Gillian Anderson believes the truth is on the big screen X-Files co-star reprises role as agent Scully in the new film version of the TV hit By Angela Baldassarre For over a year X-Philes have been exchanging theories of what The X-Files movie will be about. Creator-producer Chris Carter has made it a point to keep the script under wraps since pre-production began often circulating dummy copies to throw the sniffers off the track. "It's quite ridiculous really," says Gillian Anderson who plays FBI special agent Dana Scully in both the movie and the hit television series. "I don't get all the subterfuge, but we were told to keep quiet about it. At first we were given only snippets of the scripts. Eventually we were given the whole script but it was literally a couple of weeks before we started shooting that the full script came. If it were something where I was playing a completely different character, it would have been insane but the fact that we already knew who we were, going into it, it was just a matter of what are we going to do. But it was still frustrating because it'd be nice to know, you know? It's nice to know also if you have any issues with the script to be able to have that lead time and discussion and to be able to go back and forth with - 'I don't agree with this, I do agree with this. Can we work this out; can it become something else?' But with the amount of time between receiving the script and shooting, there's no time to come up with something else so you gotta do what you gotta do." Indeed. Initially rumors were floating around that the movie would focus on the alien-abduction of FBI agent Fox Mulder's sister Samantha, a childhood event which led to Mulder's (David Duchovny) initial interest in the unknown. Instead Carter has tagged the film onto the cliffhanger of the fifth season's final episode. "If you are already a fan there will be characters that will resonate," says Anderson. "But I think Chris has worked very hard to make sure that anyone who is coming to see it for the first time after not being experienced with the series will understand it as its own entity." Directed by Rob Bowman, who directed 23 episodes of the TV series, The X-Files is reported to have cost $60 million (both Duchovny and Anderson are getting $4 million each) and could possibly be giving away some of the series' big secrets by tying up some of the loose ends that have kept viewers coming back week after week. The film, which features series' regulars Mitch Pileggi as FBI Assistant Director Walter Skinner, William B. Davis as the Cigarette-Smoking Man, John Neville as the Well-Manicured, and conspiracy buffs the Lone Gunmen (Dean Haglund, Tom Braidwood and Bruce Harwood), also stars Martin Landau, Blythe Danner, Jeffrey DeMunn, Terry O'Quinn, Glenne Headley and Lucas Black. The plot follows Mulder and Scully who are drawn into a web of intrigue while investigating the mysterious bombing of a Dallas office building. If you think the plot echoes shades of Oklahoma, be prepared for more. Carter includes in his screenplay references to Roswell, the weather balloon and other related conspiracies. "It's like several episodes rolled into one," says Anderson. "Only the pace is slower. The really good thing about working on a movie is that you know the film is going to be around longer than just one episode so we worked just a little bit harder on it. My only fear is that what works well on TV might come across as vapid in a movie. There's a chance that the cryptic, cultic dialogue we use [every week] could prove confusing to people. I hope not. I don't want people walking away from the movie asking, 'What was going on with that chick?' " Born in Los Angeles 30 years ago, Anderson performed on-stage in New York before being cast in the Fox series Class of '96 where the makers of The X-Files first cast eyes on her. She has won the Screen Actors Guild Award and the Golden Globe Award for her role as Scully. Anderson, who is separated from Canadian art director Errol Clyde Klotz - they have a daughter, Piper - made only two other movies prior to The X-Files, Peter Chelsom's soon-to-be-released The Mighty and John Tintori's quirky indie Hellcab. As to rumors of strife between herself and X-Files co-star DuchovnyÉ "There's stress, of course," admits Anderson. "If I'm angry, I'll talk to him about it. We usually work things out. I'm sure once the series is over we'll become much closer." The end of the series' may, in fact, occur sooner than expected if the movie bombs. The filmmakers are well aware that tampering with a well-proven formula and answering some of the bigger questions which have kept viewers glued to the small screen for years, may diffuse interest in the show. But director Bowman is confident this won't happen as long as the bits of information released are carefully crafted. "There's no such thing as solving these mysteries," he says. "As you dig for clues, new questions keep popping up. It's like you hit sand, then gold, then sand, then more gold." Carter was prompted to write the film after he saw a series' episode being shown on a movie screen at the Museum of Radio and Television. Impressed with the resolution he knew he was taking a big chance transferring a successful, still-running television series to the big screen. Well aware of the mistakes made by movie renditions of Star Trek and Star Trek: The Next Generation, Carter decided to treat the film like an extended episode and use it as a launching pad into the series' sixth season by introducing new clues and conspiracies. There's also rumors of that long-awaited "love connection" between Mulder and Scully. "There's a different dynamic than we've seen for a while in the series between the two of us and also there's another element to the story which brings interesting elements into their relationship that we haven't seen before," Anderson allows. As to the reason why Carter didn't direct the movie himselfÉ "He didn't tell me why but I think he would have been insane to have even attempted it," says Anderson. "I mean, I think first of all he trusts Rob implicitly. And also, if he were to take that on board as well as writing it, as well as working on The X Files which he's doing now, he's writing episodes - to direct [the movie]and write episodes for the series is just not humanly possible." Not everybody, however, was thrilled about making the movie. "It was an obvious next choice from the studio's point of view," says Anderson. "I disagreed at first about doing it during a hiatus. I thought it would be more rewarding for the audience to have a film to go to after there was no more series left, so when they couldn't rely on tuning in every week to a new episode, they'd be able to anticipate a film every few years which would be a kind of payback. It seems like it's going well enough and it's created some other interesting rewards in itself. Thankfully making the film was easier than I thought. We shot less pages per day so the downtime between shots was considerably expanded and therefore the day itself didn't feel as exhausting and the hours were less." Finally, after five years and a feature movie about paranormal activities, does Anderson believe that "the truth is out there"? "Well, I've always been fascinated by the subject," she says. "I've always believed very strongly that it's more likely than not that there's life on other planets, that the universe and beyond is just too vast not to have lifeforms out there. And working on the show, I guess, if anything it's strengthened that belief because of the amount of seemingly factual information we get coming through the doors. I have my basic interests and my basic opinions about the issue. There are certainly times during the filming where I justÉ I don't even contemplate something being a reality or not, where it just doesn't seem like it could be a reality, but my overall feeling about it is one of a belief in other lifeforms." The X-Files is playing at Cineplex Odeon cinemas.