23 thoughts on “WCW: Gillian Anderson

  1. Not sure about my favourite, as Ms Anderson brings alot to the table in her roles. But I’m holding out for Viceroy House. And I agree she was an elegant Wallis Windsor, but Wallis was more elegant and intelligent than beautiful so I’m waiting for the perfect Wallis. The actress in the Crown came the closest.

  2. The Bleak House miniseries was fantastic and Gillian Anderson was amazing in it.

    The book Bleak House is pretty great, though there’s certainly a depressing shadow over all the events (it is Dickens, after all), but there’s so many memorable, great parts! Including a character spontaneously combusting! (Which Dickens thought was a real medical thing that could happen.) The second half of the book is straight entertaining murder mystery. Highly recommend the miniseries.

    In the book a character says, “Well, it’s certainly been a Bleak House while you’ve been away!” Lolz

    I also loved House of Mirth, but I had read the book.

    1. Bleak House is also unusual in that it has two interlocking narratives: one told in first-person past tense from the point of view of Esther Summerson and the other told in present tense by a journalistic unknown narrator. It’s a brilliant novel and one of my favorites.

      Also, there’s an earlier adaptation with Diana Rigg as a fabulous Lady Dedlock, although the rest of the production was lacking, and even Alastair Cooke was clear in his dislike of it.

    2. My mother, upon reaching that point in the miniseries (spontaneous combustion) asked, “SERIOUSLY???” I meanwhile was cackling with literal delight in the corner, because that was so utterly FABULOUS as a plot twist.

      1. Bleak House is BRILLIANT. Just watch one episode, and you’ll be hooked. And the bit with the spontaneous combustion is a hoot. Plus so many great actors in it.

  3. Her Miss Havisham was a new an interesting take, almost mentally broken to the point of being child-like sometimes, but to me, Helena Bonham Carter’s performance is the more memorable. It’s a role HBC was born to play.

  4. Okay I know that this isn’t period but I adored Gillian’s role in The Fall. She and Jamie Dornan totally make that whole series sing.

    In general, I like her as a person and as an actress. She really brings a certain gravitas to damn near any role I’ve seen her take on. 💖

      1. @Kathy

        Isn’t she just riveting? And to tie it into costumes, her wardrobe certainly played its part well too.

        Bravo all around to a wonderful series.

  5. I agree w/Kendra about House of Mirth. I adore the book, & Gillian, et. al., did as much as they could, but it’s just a hard work to adapt to screen. Maybe a miniseries instead of a feature film? Maybe a different director? Not sure. It looked gorgeous tho.

    And yeah, for as much as I hate Dickens, her Bleak House was excellent!

    1. I love Gillian AND Edith Wharton but that House of Mirth adaptation was so slow I just could not get through it. However, I found the book riveting.

  6. Bleak House was amazing, and she was great in it. I need to track it down and re-watch it.

  7. My favourite role of hers is “Bleak House”, she was perfectly cast as Lady Dedlock. Unfortunately, she was wasted in “War & Peace” – not only with that lavender dress, but an over-all bad script and bad acting from some of the cast. Not even Gillian Anderson could polish this turd.

  8. I rather enjoyed “War and Peace” very much. I just didn’t care for the costumes, which struck me as a bit too faux.

    1. I also enjoyed the BBC War & Peace. I’m reading the book (I’m about 1/3 of the way into it) and so far I think plot- and characterization- wise the mini-series has been spot on. It’s been very helpful so I can remember more clearly who everyone is. The costumes in it… yeah, I couldn’t say anything better than what’s been said in previous Snark Week posts. (As I read, I still say “Frodo” in my head when I’m reading about Boris because of your hilarious posts!)

  9. I have the biggest most debilitating crush on Gillian Anderson. This post nearly killed me. (except war and peace, all the love in the world can’t save those costumes.)

  10. I LOVE Bleak House. So. Much. No one ever understands why, but it’s just… I don’t know. It kills me. The romance. The tragedy. The sorrow. The … Dickensian-ness of it all. So good.

    Anyway — I also adored her as Miss Havisham. She made me see that character in a never-before-seen light. I loved her wispy voice, her extreme anxiety, how she rubbed her hands raw and wished her relatives would leave. To be honest, I’d gotten used to “stoic, typecast Gillian” as the ice queen / detached logical individual (X-Files, Hannibal) and her Miss Havinsham convinced me she can actually act!

  11. I like Anderson in just about everything she is in . She is so underrated as an actress.

    Great Expectations was iffy for me. Technically Anderson was the same age as the character, but she looked much younger. It didn’t help that she was more beautiful than the actress that was cast as Estelle. Yeah, I wasn’t too happy with that version.

  12. I loved House of Mirth – remember sobbing my way through it when it came out. Would also echo the praise of others for Bleak House. She does look fabulous as Wallis, must check it out!

  13. I know, I know, it’s a bit late for y’all, but I was sort of hoping to see her Lucille Ball from American Gods!

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