GILLIAN ANDERSON: ARTICLES
Smouldering Scully, 13 January 2005
X-Files star Gillian Anderson makes contact with Peter Cardwell, to talk about David Duchovny, life as a lesbian icon and her passion for charitable work

by Peter Cardwell

AIDS, yes. Future projects, no problem. Her life, her theatre work, her film projects are all fair game. But Gillian Anderson doesn't want to talk about The X-Files.

All five-foot-three of the woman consistently voted one of the sexiest in the world during the mid-1990s sits opposite me, her hair now a curious mix of blonde highlights, her oval face now showing the beauty spot always hidden by make-up on screen.

Flashes go off through the windows of the Goodman Library as an employee of the Oxford Union, where she has just spoken to a packed house, stems the surge of the crowd asking for autographs and photographs.

But the 36-year-old star of one of the most successful drama series ever doesn't want to talk about it.

I get the sense Gillian Anderson, the teenage crush of many an Oxford student, is bored by the role she played for nine years, and wants to be seen for the versatile actor and campaigner she is: fascinated by Africa, well-travelled, cultured, and soon to be married for a second time.

Yet the reality is she will probably never escape the role that made her an international star. It's not hard to see why she might be bored by her cult icon status, the typecast of the sceptical investigator of all things paranormal - Special Agent Dana Scully was a role she played for nine years. She took up the highly demanding work schedule aged just 25.

She was particularly close to the creator, executive producer and frequent writer of The X-Files, Chris Carter, with whom she keeps in contact and who is godfather to her daughter. Tellingly, her first marriage was to Clyde Klotz, Assistant Art Director on Season One of The X-Files, with whom she has a 10-year-old daughter, Piper.

Anderson and Klotz married at the 17th hole of a golf course in a ceremony performed by a Buddhist monk on New Year's Day 1994, just one of the slightly off-the-wall elements that have contributed to Anderson's colourful life.

Working on The X-Files was clearly an all-consuming lifestyle. "I had been fired into a challenging position at a young age. You've got to make it new every time you do it - six or seven times during a week maybe," she told the chamber in a 'Midlantic' accent, which caused murmurs with the crowd.

"The worst aspects of The X-Files? The time that it took was one, together with the sleep deprivation.

"When I got home there were seven pages of dialogue to learn. It was also freezing 90 per cent of the time."

Asked about her relationship with co-star David Duchovny, she was diplomatic to say the least. "David and I had a very complicated relationship. Ultimately, I think there had been a huge amount of respect [between us].

"I have a huge fondness for David and for Robert [Patrick, who played Special Agent John Doggett in Season Nine of The X-Files], but with Robert there was a different energy."

Asked about the best aspects of playing such an iconic character, Anderson pointed to the inspirational role that won her several awards, including an Emmy, for young women.

"I also received hundreds and hundreds of letters from cancer victims saying they felt strength through the character of Skully. That was really touching."

Quizzed about her role as a gay icon through Scully by one member of the audience, Anderson laughed it off, taking a sideways look at her popularity.

"If I didn't have gay fans I would have about 25 fans. I enjoy being a lesbian icon. The only time I ever get bothered with the celebrity aspect is when I get stared and whispered about. Sometimes it gets to the stage where it really hurts me."

Since The X-Files ended, Anderson has carved out a role in charity work as a supporter of Amnesty International and with the Treatment Action Campaign in South Africa, and enjoys a friendship with its titan of a leader, Aids sufferer Zachie Achmat.

"The work I do in supporting the TAC is miniscule in comparison to what people like Zackie do with that cause," she told me. "Zackie is an incredibly brave individual and the TAC still faces a lot of obstacles." She also accused the American government of not sufficiently supporting South Africa in its efforts to combat the Aids pandemic.

"If the American government spent even a hundredth of what it's spending on the war in Iraq on addressing AIDS in South Africa and the rest of Africa it would be great, but they don't and they won't."

Beyond her most famous role, there is no doubt Anderson is a formidable actress in her own right, as anyone who has seen her award-winning performance as Lily Bart in the 2000 film The House of Mirth will testify. Her appearance in London's West End in 'What the Night is For' also proved popular: she played Melinda Metz, a woman who meets her married lover again after many years. More theatre beckons for the actress.

So what's next for Gillian Anderson? She's currently filming Tristram Shandy and another film, The Mighty Celt, is in post production. Marriage to her African fiancé, photojournalist Julian Ozanne, is also on the cards.

"I always have a mixed relationship with the film business. I'll certainly do small films as that's what I like doing," she said. "I have a very busy, great, interesting life."

Finally, I ask her about her early life as a punk and rebellious teenager, having moved from London - where she spent her childhood - back to America. I ask her whether escaping a character or persona is something which has followed her throughout her life. "I think it has really. Whether angst is in childhood or early adulthood, that part of your life never really goes away. One wants to flee, leave in one way or another."

Yet even as she says these words, I fear the dozens of autograph hunters and their unabating flashlights waiting outside will never let Gillian Anderson move on from being Special Agent Dana Scully.