As she accepted the prestigious CineMerit Award at the Munich International Film Festival, Gillian Anderson spoke movingly about the impact of her career.
Gillian Anderson has spoken movingly about the impact of her career as she accepted the prestigious CineMerit Award at the Munich International Film Festival.
The 55-year-old actress shot to global fame thanks top her role in The X Files, but has since carved a career in movies.
She said as she picked up the CineMerit gong: “I feel unbelievably honoured and I feel like I have been a little bit of a hole.
“I’m a bit of a hermit, so when these things happen it feels like they are even more shocking because I feel like I have been going on, putting one foot in front of the other and doing my thing, and sometimes I forget that people pay attention.”
Gillian was recognised at the festival for her distinguished contributions to cinema and television.
The award was presented during an event at Munich’s Deutsches Theater, where she also screened her new film The Salt Path and participated in a live question and answer session.
The evening ended with a standing ovation from the crowd.
When asked how time had changed her view of past roles, Gillian paid tribute to her most iconic character, Dana Scully, from The X-Files.
“It does, I think particularly for Scully, because it was such a whirlwind for me,” she said.
Gillian added: “It felt like too big of a responsibility to take ownership of at the time. Hearing firsthand from people the impact that she had on their lives, and also the impact on the STEM community and also on the gay and lesbian community… it’s easier to celebrate something in retrospect.
“The demographic range that she has impacted, and continues to impact still, is real.”
Gillian said the character’s influence continued to shape her work.
“There are a few things that I’m working on that feel like they have aspects of Scully,” she added, going on: “Not in terms of character necessarily, but in terms of her lineage, (which) is built within them.
“One’s a film and one’s a book and they make sense because of her. And so, she continues. She continues to impact my life.”
Gillian’s latest project, The Salt Path, is directed by Marianne Elliott from a screenplay by Rebecca Lenkiewicz.
Based on the bestselling memoir by Raynor Winn, it tells the story of Raynor and her husband Moth, who, after losing their home and receiving a devastating medical diagnosis, decide to walk the South West Coast Path.
Raynor was in attendance at the screening and sat in the front row during the award presentation.
Gillian said the story’s themes of homelessness, resilience and compassion resonated with her.
She added: “When you do a project like this, that has so much to say that really moves an audience, and even potentially moves an audience to think differently, behave differently, be more compassionate, be more questioning about the state of the world, the state of our politics, the state of our governments, the state of our relationships… it makes me think differently about the things that I spend my time doing.”
Gillian Anderson speaks movingly about impact of her career as she accepted CineMerit Award
