when Crump and Mulder discover that speeding west is the key to success, Mulder mentions that he thinks he "saw this movie." The opening teaser footage is done in the style of a news report, a stylistic direction that IGN suggested was intended to echo the O.J. Simpson Ford Bronco chase from 1994. Casting Gilligan wanted Bryan Cranston to be the episode's antagonist because, "[The series] needed a guy who could be scary and kind of loathsome but at the same time had a deep, resounding humanity." In an interview with The New York Times, Gilligan stated, "We had this villain, and we needed the audience to feel bad for him when he died. Bryan alone was the only actor who could do that, who could pull off that trick. And it is a trick. I have no idea how he does it." Rick Millikan, the casting director for The X-Files very nearly did not cast Cranston; in fact, a different actor had already been cast when Cranston arrived to try out for the part. Despite the part having already been cast, Millikan allowed Cranston to audition and was very pleased with his performance, eventually choosing him for the part. Cranston's work on this episode would later have a major impact on his career, as it led to Gilligan casting him as the central character Walter White in the AMC series Breaking Bad. Initially, AMC executives were unsure of this decision as they were familiar only with Cranston's work on the sitcom Malcolm in the Middle. However, they were convinced after viewing his performance in "Drive". Gilligan, a fan of country musician Junior Brown, cast Brown as Virgil Nokes, the farmer who Mulder and Scully investigate at the beginning of the episode. Brown was flown in at the request and personal expense of Gilligan. Reception Ratings "Drive" first aired in the United States on November 15, 1998. This episode earned a Nielsen rating of 11.0, with a 16 share, meaning that roughly 11.0 percent of all television-equipped households, and 16 percent of households watching television, were tuned in to the episode. It was viewed by 18.50 million viewers. The episode aired in the United Kingdom and Ireland on Sky1 on March 14, 1999 and was watched by 0.70 million viewers, making it the sixth most viewed episode that week. Fox promoted the episode with the tagline "He'll stop at nothing."