Sounds like another tale of high hopes dashed along the cliff-side boulevard of broken dreams. But Simon has actually fared much better than her fictional counterpart. In fact, she has acquired a certain modest renown for her offstage role in the Emmy-winning series. David Letterman's people recently called inviting her to appear on the show, though she has yet to accept. There's a book deal—her tentatively titled Mad Cows, Clones and Chimeras: The Real Science Behind The X-Files will appear next year. And Simon has graduated to the big screen, consulting on the X-Files movie due out this summer.
To be sure, her input lends the show its weirdly realistic feel, which—along with the poker-faced seriousness of stars David Duchovny (Agent Mulder) and Gillian Anderson (Agent Scully)—inspires fans, known as "X-philes," to evangelical zeal. "She makes sure that when I do something supernatural or speculative that it follows from a logical and scientific basis," says Chris Carter. Much of Simon's expertise informs the character of Scully, a skeptical forensics specialist who contrasts with her more credulous colleague. "Because Scully is a scientist," Carter says, "it creates a believable position to use as a counterpoint to Mulder."
Simon, who reviews scripts by fax, does not request a fee—she sees her consulting work as a service to science. "There is so little accurate science on TV," she says. "What's especially distorted is the portrayal of scientists: Either they are bow-tied fools or megalomaniacs." Simon has stamped numerous X-File episodes with her imprint, beginning with the finale of the show's debut season. "The question [Carter asked] was: How would you analyze an alien organism?" says Simon. Her answer: First culture it in a lab receptacle called an Erlenmeyer flask. Smitten with Simon's response, Carter titled the episode after the flask.
In "Redux," this season's opening episode, Scully was battling cancer—perhaps contracted from an extraterrestrial. "The main thing is," says Simon, "how is she going to know she's been infected with this alien organism and that's what has caused her cancer?" She and Carter had Scully perform an elaborate DNA analysis called a Southern blot. "He had her do the whole experiment," Simon says. "What other show does this?"
And consider, if you can stand it, homeotic flies, real-life mutants with legs growing from their mouths, among other deformities. At Simon's urging, Carter featured the creatures in an installment this season. "It was fun to get the flies into it," she says. "It's probably the only original thought of mine that has gone into the show."
Simon hasn't abandoned the lab and remains a world-class authority on plant viruses. How did she turn up on Carter's radar screen? It turns out he is a friend of her mother, Sondra. Indeed, Simon, who grew up in Malibu, is no stranger to Hollywood. Her father, Mayo, is an ex-screenwriter. Lana Turner lived across the street. "She had a pool shaped like Mickey Mouse," Simon recalls. "The neighborhood kids would come over, and there would be treats and desserts in the bathhouse."
Simon's father wrote several science fiction films, including Marooned and Futureworld. Anne, who used to visit the sets, became a sci-fi devotee but eventually decided to take her sci straight. Simon earned her doctorate at Indiana University, and came to U Mass. 10 years ago with Clifford Carpenter, 42, her research associate and husband of 17 years. Letterman, movies, big-time publishing—how might they affect her? If she's wise, says her father, not at all. "I told her to enjoy every second," he explains. "One day everyone wants you on TV, and another day nobody's, interested."
Simon seems resolved to savor the ride. "I spend all day working on a turnip virus," she says. "But working with Chris isn't work. It's really a riot. That's why I do it."
RICHARD JEROME
TOM DUFFY in Amherst
- Contributors:
- Tom Duffy.
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
