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   David Duchovny relishes the chance to tinker with his childhood   
   in 'House of D'   
      
   06:52 AM CDT on Thursday, April 21, 2005   
      
   By PHILIP WUNTCH   
   The Dallas Morning News   
      
   35th USA FILM FESTIVAL   
      
   Don't confuse David Duchovny with Tommy Warshaw.   
      
   Mr. Duchovny, who grew up in Greenwich Village during the 1970s,   
   has written, directed and stars in the USA Film Festival's   
   opening night attraction, House of D.  The nostalgic comedy-drama   
   details the excitement and anxiety of Tommy Warshaw, a young lad   
   growing up in Greenwich Village in New York City during the 1970s.   
      
   "The externals are the same, but the internals are different,"   
   Mr. Duchovny said in a recent telephone conversation.   
   Mr. Duchovny plays the adult Tommy in the film.  "Like Tommy,   
   I worked after school as a delivery boy for a meat market.   
   Like Tommy, I played stickball.  But some of the things that I   
   had happen to Tommy were strictly wish-fulfillment on my part."   
      
   Tommy's experiences include coping with a despondent, widowed mother   
   (played by Mr. Duchovny's wife, Tea Leoni), befriending a mentally   
   challenged janitor (Robin Williams), getting advice-to-the-lovelorn   
   from an incarcerated prostitute (Erykah Badu) and, in a brief   
   but compelling scene, being propositioned by an older woman.   
      
   "Regarding that last bit, well, like I said, some of the things that   
   I had happen to Tommy were strictly wish-fulfillment on my part,"   
   said Mr. Duchovny, and even over the phone you could sense the deadpan   
   delivery that made The X-Files' Fox Mulder a classic character.   
      
   Young Tommy is played by Anton Yelchin, best-known for starring   
   opposite Anthony Hopkins in the film version of Stephen King's   
   Hearts in Atlantis.  The scenes of his conversing with Ms. Badu   
   from the sidewalk through the bars of the Women's House of Detention   
   are based on stories Mr. Duchovny heard from other Greenwich   
   Village dwellers.   
      
   "I'd hear about it happening, and I'd ride around on my bike and   
   watch it taking place.  I always thought it was just a fascinating   
   set of circumstances.  The women at the House of Detention would   
   be yelling down to relatives and lovers, sometimes having the most   
   intimate conversations with lovers.  Sometimes they'd flash a   
   breast in exchange for bringing them some cigarettes.  But everyone   
   would be yelling at each other as if nobody was listening."   
      
   Mr. Williams was the first actor cast in the film, and his 15-year-old   
   daughter Zelda plays Tommy's first love, an upscale teen named Melissa.   
      
   "We needed at least one lead star.  This is a small, independent   
   film about growing up, and we needed a star to sell it.  The role   
   of the janitor offered the biggest star turn, and I knew Robin would   
   be great in it.  He read the screenplay and liked it.  Later on,   
   he told me that his daughter was interested in acting and that   
   she'd like to audition.  He emphasized the word 'audition.'   
   He never pressured me.  So one day, Anton and I went to Robin's   
   home in San Francisco to go over some scenes with him.  I said,   
   'Why don't we have Zelda come down and I can talk to her?'   
   And she turned out to have just the right quality."   
      
   Ultimately, House of D is a rite-of-passage story, particularly when   
   Tommy begins to outgrow his friendship with Mr. Williams' janitor.   
      
   "It's a story about growing up," Mr. Duchovny said.  "And 'growing up'   
   is one of those phrases that sounds so simplistic when you say it and   
   turns out to be so difficult.  It's a constant process.  Sometimes   
   something will happen to me that I think I've handled maturely.   
   And then something will come up that I know I handled like an infant."   
      
   Mr. Duchovny is well aware that critics have given House of D   
   mixed reviews.  He is, well, trying to handle it maturely.  On a   
   happier note, the film's opening week in limited release received   
   substantial box-office returns and strong audience support.   
      
   "It's an emotional movie, and sometimes critics respond to emotional   
   movies in different ways.  I've watched it with audiences, and they laugh   
   and cry and then come up and thank me for telling a universal story."   
      
   He is long familiar with literary criticism.  The 44-year-old   
   graduated from Princeton with a master's in English literature.   
   He then attended Yale and was just a thesis short of a Ph.D.   
   when he decided to quit school and try acting.   
      
   "My parents split when I was 11," he said.  "My dad didn't care when   
   I quit Yale.  He hadn't been around much since I was 11.  My mom was   
   unhappy only because, like any parent, she wanted me to be financially   
   secure.  The success rate of an actor is minuscule.  I never felt   
   financially secure until The X-Files had been on for several seasons."   
      
   But did he feel emotionally secure directing his wife through   
   several intense dramatic scenes in House of D?   
      
   "Oh, yes, it was a great experience," he said.  "You see,   
   I am a great fan of Ms. Leoni's work."   
      
   And, once again, even over the telephone, you can sense Fox Mulder's   
   deadpan delivery.   
   <===   
      
   ===>   
   Philip Wuntch's Review of 'House of D'   
      
   The opening night feature at the USA Film Festival is David   
   Duchovny's House of D.  This is one movie that wears its earnestness   
   on its shirtsleeve, and beneath that shirtsleeve is a very heavy hand.   
   Filled with soul-searching close-ups and heartfelt speeches, the movie   
   focuses on an American in Paris (Mr. Duchovny), reminiscing about   
   his Greenwich Village youth.  Much of the action occurs in 1974,   
   apparently a great time to live in the Village.  The movie overflows   
   with eccentric characters, none more eccentric than Robin Williams'   
   sweet, retarded custodian.  Erykah Badu plays a prostitute who   
   offers the young hero worthy advice from behind the bars of the   
   Women's House of Detention, while Frank Langella is seen as a   
   compassionate clergyman.   
      
   Anton Yelchin has the right combo of humor and wistfulness to   
   play Mr. Duchovny's character as a 13-year-old.  But the movie is   
   overwritten, overdirected and overacted.  Tea Leoni, married to   
   Mr. Duchovny off-screen, plays Mr. Yelchin's mercurial mother,   
   whose moods swing to the darkest layers of despondency.   
   Like the movie itself, her performance is a noble effort.   
      
   But for everyone involved, a little more restraint should have   
   been advised.   
   <===   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)