David Duchovny: Show Sex Is "Boring"

Californication star says he doesn't bring the depravity of the series home

"We want to talk about your sex addiction!" screamed out a David Duchovny fan at last night's presentation of Californication during the Los Angeles Times' Envelope Emmy screening series in Hollywood.

Just a few feet away from the woman, David stood there with a shocked expression, doing his best to ignore the awkward moment. A technical glitch had just halted the scheduled viewing of an episode of the Showtime series, so the producers went straight into the Q&A portion of the evening.

So, did David talk about his much-publicized alleged sex addiction? Read on...

Of course he didn't!

But when asked about the show's outrageous sex scenes, the reserved actor did say, "The sex stuff, all that, we really don't concern ourselves with it. Honestly. It's like, it's a scene or it's not a scene. It's got truth or it's not got truth. It's funny or it's not funny. It's in character or it's not. And that's all that we concern ourselves with. You know, it's boring. But that's why we're good."

When asked, "How do you separate the reality of the show, whether it's the emotion, the sex, the booze, the blow, and then walk off the set and go home to the family?" David, who plays bad-boy author Hank Moody, gave the expected answer: "That's just what acting is, really...you punch in the clock, you go into work, and you're playing a character. Personally, I'm not somebody that takes it home."

But Evan Handler, who plays Hank's agent Charlie Runkle, joked that he sometimes has to wash off the stripper smell off before heading home for the night. "We had a scene at a strip club, so I got a lap dance all day. It's odd to go home reeking of another women's perfume. So, I take a shower."

Pamela Adlon, who plays Charlie's wife, Marcy, said her onscreen sex life is nothing like her real-life bedroom escapades. "I've been married 13 years, and it's like I never make sounds, and I have to do all these things that I don't do," she said. "It's completely weird."

Sex aside, we learned two fun facts about Californication:

1. Charlie was originally written as a gay character. "I remember the day I told Evan we weren't going in that direction, and he seemed the happiest I've ever seen him," laughed show runner Tom Kapinos.

2. In rehearsals for the pilot, British actress Natascha McElhone, who plays Hank's love interest Karen, tried to convince the writers that her character should be French. "They said, 'We could try it.' For two days, they sat there and suffered me playing Karen as a Frenchwoman," said Natasha. "My name was Ank," joked David.

What's in store for next season? Tom would only tease this: "I'll just say that Hank takes on the world of academia." To which an audience member loudly booed.