Series creator and the sequel's director, Chris Carter, and his producing and writing partner Frank Spotnitz won't talk much about the film's top-secret storyline.

But this much is known. The movie reunites Mulder and Scully to investigate a mystery that only they can solve. The movie does not deal with the series' convoluted alien/conspiracy mythology, as did the first movie, but rather stands alone and is designed to be really scary. Duchovny and Anderson are back, joined by co-stars Billy Connolly, Amanda Peet and Xzibit, among others.

Duchovny and Anderson spoke with reporters earlier this month about the sequel, which opens July 25.David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson, can you talk a little bit about what it's like to be back in these characters after six years?

Duchovny: OK. Well, I had two weeks before Christmas [2007] of basically running around and chasing [co-star] Callum Rennie, who plays the ... running bad guy that I chase all over the place. And that took, like, a good full two weeks of running, even though I know it's only about 10 seconds of the movie. And then Gillian and I started working after Christmas break, and the first two weeks I ... felt a little awkward. I didn't really feel like I wanted to do longer scenes. I was just fine with running around. And then, as soon as Gilly and I started working, and it was Mulder and Scully, then I kind of remembered what it was all about. And, you know, that relationship kind of anchored my performance, just as I think the relationship anchors this film.

Anderson: I had a similar experience. ... I didn't have all the running around that David had to do, but I did have my own unfortunate [experience in the] beginning, which was to start with one of the most difficult scenes for Scully in the film. ... It's later on in the script, and she goes through a range of emotions in confronting Billy Connolly's character. ... I had a really hard time with those first couple of days with that scene. ... I just had a really hard time just finding her, finding her voice. I think I must have gone through 10 other characters in the process of trying to get to her [back], when I assumed that on the first day I'd be able to show up, and it would just be there. And it wasn't, I think, until day three, when we got to work together in ... the environment of each other and the relationship ... that it kind of felt natural and ... familiar and that I felt like I'd landed for the first time. The film is very heartfelt and thought-provoking, similar to some of the show's early episodes. Was that a factor in you guys coming back after all that time?

Duchovny: No. I mean, my coming back was not based on the script. At this point, I have almost complete blind trust in Chris and Frank to come up with the goods. So my only concern was it should be a stand-alone [story]. I didn't think it should be something that you needed specific knowledge of The X-files to enjoy. And, you know, when I read the script, I saw that it was that. Other than that, I had no ... hopes or plans for what this would be. I just knew the world that we had made and the world Chris and Frank would remake was going to be satisfying to me.

Anderson: Yeah. I had stated my interest in being on board some time ago as well, and ... by the time I read the script, it was kind of a given that this was something that we were going to do. ... I don't think there was ever a point where I jumped more on board or had the opportunity to back out.

Duchovny: She wanted a musical.

Anderson: I like to sing. What do the two of you think is the secret to your very special chemistry when playing these characters as actors?

Anderson: We've actually been having a 15-year affair.

Duchovny: I don't know why. ... Maybe just luck in the beginning. But after this long, we actually do have a history, so when I look over at Gillian or ... I'm Mulder looking over at Scully, there's a lot of s--t that I can call on. We have a lot, you know, between us. So you don't really have to make it up. ... And I think that, just as people ... 15 years later, we've just shared so much, regardless of how much we speak to one another ... I expect to see Gillian. Even if I haven't seen her for a year. [Looks at Anderson, who's gazing out the window.]

She wasn't listening.

Anderson: [laughs] I was, I was, I was. No, but I was really distracted.

Duchovny: What were you looking at?

Anderson: No, no, no, ... I was listening to every word you said.

OK, you can tune out now ... Whatever it is that is between us was there from the second we started working together. ... It's not quantifiable. ... It's something that is unique, and ... it was something that Chris had seen, which is why he fought so hard [for me]— ... it's something that's been written about a lot—but to cast me over somebody else. That he saw something between the two of us that was unique. ... Whether it was luck or that we were meant to be with each other all along, I don't know.

Duchovny: Well, I mean, there's chemistry in life, and ... there's acting chemistry ... —I'm not saying they're the same thing, but they're as mysterious.

Anderson: Yes.When you play characters this deep for so long, and then it stops, how much of that stays with you for life? I mean, does it impact your personalities in some kind of way for life?

Duchovny: That's a very interesting question. I wouldn't know how to answer. I mean, it impacts your life because strangers can see you this way, and I'll sit here, and I'll answer questions about this fictional person. So it stays with me in that way. I wouldn't say that I ever get up and think of Mulder unless I'm working on it. Yeah. I think I liked a lot about the guy when I played him. ... I liked his energy to get to the truth and the quest and all that, and I think at one point I thought that I had learned a little from that. Like a fan of mine. I was a fan of the guy. But that's as far as I go saying that he lives in me.

Anderson: The same. I don't do things, mannerisms, and think, "Oh, that was kind of like Scully." You know? But, by the same token, I don't know how much of me today wasn't influenced by the fact that I got to play her for such a long time. It's possible that there are aspects of my seriousness or my independence or my inquisitiveness about the medical profession or science or something [that] are somehow directly related to the fact that I lived with her for such a long time. But it's hard to qualify that. It's hard to say.

Duchovny: When Gillian operates on a human being ...

Anderson: That's when I'm reminded of Scully.You guys were using cell phones a lot long before they were commonplace.

Anderson: I think I only ever talked to Mulder on that cell phone. I don't think there was any conversation that was ever had with anybody else except for Mulder.

Duchovny: Yeah, you were my Fave Five.

Anderson: Was I number one or number two? Was I number one? My cell phone—remember how big they were? We just happened to have it in our pocket.

Duchovny: Yeah, you had to have a trench coat so it fit. Hello?

Anderson: I know! And the xenon [flashlight]. The cell phone in one [pocket] and the xenon flashlight in the other. ...

Duchovny: Well, the cell-phone question is interesting, because I think it extended the life of the series. Because Gilly and I were so fatigued and the advent of the cell phone—what year? '96? I don't know—was instrumentally in us being able to have time off, because ... we could split up. We didn't have to be in the same room to have a conversation. ... I'm being totally serious. So that I could have some time off, Gillian could have some time off, and we'd just talk on the phone to one another rather than be in every scene together.

Anderson: That's very true.

Duchovny: So, if not for the cell phone, no second half of The X-Files. David, you mentioned that you were feeling a certain fatigue as the series was going along, and you kind of famously pulled away from it in the last season or two. Can you talk about your love/hate relationship with Mulder and The X-Files?

Duchovny: The love/hate has nothing to do with the actual content, the actual people, the actual anything. The love/hate had to do with me wanting to get on with the rest of my life, with the rest of my career. ... I did eight years, and Gillian did nine: That's a lifetime. And there are no other dramas that keep the same characters that run that long. You look at Law & Order or ER, they're 20 years old or whatever they are, but they're completely recast. ... You don't see actors not get fatigued or not get frustrated in a drama where we're working, cell phones or not, every day for many, many hours, playing the same characters. So it's just natural to burn out. ... [But] there was always love for the show and love for the character. There was never any hate for that.

Anderson: It's interesting. It's always something for the press to latch onto. It's always a surprise in some way. It's a good headline that somebody wants to leave. It creates good drama, so ... it becomes this thing, where actually it's a natural part of [the process].

Duchovny: I'm grateful in some way. Yes, I love The X-Files, and I love Vancouver, and those things are true. Can you guys talk about working in the severe weather conditions up in Canada?

Duchovny: You're trying to trap me.

Anderson: Speaking of loving Vancouver.

Duchovny: Take it away.

Anderson: This time around, I didn't have as much exposure to it as David did. Fortunately, Chris didn't write those words in the script for Scully. ... But I was up there in Whistler, and when I arrived it was about 18 below. Fortunately it didn't stay there for too long, but ... I was out there for probably a good couple of weeks, I guess. And you know, it's beautiful, but it's also, it's exhausting. ...

Duchovny: Yeah. Let me try to say this in a way that, just in quotation marks, is going to get me in trouble. I had to work in one of the most beautiful ski resorts in the world, for almost three weeks. Pity me. ... It's hard. The logistics of it is, if you're out in the middle of nowhere, and you're running around in the freezing rain and the snow, you don't get a chance to go off and warm up in your trailer, because you're seeing so much, your trailer is on the other side of town, so you are stuck in clothes that are not fitting for the environment for a long time. So, yeah, it's a pain in the ass, but you just suck it up, and it's not going to be that long. Your feet are cold. ... Your ass is cold, and your hands are cold, and your muscles are cold. But you suck it up.

Anderson: I think one of the physically more challenging aspects for me at the time were that there were a couple of scenes where we had a lot of dialogue, and when you're in that kind of weather, and the wind is slightly blowing and the snow is coming down and your lips are actually—they do freeze—and there were a couple of scenes that were reminiscent of the pilot. There was a scene in the pilot where we were in this pouring forest rain that's freezing, and I'm screeching at him about something or another, and it felt kind of like that. ...

Duchovny: When you see it, when you see it on film, though, it's just gorgeous. You look at those big snowflakes coming down in the movie, it's just ...

Anderson: Yeah, it's beautiful.

Duchovny: It's worth it, you know? You have to know that when you're putting up with it that, if you're experiencing discomfort, then it's probably going to look pretty good on screen.

Anderson: If there's pain involved? Yeah.