Gillian Anderson on The Magic Hour with Magic Johnson June 12, 1998

MJ: Please welcome Gillian Anderson.

[applause]

MJ: [laugh] Yeah, yeah. You are loved!

GA: I guess so.

MJ: [laugh]

GA: Hi. How are you? It's nice to be here. Wow.

MJ: Thank you.

GA: This is a beautiful stage.

MJ: Thank you.

GA: This is really nice.

MJ: You know what's funny?

GA: What's funny?

MJ: That you came out smiling and happy...

GA: And then?

MJ: But on X-Files you're so serious, your character.

GA: I know. I know. A lot of people... I know that. I mean, after 5 seasons of playing a character, people always comments on how I never smile. And I do! We have some episodes that are really comedic and quite funny. But, I tend to be much more... I'm goofy... I'm just... I'm really goofy.

MJ: And you were what?

GA: And silly. I'm just really silly. I laugh a lot. And I... And I like pulling pranks some people. And I'm realy a 5-year-old, I think, most of the time.

MJ: Is that a side most of yours fans don't get a chance to see?

GA: Yeah, I think so. Unless I come on talk shows like this and I make a fool of myself.

MJ: You can act silly.

GA: See how really silly I am.

MJ: Now, X-Files, man, it is huge. With a capital 'H'. Did you expect that to happen?

GA: No, I don't think any of us did. You know. We just get on board to do a few episodes. Maybe a year, or maybe two. And then it any just... It's just gone on and on and on and it's huge and it's everywhere. It's amazing, isn't it?

MJ: It is, because you're on the same parallel with Star Trek, because now just like Star Trek, they have X-Files conventions.

GA: I know.

MJ: I mean, that's amazing to me.

GA: It is amazing. There's been a lot of conventions, there's been been an Expo recently this year, we tried out to do Expos in differents cities and... I have something interesting... funny... I brought something to show you because... one of our directors, Kim Manners, went to the Expo in Dallas.

MJ: But you don't... you can't attend them.

GA: Well no, I can... I actually did the one in New York which was a lot of fun.

MJ: OK. So?

GA: This is... A woman drove from Kansas to Dallas, I'm not exactly sure how far that is.

MJ: It's far.

GA: It's far?

MJ: And flat land, too.

GA: Well, she drove from Kansas to Dallas to specifically go to Kim Manners, our director, and give this to him and it is a necklace.

MJ: Wow

GA: I don't know if you can see, It's a necklace that has pictures of Scully on every single bead.

MJ: Yeah.

GA: And it's actually made... it's not painted on there... it's actually made out of clay. And this woman, Brognan Lillian Leach, in Kansas.

MJ: Congratulations. Yeah.

GA: And she wrote this really sweet little note and she gave it directly to him to give to me, and it's really neat, it's got... it's even got my mole, which you don't actually see on the show because they cover it up.

MJ: [laugh]

GA: Well, no, no. They do because apparently, when they were doing the screen test for it, Chris Carter, our executive producer, said there wasn't enough room on my face for my mole.

MJ: We like your mole, don't we?

[applause]

MJ: We're going to have to talk with Chris about not covering your mole up.

GA: I know. But the mole's on here.

MJ: Also interesting... Let me help you out there. Is a fact that X-Files is so big, it's like Baywatch, it's shown all around the world, no, no, no. It's shown all around the world, right?

GA: It is.

MJ: It is.

GA: I don't know if it's in like 60 countries or something.

MJ: And other thing that's amazing about that. That you can speak a lot of languages I didn't know you could speak.

GA: What're you talk... Oh.

MJ: Chinese, I heard that you speak chinese.

GA: You hear me speak chinese?

MJ: Yeah.

GA: I haven't heard me speak Chinese.

MJ: Check this out. Michael, roll that tape. You can hear yourself right now.

[x-files clip in chinese]

GA: It's really funny. Thank you. That was funny.

MJ: You said you... You said you like to have fun and joke around. So there was.

GA: That's great.

MJ: Now, when I go overseas, see, I turn the volume down and I watch the show, now. It's confusing a little bit for X-Files. But when I turn the volume down on baywatch I understand what goes on.

GA: Yep, I bet you could.

MJ: More with Gillian Anderson when we come back.

[commercial break]

MJ: We're back with Gillian Anderson. Now, this is not the first time we actually have appeared together. We were in this magazine together.

GA: Oh, yeah. I do...

MJ: No, no, see, this is Cookie and myself inside... my wife and I... but guess who's on the cover?

[applause]

GA: Now, you know what I think they should have. Is me on the inside but with your house, I mean, I like that idea.

MJ: The thing about this is I read the article on you... I'm waiting. Did you read about me or what?

GA: The only thing that I remember is that they measured your inseam for your furniture. I think that stands out, that they have actually like measure, you know, your inseam.

MJ: Inseam out.

GA: Yeah.

MJ: And guess what's stands out about you?

GA: What?

MJ: Your dad lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

GA: Yeah.

MJ: And I'm live... I'm from Lansing, Michigan, right down the street.

GA: I've been in Lansing before.

MJ: You have been in Lansing?

GA: I've been in Lansing, Michigan, before.

MJ: Wow

GA: I have.

MJ: I didn't know that about you until I read the article.

GA: I think I saw the Circle Jerks plays in Lansing, Michigan.

MJ: Is that a Circus or... ?

GA: No, It's a band.

MJ: Oh, OK. The Circle Jerks. OK.

GA: [laughting] I don't suppose you were there, right?

MJ: You got me on that one. You know, you've been everywhere on every magazine... Michael, show how many magazine covers you've been on. Look at you. All over the place.

[applause]

MJ: I know for me it's... it's like a strange feeling when I see myself on magazine covers. What about for you?

GA: Ah, yeah, it is. You know. I don't get an opportunity to be in like magazine stands a lot, but when I'm travelling when I'm in the airport, you know, you have to hide when you're... I usually go. I pick up a copy of Vanity Fair and if there are articles near it on the cover, It's kind of weird you want to get in and out as quickly as possible. You don't want to be caught buying a magazine with youself on the cover.

MJ: Yeah, yeah. [laugh] That's it...

GA: A not a good thing.

MJ: I know it. Everybody look at you like you're crazy.

GA: A little self-indulgent.

MJ: Yeah, yeah. My kids. I know you have a daughter, like I have a daughter.

GA: How old is your daughter?

MJ: My daughter is 3.

GA: Really? My daughter is 3 and a half.

MJ: Wow, ok.

GA: What's her name.

MJ: Elisa. And yours?

GA: Piper.

MJ: Piper? OK. Piper, Eliza. What's strange about it is when my daughter see me on buses or magazine covers, "Daddy, daddy, there you are!" She just goes crazy. How about your daughter? When she sees you?

GA: She's like, "There's mom." "There's mommy there."

MJ: Since she's too young for The X-Files, watching it on TV. What does she like to get into or what does she like to watch on TV?

GA: Ahhh... She likes a lot of things. She doesn't watch a lot of TV. She likes Mr. Been a lot, and Wallace and Gromit. And she likes to play. She plays these pretend games where she'll make up, on the spot, this imaginary story. She'll say, OK, "So, so, you are the sister and I'm, I'm the kid and I'm in a cave and it's really, really dark. And you're the monster. And I don't know that you're coming, but you're going to come and scare me and take me away and then you're going to save me and then we're going to go have breakfast and we'll have eggs." She'll do something like that. She's got this like imagination, she just keeps weaving it back and forth.

MJ: Boy.

GA: We enact that, we do that. Then we have eggs.

MJ: Mommy got to play a lot of roles then, huh?

GA: I know.

MJ: Harder than your real job.

GA: She's a director. She directs everything.

MJ: Guess what, she'll probably be directing you one day.

GA: She probably will.

MJ: Let's tell everybody about the great big movie. The X-Files movie about to come out. The premiere was last night, right here in L.A. tell everybody that you don't have to be a fan of The X-Files to enjoy the movie.

GA: You know, that's one thing that was part of the task in putting the movie together was to try to make something that appealed to people who had never seen a single episode before and to those who were avid fans. And, you know, what was interesting is that we did press junkets over the last few days, and I'd say about 98.8% of the reporters had never seen a single episode. And so, you know, they were able to share with us how they had seen it, the movie for the first time, and enjoyed it in anyway.

MJ: Which makes it nice.

GA: Makes it nice. And also they said is going to make them want to watch the show.

MJ: That's what I was getting ready to say. If you go out and watch the movie, those who haven't seen The X-Files TV show, you are going to then watch the series.

GA: The thing about the movie it's like going to see Die Hard without having a series Die Hard to follow, you know, it's entertaimening, it's fun, it's understandable...

MJ: And I not going to ask you set up the clip like all the other shows. Let's just run it.

GA: OK.

[clip from the movie]

[applause]

MJ: What I want to know is when is the old kiss-o-roo happen?

GA: It might happen in the movie.

MJ: It might happen in the movie? We'll have to wait and see it. Right?

GA: You have to see the movie and then you'll see.

MJ: You know what? You brought out so much personality tonight. Just beautiful. Keep that up. Gillian. You're wonderful. Thank you. Thank you. "The X-Files: Fight the Future" opens in theaters on June 19. We'll be back with my old coach, Pat Riley. Stay with us.

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