Newsweek
July 28, 2008
Gillian's Still a Bit Spacey
By Ramin Setoodeh
Gillian Anderson reprises her role as Agent Dana Scully in The X-Files: I Want to Believe. She spoke to Ramin Setoodeh.
I've got to confess. I don't know anything about The X-Files.
OK.
Why is it such a big deal?
Ohmygod. You're not going to do this to me, are you? Tell me you're not going to do this. Oh come on! It's been such a long time. Hire somebody that knows enough that we don't have to explain this again.
I saw the last movie, but I didn't watch all nine seasons.
I mean, nobody did. Did they? Yes. There are some people that did. But that's cool. I love running into people who have no idea what it's about.
Was it hard getting back into character?
It was a little odd. It was more disconcerting than I anticipated. I expected it to be a breeze. But I tried so hard since the series ended to do things as different as possible from the character. When I was faced with making acting decisions on that character again, my brain started backfiring and internally combusting.
You're a mom now. Do you travel with all your kids?
All my kids!? You make it sound like I have a bushel.
You've got two and another one coming. How far along are you?
About five and a half months. As I recall.
What else have you been up to lately?
I travel a lot and have bought and sold a lot of houses. I like doing up houses and getting into the architecture. I've spent a lot of time doing that in various places in the world.
Like where?
London, California, Canada. There's another country that I've just added that I'm not going to talk about because it's private. So that's four continents.
California and Canada are on the same continent.
It doesn't sound so special, then. Never mind. Your voice is actually very similar to Ben Affleck's voice. Has he ever told you that?
No. Are you sure?
Well, you probably wouldn't be able to tell. But if you were standing next to Ben, people would say, "Are you brothers?" Or maybe not standing next to, but talking next to and somebody else was behind a screen.
Can I use that as a pickup line?
You absolutely can. You have my permission.
A journalist said interviewing you is like wrestling a crocodile.
What does that mean? I have no idea.
Did you try to bite him?
Metaphorically.
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