Gillian in den britischen Medien

Auch diese Woche, wie sollte es anders sein, war Gillian Anderson in den britischen Presseerzeugnissen wieder häufig vertreten. Allerdings enthalten bei dieser Masse die wenigsten Artikel wirkliche Neuigkeiten, daher haben wir an dieser Stelle nur einen aufgegriffen, der relativ interessant ist. Aber wie jede Woche kann man eigentlich nur sagen, seht euch selbst ein bisschen auf der offiziellen oder der englischen GA-Website um, dort findet ihr wirklich jeden kleinsten Schnipsel und auch einige Radio- bzw. Fernsehinterviews. Wirklich neue und wichtige Dinge werdet ihr aber auf jeden Fall stets hier bei uns erfahren :) ... Hier aber nun erstmal der Beitrag aus der "Hello".

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Hello Magazine

Number 741 November 26, 2002

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In terms of Hollywood success, Gillian Anderson has it all. International fame, the recognition of her peers (she's twice won the Screen Actors' Guild Award for Outstanding Lead Actress), celebrated beauty and the usual trappings of wealth.

However, it all came at a certain cost and it was with much publicised relief that she parted company with The X-Files earlier this year. Not that you can believe everything you read in the papers of course, as Gillian says she has learned to her cost.

"The difference between what I talk about and what ends up on the page is so great," she reveals. "I can talk about anything and all they'll end up writing about is my past - and then take the majority of it from the Internet! It's incredibly frustrating. There's always an angle. A friend and her boyfriend said if you have a dinner party, we'll cook. They happened to be here the day I did an interview, so suddenly I've got two cooks! Another day, there's a couple of construction guys fixing something downstairs and my assistant opens the door because he happened to be here dropping something off and suddenly I've got an entourage.

"On the one hand I don't care, but on the other hand, when you invite someone into your home and you're saying, okay, this is me, I'm in my tracksuit pants and I'm opening up to a certain degree....." She shakes her head, smiling. "And it always ends up this sob story about my childhood and all the assistants I have!"

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Although clearly glad to be away from the public gaze after years of intense media attention and The X-Files' punishing shooting schedule - 16 hours a day, five or more days a week for nine months of the year - Gillian initially found it difficult to switch off.

"It was very difficult at the beginning," she admits. "My brain was running at 100 miles per hour because I was so used to having to balance so much all the time, with the work, going back to the trailer and learning the lines. And then all the calls and all the other stuff!

"There was this constant barrage of everything and my brain stayed in that mode for a long time. Even after we'd stopped, I couldn't get away from it. It was hard but," she smiles, "I haven't missed it for a second."

Gillian has turned her back on TV work for the time being to concentrate on other projects. After a few tiny film roles, a couple of years ago she surprised many viewers with the quality of her performance in director Terence Davies' acclaimed movie The House of Mirth, She's now surprising more people with her West End debut.

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The play in question is What The Night Is For, a new work by Michael Weller. In the words of Gillian's co-star Roger Allam, it's about "Adam, a successful New York architect, with a wife and child who, ten years ago, had an affair with Melinda [Gillian Anderson], a woman he met in a book circle. Then, after about a year, she disappears. Ten years later, he tracks her down because he's realised that this is the woman for him."

The action all takes place in Melinda's hotel room and the two actors hold the stage for the whole performance. It's a daunting enough prospect for a seasoned actor like Roger but, despite a bad-timed bout of laryngitis ("But what can you do? Apart from cough a lot!") Gillian is relishing the prospect.

"I'd done some theatre and had wanted to do more for a long time," she explains, "but I hadn't found anything I really wanted to do. I had been looking at doing Fool For Love with another company and the day I decided I wasn't going to do that, this play landed on my doorstep and I thought, 'I have to do this'. It's absolutely terrifying," she laughs, "but I was determined to do it".

So it's a neat twist of fate that's led to a play about twists of fate?

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"Absolutely," smiles Gillian, "This play is about destiny and who we're meant to be with. Whether we're with the right person and, if we're not, how much damage is it okay to cause in order to be with who we think is the right person."

Gillian admits she's a great believer in destiny but explains that that wasn't her only reason for taking the part. "It's a really well written, wonderful script. I really wanted to do a new piece and something provocative and I just completely "got" Melinda and her journey. I felt like I could embody the aspects of her that I found interesting and compelling."

So who is Melinda? "Oh gosh, I hate answering that question! People used to ask me who Scully was and I'm not sure I could ever answer that properly! Let's see. Melinda is an American woman in her early 40's She's got two kids and a husband. She's a social worker. She's very complex and ..." Gillian hesitates for a second. "She's stuck in a world that she's not happy in - not just in her marriage but in her life. She feels trapped. She's used to taking care of everything. She's very efficient and a great mother but she's living a very dispassionate life and, at heart, she's an incredibly exciting person but she's not able to live that way at this time."

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Without wanting to draw simplistic parallels between Melinda and Gillian's much-publicised, real-life end-of-tether situation with The X-Files, is that perhaps part of the reason she "got" Melinda's character?

"On some level...." She pauses. "I'm certain there's something in that. Just in me choosing to do a play that's so difficult and," she adds with a laugh, "so potentially damning! But given the schedule that I've been in for so long, I couldn't not choose something hugely challenging. In terms of something ending, and feeling trapped..." She pauses again. "Yes," she says, firmly. "But it's more the emotional than the physical aspect of it. You're drawing comparisons with my being "trapped" in the series, but it's more Melinda's emotional world that I have compassion for."

As for her West End co-star, Roger is an Olivier Award-winning actor who has done everything from Les Miserables (he originated the part of Javert) and classics such as The Cherry Orchard, to two appearances in Art. Gillian is clearly appreciative of his experience. "He's fantastic. He's been so much fun to work with, so sweet and so funny. We've been having a ball. We work so well together.

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"Just 'finding' the heart of the play together has been really wonderful and John Caird is such a great director for this. The three of us can just work thorough all the details and really understand each other. It's been a fantastic process, to be so creative in that way and to use myself to my fullest potential."

There's a certain snobbery that says TV is a lower art form than theatre. Is there something of that in the decision to do the play, perhaps a need for Gillian to keep proving she can act? "I'm sure on some ego level, yes. But I also really have missed it. I did a couple of the celebrity Vagina Monologues events and that was the first time I'd been on stage in a long time. And just being up there... it brought me to tears! It was fantastic! I had to do it again. And to prove it to myself, too," she giggles. "Because I also have that snobbery about television!"

Indeed. those expecting Gillian to play the role as Scully will be disappointed. As Roger Allam says, Gillian is a "terrific actress. She's great to work with, a wonderful person and very funny." Of course, as mentioned above, Gillian has already proven her acting abilities beyond doubt. The House of Mirth attracted great reviews and before that she appeared in ensemble comedy Playing by Heart and had a minor role in director Peter Chelsom's charming but little seen The Mighty. At that point, Gillian was one of the most famous faces on the planet but she had a very good reason for choosing such a minor role.

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"I love Peter Chelsom," she reveals. "So the chance of working with Peter was too good to miss. Plus I loved the story about these two kids that help each other through life. I was very moved by it."

In The Mighty, Gillian plays the rather "blowsy" Loretta Lee. "Initially when I sent in the tape, my interpretation of the character was very, very different." She laughs, "and he hired me on that. Then he saw this Rolling Stone cover I'd done, where I wore this red dress and my hair was all curled, and he said, 'That's how she should be!' So she became this complete wacko!"

While What The Night Is For is Gillian's West End debut, it's not her first time in the capital. "I lived in London from about two years old until 11." She sits back and looks happily around her new West London home. "And it's fantastic to be back. I'm having such a great time. I love this city. It's lovely being here with my daughter Piper and my Mom, and seeing old friends and meeting new people. I've got a great group of people as friends. It's just completely different here!" She chuckles and counts off the advantages of London Life on her fingers. "Great conversation, great meals, great friends..."

Another advantage is the amount of time Gillian suddenly finds herself with. "It's nice to have this time," she exclaims. "The rehearsals have been intense but it's nothing like the schedule that I'm used to. And during the run, I have all my day free and then I'm really only working for four hours! it's nothing!".

She beams, "I can play all day, hang out with my daughter and spend time in the city... I feel very blessed. And like I'm free. Part of me feels I could, very happily, move here and just do theatre for the rest of my life."

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