"Hollywood A.D." is the nineteenth episode of the
seventh season of the American
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...
television series ''
The X-Files
''The X-Files'' is an American science fiction drama television series created by Chris Carter. The series revolves around Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), who ...
''. It premiered on the
Fox network
The Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly known simply as Fox and stylized in all caps as FOX, is an American commercial broadcast television network owned by Fox Corporation and headquartered in New York City, with master control operations ...
in the United States on April 30, 2000. The episode is a "Monster-of-the-Week" story, unconnected to the series' wider
mythology
Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narra ...
. "Hollywood A.D." earned a Nielsen household rating of 7.7, being watched by 12.88 million people in its initial broadcast. The episode was met with largely positive reviews, with many critics approving of the episode's humorous nature.
The show centers on
FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...
special agents
Fox Mulder
Fox William Mulder () is a fictional FBI Special Agent and one of the two protagonists of the Fox science fiction-supernatural television series ''The X-Files'', played by David Duchovny. Mulder's peers dismiss his many theories on extraterre ...
(
David Duchovny
David William Duchovny ( ; born ) is an American actor, writer, producer, director, novelist, and singer-songwriter. He is known for portraying FBI agent Fox Mulder on the television series ''The X-Files'' (1993–2002, 2016-2018) and as writ ...
) and
Dana Scully
Dana Katherine Scully, MD, is a fictional character and one of the two protagonists in the Fox science-fiction, supernatural television series ''The X-Files'', played by Gillian Anderson. Scully is a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Spec ...
(
Gillian Anderson
Gillian Leigh Anderson ( ; born August 9, 1968) is an American actress. Her credits include the roles of FBI Special Agent Dana Scully in the series ''The X-Files'', ill-fated socialite Lily Bart in Terence Davies's film '' The House of Mirt ...
) who work on cases linked to the paranormal, called
X-File
In the fictional universe of the television series '' The X-Files'', an "X-File" is a case that has been deemed unsolvable or given minimal-priority status by the Federal Bureau of Investigation; these files are transferred to the X-Files unit. Th ...
s. Mulder is a believer in the paranormal, while the skeptical Scully has been assigned to debunk his work. In this episode,
Wayne Federman
Wayne Federman (born June 22, 1959) is an Emmy Award winning American comedian, actor, author, writer, comedy historian, producer, and musician. He is noted for numerous stand-up comedy appearances in clubs, theaters, and on television; his book ...
, an entrepreneurial Hollywood producer and college friend of
Walter Skinner
FBI Assistant Director Walter Sergei Skinner is a fictional character portrayed by American actor Mitch Pileggi on ''The X-Files'' and its short-lived spin-off ''The Lone Gunmen'', both broadcast on Fox.
In the science fiction-supernatural ...
(
Mitch Pileggi
Mitch Pileggi (born April 5, 1952) is an American actor. He played Horace Pinker in '' Shocker'', Walter Skinner on ''The X-Files'', Colonel Steven Caldwell on ''Stargate Atlantis'', Ernest Darby in ''Sons of Anarchy'', and Harris Ryland in the ...
) picks up the idea for a film based on the X-Files, however Mulder and Scully find that the level of realism in their fictional portrayal is somewhat questionable. Meanwhile, during the filming of the movie, Mulder and Scully research the mysterious "Lazarus Bowl", an artifact that supposedly has the exact words that
Jesus Christ
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
spoke to raise
Lazarus from the dead
recorded on its surface.
"Hollywood A.D." was written and directed by series star David Duchovny, his second writing and directing credit after the
sixth season episode "
The Unnatural." The episode—written with a "
self-referential
Self-reference occurs in natural or formal languages when a sentence, idea or formula refers to itself. The reference may be expressed either directly—through some intermediate sentence or formula—or by means of some encoding. In philoso ...
" tone—features myriad guest stars, including, most notably,
Garry Shandling and
Téa Leoni
Téa Leoni (; born Elizabeth Téa Pantaleoni; February 25, 1966) is an American actress. In her early career, she starred in the television sitcoms '' Flying Blind'' (1992–93) and '' The Naked Truth'' (1995–98). Her breakthrough role was in ...
, who portray Mulder and Scully, respectively, in the episode's fictional movie. Leoni herself was also Duchovny's then-wife. The episode itself contains several in-jokes and references deliberately placed by Duchovny.
Plot
Walter Skinner
FBI Assistant Director Walter Sergei Skinner is a fictional character portrayed by American actor Mitch Pileggi on ''The X-Files'' and its short-lived spin-off ''The Lone Gunmen'', both broadcast on Fox.
In the science fiction-supernatural ...
's college friend,
Hollywood producer
Wayne Federman
Wayne Federman (born June 22, 1959) is an Emmy Award winning American comedian, actor, author, writer, comedy historian, producer, and musician. He is noted for numerous stand-up comedy appearances in clubs, theaters, and on television; his book ...
, is involved in a film project about the
FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...
. During Federman's research phase, Skinner gives him access to
Fox Mulder
Fox William Mulder () is a fictional FBI Special Agent and one of the two protagonists of the Fox science fiction-supernatural television series ''The X-Files'', played by David Duchovny. Mulder's peers dismiss his many theories on extraterre ...
and
Dana Scully
Dana Katherine Scully, MD, is a fictional character and one of the two protagonists in the Fox science-fiction, supernatural television series ''The X-Files'', played by Gillian Anderson. Scully is a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Spec ...
, who are investigating the attempted murder of
Cardinal O'Fallon. Federman tags along and constantly interrupts the agents. While searching the catacombs of O'Fallon's church, Mulder finds the remains of Micah Hoffman, a missing 1960s
counter-culturalist. Searching Hoffman's apartment, they find bombs and
counterfeiting tools, as well as a forged gospel of
Mary Magdalene. Mulder and Federman return to the catacombs, finding several skeletons and pieces of the forged gospel. Federman wanders off and stumbles upon animated bones, who attempt to assemble a shattered piece of pottery. He panics and leaves the scene.
As they examine the pottery, Scully tells Mulder the story of the "Lazarus Bowl", in which the aunt of
Lazarus had been making a clay bowl when
Jesus Christ
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
resurrected him. The words of Christ were then
recorded in the grooves of the bowl, much like a phonograph record. Mulder brings the relic to
Chuck Burks, who, after performing a sonic analysis, discovers voices in
Aramaic
The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated in ...
: In one portion part of the audio, one man commands another to rise from the dead. The other contains lyrics from "
I am the Walrus
"I Am the Walrus" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1967 television film ''Magical Mystery Tour''. Written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney, it was released as the B-side to the single "Hello, Goodbye" a ...
" by
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developmen ...
plus an allusion to the
Paul is dead
"Paul is dead" is an urban legend and conspiracy theory alleging that English musician Paul McCartney of the Beatles died on 9 November 1966 and was secretly replaced by a look-alike. The rumour began circulating in 1967, gaining broad popul ...
urban legend.
Mulder visits O'Fallon, who admits he bought the forged gospel from Hoffman, believing it was real. Meanwhile, during Hoffman's
autopsy, Scully experiences a hallucination wherein he comes back to life on the operating table and begins talking. Later, at the church, Scully has a hallucination of Hoffman in Jesus' place on a large
crucifix
A crucifix (from Latin ''cruci fixus'' meaning "(one) fixed to a cross") is a cross with an image of Jesus on it, as distinct from a bare cross. The representation of Jesus himself on the cross is referred to in English as the ''corpus'' (Lati ...
. Mulder arrests O'Fallon for Hoffman's murder, but Hoffman walks in, unscathed. He tells the agents that while he initially created the forgeries to make money, he came to believe he was the
reincarnation
Reincarnation, also known as rebirth or transmigration, is the philosophical or religious concept that the non-physical essence of a living being begins a new life in a different physical form or body after biological death. Resurrection is ...
of Christ, and bombed the church to get rid of the "blasphemous" forgeries. Skinner suspends Scully and Mulder for four weeks because of the mix-up. Sixteen months later, O'Fallon kills Hoffman in a
murder-suicide. As such, the
X-File
In the fictional universe of the television series '' The X-Files'', an "X-File" is a case that has been deemed unsolvable or given minimal-priority status by the Federal Bureau of Investigation; these files are transferred to the X-Files unit. Th ...
is never truly solved.
During their suspension, Mulder and Scully venture to
Hollywood to view the production of Federman's film. It is revealed that Federman's movie will be called ''The Lazarus Bowl'', with
Garry Shandling playing Mulder and
Téa Leoni
Téa Leoni (; born Elizabeth Téa Pantaleoni; February 25, 1966) is an American actress. In her early career, she starred in the television sitcoms '' Flying Blind'' (1992–93) and '' The Naked Truth'' (1995–98). Her breakthrough role was in ...
playing Scully. After filming is done, Mulder and Scully attend a screening of the film with Skinner, but are disappointed with how the movie portrays them and the case. The agents leave the set holding hands, presumably on their way to dinner with the FBI credit card Skinner gave them after watching the movie, hinting at the continued romantic relationship between them.
[Shapiro, pp. 229-240] As they leave, the dead who were resting underneath the film set are revived and begin to dance passionately, reinforcing a theory Mulder made earlier in the episode.
Production
Writing and filming
"Hollywood A.D." was written and directed by series co-star
David Duchovny
David William Duchovny ( ; born ) is an American actor, writer, producer, director, novelist, and singer-songwriter. He is known for portraying FBI agent Fox Mulder on the television series ''The X-Files'' (1993–2002, 2016-2018) and as writ ...
. After receiving largely positive feedback about his last creation,
sixth-season episode "
The Unnatural", Duchovny approached executive producer
Frank Spotnitz
Frank Charles Spotnitz is an American television screenwriter and executive producer, best known for his work on ''The X-Files'' and ''The Man in the High Castle''. Spotnitz is also the chief executive officer and founder of Big Light Production ...
about the possibility of writing another. Spotnitz gave him the go-ahead and was soon given a rough copy of the script. Series creator
Chris Carter was very happy with the story, calling it "a smart,
.. quirky, and intelligent idea" and he later described it as "outside the norm, even for ''The X-Files''."
[Shapiro, p. 240] After Carter approved the script, Duchovny also took on an active role in pre-production.
There was a "considerable" amount of stunt work, choreographing, and makeup required during the production of "Hollywood A.D."
Two stunt doubles were hired for the scene in which Shandling and Leoni roll down a hill into a coffin, and other stunt men were cast in non-stunt related jobs, including several who were "transform
d into
zombies
A zombie (Haitian French: , ht, zonbi) is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. Zombies are most commonly found in horror and fantasy genre works. The term comes from Haitian folklore, in wh ...
a tedious process that took five hours to complete. The dance sequence at the end of the episode reportedly took two complete days to film. The first day was shot during active production, and the second was shot on the weekend. The latter of the two made use of
chroma key
Chroma key compositing, or chroma keying, is a visual-effects and post-production technique for compositing (layering) two images or video streams together based on colour hues ( chroma range). The technique has been used in many fields to ...
ing, and when the two scenes were finished, they were composited in
post-production.
Casting
Duchovny cast several of ''The X-Files technical crew in the episode: Tina M. Amedrui, the show's actual craft services woman, portrayed Tina, the craft service woman in Wayne Federman's movie. Bill Roe, the show's photography director, was cast as a vegetarian zombie.
Assistant director Barry K. Thomas was cast as one of the men on the movie set, Paul Rabwin was cast as a producer, and special effects coordinator Bill Millar was cast as the movie's director.
[Shapiro, p. 241] Duchovny also cast his brother,
Daniel, as the assistant director.
Thanks to their part in this episode, several of Duchovny's family members and friends were able to apply for their
Screen Actor's Guild card, making them eligible for health insurance.
[Kessenich, p. 81]
Téa Leoni
Téa Leoni (; born Elizabeth Téa Pantaleoni; February 25, 1966) is an American actress. In her early career, she starred in the television sitcoms '' Flying Blind'' (1992–93) and '' The Naked Truth'' (1995–98). Her breakthrough role was in ...
, who portrayed a fictionalized version of herself portraying Scully in Wayne Federman's movie, was married to David Duchovny when this episode was filmed, a decision casting director Rick Millikan considered "clever."
[ Duchovny also cast his friend and fellow actor Garry Shandling as a fictionalized version of himself portraying Mulder in the movie. Shandling had originally been asked to play ]Morris Fletcher
On ''The X-Files'' television show, the term Men in Black refers to a group of enforcers employed by the Syndicate to execute assassinations, cover-ups and other clandestine operations. It is clear that most, if not all, of them are former members ...
in the sixth-season episode " Dreamland", but he was unavailable at the time.[Meisler, p. 64] The reference to Garry Shandling having a crush on Mulder came from a recurring joke from the TV show ''The Larry Sanders Show
''The Larry Sanders Show'' is an American television sitcom set in the office and studio of a fictional late-night talk show. The series was created by Garry Shandling and Dennis Klein and aired from August 15, 1992, to May 31, 1998, on the HBO ...
'', starring Shandling. (In the recurring joke, David Duchovny has a romantic interest in Shandling's character.)[
The joke about Mulder wanting ]Richard Gere
Richard Tiffany Gere ( ; born August 31, 1949) is an American actor. He began in films in the 1970s, playing a supporting role in '' Looking for Mr. Goodbar'' (1977) and a starring role in ''Days of Heaven'' (1978). He came to prominence with ...
to be in ''The Lazarus Bowl'' stemmed from the fact that Duchovny's acting was often compared to Gere's. Duchovny explained: "We used to always have the joke on set that when they do the movie it's going to be Richard Gere and Jodie Foster
Alicia Christian "Jodie" Foster (born November 19, 1962) is an American actress and filmmaker. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, three British Academy Film Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, and the hono ...
laying Mulder and Scully So I originally wrote the teaser for Richard Gere and Jodie Foster and I just started to think about it and you know, it's so much funnier with Garry and Téa." The scene featuring the movie premiere featured several uncredited celebrity cameos, including: Minnie Driver
Amelia Fiona Jessica "Minnie" Driver (born 31 January 1970) is an English actress. She rose to prominence with her break-out role in 1995's '' Circle of Friends''. She went on to star in a wide range of films including the cult classic '' Grosse ...
, David Alan Grier, and Chris Carter himself.
Broadcast and reception
"Hollywood A.D." first aired in the United States on April 30, 2000. This episode earned a Nielsen rating
Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rati ...
of 7.7, with a 12 share, meaning that roughly 7.7 percent of all television-equipped households, and 12 percent of households watching television, were tuned in to the episode. It was viewed by 12.88 million viewers.[Shapiro, p. 281] The episode aired in the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
and Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
on Sky1 on May 7, 2000, and received 0.80 million viewers, making it the second most watched episode that week.[ Note: Information is in the section titled "w/e July 17–23, 1999", listed under Sky 1] Fox promoted the episode with the tagline "Garry Shandling as Agent Mulder? Téa Leoni as Agent Scully?"
Critical reception to "Hollywood A.D." was mostly positive. ''The Montreal Gazette
The ''Montreal Gazette'', formerly titled ''The Gazette'', is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Three other daily English-language newspapers shuttered at various times during the second half of th ...
'' named the episode the sixth best stand-alone ''X-Files'' episode, writing that "Despite taxing our stomach for self-reflexive comedy, this David Duchovny scripted and directed episode manages to deliver some of the greatest laughs of the series." Rob Bricken from Topless Robot
Village Voice Media or VVM is a newspaper company. It began in 1970 as a weekly alternative newspaper in Phoenix. The company, founded by Michael Lacey (editor) and Jim Larkin (publisher), was then known as New Times Inc. (NTI) and the publicat ...
named "Hollywood A.D." the seventh funniest ''X-Files'' episode. Jessica Morgan from Television Without Pity
Television Without Pity (often abbreviated TWoP) was a website that provided detailed recaps of select television dramas, situation comedy, situation comedies and reality TV shows along with discussion forums. These recaps were written with sarca ...
gave the episode a B, slightly criticizing the dancing zombies at the end of the episode. Sarah Kendzior from 11th Hour Magazine wrote that, "My favorite pisodethis year may well be 'Hollywood A.D.', an ambitious, often ingenious and occasionally flawed sophomore effort concerning the entertainment industry, religion, and pretty much everything in between." Rich Rosell from DigitallyObsessed.com awarded the episode 5 out of 5 stars and wrote that " hescene from the 'movie' where Shandling/Mulder faces off against The Cigarette Smoking Pontiff, and his army of sniper zombies, is classic stuff, and earns 'Hollywood A.D.' high marks." Kenneth Silber from Space.com
Space.com is an online publication focused on space exploration, astronomy, skywatching and entertainment, with editorial teams based in the United States and United Kingdom. The website offers live coverage of space missions, astronomical discov ...
, while criticizing the episode for reveling in parody
A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its sub ...
, noted that the episode was entertaining, writing, "'Hollywood A.D.' is a parody and, as such, will be unsatisfying to the many ''X-Files'' viewers, including this long-suffering reviewer, who'd like to see the series culminate in a dramatic, multi-episode denouement of its ' mythology arc'. Nonetheless, this episode has merit as a witty and imaginative parody."
Tom Kessenich, in his book ''Examinations'', gave the episode a relatively positive review. He wrote, "'Hollywood A.D.' was Duchovny's nudge-nudge, wink-wink writing-directing effort for this season. ..Duchovny did not fail to deliver an episode that truly reflected his own wit and intelligence. All the while remaining true to the spirit of the show that made him famous."[Kessenich, p. 131] Zack Handlen of ''The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
'' awarded the episode a "B+", and wrote that it "is muddled and frequently so in love with just being weird for weird’s sake that everybody forgets we need at least a little justification to pull everything together in the end."[ He also called it "a hard episode not to love, frankly." Handlen felt that the humor and sweetness helped to make the episode a success. He also wrote that Mulder and Scully's dynamic worked towards the episode's favor.]
In popular culture
On the "Killer Cable Snaps" episode of the popular science television series
A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed be ...
'' MythBusters'', which aired on October 11, 2006, the possibility that audio could be transcribed onto pottery was tested (the myth received a "busted" result). Clips from "Hollywood A.D." were shown during the segment.
In a March 2021 interview with Emiko Tamagawa on the National Public Radio
National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...
program "Here & Now," David Duchovny
David William Duchovny ( ; born ) is an American actor, writer, producer, director, novelist, and singer-songwriter. He is known for portraying FBI agent Fox Mulder on the television series ''The X-Files'' (1993–2002, 2016-2018) and as writ ...
said that his 2021 novel '' Truly Like Lightning'' originated in research he had done about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ch ...
while writing this episode.
Footnotes
Bibliography
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External links
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{{good article
2000 American television episodes
Television episodes set in Los Angeles
Hollywood, Los Angeles in fiction
Metafictional television episodes
Murder–suicide in fiction
Portrayals of Jesus on television
Television episodes about Catholicism
The X-Files (season 7) episodes
Television episodes about zombies
Television episodes about filmmaking