David Duchovny Wrote His Nude Scene at Age 63 Because It’s Funny

David Duchovny opened up about his decision to write a nude scene in his film Reverse the Curse.

“You can turn it into humor. You can look at horrific things with a sense of humor, and the humor comes from the fact that it’s going to happen to all of us,” Duchovny, 63, said in an interview with Salon published on Friday, July 5. “It’s not like some people age and some people don’t, some people die and some people don’t.”

He continued, “If I’ve got one of my main characters — me — showing his naked body to his son and saying, ‘It looks like a dead sparrow where my cock should be,’ I find that funny. I think we can laugh at that, and then hug it out. And he comments on his son’s penis in a way that’s funny. I’m laughing and I’m also moved in a way.”

Duchovny wrote, directed and starred in the movie, which centers around Marty, a Red Sox fan whose health declines every time the MLB team loses. Marty’s son Ted (Logan Marshall-Green) moves back home to care for his father and pretends that the team is winning to aid his dad.

The film, which was released earlier this month, also stars Stephanie Beatriz, who plays a nurse.

“I think funny actors can do anything. Dramatic actors, I don’t know if they can do funny or not. Sometimes they can and sometimes they can’t,” Duchovny told the outlet. “That’s why I cast Stephanie Beatriz. I saw her on Brooklyn Nine-Nine. She brought so much depth to that.”

Duchovny noted that he recently rewatched the movie, which he hadn’t seen in a year, and he was moved by Beatriz’s acting ability.

“I was really struck by her performance more than anything,” he said. “She’s so deep and has such easy access to real pain, and in a facile way can show it. I’m just grateful that she did that in my movie.”

This isn’t the first time that Duchovny has been candid about being naked in movies, telling reporters in 2008 that it was “embarrassing to be naked in front of a lot of people.”

“I guess I’m a bit prudish in a way,” he said at the time, reported by CTV News. “I wish I wasn’t — I wish I could let my freak flag fly a little more.”

Reverse the Curse is out now, streaming on Amazon Prime and other platforms.