Hollywood A.D. (30 Apr. 2000)
"The X Files" Hollywood A.D. (original title)

Skinner's buddy from college, Wayne Federman, trails Mulder and Scully on a case involving a pipe bombing in a church, at Skinner's insistence. Wayne is a writer/producer from Hollywood ... See full summary »

Director:

David Duchovny

Writers:

Chris Carter (creator), David Duchovny

Stars:

David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Mitch Pileggi

Cast

Episode cast overview:
David Duchovny	...	Fox Mulder
Gillian Anderson	...	Dana Scully
Mitch Pileggi	...	Walter Skinner
Garry Shandling	...	Fox Mulder / Garry Shandling
Téa Leoni	...	Dana Scully / Tea Leoni (as Tea Leoni)
Harris Yulin	...	Cardinal O'Fallon
Wayne Federman	...	Wayne Federman
Paul Lieber	...	Micah Hoffman
Bill Dow	...	Chuck Burks
Tim Roe	...	Zombie
Barry K. Thomas	...	Sugar Bear
Tina M. Ameduri	...	Tina
Bill Millar	...	Director

Storyline

Skinner's buddy from college, Wayne Federman, trails Mulder and Scully on a case involving a pipe bombing in a church, at Skinner's insistence. Wayne is a writer/producer from Hollywood gathering material for a FBI-based movie. Mulder and Scully turn out to be the reluctant stars of this movie by Federman.

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Plot Keywords:

male in bathtub | talking on telephone in a bathtub | zombie | reference to ed wood | crypt | 

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 April 2000 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

20th Century Fox Television, Ten Thirteen Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Mulder is asked who he sees playing him in the movie within the show. He says "How about Richard Gere?". David Duchovny played a Richard Gere impersonator on a Saturday Night Live skit when he hosted May 9, 1998.

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Goofs

Gillian Anderson's stunt double can be seen after Tea Leoni asks 'Scully' to show her how to run with high heels. It's also noticeable how the stunt double starts running before Anderson leaves the frame.

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Quotes

Chuck Burks: Looks like your underground hero went from counterculture to counterfeiter.
Fox Mulder: One more pun and I pull out my gun.

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Connections

Features Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959)

User Reviews

Jehovah's Witness meets Harrison Ford's "Witness"

Hollywood A.D., written and directed by David Duchovny is a mixed bag. The episode is really fun to view and you can tell the cast is having a fun time. However, the writing and story is a little uneven and the episode suffers for it.

It's interesting to see Wayne Federman compare Scully to Jodie Foster, since many fans feel that the character of Scully was inspired by Jodie Foster's character from "Silence of the Lambs". Assistant Director Skinner finally receives a nickname in the series, being called 'Skinman' by his college buddy Wayne Federman.

If you are a little young and didn't get the Micah Hoffman reference, I'll explain it to you. The character of Micah Hoffman is based on a real person back in 1980's Utah named Mark Hoffman who was a forger of historic Mormon religious documents and bomb maker. Even though the case is not an x-file, Skinner sends Mulder and Scully to investigate it while Wayne Federman tags along to observe them.

The dancing skeleton that Federman sees is silly and is really out of place. Then, later, Scully has hallucinations of Micah Hoffman on the cross instead of Jesus and on the autopsy table. It is never really explained why she had the hallucinations and how it connects to the story.

After Mulder and Scully apparently resolve the forgery and bombing case, the rest of the episode is spent with them in Los Angeles, seeing the production of the movie "loosely" based on them. The episode is quite funny and enjoyable here as Mulder and Scully meet Garry Shandling and Tea Leoni who are the actors playing them respectively. Of course, Tea Leoni is David Duchovny's real life wife. Garry Shandling bugs me for some inexplicable reason. I think I could see Billy Crystal in that role easily.

The funnest scene is when Mulder, Scully, and Skinner are each taking bubble baths separately and have a humorous conversation with each other over the phone. Also, at the end, after Mulder walks out of the movie, Scully comes to join him on the set and they talk. You get to hear Gillian Anderson's true laugh, a very rare occurrence on the X-Files. It's very cute to hear.

The idea of a movie being made based on Mulder and Scully was very interesting. However, the first 3/4 of the episode involving the case, was a bit convoluted. I wasn't sure whether I should take it serious or if it was supposed to be all funny.

Hollywood A.D. is funny in delving once more into Mulder and Scully's relationship with each other, but had the potential to be more. Anyway, where else can you learn that zombies yearn to do more than just eat people?