Does anyone else miss Gillian Anderson’s red hair? I do. No disrespect to the blonde/strawberry-blonde shades she’s been working for the past few years, but I do miss her Agent Scully ginger. Anyway, Gillian covers the new issue of Red Mag. She’s promoting Season 2 of The Fall, which OMG!! I’ve been waiting for Season 2 for months now. I wonder when it will be available here in America? In the Red interview, Gillian talks a bit about The Fall, about Jamie Dornan (he plays the serial killer in the show) and about sexism in Hollywood. Some highlights:
Starting out on The X-Files with David Duchovny: “At the beginning, the pay disparity was massive. But that happens all the time in Hollywood. It’s, ‘Do this for me, I’ll get you a job.’ All the stuff in the papers today about people in entertainment who have abused their position … it’s built into our society. It’s easy to miss and it’s easy to get used to it.”
Prevalent sexism: “There are things that are intolerable in today’s world, in terms of the perception of women. Whether they’re vamps or vixens, the expectation that, if a woman is wearing a short skirt, she’s ‘asking for it.'”
Working with Jamie Dornan: “I’ve been surprised at how funny he is… He’s very, very funny and good at telling stories. He’s a good mimic as well. He’s a lovely young lad. On the first series, people were like, ‘Who is this guy? Is he an ex-model or something?’ Now people don’t ever want to talk to me about ‘The X-Files.’ They only want to ask about Jamie Dornan.”
Playing DCI Stella Gibson on The Fall: “There are aspects of Stella that I’m familiar with in my own personality. I feel I’ve been able to make peace with myself more because she’s so unapologetic about the island that she is. ‘Yeah [I am a solitary person], I mean my [romantic] partners have consistently said, “You live this life I have no idea about. The idea of saying [to them], “I’m thinking about doing this film, let’s talk about what it means for our life… It’s challenging for me. It’s not my first instinct. My first instinct is to decide, “Can I do this? Yes I can.””
[From TooFab & The Standard]
That’s interesting about the pay disparity between Gillian and David starting out. Granted, David already had a minor profile in Hollywood when he was cast as Mulder, while Gillian was a relative unknown. I would have liked to have heard if their pay eventually evened out as the show went on? One thing I always liked about David Duchovny and Gillian in real life is that they’ve never had a bad word to say about each other, ever. They really saw each other as partners and equals on The X-Files and it would be nice to know if David fought for Gillian to make as much as he did.
Photos credit Getty and Red Magazine
She gets more beautiful. I love her. And she and David have admitted many times that they love each other deeply, but don’t want to screw up what they have.
Gillian is a forever crush.
Pssst…they’re still secretly together. #ScullyMulderUnbroken! 😀
Let’s throw a ’90s party!
Let’s all say ‘dude!’
I adore her face, and agree with everything you said.
Yes to all.I saw the live broadcast of a Streetcar Named Desire and I was blown away.Can’t wait for the Fall and Hannibal!
Amen. So talented. And NATURALLY beautiful, without all the obvious plastic bolt-ons and the waxy-mask-face that has led to certain other once-talented 40-something actresses becoming punchlines.
That’s a pretty well known fact about the X-files from day one, actually. Gillian lost a lot of male fans at the time because of her constant ‘whining’ about not getting paid as much as David. It was evened out eventually, if I’m not mistaken. But she kept bringing it up for years after… and when I read this post’s headline, first thing I thought was: not AGAIN! I know, it’s stupid, she has every right to bring it up and I can imagine she was angry about it at the time, especially when the series became more successful.
Side note: she looks horrible on that cover. How did they manage to make such a lovely woman look so bad??
Bringing up the fact you don’t make equal pay for equal work is hardly “whining”. It is a fact women deal with everyday.
True. My mother-in-law shared when she started nursing, she found out a male colleague who had the same credentials and graduated the same time as she did was making $3 more per hour at the same hospital. When she questioned the administrators, she was told it was because the male was “the head of the household.” When she advised she too was head of her household, they had no reply.
I know that. I’m not saying it (hence the ”).
Thank you for pointing that out. I’m so grateful that she stood up for herself and the demanded the pay she rightfully deserved. And I love Fox Mulder. Still.
I remember how Gillian fighted to have the same salary than Duchovny’s one every year (and she won also)
Blimey yes re the hair colour….her red hair was so distinctive. .She’s looks fab of course but a bit confusable (??) with Kate Winslet and a few others now, imo. She’s always an interesting interviewee.
(Another regret is Red itself, for me. It used to attract me with a touch of class that other glossies lack…..and now it seems to have gone the way of the rest of them and may as well be Marie Claire, the original sad casualty.
Still, if my main worry today is the quality of magazine content, then all is well!)
I know, I can’t decide. She’s beautiful blonde, but I did love the ginger, too. As Charlotte said, she’s more beautiful than ever.
Plus – that red hair made her eyes really freaking pop. They always looked so insanely blue on the XFiles.
I’ve been watching Hannibal (partially through hand covered eyes) and she is just so stunning and refined looking. I love her.
She looks great, but I adored the red.
She is attractive. But I don’t like the clothes. There is some serious incongruity between the styling, posing and facial expressions. The photos seem ‘off’ to me, but in a way that is indescribable for me, somehow. Not that I’m blaming her for the result, but rather the photo editor, stylist and photographer.
I agree. I don’t expect actresses to be able to work in front of the camera like models do, but every shot looks awkward and that’s not Gillian’s fault.
I would like the pic with the one-shoulder dress but that blue hand going down her thigh is hurting my feelings.
The bigger story is the husband okaying a one night stand. I wonder how it went. LOL Just kidding. She looks great and I’m glad she over her out there phase.
I wondered too. what an strange article to headline on the cover of a magazine.
You know, I saw that too and I thought at first that it was about Gillian Anderson….
She looks like a blend of Kate Winslet and Meryl Streep to me..
The Fall is good show.
Blonde is her hair color. The red was dyed , they thought it was better for Xfiles role of FBI/doctor/ agent.
She’s beautiful wow.
She always reminds me a bit of Pr. Edwards wife,The Countess of Wessex, or vice versa.
She’s a wonderful actress….so underrated.
I’ve always liked her as an actress, and she has gotten more and more beautiful as she’s aged – how lucky!
As for the pay disparity, I’m not surprised as it sounds like that is common, at least in the beginning of the show. Whichever actor has more experience, or a better agent, gets more. Once the show was a hit though, they should have been paid equally, she shouldn’t have had to fight to get that.
I love her. Always have. It’s so nice that she’s still working and is better than ever.
After the diatribe of garbage from clueless young starlet’s failing to understand even the most basic fact of feminism – it’s about equality stupid – it’s refreshing to hear her tell it like it really is in entertainment industry. Good to know there are women in the business who have the guts to stand up and argue for equality.
I’ve always thought Gillian was very beautiful, especially as Scully with the red hair. I miss the X Files…
Wait, didn’t Gillian and David actually become a couple there a few years ago when he was having trouble with Tea? I could’ve sworn they even admitted it?
She is so stunning. I think I’ll have a lady-crush on her forever. I actually dye my hair red now because of her red hair in the X-Files. We have similar coloring.
The X-Files will always be my favorite tv show ever and she was such an important character to me. I looked up to Scully.
I always wanted she and David to be together in real life. I would guess they have probably hooked up before, but man, if the rumors they are actually together proved to be real, I would probably explode from the happiness.
Also, I am a nerd.
More women need to speak out about pay inequity. It’s the only way things will ever change.
I remember this story from back then and fully support her ‘whining’, aka (un)holy feminism. The show with 2 leads should pay them equally, period. I guess it didn’t backfire since she got to direct some episodes and developed a close realtionship with Duchovny, but it must have been hard in the beginning. Also forever crushing on Mulder and Scully, if they didn’t do it then, they must have been doing it afterwords because she’s grown into a beautiful woman and you just know David couldn’t hold his hands off 😀 that being said, this cover is not doing her any favors.
btw, didn’t know she was on The Fall, I’ve only recently seen her in Hannibal, and am looking forward to her becoming series regular.
She looks different there’s some job done on her face
No just weight loss and maturity.
She’s lovely.
The xfiles producers did eventually pay her the same amount as DD – mostly because GA wouldnt let it go, and rightly so! Also, Kaiser, DD and GA had a bit of a rough patch in the late 90s…they may not have been out right mean to each other, but there was some tension between the two (and not the good kind haha).
I love her. Gorgeous woman.
I do miss her X Files hair. A lot. All the time.
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