Hate is always foolish and love is always wise

DD: There’s more of your hair? [GA: Yeah.] It’s hidden. 

GA: [Confused] Hm? [Realizes] Oh, no, but even in a wig-- [DD: Yeah.] --it’s longer than…. This is riveting conversation. 

DD: [Flatly] Yeah. [GA breaks into laughter.] And how about you? 

GA: Gillian Anderson. 

DD: [Repeating closely on her heels] Gillian Anderson. [Putting on an air] At what point in the season did you… I wouldn’t know how to put it, really. But, um….

GA: Get into character? I think maybe episode ten--

DD: [Putting finger up] No. 

GA: No?

DD: [Comedically shrugging] Let’s say find Scully. 

GA: [Staring at him, nearly breaking] Who are you? 

DD: [Bouncing hand around like an egotistical interviewer] That’s how I, that’s how I’d phrase it.

GA: [Giggling, mimicking his hand movements] What’s that?

DD: That’s how I would phrase it. [Trying not to laugh at GA’s exaggerated face and gestures.] ‘Find Scully.’

GA: ‘Find Scully?’

DD: [Pleased she's amused, swallowing back smile] Mm hm. [GA: Uh….] Gonna do a little Jiminy Glick now. [Rises into chair, tucks legs under him. GA stares, laughs.] Okay, go ahead. 

GA: I, uh…. I think she went in and out. [DD smiles, nods encouragingly.] I think I thought I found her, and then I questioned whether I found her-- [DD: Mm hm.] --and then I lost her for a while, and then she came back. And then I suddenly started to seriously ask the question about how to reconcile the old version of her with a, with the new version…. [DD: nodding] Not a new version of me, but an older version of me at this age. What elements of her personality would actually still manifest in a mature woman? Because there, a lot of her personality was quite…. What’s the right word? Not immature, but, you know, she rolled her eyes a lot and was kind of--

DD: Show me. What do you mean by that?

GA: [Stares, laughs, shyly ducks head.] 

DD: Because I don’t know, I don’t know-- I’m not sure I’ve ever seen Scully roll her eyes.

GA: Sure you have! She could, I mean Scully would-- [DD: Show me what that’d look like.] --constantly go, like-- [makes an exasperated, eyes-turned-toward-ceiling face, exhales.]

DD: [Intrigued] Really? [GA: Yeah.] I don’t remember-- 

GA: Or-- [crosses arms, cocks head in a skeptical Scully posture.]

DD: Oh, that. That, okay.

GA: That, yeah, yeah. 

DD: Yeah, yeah. 

GA: That. [Makes another face.]

DD: That’s, that’s-- [GA makes a third face.] --yeah, that’s not really rolling-- [GA continues to do head tilts, faces.] Yeah. That’s a, that’s a different… thing. 

GA: Yeah, but having that attitude when you’re talking about a severed something is maybe something you might do in your 20s but not necessarily something that you do in your 40s. 

DD: [Smiling] I know that I have come to have greater respect for severed somethings as I’ve gotten older. 

GA: [Widely grins.]

DD: And I would never roll my eyes or-- but I know what you’re saying-- [GA: You know what I’m saying?] And I feel the same way. That, you know, Mulder’s energy in the beginning of the run was of a young guy, like, tilting at windmills, trying to fight the power and expose the truth and all that. He still has that at my age; but it’s gonna come out differently. 

GA: And did you sit down and figure out how that would then come out-- [DD: No.] --as an older--

DD: No.

GA:  --decrepit person?

DD: No, no. Just an instinctual thing. [GA: Hm.] But sometimes the, the lines would be more difficult to say because sometimes the writing didn’t always reflect--

GA: Yep.

DD: --the change. And that’s by nature of serialized television: it’s the same character. We do have certain things that we say. 

[Cut to extended Lost Art of Forehead Sweat garage clip.]

[Cut to ‘ACTION’ running montage.]

GA: So, in this season there’s certainly more action than we’re used to doing, and a lot of running. How did that feel? [DD inhales, thinks.] Does it feel effortless to you? I mean, you’re a fit man for your age. 

DD: [Wryly] Why, thank you. [GA: And, uh--] Why did you have to throw in ‘for your age?’ You can just-- [GA starts laughing] --you can just say, ‘You’re a fit man,’ and just leave it at that. There’s no reason to be ageist.

GA: Well, because the question is about age. The question is, actually--

DD: [Thinking] No, you’re making it about age.  

GA: No, it actually is about age.

DD: [Reaches over, slaps hand against side table] I have the same question right here, and I’m gonna look at it. 

GA: [Laughing] It’s about age because--!

DD: [Joking] ‘How old are you?’ it says.

GA: I know for myself that it sucked and that every time I was asked to run I kept thinking, ‘I’m too old for this. They can’t, we’re-- I’m too old for this!’

DD: I felt, I felt more that way about just having to stay up past 9:30 P.M. [GA laughs.] The actual running, not so bad; it’s the starting and the stopping, is harder. [GA: Right.] Mostly the starting, which is really all they ever really shoot. [He chuckles.]

GA: Right.

DD: So, like, I would be cold and it would be late and we wouldn’t have been running and all of a sudden we’re supposed to be running. [GA: Yep.] And the terrain is not that, you know, it’s the woods or whatever. And I’d think-- [sucks in air through his teeth] --’Oh, Achilles, please, just don’t go.’ It’s just that first three steps, and then I’m good! And it’s the last three steps [that] are tough again. So there’s, there’s your answer. [GA: Thank you.] Starting and stopping. 

GA: Starting and stopping. 

DD: It’s not as easy as they used to be. 

GA: There was one day I came to work and my calves weren’t working. Do you remember that?

DD: Yeah, that was odd. 

GA: It was odd. Age. 

DD: [Tilts head, exhales, not quite convinced] The calves go?

[Both laugh.]

GA: The cal-- on that particular day-- 

DD: [Snaps fingers] One day, the calves just go. 

GA: No, it was just ‘cause I’d done something that I’d never done before the day before. Probably to do with the show and-- [DD: Right.] --running or squatting. And by the grace of God, never broken my ankle on the series. Considering!

DD: It’s amazing! [GA: It’s amazing.] Because I, I even-- I don’t wear the heels, but I’ll change into sneakers ‘cause I want a little better footing. 

[BTS clip from Season 11, both negotiating where and how far to run. Both concerned about their running shoes, Gillian hadn’t warmed up her ankles.] 

DD: I said to you I don’t know how many times-- [GA laughs] --’Why don’t you put on a pair of sneakers?’

GA: [Mock serious] Mm hm.

DD: ‘There’s no way they can see it.’ And you’re like, ‘I got it.’ [GA: Mm hm.] So, it’s, uh, it’s impressive those calves have held out as long as they have. 

GA: [Mock serious] Thank you, Mr. Duchovny. 

[Another bts Revival clip.]

GA: Have you ever been handcuffed running through the woods before? 

DD: [Rising intonation] Maybe. 

GA: Handcuffed to another human being running through the woods?

DD: No. [GA: Okay.] But that’s the thing. Like, you read it in the script and it’s kinda cool. [GA: Right.] Like, we’re gonna attack this guy together. We’re gonna knock him down. We’re gonna run out the door. [GA: Yeah.] Then we’re gonna jump--

GA: Leap over the side of the house. 

DD: But if you’re actually handcuffed-- [GA: Yeah.] --just the slightest move is very-- [GA: Hurts.] --painful and digs into your skin. [GA: Yes.] So….

GA: Now when I think of that scene, I feel the pain in my wrists. I’m ultimately a wimp. 

DD: No, I don’t think so! Those cuffs hurt. They draw blood. 

GA: They did. 

DD: It’s like when we were shooting the baseball thing-- [miming swing with his arms] --and I had written this thing, like, we’re gonna swing together. [GA: Right, yeah.] You know, we’re gonna hit this ball. And I was thinking, ‘Well, we’ll be able to hit it way I can hit it,’ you know. And like… ‘cause I’ll be behind it. And, like, just couldn’t get any force; and it was like--  it reminded me of that. It was like--

GA: Your swing plus Scully equals-- [DD: It just doesn’t work.] --grounder. 

DD: So, so-- [breaks off, chuckles] --yeah, exactly. 

[Cut to title card reading ‘ROMANCE.’ Scene opens on Mulder in the ghillie suit.]

DD: In Darin’s episode Mulder goes sasquatch hunting in a ghillie suit, which doesn’t seem romantic. Although I think it is quite charming and romantic. But my question is: if not a sasquatch hunter in a ghillie suit, what is Scully looking for--

GA: [Laughing] In a man?

DD: --in a man? Or in Mulder? [GA: That’s hilarious.] Is that the kind of behavior that would’ve sent them into therapy in another season or-- [GA: That’s so funny.] --or does she kinda like that about her Mulder?

GA: I think she likes that about her Mulder. Even though she might roll her eyes, I think it it weren’t there--

DD: No, she does not roll her eyes. 

GA: --I think she’d miss it. [Pauses, swallows smile at his remark, pretends not to react to it.] I think she’d miss it if he suddenly stopped sasquatchin’.

DD: Squatchin’. [Smiles, nods.]

GA: And what about Mulder? Is there something about Scully that he’d miss if it weren’t there, or…?

DD: [Inhales, thinks] Mostly the autopsies. 

GA: [Laughing] If she stopped doing autopsies.

DD: [Smiling] Yeah, I think he’d miss it. [GA still laughing.] I think he’d miss her, you know, snapping on the gloves-- [GA: Hm.] --and cuttin’ organs out of dead bodies. It’s like-- [high falsetto] --‘Remember when we used to do that on Friday night?’ [GA: Mm hm.] It’d be like that. 

[Revival 'Were-Monster' autopsy scene.]

GA: David Duchovny, we need to talk about William. 

DD: Oh. 

[Season 11 clips of William.]

GA: What was that like to work with Miles for the first time? 

DD: I think Miles is very good. I mean, I think it’s, uh, it’s an interesting character to play, a kid with these kinds of powers. [GA: Hm.] I always thought that’s the spinoff. [GA: Hm.] You know, give William his own show. Wouldn’t that be the best thing that parents can do for a child is--

GA: Is give-- [starts laughing.]

DD: --give them their own television show? [He laughs.]

GA: Yeah, I think the fans would love that. 

[Slideshow of Gillian’s bts tweets.]

GA: These two seasons, 10 and 11, have been the first time that we have been engaging with our fans immediately and directly during the shooting of the series. Do you enjoy that? Is that something that you feel is a plus for your experience of working on the show? Or are you not that crazy about it all. 

DD: [Shrugs] It’s not something that I really like doing. Just ‘cause it tends to give me a self-consciousness or take me out of the process that I’m doing-- [GA: Hm.] --and into kind of thinking about it as a…. [Waves hand around, drops it in thought.] Product out in the world already, you know? [GA: Mm.] Or…. I don’t trust ‘it.’ I don’t trust the dynamic. 

GA: Yep. 

DD: I realize that it’s here to stay. We’re in-- it’s here. [GA: Yep.] And I realize that’s powerful. And I realize that the fans have every right to as much as they can possibly get. You know, that we have no show to do without them, and I respect them and I love them and I’m thankful. But in terms of like me as a working person and how I go about my job, it’s not my favorite thing to do. [GA: Hm.] How about you? How did you interact with your fans this year, as opposed to other years? You didn’t tweet much back in ‘93, as I recall. I don’t remember you tweeting.

GA: [Nearly laughing] In ‘93? Um. I’m not very good at it and I don’t remember to, but I’ve, I’ve got a girl in my life who reminds me that it’s something that I might want to do. She--

DD: You were always taking pictures and videos!

GA: --harangues me. I was…. Yes, I took a lot of bts stuff. I guess that there’s an element of it that I enjoy when it suddenly occurs to me that there is something about somebody in this unique experience documenting an element of the process… is not gonna be documented. And it goes out there immediately; and there’s an immediate response of people who feel included in something that’s important to them. 

DD: Do you know how stupid I am-- [GA reacts, slightly shocked] --or how innocent and naive I am? You would take a video and I’d go, ‘Oh, cool.’ 

GA: And not realize that I was gonna post it? 

DD: Yeah! And then you’d post it. It’d be like, ‘Oh. Well, I shoulda taken a look at that one.’ [GA laughs.] You know.

GA: Well, you never complained so I thought you were okay with whatever I [unintelligible]--

DD: I am-- you know, none of it was terrible. [GA: Yes.] But it was like-- [GA: Yes.] --I never think to do it. 

[BTS clip of Brick watching them film.]

GA: So you have a dog named Brick who has his own Twitter account. [DD: Mm hm.] He sometimes seems more active on it than you are. 

DD: Definitely.

GA: Does he have a special phone that he…? How does his paws, what happens there? Is there a special computer that has like paw-sized keys? [Mimes hitting a keyboard button with her whole hand.]

DD: Well, he wants to sponsor a phone. You know, so that he gets-- [GA: Oh, I see.] He wants to get money to advertise--

GA: Oh, it’s like he was posting stuff-- [DD: Yeah.] --just so they can….

DD: He’s just raising his followers and his profile. 

GA: Right. How many followers does he have? [DD: Um….] Does he have more than you?

DD: N-- I don’t think so. I think he’s got, like, ten thousand followers, yeah. 

GA: That’s quite good for a….

DD: A dog? [GA: Mm hm.] 

[BTS of crew asking David if he wants ear protection for MSIV scene, banter.]

GA: What if we were both sucked into the belly of a spaceship and then that was the end of The X-Files? Wouldn’t that be a great way to end? And it went-- phhfoo! [Mimes UFO streaking off into the atmosphere. Sits back, proud of her display.]

[DD twists face, makes negatory noise. Not convinced.]

GA: No? You don’t know? 

DD: [Slowly] I don’t know. 

GA: [Mimes UFO snatching them, leaving again] Phhfoo! I think--

DD: Yeah, no, I see what you’re doing. [GA stops talking, laughs, pulls it back in.] What was your reaction to the last few pages of the finale?

GA: My reaction was, ‘Wow.’ [Makes shocked, taken aback, ‘uh’ face at ceiling.] 

DD: Yeah, we didn’t get the final pages until-- [shrugs.]

GA: The final night! 

DD: The night.

GA: The night. Yes, indeed. Yeah, it was kind of difficult to figure out what my emotions, both as Scully and my emotions as an actor, were around that being the ending, given that it’s such an open-ended ending. How do you feel about that? 

DD: I mean, there are ways to get to an ending. [GA: Hm.] One is to kill people and one is to birth them. [Chuckles, pulls it back.] You know-- [GA: Hm.] --it’s like a new beginning or an ending. [GA: Hm.] So I thought, ‘Well, interesting.’ And especially with the revelation from the, uh, the first episode that CSM had a hand in William-- [GA raises her eyebrows] --I thought it was an interesting addition. I think it’s surprisingly hopeful for….

GA: An ending. 

DD: Our show. [GA: Mm hm.] So, I think in that way it’s kinda cool. 

[Cut to the finale scene between Mulder and Scully.]

DD: [Sticks out hand in interviewer stance] See you around campus. 

GA: [Smiles, extends her hand to shake it] Goodbye, Mr. Duchovny. 

[Pause of silence, both absorbing moment.]

GA: Pleasure working with you. 

DD: We’ll be talking. 

GA: We will. 

[Both sit back, observe each other, nodding.]

[Cut to black.]

BONUS