page_title: Squeeze (The X-Files)
section_title: Pre-production
hierarchical_section_title: Squeeze (The X-Files) / Production / Pre-production
context_page_description: "Squeeze" is the third episode of the first season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files. It premiered on the Fox network on September 24, 1993. "Squeeze" was written by Glen Morgan and James Wong and directed by Harry Longstreet, with Michael Katleman directing additional footage. The episode featured the first of two guest appearances by Doug Hutchison as the mutant serial killer Eugene Victor Tooms, a role he would reprise in "Tooms". "Squeeze" is the first "monster-of-the-week" episode of The X-Files, a stand-alone plot which is unconnected to the series' overarching mythology.
  The show's main characters are FBI special agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, who work on cases linked to the paranormal, called X-Files. Mulder is a believer in the paranormal, while the skeptical Scully has been assigned to debunk his work. In this episode, Mulder and Scully investigate a series of ritualistic killings by somebody seemingly capable of squeezing his body through impossibly narrow gaps. The agents deduce that their suspect may be a genetic mutant who has been killing in sprees for ninety years.
context_section_description: Coming after two episodes focused on the series' "mythology", or fictional history, "Squeeze" helped establish that the show could cover other paranormal subjects, and was the first "monster-of-the-week" episode of The X-Files. Series creator Chris Carter thought that the show could not sustain its momentum unless it branched out from the previously UFO-centered plots. Co-writers Glen Morgan and James Wong were inspired to write the episode when they looked at a ventilation shaft outside of their office and thought about whether someone could crawl inside it. Although the episode has parallels with the second Kolchak film, The Night Strangler (1973), which featured a man who commits murders every 21 years, Morgan and Wong have stated they were inspired by the serial killers Jack the Ripper and Richard Ramirez. After eating foie gras during a trip to France, Carter proposed the idea that the villain should consume human livers. Morgan noted that the writers settled on the liver because it was "funnier" than any other organ. The idea to have Tooms use a nest for hibernation came from Morgan and Wong; they liked that if the agents were unable to catch Tooms, he could return after weeks of dormancy.
  Actor Doug Hutchison was 33 when he auditioned for the part of Tooms, but the producers initially considered him too young for the role; Glen Morgan thought that Hutchinson "looks twelve years old". However Hutchison impressed the writers with his ability to suddenly transition into attacking behavior, which convinced them to hire him. He related that his portrayal of Tooms was inspired by the "stillness" of Anthony Hopkins' acting in The Silence of the Lambs.
caption: Series creator Chris Carter suggested that Tooms eat human livers after tasting foie gras, the liver of a fattened goose.
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