Gillian Anderson says that
until this interview she
hadn't really thought about what it will mean to play Dana Scully again -- what it will feel like, how difficult it
could be. But it's time. She can't avoid it any longer. No more time
for "denial," as she calls it. She and David Duchovny will return to Vancouver yet again in search of the truth .... and a proper farewell.
"At the end of the day I
thought it might be fun for David and I to work together for a few
months," she says. "And if no one was going to put up the cash for a
feature and it fit into my schedule ... . " She says it just made sense
to her to shoot six episodes for FOX, scheduled to air in January.
And when she set aside The X-Files after the second movie, 2008's The X-Files: I Want to Believe, she
wasn't done with the character; she and Duchovny thought for sure there
would be one last conspiracy to chase. But there wasn't. Even the
casual fan found it all so disappointing.
"You just saying that made me
think for the very first time that ... we didn't really say goodbye
last time, because we didn't think it was goodbye," she says. "We thought there'd be a third film. Knowing this is the end, that the six [episodes] is a goodbye."
Actors on long-running television series often take ownership of their characters. Now, Gillian returns to the character -- her mannerisms, her beliefs, her hair -- and her deep connection with Scully begin to sink in.
Actors on long-running television series often take ownership of their characters. Now, Gillian returns to the character -- her mannerisms, her beliefs, her hair -- and her deep connection with Scully begin to sink in.
"I think maybe I've minimized the import of her in my life as a living, breathing character separate from the series, so to speak, separate from the scripts and the commitments and the fandom but just as an entity in and of herself who lives and breathes inside me," she says. "There were various times I was in the midst of shooting I felt her ongoing presence, and when the series ended I needed to literally close the door and put a lock on it. And I don't think I've given enough credence to the idea that in stepping back into her, it's almost a ritual that needs to take place whereby I take the lock off and open it back up, and there's somebody I know like family member."
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