Chris Carter, right, director of The X-Files: I Want To Believe, at the premiere in Los Angeles on Wednesday. He is accompanied by actor David Duchovny, left. (Chris Pizzello/Associated Press)The truth is out there: despite some bitterness in the past, British Columbians really love The X-Files.
Series creator Chris Carter was recognized Thursday night in Vancouver by the B.C. government for his contribution to the province's television and film industry.
A few dozen fans and a throng of media gathered around a short red carpet to welcome Carter and executive producer Frank Spotnitz before a private screening of the new film X-Files: I Want to Believe.
Starting in 1993, the TV series was shot in and around Vancouver. After five years, it relocated to Los Angeles.
"We came back [to film the movie in Vancouver] because we had made our mark and this is where it all started," said Carter. "So we wanted to come back and we wanted to see if we could put the band back together, so to speak."
A framed certificate was presented outside a downtown cinema by Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan before a screening of the film.
"He's very loved in this city," Sullivan said of Carter. "He's very respected for what he's done for us, the fact that he's made this commitment to come back to Vancouver … it's put us on the map."
Carter called the city's recognition a "huge honour."
In a statement, Tourism, Culture and Arts Minister Bill Bennett said Carter's been a driving force behind hundreds of productions in B.C. since the first episode of the television show was shot in Vancouver.
Though some hardcore fans in British Columbia will never get over their bitterness at the series' move to L.A., which was widely blamed on lead actor David Duchovny, Carter said Vancouver was never intended to be a permanent home.
"We came here to do a TV pilot and we ended up staying five years … we stayed five years longer than we ever imagined staying, so it was time to go home," he said. "And now we're back and that's the lesson here. You can come home again."
Fan Danielle De Carle, wearing a T-shirt with the words "Trust No One," lined up to get autographs from both Spotnitz and Carter. She said she's been a fan of the show since she was six.
"I'm in fan-girl overdrive, I can't even think," she said.
Spotnitz said it was "strange" to finally be able to talk about the film, since its creators went to great lengths to keep any details about it a secret.
Fake call sheets and script pages were thrown away in garbage cans around production sets and the crew staged fake photographs to lead prying media in the wrong direction.
"We so muddied the waters out there that nobody knew what to believe," he said. "We actually kept the movie a secret until the press finally saw it."
