Gillian Anderson

First of all, I am so MOVED and touched by that little monologue. I just think that is awesome. Anytime that a woman stands in front of me and says that they (because of Scully) decided to become a forensic pathologist, or a scientist, my heart skips a beat. I just think it's the most awesome thing, and my favorite snack is always and forever chili chocolate.

That is really awesome. Thank you so much for sharing that with me, I love to hear that, I'm really grateful.

I'm eating it right now! The best chili chocolate is by the South Devon Chilli Farm - they even have MINT and ESPRESSO chili chocolate. If their sales pick up, they have to give it to me for free because i literally carry it in my purse every day.

Wow... gosh, I am going to have to say Gibson, just to give her a chance. Because currently we have only seen 5 hours of her, and you'll only 5 hours of her for another year or so, so I am going to choose Gibson just in order to give her more airtime in her life, but also because I have a feeling that she is the best of the best.

I wasn't a redhead at the time, I was mousy brown, and I am very glad that somebody had the idea to add a bit of color to my life. And I haven't spent much time in Chicago since I graduated from college; I am so excited to investigate how the city has grown since then. My sister lives there with her illegal wife and my mom lives nearby and I am seeing this as a new adventure.

No, I have always believed in things of a paranormal nature, and I don't think that it got any stronger from being involved in the show, and I don't think it's either strengthened or weakened since then.

I don't know if this is considered nerding out, but when I see a REALLY, really good film, no matter what country it comes from or how much they spent on it, I love good film. And I get SO excited over something - not just film, but any form of the creative arts - film, theater, television I guess - if I am moved by something, I become a geek and can't stop talking about it.

There were times at 3 oclock in the morning where we had to regurgitate some highly intellectual snippets of truth, and we'd get just completely slap-happy with exhaustion and a sense of the ludicrousness that we were doing for a living, and we would be struck with bouts of uncontrollable laughter. That's what I remember the most.

For Dr. Bedelia...it just occurred to me in my mind as I was reading the script and contemplating just the type of woman that needed to be sitting across from this paticular man, that there was one way to play it. And that one way only. And that's what I hope that I've done. I've never put it into words why - it's just it's Hannibal Lecter, for crying out loud, and that's all I can say really.

For the podcast, please PM me and I'll forward to my publicist!

You're welcome! Anytime.

I'll be your second crush too.

Um, I have to say that probably in my poor memory, the one that sticks out the most is the one that a lot of people responded to - which was HOME. The thought of having a paraplegic mother on a roll-out cot under the bed, who may or may not be having sex with her 3 troglodyte sons, is about as twisted as our series ever got I think. And then there were the babies buried in the garden...

You win!

I'd say it was Victoria at ID who I work with suggested it, and she has her finger on the pulse of contemporary digital stuff.

The last book I read - I only just recently read A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD - oh my god I LOVED this book. I found that there are moments in the story in this book that are so profound, that I was moved to tears. I love being moved to tears in literature, and this book had me from page 1 and I think that this writer is so talented.

I'd say probably Meryl Streep. I met her last year at the BAFTAS. I was pretending not to be very nervous, tried to play it really cool, and wanted to sit next to her and just talk to her about her work and the craft of acting for hours and I'm sure I said really embarrassing things instead.

First of all, thank you. There was an acting teacher at the Goodman Theater School in Chicago who was called Rick Murphy, and he was this really cool, suave, bald, sexy, intellectual - just Alpha male with a feminine side. Every girl that went to the college had a crush on him, mostly because he was SO good at his job. He inspired people; he made us want to be as good as we could possibly be. He drew out of us our potential, and that is the mark of a good teacher.

1) Yes. I stole many things. I have - what do I have? - a Lazarus Bowl. The most amazing thing that i have is Scully's Tombstone. I have Scully's Tombstone. I have little things from many episodes, and eventually, a good portion of them will probably be auctioned off for charity.

2) I do. I just saw Mitch recently at a Comic-Con in Calgary, always lovely to see him. I have an email relationship with David, we don't get to see each other very much but we communicate. Chris Carter remains a good friend. Dina Green who did my hair for years is a good friend. Carol Banker who was the script supervisor and is now a very talented director - she is one of my closest friends.

3) Patience.

Not really - I think I've been more a fan of music and bands, that's the only way I can relate it to anything. I'm a Huge fan of Radiohead, and I think that that's as close as I've ever gotten following where someone is going to be, and whether i can get to the concert, and that's really it.

And thank you SO, so much!

If they make it, I will come.

Hmm, most challenging... I'd probably have to say Miss Havisham in GREAT EXPECTATIONS, just because of the intricacy of how I was choosing to play the character - it felt like it took about as much of me as I've ever put into anything, I think.

Wow - you know what I love listening to that makes me so happy when I'm driving? The band EMPIRE OF THE SUN, I think the song is "We are the People" - that makes me very happy.

Yes, I love going to museums with my daughter. Whenever we get a chance, we check out exhibits together, and often go to more obscure or lesser known galleries like The Wellcome Museum - check it out online, it's really cool. A few weeks ago I was in London and went there - they have a Japanese outsider art exhibit, with inmates of an insane asylum in Japan, and there are just some awesome pieces in there. I also support the Foundling Museum - check that out online - I won't go into it, it's just one of the coolest museums in London.

Oh gosh... no, but I just thought of another one of my all-time favorite songs, which will be played at my funeral, and that will be the Stones' "You Can't Always Get What You Want."

And then there's a Martha Wainwright song...called "Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole" - that actually might be the song of 2012.

I'm not good with nothing planned. I plan WEEKS in advance. And the reason is, there's a day that is totally empty - I literally have my days planned out until the middle of July right now - who I'm meeting for coffee, where I'm taking the kids, acupuncture, all of the frivolous things I fill my time with in-between meaningful work. If I don't plan, I will literally be under the covers unable to get out of bed. I'm either doing, or I'm paralyzed.

Good question! I am extreme versions of both. I'm a consummate hermit - it's very hard to get me out of the house - but when I do, if I'm at a party or a dinner, I'm extroverted. The rest of the time, I'm a hermit.

Regarding feminism, I think it's complicated but I appreciate how much my work has inspired women and how much women inspire me.

Not very. He is a lovely, lovely man, but his talent is when the camera is rolling. Otherwise, he is very quiet and considered, and what he does in front of the camera does not emanate from his everyday self.

We are going to have goldfish, but that's about as much as I can handle. I don't know when we are buying the goldfish yet, and I am about to be gone a lot, so we might have to rethink the goldfish.

I have decided to do a year's worth of Comic-Cons in honor of the 20th Anniversary of the X-files. And it's the first time that I'm spending this type of one-on-one time with fans. And it's been so wonderful to be able to also thank the fans for having been fans for such a long time, and to meet one-on-one some of the people who kept us on the air for so long. And one of the things that I'm finding the coolest ever is people who bring their kids - teenagers - who have been introduced to the show, now that they're old enough to be introduced to my own favorite series. And they get to watch it again but with their 12 year olds, and re-experience it, so that we're getting a whole new generational fanbase. And I just can't tell you how excited that makes me.

And I can't wait to share it with my boys- because it just occurred to me that there will be a time when they come to me and say "Hey Mom, people keep telling us about this show that you were on, called the X-something - can we watch that too?" That will be a day - however it is that it will be beamed into our future household - we'll sit down on our levitating couch, and I will screen the pilot episode in front of Oscar and Felix.

Firstly - I can't decide on just one, so sorry.

Secondly - I have played quite a few antagonistic roles, and I don't know if that what made her fun, but what made it fun for me as an actor was trying to figure out by watching old footage of her and trying to get her speech mannerisms down and the dialect right - she had a very bizarre accent - and that's the kind of stuff that I find fun, is trying to get into the embodiment of somebody - when you actually have the luxury of being able to watch how they work. I'm not sure if I've ever had that experience before, I think that was the first time that I've played a historical character, and I found that that process is obviously daunting and terrifying - but it was also creatively stimulating.

Talk to David.

So a group of women are trying to start a British TV series that is based on the original fairy tales - apparently, the original fairy tales like Red Riding Hood, etc. are different than the ones that we have come to know. And they are fascinated by the idea of fairy tales, and what they were originally intended for, which was (in part) encouraging children to be fearless, to face their fears. So they want to film with various celebrities episodes that are hosted about the various fairy tales as they were originally told. Apparently in the original Red Riding Hood there were originally 2 wolves...

I prefer scones. And every time I go to Los Angeles, because they don't sell them in the London Starbucks, but in the Starbucks in LA, they have those Oat-Nut Scones with the Maple Frosting - oh my god. I literally will buy 2 of them, eat one and then carry one around in my purse for days even if it's as hard as a rock 3 days later.

There were a few takes - this isn't the funniest thing, I can't think of anything else though - where I was calling Rowan Atkinson's character Johnny English, where I was calling him "Rowan English" - and they kept cutting and I hadn't caught on to why they were cutting...

I loved working in Vancouver, it's such a great town to be filming in in the Summertime. And anecdotes... the particular weather that contributes to making Vancouver so green in the summertime, meant that we were filming under ALL weather circumstances. So I would be in high heels and a skirt filming outside on ice, walking under an umbrella in sleet, hoping my hair didn't frizz up and pretending that I wasn't practically ice skating during a walk-and-talk conversation about how somebody's insides had been hung from a tree...

There is definitely an anarchist in there.

The truth is in all of us, no matter what truth we're talking about, whether it's about having integrity in your life and being willing to admit mistakes and tell the truth under all circumstances, or whether it's trying to track down the truth in political mumbo-jumbo, or whether we're talking about the truth of whether there are aliens on this planet. It all comes from the same place.

He's SUCH a sweetie! Yeah, he got a little nerd-weird. But just darling. Really, really darling and lovely man.

You exist! I'm telling you right here, right now, you exist!

For as long as HANNIBAL runs, and until Hannibal eats me, I will continue to do a few episodes a year. I think it's darker than even I can stomach, but it has its audience and it is so beautifully shot and the performances from Mads and Hugh and the whole team are just phenomenal and I am so happy they are getting the attention they deserve. Mads is SUCH a talented actor - it's almost like he wears his emotions on his sleeve, but not all the time - when he decides that he needs to, he has such access to his emotional life and it is just really incredible. He can do everything with just his eyes.

Not on Broadway, I'm desperately trying to get together a production of STREETCAR in London. Keep an eye out.

My new favorite animal is the tiger in THE CROODS. I swear to god, if they don't make a stuffed version of it for kids and grown ups, I am going to have to do start a petition.

I would choose time travel.

I think there was a moment, maybe in the 3rd season is when it started to hit me. I don't know about iconic, but I started to realize that I needed to hold onto my seat.

I HAVE worked with Simon Pegg! I did "How to Lose Friends And Alienate People" - proof!

Yes. I will definitely write a fiction before I'm 70, and then at some point in my 70s I will write an autobiography, but I have a tiny problem (which is a massive problem as far as autobiographies are concerned) - my memory. I will need people who were around at the time to tell me how it really happened.

"I wasn't sure your little fingers could reach the keyboard?"

Vince Gilligan is one of the most talented writers I have ever met, and one of the sweetest men in existence, and it's so incongruous that the material of BREAKING BAD is spawned from the likes of this seemingly innocent Virginia nerd. I am so happy for him and for the success of his show.

Aw, thank you for sharing that.

More like, how delicious was the FIRST hamburger that I had to eat in the first episode of THE FALL..?

Yes, it was like wearing chain mail that they layer upon you - fabric and trinkets. Thank you for watching it!

Thank you for saying thank you!

Yes. In fact, in Vancouver they created something called "The Gilly-Board" which was a ramped apple box (what actors normally stand on to raise their height) so that I could be walking beside him and we could stand next to each other so that we would be approximately the same height. Apparently it still exists and is used for other productions, and is still called the Gilly-Board.

I would say that there is a very good chance that Chris is in the process of writing it, and as with any creative endeavor, it needs time and space and patience, and I have no doubt that at some point, when it's the right time, and he is happy with it, it will see the light of day, and that will be the beginning.

I'm flattered, thank you.

Different decades of one's life bring with it different levels of discomfort, and the overriding thing to remember is that the only constant in life is change.

And the only thing to do is to keep showing up, being the best version of yourself that you can be. And the rest is out of your hands completely.

Me! I went through a phase where I liked tweezing people's facial hairs, mostly the men who had bushy eyebrows and hairs coming out of their ears and nose.

SHADOW DANCER is about to be released to American audiences on May 21st in theaters. HANNIBAL is airing tonight at 10 PM / 9 Central. And THE FALL is on Netflix starting May 28th. And keep your eyes open for a film I did called I'LL FOLLOW YOU DOWN with Rufus Sewell and Hailey Osment.

That IS a good question. You know who I think would be good, but he might be too old, the kid who was in THE IMPOSSIBLE, Tom Holland - he's 17, too old. Darn. I need to think about it.

I love Calcutta. I did a film there called SOLD last year, and I fell in love with it, and I've been to India many times, but it made me want to explore more of India and go to Faranasi and Jaipur and all these spiritual places I've never been to. I spend a lot of time in Sri Lanka, which is a very beautiful country. Various countries in Africa; I'm dying to go to Berlin, I've never been there (although my daughter has!) and I've heard it's one of the coolest cities in the world.

I would love to do Lady MacBeth. I would love to do Martha in WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? and eventually I would like to do Hedda Gabler. But first, would be Blanche Dubois. I need to figure out what is the right order in terms of the character's ages that I what to do them. And seeing as I'm talking about theater - I only do plays every 3 years or so- one of them is going to be in my 60s and I need to figure out what is most appropriate.

It was a magic trick called spitting when cut.