Gillian Anderson morphs from Scully to Monroe, Garland, Ball and even Bowie
Gillian Anderson —RUBEN V. NEPALES
LOS ANGELES—The God of media—aka Gillian Anderson, Dana Scully from “The X-Files”—hobbled into the room with her right foot encased in an orthopedic walking boot. “I fractured my foot, jumping into a swimming pool that was too shallow in Costa Rica,” Gillian explained with a smile. “It could have been a lot worse.”
After putting her crutch in a corner, Gillian settled into a chair in a meeting room at The May Fair Hotel in London. She wore a black Wyse sweater and Mother jeans, with her blonde hair tied in a ponytail.
From the special agent and partner of Fox Mulder (David Duchovny), Gillian has morphed into the God of media in Starz’s acclaimed new fantasy-mystery drama series, “American Gods.” Based on the novel of the same name by Neil Gaiman, the show created by Bryan Fuller and Michael Green imagines a world where gods and mythological creatures exist because people believe in them.
Thanks to “thoughtform”—from the worship humans devote to them—these deities exist. But as people’s beliefs in these mythological beings wane, the power of old gods also fade. New gods are on the rise as America’s obsessions with celebrity and media increase.
As the mouthpiece of the new gods, Gillian’s Media takes the form of Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland, Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball’s beloved TV character) and even David Bowie. “American Gods” is a lush, intense fantasy that features a huge cast, including Ian McShane, Ricky Whittle, Pablo Schreiber, Emily Browning and Bruce Langley.
On speaking again with a British accent, the Chicago-born actress explained, “I grew up in England. I moved here (in the UK) when I was 2 and spent my formative years here. We lived in Crouch End (in North London).
“When I moved to the United States, it took me a while to get rid of my British accent. That was when I was 11. But I didn’t really lose it until I was at the end of high school or beginning of college.”
She has returned to the UK, apparently for good. “I’ve lived here for 15 years,” said the 48-year-old mother of three children. “My kids are British, and my partners have been British.”
Excerpts from our chat, where she also talked about the return of “The X-Files”:
This “American Gods” role is a great gift to you as an actress. Exactly. But when I first jumped into it, the first thing I thought was, what have I done (laughs)? I just said I was going to play David Bowie. After I figured out the logistics of how exactly to do each of them (the iconic figures she takes the form of onscreen), I relaxed, then realized that this could actually be a lot of fun.
It felt like it was a very different experience with each of the characters. To what degree of Media herself shows up in each of the personifications—that was one of the biggest challenges.
Who was the most fun to play? Probably Marilyn, because she’s so bright and lighthearted and I am not (laughs). I tend to be so serious, so it was nice to embody someone whose persona is bubbly, bright, spirited and flirty.
How about playing David Bowie? He was one of the biggest challenges. But it was also about figuring out that balance of how much is Media coming through and how much is it OK for aspects of myself to come through so it doesn’t become too much of a caricature. There was quite a lot of sadness in David.
I tried to find the rhythm of his voice without diving too much into it that it would feel like it was false. So, it was very educational. I found myself moved by David’s desire to be who he was specifically. He was an anarchist, in a way.
Of the icons you’ve played, which one takes the longest for hair and makeup transformation? David Bowie probably took the longest. Judy Garland and Lucy were pretty straightforward.
What’s fascinating is that you play the God of media, which is what people worship these days. What is your own relationship with media? I think of the years that I used to disdain it. Very early on, when you would see me at the beginning of “The X-Files” and the pictures of me that would come out from the Golden Globes red carpet, I always had this look of disdain on my face (laughs). There is this grumpy, “God, do I have to do this?” (laughs) and “What is this sh-t all about?” expression.
As I got older, I’ve learned to appreciate the areas of where we can be of service to each other and the importance of when you do work hard on something and getting it out there in the right way so that it’s perceived in the way you’d like it to be perceived.
If you could be the God of media in real life, what would you change? I’m nervous about the idea of things like Google glasses (laughs). I am nervous for my children moving forward and how obsessed they get. They don’t have a lot of game time, but it takes over conversations with their friends. They don’t seem to be able to talk about other things.
And I witness that too in myself. So, if I were the God of media, I’d probably commit suicide—and kill all the technology (laughs).
Did wearing costumes make you appreciate fashion and the work of costume designers even more? The costume designer (Suttirat Anne Larlarb) in “American Gods” is absolutely extraordinary. Each of those outfits was built from scratch and based on historical outfits for the characters, obviously. When I’m working with someone like that, who’s such a perfectionist, I tend to be a perfectionist, too. It’s a fun part of the creative process.
My relationship with fashion has improved over the years. That makes me think of one of the first outfits I wore to the Golden Globes. I had just had a baby, and I was still carrying a lot of the baby weight.
The next day, I don’t know if it was the Daily Mail or an American paper, but they said that I looked like the geisha girl from hell. I was on the worst-dressed list. We had won (for “The X-Files”), and I was up on the stage. There were so many pictures of me in this stupid outfit.
I have started to appreciate the artistry that goes into fashion more. I treated it casually before.
You’ll be back on Season 11 of “The X-Files.” What can you share about that? We’ve been working on the deal for many months. It gives us an opportunity to bring closure. I didn’t feel like the end of the last season was a place for us to finish definitely. It was the nature of the shoot, and we ended up doing less than we were going to.
So there was a lot of consideration about whether there was an audience for it (another season), whether it was something that we could improve on and how we could make the show even better. In the end, we agreed that we would like to have one more go at it.
Are you surprised that “X-Files” fans are still rabid about the show? We know that the fans are still there. The surprising thing is that there’s a whole new generation of fans, who discovered the series through Netflix.
To meet 13-year-olds who are talking about how they have seen all the episodes, or how they obsess about it and can’t wait for the new season—that was surprising.
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