Monday, November 27, 2000

Just another acting job for Nicholas Lea

HOLLYWOOD -- Vancouver actor Nicholas Lea was first introduced to The X-Files in the "Sleepless" episode in the second season, Nov. 7, 1994.

It was do or die, at least for his character, then the fresh-out-of-the-academy, can-turn-nasty FBI agent Alex Krycek.

The attitude, according to writer and supervising producer Howard Gordon, was simple: "If he works out, great," Gordon remembers thinking. "If not, he can always die."

Gordon's insight is contained in the documentary The Truth About Season Two, on the new seven-disc DVD release The X-Files: The Complete Second Season.

For Lea, however, it was just another acting job. He's happy about the DVD release tomorrow, but not delirious. Lea is concerned that entertainment, including The X-Files, has become overly important, especially to hardcore fans.

"Being involved in a show like The X-Files," Lea tells The Sun, "you get confronted by people who are really zealous and very well educated about the show. The fascination is very intense. I say, take a third of that energy and put it into your family or your job or you community or whatever. Because it's only ... (a TV show). There are so many more important things going on than The X-Files."

That said, today's DVDs are tomorrow's historical documents, Lea concedes.

"It will probably gain relevancy down the road even more than it has now," he says of The X-Files collection, which now covers all of seasons one and two.



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