The pilot for Ryan Coogler’s reboot of The X-Files officially wrapped earlier this month, and I’m excited to see what this new take will bring, especially as it could be even more visually stunning than expected. According to reports circulating on social media, The X-Files pilot was shot on 65mm film by Autumn Durald Arkapaw, who won the Academy Award for Sinners.
Do any TV Shows Shoot on 65mm Film?
It’s pretty rare for a TV series to be shot on 65mm film, and I wonder if The X-Files reboot will actually keep it up if it’s ordered to series. The third season of Euphoria was said to be the first narrative TV series to shoot on 65mm film, with HBO saying a “significant volume” of the season was shot on a new KODAK motion picture film stock. The rest was shot on 35mm.
What We Know About The X-Files Reboot
Coogler wrote and directed the reboot pilot, which stars Danielle Deadwyler (The Piano Lesson) and Himesh Patel (Yesterday) as two highly decorated but vastly different FBI agents who form an unlikely bond when they are assigned to a long-shuttered division devoted to cases involving unexplained phenomena.
“I really can’t tell you much with regards to anything other than it’s just a pilot, for now,” Patel said. “We shot a pilot, we’ll see what happens, but I had a great time, and everyone was great to work with, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed.“
The pilot also boasts an impressive guest cast, including Amy Madigan (Weapons), Steve Buscemi (Reservoir Dogs), Ben Foster (Hell or High Water), Devery Jacobs (Reservation Dogs), Lochlyn Munro (Freddy vs. Jason), Tantoo Cardinal (Dances with Wolves), Joel D. Montgrand (Avatar: The Last Airbender), and Sofia Grace Clifton (Station 19).
What About David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson?
It remains to be seen if David Duchovny or Gillian Anderson will be involved in the reboot, but that’s assuming it even takes place in the same world.
Coogler spoke with Anderson about the project pretty early on and teased a possible appearance. “She’s incredible, and fingers-crossed there. When I spoke to her, she was finishing [Tron: Ares] up. But, yeah, but we’re gonna try to make something really great… and really be something for the real X-Files fans, you know what I’m saying? And, maybe, find some new ones.” Anderson later added that the pilot script was “really good” and she had high hopes for the series.
As for Duchovny, he hadn’t read the script but had spoken with Coogler and had a general sense of what it was about. When asked if he would appear, Duchovny merely said, “There have been talks about certain things, but there’s nothing concrete at this point.”
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