I’ve Got Nothing Against Julianne Moore

By | April 2, 2007
4 Comments

…but this is just so wrong:

Moore to play Scully in X-Files sequel

Hot on the heels of David Duchovny’s comments that the next “X-Files” movie is being brokered as we speak comes news from CarterEsque.com that co-star Gillian Anderson – who has played his sciency subordinate since the series’ commencement in 1993 – has opted out of the new film.

Reports say Twentieth Century Fox is now in talks with Julianne Moore to replace Anderson as Agent Dana Scully. A deal is expected to be made before the end of the month.

Anderson, whose star has risen considerably in the past couple of years (she recently appeared in the Oscar Winning “King of Scotland”), says via her reps that “[X-Files] has been a wonderful experience, and I will always cherish my time on the series [and] the film, but the time has come to move on – I just don’t believe I can bring anything more to the character at this point. I wish the filmmakers my heartfelt best”.

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How can she do this to us?

Gillian Anderson, you have broken my heart. I say they scrap the whole thing. Why go on with it? The Lone Gunmen are dead. Scully won’t be Scully. Just get rid of Duchovny, cast Jude Law as the lead, and call the characters (and the movie) something else. Because that will not be the X-Files.

  • MDarling

    Maybe, maybe not.
    But Michael Keaton was an excellent Batman. (In modern American superhero/sci-fi mythology Batman is usually my favorite guy.)
    While I was never an X-Files maniac (I sense the potential here) I liked it and understood the fanatical loyalty.
    And I believe professional actors are in a tough spot when that happens. I mean, could George Takei really ever be anything else? Could Leaonard Nimoy? Forget for a minute that Paul Michael Glaser was never going to be anything but Starsky (…or Hutch?).
    When the sci-fi/fantasy crowd adopts an actor as a character – Gillian Anderson as Scully, for example – that actor’s career and professional coices evaporate. GA has apparently done a good job of breaking away from that- or at least started to. I say- good for her. And I like Julianne Moore so let’s ask the important questions: is she going to be Scully or another female sidekick? Is she going to be naked in the movie?
    I can imagine all kinds of interesting story lines that incorporate the new person. And if the writing is good, the chances are good the outcome will be as well. If not- there’s no hope and it wont matter.

  • Karl Hallowell

    Besides the whole thing has reduced to parody anyway. It’s some sort of perverse law. Scully can never see or at least never remember the aliens. Nor can Earth change in any way. Despite the progressing alien invasion (or whatever it is), the writers are forced to come up with more and more strained reasons why Scully’s reason doesn’t get tugged by the various aliens and their technology, mental powers, occult phenomena, etc. And more and more strained reasons why the newest alien plague doesn’t actually destroy the human race.

    For example, I recall some scene in the last movie where the daring duo escapes from an underground cave. It turns out to be an alien spacecraft. Mulder is, of course, awake and you can see that he’s inspired by it. Once, it disappears in the horizon, he collapses and the formerly unconcious Scully wakes up to see an unconcioous Mulder and a giant hole in the ground that could be explained through natural processes that don’t involve a spaceship.

    If the aliens actually ever did anything public or Scully ever dragged cool alien gear into her lab, then I guess the show would end then and there. The issues of actually have to deal with fearsome, incredibly sophisticated aliens who seem to have sinister plans for humanity, is always ignored. The protagonists never know enough about the aliens to ever have an informed opinion about what is going on much less make a decision that could change the fate of the entire human race.

  • Phil Bowermaster

    Michael –

    Good call. Let’s kill two birds with one stone here and have George Takei play Mulder!

    If it’s accurate, the story pretty clearly states that Moore will be playing Scully. So I think a full reset is in order. Sure, somebody else can play Scully, but not while Duchovny is playing Mulder.

    BTW, Gillian Anderson was in The House of Mirth (for which she won some lesser Golden Globish prize) while still playing Scully. If that film had been a bigger commercial success, maybe she wouldn’t have the same angst about resuming her role on the X-Files.

    Karl –

    If the aliens actually ever did anything public or Scully ever dragged cool alien gear into her lab, then I guess the show would end then and there. The issues of actually have to deal with fearsome, incredibly sophisticated aliens who seem to have sinister plans for humanity, is always ignored. The protagonists never know enough about the aliens to ever have an informed opinion about what is going on much less make a decision that could change the fate of the entire human race.

    Actually, I think that by the last couple seasons of the show, Scully was pretty much on board with the fact that there were aliens and that the bad guys were conspiratorially involved in helping them out

  • WWP

    Ah…folks — Don’t be so gullible.

    It was an April Fool’s joke. If you click on the original link you see the “news” was submitted by Loof Lirpa’

    AKA April Fool spelled backwards….