David Duchovny's new book is about a family in isolation who rejoin society
The X-Files and Californication actor is back with his fourth novel, called Truly Like Lightning
Before David Duchovny became known as Agent Fox Mulder on The X-Files, the actor had planned to be an academic who studied literature.
"I've been in conversation with books my entire life and I always wanted to be in written conversation with them as well, novel to novel," Duchovny told q host Tom Power in an interview. "I do believe there's a conversation — a historical conversation — that goes on between novels and I wanted to get involved in them."
While Duchovny is best known for his work in film and TV, he's also a New York Times bestselling author who has written four novels. His latest, titled Truly Like Lightning, is about a fundamentalist Mormon family that returns to society after living in isolation in the desert.
WATCH | David Duchovny's full interview with q host Tom Power:
Beyond that, Duchovny is a musician with two albums to his credit. He said his interest in music came as a complete surprise to him, unlike his interest in writing which predated his acting career.
"Rhythm and music are very important to me when I'm writing. Rhythm and music are important to me when I'm acting, and obviously, when I'm doing music as well," said Duchovny.
He said that he is always trying to determine what he wants to express and the best way to do it.
"I have an idea. What does it want to be? Does it want to be a show that I'm going to try to develop, so I can play that part? Or is it just a song? Is it an idea for a song? Or is it an idea for a novel?"
With Truly Like Lightning, Duchovny said he wanted to respond to the "huge shifts in culture" in the past five or so years, including Trump, Brexit, the #MeToo movement and Black Lives Matter.
He finished the book ahead of schedule more than a year ago, before the COVID-19 pandemic had hit, but his publisher convinced him to push the release date until after the U.S. presidential election.
"I was slightly disappointed in that," he said. "Just because I had it and [wanted to] get it out."
Serendipitously, the delay benefitted Duchovny when he and directors Tyler Nelson and Mike Schwartz started pitching an adaptation of the novel to TV networks.
"Ultimately, we set it up with Showtime — I hope to develop it for them — but as we were pitching it … [my agent] said, 'This is something we can all relate to now. David wrote this before the pandemic, but this is about taking your family out of society so they can be safe and we're all asking ourselves that question now.'"
"I had never thought of that," said Duchovny.
Art as religion
In late 2020, Duchovny also released a new single, called Layin' On The Tracks, to acknowledge movements like Black Lives Matter as being a part of "an ongoing American story."
Art is not politics and art isn't a political statement.- David Duchovny
"I'm going to put my body — in the form of a song anyway — along the tracks of this train that's barrelling down on all of us. I'm going to do what I can to stop it," he said.
"It's nothing, it's just a song, it's just one person, but I wanted to go on record saying, 'I'm on this side of history. I want to be on this side of history and I want to do what I can to stop the train that's barrelling at us.'"
WATCH | Official lyric video for Duchovny's single Layin' On The Tracks:
Duchovny noted that he wouldn't make art unless he believed in its power to bring people together; however he thinks that "art is not politics and art isn't a political statement."
"I would tidily wrap this in a bow and say that art would be my religion in that way," he said.
"In the way that it's always going to be the bedrock of what it is to be human ... and not the bedrock of what it is to be a Democrat, Republican, Black, white or whatever. It's the bedrock of humanity. And that transcends politics. That transcends cultural movements."
Written by Vivian Rashotte. Interview produced by Chris Trowbridge.