Henry James "Hank" Moody, portrayed by David Duchovny, is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Showtime television series Californication.
Duchovny has received praise for his performance, winning the 2008 Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy and being nominated for the same honor three more times.
After his novel God Hates Us All is adapted into a Hollywood film that he despises, A Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Hank Moody is suffering from writer's block and wallowing in alcohol, drugs and promiscuous sex.
She uses the threat of statutory rape charges to extort un-published short stories from him that she passes off as her own work for her high-school creative-writing class.
To get away from a break up with his year-long casual partner Carrie, who sets his apartment on fire, Hank visits California to write the script for Santa Monica Cop starring rapper Samurai Apocalypse.
[11] He also comes to blows with Becca's boyfriend Tyler, an aspiring writer who shares several characteristic traits with a young Hank Moody.
However, Carrie makes a surprise visit and tricks Hank into drinking a drugged alcoholic beverage in an effort to end both their lives.
[12] Although Hank recovers fully, Carrie is left in a persistent vegetative state with her family deciding to end her life.
[13] Becca, having begun having sex and using drugs believing it will help her become a writer, much to Hank's chagrin, departs to travel the world on a "literary pilgrimage."
Although he tries to dissuade the marriage, Hank ultimately gets on the plane to the ceremony in New York after reading to Karen a piece he wrote declaring he will never give up on the two of them being together.
Three of Hank's novels, South of Heaven, Seasons in the Abyss and God Hates Us All are named after the albums by the American thrash metal band, Slayer.
Aside from his books, Hank has written the screenplay for the movie adaption of his God Hates Us All novel, titled A Crazy Little Thing Called Love.
[18][19] Duchovny looked at his character as the emotional anchor of the show, giving "balance to all the other craziness and [keeping] it from floating away into ridiculous escapades.
Robert Bianco of USA Today felt that he "makes the unlikeliest twists believable and the most heinous behavior forgivable.
"[22] Similarly, Charlie McCollum of the San Jose Mercury News said that the actor makes a character that might seem "repugnant into a charming, engaging, surprisingly self-aware human being.
"[23] Tim Goodman for SFGate claimed that Duchovny takes Kapinos's dialogue and turns it into "a kind of verbal weapon all too lacking on television.
"[24] The Boston Globe's Matthew Gilbert wrote that "Duchovny manages to make Hank almost heroic at moments—a bitter cynic whose inappropriate honesty marks him as an outsider in a town that thrives on pretty lies.
[26][27][28] However, LA Weekly's Robert Abele wrote that "Duchovny is too self-consciously cool an actor to suggest anything out of control about a guy who is having sex with that many women, which means he just seems square-ish, weak or bored when Hank pleads for Karen to reunite with him, or hugs his daughter.
"[29] Duchovny won the 2008 Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy for his performance as Hank Moody.