My night working with Gillian Anderson.

As a Media Production student and I’m always trying to get more experience on set, a great way to do this is to apply for extra (background actor) jobs. I’d been an extra before and a few other things on set but when I heard Gillian Anderson was coming to my home town to film the new BBC crime drama “The Fall” I had to be involved! Unfortunately you can’t just magically apply to which ever show you want, so I was kind of at a loss. All I could do was make sure the extra agencies had my details. As a huge X Files fan I thought it’d be a shame to miss out on seeing one of my favourite actress’ when she’s working so close, but I was pretty confident that seeing her would just be a pipe dream and not actually come to pass.

Wrong! As you know I got the call and last night was on location filming scenes with Gillian and the rest of the cast and crew! I can’t believe my luck! When she first arrived I was just gobsmacked, it was difficult to remain composed and professional…ok, so maybe I fangirled a lot in the corner. She was so beautiful and amazing, a clear professional and so good at her job! But that’s obvious right? She was doing a lot of scenes in one take, it was just flawless. The only re-shoots we had to do were because of other reasons. 

It’s weird though, my brain just can’t seem to make the connection that this woman I was working which was really Agent Scully. It’s the character of Scully that I have the emotional connection to, not Gillian, so in my mind I was trying to tell myself that it was Scully, but it wasn’t. Ok, so maybe that sounds dumb…obviously it’s Gillian Anderson, but I just couldn’t seem to see Scully. Food for thought really, that an actor or actress is only that character when they choose to be, like it’s something inside them that comes out when they’re being that other person.  

Ok, I’ll stick to the facts without all this deep crap! Everything is fuzzy now to be honest, it seems like it was just a dream. I’ve met a lot of celebrities but never any that I was an actual real fan of so I guess this is why I’m making a big deal of this, it’s a first for me! 

So the scenes, we were on location in a dingy housing estate, there was meant to have been a murder and Gillian was coming to investigate it. She drove through the on lookers (I was an onlooker!) and then got out of the car and began to dress in forensic gear. It was so cool, I looked in the car window and she smiled up at me and the other guys! And every time we re-shot the scene she walked right by me!  She came up to me and a few other guys and said she was gonna beep the horn to let us know when to move and was that ok? We just smiled and nodded. She was talking in her English accent and I could see the beauty spot on her lip, I’m not creepy, nooooo… 

The best part about all this is that I was being paid to work with Gillian Anderson, I was technically Gillian Anderson’s co-worker for a night. I got to watch her do what she does best (act and look sexy…) and I got a pay cheque for it! It’s just all so crazy, I can’t believe before I went to work I was watching an X Files episode and then a few hours later I was watching the real Gillian Anderson doing takes on her new detective show. 

Mind blown. I wish I could’ve taken a photo, but I’d never work in this town again if I did that. Damn future career prospects. 

However I did take a photo of my contract…and a dog actor…he was meant to be a crime dog…he was so friendly -

Had to blank stuff out in case I get in trouble! 

So, in conclusion I can tick another life dream off my list and all that’s left is working with David Duchovny. Will I ever get the chance?

I want to believe.

(Source: castielsmitesyou)