Duchovny, Baldwin share thoughts on TV

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THR: When it comes to twisting reality, though, TV has nothing on you guys. And the tabloids and blogs are getting progressively nastier.

Harris: It isn’t like they’re even necessarily looking for scandalous information anymore. They seize on menial things and blow them up, and the explosion of blogs has helped fuel that mentality and made it even messier. The silver lining is that the elevator moves so fast now that within two days it’s all gone and forgotten.

Baldwin: What they do is take you on your worst day and represent that it’s who you are. If I have four bad days in four years, all four of them are on TV. Your worst behavior winds up becoming what defines your public image, which really isn’t fair.

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Danson: Then there are guys like me who are so boring that we try to remind people of any bad moments we’ve had just to get back out there.

THR: But is that the worst part of fame?

Danson: The worst part is the sense of entitlement that creeps up on you. You find yourself flying economy class, and it’s only then that it occurs to you how spoiled you are.

Duchovny: I hate to bring it back to an artistic level, but, you know, as an actor your job is to observe and interpret. And once you are the observed, your job of observing becomes very difficult because people change their s--t around you. Fame hinders your ability to go out and look at the way people walk and talk.

THR: You guys all have done movies as well as TV. Do you think the stigma of being perceived as TV actors has disappeared entirely?

Spade: I have to think that’s true. If the good script is in TV, that’s what you should do. Just because it’s a (theatrical) movie doesn’t mean it’s better at all.

Danson: Alec is amazing for the way he’s crossed from film into a sitcom and nailed it perfectly. He’s an example of the way to do it.

Baldwin: Thanks. You know, I love being on “30 Rock” because it keeps you moving constantly. We do six and a half pages a day. And I mean, it’s a cliche, but a movie really is about sitting around. In TV, it speeds by.

Wilson: Also in film, you’re sculpting a story that an audience is going to invest 90 minutes or two hours in. It’s different in TV, where you don’t pay nearly as much attention to where the character is starting and ending up. I love watching Russell Crowe, but I’d never want him on a TV show in my living room on a weekly basis. It would just be too much to take.

Duchovny: Ultimately, I think film becomes an editor’s medium. You give them 15 takes and then release control over it. On TV, the actor really has more control over the whole process.

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