'Goats' puts David Duchovny in Sundance spotlight

But walking down the snowy sidewalk here at the Sundance Film Festival, he was pleased to get a new shout-out.
"This total stranger just yelled out, 'Hey, Goat Man!' a moment ago," says Duchovny, 51. "I was very pleased. Now that's a first."
MORE: The goat protocol of 'Goats'
It probably will not be the last time. Duchovny's performance in the coming-of-age drama Goats was an instant standout after premiering Tuesday at the gathering of independent filmmakers.
The usually clean-cut actor plays the wild-haired Goat Man, a philosophical, marijuana-smoking goatherd who serves as a mentor to a 15-year-old boy (played by Graham Phillips from The Good Wife). Duchovny captures the oddball character's essence, even if the hair had to be added in the makeup chair.
"Putting on that hair and beard made me feel like Goat Man," he says.
Christopher Neil, who directed the film, which also stars Vera Farmiga and Ty Burrell, says he based Duchovny's character on the real-life stepfather he used to hang out with while growing up in Northern California's Napa Valley.
"David really captured his aura," says Neil.
In fact, Duchovny was the laid-back dude even in the most trying moments, especially when dealing with the non-speaking stars of the film — goats called Lance and Freida. The two are Goat Man's constant sidekicks, even traveling with him in a very crowded compact car. The car scene with Duchovny and Phillips plays quirky but was tough to film.
"It gets difficult to have animals with horns in the back of a Volkswagen Jetta and you're trying to do long dialogue scenes," Neil says. "But they just rolled with it. David was very Zen."
Duchovny had planned on playing the Goat Man two years ago, and even grew a beard before finding the movie was delayed ("It was really coming in," he says). By the time production started last year, Duchovny had to be fitted with his own Goat Man look.
"The beard and hair were more expensive than I was," he says. The look worked so effectively that Neil changed the screenplay to ensure Goat Man kept the wild look going deeper into the film before going clean-cut.
"We got to hold the hair and beard longer," Duchovny says. "It actually became a character in the movie as well."
Duchovny also displays an uncanny ability to make effective goat sounds, a noise he used to make with his friends growing up.
"For some reason, in high school that was the sound we made to point out someone else's stupidity. We still do it today," he says, breaking into an impromptu bleat. "When I got Goat Man, I thought, 'I can finally use this (expletive) noise for something.' "
Another habit on display is his willingness to walk around in the buff. The opening scene, featuring the character jumping naked into a pool, was shot with a stunt man, but Duchovny still shows a lot of skin in Goats.
"You do see a lot of my rear end," he says. "That's Goat Man. He walks in the desert, gets high, jumps in pools and hangs out with his goats. He's not going to wear a Speedo."
Of course, the frequent sight of Duchovny in the buff could lead to a whole new set of questions for the star from passersby. That, too, has started at Sundance.
"Some older woman pulled up and asked me how I managed to look so good," Duchovny says. "I just said, 'Vaseline.' I don't know if it makes sense. I was on the spot."

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