‘The X-Files: I Want to Believe’ R-rated director’s cut finally sets Hulu release date
Chris Carter's 2008 film 'The X-Files: I Want to Believe' is finally set to release on Hulu with an extended R-rated director's cut. The streamer has also released the first trailer for the reworked film, which features David Duchovny as Fox Mulder and Gillian Anderson as Dana Scully. The reworked version restores all the scenes Carter had to remove after Fox's PG-13 rating request.
The director’s cut expands on ‘The X-Files: I Want to Believe,’ which reunited Mulder and Scully six years after the original television series concluded. The former FBI special agents were drawn back together by the disappearances of several women. The paranormal investigators soon came across a disgraced Catholic priest who claimed to be experiencing psychic visions of a missing FBI operative. Carter and Frank Spotnitz wrote the film, while Carter also directed it.
The words “Vrach Frankenshteyn,” which have been added to the new title, are Russian for “Victor Frankenstein.” Carter told Entertainment Weekly that the new title reflects what he and Spotnitz originally intended to make. “We set out to make a real-life Frankenstein movie, and due to a variety of factors, our Frankenstein never completely left the operating room,” Carter said in the interview, adding, “A chance to apply the electrodes again was a special thrill.”
He had previously discussed the studio’s decision during a conversation with Duchovny. “I made it too scary, and I was told so by the brass at Fox, and they wanted a PG-13 movie,” he said. Carter explained that the project was not being revised simply to release another version of the film. “It’s not just doing a director’s cut to do a director’s cut. It’s really kind of bringing to life something that for me was on the page and never got to the screen.”
The original movie grossed $68 million, compared with the $189 million earned by the franchise’s first theatrical film in 1998. Carter, Duchovny, and Anderson later returned for two additional seasons of ‘The X-Files.’ Hulu’s release also comes as the streamer develops a separate reboot from Ryan Coogler, who has completed production on a pilot starring Danielle Deadwyler and Himesh Patel. ‘The X-Files: I Want to Believe Vrach Frankenshteyn’ premieres August 14 on Hulu.
