The indie comedy Goats, from director Christopher Neil and based on Mark Poirier’s best-selling novel, tells the story of Ellis (Graham Phillips), a 15-year-old looking to find his place among his eccentric family.  His mom (Vera Farmiga) is a New Age hippie that spends all of her time working on self-help rituals with her hustler boyfriend (Justin Kirk), while his dad (Ty Burrell) left home years ago and is more focused on his new wife (Keri Russell) and family.  And then, there’s Goat Man (David Duchovny), the goat-herding sage who has lived in their pool house since Ellis was a child, teaching him the meaning of expanding one’s mind.

At the film’s press day, actor David Duchovny spoke to Collider for this exclusive interview about how he approached the role of Goat Man, what interested him about the unique character, how he came to the specific look, what it was like to experience a goat trek, the challenges of working with real goats, and the difference in playing one character over a long period of time, like he does on Californication, versus a finite time with film.  He also talked about his interest in doing a third The X-Files film, and where he thinks the second film, The X-Files: I Want to Believe, went wrong.  Check out what he had to say after the jump.