'X-Files' conspirator chats about X-Fanatics

Classically trained actor John Neville, who plays "Well Manicured Man" on The X-Files, recently chatted on the Internet.

Web posted July 7, 1998

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Q: Does the show ever scare you?

A: I knew the script, of course, but then when you watch the show with the special effects, it is scary, and the movie is scary.

Q: The X-Files is so realistic, and I have heard about the government blue book on UFOs. Does it still exist?

A: I wouldn't know about that.

Q: Can you believe how much love and attention X has got?

A: It is hard to believe. It's a real cult, here and in England. You'd expect it to be a cult in California, actually, since California is riddled with cults.

Q: What are your favorite episodes?

A: The very first episode I ever did, in the third season. It was exciting. It was new to me. The series was very classy, and in this episode I had a long scene with (series co-star) Gillian Anderson in the cemetery. It was a good scene. She's incredibly good. I admire them both enormously, and for five years they've kept that standard consistently and with a lot of difficult stuff to learn, and she's got a lot of medical jargon, being a doctor.

Q: Do you think the X-Files movie will draw nonviewers to the series?

A: I think it will. The movie is very, very good, you know. The movie is bound to be different. More special effects, more money, more time. But in Vancouver we crammed an awful lot into our eight days, there's more time to learn lines, more takes. But our TV shows look like movies of the week. I mean, a really high standard, for a weekly show.

Q: Would you consider the X-Files a classic like Twilight Zone or Outer Limits?

A: I would definitely classify it that way, and the show owes its high standard to Chris Carter. I wrote him a note after my first season to thank him for such wonderful writing. It helps to have good words to say.

Q: Did you have to see the season finale to see the movie?

A: I think actually yes. I was in that episode, and it leads you into the events of the film.

Q: Is the movie a stand-alone story, or does it tie in?

A: It inevitably ties in, but the movie does stand alone. So both.

Q: Are there action figures of you?

A: Not that I know of. I shall speak to the powers that be.

Q: Do you do your own nails?

A: Yes, I do do my own nails.

Q: It's all true, isn't it? We have been visited by aliens.

A: You may have been, but I haven't. I just say always I'm not really sure about the existence of aliens. Who really knows? There's a lot we didn't know about up to a few years ago.

Q: Do you ever go to X-Files conventions?

A: I've never been to an X-Files convention. I live in Toronto. I wouldn't shun it, but I've been involved in other things when they come up.

Q: What does "the truth is out there" mean?

A: It's a saying that Agent Mulder has. The full saying is, "the truth is out there -- somewhere. But it's being kept hidden by the government."