Watch Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny sing Neil Young’s ‘Helpless’
David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson formed one of the best on-screen partnerships ever seen on the small screen. This was FBI special agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully in Fox’s hit sci-fi drama, The X-Files. Drawing on the influence of a range of earlier twisted titles such as Twin Peaks, The Twilight Zone and Kolchak: The Night Stalker, the show became a pop culture phenomenon, spawning 11 series and two feature films in total.
Famously, Mulder and Scully were rivals in the beginning, with the former a conspiracy theorist and the latter a scientist brought in to disprove her new partner’s theories and return him to ordinary cases. However, they are drawn closer together by an overarching conspiracy, and towards the end of The X-Files, they develop a romantic bond.
Despite their narrative arc, Anderson and Duchovny were never romantic partners in real life. In fact, at points, things could not be further from their characters. In 2015, when speaking to The Guardian, a year before the show’s long-awaited return, Anderson explained: “There were definitely periods when we hated each other… We didn’t talk for long periods of time. It was intense, and we were both pains in the arse for the other at various times.”
Prior to this, Duchovny had been open about their somewhat tense relationship. “Familiarity breeds contempt,” he disclosed to Metro back in 2008. “We used to argue about nothing. We couldn’t stand the sight of each other.”
“It’s nothing to do with the other person,” he continued. “All that fades away and you’re just left with the appreciation and love for the people you’ve worked with for so long.”
In her Guardian interview, Anderson maintained that although there were times when the two hated each other, she ultimately felt that “hate is too strong a word.” She even went as far as to say that “we are closer today than we have ever been.”
There’s validity to what the pair said, and it seems that at the time of Anderson’s interview with The Guardian, they were indeed better than they’d ever been.
Where’s the evidence for this? Well, in 2015, Duchovny released his debut studio album, Hell or Highwater. In celebration, he organised a show at the New York venue The Cutting Room, where he enlisted none other than Gillian Anderson to perform a stirring rendition of Neil Young and CSNY’s ‘Helpless’.
I knew that he loved music, but I had no idea that Duchovny or Anderson, for that matter, had musical talent. The clip of The X-Files stars covering the 1970 classic clearly shows both have a great deal. It’s a far cry from the events depicted in their hit TV show.
