Development In November 2001, the creators of the TV series
The X-Files decided to pursue a second feature film adaptation of the series, following the 1998 film. Carter was expected to collaborate with Spotnitz, who had co-written the first film, on a script for the follow-up. Production of the film was slated to begin after the completion of the ninth season of the TV series, with a projected release in December 2003. In April 2002, Carter reiterated his desire and the studio's desire to do a sequel film. He planned to write the script over that summer and begin production in the spring or summer of 2003 for a 2004 release. Carter described the film saying, "We're looking at the movies as stand-alones. They're not necessarily going to have to deal with the mythology." Director
Rob Bowman, who had directed episodes of
The X-Files in the past as well as the 1998 film, expressed an interest in filming the sequel in July 2002. In April 2004, Duchovny said he was waiting for the film's production to begin, explaining that Carter had signed off on the premise. Duchovny said of the delay, "So now it's just a matter of making sure everybody can get together at the same time and do it." The following November, Carter revealed that the project was in the negotiation stage, explaining, "Because it's a sequel, there are peculiar and specific kinds of negotiations that are holding us up." Duchovny spoke of the premise for the yet-produced film in 2005, "Mulder and Scully investigate one particular case that has nothing to do with alien life. It has to do with supernatural stuff." He also explained, "I think we're going back to the '
monster of the week' type feel, where if you're not an avid fan and don't understand the mythology, you can still come to it and get the movie." Duchovny and Carter planned to begin production in the winter of 2005 to be released in the summer of 2006. The following April, Duchovny admitted to a lack of a script, adding that Carter would have it ready by early next year. In May 2006, Spotnitz blamed the continued delay on legal matters between Carter and 20th Century Fox. The screenwriter anticipated, "Once the legal issues are over with, we will go on with it. I'm hoping it will get resolved soon." By April 2007, Spotnitz confirmed that a script was finally in development. The following October, the studio officially announced the production of the sequel film, whose premise would be kept under wraps.
Filming Principal photography took place in
Vancouver and
Pemberton, in
British Columbia,
Canada. According to Spotnitz, the script was written specifically for these locations. Filming began in December 2007 in Vancouver under the direction of Carter, and shooting finished on March 11, 2008. In a teaser trailer shown at
Wondercon on February 23, 2008, the date "July 25, 2008" appeared at the end, and was the only text in the trailer. On March 27, 2008, the horror film site
Bloody Disgusting reported a bootleg video of the official trailer uploaded by a user on
YouTube. The first public trailer was released after midnight on May 12, 2008, after a period of downtime on the official website. The decision to shoot in Vancouver, where the first five years of
The X-Files had been filmed and produced before the series had moved to
Los Angeles, was an early idea—one that seemed right to both
Chris Carter and
David Duchovny. According to Duchovny, "It all makes sense. You know, when Chris and I first talked about doing this movie, we kind of unconsciously both said, 'You know, I guess it should be in Vancouver, it really should be,' and it just felt like you know, almost superstitiously like the right thing to do." Filming in Vancouver also facilitated the return of many former crew members who had previously worked on
The X-Files, as well as individuals who had worked on the other series that
Ten Thirteen Productions had created.
Frank Spotnitz said that "In terms of making of the movie, we've brought together as many people as we can, not just from
The X-Files but from all the shows that we did here in Vancouver –
Harsh Realm,
Millennium and
The Lone Gunmen – and our crew is populated with all these faces that we'd worked with, over the past fifteen years. And there's even some people from the L.A. crew." The exterior of Monica Bannan's house was filmed in Pemberton, a location that Spotnitz found to be beautiful but extremely cold. Although the location is shown in exterior shots incorporated into the scene in which
Fox Mulder (Duchovny), Whitney (
Amanda Peet), Drummy (
Alvin "Xzibit" Joiner), and Father Joe (
Billy Connolly) drove to the missing agent's home, the same scene also includes footage of the actors that was filmed on a stage, using a rear projection to show the exterior from inside the car. The latter method was used for all the shots in which any of the travelers appear. The interior of Mulder's home was a set in Burnaby, outside of Vancouver. The set was an old roller rink or at least sounded like one, as it was very noisy. During filming, Carter placed a carrot juice bottle on the table of the set, having just finished the drink, as he thought it would be "a nice sort of Mulder touch." Some of the artwork in Mulder's office came from a friend of Carter's who had a gallery in Vancouver and was named
Monica Reyes, a name that had previously been used in her honor for a character who features in a recurring role in the series' eighth season and appears as a main character in every episode of the series' ninth season. One of the pictures on the wall of Mulder's office was by
Douglas Coupland, who was featured in the real Monica Reyes' gallery and had written a book Carter liked which was called
Hey Nostradamus!, so Carter stuck a Post-it on which he wrote the book's title onto the picture.
The Hollywood Reporter posted a series of information sheets regarding upcoming studio films, and the 20th Century Fox fact sheet referred to the film as
The X-Files: Done One. On April 16, 2008, the official title of the film was announced:
The X-Files: I Want to Believe. Carter referred to the title as a "natural title", saying that it pertained to "a story that involves the difficulties in mediating faith and science. 'I Want to Believe.' It really does suggest Scully's struggle with her faith." Carter also said that he and Spotnitz settled upon the title as soon as they started writing the screenplay. This title is a popular phrase among
X-Files fans. It is featured on the UFO poster above Mulder's desk.
Music After
The X-Files was cancelled in 2002,
Chris Carter and his crew started working with a goal of releasing a second
X-Files film. In 2003, Carter called
Mark Snow, who by that time lived in
London,
United Kingdom and said he wanted him to return for another film. Snow was positive to the idea, but filming got bogged down by contract issues between
Fox and Carter. Once the contract issues were sorted out, Carter re-contacted Snow about the development, and later on sent him the script for the film. Carter and his production crew wanted as much secrecy for the film as possible, forcing Snow to sign a contract when receiving the script. After reading the script three times, Snow started on the "visuals" for the story. Snow initially wrote a couple of demos, with which Carter and
Frank Spotnitz were not pleased, but they were eventually accepted when Snow re-recorded them. This music was fully written out and orchestrated. When making the music, Snow used such instruments as the "battery of percussion" taiko drums and
whistles with live singers among other things. It took four days to record with the orchestra. He used no
trumpets and no high
woodwinds when recording, but used up to eight
french horns, five
trombones, two
pianos, one
harp, thirty-two
violins, sixteen
violas, twelve
cellos and eight
basses. British performers
UNKLE recorded a new version of the theme music for the end credits to the film. Some of the unusual sounds were created by a variation of
silly putty and
dimes tucked in between and over the strings of the
piano. Mark Snow also comments that the fast percussion featured in some tracks was inspired by the track "Prospectors Quartet" from the
There Will Be Blood soundtrack. ==Marketing==