David Duchovny, among his other promotional efforts for the X-Files movie, sat down with a reporter from Best Life magazine for the cover story. It’s a decent celeb profile, if at times lapsing into the cliches of the genre (restaurant setting, with guests lowering their voices to overhear what the star has to say; references to the star’s storybook existence with his hot wife; tales of how his outsiderdom in high school fueled his creativity now).

It also gives us some insight into how Duchovny views his character on Californication, a show that the article notes “is really just a commentary on how complicated it is for a man to balance career, family, and, yes, an unending cavalcade of grown-up urges.”

Here’s what DD has to say on that point: “Men are so scared and ashamed of the feelings they have sometimes. The worst thing a man can admit is ‘I’m not 100 percent fulfilled by my family.’ But it doesn’t mean he doesn’t love his family. I love my family, but I still want to work, I still want challenges. It took me a while to fall in love with the responsibility of family life, and it was a deep thing when I did. But I also want to run back to the cave sometimes. Forever.”

Aren’t you glad he hasn’t? Season 2 of Californication drops Sept. 28.

In a recent Variety interview, David Duchovny talked a little about Californication’s Season 1 cliffhanger.

After marrying Bill, Karen jumps into Hank’s convertible and drives off with him and Becca. Fans of the show speculated that it was a dream sequence, but wondered whose dream it might be. Duchovny said he doesn’t think it’s a dream, but he’s coy about what that means.

“I will say this: When I got the idea on how it should all end, I called (creator) Tom (Kapinos) and pitched it to him, and he said, ‘That’s funny. That’s exactly what I was thinking.’ ”

In discussing the show, Duchovny describes Hank as a good father who simply lacks impulse control in a few areas (namely, sex, booze and speaking your mind). Hank may be a wreck, but Duchovny loves that he’s not a hypocrite.

He said his favorite scene last season was when Hank got into a fight with a man in a convenience store after trying to steal tampons from the guy’s wife for Becca. “To me, that’s really an encapsulation of who Hank is. He’s doing a beautiful thing but going about it in the wrong way.”

Season 2 is shooting now in LA. It’s expected to air in September, possibly paired with the final season of The L Word.

Photo: Randy Tepper/Showtime