X-istential crisis, Page 2
By far, the best of the merchandise was the official "X-Files" jewelry and other metal creations by designer and metalsmith Lori Elder. Her pins, key chains and assorted pieces, individually crafted in sterling silver and bearing the raised "X" symbol, are of the highest quality and craftsmanship in design and production. Also of interest were copies of actual scripts ($15 each). But, unfortunately, aside from paperback "novelizations" and comic books about the show, the rest of the vendors catered to the "crossover market." This included the New Age crystals-and-unicorn crowd, replete with their shiny rocks and tarot cards; the "abductees," with their survival guides and alien embryos in colored water beakers; and an over-priced, frequently absent psychic. It was time to leave. The book section featured some interesting titles. Of course, there was an ample selection of Edgar Cayce, as well as the "Seth" series. James Redfield offered his "Tenth Insight," as if the nine Celestine Prophecies weren't enough. But what really piqued my interest were, "John Lennon in Heaven," "The Alien Abduction Survival Guide," "E.T. 101" and "Preparing for Contact." All the while, TV monitors blasted a continual loop of "X-Files" promos. I had high hopes for the Prop Gallery -- "The X-Files" is, after all, known for its special effects. The gallery, though, was reminiscent of someone's garage-turned-haunted-house at Halloween. The promoters didn't even get the spooky music right. Instead, Sinatra crooned love ballads through tinny speakers. The props themselves left a lot to be desired. Skinner's hospital gown. A few of Mulder's ties. Scully's disturbingly wrinkled "Holt Renfrew" camel coat, used to hide Gillian Anderson's pregnancy, was dowdily slung onto a mannequin and looked as if it had been balled up and thrown into the back of the van between convention stops. A rubber alien head, an alien fetus in a jar (from the "Erlenmeyer Flask" episode) and an infected pig leg wrapped in newspaper (from the Ebola-type outbreak episode) were the most compelling props, but what struck me was how fake they look in real life. They didn't seem any more real than something you would find in a joke shop window, yet by the miracle of television they are somehow transformed into sinister accoutrements that add to the show's macabre atmosphere. I quickly found the hotel bar (fashioned after a Tiki hut), then proceeded to the auditorium for the speakers and presentations. Doug "Eugene Tooms" Hutchison was on stage when I arrived. He was responding to questions along the line of, "Can mutant bile men and vampires mate together?" and, "We think you're really cute (giggle). When are they gonna write Tooms back into the show?" Although mildly amusing, Hutchison was a shameless self-promoter who spent 10 minutes reiterating the proper spelling of his name (there is no "n") and giving his mailing address out to the sparse yet attentive audience, reminding us several times to include a self-addressed stamped envelope. There was a blooper reel, a video called "Mulderisms/Scullyisms" and an "X-Files" slide show, which were all very good in content but, unfortunately, at times nearly inaudible. There seemed to be an overall lack of technical expertise when it came to running the rather basic equipment. I kept thinking the A/V nerds at my junior high school could have done a better job. Next, story editor/writer Frank Spotnitz took the stage. Spotnitz was intelligent and affable, responding to even the most inane questions without condescension. With the help of an overhead projector, he mapped out an increasingly complex diagram of the interrelationships between the characters, starting with Mulder and Scully in the center and introducing each character as they branched off and/or overlapped. By the end, the diagram was a blur of criss-crossed lines, like some sort of Appalachian family tree. The convention climaxed with the appearance of William B. Davis (see sidebar interview), who portrays the deliciously despicable Cigarette Smoking Man. In contrast to his character, Davis was charming and funny, with a heavy Canadian accent that is occasionally concealed through line rewrites. After a protracted autograph session, the X-Philes filed out of the Holiday Inn into the Portland night, clutching their memorabilia and talking animatedly about the day's events. They may not have felt the need to dress up like the "X-Files" equivalent of Enterprise crew members, but it was evident that their devotion was... out there.
Do you inhale? Yes. On TV, I actually do smoke. I was a smoker for 25 years and I smoked with skill and expertise, so I know all the little tricks, like flipping cigarettes out of the package, lighting them in the wind -- all that stuff. Since I am no longer a smoker, I smoke herbal cigarettes on the show, which are non-addictive. What is the Cancer Man's brand? On the show, the cigarettes I smoke are a fictitious brand called "Morley." There seems to be a bit of a controversy about what to call you. Fans refer to you as "Cancer Man" while the studio calls you "Cigarette Smoking Man." Is Fox nervous about incensing the tobacco industry? Actually, the character has never been officially known as Cancer Man. In the scripts, it's always "Cigarette Smoking Man" or "CSM." "Cancer Man" is a nickname that Mulder started. For some reason, they haven't wanted that to stick -- that may be sensitivity to people who have cancer. At one point, I thought it would be funny to get a personalized license plate that just said CANCER on it. What are your hopes for the Cancer Man character? Well, you may remember that Chris Carter said once that Mulder and Scully will never have a relationship, and he said that Skinner and Scully will never have a relationship, and he also said that Mulder and Skinner will never have a relationship, but he didn't say anything about Cancer Man. Any truth to the rumors that Cancer Man is Mulder's father? That's a good theory and I've heard it well argued. Of course, there is the other good theory that I'm Samantha's (Mulder's missing sister) father. I don't think anyone's decided yet whether I am or not. I don't know. I did have a relationship with Mrs. Mulder. Some children were born. I put the cigarette down for a couple of minutes. I've heard, and it was referenced on the show, that you are a champion water skier. Yes, that's true. I began as a snow skier but while I was in England I took up skiing on water because there wasn't any snow. I kept at it until I got old enough to get into the easier competitions, because the competitors were older. Once I started skiing against the old guys I started to win. Will we ever see a Cigarette Smoking Man waterskiing episode? There is a possibility. It may happen. I'd like to try to do toe turns, holding the bridle, smoking. You have an interesting background. I was a child actor; my cousins ran a summer stock theater in Ontario, Canada. I studied philosophy at the University of Toronto and did some extra-curricular acting with Donald Sutherland, among others. I switched to directing at University. Trained as an actor in England but continued directing. Worked at the National Theater (in England) as an assistant director. I worked with Laurence Olivier and Maggie Smith. Then I worked a lot as an acting teacher -- artistic director of the National Theater School in Canada. I've been training actors for most of my life. I opened an acting school in Vancouver about five years ago, called the William Davis Center for Actor's Study, but somewhere in there I started acting again and now it has dominated my life. As far as film goes, I've done bits and pieces -- guest starred in "Outer Limits" and "Poltergeist." I was in "Look Who's Talking." Are you recognized now? Quite a bit. How do people react? The ones that are comfortable with bad guys come up and say hello and others just look at me. What I get most often, which I really appreciate, is when people say, "You're the character I love to hate." Some people tell me that they hope for Cancer Man's redemption. What about kids? Do you have a family? That's a very good question. I'm divorced from my wife and the kids are with her and I don't see much of them. My girlfriend has two kids and I have an apartment in her basement, so when the 8-year-old was telling the kids on the playground that Cancer Man lives in her basement they didn't quite know what to make of this. She's been known to tell lies before. Your own kids, do they watch the show? That's all kind of tied up with the difficult relationship between their mother and me. So they are maybe not interested. So, are you a believer in things extraterrestrial? No. Government conspiracies? No. Are we going to see a lot of Cancer Man in the next season? I hope so. I have a feeling that we are going to see more and more of Cancer Man in the shows to come. |
I had been informed repeatedly of Chris Carter's vigilance about the
licensing of official "X-Files" merchandise in order to maintain quality
and avoid "Star Trek"-like overexposure, so I was pretty shocked to
see some of the stuff that received his stamp of approval. The selection of
T-shirts and sweatshirts had a cheesy, mass-produced, department store look
to them. The glossy photos, posters and postcards were stale, generic
studio shots. There were some rather nice wool and leather jackets
emblazoned with the "X-Files" catch phrase, "The truth is out there," priced
as high as $300.
You know him as the Cigarette Smoking Man, aka Cancer Man, the shadowy,
evil government operative from "The X-Files." But in real life, actor William B. Davis
isn't nearly as secretive -- as Salon's Lisa Crovo found when she interviewed him at the
Portland, Ore., "X-Files" convention in June.