Adam Phillips, Empire Magazine - September, 1998
It's a simple fact
of movie life - without dedicated fans, the closest most
actors would get to
achieving stardom would be working behind the counter
of their local McDonald's
trying to fill in the merit stars on their name badges.
While Hollywood may
prefer to keep the fans outside the studio gates under
the watchful eye of
steriod-pumped security, the bottom line is that for all its
cash and flash, Tinseltown
needs the fans; whether it's the kind who holds
down a nine-to-five
job, has three kids and drives a Honda Civic - or the one
whose bedroom is littered
with enough memorabilia to suggest impending
madness. Take Titanic.
As the whole of the Western world now knows, it has
taken over a billion
dollars at the box office - its huge takings buoyed by
gangs of gushing girls
returning to the cinerna time and time again, hoping
that the real reason
why the boat sank was because the sea moved too
much for Kate while
she was being given lessons in lovemaking by Leo. In
honour of the massive
combined clout of fan power, Empire has hunted down
the world's number
one fans and profiled some of those who've left us
speechless with their
dedication, motivation and, well, determination ....
GA Fan #1
Name: Stacey Parnell
Age: 28
Occupation: Gillian
Anderson lookalike, actress and
tab assistant ("Yes,
I wear a lab coat and latex gloves
-just like Scully!")
Location: Los Angeles
Status: Dating a David Duchovny lookalike
Time spent per week
devoted to Gillian: Approximately 35 hours - reading
and answering my 'Scully'
mail, researching Gillian for performances as her,
plus tracking down
related events, mags and photos.
Claims to fame: Actually
looking like her at a Star Trek convention, I was
mistaken for Gillian
and was offered an escort to the greenroom. While there,
and at the X-Files
Expo, I must have signed at least 100 autographs! I have
also done a short
promo for re-runs of the X-Files in the US and three TV
appearances as Scully
(lookalike work).
Most treasured item:
I have a little 'fan club' of my own, which consists of
about 40 guys from
the UK who write to me.
How did it all start?
I was touring with an illusionist and the kids kept asking
if I was Scully. Then
other people started asking - a little girl at a car crash I
assisted even Said,
"Agent Scully help my mommy!" I began watching the
show and found Gillian
to be brilliant in it ... the rest is history!
Why her? My resemblance
to Gillian was what originally drew me to her.
Digging deeper, I
found her not only to be very talented, but to share some
interesting life experiences
with me. I also admire her charity work and how
she raises her daughter.
Appeal of being a fan:
Most of the kick comes from looking like her but I'm
also fortunate to
resemble a star that I like and respect very much ... I also
have a certain responsibility
not to do anything that portrays her Scully
character in a bad
way - I have been asked to portray Scully in a nude
internet modelling
thing. Something I would never do, not even as myself!
Question for Gillian:
This is not a slam on her - but I've read interviews
where she has said,
"I hate being superficial." I then turn the page and see
Gillian pouting provocatively,
with her breasts clearly taped and padded,
spilling out of a
bra. So, two questions - how does she feel about this
necessary evil of
female stardom? And, what message does she think it sends
to her daughter?
GA Fan #2
We received hundreds
of submissions from
fans all over the
world but no one made quite
such an impression
as the following letter did
penned by Greek Gillian
Anderson fan Jim
Plavoukos. We present
his passionate
contribution here
....
"Now really, you think
that there is a true believer of Gill that would be
capable of expressing
feelings on a piece of paper? Why I am so obsessed
and how obsessed I
am? Well just that I am in Greece and that I am doing
what ever I can to
get magazines. I even wanted to buy from England but
my parents would hang
me, but I did buy some. I have searched all the news
agencies in Greece
for XF magazines, and I am still searching for Movie Idols.
I have
currently 1200 pics of Gill in my hard disk and her movies and others.
It's hard
to get a foreign mag here but I love her and I have been able to
find'em.
Now this could take
pages and pages so I have sent her letters and letters
but it wasn't till
X-mas when I sent her a teddy bear named Piper begging for
autograph - completely
begging - and the Goddess sent me one (it's in a
glass kind of thing)
protected by everything from the outside world. If I could
send you a pic of
my room of her shrine you would see. I mean, hey, I have
sent her a Love Letter,
well she hasn't replied, this is how far I got.
It's not about her
endless legs or the model's body, if I wanted this I would
look at a model.
No, it's the fact that two years before the new millennium
it's good to have
an exception in the rule. Rule: no woman special.
Exception: Gillian
L. Anderson - the only woman to remind us of how they
were. I mean,
look at those baby blue eyes and tell me are they PERFECT OR
NOT?
She is gorgeous, it's
when you think that the perfection and the beauty could
not be anything else
but a summer wind just to feel it on your skin. The
perfection of Gillian
is one of a kind; actress and one hell of a good one,
mother good there
too although scheduled and WOMANWOMANWOMAN real
one. Well I
am sorry to end it. I wish I could tell you my feelings but those
are personal.
Every time I sleep when I watch her picture on my ceiling on
the top of me when
I sleep every night hoping that one day - hoping that I
could just hold her
- and then I could easily die. Thanks for reading my mail.
I hope Gillian fans
could prove to everyone that this is a woman that's worth
loving - yeah like
they don't know it."
Copyright 1998 Empire Magazine