Despite her childhood scientific aspirations, the actress admits that one of the more challenging aspects of her role involves the tongue-twisting medical and scientific dialogue she often has to recite. "It is hard to connect,"she says.
"To a certain degree, there's only much of it that you can comprehend and  understand from day to day as you're working on these lines, and then you just have to let go and trust that as an actor you can make it it seem real and make it seem like you know what you're talking about". Because of the need to keep production moving, she adds, "there's not time to be hung up on getting the lines right". In addition, Duchovny possesses what amounts to a photographic memory, so Anderson says she feels self-imposed pressure to keep pace with him. Despite the show's motto to " Trust No One",having faith in the writers also provides a certain comfort levl for the actors. As much as she
admired the original pilot script, Anderson believes it's a notch below the material Carter and his ink-stained brethren the greatest affinity for those episodes - like "Beyond the Sea" and "Irresistible"- that have provided her the most expansive palate as a performer. "The scripts really lay out the degree of emotions that we're allowed to express", she says, noting that the two hours mentioned "required more of an emotional commitment, and more technical work from an acting standpoint". In the first season, at least, Anderson also exercised regularly and "loved to
do my own tumbles" and stuntwork, a practice that came to a crashing halt due to her pregnancy.
In fact, Anderson remembers shooting a scene for the episode titled "Young at Heart" when serial
killer John Barnett shoots Scully, who's wearing a bulletproof vest. The actress filmed take after
take where she propelld herself backward onto her back, at one point just missing the edge of a
marble column behind her. On top of that, she says, "I didn't realize till later that I was pregnant
at the time".
Anderson had also never handled a firearm before, which, she  admits, initially felt awkward. "My hand was practically
covering the whole gun," she chuckles, "but people reminded me not to do that". The show 's success has raised other issues that require a different kind of dexterity. Although she says she  appears "very different when not playing Scully", Anderson  (who admits to being 5'3'' and at times looking "like I'm up to his belly-button" walking beside the 6'1'' Duchovny) now casts a long shadow. She acknowledges there are now few places she can go without being recognized; she savored the anonymity she  enjoyed in parts of Europe during a trip there. Despite the rapid
course of events, those around The X-Files say that Anderson remains unaffected by her sudden fame. While that notoriety  hasn't become intrusive, she admits to being more protective and on edge in public. "I tend to be a very private person and want to let people in when I want them in, and not when they want to be let in", she concedes. That said, Anderson is grateful for the way fans have responded to her character, including the fact that there's a Gillian Anderson Testosterone Brigade - a conterpart to Duchovy's female fan club, the David Duchovny Estrogen
Brigade. She's also flattered that those smitten by her TV persona tned to be "computer guys", as
she puts it, who write thoughtful fan mail with less pantng than might be associated with other,
more flamboyant television stars. "There's an intelligence to the attraction", she observes,
pointing out with some pride that in England she's been called "the thinking man's crumpet". "I
actually enjoy that I don't get letters from guys saying, 'Oh you're so beautiful, I want to marry
you, I can't wait till you take your clothes off,'" she continues,laughing as she affects a voicethat
sound like a patron of a late-night phone service. "I think I might throw up if I got something like
that".
Although she appreciates the show's two-character aspect and Scully and Mulder's deftly
realized rapport, Andeson als wouldn't mind a day coming when The X-Files might add some
more hired help, opening up the concept and allowing the central duo more spare time. With so
little rest each week and roughly 10 months of production, she says, "the year becomes a blur".
Anderson says she found it difficult to unwind, in fact, when she did get time off after the frenetic
pace of producing the fist season. "I just did not know what to do with myself", she says; "I had
this big body, waddling around. It was horrible". She may have overcompensated between the
second and third seasons, loading herself up with activities. Having made her home in
Vancouver, spending time with her family is currently about all the recreation Anderson needs.
Dhe's also still interested in doing film work during the show's down time and has been
encouraged to discover that the characters comingher way seem quite different from Scully. "I
haven't been typecast hus far, from what I've been offered", the actress says with a certain relief,
wistfully anticipating a day when she might have time to embark on the next leg of what so far
might be described as her X-cellent adventure. Even Anderson admits there was a point where
she had to stop, catch her breath, and absorb all the major, life-changing events that have
happened to her in such a relatively short span of time. "What caught up with me", she says,
reflecting on that moment, "is basically the facts of my life".
 

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