On the set, her job was mostly to keep the kids busy while David directed. She says her instincts made her want to help out as much as possible while making the low-budget independent film, which also stars Robin Williams and his daughter, Zelda. "I would have held lights or done whatever," she says. In the end, she just ended up doing what she does best: acting. She plays the widowed mother of a 12-year-old boy (Anton Yelchin) who's struggling to grow up. It's a meaty but small role, although it was still enough to drive her crazy. "I didn't want to be in it," says Leoni, who suffers from stage fright. "I didn't want to be the wife who clearly slept with him for the role. But it was irresistible to me."

For Duchovny, it was the role reversal that appealed to him. "It was a pleasure to have her do what I said," he deadpans.

He says he'll do the same for her one day if she decides to direct, but for now Leoni has no plans to step behind the camera. "I wish I were a writer," she says. "I have script ideas, but I don't want to write. It's been suggested that I produce, but I can't think of anything I'd be interested in less."

But she does realize how things go in the film business: When you reach a certain age ‑- like 39, for instance ‑- you have to take control or the parts disappear. "I've stumbled into roles where I'm old enough to play the mother now," she says, and she's been happy with the results, especially in the Adam Sandler comedy Spanglish, in which she got to play a selfish Malibu mom. She's even playing a mom in her next film, the comedy remake Fun with Dick and Jane with Jim Carrey. It's far better, she says, "than being that single white chick dragged around by her hair on every page of a script."