends up escaping, leaving Bannan's severed head at the scene. Mulder, who accompanied Whitney on the raid, chases Dacyshyn to a building construction site. Whitney follows, and is killed when Dacyshyn pushes her down an elevator shaft.
Scully, seeking a resolution, asks Joe, who has not yet heard of the discovery of Bannan's head, if he senses that she is still alive. He replies that she is. Discouraged but still determined, Mulder decides to investigate the incidents further. He starts by driving Scully's car to Nutter's Feed Store in a small town near the abductions, as the human remains contain acepromazine
, an animal tranquilizer. When Dacyshyn coincidentally arrives moments later, Mulder slips out and follows him. Dacyshyn notices him, however, and runs the car off the road. Mulder survives and manages to tail Dacyshyn, who must exit his truck after the engine fails, to a small compound in a former barn. Mulder enters, and the commotion caused by a two-headed guard dog's attack brings Dacyshyn out from one of the buildings. The compound is for a makeshift east-European medical team that has been murdering people and stealing their organs
for years. The field where Father Joe had earlier discovered the bodies turned out to be their dumping ground. Mulder enters the building to find that the team has been using the organs and body parts in an attempt to keep Tomczeszyn alive; at the moment they are attempting to place Tomczeszyn's head
on the body of the second abducted woman, and the stitching makes it clear this is not the first time they have tried this. Mulder tries to save her from the gruesome fate, but a doctor comes from behind and injects him with tranquilizer. Helpless, Mulder is taken outside to be murdered by Dacyshyn.
When Scully cannot reach Mulder on his cell phone, she calls Agent Drummy, who refuses to help her. Undaunted, she next contacts her old FBI superior, Director Walter Skinner
(Mitch Pileggi
), for help. They triangulate the phone's location and find Scully's wrecked car, eventually making their way through the snow to find a rural mailbox whose address, 25-2, corresponds to a Biblical
chapter and verse, Proverbs
25:2, from which Father Joe had quoted to Scully before having the seizure. They race to the address where Mulder is about to be axed by Dacyshyn. Scully attacks him in an ensuing confrontation, incapacitating him, while Skinner breaks up the medical procedure before the young woman is beheaded. Later, Mulder is at home when Scully tells him Father Joe has died. It happened at the same moment, Mulder notes, that Scully disconnected the life support to Tomczeszyn's severed head. Somehow, he surmises, the two men's fates were linked by more than just visions. Scully remains troubled by Father Joe's advice, "Don't give up", and expresses doubts about Christian's surgery, due to the words of a molesting priest. Mulder comforts her, suggesting that they can leave - and get as far away from the darkness as possible. When the moment of surgery comes, however, Scully pauses a moment, turns and sees three nuns, and then forges ahead with the risky procedure. In a post-credits scene, Mulder and Scully are seen rowing towards a tropical island, wearing swimsuits, and waving to a helicopter hovering overhead.
In April 2004, Duchovny said he was waiting for the film's production to begin, explaining that Carter had signed off on the premise. Duchovny said of the delay, "So now it's just a matter of making sure everybody can get together at the same time and do it." The following November, Carter revealed that the project was in the negotiation stage, explaining, "Because it's a sequel, there are peculiar and specific kinds of negotiations that are holding us up." Duchovny spoke of the premise for the yet-produced film in 2005, "Mulder and Scully investigate one particular case that has nothing to do with alien life. It has to do with supernatural stuff." He also explained, "I think we're going back to the 'monster of the week' type feel, where if you're not an avid fan and don't understand the mythology, you can still come to it and get the movie." Duchovny and Carter planned to begin production in the winter of 2005 to be released in the summer of 2006. The following April, Duchovny admitted to a lack of a script, adding that Carter would have it ready by early next year.
In May 2006, Spotnitz blamed the continued delay on legal matters between Carter and 20th Century Fox. The screenwriter anticipated, "Once the legal issues are over with, we will go on with it. I'm hoping it will get resolved soon." By April 2007, Spotnitz confirmed that a script was finally in development. The following October, the studio officially announced the production of the sequel film, whose premise would be kept under wraps.
and Pemberton
, in British Columbia
, Canada
. According to Spotnitz, the script was written specifically for these locations. Filming began in December 2007 in Vancouver under the direction of Carter, and shooting finished on March 11, 2008. In a teaser trailer shown at Wondercon
on February 23, 2008, the date "July 25, 2008" appeared at the end, and was the only text in the trailer. On March 27, 2008, the horror film site, Bloody Disgusting
, reported a bootleg video of the official trailer uploaded by a user on YouTube
. The first public trailer was released after midnight on May 12, 2008, after a period of downtime on the official website.
The decision to film the movie in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, where the first five years of The X-Files
had been filmed and produced before the series had moved to Los Angeles, California
, was an early idea; one that seemed right to both Chris Carter
and David Duchovny
. According to Duchovny, "It all makes sense. You know, when Chris and I first talked about doing this movie, we kind of unconsciously both said, 'You know, I guess it should be in Vancouver, it really should be,' and it just felt like you know, almost superstitiously like the right thing to do." Filming in Vancouver also facilitated the return of many former crew members who had previously worked on The X-Files, as well as individuals who had worked on the other series that Ten Thirteen Productions
had created. Frank Spotnitz
said that "In terms of making of the movie, we've brought together as many people as we can, not just from The X-Files but from all the shows that we did here in Vancouver – Harsh Realm
, Millennium
and The Lone Gunmen
– and our crew is populated with all these faces that we'd worked with, over the past fifteen years. And there's even some people from the L.A. crew."
The exterior of Monica Bannan's house was actually filmed in Pemberton, British Columbia, Canada
, a location that Spotnitz found to be beautiful but extremely cold. Although the location is shown in exterior shots incorporated into the scene in which Fox Mulder
(Duchovny), Whitney (Amanda Peet
), Drummy (Alvin "Xzibit" Joiner
) and Father Joe (Billy Connolly
) drove to the missing agent's home, the same scene also includes footage of the actors that was filmed on a stage, using a rear projection to show the exterior from inside the car. The latter method was used for all the shots in which any of the travelers appear.
The interior of Scully's home was a set in Burnaby, outside of Vancouver. The set was an old roller rink or at least sounded like one, as it was very noisy. During filming, Carter placed a carrot juice bottle on the table of the set, having just finished the drink, as he thought it would be "a nice sort of Mulder touch." Some of the artwork in Mulder's office came from a friend of Carter's who had a gallery in Vancouver and was named Monica Reyes
, a name that had previously been used in her honor for a character who features in a recurring role in the series' eighth season and appears as a main character in every episode of the series' ninth season. One of the pictures on the wall of Mulder's office was by Douglas Coupland
, who was featured in the real Monica Reyes' gallery and had written a book Carter liked which was called Hey Nostradamus!
, so Carter stuck a Post-It on which he wrote the book's title onto the picture.
The exterior of the dorms for habitual sex offenders where Father Joe lives, was actually an apartment complex in Vancouver that was slated for demolition while the production crew were filming there. Snow that can be seen outside the dorms, was actually fake snow that was imported by the crew and fabricated by the film's Special Effects Department. Bill Roe and Mark Freeborn worked together to create a creepy green glow on the location using green lights. The production crew also created their own factory smoke for chimneys in the background, as Carter came to the opinion that the smoking chimneys made the location look like London. The interior of Joe's apartment was another set and was exactly like the real apartment except that it was slightly bigger. A trans-light was incorporated into the set to resemble daylight visible through a window of the apartment. The set also had a porch that was used for some shots in the scene where Mulder and Scully were outside the apartment.
Additionally some filming was done in Coquitlam, B.C. at Riverview Hospitals Unit 8 building.
posted a series of information sheets regarding upcoming studio films, and the 20th Century Fox fact sheet referred to the film as The X-Files: Done One.
On April 16, 2008, the official title of the film was announced: The X-Files: I Want to Believe. Carter referred to the title as a "natural title", saying that it pertained to "a story that involves the difficulties in mediating faith and science. 'I Want to Believe.' It really does suggest Scully's struggle with her faith." Carter also said that he and Spotnitz settled upon the title as soon as they started writing the screenplay. This title is a popular phrase among X-Files fans. It is featured on the UFO poster above Mulder's desk.
was cancelled in 2002, Chris Carter
and his crew started working with a goal of releasing a second X-Files film. In 2003, Carter called Snow, who by that time lived in London
, UK
and said he wanted him to return for another film. Snow was positive to the idea, but filming got bogged down by contract issues between Fox
and Carter. Once the contract issues were sorted out, Carter re-contacted Snow about the development, and later on sent him the script for the film. Carter and his production crew wanted as much secrecy for the film as possible, forcing Snow to sign a contract when receiving the script. After reading the script three times, Snow started on the "visuals" for the story. Snow wrote a couple of demos at the start; of which Carter and Frank Spotnitz
weren't pleased about, but eventually worked when Snow re-recorded them.
When composing the music for The X-Files: I Want to Believe, Snow called it "different" from the previous film
which followed the shows mytharc storyline
about the government conspiracy
and aliens
. He said it was much "more heart, warmth and tuneful music" since this film was based more around Fox Mulder
(David Duchovny
) and Dana Scully
's (Gillian Anderson
) relationship.
Snow recorded the score with the Hollywood Studio Symphony
in May 2008 at the Newman Scoring Stage at 20th Century Fox in Century City, California. No music was written out during Snow's recording session with the symphony orchestra. When making the music, Snow used such instruments as the "battery of percussion" taiko drums and whistle
s with live singers among other things. It took four days to record and write music for, and with, the orchestra. He used no trumpet
s and no high woodwinds when recording, but used up to eight french horns, five trombones, two piano
s, one harp
, thirty-two violin
s, sixteen viola
s, twelve cello
s and eight basses
.
British performers UNKLE
recorded a new version of the theme music for the end credits to the movie. Some of the unusual sounds were created by a variation of silly putty
and dime
s tucked in between and over the strings of the piano. Mark Snow also comments that the fast percussion featured in some tracks was inspired by the track 'Prospectors Quartet' from the There Will Be Blood
soundtrack.
, which assigns a normalized
rating out of 100 reviews from mainstream film critics, reported that there were "mixed or average" reviews, with an average
score of 47 based on 33 reviews. Rotten Tomatoes
reported that 32% of 160 listed film critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 4.9 out of 10. The website wrote of the critics' consensus stating; "The chemistry between leads David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson do live up to The X-Files televised legacy, but the roving plot and droning routines make it hard to identify just what we're meant to believe in." The TopTenReviews
website rated the film with fairly positive reviews. From 152 reviews, 133 came out as scoring either "Good" or "Very Good".
Manohla Dargis
of The New York Times
found the film "baggy, draggy, oddly timed and strangely off the mark" and that "Mr. Carter knows how to grab your attention visually, but the amalgam of trashy thriller clichés that he has compiled with Frank Spotnitz, another series regular, creates its own deadening effect". Frank Lovece
of Film Journal International
, likewise said, "What plot there is plays like a PG-13 Se7en
: body parts, gruesomeness, gloom and doom, but hey, not too much, and don't worry, there's nothing deeply upsetting", and while praising the cinematography, music and Gillian Anderson
's performance, believes, "It seems unlikely that this franchise will reach The X-Files X". Jason Anderson of Canada
's CBC News
called the film "muddled" with a "hurried and half-baked" climax, and said, "Beyond the pleasure of seeing Duchovny and Anderson back in action and back on form," the film "offers little to either the longtime fans or newcomers". Jan Stuart from The Los Angeles Times commented, "The X-Files
was a load of malarkey. But it was thoughtful malarkey and compulsively watchable. One could say the same about the first two-thirds of "The X-Files: I Want to Believe" before it spins out of control and into a delirious plane of awfulness."
Roger Ebert
gave a positive review of the film with three-and-a-half out of four stars, saying; "It involved actual questions of morality, just as The Dark Knight
does. It's not simply about good and evil but about choices". He also felt "the movie works like thrillers used to work, before they were required to contain villains the size of buildings", also calling the film "a skillful thriller". Sandra Hall of the Sydney Morning Herald was more equivocal, saying, "... it just about works, thanks to Carter's sense of timing and the script's allegorical enhancements." Empire magazine
gave the film three stars ("good"), but expressed a desire for Chris Carter
to return to the more comedic and "post-modern" elements of the series upon the next revisit. Stephanie Zackarek was mostly positive towards the film, saying; "I Want to Believe comes off like a solid if not great episode from one of the show's early seasons, a reasonably suspenseful story made by a director with a sturdy sense of how to tell a story." Mick LaSalle was also positive towards the film, saying that you didn't need to know anything about the previous settings and calling it a "compelling suspense thriller with some tense moments." TV Guide
reviewer Maitland McDonagh gave the film two and a half stars out of four saying that the film was not "sufficiently gripping to transform a middling thriller into something truly provocative or haunting." About the theme and story she said, "such weighty concerns aren't the stuff of most mainstream genre movies."
The film's stars both claimed that the timing of the movie's release, a week after the highly popular Batman
film The Dark Knight
, negatively affected its box-office return.
by Max Allan Collins
was released July 29, 2008.
said that if the X-Files: I Want to Believe movie proved successful at the box office, a third installment would be made going back to the TV series' mythology, focusing specifically on the alien invasion and colonization of Earth foretold in the series finale, due to occur on December 22, 2012
. Fox Chairman Tom Rothman, responding to an interview question regarding the possibility of a third X-Files movie, said in October 2008, "It's really up to Chris [Carter], David [Duchovny] and Gillian [Anderson]". There have been no subsequent statements from Rothman or other studio executives regarding a third film, even though Carter, Spotnitz and both stars have all since repeatedly said they'd like to make one. During an interview at the Sarajevo Film Festival
in August 2009, Gillian Anderson was asked about a third film and responded, "They talked about maybe doing it in 2012. I think there were discussions about that. I don't know whether that's going to happen or not, but there isn't any reason not to do it." Frank Spotnitz
responded to his blog readers' requests for clarification regarding Anderson's comments by denying that any deal was in place, saying, "I'm afraid I have no news to report other than our continuing desire to make a third film if there's an audience for it." In an October 2009 interview, David Duchovny likewise said he wants to do a 2012 X-Files movie, but still doesn't know if he'll get the chance. Carter in December 2009 said he could not "ensure" another movie would be made, but thought the international box office for the 2008 film made it at least a theoretical possibility..
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
-thriller directed by Chris Carter
Chris Carter (screenwriter)
Christopher Carl Carter is an American screenwriter, film director and producer. He is the creator of The X-Files and Millennium.- Ten Thirteen Productions :...
and written by both Carter and Frank Spotnitz
Frank Spotnitz
Frank Spotnitz is an award-winning American television writer and producer, best known for his work on The X-Files television series.-Biography:...
. It is the second feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
based on The X-Files franchise
The X-Files franchise
The X-Files is a science fiction-thriller franchise, initially conceived by Chris Carter. The franchise generally focused on paranormal or unexplained happenings. The first franchise release, simply titled The X-Files, first aired in September 1993 and ended in May 2002...
created by Carter, following the 1998 film
The X-Files (film)
The X-Files is a 1998 American science fiction-thriller film written by Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz, and directed by Rob Bowman. It is the first feature film based on The X-Files series created by Carter that revolves around a fictional FBI paranormal investigation unit called the X-Files...
. Three main actors from the television series, David Duchovny
David Duchovny
David William Duchovny is an American actor, writer and director. He has won Golden Globe awards for his work as FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder on The X-Files and as Hank Moody on Californication.-Early life:...
, Gillian Anderson
Gillian Anderson
Gillian Leigh Anderson is an American actress.After beginning her career in theatre, Anderson achieved international recognition for her role as Special Agent Dana Scully on the American television series The X-Files. During the show's nine seasons, Anderson won Emmy, Golden Globe, and Screen...
and Mitch Pileggi
Mitch Pileggi
Mitchell Craig "Mitch" Pileggi is an American actor. Pileggi is known for playing FBI assistant director Walter Skinner on the long-running popular series The X-Files. He also had a recurring role on Stargate Atlantis as Col. Steven Caldwell...
, reappear in the film to reprise their respective roles as Fox Mulder
Fox Mulder
FBI Special Agent Fox William Mulder is a fictional character and protagonist in the American Fox television shows The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen, two science fiction shows about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of Alien existence. Mulder's peers consider his theories on...
, Dana Scully
Dana Scully
FBI Special Agent Dana Katherine Scully, M.D. is a fictional character and protagonist on the Fox television series The X-Files , played by Gillian Anderson. She also appeared in two theatrical films based on the series...
and Walter Skinner
Walter Skinner
FBI Assistant Director Walter Sergei Skinner is a fictional character in the American FOX television shows The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen, two science fiction shows about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of Alien existence...
.
Unlike the first film, the plot does not focus on the series' ongoing extraterrestrial based mytharc
Mythology of The X-Files
The mythology of The X-Files, sometimes referred to as its mytharc by the show's staff and fans, follows the quest of FBI Special Agents Fox Mulder , a believer in supernatural phenomena, and Dana Scully , his skeptical partner. Their boss, FBI Assistant Director Walter Skinner was also often...
themes, but instead works as a standalone thriller horror
Horror fiction
Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...
story, similar to many of the Monster-of-the-Week episodes that were frequently seen in the TV series. The story follows Mulder and Scully who have been out of the FBI for several years; with Mulder living in isolation as a fugitive from the organization and Scully having become a doctor at a Catholic-run hospital, where she has formed a friendly relationship with a seriously ill patient. But when an FBI agent is mysteriously kidnapped, and a former priest who has been convicted of being a child molestor claims to be experiencing psychic visions of the endangered agent, Mulder and Scully reluctantly accept the FBI's request for their particular paranormal expertise on the case.
The film was first anticipated in November 2001 to follow the conclusion of the ninth season
The X-Files (season 9)
The ninth season of The X-Files commenced airing in the United States on November 11, 2001, concluded on May 19, 2002, and consists of twenty episodes. The X-Files is an American serial science fiction-horror-thriller television series. Season nine took place after Fox Mulder's leave after the...
of the television series, but it remained in development hell
Development hell
In the jargon of the media-industry, "development hell" is a period during which a film or other project is trapped in development...
for six years before entering production in December 2007 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The film was released in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
on July 24, 2008; in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
on July 25, 2008; in Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
and Kuwait
Kuwait
The State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the...
on July 31, 2008; in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
on August 1, 2008; in Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
on August 4, 2008; and in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
on November 7, 2008. The world premiere took place on July 23, 2008, at Grauman's Chinese Theatre
Grauman's Chinese Theatre
Grauman's Chinese Theatre is a movie theater at 6925 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood. It is on the historic Hollywood Walk of Fame.The Chinese Theatre was commissioned following the success of the nearby Grauman's Egyptian Theatre which opened in 1922...
in Hollywood. The U.K. premiere was held on July 30, 2008, in London's Empire, Leicester Square. Since its release, the film has gathered mixed to negative reviews by critics and viewers alike.
Plot
Dana ScullyDana Scully
FBI Special Agent Dana Katherine Scully, M.D. is a fictional character and protagonist on the Fox television series The X-Files , played by Gillian Anderson. She also appeared in two theatrical films based on the series...
(Gillian Anderson
Gillian Anderson
Gillian Leigh Anderson is an American actress.After beginning her career in theatre, Anderson achieved international recognition for her role as Special Agent Dana Scully on the American television series The X-Files. During the show's nine seasons, Anderson won Emmy, Golden Globe, and Screen...
), a former FBI
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
agent, is now a staff physician at a Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
hospital; she is treating Christian, a young boy with Sandhoff disease
Sandhoff disease
Sandhoff disease, also known as Sandhoff-Jatzkewitz disease, variant 0 of GM2-Gangliosidosis or Hexosaminidase A and B deficiency, is a lysosomal genetic, lipid storage disorder caused by the inherited deficiency to create functional beta-hexosaminidases A and B...
. FBI agent Mosely Drummy (Alvin "Xzibit" Joiner
Xzibit
Alvin Nathaniel Joiner , better known by his stage name Xzibit , is an American rapper, actor, and television host. He is known as the host of the MTV show Pimp My Ride, which brought him mainstream success...
) approaches Scully for help in locating her former partner, Fox Mulder
Fox Mulder
FBI Special Agent Fox William Mulder is a fictional character and protagonist in the American Fox television shows The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen, two science fiction shows about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of Alien existence. Mulder's peers consider his theories on...
(David Duchovny
David Duchovny
David William Duchovny is an American actor, writer and director. He has won Golden Globe awards for his work as FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder on The X-Files and as Hank Moody on Californication.-Early life:...
), who has been in hiding as a fugitive since the events of the series finale
The Truth (The X-Files)
"The Truth" is the collective name for the 201st and 202nd, and final, episodes of the science fiction television series The X-Files. They first aired in the United States on May 19, 2002 on Fox in the United States and Canada. "The Truth" subsequently aired in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It...
. Drummy states that the FBI will call off its manhunt for Mulder if he helps investigate the disappearances of several women in Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, the latest of whom is a young FBI agent named Monica Bannan (Xantha Radley). Scully agrees and convinces a reluctant Mulder to help.
The duo is taken to Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, where Agent Dakota Whitney (Amanda Peet
Amanda Peet
Amanda Peet is an American actress, who has appeared on film, stage, and television. After studying with Uta Hagen at Columbia University, Peet began her career in television commercials, and progressed to small roles on television, before making her film debut in 1995...
) wants Mulder's expertise with the paranormal as they have been led to a clue - a severed human arm - by Father Joeseph Fitzgerald Crissman (Billy Connolly
Billy Connolly
William "Billy" Connolly, Jr., CBE is a Scottish comedian, musician, presenter and actor. He is sometimes known, especially in his native Scotland, by the nickname The Big Yin...
). He is a former priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
defrocked for the child molestation of thirty-seven altar boys, and claims God is sending him visions of the crimes. Whitney and Drummy take Father Joe and Mulder to the kidnapped Bannan's home, where the former priest overcomes the others' skepticism when, in anguish and on his knees in inexplicable pain, he begins to bleed from his eyes. A second woman, driving home after swimming in a natatorium
Natatorium
A natatorium is a term given for a building containing a swimming pool. In Latin, a cella natatoria was a swimming pool in its own building, although it is sometimes also used to refer to any indoor pool even if not housed in a dedicated building...
, is run off the road by a truck driven by Janke Dacyshyn (Callum Keith Rennie
Callum Keith Rennie
Callum Keith Rennie is a British-born Canadian television and film actor. He started his career in Canadian film and television projects, where his portrayal of Stanley Raymond Kowalski in the TV series Due South was his first international success...
), who then abducts her. Father Joe is again recruited for help with the second abducted woman. After a grueling nighttime search in a snow covered field, he leads the FBI to what turns out to be a frozen burial ground of people and body parts. Analysis of the remains, and a car crash of a recent missing person, eventually leads them to Dacyshyn, an organ transporter in Richmond, Virginia
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
, and his husband
Same-sex marriage in Massachusetts
Same-sex marriage in the U.S. state of Massachusetts began on May 17, 2004, as a result of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts ruling in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health that it was unconstitutional under the Massachusetts constitution to allow only heterosexual couples to marry...
, Franz Tomczeszyn (Fagin Woodcock) who was among the youths Father Joe sexually abused.
Later, Scully goes to Father Joe's apartment to confront him about his religious visions, particularly the cryptic message he directed to her: "Don't give up." To her despair, he says he knows nothing more about those visions than what he had told the FBI, and then collapses suffering a seizure, as we are shown at the same moment Tomczeszyn - who now possesses an extremely feminine arm - begins to suffer a seizure too. Scully calls for an ambulance, and later learns that Father Joe, who is admitted to Our Lady of Sorrows, suffers from advanced lung cancer
Lung cancer
Lung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...
.
During an FBI raid on the organ donor facility where Dacyshyn works, he ends up escaping, leaving Bannan's severed head at the scene. Mulder, who accompanied Whitney on the raid, chases Dacyshyn to a building construction site. Whitney follows, and is killed when Dacyshyn pushes her down an elevator shaft.
Scully, seeking a resolution, asks Joe, who has not yet heard of the discovery of Bannan's head, if he senses that she is still alive. He replies that she is. Discouraged but still determined, Mulder decides to investigate the incidents further. He starts by driving Scully's car to Nutter's Feed Store in a small town near the abductions, as the human remains contain acepromazine
Acepromazine
Acepromazine or acetylpromazine is a phenothiazine derivative antipsychotic drug. It was first used in humans in the 1950s, but is now little used in humans...
, an animal tranquilizer. When Dacyshyn coincidentally arrives moments later, Mulder slips out and follows him. Dacyshyn notices him, however, and runs the car off the road. Mulder survives and manages to tail Dacyshyn, who must exit his truck after the engine fails, to a small compound in a former barn. Mulder enters, and the commotion caused by a two-headed guard dog's attack brings Dacyshyn out from one of the buildings. The compound is for a makeshift east-European medical team that has been murdering people and stealing their organs
Organ theft
Organ harvesting refers to the removal, preservation and use of human organs and tissue from the bodies of the recently deceased to be used in surgical transplants on the living...
for years. The field where Father Joe had earlier discovered the bodies turned out to be their dumping ground. Mulder enters the building to find that the team has been using the organs and body parts in an attempt to keep Tomczeszyn alive; at the moment they are attempting to place Tomczeszyn's head
Head transplant
A head transplant is a surgical operation involving the grafting of an organism's head onto the body of another. It should not be confused with another, hypothetical, surgical operation, the brain transplant. Head transplantation involves decapitating the patient...
on the body of the second abducted woman, and the stitching makes it clear this is not the first time they have tried this. Mulder tries to save her from the gruesome fate, but a doctor comes from behind and injects him with tranquilizer. Helpless, Mulder is taken outside to be murdered by Dacyshyn.
When Scully cannot reach Mulder on his cell phone, she calls Agent Drummy, who refuses to help her. Undaunted, she next contacts her old FBI superior, Director Walter Skinner
Walter Skinner
FBI Assistant Director Walter Sergei Skinner is a fictional character in the American FOX television shows The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen, two science fiction shows about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of Alien existence...
(Mitch Pileggi
Mitch Pileggi
Mitchell Craig "Mitch" Pileggi is an American actor. Pileggi is known for playing FBI assistant director Walter Skinner on the long-running popular series The X-Files. He also had a recurring role on Stargate Atlantis as Col. Steven Caldwell...
), for help. They triangulate the phone's location and find Scully's wrecked car, eventually making their way through the snow to find a rural mailbox whose address, 25-2, corresponds to a Biblical
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
chapter and verse, Proverbs
Book of Proverbs
The Book of Proverbs , commonly referred to simply as Proverbs, is a book of the Hebrew Bible.The original Hebrew title of the book of Proverbs is "Míshlê Shlomoh" . When translated into Greek and Latin, the title took on different forms. In the Greek Septuagint the title became "paroimai paroimiae"...
25:2, from which Father Joe had quoted to Scully before having the seizure. They race to the address where Mulder is about to be axed by Dacyshyn. Scully attacks him in an ensuing confrontation, incapacitating him, while Skinner breaks up the medical procedure before the young woman is beheaded. Later, Mulder is at home when Scully tells him Father Joe has died. It happened at the same moment, Mulder notes, that Scully disconnected the life support to Tomczeszyn's severed head. Somehow, he surmises, the two men's fates were linked by more than just visions. Scully remains troubled by Father Joe's advice, "Don't give up", and expresses doubts about Christian's surgery, due to the words of a molesting priest. Mulder comforts her, suggesting that they can leave - and get as far away from the darkness as possible. When the moment of surgery comes, however, Scully pauses a moment, turns and sees three nuns, and then forges ahead with the risky procedure. In a post-credits scene, Mulder and Scully are seen rowing towards a tropical island, wearing swimsuits, and waving to a helicopter hovering overhead.
Cast
- David DuchovnyDavid DuchovnyDavid William Duchovny is an American actor, writer and director. He has won Golden Globe awards for his work as FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder on The X-Files and as Hank Moody on Californication.-Early life:...
as Fox MulderFox MulderFBI Special Agent Fox William Mulder is a fictional character and protagonist in the American Fox television shows The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen, two science fiction shows about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of Alien existence. Mulder's peers consider his theories on... - Gillian AndersonGillian AndersonGillian Leigh Anderson is an American actress.After beginning her career in theatre, Anderson achieved international recognition for her role as Special Agent Dana Scully on the American television series The X-Files. During the show's nine seasons, Anderson won Emmy, Golden Globe, and Screen...
as Dr. Dana ScullyDana ScullyFBI Special Agent Dana Katherine Scully, M.D. is a fictional character and protagonist on the Fox television series The X-Files , played by Gillian Anderson. She also appeared in two theatrical films based on the series... - Billy ConnollyBilly ConnollyWilliam "Billy" Connolly, Jr., CBE is a Scottish comedian, musician, presenter and actor. He is sometimes known, especially in his native Scotland, by the nickname The Big Yin...
as Joseph "Father Joe" Crissman - Amanda PeetAmanda PeetAmanda Peet is an American actress, who has appeared on film, stage, and television. After studying with Uta Hagen at Columbia University, Peet began her career in television commercials, and progressed to small roles on television, before making her film debut in 1995...
as Agent Dakota Whitney - Alvin "Xzibit" JoinerXzibitAlvin Nathaniel Joiner , better known by his stage name Xzibit , is an American rapper, actor, and television host. He is known as the host of the MTV show Pimp My Ride, which brought him mainstream success...
as Agent Mosley Drummy - Mitch PileggiMitch PileggiMitchell Craig "Mitch" Pileggi is an American actor. Pileggi is known for playing FBI assistant director Walter Skinner on the long-running popular series The X-Files. He also had a recurring role on Stargate Atlantis as Col. Steven Caldwell...
as Director Walter SkinnerWalter SkinnerFBI Assistant Director Walter Sergei Skinner is a fictional character in the American FOX television shows The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen, two science fiction shows about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of Alien existence... - Callum Keith RennieCallum Keith RennieCallum Keith Rennie is a British-born Canadian television and film actor. He started his career in Canadian film and television projects, where his portrayal of Stanley Raymond Kowalski in the TV series Due South was his first international success...
as Janke Dacyshyn - Adam GodleyAdam GodleyAdam Godley is an English actor.-Biography:Adam Godley has appeared in numerous movies including Love Actually, Elizabeth: The Golden Age and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ....
as Father Ybarra - Xantha Radley as Agent Monica Bannan
- Fagin Woodcock as Franz Tomczeszyn
- Nicki AycoxNicki Aycox-Personal life:Aycox was born in Hennessey, Oklahoma. She has a younger brother, Steve. She speaks fluent German according to an interview in Jack magazine. She also comes from a Native American heritage.-Career:Aycox began performing at a young age...
as Cheryl Cunningham - Alex Diakun as Gaunt Man
Development
In November 2001, the creators of the TV series The X-Files decided to pursue a second feature film adaptation of the series, following the 1998 film. Carter was expected to collaborate with Spotnitz, who had co-written the first film, on a script for the follow-up. Production of the film was slated to begin after the completion of the ninth season of the TV series, with a projected release in December 2003. In April 2002, Carter reiterated his desire and the studio's desire to do a sequel film. He planned to write the script over that summer and begin production in the spring or summer of 2003 for a 2004 release. Carter described the film saying, "We're looking at the movies as stand-alones. They're not necessarily going to have to deal with the mythology." Director Rob Bowman, who had directed episodes of The X-Files in the past as well as the 1998 film, expressed an interest in filming the sequel in July 2002.In May 2006, Spotnitz blamed the continued delay on legal matters between Carter and 20th Century Fox. The screenwriter anticipated, "Once the legal issues are over with, we will go on with it. I'm hoping it will get resolved soon." By April 2007, Spotnitz confirmed that a script was finally in development. The following October, the studio officially announced the production of the sequel film, whose premise would be kept under wraps.
Filming and sets
The film was shot in VancouverVancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
and Pemberton
Pemberton, British Columbia
Pemberton is a village north of Whistler in the Pemberton Valley of British Columbia in Canada, with a population of 2,192. Until the 1960s the village could be accessed only by train but that changed when Highway 99 was built through Whistler and Pemberton.-Climate:The climate of Pemberton is...
, in British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. According to Spotnitz, the script was written specifically for these locations. Filming began in December 2007 in Vancouver under the direction of Carter, and shooting finished on March 11, 2008. In a teaser trailer shown at Wondercon
WonderCon
WonderCon is an annual comic book, science fiction, and motion picture convention, held in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1987.The convention was conceived by retailer John Barrett and originally held in the Oakland Convention Center, where it remained until 2003, when it moved to San...
on February 23, 2008, the date "July 25, 2008" appeared at the end, and was the only text in the trailer. On March 27, 2008, the horror film site, Bloody Disgusting
Bloody Disgusting
Bloody Disgusting is a website that covers horror movies with reviews, interviews and news. It is currently run by Brad Miska, and Tom Owen. According to one source, the site has 1.5 million unique visitors and 20 million page views each month. It is widely considered to be the "world's most...
, reported a bootleg video of the official trailer uploaded by a user on YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
. The first public trailer was released after midnight on May 12, 2008, after a period of downtime on the official website.
The decision to film the movie in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, where the first five years of The X-Files
The X-Files
The X-Files is an American science fiction television series and a part of The X-Files franchise, created by screenwriter Chris Carter. The program originally aired from to . The show was a hit for the Fox network, and its characters and slogans became popular culture touchstones in the 1990s...
had been filmed and produced before the series had moved to Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, was an early idea; one that seemed right to both Chris Carter
Chris Carter (screenwriter)
Christopher Carl Carter is an American screenwriter, film director and producer. He is the creator of The X-Files and Millennium.- Ten Thirteen Productions :...
and David Duchovny
David Duchovny
David William Duchovny is an American actor, writer and director. He has won Golden Globe awards for his work as FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder on The X-Files and as Hank Moody on Californication.-Early life:...
. According to Duchovny, "It all makes sense. You know, when Chris and I first talked about doing this movie, we kind of unconsciously both said, 'You know, I guess it should be in Vancouver, it really should be,' and it just felt like you know, almost superstitiously like the right thing to do." Filming in Vancouver also facilitated the return of many former crew members who had previously worked on The X-Files, as well as individuals who had worked on the other series that Ten Thirteen Productions
Ten Thirteen Productions
Ten Thirteen Productions is a production company founded by Chris Carter in 1993, which produced four television series and two films . The company was named after Carter's birthday, October 13...
had created. Frank Spotnitz
Frank Spotnitz
Frank Spotnitz is an award-winning American television writer and producer, best known for his work on The X-Files television series.-Biography:...
said that "In terms of making of the movie, we've brought together as many people as we can, not just from The X-Files but from all the shows that we did here in Vancouver – Harsh Realm
Harsh Realm
Harsh Realm is a science fiction television series about humans trapped inside a virtual reality simulation. It was developed by Chris Carter, creator of The X-Files and Millennium, and began airing on the Fox Network on October 8, 1999. The series fared poorly in the ratings and was removed from...
, Millennium
Millennium (TV series)
Millennium is an American television series created by Chris Carter, creator of The X-Files. Millennium aired on the Fox Network from 1996 to 1999. The series was filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, though most episodes were ostensibly set in or around Seattle, Washington...
and The Lone Gunmen
The Lone Gunmen (TV series)
The Lone Gunmen is a television show created by Chris Carter and broadcast on FOX. It was a spin-off of Carter's popular long-running television series The X-Files and a part of The X-Files franchise, starring several of the show's characters. The Lone Gunmen was first broadcast in March 2001 and,...
– and our crew is populated with all these faces that we'd worked with, over the past fifteen years. And there's even some people from the L.A. crew."
The exterior of Monica Bannan's house was actually filmed in Pemberton, British Columbia, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, a location that Spotnitz found to be beautiful but extremely cold. Although the location is shown in exterior shots incorporated into the scene in which Fox Mulder
Fox Mulder
FBI Special Agent Fox William Mulder is a fictional character and protagonist in the American Fox television shows The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen, two science fiction shows about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of Alien existence. Mulder's peers consider his theories on...
(Duchovny), Whitney (Amanda Peet
Amanda Peet
Amanda Peet is an American actress, who has appeared on film, stage, and television. After studying with Uta Hagen at Columbia University, Peet began her career in television commercials, and progressed to small roles on television, before making her film debut in 1995...
), Drummy (Alvin "Xzibit" Joiner
Xzibit
Alvin Nathaniel Joiner , better known by his stage name Xzibit , is an American rapper, actor, and television host. He is known as the host of the MTV show Pimp My Ride, which brought him mainstream success...
) and Father Joe (Billy Connolly
Billy Connolly
William "Billy" Connolly, Jr., CBE is a Scottish comedian, musician, presenter and actor. He is sometimes known, especially in his native Scotland, by the nickname The Big Yin...
) drove to the missing agent's home, the same scene also includes footage of the actors that was filmed on a stage, using a rear projection to show the exterior from inside the car. The latter method was used for all the shots in which any of the travelers appear.
The interior of Scully's home was a set in Burnaby, outside of Vancouver. The set was an old roller rink or at least sounded like one, as it was very noisy. During filming, Carter placed a carrot juice bottle on the table of the set, having just finished the drink, as he thought it would be "a nice sort of Mulder touch." Some of the artwork in Mulder's office came from a friend of Carter's who had a gallery in Vancouver and was named Monica Reyes
Monica Reyes
Special Agent Monica Reyes is a fictional character in the American FOX television series The X-Files, a science fiction show about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of Alien existence...
, a name that had previously been used in her honor for a character who features in a recurring role in the series' eighth season and appears as a main character in every episode of the series' ninth season. One of the pictures on the wall of Mulder's office was by Douglas Coupland
Douglas Coupland
Douglas Coupland is a Canadian novelist. His fiction is complemented by recognized works in design and visual art arising from his early formal training. His first novel, the 1991 international bestseller Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, popularized terms such as McJob and...
, who was featured in the real Monica Reyes' gallery and had written a book Carter liked which was called Hey Nostradamus!
Hey Nostradamus!
Hey Nostradamus! is a novel by Douglas Coupland centred around a fictional 1988 school shooting in suburban Vancouver, British Columbia and its aftermath. This is Coupland's most critically acclaimed novel. It was first published by Random House of Canada in 2003...
, so Carter stuck a Post-It on which he wrote the book's title onto the picture.
The exterior of the dorms for habitual sex offenders where Father Joe lives, was actually an apartment complex in Vancouver that was slated for demolition while the production crew were filming there. Snow that can be seen outside the dorms, was actually fake snow that was imported by the crew and fabricated by the film's Special Effects Department. Bill Roe and Mark Freeborn worked together to create a creepy green glow on the location using green lights. The production crew also created their own factory smoke for chimneys in the background, as Carter came to the opinion that the smoking chimneys made the location look like London. The interior of Joe's apartment was another set and was exactly like the real apartment except that it was slightly bigger. A trans-light was incorporated into the set to resemble daylight visible through a window of the apartment. The set also had a porch that was used for some shots in the scene where Mulder and Scully were outside the apartment.
Additionally some filming was done in Coquitlam, B.C. at Riverview Hospitals Unit 8 building.
Title
The code name Done One was used as the film's working title during filming, with location signs labeled as "Done One Productions." The name meant the producers had already done one film. "The Crying Box Productions" was listed as the production company, instead of Carter's usual "Ten Thirteen Productions." The Hollywood ReporterThe Hollywood Reporter
Formerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...
posted a series of information sheets regarding upcoming studio films, and the 20th Century Fox fact sheet referred to the film as The X-Files: Done One.
On April 16, 2008, the official title of the film was announced: The X-Files: I Want to Believe. Carter referred to the title as a "natural title", saying that it pertained to "a story that involves the difficulties in mediating faith and science. 'I Want to Believe.' It really does suggest Scully's struggle with her faith." Carter also said that he and Spotnitz settled upon the title as soon as they started writing the screenplay. This title is a popular phrase among X-Files fans. It is featured on the UFO poster above Mulder's desk.
Music
After The X-FilesThe X-Files
The X-Files is an American science fiction television series and a part of The X-Files franchise, created by screenwriter Chris Carter. The program originally aired from to . The show was a hit for the Fox network, and its characters and slogans became popular culture touchstones in the 1990s...
was cancelled in 2002, Chris Carter
Chris Carter (screenwriter)
Christopher Carl Carter is an American screenwriter, film director and producer. He is the creator of The X-Files and Millennium.- Ten Thirteen Productions :...
and his crew started working with a goal of releasing a second X-Files film. In 2003, Carter called Snow, who by that time lived in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and said he wanted him to return for another film. Snow was positive to the idea, but filming got bogged down by contract issues between Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
and Carter. Once the contract issues were sorted out, Carter re-contacted Snow about the development, and later on sent him the script for the film. Carter and his production crew wanted as much secrecy for the film as possible, forcing Snow to sign a contract when receiving the script. After reading the script three times, Snow started on the "visuals" for the story. Snow wrote a couple of demos at the start; of which Carter and Frank Spotnitz
Frank Spotnitz
Frank Spotnitz is an award-winning American television writer and producer, best known for his work on The X-Files television series.-Biography:...
weren't pleased about, but eventually worked when Snow re-recorded them.
When composing the music for The X-Files: I Want to Believe, Snow called it "different" from the previous film
The X-Files (film)
The X-Files is a 1998 American science fiction-thriller film written by Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz, and directed by Rob Bowman. It is the first feature film based on The X-Files series created by Carter that revolves around a fictional FBI paranormal investigation unit called the X-Files...
which followed the shows mytharc storyline
Mythology of The X-Files
The mythology of The X-Files, sometimes referred to as its mytharc by the show's staff and fans, follows the quest of FBI Special Agents Fox Mulder , a believer in supernatural phenomena, and Dana Scully , his skeptical partner. Their boss, FBI Assistant Director Walter Skinner was also often...
about the government conspiracy
Syndicate (The X-Files)
The Syndicate is a fictional "shadow government" group featured in The X-Files television show and feature film created by Chris Carter. They were also known as The Elders, The Consortium, and The Group...
and aliens
Colonist (The X-Files)
The Colonists are an extraterrestrial species in the science fiction television show, The X-Files, as well as the first X-Files feature film. The mystery revolving around their identity and purpose is revealed across the course of the series...
. He said it was much "more heart, warmth and tuneful music" since this film was based more around Fox Mulder
Fox Mulder
FBI Special Agent Fox William Mulder is a fictional character and protagonist in the American Fox television shows The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen, two science fiction shows about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of Alien existence. Mulder's peers consider his theories on...
(David Duchovny
David Duchovny
David William Duchovny is an American actor, writer and director. He has won Golden Globe awards for his work as FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder on The X-Files and as Hank Moody on Californication.-Early life:...
) and Dana Scully
Dana Scully
FBI Special Agent Dana Katherine Scully, M.D. is a fictional character and protagonist on the Fox television series The X-Files , played by Gillian Anderson. She also appeared in two theatrical films based on the series...
's (Gillian Anderson
Gillian Anderson
Gillian Leigh Anderson is an American actress.After beginning her career in theatre, Anderson achieved international recognition for her role as Special Agent Dana Scully on the American television series The X-Files. During the show's nine seasons, Anderson won Emmy, Golden Globe, and Screen...
) relationship.
Snow recorded the score with the Hollywood Studio Symphony
Hollywood Studio Symphony
The Hollywood Studio Symphony is the credited name of the symphony orchestra behind many major soundtracks, including The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Sucker Punch, Jurassic Park 3, Last Samurai, Pirates of the Caribbean, We Are Marshall, Spider-Man 2, Lost and The...
in May 2008 at the Newman Scoring Stage at 20th Century Fox in Century City, California. No music was written out during Snow's recording session with the symphony orchestra. When making the music, Snow used such instruments as the "battery of percussion" taiko drums and whistle
Whistle
A whistle or call is a simple aerophone, an instrument which produces sound from a stream of forced air. It may be mouth-operated, or powered by air pressure, steam, or other means...
s with live singers among other things. It took four days to record and write music for, and with, the orchestra. He used no trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
s and no high woodwinds when recording, but used up to eight french horns, five trombones, two piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
s, one harp
Harp
The harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
, thirty-two violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
s, sixteen viola
Viola
The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
s, twelve cello
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
s and eight basses
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
.
British performers UNKLE
UNKLE
Unkle are a British musical outfit founded in 1994 by school friends James Lavelle and Tim Goldsworthy. Originally categorized as trip-hop, the group once included producer DJ Shadow and have employed a variety of guest artists and producers.-First incarnation :Lavelle and Goldsworthy were joined...
recorded a new version of the theme music for the end credits to the movie. Some of the unusual sounds were created by a variation of silly putty
Silly Putty
Silly Putty , is the Crayola-owned trademark name for a class of silicone polymers. It is marketed today as a toy for children, but was originally created by accident during research into potential rubber substitutes for use by the United States in World War II...
and dime
Dime (United States coin)
The dime is a coin 10 cents, one tenth of a United States dollar, labeled formally as "one dime". The denomination was first authorized by the Coinage Act of 1792. The dime is the smallest in diameter and is the thinnest of all U.S...
s tucked in between and over the strings of the piano. Mark Snow also comments that the fast percussion featured in some tracks was inspired by the track 'Prospectors Quartet' from the There Will Be Blood
There Will Be Blood
There Will Be Blood is a 2007 drama film written, co-produced, and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. The film is based on Upton Sinclair's 1927 novel Oil!. It tells the story of a silver miner-turned-oilman on a ruthless quest for wealth during Southern California's oil boom of the late 19th and...
soundtrack.
Critical reception
The film received mixed to negative reviews from critics. MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, which assigns a normalized
Standard score
In statistics, a standard score indicates how many standard deviations an observation or datum is above or below the mean. It is a dimensionless quantity derived by subtracting the population mean from an individual raw score and then dividing the difference by the population standard deviation...
rating out of 100 reviews from mainstream film critics, reported that there were "mixed or average" reviews, with an average
Weighted mean
The weighted mean is similar to an arithmetic mean , where instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others...
score of 47 based on 33 reviews. Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reported that 32% of 160 listed film critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 4.9 out of 10. The website wrote of the critics' consensus stating; "The chemistry between leads David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson do live up to The X-Files televised legacy, but the roving plot and droning routines make it hard to identify just what we're meant to believe in." The TopTenReviews
TopTenReviews
TopTenReviews is a website which aggregates reviews for software, hardware, web services, music, movies and video games from other sites and publications. Founded by Jerry Ropelato in 2003, TTR is, as of May 2008, one of the most popular sites of its kind by size and traffic, with the largest...
website rated the film with fairly positive reviews. From 152 reviews, 133 came out as scoring either "Good" or "Very Good".
Manohla Dargis
Manohla Dargis
Manohla Dargis is a chief film critic for The New York Times, along with A.O. Scott. She was formerly a chief film critic for the Los Angeles Times, the film editor at the LA Weekly, and a film critic at The Village Voice. She has written for a variety of publications, including Film Comment and...
of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
found the film "baggy, draggy, oddly timed and strangely off the mark" and that "Mr. Carter knows how to grab your attention visually, but the amalgam of trashy thriller clichés that he has compiled with Frank Spotnitz, another series regular, creates its own deadening effect". Frank Lovece
Frank Lovece
Frank Lovece is an American journalist, author, comedy performer and comic book writer. He was additionally one of the first professional Web journalists, becoming an editor of a Silicon Alley start-up in 1996....
of Film Journal International
Film Journal International
Film Journal International is a motion-picture industry trade magazine published by the American company Prometheus Global Media. It is a sister publication of Adweek, Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, and other periodicals....
, likewise said, "What plot there is plays like a PG-13 Se7en
Se7en
Seven is a 1995 American thriller film, which also contains horror and neo-noir elements, directed by David Fincher and written by Andrew Kevin Walker. It was distributed by New Line Cinema and stars Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Gwyneth Paltrow, R...
: body parts, gruesomeness, gloom and doom, but hey, not too much, and don't worry, there's nothing deeply upsetting", and while praising the cinematography, music and Gillian Anderson
Gillian Anderson
Gillian Leigh Anderson is an American actress.After beginning her career in theatre, Anderson achieved international recognition for her role as Special Agent Dana Scully on the American television series The X-Files. During the show's nine seasons, Anderson won Emmy, Golden Globe, and Screen...
's performance, believes, "It seems unlikely that this franchise will reach The X-Files X". Jason Anderson of Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
's CBC News
CBC News
CBC News is the department within the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on CBC television, radio and online services...
called the film "muddled" with a "hurried and half-baked" climax, and said, "Beyond the pleasure of seeing Duchovny and Anderson back in action and back on form," the film "offers little to either the longtime fans or newcomers". Jan Stuart from The Los Angeles Times commented, "The X-Files
The X-Files
The X-Files is an American science fiction television series and a part of The X-Files franchise, created by screenwriter Chris Carter. The program originally aired from to . The show was a hit for the Fox network, and its characters and slogans became popular culture touchstones in the 1990s...
was a load of malarkey. But it was thoughtful malarkey and compulsively watchable. One could say the same about the first two-thirds of "The X-Files: I Want to Believe" before it spins out of control and into a delirious plane of awfulness."
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
gave a positive review of the film with three-and-a-half out of four stars, saying; "It involved actual questions of morality, just as The Dark Knight
The Dark Knight (film)
The Dark Knight is a 2008 superhero film directed, produced and co-written by Christopher Nolan. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, the film is part of Nolan's Batman film series and a sequel to 2005's Batman Begins...
does. It's not simply about good and evil but about choices". He also felt "the movie works like thrillers used to work, before they were required to contain villains the size of buildings", also calling the film "a skillful thriller". Sandra Hall of the Sydney Morning Herald was more equivocal, saying, "... it just about works, thanks to Carter's sense of timing and the script's allegorical enhancements." Empire magazine
Empire (magazine)
Empire is a British film magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media. From the first issue in July 1989, the magazine was edited by Barry McIlheney and published by Emap. Bauer purchased Emap Consumer Media in early 2008...
gave the film three stars ("good"), but expressed a desire for Chris Carter
Chris Carter (screenwriter)
Christopher Carl Carter is an American screenwriter, film director and producer. He is the creator of The X-Files and Millennium.- Ten Thirteen Productions :...
to return to the more comedic and "post-modern" elements of the series upon the next revisit. Stephanie Zackarek was mostly positive towards the film, saying; "I Want to Believe comes off like a solid if not great episode from one of the show's early seasons, a reasonably suspenseful story made by a director with a sturdy sense of how to tell a story." Mick LaSalle was also positive towards the film, saying that you didn't need to know anything about the previous settings and calling it a "compelling suspense thriller with some tense moments." TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
reviewer Maitland McDonagh gave the film two and a half stars out of four saying that the film was not "sufficiently gripping to transform a middling thriller into something truly provocative or haunting." About the theme and story she said, "such weighty concerns aren't the stuff of most mainstream genre movies."
Gross revenue
The film grossed $4 million on its opening day in the United States. It opened fourth on the U.S. weekend box office chart, with a gross of $10.2 million. By the end of its worldwide theatrical run, it had grossed $20,982,478 domestically and an additional $47,373,805 internationally, for a total worldwide gross of $68,369,434. Among 2008 domestic releases, it finished in 114th place. Among 2008 worldwide releases, it ended up in 78th place.The film's stars both claimed that the timing of the movie's release, a week after the highly popular Batman
Batman
Batman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...
film The Dark Knight
The Dark Knight (film)
The Dark Knight is a 2008 superhero film directed, produced and co-written by Christopher Nolan. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, the film is part of Nolan's Batman film series and a sequel to 2005's Batman Begins...
, negatively affected its box-office return.
Awards and nominations
While receiving no awards nominations from accredited organizations, the film was included on a ballot sent to Golden Raspberry Award voters, along with twelve other films to be considered under the category "Worst Prequel, Sequel, Remake or Rip-Off." It failed to make the final list of nominees.Home media release
Fox Home Entertainment released The X-Files: I Want to Believe DVD and Blu-ray Disc on December 2, 2008. Two years after its release, the movie had grossed $16,124,466 from U.S. DVD/Blu-ray sales.Merchandising and tie-in
A novelizationNovelization
A novelization is a novel that is written based on some other media story form rather than as an original work.Novelizations of films usually add background material not found in the original work to flesh out the story, because novels are generally longer than screenplays...
by Max Allan Collins
Max Allan Collins
Max Allan Collins is an American mystery writer. He has written novels, screenplays, comic books, comic strips, trading cards, short stories, movie novelizations and historical fiction. He wrote the graphic novel Road to Perdition , created the comic book private eye Ms...
was released July 29, 2008.
Sequel
In several interviews he gave around the time the film came out, Chris CarterChris Carter (screenwriter)
Christopher Carl Carter is an American screenwriter, film director and producer. He is the creator of The X-Files and Millennium.- Ten Thirteen Productions :...
said that if the X-Files: I Want to Believe movie proved successful at the box office, a third installment would be made going back to the TV series' mythology, focusing specifically on the alien invasion and colonization of Earth foretold in the series finale, due to occur on December 22, 2012
2012 phenomenon
The 2012 phenomenon comprises a range of eschatological beliefs that cataclysmic or transformative events will occur on December 21, 2012. This date is regarded as the end-date of a 5,125-year-long cycle in the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar...
. Fox Chairman Tom Rothman, responding to an interview question regarding the possibility of a third X-Files movie, said in October 2008, "It's really up to Chris [Carter], David [Duchovny] and Gillian [Anderson]". There have been no subsequent statements from Rothman or other studio executives regarding a third film, even though Carter, Spotnitz and both stars have all since repeatedly said they'd like to make one. During an interview at the Sarajevo Film Festival
Sarajevo Film Festival
The Sarajevo Film Festival is the premier and largest film festival in the Balkans, and is one of the largest in Europe. It was founded in Sarajevo in 1995 during the siege of Sarajevo, and brings international and local celebrities to Sarajevo every year. It is held in August and showcases an...
in August 2009, Gillian Anderson was asked about a third film and responded, "They talked about maybe doing it in 2012. I think there were discussions about that. I don't know whether that's going to happen or not, but there isn't any reason not to do it." Frank Spotnitz
Frank Spotnitz
Frank Spotnitz is an award-winning American television writer and producer, best known for his work on The X-Files television series.-Biography:...
responded to his blog readers' requests for clarification regarding Anderson's comments by denying that any deal was in place, saying, "I'm afraid I have no news to report other than our continuing desire to make a third film if there's an audience for it." In an October 2009 interview, David Duchovny likewise said he wants to do a 2012 X-Files movie, but still doesn't know if he'll get the chance. Carter in December 2009 said he could not "ensure" another movie would be made, but thought the international box office for the 2008 film made it at least a theoretical possibility..