David Duchovny directed his first movie thanks to Robin Williams

When David Duchovny first started playing the extraterrestrial-investigating FBI Agent Fox Mulder in "The X-Files" in the early 1990s, he wasn't as green as an alien from outer space. But despite having smaller roles in projects like "Don't Tell Mom The Babysitter's Dead," "Twin Peaks," and "The Rapture" under his belt, he still felt like he was learning on the job.

"Some actors can really do it from the beginning, and some actors are learners," Duchovny tells Business Insider. "I'm more of a learner."

Though audiences were charmed by Mulder's aloof determination on the hit Fox series, Duchovny looks back at the show's early seasons and sees an actor sometimes inelegantly coming into his own.

"I was afforded the opportunity to teach myself how to do what I do through those many hours," he explains, "so I can look back at it and say, 'That's kind of a lame performance I'm giving in year one or year two.'"

"The X-Files" ended up giving Duchovny a crash course in more than just acting. He credits series creator Chris Carter with encouraging him to try his hand at writing and directing his own episodes of the series, an opportunity that led him to fall in love with both crafts.

Since then, Duchovny, now 63, has followed various different creative pursuits simultaneously. He's directed stars like the late Robin Williams and Frank Langella in "House of D" and written, directed, and starred in "Reverse the Curse," a film he adapted from one of his five — yes, five — novels, "Bucky F*cking Dent." He's also continued to stretch himself as an actor, tackling roles like hedonist writer Hank Moody in "Californication" and Method actor Ryan Glenn in HBO's "The Sympathizer." He's even found the time to release three studio albums.

Clearly, being "a learner" is keeping him busy.

For the latest interview in BI's Role Play series, Duchovny breaks down the shock of filming his first sex scene, playing the straight man in "Zoolander," and why Method acting is misunderstood.

On how 'The X-Files' became his acting school

It's been over 30 years since "The X-Files" premiered. If you had the chance to do it all again, what would you do differently?

I wouldn't have done anything differently. It played out well. I was fairly green as an actor when I got that job. I was incredibly work-intensive in terms of hours and physical stuff — it really became my acting school.

I don't do it often, but if I watch something from the first couple of years, I see an actor that hasn't figured it out yet. But there's a certain kind of willingness in that person that I see on the screen, and I'm just thankful that I had the opportunity.

Is there a standout moment from working on the set that comes to mind?

Something that Chris Carter said to me. I said by the fifth or sixth season I'd like to try to direct something. And he said, "If you write something and it's good, then you can direct it." So he pushed me to start writing, and I learned a lot just from doing that show the previous five or six years.

So really, that was the moment when I started directing and writing and actually started taking control of other aspects of my performative life. That stands out to me.

On directing Robin Williams and playing the straight man in 'Zoolander'

You directed Robin Williams in the coming-of-age comedy-drama "House of D." What was your creative relationship like?

Robin was the reason I could make that movie! It was an independent film and back then — and to a certain extent now — financing is dependent on movie stars to get those little movies off the ground. So when Robin said yes, all of a sudden I had a movie.

I had my ex-wife, Téa Leoni, who I think is one of the great actresses of her generation. I had Erykah Badu, one of the great artists of her generation. I had Anton Yelchin, who was going to be one of the great actors of his generation, and Frank Langella before he made his comeback. I had an embarrassment of riches at my disposal.

None of that would've happened if Robin hadn't said yes.

Robin was just a creative powerhouse. He was just full of a life force. The question was, "How do we harness whatever we're trying to do here?" And he was an actor, so he knew how to do that. I was very fond of him personally and professionally.

You also worked with Ben Stiller on "Zoolander" in your cameo as the world's greatest hand model. What was it like ad-libbing with Ben Stiller?

I give him this long monologue that serves as the backstory to how models have been fucking up the world since time began. And then he says, "But what about models after that?" And I said, "I just told you," or something like that. It's not a great comedic moment or a great ad-lib, but I think it remains in the movie.

I remember I wanted to be kind of word-perfect because it was a lot of exposition. I felt like I could be funniest as a straight man. I thought, what if I play this guy like he's Gene Hackman in "Conspiracy Theory"? No winking at all. I'm in a different movie and that'll be funny.

I mean, it worked. Do people ask you about how to be a hand model?

They don't so much ask me about how to be a hand model, but they'll ask me which hand was in a biometric chamber, things like that. That little role has a certain amount of staying power. It's interesting to me because it wasn't a hit when it came out. It became kind of a sleeper hit after its original life.

On shooting his first sex scene and making sure everyone was comfortable in raunchier scenes in 'Californication'

Another fan-favorite project of yours is "Californication," which was pretty raunchy at times. How difficult was it to manage the sexy atmosphere in those scenes? This was before intimacy coordinators were commonplace, after all.

It was common decency, which is something I've tried to practice in my life forever. It's basically what intimacy coordinators do now. It's just trying to figure out how everybody's going to be comfortable, what they're comfortable with, what they want to do. And it was kind of a no-brainer to me.

The first sex scene I ever did was in "The Rapture," and forget about intimacy coordinators.

I had a director on a megaphone across the furniture store on Santa Monica Boulevard saying, "Come!" And we had never spoken about this, and of course, I'm not going to come, but he wanted me to act like I was orgasming.

It's very different from what we tried in "Californication." We're making a comedy, we're not making porn. These are actors and these are people and everybody needs to be respected and comfortable.

That was always first and foremost in my mind as the lead actor on the set. How's everybody going to be comfortable? How's everybody going to be safe? And how are we going to all be in the same tone of this show? I consider that my job.

What are your thoughts on using intimacy coordinators nowadays?

I think it's great that there's a way to make actors comfortable. Now, I think it's difficult for directors, because it's another person telling you what's okay to shoot. But it's a time and place that we're in, and it's probably going to do a lot more good than hurt some director's feelings or whatever. It's going to protect people.

There was a lot of bad behavior, and that's not just in Hollywood. So there should be intimacy coordinators all over the world, in every profession. That'd be great. The more we can protect people that need protection, the better.

On playing a Method-acting jerk in 'The Sympathizer' and adapting his own book

This year, you starred in "The Sympathizer" as Ryan Glenn who, respectfully, is an absolute maniac Method actor. Did you try double down for the role and go Method yourself?

Well, Method, it's kind of a misnomer, to be honest with you. I mean, I studied the Strasberg Method. That's supposedly a dumb Method. But I think in pop culture, we have this idea now that the Method means that you never break character.

That's not something Strasberg ever taught. I don't think it's something anybody ever taught. I really don't think it's something that people do very much — the people who are going to be badly behaved are going to find ways to justify it.

So the Strasberg Method is different from a guy who refuses to break character or who does shitty things under the guise of staying in character. The way I looked at that character was just that he cares that deeply about the work, and I could relate to that. I could relate to somebody who thinks that superficial work is being done around him or being applauded around him, and he's going to show up and he's going to do the work from the heart.

He's a jerk, but he ends up getting a great performance out of his costar, in a way.

Out of all the characters that you've played, who's your favorite?

I have to say I'm probably most proud of "Reverse the Curse" at this point as a work of art or commercial art. I loved playing Marty, the father. It was never something that I had planned on doing. I wrote this story originally as a screenplay 15 years ago, and I was going to play Ted, the son, that Logan Marshall-Green plays.

I got close to doing it a few times. I'm happy that it took long enough for me to age out of that part and to have to confront myself playing Marty because it's not a role that I've ever played before. It forced me to do certain things that I haven't been forced to do before. And I really enjoyed that challenge. So today it's Marty.

On my deathbed? I don't know… I don't know what it's going to be.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.