Akte X is one of the most influential and best science fiction series ever, but Scully actress Gillian Anderson had to fight sexism behind the scenes.
Scully and Mulder, it’s like pitch and brimstone or The Smoker and his fags. The dream couple of TV conspiracy theorists and science fiction fans of the 90s is, from today’s perspective, an inseparable duo that produced television gold with its opposites.
When Scully actress Gillian Anderson tackled her most famous role, however, there was no talk of equality, which was expressed in front of and behind the camera.
Sci-fi classic X-Files: Scully should not be next to Mulder
Gillian Anderson has spoken openly in the past about the sexist working environment at TV networks in the 1990s. Speaking to The Daily Beast in 2017, she explained the small and large gestures that made her feel belittled, both in terms of the character of Scully compared to Mulder, and in terms of her involvement in the show.
This began with the visual arrangement of the characters. If the filmmakers had their way, Scully wasn’t even allowed to be on the same level as Mulder.
During filming, she was instructed not to stand directly next to co-star Duchovny, but to trot several centimetres behind him whenever the two FBI agents were questioning someone. Anderson explained it with some sarcasm like this:
In the beginning, they probably wanted me to be his sidekick. Or maybe seeing a woman on screen interacting intellectually with a man was enough of a change, and the audience certainly couldn’t get their heads around actually seeing them side by side!”
However, Gillian Anderson didn’t put up with that:
“I have … a very low tolerance for this crap. I don’t know how long that lasted or if it changed because I finally said, ‘Hell no! No!’ I don’t remember anyone saying, ‘Okay, now you get to walk next to him.’ But I imagine it had more to do with my intolerance and temperament than any permission that was given. “
