As legions of fans obsess over every rumor, executive producer Chris Carter, director Rob Bowman and cinematographer Ward russell bring THE X-FILES to the big screen.
Just five short television seasons ago, few could have predicted the enormous success that the paranoia-fueled paranormal series The X-Files would enjoy. The show's protagonists, FBI special agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), have become national icons, and legions of die-hard fans regularly dissect the show's every nuance on the Internet.
Meanwhile, the program's creative team has enjoyed a steady stream of awards and critical accolades for their weekly efforts. The X-Files has earned two Golden Globe Awards — along with two Emmy nominations — for Best Drama, as well as a Peabody Award for Excellence in Broadcasting. Longtime producer/director Rob Bowman has received two Golden Globes for his producing efforts, and has helmed more entries in the series than anyone else, with 23 episodes bearing his distinctive visual stamp. The show's creator, Chris Carter, has earned Emmy, Writer's Guild and Director's Guild nominations for his multi-hyphenate involvement with the show. Additionally, cinematographer John Bartley, ASC, CSC's contributions to the first three seasons of the show (see AC June 1995) resulted in three consecutive ASC Award nominations, as well as Emmy acknowledgement.
Given this high level of success, a feature film version of the series was inevitable. Indeed, Carter sowed the seeds for this expansion in Bowman's mind during the show's third season. "I came onto The X-Files during the first season because I was looking for a change of direction in my career," relates Bowman, who got his start doing insert work at Stephen J. Cannell Productions in the early Eighties, and later helmed the sports-flavored teen film Airborne. "Fortunately, I was able to find my way onto one episode of The X-Files, and was then invited to do another during the second season. After that, I was made a producer, and therein began the marriage and hundreds of conversations with Chris Carter, [executive producer] Bob Goodwin and [then director of photography] John Bartley. We wanted to explore and expand the mystery and creepiness that gives the show its signature look."
Of course, making the jump to the silver screen is always a huge risk for any series. Television shows don't always translate to the larger proscenium, and the stakes are raised further when a fanatical fan base is factored into the mix. Well aware of these pressures, Carter opted to hire his trusted collaborator to helm the first X-Files feature. Although many top Hollywood directors expressed an avid interest in the project, Carter knew that he wanted Bowman to craft the large-screen offshoot, which was cryptically code-named Blackwood during production and later subheaded Fight the Future. "Rob was totally committed to do this project, and I didn't want to go with some 'feature director' who didn't know the show," Carter explains. "I wanted someone with whom I had a shorthand, who was collaborative and yet had very strong ideas and a strong sense of storytelling with the camera."
Designed as a continuation of several ongoing subplots and mythologies set up in the series, the film directly ties into the fifth season's cliffhanger episode. "On the series," Carter expounds, "we've been imploding the narrative elements. Just when you think you've reached the top of the sand pit, you fall back in, because what we've been telling you is true is no longer true. In the film, however, we really couldn't do that. It needed to be much more of an explosion of narrative elements. We had to develop certain [plot elements], and have a very clear beginning, middle and end. My primary concern in translating the show to the big screen was to avoid sacrificing any of the series' signature mood which is now quite set and create an event worthy of the big screen that didn't sacrifice a sixth season."
Carter's concerns factored into the production's decision not to shoot the film in the series' established Canadian stomping grounds. Instead, the production set up shop in Los Angeles and utilized locations in downtown L.A., Bakersfield, Santa Clarita and Canyon Country, as well as on stages at 20th Century Fox. Additionally, the larger scope of the feature prompted the filmmakers to bring aboard key production people with large-scale production experience, including director of photography Ward T. Russell.
"The selection of a cinematographer was an incredibly difficult and frustrating process," reveals Bowman. "Since we started our prep so late, a lot of top feature cinematographers had already signed on to do their summer projects. I then came across Ward Russell's name. Ward had shot Days of Thunder and The Last Boy Scout for [director] Tony Scott, and had also worked as a gaffer with another of Tony Scott's cameramen, Jeffery Kimble [ASC, on Top Gun, Beverly Hills Cop II and Revenge]. With Ward, I had a director of photography who knew how to create a signature look for the project, who had worked with directors and cinematographers I respect, and whose style I felt would fit into the fabric of The X-Files."
The filmmakers elected to photograph the film in the 2.35:1 Super 35 format with Panavision cameras, on Eastman Kodak Vision 500T 5279 and EXR 5293 stocks. Explains Russell, "My initial concern [about the Super 35 format] was that the film took place almost entirely at night at very large locations, and on stage with large, dark sets. I knew I would need as much exposure as I could get, so the Vision 500T stock became a valuable tool. I used it almost exclusively on the film, although I did use 5293 for the few day exteriors."
Assessing the difference between Super 35 and the 1.33:1 television frame, Carter offers, "It's interesting what a 2.35:1 composition does to dramatic weight. Things that you're used to having to force on television — like a two- or three-shot — are standard on the feature screen, which carries a much broader dramatic image. Then when you get into a close-up, it has a totally different impact although I did feel that some scenes played better close than they did in the distance, because close shots put us more into the character's stories. Rob and Ward both have such a good sense of composition that I was actually quite amazed at the fluidity and lack of on-set discussion about composition and lens sizes."
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