NBC Today Show
October 1997
Katie Couric: David Duchovny, welcome.
Nice to see you.
David Duchovny: Thank you.
KC: So this is your first big leading
man role. Why did you choose this role?
DD: Well, I have a very small hiatus
window on which to do a film, because "The X-Files" shoots for 10 months
out of the year. And this was the best idea that was available to me at the
time. It was a character who is like the wino doctor that the mob goes to
when they need plastic surgery. You've seen this guy for two minutes in films
before, but this was kind of his story. I see that character in movies before,
and I think, how did the doctor get to be the mob doctor. Then there was
this script about this character.
KC: How did this doctor get to be this
doctor? He's a mess.
DD: When I was researching this movie,
I talked to a doctor who specializes in doctors that do drugs, if that can
be a specialty. It's probably more prevalent than you think. He said, it's
possible for a good doctor to get away with a drug problem for 10 or 15 years,
because they have access to the best drugs and they know how to titrate
themselves, which is treat yourself like a petri dish of drugs so you can
go up and it becomes like a dare.
KC: They can modulate their own bodies.
DD: They become polypharmaceuticals,
which is one of my favorite words that I learned.
KC: And that's how this guy...
DD: Yeah, and what happens was he gets
down at one point, and an emergency comes up, an emergency surgery, and he
has to get up for it. He doesn't titrate himself well, the patient dies and
he loses his license and his life starts spiralling down.
KC: Now, when you decided to take this
role, you probably knew very well that people are watching you quite closely
right now, because you're making the transition from the small screen to
the big screen. Does that make you nervous? Do you ever think David Caruso?
DD: No, I think it's fate. I think like
if Robert de Niro had started out in "Charles in Charge" or "Happy Days"
or whatever he still would have eventually gotten his career as Robert de Niro. If you're a good actor, maybe you're in a bomb or two, if you're a
good actor, you bounce back. If I'm in a bomb or whatever, then hopefully
I'll bounce back.
KC: So you're not that nervous?
DD: Of course I'm nervous! I'd like people
to go see it, but it's just a matter whether they like the movie or not.
I don't think it's me selling the movie. I don't think it's my life or death
out there. I have a part in the movie, and it's a movie I'm proud of. If
people don't go see this one maybe they'll go see the next one. But I hope
they go see this one.
KC: Now you know I don't particularly
like violent movies. But you said to me that violence in this movie is not
gratuitous.
DD: Well, I don't think it's gratuitous,
because if you have a surgeon, there has to be some wounds. I play a surgeon
in the movie. There has to be occasions for me to perform a surgery. And
the kind of surgery that happens in this movie is outside a hospital, which
I thought was another interesting aspect of the movie was that I'm a doctor
practicing outside of the law, outside of the hospital. So the surgeries
that I perform are kind of impromptu things. The first surgery I perform
is in a bar. There's a shooting, and I deal with his collapse lung with an
Evian bottle, coat hanger, and my finger basically. So it's kind of like
wild west ER.
KC: Do you want to do this full time
and bag your TV work?
DD: Well, it's just a much nicer schedule
as you know from doing television everyday it's just grueling, difficult...hard
work to get up every day and come to work and try to put up that product
and still remain creative. So I'm looking at having some kind of a personal
life and a family life.
KC: Right, because you've just got married
to Tea Leoni. It is hard for you to balance your schedule, because you both
are working so much. You're newlyweds. How do you see each other?
DD: Well, it is hard. We don't spend
enough time together. But it's not hard, because things are just wonderful
at this point.
KC: Because you're newlyweds.
DD: Yeah, I just think we're a good couple.
We get along and we laugh a lot.
KC: Now, before we go, I have to ask
you about Celebrity Jeopardy. I thought you won, but you actually chocked
on Final Jeopardy. I was disappointed, because you were cooking when I was
watching.
DD: I don't like to use the word choke.
I like to use "lock up" or "bomb." I prefer these ones.
KC: But you said you were being kind
to Stephen King. You felt sorry for him, you wanted him to win.
DD: That's what I say in retrospect.
He's a famous writer and probably has a lot at stake.
KC: What was the question?
DD: Where did this Truman Capote Foundation
kick off its inception with a gala breakfast at this New York bookstore.
KC: Tiffany's.
DD: Obviously.
KC: How could you not get that? You went
to Princeton. What up with that?
DD: I didn't that. What up with that?
That's what we say in Princeton. "Excuse me sir, what up with that? What
up with Melville?" When I was in Jeopardy as in life sometimes if you head
down the wrong road, there's no way to get back. I didn't get Tiffany's
immediately, so I started to think, "What is the ritziest bookstore in New
York?" I'm from Manhattan, so I know all these bookstores. My brain was just
spinning with bookstores. I answered Rizzoli, to my eternal shame.
KC: Well, better luck next time.
DD: But you know the smile on Stephen
King was enough.
KC: We're out of time. David Duchovny,
great to meet you. Best of luck with your career and marriage.
