Just how popular is the Cigarette Smoking Man?
So popular that on Nov. 17, an entire episode of "The X-Files"
will be devoted to the adventures of the mysterious government operative
who often stands in the way of agents Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully
(Gillian Anderson).
In fact, other than a few isolated flashbacks and voice-overs, Mulder and
Scully don't even appear in the episode, titled "Musings of a Cigarette
Smoking Man."
And no one could be happier about "Musings" than William B. Davis,
the Cigarette Smoking Man himself, even if he can't reveal much about his
big episode, which was written by Glen Morgan and directed by James Wong.
"What can I say?" the decidedly nonsinister Davis wonders during
a telephone call from his home in Vancouver, British Columbia.
"Of all the episodes in the history of the show, this one has been
one of the most classified," he said.
"It takes a look at what might be the Cigarette Smoking Man's history,
what might explain his background and how he became who he became. It might
explain some events in his recent history.
"It also might link the character to some actual events in our history
and to some fictional events as seen in the world of 'The X-Files.'
"People who follow the character and have been looking to see a glimpse
of his humanity might even find some of that in this episode."
Davis, who is 58 and, ironically, gave up cigarettes nearly two decades
ago, describes the Cigarette Smoking Man as a guy who once thought he could
make the world a better place, but who was led astray and is now hardened
and ruthless.
"I was very pleased that the producers and writers thought enough of
the character to do this episode," he says. "It was a nice surprise,
and it was great fun to do."
Davis' favorite episodes include "Paper Clip," "One Breath,"
"Talitha Cumi," which was the third-season finale, and, of course,
"Musings."
"The X-Files" clearly marks a high point in the Canadian actor's
career.
Over the years he has directed plays in Britain, taught acting, served as
the artistic director of a theater company and acted in such TV movies and
series as "21 Jump Street," "Wiseguy," "Stephen
King's 'It,' " "The Outer Limits" and, most recently, "Poltergeist:
The Legacy."
His films include "Look Who's Talking" (1989) and "Unforgettable"
(1996).
" 'The X-Files' is definitely my most prominent credit," says
Davis, who is a divorced father of two.
And it looks as if, to use Davis' own phrasing, "The X-Files"
might remain the actor's most prominent credit for a good while to come.
"There's tons and tons more to learn about this man," Davis says
eagerly. "I'd love to learn more about his personal life, about what
his power base is, who he actually works for and why, and where he comes
from.
"For everything that we do know about him, there's much more that we
don't know.
"After 'Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man,' we'll all know far more
information about the character. But is any of it real?
"I don't know. I'm not sure.
"This IS 'The X-Files.' "
TV: 'X-FILES' PUFFS UP CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN'S ROLE
By KEVIN D. THOMPSON
c. 1996 Cox News Service
Smoke and look menacing. That's all William
B. Davis was hired to do on "The X-Files."
As Cigarette Smoking Man, the sinister government figure who often keeps
FBI agents Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson) from uncovering
the truth about alien existence, Davis stood in the background and said
nothing when the show premiered in 1993.
He did that so well, not only does he now have lines and chilling ones like,
"I've watched presidents die" but Davis has become a central character
and perhaps TV's most hated villain since the slimy J.R. Ewing. Sunday's
entire episode is devoted to his shadowy character, who may or may not have
fired the shot from the grassy knoll when President Kennedy was assassinated.
It's a waste of time asking the 58-year-old Toronto native about the much-anticipated
episode. "When the script was sent out, it was classified as 'Top Secret,'
" says Davis by telephone from his Vancouver, British Columbia home,
where the show is filmed. "Even the agents for the actors weren't given
the whole script, just little scenes."
In this year's season premiere, it was revealed that Cigarette Smoking Man's
connection to the Mulder family may go deeper than viewers originally thought.
Could he be Mulder's father? Getting Davis to talk about it is like trying
to pry classified documents from the CIA.
"I can't answer that," he deadpans.
OK, what about his character's real name? Any idea about that? "I have
no idea," says Davis.
Frank Spotnitz, "`X-Files" co-executive producer, is more blunt.
"We will never find out his real name."
It's ironic that Cigarette Smoking Man, also known as Cancer Man, puffs
so much. Davis smoked for 25 years until he kicked the habit 18 years ago.
Although Davis smokes herbal cigarettes on the show, in the first few episodes,
he inhaled the real thing. "That," he says in a rich baritone,
"was beginning to wake up some long buried desires."
Davis still seems in shock at all the attention. "There was a time
when I wasn't in any episodes, then all of a sudden I had a line or two
and I thought, 'That was interesting,' " he says. "And that just
gradually increased. Then, finally I had a big scene where Mulder comes
after me with a gun. That was the turning point where the producers decided
this character is really interesting and I guess they felt I was OK to handle
it."
Davis, who has appeared in "Stephen King's 'It,' " "Look
Who's Talking" and "The Dead Zone," made it all happen by
bringing a quiet intensity to the role. The man can look evil by simply
blowing smoke and raising an eyebrow. That unique talent wasn't lost on
the producers.
"The character is very simply written and William is called upon to
carry a lot of the weight of the character," marvels Spotnitz. "He
is utterly convincing. Even before he had words, he had looks where you
could see his mind processing what he was watching and you could see there
was intelligence behind his eyes."
Is that true?
"If I may say so, it is," Davis chuckles. "I've lived a lot
and that shows on my face."
Although, as he notes, "90 percent of the audience hates the character"
and think he's despicable, he doesn't agree. In fact, Davis gets quite defensive
about Cigarette Smoking Man.
"In a conversation I had with ('X-Files' creator) Chris Carter the
other day, he described my character as a 'destroyer,' " Davis remembers.
"And I almost argued with him. Then, I'm like, how can I argue with
him? He creates these characters. But I like bad guys like CSM because he's
not a traditional baddie who bashes people around or pulls out his gun at
every opportunity."
In his own twisted way, Davis believes his character is doing what is right.
"He's protecting the public from information they would not be able
to process successfully," he reasons. "He's trying to keep society
from becoming chaotic."
The divorced father of two kids (ages 14 and 18) may play the world's most
devious government operative, but he's nothing like that off screen. For
starters, he laughs and smiles more, which isn't hard to do. In his spare
time,Davis waterskis (he's the Canadian national champion in his age division),
reads, bird-watches and listens to music.
His other passion is acting -- not doing it, but teaching it. Davis has
run theater companies in Britain and Canada and owns his own acting school
in Vancouver.
"I drifted back to acting 15 years ago almost by accident," he
recalls. "I got a grant to find out what's going on in actor training
and thought I would take some people's classes and it was quite intriguing
to find out that 20 years of telling people how to do this had rubbed off
on me."
The danger of being heavily identified with one character has haunted many
actors. Davis admits Cigarette Smoking Man may be a tough image to shake."There's
been a tendency for studios to consider me for baddies," he says, "which
is ironic, because prior to this, most of my roles were kindly grandfathers."
(Kevin D. Thompson writes for The Palm Beach Post.)
WILLIAM B. DAVIS TV
Guide interview
He has no wife, no children, some power. He has
watched presidents die. He has no name. His signature, an ever-present cloud
of cigarette smoke, is an apt metaphor for this gray man's obfuscation of
the truth. He was present when Agent Scully was assigned to the X-Files,
but Cancer Man (aka "the Cigarette-Smoking Man") is also indirectly
responsible for the murder of Mulder's father. Whose side is he on? The
glib answer, of course, is to say that sides don't matter to someone like
Cancer Man. He's in the game for its own sake. But that's a boring choice
for an actor to play.
William B. Davis sees the character as a hero, protecting the world from
such "dangerous elements" as Agents Mulder and Scully. "I
believe that I'm doing what's necessary -- what's best for the world,"
Davis says. Apart from that, Davis and Cancer Man would agree on almost
nothing. Davis doesn't even smoke -- his heavy onscreen habit is an herbal
brand, sold in health food stores. While Cancer Man seems confined to the
shadowy corridors of a secret government, William B. Davis has lived and
worked abroad, training at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
and later founding a theater school in his native Vancouver. Unlike his
terse alterego, the actor delights in verse:
He once directed The Winter's Tale for the Vermont Shakespeare Festival,
and is still a self-described "Shakespeare buff."
It also is pretty difficult to picture Cancer Man sitting down to chat with
TV Guide Online. Fortunately, Davis is much more genial.
Transcript of William B. Davis Interview:
How much did Chris Carter tell you about Cancer Man at first? Did he give
you any backstory, or did you have to make it all up? What information about
him did you use to create the character?
He gave me no backstory. As we've gone along -- that's probably not
quite fair; I've had bits and pieces -- you know, Bob Goodwin gave me some
stuff -- but it's kind of changed and it keeps shifting from how many people
have I killed to maybe I haven't killed anybody and I have other people
do that sort of work for me. But as the character has evolved, the backstory
has enriched, it's deepened. But it has actually in some senses contradicted
itself, too. Though as an actor you're constantly absorbing new information
and finding new ways to put all the pieces together.
You had to create your character's biography from only the sketchiest details
in the script. Have things happened in subsequent episodes that contradict
your original interpretation of the role?
It changed my perspective when the Syndicate... when I seem to be answerable
to the syndicate in some way. That they seem to have some authority over
me, when I had deemed myself, until then, to be pretty much the highest
authority available along whatever lines that we're working towards. And
you know, in my imagination not wishing to give them too much power I have
tried to find imaginative ways to loosen their hold over me. But we'll see
how that goes.
Have fans pointed at you and shouted, "Cancer Man"?
Oh, yes, I'm certainly recognized. Some speak up and some don't, of
course. But I've had lots of little benefits. I was at the top of a race
course last winter and this guy goes, "Hey! That's Cancer Man!"
And he comes over, and he's a rabid fan, but he's also one of the top ski
coaches in Canada. So I got all sorts of extra tips and help and stuff,
and he started taking an interest in my skiing. So these things happen.
Do you feel ill at ease being personally associated with something like
cancer? Would you rather be associated with, say, charity work?
Actually, no. The people who know me at all immediately see that this
is not my personality. Nor is my relationship to cancer and to smoking in
any way a role model. I don't think anybody looks at this character and
at his smoking and thinks, "Gee! I'd like to do that, too!"
What's your brand?
We're smoking something called... gee, I looked at it just yesterday...
Honey Rose, I think they're called. You can only buy them in health food
stores. There's no nicotine in them. They're not tobacco. They're herbal
cigarettes. So they're completely nonaddictive.
Are you a smoker in real life?
I'm not only a nonsmoker, I'm a proselytizing nonsmoker. I drive people
crazy saying, "Put out that cigarette! I don't like that smoke around
me." Then I get on the set and everybody goes, "Oh, no, Bill's
here." They can smell me even before they see me when I start smoking
these things.
There's an episode of The X-Files this season in which we're supposed
to learn a lot more about Cancer Man. Can you give us a hint about what
we might find out? Something? Anything?
I think the only hint I can give you at this particular moment is that it's
very typical X-Files. It may raise more questions than it answers.
What do you watch?
Very little, to be honest with you. And that's not any kind of snobby
thing. It's been pretty much a time factor. For the last several years,
I've been running an acting school as well as doing my acting. And I basically
haven't been around a television much except to watch the things that I,
professionally, want to watch. I try to keep track of the shows they shoot
in Vancouver. What would I watch for pleasure? Well, I would watch The X-Files
for pleasure. I really do think it's a great series. I really do enjoy watching
it. Even the many, many episodes that I'm not involved in.
You enjoy watching movies on video. Do you have a favorite film director?
I love Woody Allen's stuff, for instance. I'm pretty people-oriented.
I like a lot of Mike Nichols' stuff. I'm not a big adventure fan. You know,
when the car chase starts, I kind of doze off and wait till that's over.
You always know what's going to happen.
Theater -- particularly Shakespeare -- is important to you, too. Do you
have a favorite role in the canon?
Isn't that an interesting question, because with Shakespeare I think
of myself more as a director, I guess, than an actor. If you were to ask
what is my favorite play, I'd come right back with The Winter's Tale, which
I think is the greatest play ever written. As a role to play, I keep outgrowing
them. You know, I would have loved to have played Romeo, and then I'd have
loved to have played Hamlet.... I don't know what I can play at my age.
There isn't a role I'm bursting to play.
What would Cancer Man think of a show like The X-Files?
Well, he'd probably think that Mulder was a pretty dangerous man. These
people who go off half-cocked, trying to solve the problems of the world
without any kind of real perspective of knowledge and experience, are quite
dangerous. They're almost like fanatics. I think he'd watch it from the
other side, as it were.
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