TV

Gillian Anderson on “The Scully Effect”

This weekend, in recognition of The X-Files 20th Anniversary, Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny went on a fan-engagement blitz, including panels at The Paley Center, Comic Con, and a Reddit AMA. Vulture shares a round-up of some of the most interesting details—including the news of a potential third X-Files movie, and the delightful detail that at one point in a panel Anderson slipped up and accidentally called Duchovny “Mulder.”

Here’s an exchange, via Vulture, that we thought Stake readers might be interested in. It’s about Dana Scully’s influence on the young women and men who watched the show:

An unintended consequence of the show’s newfound popularity was what is known as “the Scully effect” — the scientific-minded Scully, who gave up a promising career in medicine to join the FBI, has inspired countless young women to pursue careers in science and medicine.

“Well, that was originally why I took the job, because I knew … ” Anderson said. “Um, no. No, I had no idea. It was a surprise to me, when I was told that. We got a lot of letters all the time, and I was told quite frequently by girls who were going into the medical world or the science world or the FBI world or other worlds that I reigned, that they were pursuing those pursuits because of the character of Scully. And I said, ‘Yay!’”

“I believe that a lot of men, because of me …” Duchovny started.

“Threw pencils at ceilings?” Anderson asked. “Ate sunflower seeds? Hid themselves in basements? Got into porn?”

“Got into Scully,” he corrected her.

“You weren’t into me!” she said.

“What?” he asked.

“You weren’t into me,” repeated Anderson (which prompted an audience member at Comic Con to shout, “I was! I still am!”).

That made me smile.

If you’ve got the time and interest, you can watch both panels on Youtube:

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