Gillian Anderson on ‘Scoop’ and the ‘Badass’ Women She Loves to Portray

If there’s one thing that’s true about Gillian Anderson, it’s that she isn’t afraid of a challenge. And that’s exactly what she’s doing in her new film, tackling the role of journalist Emily Maitlis in Netflix’s ‘Scoop’ (April 5), which documents the team behind the bombshell 2019 BBC interview with Prince Andrew over his involvement with Jeffrey Epstein. For Anderson, who won an Emmy for playing Margaret Thatcher in ‘The Crown,’ she didn’t see it as another project about the royal family. “It wasn’t until afterwards when people started asking me that and I was like, ‘Really? Well, I didn’t even think about it.’” [laughs] What stood out to Anderson was the various portrayals of women involved in making the interview happen. “They are all incredibly powerful forces in their own rights, but also completely unique and different characters.” Anderson, whose legions of fans date back to her days on ‘The X-Files,’ is using that popularity to talk about women’s sexual health with her new energy drink line G Spot, targeted for women, but made for everybody. Visit Newsweek.com to learn more about the podcasts we offer and to catch up on the latest news. While you’re there, subscribe to Newsweek’s ‘For the Culture newsletter. Follow H. Alan Scott on everything at @HAlanScott. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.