Before he was investigating paranormal activity as Fox Mulder in The X-Files, David Duchovny could have been pulling off a heist with Harvey Keitel and Steve Buscemi in Reservoir Dogs. The first feature film from director Quentin Tarantino, Reservoir Dogs was released in 1992. It tells the story of a group of diamond thieves brought together to carry out a heist that ends up going horribly wrong when it's revealed that a member of the group may be an undercover cop.
In a new interview with Collider, done with Julia Louis-Dreyfus in promotion of their new Netflix movie You People, Duchovny says he auditioned for Reservoir Dogs. He then jokes that he was cast in Tim Roth's role only to find out at the premiere that he'd been replaced, suggesting he may have auditioned for Mr. Orange.
"I auditioned for Pulp Fiction, and it was... No, not Pulp Fiction. I auditioned for Reservoir Dogs. That was like in the late ‘80s... Yeah. I'm fantastic in it. They did this head replacement of Tim Roth on me. It really pissed me off. I didn't know. I went to the premiere, and I was like, ‘Oh, Tim Roth's head is on mine.’”
Getting serious, Duchovny says that he did in fact audition, but he didn't get the job. But that doesn't mean it was a sour experience for the actor. Duchovny notes that Tarantino told him that he wasn't getting the part in perhaps the most polite way possible, and to this day, the X-Files star considers it to be the "best rejection" he ever had.
“So I auditioned for Quentin Tarantino, and this is not an imitation of Quentin, but he's a high-energy guy, and he goes, ‘I really like what you do. I just don't know if I want you to do it in my movie.’ It was the best rejection I ever got in my life."
David Duchovny Also Could Have Been Danny Tanner
This isn't the only story Duchovny has shared about getting denied a role before his rise to fame on The X-Files. He previously shared that he had auditioned for the classic sitcom Full House for all three male lead roles: Bob Saget's Danny Tanner, John Stamos's Uncle Jesse, and Dave Coulier's Uncle Joey. As Duchovny said on Ellen in 2021, he just wasn't clicking with any of those roles.
"I was my first time out in L.A., and they brought me out for different shows. I ended up with the Full House stuff, and they just kept on trying to plug me into different characters. And clearly, I was wrong for every single one."
But all's well that ends well, as Duchovny was destined for stardom even without early roles in a family-friendly sitcom or a violent Tarantino movie. These days, fans can catch him as part of the ensemble cast in the new comedy You People with Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Eddie Murphy, and Jonah Hill. The film will be released on Netflix on Jan. 27, 2023.