My interview with David Duchovny...

David Duchovny is stepping back into his role as FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder in this summer's feature film "The X-Files: I Want to Believe." Since the series on which the movie is based ended in 2002, David has taken on a series of different roles ranging from comedy ("Connie and Carla") to heavy drama ("Things We Lost in the Fire") and even starred and directed in his own film "House of D."

But the role that has really transformed perceptions of him is that of Hank Moody, a brilliant but troubled novelist in Showtime's terrific series "Californication." David, 47, is a revelation in the role which earned him a Golden Globe Award in January and should be a shoo-in for an Emmy nod.

"I enjoy playing him mostly because in the comic tradition this is a guy who says what he thinks and does what he wants to do," David told me Monday at a party in Hancock Park celebrating the DVD release of the first season. "A lot of comedy is based on somebody breaking social norms, somebody who doesn't abide by the rules that we all have to. That's like the energy and the fun of comedy. We all wish that we didn't have to abide by the rules and yet we all do for the most part. It's either tragedy or comedy. Tragedy is when you don't abide by the rules and you hurt somebody, in comedy nobody really gets hurt."

Hank is quite a handful his drinking, promiscuity and complicated life involving his ex-girlfriend(Natascha McElhone) and their daughter (Madeleine Martin) and the real complications from his sleeping - unknowingly - with his ex's new step-daughter (Madeline Zima) who also turns out to be a minor.

It's a far cry from "The X-Files."

"There was always a lot of discussion directed at me when I was doing 'The X-Files' about typecasting and that kind of stuff and it never really was a concern for me," David said. "It's just really nice to be able to stretch in another direction and I hope there's more."

But he was more than happy to reprise his "X-Files" role in the new movie out July 25: "I was very excited to do it and I'm very excited now that I've seen the finished product. I think Chris Carter made just a great thriller. A really smart, scary 'X-Files' back in the tradition of the first couple of years of the show. I am just really proud of him and of us - that we pulled it off."