Gillian Anderson with Conan O'Brian April 26, 1996

GA = Gillian Anderson
CO = Conan O'Brian

CO: It's a pleasure having her with us tonight. Folks please welcome, for the first time, Gillian Anderson.

[cheers]

GA: It's mine?

CO: Thank you for coming. Yes, that is your water. You pointed like you were confused.

GA: I did. I thought someone spat in it.

[laughter]

CO: Why would someone spit in your water before you came out?

GA: I don't know, you know, it's one of those things. How're you doing?

CO: [laughs] I'm fine.

GA: Good.

CO: [laughing] You're a very suspicious person by nature I can tell.

GA: Yes I am.

CO: Well, congratulations. X-Files' a huge hit.

GA: Thank you.

CO: All's going very well for you.

GA: Yes, it is.

CO: And I understand actually that you weren't all sure that you were going to get this part at first. Is that right?

GA: Um... That is correct, sir. Um... Yes, there was a...

CO: I'm not a state trooper. You know. [laughs] All right, step out of the car, I'm gonna interview you. I understand that she... uh... you know, when you first came up for the part...

GA: She?

CO: She? You. I'm sorry.

GA: That's all right.

CO: [sighs] Now I'm all confused.

GA: Me too.

CO: I was too busy spitting in your water before you came out that I...

[laughter]

GA: Oh, man.

CO: ...that I didn't spend the time thinking about the interview. That when you were first up for the part, the people involved weren't sure they wanted you. Is that true?

GA: Thank you for reminding me of that.

CO: It's important that I bring these things up.

GA: Thank you. Um... Yes, actually they speaking of I heard you mention Pamela Anderson earlier and yes they did... they wanted some plastic, you know, not necessarily plastic. But you know they would... [laugh] they would have preferred to have somebody more better endowed than I was.

CO: No one actually said that to you, did they?

GA: No! Nobody actually said that to me.

CO: Did they just like make hand gestures? [laughter] "We don't know exactly what the problem is here but we're...", I mean, how did you figure it out that this was the problem?

GA: No, it came through, I arrived in a very... [laughter] I'm sorry. It's just my universal gesture, you know. People just think I'm less because I'm keep going like that to remind them that I'm less. Right, so... Never mind. So, I actually showed up in a very kind a bulky oversized suit.

CO: You were wearing like a bee keeper's outfit...

GA: Exactly, exactly.

[laughter]

CO: ...when you show up for that interview. That was the problem.

GA: I had the gloves and the mask. They didn't know how I was so they didn't want to cast me.

CO: [laughs] Uh-huh.

GA: No, but I was kind of eaten up in this whole suit thing, and very frumpy. And they reminded me that I needed to wear something a little more... uh... streamlined as it were.

CO: So. Did you get to go back later on and...?

GA: I did. There was actually two auditions. I was very unfamiliar with the whole network process and I went in a second time. The first time the cast the guy and the second time they were casting the girl. So, I went back a little more streamlined.

CO: What were you wearing the second time?

GA: Oh, it was another... another...

CO: Like a catsuit or something kind of deal?

GA: No, no. I didn't have... I actually borrowed something from my manager at the time. I didn't have any dress up clothes to wear.

CO: OK. And that's a woman.

GA: My manag... [laughing] Yes!

[laughter]

CO: Making sure! Expose some strange thing. All right. Now the X-Files, I was watching, I've seen the show several times but... I was watching like a lot of them back to back today...

GA: Uh-huh...

CO: ...to get ready for this interview. And I was amazed it hit me at once 'cause I saw like four in a row of just how great the special effects are on this show. This is a like a feature film...

GA: It is...

CO: That has made it's way on TV.

GA: It is, we...

CO: Is that difficult? You know.

GA: The hours are difficult. The time constrains are difficult. Yes. And there is a lot of special effects on the show too. So a lot of times we actually have to react to things that aren't really there.

CO: [laughing] Oh, really? They don't have the special effects ready now so they...

GA: No, it's all done in post.

CO: In post, yeah.

GA: Most of it's done in post-production and, um... some... there's a lot of simple things that kind of slip by too. There was one time where we were shooting... um... a scene that was supposed to take place is Puerto Rico; and in Vancouver, if you know Vancouver, it's very green, it's very wet, it's not... Puerto Rico. And... um...

CO: [laughing] Who said it was?

GA: No, but well because we pretend... the show pretends that we're shooting in different places all the time and so we pretend we're in California when we're not in California. Got it? OK. All right. You got it.

CO: Yeah, I got you. I'm OK now.

GA: You are? OK. Good. No more spitting in my water.

CO: No, that won't happen again.

GA: OK. Thank you very much.

CO: So you're there and what happens?

GA: So, we're there... we're there and there's a scene where Mulder and Scully are... um... supposed to run out of this little shed. And it's hot and there's fake palm trees and the troupes are after us; I don't know what troupes they are, but there's these guys, you know, these pumped men that are supposed to jump out of this truck and start firing at us as we jump in the car and start running away. And you know a lot of stuff happens in post including... including... gun-fire and...

CO: That's when they start putting in all those sound effects.

GA: Exactly. So we're shooting it and we're revved up and Mulder and Scully jump into this car and we start to drive away and the troupes come up and the car stops and these guys, these big, you know, as I said, buff guys, jump out of the car and they're all in fatigues and they start going "Peewn, peewn. Bang, bang, bang..." [laughter] Verbalizing these gun sounds. Which of course, you know, cut; the crew starts laughing hysterically.

CO: Also, even when they put the sound effects you're going to see the guys going "Pheewn-Bang-Weewn-Wang".

[laughter]

GA: Exactly.

CO: That's not going to look good. No.

GA: No.

CO: Well I didn't see that when I was watching...

GA: You give a guy a gun and what happens he turns into a...

CO: And he goes he reverts to a four year old.

GA: That's right.

CO: Uh... Now, I understand you got married. You met your husband on the set of The X-Files. Is that right?

GA: That is correct, sir. Oh! [laughter] That is correct.

CO: You can have a lawyer present during this if you want! Andy, Andy has had a lot of legal training. He's there to help you. Andy: Yes.

CO: Is it OK for her to answer this one?

Andy: Um... All right.

[laughter and applause]

CO: We take care of everything here.

GA: Thank you.

CO: You met him on the set...

GA: I did... I met him on the show. He was an art director on the show. And we went off to Kauai and we got married.

CO: That's great. What was the ceremony like? Was it like a traditional ceremony?

GA: It was not a traditional ceremony. It was just myself, my husband, and a Buddhist priest.

CO: So far sounds traditional. [laughter] Get to the wacky part.

GA: Well, it was actually New Year's Day and... um... there weren't very many priests to be found because they were all being used up and... um... [laughter] so the only one available was this Buddhist priest and so he showed us around, he took us in his mini-van. [laughter] And around Kauai to show us these places where we could get married. And... um... everything was beautiful but it was like on the side of a highway or it was under, you know, a bush or something like that. So he said, "You know what. I play golf and on this... uh... this range that I play on there is a beautiful tree and it's on the seventeenth hole that's overlooking the water." And so he took us there and he took us in this number three you know little... cart on this golf course.

CO: You got married on the seventeenth hole by a Buddhist priest?

GA: Um... on the seventeenth hole.

CO: [laughs] That's great. Did you have to... like wait, you know, pause while someone plays through and then get into it?

GA: [laughs] It was actually early enough in the morning that that didn't take place. But the funny thing was when we got to Kauai I didn't know anything in terms of what you need to get a birth certificate... uh, a birth certificate... a wedding certificate or marriage certificate. Marriage licence. So we show up I'd been talking to this woman on the phone from the hotel room about who gives out marriage certificates. And we show up at her place of work and it's called the Pono Fish Market. And that's where we got our marriage license.

CO: At the Pono Fish Market?

GA: At the Pono Fish Market.

CO: So pretty much... uh...

GA: And we bought some Spam Sushi which they sold there and... um ... we got married.

CO: So you pretty much you did everything by the book.

GA: Everything by the... [laughter] I... you know it's very funny too, is... um... when when we actually videotaped our wedding and so when we're watching it, when we got back home again, you see two figures in... um... in the background, we're like these two dark figures, the camera is way way back there, and when he says Um, "Kiss, please will you kiss the bride" we start kissing and then we hugged each other. But it was so far back, that it looked like that we were literally making out in front of the Buddhist priest because it lasted forever. We were just hugging but it went on and on and...

CO: You could sell this video for so much money...

GA: I know.

[laughter]

CO: Oh, it sounds like a lot of fun now. And it's going well. How long have you been married now?

GA: Um... Over a year.

CO: Right. And his name is... isn't his name Clyde Klotz? Is that right?

GA: That is correct.

CO: Right and so I'm doing well...

GA: You are doing well.

CO: Did you think for a minute even about being Mrs. Klotz? Or did you decide to stick with your own?

GA: Uh, no I decided to stick with my name and sometimes I go by Anderson-Klotz, or Blood-Klotz.

[laughter]

CO: Sexy, sexy name. All right. Well, the X-Files of course is Fridays at 9 PM on Fox. Gillian, thank you very much for come by. It's nice to meet you.

GA: Thank you.

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