Turning Down Star Wars Was The Best Decision David Duchovny Made Post X-Files

Take David Duchovny as an example. Reportedly he was offered a role in Episode III: Revenge of the Sith back in 2000. But he responded with "I'm a fan of Star Wars, but I'm not sure of having the time to act in it. … I've got tons of projects in production after the X-Files series."

And the project he chose at the time was – by his own decision – as far removed from the role of Agent Mulder in X-Files, which initially catapulted him to fame. Duchovny chose to star in Evolution, Ivan Reitman's 2001 comedy, hoping to prove that he could play comedic roles. As he said in an interview with NitrateOnline:

"I wanted to find something that was as far away from The X Files as I could, and Ivan called me in for a meeting, and I thought that working in Ivan's mode -- that influential style of comedy that he created with Animal House and Ghostbusters -- was very different from what I do and who I am."

At the time it seemed like Duchovny's plan had failed.

Evolution had been received poorly and barely recouped its own budget at the box office. However, Duchovny liked working on that movie. And experience as a comedic actor he gained on its sets helped him a few years later, when he scored the lead role of Hank Moody in Californication. That TV series, was different from X-Files in every aspect, except one: it was a big success. And it earned Duchovny $2.7 million before taxes for each of its seven seasons.

Thanks to this David Duchovny became inordinately rich, for an actor known primarily for television roles, with net worth of about $80 million. So, not only he got a role he enjoyed, but ultimately it led him to financial success.

One still has to wonder, how Duchovny could have looked in Star Wars, and what role, exactly, he was offered. Alas, he did not disclose such details back then.