Happy Sad Confused - Gillian Anderson

Episode Date: October 18, 2014

Gillian Anderson stops by Josh's office to talk about her first book, "A Vision of Fire", fun "X-Files" stories, and what she'd do with three wishes! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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please contact ConX Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. Hello, friends, it's Josh Horowitz, which means you're listening to Happy Said Confused, my very own podcast. Thanks for tuning in, as always, guys. If you're new to the podcast, welcome aboard. It's fun. Take a dip. You'll enjoy it. The water's warm. This week's guest is the delightful Julian Anderson. Of course, best known for the X-Files. Truly a classic show, a show that holds up, a show that made a huge impact to me growing up. I watched virtually every episode and was definitely a huge, huge fan back in the day.

And it was such a delight to get a chance to interview Jillian for the very first time, for an extended time. She was in New York, hyping up her new book, which is her debut book, I should say. It's called The Vision of Fire. It's the first of what will probably be a series of books. And yes, it does have some ex-file-ish vibes to it. We talk a little bit about the storyline of the book in this, as well as a great many other things.

Gillian is just coming off of a very successful run in the West End of London on the stage in Streetcar Dane Desire. For those that don't know, Gillian actually kind of splits her time between the states and England, raised partially in both places. She has kind of lived a dual life in some respects and has done a lot of. a stage work. And this recent performance on the stage apparently was huge. She says she's hoping to perhaps bring it to the U.S. soon. So that's something to look forward to. As is a great many things. She's also on Hannibal. The next season of Hannibal, she's going to be back. And of course, she's in the show, the fall, which I'm new to, but really dark, really creepy. It's on Netflix. There's a second season that's already been shot, but very well regarded and

justifiably so. She's awesome in it. And Jillian, it was a great delight to talk to. As I said, we've never gotten a chance to speak before. But she certainly has a great perspective on her own career. She's got, she's opinionated, she's funny, she's quick, she's all the things you want in a great conversation. So I'm delighted to be able to share this one with you this week, guys. Without any further ado, I'll just throw it over to the Jillian. As always, I should tell you guys that I am on Twitter, you know the drill. Tell me what you're thinking. Who do you want to hear? Joshua Harrow, which is my Twitter handle. And of course, please, this is really important. Review, rate, subscribe on iTunes to Happy Sad Confused. The guests we've got coming up

are awesome. I'm so thrilled with them. And I should mention there's some really cool news for the podcast coming up in just a couple weeks that listeners to the show I think we'll be excited about it. I'm certainly excited about it. It's just going to bring a whole bigger, new audience to the show. So, as I said, without any further ado, here is the awesome, here the sirens. There are always sirens in New York, or always when I'm recording my introduction. But that gives you the flavor of New York City. So enjoy the sirens, and more importantly, enjoy this conversation with Gillian Anderson. They're coming for me. Help. Oh, we are? Have we already started?

It's happening. Okay. Don't you feel it? It's nice to meet you. Usually for the podcast, I get to like, you know, rekindle long-standing relationships, but this is one where we're coming in fresh, Julian. I can't believe this. This is unbelievable.

And congratulations on the book. Thank you very much. A Vision of Fire despite the title is not a comedy. It's not a laugh riot. I started it last night. It's a little bit funny. It is. It is, but it starts.

That was a joke. You're very kind. But it starts in a very chilling kind of way. The first few pages. sets the scene in a very disturbing way. Yes, that's good. The prologue is, yes. Gripping.

And you're also, so I want to cover that, but I also want to congratulate you on your crazy theater run that just ended. Thank you. You didn't happen to see the NT Live version of it. No, I was going to ask you about that. They're still showing encore performances around the world, and I think even in New York,

people might still be able to catch. Nice. One, yeah. So this is a straight car. Yeah, huge. Forty-two countries. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

And the run was, I mean, the reviews were amazing. from what I heard and was this was this was this like a part that was like on the list like okay at one point I'm gonna you got to do Blanch it's one of those things or was it it was kind of the only thing that's ever been on the list since I was really little and I didn't actually know why until I started to work on it and and also then I discovered which I had completely forgotten that I had done a monologue when I was a teenager from the play and had forgotten and entered a forensics competition which doesn't have anything to do with like dead body

which was surprising to me when I was re-remembering it. But so I, yes, and so I guess it must have been about that time when I was maybe 16 that I decided that I had some affinity with Blanche. And it had just been the thing that I'd always wanted to do. And you could probably find about 100 interviews where people have said, so if you wouldn't do more theater, go what you do, and I would bring it up. And so it manifested. I mean, I was involved in the manifestation.

I've been talking about it for such a long time and then discovered a particular director that I was really keen on doing it with. And we started that conversation and tried to find a theater and ended up doing it at the Young Vic, which is the equivalent of an off-Broadway house in London and probably the best place we could have done it.

So is that a huge space? No, it is a large space. It's relatively small in terms of the seat capacity, but we were doing it in the round, which I'd always wanted to do, but also the added bonus of a revolving stage. And so that also meant that the trajectory of the revolve needs a certain amount of space. So in talking about bringing it to New York, which we are in discussion about, we need to find a space that would potentially hold the revolve, which is no means. feet.

Would it be, I mean, you have Ben Foster in there too. I know. I know. Extraordinary. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. I'm Vanessa Kirby, who's played Stella and is exceptional. And it was really a dream come true in so many ways.

And the most extraordinary work experience I think I have ever had. And I'm still, it still hasn't hit me that it's over yet. It wasn't that long ago. Our last show was on the 19th of September and I've been running ever since. ever since and um at some point i'm just gonna have to have a little cry about it and then well it sounds like you're gonna get another shot at this in over here well we hope so hope so and there's also that i mean the the uh nc lib version they do so apparent i haven't seen it but apparently the way that they shot it was um was exceptional so what do you do the moment

or day after you do you finish a run like that that is that sounds like one of those a handful that is transformed into work yeah well it was the first full weekend that I got to have with my kids because I was doing sometimes Saturday matinees and Saturday evening performances. And so that's what I was doing. I was doing Lego and I was in the park and I would, no, actually, you know what? We ended up at a carnival and having breakfast out

and probably Indian food in the evening and basically filled the day with as many things that we hadn't done. To distract me from the fact that the show was over and I wasn't playing flashed. Of course, you're in town promoting this book which, I don't know, is it available yet? Can people buy it?

It is. Great, cool. As of today. There we go. So how did this one come about? Because I can only imagine that for years you've been offered the opportunity to do different kinds of books, whether it's a memoir, whether it's something in this genre thanks to Expos, which obviously you have some cachet in.

Was this something that was thought about for a while, something that just kind of came up, or what? Wasn't thought about for a while. I was, Jeff and I shared the same entertainment lawyer in last. Angeles and he called one day and said, you know, some people are doing these kind of things sometimes. And maybe you might want to think about the realm of science fiction. And at first I kind of hedged and hard about it a bit. And then he put Jeff and I in touch on the phone and then I was in New York and we ended up meeting. And we just started a conversation about

what it might possibly look like were we to go down this path. And I realized that actually it could be fun and that I had ideas and certainly Jeff has, you know, he is a best-selling science fiction author in his own right and is the holder of all information that exists on science fiction ever since day one. It's a good resource to have. And so, and he has most extraordinary assistant, Claire, and between the two of them, they were kind of the holders of the facts. Right.

And because of the nature of the work that I've been doing over the past couple years, has been a lot of commuting between London where I live and various cities, and so I had a lot of time on airplanes. And so he would prep a chapter, and then I would dive in while I was on a plane and send it to him when I landed, and then we go back and forth in that way. So that's kind of how it began. And there was a weekend last year when out of the blue. I knew that something was going to transpire over this weekend in regards to potentially maybe selling the book, the idea, to a publisher.

And this little mini bidding war started to take place. And I was in Chicago or Michigan, I think, at a time, and kept getting phone calls and talking to publishers. It's actually taking place. Like, this is actually happening in real time in my life today. And it's kind of gone from there. It's got to be a special thrill in a career with a lot of fun, different weird highs, to get a book with your name on it. Like, to get that over the bookshelf.

That's fun. It is really fun, yes. It's extremely fun. I mean, there's part of me that feels like that if it was, I guess because I've always had in my mind an idea that I wouldn't write until I was in my 60s or 70s. And not that I'd write the Great American novel, but that it would, you know, that it would become a part of my identity in terms of what I do in my life as we identify ourselves and the things that we do in modern society.

And the fact that it's happening now, somehow my brain will grasp it. It can't really hang on to it yet because it wasn't supposed to happen now. And it's interesting how, but just how, and I negotiate with this, even when I, you know, doing interviews around it right now, and it doesn't really feel like it's me necessarily that's talking about. Also, I would guess probably like a reverence for the written word that you, I'm sure you share with me, that where it's like, should, do I deserve to be in that company yet? Yeah, am I ready to be there? Yeah, no, absolutely. And so I think part of my brain is not dismissing it because I take it very, very seriously. but afraid that if I give it too much weight

that somehow I'll sabotage or a little backfire or something. Gotcha. Yeah. But it is going to be, from the title and the subtitle, it sounds like this is a series. Well, yes, it is. No, this is the first book in a trilogy right now. Well, the whole series is called The Earth End Saga,

and right now Simon Schuster has signed on to the first three, but we have ideas that extend upwards of there. And also, there are many other options. Originally, when I got involved, the only way I could really get into it was to create a character that I could potentially play. And so that was my desire as well to have it be as potentially filmic as it could possibly be, which I believe that it is. But also that it had a – and Jeff is adamant about this as well,

that it has a social conscience. Right. And judging from the title of the Earth End cycle, Saga, Saga, it doesn't sound like it's going to end well for us. I'm just taking a stab in the dark here. Well, that might not be us that it doesn't end well for. I'm leaving that in. Is that saying so much?

I don't know. It's tantalizing. It is, sorry. It might not end well for some people. Okay. There we go. There we go. There we go.

So did you find that having this co-writer who obviously has this pedigree was the right kind of like dipping your toe in the water and getting and making yourself feel comfortable in this particular world too? Yes. It sounds like sci-fi wasn't necessarily something that you gravitated towards before. No, no, it's not, and I have huge appreciation for it and I am a massive fan of sci-fi in the cinematic realm and don't know as much in terms of literature. and that's really where Jeff is an expert. So what are the sci-fi film touchstones? How about that? Because we can talk to that.

Well, I think for me, because it was such a big film in my life, was Close Encounters of the Third Kind. And I'm literally chomping at the bit to show it to my kids because I have a six- and an eight-year-old. and there are certain things that they like kids today can watch all of Star Wars

literally can watch every last and there are now comic shows and et cetera endless endless endless endless and nothing in it gives them nightmares for some reason even Darth Mall and are you kidding me but somehow you know Harry Potter is not quite they're not quite there yet that's too scary

and there are certain aspects of other sci-fi even part of E.T there was something thing I tried really hard to, and they liked it. It's a little more, for some reason, Close Encounters of the Third Kind will never be dated. There's something about it that will never, ever be dated, whereas some other sci-fi films, Philbury. I was thinking about the original time machine,

got very excited about exposing them to that, and then even in the trailer I was thinking, no, this is not a problem in any way shape of before. Not even, not even, but just some of the, there's a lot of, there's a lot of sex in it somehow, In the time machine? Yes. I don't remember that.

There's amorousness. Okay. There's a lot of, there's a lot of flirtation and kind of lying down into the long grass and all that, you know, it's very, yeah. I forgot that bit. There's a lot of creepy obsession and it's kind of a haunting film because I remember seeing that pretty early on. Between that and like Spielberg also haunted me with jaws, which I saw way too young, and it was, Publicist dying in the corner, Publissus is dying in the corner, joking.

And he's going to make it. Yeah, yeah, okay, all right. She gets straighted up about those encounters. I do. But I feel like there's something almost, I mean, I'm not apparent, so I can't relate on that level, but like I almost appreciated seeing things maybe like a year or two, probably too early for myself.

Like it kind of, it was an eye opener. And there's something, you want to hit that sweet spot I would think as a parent. I think he do want to hit that sweet spot, but it's also, there was a lot of inappropriate stuff out there. I mean, even just, you know, my case for a long time I've been very excited about teenage mutant ninja turtles coming out and then we saw the trailer and was like, no, not even the trailer!

What? Are you kidding? They've got machine guns on there about, whatever it is. Wonderful family. Yes. No, there's quite a lot. We've gone into a whole other realm of, I think we're so used to in contemporary society seeing things that even, you know, 10 years ago would have seemed inappropriate that have now become acceptable, the norm.

And I feel like it's important to be just mindful of what is too much information for young minds to take in. As much as I'm literally dying, itching to share things with them, it does, you know, it can really distract them. It can distract them, you know, not just in nightmares, but even at school. and when they're thinking about, you know, it's a lot of information for them. They're little minds that take in. When you read about you, if you believe the folklore of the growing up of Julian Anderson, you had a rebellious streak, fair to say.

Are you finding that in your own kids, that they share at similar age as kind of like a tendency to go left or over? Well, the young ones are too young. My daughter who just turned 20 the other day, I don't know, she hasn't, I'm still waiting for that to hit because I sent my parents through such a long journey. And I have always assumed that I would be paid back in spades. But she is a very good head on her shoulders and there are piercings and there is a tattoo and there will be more. But that is really kind of the extent of the rebelliousness. It hasn't gone into other areas that I...

that I, yeah. And because of your own history, were you more chill with that sort of thing than maybe other parents you think? Or was it still instinctually like? I mean, in terms of like just tattoos? Yeah, I'm probably. I mean, yeah.

If that's the worst, I'll take it. If that's the worst, I'll take it. But also it doesn't, it does not bother me at all. I mean, I have tattoos and I have piercings. Right. Not another pregnant pause. Is that plural? No, just remember, it's why I have more than one.

Take inventory. I'll leave the room. No, so, dare I say that I'm proud of her, not that so much in that area, but just pleased that she feels comfortable enough to express herself in whatever way she can see. It's not hurting anybody. Right.

You were talking a little bit about sort of, yeah, like the new norm for kids, and I would think the way to reconcile something like, because I frankly just came into the fall over the weekend when I found out that I was talking to you, watched the first two episodes which I very much enjoyed and I know the second season's gonna start pretty soon right um obviously really intense subject matter and but it's not I guess the way to reconcile it's not a kid show it's not meant for that right

so you have no problem with violence or whatever if it's in the right context and it's it's not exploitive etc well that's what I mean I feel very strongly about that in the fall it's a big conversation that's being had especially in in England about the the nature of the the the nature of the violence you against women and a fine line that a writer walks down, and certainly, Alan, in this instance, of showing the fact of violence against women without making it gratuitous, or how do you point to something

without participating in it, or especially the big conversation with Jamie Dornan being in it and him being as attracted as he is, is it romanticized in some way, and I think that one of the many things that Alan does extremely well is he walks that line and it is and I think that the series is about ultimately about well it's about many things but about human nature and and as human beings how we compartmentalize had the capacity to compartmentalize things all of us and and the difference between people who fantasize about doing violent things and those who actually acted out and how far are

any of us from that and how do you measure that, et cetera, et cetera. But I feel like it's a really, you know, a lot of the through line, the through stories are, you know, there are babies being born and there are teenagers going through teenagerhood or adolescence and negotiating those very delicate years and I think you see varying stages of the human life cycle and it's delicacy and I think that's one of the things about the fall that affects people on a subconscious level and and the impact is therefore stronger because there can be there's a great deal of the identification in many different ways. Are you a producer on that show as well now?

Yeah. Is that important to you because obviously you talked a little bit about the book and wanting to create also frankly a potential vehicle for yourself in a film form or whatever to be more hands-on in the creative process and to kind of help steer your career in a more concrete way? Yes. With something like the fall I think I felt very strong about the series from the beginning and became involved in certain decisions early on and wanted my input to be, to continue and continue to be respected and taken on board and that certainly has been my experience with it from the beginning, but to have input and to be able to speak up and I have a tendency to be quite opinionated anyway so it's nice to be excused

in that process. Right, right. It's formalized so it's not, yes, it's okay. It's not just, no, this is my yoke-oh-no. So were you, like you say opinionated, like obviously like for, what, 20 plus years, what we're talking for X-Files now, in the early days of that, yeah. Did you feel comfortable speaking up? I, you know, it's interesting. I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I completely stayed away from any creative involvement whatsoever. And granted, I was very young. And it just never even occurred to me in the same way that it started to occur to David

that he would be interested in discussing storyline or contributing to ideas about the arc of his character and then eventually to write and to direct. And I did end up writing and directing an episode, but it was only after people started to say, oh, well, David's doing it, have you thought about it? But I don't know why, because that is actually an area that I am very interested in active in.

But for some reason, in that series, I kind of stayed hands off that there were plenty of minds that were already on that path trying to figure it out, and they were doing a good job of it. I guess I got some headlines recently. Maybe it was your comments or what, but about the pay disparity that was brought up way back when. Was that something that was, I can't even remember

myself when this was happening. Was that like a public thing? Did people know that there was this disparity between what you guys were making? I think there was. It's interesting because I always battle with talking about it because it does feel like it's something that is so in the past. But then when I think about it, I think, oh, my gosh. That wasn't that long ago.

But the fact of the matter was is that I was coming from having no experience whatsoever. And David was coming from just having done California with Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. No. Julia Lewis, right. and that was a mistake and not yet

computers later and so it was a big decision at a momentous time in his career to decide to do television and he was paid for that and I understood that at the time but I think even going into the second season it was started to get clearer and clearer that we were

you know on the same path doing the same amount of work and had this similar fan bases which is a lot of what they measure that on is your TVQ and all that kind of stuff and so it became important to take a stand about it was there a sense of like almost like a bunker mentality where like you were at least going through this process with David and you mentioned he had more experience he had been through some bigger films but still obviously what the phenomenon that emerged within the first couple of years was pretty remarkable and unprecedented at the time. It helped to kind of have him there too and to kind of like, are you getting this too?

Are you going through this too? Is this weird? No. Not really. No, not really. We talk about the fact that it's crazy that we didn't and that we didn't take advantage of the fact that we had each other. But it was complicated.

These were long hours that we were working. And we spent more time in each other's presence than we did with our, you know, spouses and children etc etc so it was but also you know I think we pissed each other off quite frankly and and I have no doubt that you know after they're waiting you know we're gonna roll and somebody else has to come in and redo my lips and all that kind of stuff and everything that happened there's a difference between the maintenance for gals and guys and especially you know you're shooting in all weather, you know, we'd never shut down

except for one day for weather in the entire show shooting up in Vancouver through rain, sleet, everything. And my hair would frizz up to here, so in between takes, literally, and they'd have to get the blow dryer out. You know, under the tent, and we'd be waiting

for Gillian's hair so we could do another take and it wouldn't look like I'd already done that walk. You know, that's... It adds up. It adds up. Exactly. It adds up. So I, you know, and I'm sure there were plenty of things that he did that pissed me. It just wasn't, you know, but, on the other hand,

now we get to talk about that, and we're probably closer than we never have that. Not to mention, obviously, it was a different environment for television where you were probably making, what, 24 episodes or something a year, of none of this luxurious five or 10 episode thing. 24 episodes a year. Can you imagine?

Vancouver. I would have a heart attack. I think I don't have the stamina for that. I mean, you know, the streetcar was three and a half hours long and, you know, you did matinee so that seven hours on stage and, you know, she has a nervous breakdown through the process of the play, but still put me on a set for 17 hours or whatever doing that

and on a day-to-day basis, I'm not sure I could hold up. There must be like no end in sight. You know, I mean, it's like months and months and months and months. Oh, my God, let me tell you. Yeah, you're right. They were. I mean, they were, they were stepping in. stepping stones along the way that there were breaks or something yeah breaks no no no

just in terms of you know one of the funny scripts would come along and so we would be like oh god you can you know fun and have a laugh or we you know we probably had had more days off individually after we moved the show to California right then we had in the first season then we had collectively through the whole five seasons up in Vancouver it just because it was mostly just the two of us and then they threw Skinner in and then you know and also not to mention what people have discovered is if you concentrate in five or ten episodes

I mean you can create something that like you have more time to get it right and you know I mean when you look back at like the volume which was I don't even know how many episodes you guys 201 you know got that up there forever I was just right I was doing some online answers to some stuff today and I was like hang on that's the equivalent of a hundred films that's crazy that's crazy that's insane what were they thinking so what percent are you

are you proud of? Do you think I mean I think the percentage for a show of that type is pretty remarkable but like what like what was the ratio great to decent to oh episode? Oh I have no idea I have no no idea I really don't I there are

I mean I know nothing I have no memory of any I mean if you did a pop quiz with me about no don't because I would I probably fail I remember nothing but but I can tell you there are some dozers in there.

Yeah. Were you surprised by Vince's later success with Breaking Bad? Did you watch Breaking Bad? Definitely not surprised. He was always one of our top writers. And I think, am I remembering this correctly? There's a joke. No, only because I read it recently.

But one of the first episodes, maybe even the first episode, that he did with us was with Brian Cranston. That's right, yeah. At the wheel of... But I, my sister got his first ever autograph, Vince Gilligan. She was visiting

filming and she asked Vince Gilligan for his autograph and he said to her, this is my first ever autograph and she still has it. Your sister could make some big money off that. Hey, that's not a bad idea. Anybody out there who's interested in paying good

money for this. I'm sure she could appreciate. She has the memories now, but now she can get the cash. It's the best of all possible worlds. My mind was blown a year or two ago, and I'm sure this is not a very interesting topic for you up short, but it's for me. I heard an interview with you, I think, on

another podcast, I think it was the Empire one, which I love, and your accent was totally different than the one that I'm listening to today, and it's just, it just is such a, I don't know, it breaks my brain down. So, how does it work for Does it, are you consciously now speaking in a certain way, or is it like, Gio, what's going on?

It, it's, it happens when I have an accent in my ear. And because I grew up in the UK, I mean, the only thing that was different between me being British and not being British is the fact that I wasn't born there. I literally grew up as a British child. Right. And somebody recently wrote, he was a dialect expert. in Northern England wrote a paper about it and the fact that if I had left

because of the fact that I left at 11.5 if I had left later it would have been much more difficult for me to lose it and when I would, other than the fact that I'm a trained actor and I would have trained it out of myself but I would be more likely to have maintained a British accent

and vice versa if I had left sooner I probably would have left it and wouldn't slide back so readily when I am living in the UK but it's near to impossible for me to maintain an American accent while I'm living there and

I have tried at various points as a test for myself and I sound like a jerk I sound like a Euro trash it just I because I can't if I'm relaxed and I'm just being myself

it I just go that's just where it's That's where I live. That is how I grew up. I grew up as a British child, and it falls into that rhythm. And yet it's impossible for me to keep it when I'm over here, and I wouldn't want to. Sure. Do you prefer, like, the sound of your own voice in one accent versus another? Like, when you hear yourself and your own brain, are you hearing, I mean, you know what I mean? No, yeah, I know. Like, do I dream in French, do I dream in American?

I guess, yeah, that's a silly question, yeah. Do you dream in British or dream in American? No, I don't, I don't know both. It's really both. I understand why it's hard for people, but I really don't know what more to say about it because it is what it is. I've got 15 more questions.

Okay, okay, sorry. During the X-Files, you, she's got the inception totem. Be careful people. Sorry, sorry, I just have to. It's reality. It's not reality, I don't know. Film work during X-Files. Was it a priority for you?

Was it difficult for you to find stuff that was rewarding that fit into? Again, you're making nine months of the year. I would think you're doing X-Files. But I remember House of Merth was a wonderful success for you at the time. Was it something that was very much on your mind and difficult to kind of... It was very much on my mind and very difficult to squeeze in. And also, I think at the time, I didn't have a publicist for a very long time and it wasn't of interest to me. and I wasn't aware of, or did I investigate what that might equate to in my life?

And so, you know, years later, when I finally hired one, they said to me, you know, if you had had one, what we would have been doing would be to separate you from Scully in the interviews that we did and to make sure that people were aware of the fact that you were a different person than that character and you had different talents, etc., and we would have been pushing you towards. You know, and I think that's probably quite accurate. And so it was quite a hard fight to find things where people went, yeah, but what would you mean something else?

Like, could you do something? They couldn't quite believe that I would require thought, an innovative thinking by myself. And I also would have thought that, you know, House of Mirth would have proved otherwise by the time. I don't know. And then there was a certain point where I was trying to do. decide whether I could actually do theater in between and whether that would be able to fit in.

And so I didn't actually end up doing that much in that period of time and ended up instead just doing a lot of publicity for parks and traveling the world. Right. And which on the one hand was great. What do you remember about when I think of playing by heart, I think of you, I think of John Stewart. Yeah, yeah. I think of a dog. Yeah, yeah. I think of Sean Connery. Oh, Angelina Jolie. Angelina Jolie.

There she is again. There she's going on the gas, whatever, Angelina, yes, of course. Jenna Rollins. It was an amazing cast. Amazing cast. What do you remember? I remember, mostly what I remember is John Stewart, because we had most of those scenes together.

Did you have a sense that this was one of our great acting talents that was going to? You know what was funny is we talked on the phone a couple times when he was trying to make the decision about whether he was going to take this thing. That was on HBO, and it was quite a big decision, and it's so hard to think of him now, without thinking of him in that context. It just, he has made it his own, and obviously he's shot to the moon. But yeah, it was, as you can imagine, a massive amount.

And he was having trouble at the time, because his dog wouldn't go to the bathroom outside or something like that. This is a personal problem, yeah. This is his own personal problem that they were struggling with was that they had this dog that was really struggling to, it would, like, Not necrophilia.

What's the other word? What's the other word? Breaking news. I don't know. Did it have a urinary trap? It was like an agoraphobic dog, and it would get too frightened of being as I... I think I'm remembering that correctly. I'm going to set the record straight.

Hopefully I'm talking to him soon. He's directed his first movie, so hopefully I'll catch on the end of the end. No, Rosewater. It's supposed to be really good, actually. So it seems like you're extremely busy. You've shot already season two of football? Happy with that, obviously. Hannibal?

Very happy. It's going to be really good. It's going to be better than the first season. sending you all. Yes, it is. Well, you haven't even gotten to three and four and five yet. Gets better? It does get better. It already. And Hannibal, have you already shot yourself? No, I haven't shot myself in Hannibal. That starts this year, in October. In October. Yes, now, this is October. It's going to start soon, imminently, around the corner, yes.

Are you prepared for the eventuality that one day, I mean, first of all, you're going to be asked the rest of your life when the next X-Files movie is, and you can probably reconcile that. But then you're also going to be asked about the inevitable reboot or prequel or whatever, cartoons, spin-off, Is it feel, like, was there a tipping point where you kind of like went, I'm sick of X-Files, I'm sick of the questions, and now I'm cool with it again? Like, do you know what I mean? Oh, definitely. I mean, there was definitely a point where there was an immediate knee-jerk reaction to anything that had to do. I just could not even talk about it.

And then there was a certain point where it kind of settled down to the bottom of the ocean. And, you know, I surfaced again and was able to hold conversation about it without being either. offended or ordered or yeah I would think you again you gained the confidence of a body of work now that you can point to a bunch of things that you're extremely proud of yeah exactly and I think the farther away we have gotten from it the more people realize what an iconic series it was and the impact that it had and continues to have on television today and so obviously being a part of something like that becomes more cool than anything but my kids know nothing about it my little ones and and it's, I'm really, I'm not, okay, there's two things I'm looking forward to. Obviously there's like the ego, no, no, no, there's the ego surrounded around my kids actually discovering what a cool show I used to be on. I have to say out loud that I'm really excited about that. But also just excited for it, for them in their future, that they have still have that

to look forward to. You know, when I've done Comic-Conn's in the past, there are new generations of kids that, you know, parents bring their child and say, this is my teenager. I've just introduced him to the X-Files, and he's a fan. And, you know, on these nights, we sit down and we watch it together,

and I just want to say, I'm sorry, I'm here in front of you. And his name is Molder. And I have your tattoo on my left butt cheek. In our remaining moments, I've got this weird little fedora with some random questions. You want to pick a question or two?

I'm God, it's a fedora. It's an in New Jersey. It's a fedora. You've got to pay homage to the grates. Not the Indiana Joe Flores. It's all of the sudden and I ran.

Can I rummage? You can rummage? Take your time. And wait. I have to do what it says? There's no dare. Don't worry. You're not going to have to like do a somersault or anything.

Okay, so what, do you preface it by? Oh, this is, I have a question. You're asking yourself. Beard or mustache, definitely beard. I am a huge, huge, huge beard fan. I feel like you're staring at me. I'm sorry. I'm kind of on the spot, but I kind of like it too.

I am a huge beard fan. Okay. Yeah, I really am. I do need a moment. Okay. Woo, the vapors. We're climped. Uh, one or two more.

Is that the only one I get? Oh, no, I get more. Oh, this is good. You can determine your own end point. Oh, I can. I can. We're not running out of time. Good, we're good.

Uh, worst injury I've ever had. What? Worst injury. Okay, I thought it said interview, and I was like, that's annoying. Well, clearly this one. Um, the worst injury I've ever had. Oh, gosh. I don't know.

I ended up in hospital. sliding down the stairs, I hurt my back. Oh, but you know what? Last year, for about a year and a half, I had a frozen shoulder. And it was, um, I didn't know they existed. Yeah. But this tiny event happened on the set of, the series that he called Crisis. And it, it, it started something, which turned into me not being able to move my left arm.

And, um, which is fine. I still can't move it like above that. And I need to start it. This is crazy. I can't do it. My bra on the back is terrible. I have to ask people to help me. I'm joking.

I'm there for you anytime you need to be. I did actually have to ask a limo driver once. I got home and nobody was in the house and my zip was up to here. And I had to, I shut the door and I was like, oh my God, because he's sleeping in this dress all night long. I went back outside. I said, look, I'm really sorry.

And I'm not, I promise you, I won't mention this to anybody, which of course I'm mentioned now. But would you mind coming in my house? an undoneysiper. How many a sketchy film has begun. So he did, he came in and he goes, I'm sorry, but can I have a picture?

It's an even trade. It is, I thought it too. We did a picture. I'm sure he showed his wife. And so that was not my worst injury. You're most entertaining one, though. But yes. Okay, here's on. Oh, no, no karaoke.

You don't want me to see. But in streetcar, I sang for the first time really publicly. other than the Scully had to sing Jeremiah was a bullfrog but sing it really bad that's that's always the way to go but uh the street car I got to sing not so bad I I wish I were better at um oh so many things I wish I were better at memory that's wait for an actress you just did a three and a half hour play I know but that's different but memory remembering uh just remembering anything remembering facts remembering history remembering just anything I'm remembering yesterday. It's really hard for me. But if I was given three wishes, like a genie, said three wishes, I have to say,

would definitely be probably two, number two. Number two would be... Memory. Okay. That's number one. Number one would be to bring my brother back who died a few years ago at age 30, and number three would be time travel.

I've thought about this really hard, you can tell. But number two would definitely be memory. This is what I feel. In 20 years, I will be a best. Selling author. She brings it back full circle. Yeah, book number 12, New York Times bestselling book list, a vision of volume 18. There you go.

The fall entering season 19 by then. A lot to congratulate you on. Congratulations on the book. The fall coming soon. Hannibal, you're working for much. Just take a great. Come down. Thank you.

Good meeting. Love you too. Thank you. I'm Amy Nicholson, the film critic for the LA Times. And I'm Paul Shear, an actor, writer, and director. You might know me from The League, Veep, or my non-eligible for Academy Award role in Twisters. We love movies, and we come at them from different perspectives. Yeah, like Amy thinks that, you know, Joe Pesci was miscast in Goodfellas, and I don't.

He's too old. Let's not forget that Paul thinks that dude and too. is overrated. It is. Anyway, despite this, we come together to host Unspooled, a podcast where we talk about good movies, critical hits. Fan favorites, must-season, and case you miss them. We're talking Parasite the Home Alone.

From Greece to the Dark Night. We've done deep dives on popcorn flicks. We've talked about why Independence Day deserves a second look. And we've talked about horror movies, some that you've never even heard of like Ganges and Hess. So if you love movies like we do, come along on our cinematic adventure. Listen to Unspooled wherever you get your podcast. And don't forget to hit the follow button.