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BILL PULLMAN

September 8, 2026

Bill Pullman, Venice Film Festival 2026
Venice Dispatch ticket 2026

Words by JANE CROWTHER
Photograph courtesy of LA BIENNALE DI VENEZIA

The star of The Basics of Philosophy talks about almost quitting acting for jam-making and the importance of maintaining a sense of self in Hollywood as he touches down at Venice Film Festival.

Bill Pullman may have only worked for a day and a half on Paul Schrader’s latest film, The Basics of Philosophy, but he certainly makes an impression as a controlling father whose sense of ‘correctness’ is impressed on his son (Jack Huston). As a father himself to three grown children including actor Lewis Pullman, the actor understands the pressures of parenting – and the impact our own childhood plays on who we become as adults. 

Bill Pullman, Jack Huston, Richard Gere, Sofia Boutella
Noora Films

‘My bedroom was next to my father and mother’s bedroom, and my father was a doctor at an age where, when he was on a call, the calls would come in the middle of the night,’ Pullman recalls of his relationship with his own dad when Hollywood Authentic sits down with him at the beachside Blue Lounge on Venice’s Lido. ‘I used to hear the phone ringing, and I’d hear him instantly screaming. I just thought that was his foible or something, and it was just a strange thing he did. Now, we would say that’s PTSD, you know? But he would never share anything about that. You’d ask him in the morning, ‘Boy, that was a surprising phone call’. ‘Yeah, it took me by surprise,’ he’d say. And that would be it. So it’s that, and how to deal with shame.’

The father Pullman plays in Schrader’s film deals with a great deal of shame as he covers up his son’s illegal indiscretion and forces him to live an idealised life not of his making. ‘Guilt is an intellectual idea. And shame is kind of like when you slip on a banana peel. Your whole body is involved with the embarrassment of it, and the awkwardness of it, and the suddenness of it, and the fear of what people have perceived. I think that kind of thing was of interest to me, to think of someone who was looking to rescue his son out of this lifetime of slipping on banana peels all the time, and triggering this guilt thing.’

Pullman hasn’t slipped on many banana peels professionally having had a decades-long career in film after making his debut in 1986’s Ruthless People and going on to star in movies such as Spaceballs, Sleepless in Seattle, While You Were Sleeping, Independence Day and Lost Highway, as well as numerous stage shows. Often in his roles he succeeds at projecting real decency, perhaps that’s why he’s often stopped by fans who love his portrayal of a president in Independence Day. His character in The Basic Of Philosophy is consumed with the idea of legacy, so does Pullman think about his own? ‘That is a very dodgy thing these days,’ he considers. ‘I think there was an era when you could count on authenticity, and now identity is built on brands, triggers and virtue signalling. It’s very hard to be authentic these days, because it’s not even about being always candid. You know, sometimes it’s what it is to be able to stay inside a certain code of who you are.’

Pullman certainly knows who he is. He had a career as a university professor teaching theatre before he turned to acting and he still continues to keep one foot very squarely in ‘real’ life, talking about the importance of cultivating his ‘civic side’ in his LA neighbourhood. ‘I’ve been trying that whole thing of ‘think global, act local’, you know?’ he says as he describes his involvement with his wife, Tamara Hurwitz, in the Hollywood Orchard, a community initative that is volunteer-led and non-profit and harvests unwanted fruit for donation and fundraising. Pullman got so into the harvesting, jam-making and donating to food kitchens that he describes it as ‘almost like a job’. ‘I thought I was going to quit being an actor,’ he admits. ‘I was like, ‘This could be my life’. It was a sense of what could be provided in an age in which everyone’s so fractured.’ The lure of agriculture and working with his hands is something Pullman has always had in his life, owning a ranch in Montana where the land and local community has preoccupied him rather than Hollywood. ‘There were so many decades where I just was all about getting to the ranch, and doing the agriculture there. But I’m fortunate enough to have some good roles.’

Bill Pullman, Jack Huston, Richard Gere, Sofia Boutella
Noora Films

In a period when Pullman was wondering about switching careers a particular role brought him back to acting. ‘I got an offer to go to the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon to do The Cherry Orchard with Kenneth Branagh and Helen Hunt. That was scary, because it was going back into the whole process of getting the lines, and dealing with a very complicated play, and being surrounded by British people,’ he says. ‘Being ‘in the moment’ in a play was a chance to really use it as a laboratory, because you’re dealing with the same lines night after night. The incentive is to keep inventing, and to keep exploring. That experience made me feel ready to do another movie, and bring a different energy to it.’ 

He’s bringing his renewed energy to the long-awaited Spaceballs sequel, playing alongside his son, Lewis. ‘Lewis said ‘Dad, it’s going to be a crazy thing to do’,’ Pullman recalls of the duo deciding to do the film. ‘And then he said ‘but it’s even crazier not to do it, because it’s the chance to work together, and go to Australia for three and a half months, and live 10 minutes’ walk from each other’s places.’’ Pullman senior will also appear in Everybody Digs Bill Evans, a biography of the titular jazz pianist, and will explore the idea of celebrity in the 21st century with A24’s thriller Famous, with Zac Efron in a dual role as a movie star and an ordinary joe who looks just like him. ‘We’re all faking it ourselves, anyway,’ Pullman says of fame. ‘We’re hideously trying to manufacture something that we could never consistently stick to.’ It’s interesting that Pullman so resolutely doesn’t see himself as a ‘movie star’. He shakes his head and smiles. ‘No, I don’t. I think because I was so late coming to it, and as I was getting success, I was also having a family. You’re sublimating all your ego when you’re changing diapers. And it’s paid off.’ Plus, he says, he’s still all about squeezing the juice out of everything, not just in Hollywood. ‘There’s a lot of parts, there are plays, and there are scripts that are really interesting movies. But, you know, I’m looking at the clock of my life…’

Words by JANE CROWTHER
Images courtesy of NOORA FILMS
The Basics of Philosophy premiered at the 83rd Venice Film Festival
Read our review here

KATE MARA

September 7, 2026

Domhnall Gleeson, Kate Mara, Orlando Bloom, Rooney Mara, Werner Herzog
Venice Dispatch ticket
Domhnall Gleeson, Kate Mara, Orlando Bloom, Rooney Mara, Werner Herzog

VENICE DISPATCH
Photographs GREG WILLIAMS
As told to JANE CROWTHER

Kate Mara tells Hollywood Authentic how she wants to feel fear in her work and why Werner Herzog’s Bucking Fastard gave her and the most important girl in her life – her sister, Rooney – the greatest artistic gift of her career so far.

Domhnall Gleeson, Kate Mara, Orlando Bloom, Rooney Mara, Werner Herzog

When writer-director Werner Herzog wrote to Kate Mara, and her sister Rooney, proposing that they play synchronised siblings desperately in love with the same man, and romance itself, Kate Mara knew this was the project for the duo to make their onscreen debut. ‘It became two dreams in one, because it was the dream of working with my sister and working with him. So it was double the excitement to do it,’ Kate says when Hollywood Authentic catches up with her after the film has bowed at the 83rd Venice Film Festival. Mara is a fan of Herzog’s work, citing Fitzcarraldo and Grizzly Man as two movies that have inspired her artistically. ‘All of his films are so clearly his, but also so different, you know?’

Domhnall Gleeson, Kate Mara, Orlando Bloom, Rooney Mara, Werner Herzog

Bucking Fastard is another pivot for Herzog, a female-centre whimsical drama about two intensely-connected sisters on an odyssey to find meaning and love, and the script was something that spoke to Rooney and Kate. ‘We’ve always wanted to work together, but we’ve never been offered something that was an obvious ‘yes’. We’ve been sent a few things that either didn’t make sense for both of us as actors, or didn’t make sense based on the filmmaker or the script. This one was just obvious. I do think the two most important things when you’re deciding on a job is the role and the director. Maybe even the director before the role. So for us, Werner was an obvious ‘yes’. But then you want the script to be as interesting as the filmmaker, and you want the roles to be equally interesting. This was just a hysterical opportunity to play two different people but as one.’

Domhnall Gleeson, Kate Mara, Orlando Bloom, Rooney Mara, Werner Herzog

The task for Mara and her sister was to play a role as a singular entity: speaking and moving in tandem to hypnotic effect. ‘We were both nervous,’ Mara admits of tackling the project. ‘That challenge of having to speak and do everything in unison, was probably the thing that was intriguing about it – it was very much a puzzle that we had to figure out together in the work. But it’s not really interesting to do roles that aren’t scary. I’m only really interested in playing roles that are challenging in some way.’ Though the physical act of speaking and acting like a two-person Greek chorus might have taken work, Mara rejoiced in the mental and creative place it put her. ‘To live in that head-space was only joyous. It wasn’t going home with some sort of loneliness. I got to play with my sister for five weeks, or longer if you include the prep time. We were sad when we knew it was coming to an end because it was such a lovely experience.’

Domhnall Gleeson, Kate Mara, Orlando Bloom, Rooney Mara, Werner Herzog

The only nerves while filming were in working at night in the Postojna Caves in Slovenia – a fairytale space in the characters’ perception, but a daunting set for Mara. ‘We were nervous to film in the cave. That was something that when me and Rooney read the script, we were both worried about that experience of it because Werner is an absolute adventurer. We were worried we were going to get claustrophobic. It takes about 20 minutes to get into the cave, and then once you’re in there, you can’t go back out, because it takes too long. We had to be there all night and it’s cold. And then when we actually experienced it, it was so expansive and massive. It was really magical.’ 

Domhnall Gleeson, Kate Mara, Orlando Bloom, Rooney Mara, Werner Herzog

The whole experience was bewitching, Mara says. ‘As long as I’ve been acting, I think I’ve always wanted to do films that are different from anything I’ve done before; challenging and expansive in the artistry of it, where you can really grow. Growth can come in so many different ways. You don’t always know what that means when you’re in it, or necessarily when it’s over. Sometimes you realise it years down the line. But for this, it changed my relationship with my sister in that I feel closer to her now than I ever have because it was such a bonding experience. This film means more to me than almost any other, because of the long-lasting effect it has on my life with the most important girl in my life – my little sister. It will be special to me forever for that reason. And it did make us want to do every movie together. We cannot wait for the next opportunity. It just needs to come along.’

Mara’s solo work will be taking centre stage in the immediate future. She has new TV show, Roman, upcoming which charts the drama at a fictional Las Vegas casino. ‘It’s an ensemble I just couldn’t say no to including Betty Gilpin and Oscar Isaac. Scorsese is producing it. I play a madam, and it’s different to anything I’ve done.’ She’s also just wrapped on Will Graham’s military drama Trust The Man playing the wife of Jonathan Groff. ‘Such a beautiful experience,’ she enthuses. ‘I said yes before I even read a script, because, besides my actual husband [Jamie Bell], he is my dream husband. And he knows it!’

Domhnall Gleeson, Kate Mara, Orlando Bloom, Rooney Mara, Werner Herzog

Speaking of husbands, Mara is keen to build on her resume with projects that keep it in the family. ‘I’d love to work with my husband at some point, we both hope that. I’d also love to do Broadway. I moved back to New York a year ago and that’s something that I’ve been trying to figure out as well. I just hope that I keep getting the opportunity to work with great filmmakers and great actors…’

Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS
Interview by JANE CROWTHER
Hair by JERROD ROBERTS
Makeup by RUTH FERNANDEZ
Kate wears Armani Prive 
Jewels by Cartier
Bucking Fastard premiered at the 83rd Venice Film Festival
Read our review here

DOMHNALL GLEESON

September 6, 2026

Domhnall Gleeson, Kate Mara, Orlando Bloom, Rooney Mara, Werner Herzog
venice dispatch ticket
Domhnall Gleeson, Kate Mara, Orlando Bloom, Rooney Mara, Werner Herzog

VENICE DISPATCH
Photographs GREG WILLIAMS
As told to JANE CROWTHER

The Irish actor jumps on a boat with Greg Williams at the Venice Film Festival and tells Hollywood Authentic about working with Werner Herzog and finding empathy in his new film Bucking Fastard.

Domhnall Gleeson, Kate Mara, Orlando Bloom, Rooney Mara, Werner Herzog

Domhnall Gleeson is one of a company of Irish actors who appear in Werner Herzog’s latest quirky film, Bucking Fastard, the story of two sisters (Rooney and Kate Mara) who are so close they exhibit sibling synchronicity – even to the point of falling in love with the same man (Orlando Bloom). When their romance leads to court proceedings Gleeson is the kindly social worker assigned to them to help them integrate more fully into the world. ‘If a chance comes up to work with a great director, you just say yes,’ the actor tells Hollywood Authentic over an iced coffee in one of the villas that sits on the beach of the Venice Lido where the film premiered at the film festival this year. The previous evening he’s attended the Cartier/Vanity Fair dinner at the Gritti Palace, bobbing across the Venice lagoon in a water taxi with Greg Williams. ‘When the first thing you’re told is it’s Werner Herzog, then you definitely say yes. The part was pretty small, but I thought it was cool and the other actors are amazing. Just getting to work with Kate and Rooney. And the script was wonderful. So actually it ticks all the boxes.’

Domhnall Gleeson, Kate Mara, Orlando Bloom, Rooney Mara, Werner Herzog

Though he looks hardly older than his appearances in the Harry Potter movies, Gleeson is now 43 and has a stacked resume of roles and projects with great directors. Herzog comes with an expectation of possible wildness based the legendary stories from some of his previous shoots. ‘He was very clear when we talked that what he wants is a harmonious set,’ Gleeson says. ‘What he wants is a quiet, diligent, exciting place to go to work. The madness doesn’t interest him, unless the madness is in the film. It really was the empathy of the man that was the thing that came shining through for me. And actually, it’s my favourite part of the film; the empathy I ended up with for these characters.’ 

Domhnall Gleeson, Kate Mara, Orlando Bloom, Rooney Mara, Werner Herzog

Herzog based his script on a meeting he had with two real-life sisters who spoke and acted in unison, and were the subject of an ’80s documentary. But Gleeson is quick to insist that his role as Timothy isn’t a proxy for Herzog himself, even if some of the incidents in the film are inspired by some of the director’s interactions with the sisters. ‘He was really clear that this is not based specifically on any other thing, or on those people. He was like, ‘No, the sisters who are in front of you – this is new’. But I like the way he looks at people when he’s talking to them. I like the way he listens. And in that way I do think there’s some of him in my character.’

Domhnall Gleeson, Kate Mara, Orlando Bloom, Rooney Mara, Werner Herzog

Gleeson’s Timothy is incredibly patient and sweet with the sisters who are blinkered to the outside world, such is their focus on each other and their interior experience. The Mara sisters work together on screen for the first time and Gleeson says it was fascinating to watch. ‘There’s been loads of performances where one person has played two people, but not where two people have played some weird version of the same person. You know when you’re talking to somebody, and sometimes you switch between the eyes that you’re looking at? It felt like that to watch Rooney and Kate.’ The lure of the cast wasn’t the only thing that engendered the project to him. ‘The fact that I rolled out of bed, and walked to set, that was an added bonus, as opposed to a reason to do it,’ he chuckles of working in Ireland. 

Domhnall Gleeson, Kate Mara, Orlando Bloom, Rooney Mara, Werner Herzog

The son of Irish acting legend Brendan, Gleeson is pleased to see Martin McDonagh on the Lido too, where he’s presenting Wild Horse Nine. The writer/director has worked with his father on The Banshees of Inisherin and also gave Gleeson one of his earliest roles in the stage play, The Lieutenant of Inishmore back in 2001. ‘I was incredibly lucky to get to work with Martin that early on because I saw how good the work can be. It can be extraordinary,’ he says of starting out. ‘But then the work can’t always be extraordinary, because Martin is special. So I’ve had lots of ups and downs over the course of my career. But the point is to keep trying to do the good stuff. I’ve played a couple of pretty empathetic characters now in a row. So it’d be nice to come in with a bit more malevolent intent on a job. It’d be nice to come in and fuck shit up!’ When Hollywood Authentic suggests that the new Bond reboot could be looking for a baddie, he laughs. ‘Listen, I’m available to work…’

Domhnall Gleeson, Kate Mara, Orlando Bloom, Rooney Mara, Werner Herzog

In the meantime, he’s finished work on season two of The Paper playing a US regional journalist on a local newspaper. ‘The second season is funnier than the first. I love doing comedy. But it’s just as heartfelt. And it still cares about journalism. That’s still in its bones.’ He enjoys switching acting disciplines he says, juggling film with TV and stage work. ‘Being front and centre of a film is very different to being front and centre on TV, to me – and it makes me greedy to do both. Theatre is like doing a movie every night because you tell the whole story every night, and to keep it fresh, and to keep it new for this new audience. You’re editing live, which is a completely different skill. I’m looking to do more theatre, it’s just about scheduling.’ 

Domhnall Gleeson, Kate Mara, Orlando Bloom, Rooney Mara, Werner Herzog

He’s just finished shooting Bad Bridgets for Kneecap’s Rich Peppiatt which follows 19th century Irish immigrant sisters in New York and is hoping Night Boat To Tangier with Michael Fassbender will come to fruition, reteaming them after their work in Frank. ‘I haven’t worked with Michael in a long time, and I’d love it if it happened.’ But he’s aware that the film business is a capricious mistress. ‘I mean, if I held my breath, I’d be dead by now,’ he says. ‘Let’s see how that goes…’

Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS
Interview by JANE CROWTHER
Grooming by JERROD ROBERTS
Styling by WARREN ALFIE BAKER
Domhnall wears Zegna 
Watch by Cartier
Bucking Fastard premiered at the 83rd Venice Film Festival
Read our review here

JACK O’CONNELL

September 6, 2026

Claire Foy, Danny Boyle, Guy Pearce, Jack O‘Connell, Ink
venice dispatch ticket
Claire Foy, Danny Boyle, Guy Pearce, Jack O‘Connell, Ink

VENICE DISPATCH
Photographs GREG WILLIAMS
As told to JANE CROWTHER

As his latest film, Ink, debuts in Venice to rave reviews the British actor talks to Hollywood Authentic about awards chatter and how acting expands his heart.

Claire Foy, Danny Boyle, Guy Pearce, Jack O‘Connell, Ink

Having worked with Danny Boyle on both 28 Years Later films, Jack O’Connell considered the offer of playing ‘’60s editor of The Sun newspaper, Larry Lamb, in Ink for the director a ‘no-brainer’. ‘But it was quite early on in terms of the journey of the film being made, because Danny didn’t have the money yet,’ O’Connell tells us as the film opens the 83rd Venice Film Festival. ‘So then it became a case of: ‘Right, OK. We need to convince some financiers that this is worth parting with their cash’. He brought me and Guy Pearce in and we did some stuff on camera so that Danny could go and try and raise the funds. It took two-thirds of a year just to get the green light.’ 

Claire Foy, Danny Boyle, Guy Pearce, Jack O‘Connell, Ink

That scrappy, entrepreneurial spirit is a match for the film itself; the story of Rupert Murdoch (Pearce) inviting Lamb (O’Connell) to reinvent a newspaper and tear up all the Fleet Street rules. ‘Yeah, a lot of parallels,’ O’Connell laughs. ‘But also I really value the importance of a free press, and its role within any proper democracy. I have a respect for it and I do like to read newspapers.’ For O’Connell, his perception of the hugely popular newspaper was negatively coloured by a ‘post-Hillsborough perspective’ [when the newspaper falsely reported Liverpool football fans behaviour at the fatal 1989 overcrowding disaster at Hillsborough] so his approach to the role and Lamb’s enthusiasm for it required a research deep dive. ‘I had to undo all of that pre-existing knowledge, and just consider this in its infancy, and who Larry Lamb is, who’s been appointed to grow it. I took myself off to the British Library. I went into their archives. I pulled out some microfiche of editions of The Sun when Larry first took over, and I looked at some prior to him being there. They’re unrecognisable. It was about honing in on that period and getting into Larry’s headspace. There’s a great line in Larry’s book where he said that he felt like he was cooking up the perfect newspaper in his head way before he met Rupert Murdoch. That was a real driver to me.’

Claire Foy, Danny Boyle, Guy Pearce, Jack O‘Connell, Ink

West Yorkshire Lamb and Australian Murdoch were also working against a London-centric establishment and an ‘old boys network’, trying to get a foothold in an industry with a drawbridge mentality. ‘I do relate to it very personally, yes,’ O’Connell, who hails from Derby, admits. ‘Any class-based society is going to have that, you know? And we live in a class-based society. But Larry Lamb was given a knighthood, and he accepted it so I do think he was very seduced by that establishment. The same thing that he was tearing down to begin with, he leaps into bed with eventually. There was this underlying contradiction within him. And I love those roles. I think as an artist, you are fascinated with where people contradict themselves and inconsistencies.’

Claire Foy, Danny Boyle, Guy Pearce, Jack O‘Connell, Ink

Lamb’s obsession with circulation numbers – always trying to best market leader, The Mirror – also had parallels with acting for O’Connell with film often being viewed through the lens of box office takings. ‘It’s figures, isn’t it? Ink feels like a real vehicle for exploring hyper-capitalism. All the journalists that we spoke to that worked there during that time were saying that these were times of plenty, and there was so much spare cash just floating around – which is impossible to imagine for us these days. But they were just rolling in it, and had all these resources. It was hyper capitalism, and they were obsessed with sales and the competition within that. I think that was a huge catalyst in perhaps where they allowed themselves to get carried away.’

Claire Foy, Danny Boyle, Guy Pearce, Jack O‘Connell, Ink

O’Connell is currently experiencing a time of plenty himself, with a recent flurry of high-profile and critically acclaimed roles including award-winning Sinners, 28 Years Later parts 1 and 2, and his upcoming films Godzilla X Kong: Supernova, as well as A Quiet Place Part 3 which has just wrapped. For some audience members it might feel like O’Connell has finally arrived. For him, it’s part of a journey that’s been developing for years. ‘I got into this 20 years ago, and you grow. You get better with every job, and you get to learn by working with people you meet. And I love that about this job. You’re constantly developing, and you’re having your ideas challenged. You never stop evolving for every role. You’re expanding your heart. You’re exploring emotion. It’s such a joy and a pleasure to allow that to inform you.’

Claire Foy, Danny Boyle, Guy Pearce, Jack O‘Connell, Ink

Part of the process has been the mentorship of other artists. ‘Look, to be able to collaborate in this job is the most wonderful thing – just meeting people from all over the world. Even being here promoting films, and getting to meet your heroes. When I was getting into it I was able to look up to these amazing figures. The people that I worked with on my first job – they were generous enough to share what they were good at. And I think there’s a slight responsibility there for me to do the same with people coming into the industry now.’

His busy upcoming slate is as a result of hard graft but there’s no masterplan, he says. ‘You’re trying to pull rabbits out of hats, you know?’ he laughs. ‘In order to excite yourself, and in order to excite others, it’s best to just keep challenging yourself. I like range. My last jobs, they’re all quite distinct. Moving forward, that’s the ethos, that’s exciting to me.’

Claire Foy, Danny Boyle, Guy Pearce, Jack O‘Connell, Ink

Ink’s debut at Venice has kicked off the awards conversation. Is this an important part of the process too? ‘Of course, man. More so from an industry perspective – where it takes you, and the places you get to go, and the people you get to meet. But when you’re working it’s not what you’re thinking about. You know, you end up on set at five in the morning in a fucking disused quarry, up to your ears in shite – it’s a long way away from a gondola in Venice, you know? They’re worlds apart. They’re very, very separate experiences. But it’s a joy. It’s amazing that we get to do it.’

Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS
Interview by JANE CROWTHER
Ink premiered at the 83rd Venice Film Festival
Read our review here

GUY PEARCE

September 4, 2026

Guy Pearce, Jack O’Connell, Claire Foy, Danny Boyle
Ticket
Guy Pearce, Jack O’Connell, Claire Foy, Danny Boyle

VENICE DISPATCH
Photographs GREG WILLIAMS
As told to JANE CROWTHER

The Australian actor takes on Rupert Murdoch in Danny Boyle’s tabloid tale Ink, opening the Venice Film Festival. He tells Hollywood Authentic about reigning in the profanities and experiencing tabloid hounding with Jason and Kylie…

Guy Pearce, Jack O’Connell, Claire Foy, Danny Boyle

When Danny Boyle came to Guy Pearce to ask him to play media baron Rupert Murdoch in his adaptation of James Graham’s award winning play, the actor felt that he could understand some of the mentality of the notorious newspaper and studio magnate. ‘Obviously, look, I’m Australian,’ he tells Hollywood Authentic as he prepares to walk the red carpet for the film’s premiere in the Lido. ‘I’ve been brought up in a world that’s been aware of Rupert Murdoch for many, many years. He’s a fascinating character for me. I’ve never met him, and prior to doing the film I couldn’t really tell you that I understood who he is. I still probably couldn’t really say that I understand completely who he is. But him trying to crack the UK market… that, I get to a degree. As an Aussie actor, and having known lots of Aussie actors who all go to England and try to break there, it’s something I can relate to.’

Guy Pearce, Jack O’Connell, Claire Foy, Danny Boyle

Pearce could also relate to the product Murdoch created in 1969 in collaboration with editor Larry Lamb (Jack O’Connell); The Sun newspaper and the tabloid culture and circulation wars that followed. Having broken out in the ’80s while on Australian soap Neighbours he had witnessed first-hand some of the press hounding that came with fame. ‘I remember back in the ‘80s in London with Jason [Donovan] and Kylie [Minogue], and the journalists chasing us down the street. But I was really low down on the food chain, you know? I was one of a gang of 20 Neighbours cast where the Terry Wogans of the world would have us on their show, and go, ‘What is it about you Australians that make you think you can act?’ – where you really felt a bit reviled. But I was never a personal target. I never really felt the full force of a tabloid paper at my door, and after me.’

Guy Pearce, Jack O’Connell, Claire Foy, Danny Boyle

What Pearce felt was more relevant to building the characterisation of Murdoch was talking to former journalists and printers who had worked on Fleet Street during its evolution from failing broadsheet to bombastic ‘red top’. ‘Danny brought people in to talk to us during rehearsals, lots of journalists, ex-editors and ex-printers who would sit with us for two hours and go, ‘Wow, let me tell you about the floor in 1969: the drinking, the smoking, the shagging and the late nights and oh my God….’ Though he didn’t meet Murdoch as he prepped to play him, Pearce did chat to his daughter, Elizabeth, to suss out whether his instincts about the man were correct. ‘I felt that there was probably too much swearing from Rupert [in the script]. It’s a fairly common thing to just make Australian characters swear all the time. But when you look at interviews of Rupert from the era he’s a shy, fairly humble, slightly awkward character who has an irreverence about him, and is quite sharp and brilliant. But he’s not a typical Aussie yobbo who’s out there swearing, drinking. throwing things and rooting and fighting. I said to James, ‘I feel like I could play this character without relying on swearing’. And the beauty was that I got to talk to Rupert’s daughter and ask about her dad’s swearing. She said, ‘I don’t think I heard him swear once’. So I took out all the ‘fucks’ and added a ‘fair dinkum’.’

Guy Pearce, Jack O’Connell, Claire Foy, Danny Boyle

Director Boyle inspired Pearce to really explore the building of a surprising character instead of playing a trope we all think we know. ‘Danny’s a wonderfully buoyant, honest, creative and inspirational guy. It’s that energy that he brought to Trainspotting in making us look at a world that was seemingly gross and disgusting, and yet we all just leant forward and went, ‘I want more of this’. You can have a great script, and another director doesn’t quite give it the life that it felt on the page. And vice-versa; you can read a fairly dull script, and a director can bring it to life. But with this, when I watched the film I was jumping out of my chair by the end, going, ‘Wow! Yes! Oh my God! Wow!’ Danny’s energy will take you into that world, and make it exciting.’ And Pearce admits that having Bertie Carvel in the cast – who originated the role of Murdoch in the West End and Broadway – also kept him on his creative toes. ‘He’s such an exquisite actor. Of course, every day when he was there, and I’m playing Murdoch, I’m thinking, ‘Don’t watch what I’m doing. Don’t look. Oh, God’,’ he laughs.

Guy Pearce, Jack O’Connell, Claire Foy, Danny Boyle

As an actor who has taken on numerous roles that began life as books or plays, Pearce is clear that comparison of versions is futile as an artist. ‘Every time I thought about the play, or talked to one of the actors who was in the play, it felt a little bit like a distraction to me. When you do a film, and it’s based on source material it can be an absolute minefield to delve into that material. It can be wonderful, because you get all sorts of other nuances about a character that you might not fully get in a script, like with LA Confidential, for example. But I find the purity of a screenplay – and what it is I’m responding to in the first instance – is really vital to me.’

Guy Pearce, Jack O’Connell, Claire Foy, Danny Boyle

That vitality is what he thinks has made Ink such a barnstorming opener. ‘The kudos and attitude – it feels historic and full of integrity and credibility,’ he says of the festival. And the relevant themes of the piece exploring public appetite for scandal and the increasing tabloid-ification of politics are what will keep audiences talking about it. ‘The sense of responsibility… we’re seeing things being torn down left, right, and centre. But you look back at The Sun, and it seems almost small fry and quaint now. Social media, AI, governments involved with surveillance…  you can see the connection. You could also ask the question: well, was it inevitable anyway? And it’s just that Rupert came along at a time? It’s such a big question, isn’t it, about where we are in the world today?’

Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS
Interview by JANE CROWTHER
Guy wears Brunello Cucinelli
Ink premiered at the 83rd Venice Film Festival. Read our review here

EVE HEWSON

June 12, 2026

Colin Firth, Colman Domingo, Emily Blunt, Eve Hewson, Josh O'Connor

Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS
Interview by GREG WILLIAMS/JANE CROWTHER

Starring as a former novice nun in Spielberg’s Disclosure Day, Eve Hewson tells Hollywood Authentic about her belief system for negotiating acting and fame as she takes a London stroll.

Colin Firth, Colman Domingo, Emily Blunt, Eve Hewson, Josh O'Connor

Before she begins two days of UK press for Disclosure Day I meet Eve Hewson at the Corinthia Hotel in London on a blustery day in early June. Like her character in Steven Spielberg’s highly anticipated latest foray into sci-fi, we are looking to the skies – the British weather is being particularly erratic for our planned stroll over Westminster Bridge to take in one of my favourite views of the capital. In the movie, the Dublin-born actor plays Jane, an ex-novitiate who is caught up in a dangerous race against time when her boyfriend Daniel (Josh O’Connor) steals whistleblower evidence of UAPs and ETs from his top-secret work with the intention of collaborating with fellow defector Hugo (Colman Domingo) to expose the truth to the world. ‘I think the sun’s going to come out,’ Eve says as we pull up outside Big Ben. ‘God is on our side.’

Colin Firth, Colman Domingo, Emily Blunt, Eve Hewson, Josh O'Connor

It’s appropriate that she should evoke a higher power given that she plays a religious character wrestling with the theological impact of understanding there may be life outside of humanity in Spielberg’s film. ‘My character asks the more religious questions. What does that mean for faith if aliens, or UAPs, really do exist – what does that mean for religion? What does that mean for God? What does that mean for everything we’ve been told to believe about how the world began?’ Despite its big questions, Disclosure Day is a true Spielberg film, loaded with action, wonder and empathy. It’s a blockbuster event movie, and a huge achievement to add to any actor’s resume. 

Colin Firth, Colman Domingo, Emily Blunt, Eve Hewson, Josh O'Connor

For the 35-year-old, it’s the second time she’s worked with the legendary filmmaker. ‘I worked with him at the beginning of my career on Bridge of Spies when I was 22 and terrified,’ she says as we walk across Westminster Bridge, dodging tourists and London swag sellers. She recounts how their latest project came to her on a ‘random Wednesday’, with her agent asking her to Zoom with the storied director. ‘I Zoomed with him, and then he sent me the script, which was hand-delivered – very old-school Hollywood. You feel like you’re in some sort of secret society.

After I read the script I spoke with him again, and pitched him my ideas. And then I had to wait. He was like, “I’m not going to torture you over this, but I’m speaking to other people. I’ll let you know by the end of the week.” I got violently ill from the anxiety, because I just wanted it really badly. I puked a few times, which happens to me when I really care about something.’ Spielberg kept his word and told her he wanted her to co-lead the movie alongside Emily Blunt (as a TV weather reporter with a secret past), O’Connor, Domingo and Colin Firth, as a shadowy government consultant. Firth and Eve share a number of tense scenes that required incredible focus from her, not least because she had a particularly special audience while shooting.

Colin Firth, Colman Domingo, Emily Blunt, Eve Hewson, Josh O'Connor

‘I always keep the storyline of anything I’m doing secret from friends and family, because it’s more fun for me, and for them when they see it. But that was hard to do the day when Obama came to set, because I had the most bizarre day of my life doing that scene with Colin. It was so complicated and genuinely quite daunting as an actor. And then Obama was there. I did text my family at the end of the day, and say, ‘I can’t explain to you why this was the weirdest day of my life, but I can’t wait for you to see the movie because I get to say, “That was a scene that the former leader of the free world came to visit.”’

Colin Firth, Colman Domingo, Emily Blunt, Eve Hewson, Josh O'Connor

Though she’d worked with Spielberg previously, Eve admits to still being ‘terrified’ for round two. ‘This was a huge responsibility and a big role – I wanted to do it well, and I wanted to make him proud. Every day, you just had to come in and give 150 per cent. It was just about stepping up, and taking on those responsibilities, and making sure that you aren’t shit.’ How has she changed as an actor in the time between Bridge of Spies and Disclosure Day? ‘The first time I worked with him, I was just learning what a set was, and what cameras were. It was maybe my third or fourth job. I was very new. When it came to Disclosure Day it was just a completely different experience.’

Colin Firth, Colman Domingo, Emily Blunt, Eve Hewson, Josh O'Connor

As we look over towards the Houses of Parliament, Eve tells me about living in London for three years during the pandemic when she and her friends would walk the streets with a hot toddy and look at the city, what she terms ‘whiskey walks’. Then she landed her role in hit TV show Bad Sisters and stayed longer. ‘And then I moved to LA. I went to the dark side. I didn’t love LA.’ She returned to Dublin where her parents, musician Bono and activist Ali Hewson, are based. She’s said in the past that as a younger artist, LA had been tough to negotiate with all the rejection inherent in acting, driving past billboards of projects she didn’t get. ‘Now I’m on them,’ she chuckles, having moved back to Los Angeles. She remains level-headed thanks to a strong group of friends, many of whom are not in the business. ‘I’m a friend kind of chick. My friends mean a lot to me. I’ve had the same friends since I was four years old. Some of them are artists, but a lot of them are social workers, lawyers, working in finance – just not Hollywood people.’

Colin Firth, Colman Domingo, Emily Blunt, Eve Hewson, Josh O'Connor

It’s a balance between the business and real life that she’s always had growing up with a dad in U2. ‘It was a weird, strange, Hannah Montana version of my childhood, where we lived in Dublin, I got the train to school every day, I went to a normal school. And then two or three months out of the year, we would go off on tour with my dad, and live this insane rock-star existence. Which is great, because it’s actually quite similar to being an actor. You have your normal life, and then you go away, and you have this otherworldly experience with people. And then you come home, you know?’ She can, she says, ‘smell the bullshit easier’ because of it. ‘The “Bad Sisters” [Sarah Greene, Sharon Horgan, Eva Birthistle and Anne-Marie Duff] call me their cunt compass,’ she laughs. ‘We’re in a group chat that has a foul name, and we all are in there every day still catching up with each other, and telling each other our deepest, darkest secrets.’

Colin Firth, Colman Domingo, Emily Blunt, Eve Hewson, Josh O'Connor

Like many artists I talk to, Eve says she’s ‘a huge introvert, an introverted extrovert’. ‘I was super-shy when I was a kid, and I used to not say anything. I would sit in the corner, and suck my thumb, put my hood up. As a little kid I cut off my hair, and I made everybody call me Elliott from E.T., which is so on brand. One time, I was brought to meet President Clinton and Hillary Clinton, and apparently I got under the table, and just started growling. I was that shy. And then Hillary got on all fours, and she was all, “Come out, little Eve. Come out.” And I was like, “Rarhhhhh!”  I was an interesting kid.’ Acting was an escape because she could disappear. ‘You get to pretend to be somebody else, but you also get to express yourself completely. But it’s like you’re wearing a mask. It’s a safe space. It’s a role play.’ 

Colin Firth, Colman Domingo, Emily Blunt, Eve Hewson, Josh O'Connor

These days she says her ambition is to be in bed by dusk. ‘I could go to bed at like 6pm. Me and my cat, Luna, a little bit of Bravo – that’s my jam.’ Professionally, she’d like to play a vampire, a Hollywood agent, explore comedy and work with Paul Thomas Anderson. ‘If I’ve already done Spielberg – he is my number one. In my first year of college at NYU, I was mad about Paul Thomas Anderson, and I wrote my final paper on him, and handed it to my professor. I was going to meet some friends at the Greenwich Hotel. I came from my professor’s office, and I walked up to the Greenwich Hotel, and who opened the door for me? Paul Thomas Anderson. It was an incredible moment. He doesn’t remember it, but it was like a beautiful sort of nod from the universe that maybe one day I’ll work with him.’ I ask if she believes in nods from the universe?

Colin Firth, Colman Domingo, Emily Blunt, Eve Hewson, Josh O'Connor

‘I do. You have to. It makes life a lot more fun, you know? When I worked with Spielberg at the beginning of my career, that was like a nod from him, from the God of the movie universe. Then the fact that I’ve come back around full circle at this point of my career, and I’m working with him on this big movie on this big part – it’s the most beautiful story. I like to believe that the parts that I’m getting are the parts that are meant to be. It’s a nice philosophy to have, to be able to survive, otherwise you would be tearing yourself apart with all of the rejection and the close calls. What’s meant for me will find me. And what’s for you won’t pass you by.’

Colin Firth, Colman Domingo, Emily Blunt, Eve Hewson, Josh O'Connor

I like to believe that the parts that I’m getting are the parts that are meant to be. It’s a nice philosophy to have, to be able to survive, otherwise you would be tearing yourself apart with all of the rejection and the close calls. What’s meant for me will find me. And what’s for you, won’t pass you by

Not passing her by; Plan B film Isle of Man, which she’s currently filming and learning to ride a motorbike for alongside Channing Tatum; and playing a mother of four in Lenny Abrahamson’s Dublin-set period drama, Hillside Drive. ‘Lenny is just such a talent, and I’m so blessed that he asked me to be in this film, it’s a really exceptional role and I think we made something very special.

Colin Firth, Colman Domingo, Emily Blunt, Eve Hewson, Josh O'Connor

Having shot on the bridge, we hurry back to the car to get Eve back to her junket and press responsibilities. ‘All my dreams have come true,’ she smiles, pushing her wind-whipped hair back in place. ‘Being in my underwear in public – it’s my favourite thing!’ It’s also something that might become increasingly difficult to do when Disclosure Day releases and she becomes even more recognisable. ‘I get people recognising me quite a bit, but they’re nice, because they’re fans of something that I’ve done. I haven’t been mauled. I haven’t had it being too much of an invasion of my life. I can still do all the things that I want to do. I never really think ahead in those terms.’ We drive back to the hotel, where she loses a shoe getting out of the car, like a modern Cinderella. ‘Fashion emergency!’ she jokes and leans back in the car before disappearing into the lobby. ‘That was really fast and iconic,’ she says. ‘Fast and iconic. There she is…’

Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS
Interview by GREG WILLIAMS/JANE CROWTHER
Hair by HALLEY BRISKER
Make-up by ALEX BABSKY
Styling by KARLA WELCH
Disclosure Day is in cinemas now

BENOÎT MAGIMEL

May 28, 2026

Bastien Bouillon, Hafsia Herzi, Tawba El Gharchi, The Birthday Party
Cannes Dispatch festival ticket
Bastien Bouillon, Hafsia Herzi, Tawba El Gharchi, The Birthday Party

CANNES DISPATCH
Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS
Words by JANE CROWTHER

‘He’s someone who is a really nasty guy,’ French actor Benoît Magimel admits of his latest character in Léa Mysius’ The Birthday Party (Histoires de la Nuit) which premiered in competition at the Cannes Film Festival last week – earning a 12-minute ovation in the Grand Théâtre Lumière. Greg Williams shot the actor at his hotel before he walked the rouge carpet. Magimel plays Franck, a disgruntled dad who disrupts a surprise birthday party in the home invasion thriller based on Laurent Mauvignier’s bestselling novel. 

Bastien Bouillon, Hafsia Herzi, Tawba El Gharchi, The Birthday Party

‘The character to begin with was very brutal, very tough,’ Magimel told assembled journalists at the film’s press conference. ‘I thought there should be contradictions, more nuances. Then he came back with another version that was absolutely perfect, magical.’ Not so magical for the family living in remote marshland who get a visit from Franck and his friends. Thomas (Bastien Bouillon), his wife Nora (Hafsia Herzi) and her daughter Ida (Tawba El Gharchi) plus Monica Bellucci’s neighbour, find their rural idyll shattered by Franck, by turns charming and violent. 

The cast and crew filmed the project over 31 sweltering days during a heatwave in Bellac and the oppressive temperature and claustrophobia is tangible for audiences. Magimel said that his inspiration for his performance was Henry Fonda and reviews praised the singular menace he brought to proceedings.

Bastien Bouillon, Hafsia Herzi, Tawba El Gharchi, The Birthday Party

Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS
Words by JANE CROWTHER
Benoît wears sunglasses by Jacques Marie Mage
The Birthday Party premiered at the 79th Cannes Film Festival

TOM STURRIDGE

May 25, 2026

Rami Malek, Luther Ford, Tom Sturridge, Rebecca Hall
Cannes Dispatch festival ticket
Rami Malek, Luther Ford, Tom Sturridge, Rebecca Hall

CANNES DISPATCH
Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS
Interview by JANE CROWTHER

When Greg Williams photographs Tom Sturridge in his Cannes hotel suite just before he walks the red carpet for the premiere of his latest project, Ira Sachs’ The Man I Love, he admits to feeling a little nervous. Not because this is his first time at Cannes but because he would be seeing his film for the first time in the Lumiere Theatre at the Palais. There’s a certain trepidation in that, watching your work with an audience, both discovering it for the first time. ‘The thing that was most special was the room itself – the warmth,’ Sturridge says when Hollywood Authentic catches up with him a few days later. The film received an eight-minute standing ovation and was subject to rapturous reviews. ‘I’ve done that room a couple of times, and it was the most love I’ve ever felt for a film – in my experience. I do prefer, in general, not to watch, but I think when you’re in competition in Cannes, it’s kind of rude not to.’ In Sachs’ period piece, he plays Dennis, the partner of HIV-positive actor Jimmy George (Rami Malek) in Reagan-era New York. As Jimmy voraciously devours life in order to stave off death, Dennis quietly and gently cares for him, ensuring he takes his meds, bathing him, forgiving him. It’s a study of a relationship that lives between the words, Sturridge conveying a long romance through tender glance and touch. 

Rami Malek, Luther Ford, Tom Sturridge, Rebecca Hall

‘My role in it aside, it’s a special piece of work,’ the British actor says bashfully, still discovering how to discuss the film having only just seen it. ‘I think it’s beautiful. What surprised me the most was how it allowed you into that world, that time of New York in 1989, and was so absorbing, tangible.’ He recalls seeing a key scene with Jimmy walking through a club, encountering different characters and essentially a lost world. ‘I became overwhelmingly moved by these extraordinary humans who were the coolest, cleverest, most creative, most brave… And just knowing that we lost so many of them, those humans, just dancing in the club.’ 

The film is low-key in its period styling, specific in tone. Achieved, Sturridge says, from Sachs’ methodology as the cast began preparing. ‘It began with his personal stories. He shared with all of us his recollections of when he first moved to New York. And then, beyond that, he would very organically send pieces of cinema, literature, documentaries, images or weird clips on YouTube. He would make us watch a lot of films that had no literal connection to our story. It was films by Chantal Akerman, Maurice Pialat and Cassavetes, which were much more about trying to suggest a kind of cinematic grammar that he was aiming for. That was profoundly helpful in accessing the sort of truth that he was looking for, in a surprising way, because it wasn’t through an obvious lens.’

Rami Malek, Luther Ford, Tom Sturridge, Rebecca Hall

He namechecks books Borrowed Time by Paul Monette and Dancer from the Dance by Andrew Holleran, as well as documentary How to Survive a Plague by David France, all of which were useful in his pre-production prep. But essential to creating the specific vibe of the project was the trust developed between director and cast. ‘An actor’s relationship with a director is always about trust. Ira is someone who doesn’t like to talk much – or really at all – about the text of the script, or the character. When you’re doing lighting setups before you’re shooting a scene – it’s very normal for actors to run the scene. Ira is allergic to hearing his lines spoken before the camera is rolling. He very much wants everything to be discovered in the moment. That requires a profound amount of faith.’ That faith goes both ways. Without traditional rehearsal time, Sachs had to trust his actors to deliver. ‘Absolutely. This was very much an independent film. We did not have months and months to shoot. If he didn’t get what he wanted; if something magical didn’t happen in those eight minutes, then he was going to be in trouble. But weirdly, it releases a lot of freedom. Feeling the faith from him was very liberating. But most specifically, I knew that I would never leave the scene without him getting what he wanted. Despite all of the ephemeral preparation, and not knowing what you were going to do in the moment – he’s very rigorous and precise once the camera is rolling about getting what he wants. So the combination of that rigour and that freedom was intoxicating.’

Rami Malek, Luther Ford, Tom Sturridge, Rebecca Hall

In order to create a tangible sense of a lived-in relationship with Malek Sturridge connected with the actor beforehand to find an intimacy that translated onscreen. ‘We met a few months before we started shooting, not really talking about the project itself, but just being aware that when you’re portraying people who have loved each other for many years, there is a level of intimacy that you can’t really conjure in the moment. We do have to have an idea of how we’re going to physically communicate with each other. We just spent a lot of time together learning how our bodies work, and move, and finding a kind of physical language.’ The result is an unspoken connection, one that is incredibly evident in a moving scene in which Dennis lovingly bathes Jimmy in a tub. No words are spoken but feelings and stories are told in each gentle caress. ‘I think a performance always sounds stupid when spoken about,’ Sturridge says. ‘But we shot that scene towards the end of the shoot. Whatever subliminal work we’d done up to that point, was allowed to be articulated. Ira put the camera in the room, closed the door, and left us for a long, long, long time. There’s certainly a version of that scene that’s about three hours long.’

Rami Malek, Luther Ford, Tom Sturridge, Rebecca Hall

Like The Man I Love, Sturridge is drawn to projects by their directors and his next two gigs are dream jobs. He has a small role in Mia Hansen-Løve’s If Love Should Die (shooting soon) and worked with Dustin Hoffman on The Revisionist. ‘I think [Hansen-Løve] is one of the greatest filmmakers of any generation, let alone her own. I was fortunate enough to meet her a couple of years ago, and I just basically said, ‘I will make the coffee for you’.’ Working with Hoffman was an education he says as a fan of his career, particularly The Graduate and Midnight Cowboy. ‘He has gifted the world some of the most extraordinary cinematic performances ever. When you have the chance to be in a chamber piece and play the violin with the greatest violinist, it’s too bizarre an opportunity to pass up. He’s someone who just has absolute freedom in the way he performs. He’ll do the scene as written, and then he’ll do the scene absolutely as not written, and then he’ll do the scene in German, and then he’ll do the scene as a lion. He has endless imagination. He’s constantly testing you and pushing you, and trying to drag you into a reality, rather than sitting in the page. For someone of his maturity it’s extraordinarily alive – far beyond anyone I have ever worked with. He’s just constantly filled with ideas and effervescent life.’ So is Sturridge’s goal to be as curious as Hoffman while still working in his eighties? ‘Yeah, absolutely. I still want to care the way he does. He could easily just be putting his feet up now, but he doesn’t want to. Not in a dissimilar way to the story of our film – he needs to create to live.’

Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS
Interview by JANE CROWTHER
Styling by ROSE FORDE
Grooming by ALEXIS DAY
The Man I Love premiered at the 79th Cannes Film Festival

GILLIAN ANDERSON

May 25, 2026

Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, X-Files, Hannah Einbinder, Jane Schoenbrun
Cannes Dispatch festival ticket
Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, X-Files, Hannah Einbinder, Jane Schoenbrun

CANNES DISPATCH
Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS
Interview by JANE CROWTHER

Gillian Anderson opened up Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section this year with a sapphic, psycho-sexual, feminist take on slasher movies where she’s drenched in blood, gorges on fried chicken and makes the phrase ‘dipping sauce’ sound like a sexual invitation. Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma was a hit with the critics on the Croisette and marked the first time Anderson had really stepped into genre cinema after her long run as Agent Scully on X-Files made her wary of repetition and like all us, she watched a terrifying film too young. 

Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, X-Files, Hannah Einbinder, Jane Schoenbrun

‘I had a bad experience with a horror film, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, when I was very young, and so even music from horror films can bring panic attacks on me,’ Anderson admits when she chats with Hollywood Authentic in a suite at the JW Marriott, an appropriately red fruit juice in her hand. ‘I have embraced dark true-crime over the past decade, and also, working on X-Files for so long, my daughter jokes that her childhood was spent putting her pram with severed heads in it on set. So it’s been in my periphery for a long time. But I don’t have a real understanding of the history around horror films and subgenres and slashers, etcetera. So this was an education for me.’ 

Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, X-Files, Hannah Einbinder, Jane Schoenbrun

In the film Anderson plays a fan favourite actress, Billy, who starred in a huge franchise and now lives on the set of the original film in which she played the ‘final girl’. When a young director, played by Hannah Einbinder, visits with the intention of rebooting the film series, all hell breaks loose. Serial killers emerge from the lake, heads roll, blood gushes… There’s a knowing wink in casting Anderson with her X-Files past in such a role. ‘I didn’t necessarily reflect on it, but I did understand it enough to be able to embrace it, and take advantage of it as much as possible, to be able to enjoy the moment and the meta element of it,’ she says.

The film also explores generational ideas on gender, identity, and sexuality as Einbender’s director and Anderson’s actress grow closer sexually. ‘I feel like the film is a celebration of the fact that despite their decades’ divide, they’re meeting in common experience. But it was important for me that I really didn’t want for Billy to feel creepy or predatory. My daughter is the same age as Hannah is. For me, it needed to feel very purposeful – and weird in the places where it was meant to be weird. There’s a beauty, I think, in what the film has to say about what we can learn from each other. There is a vital commonality, which is that we are women, you know? So often today, that gets lost in the power struggle within social media – knowing and having information, and having something clever to say  – that the universal bond of potential support, of commonality, gets lost. So I think it’s really important that it shows up in this film in a way that is actually profound.’

Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, X-Files, Hannah Einbinder, Jane Schoenbrun

The film also reflects Anderson’s real professional life in that the X-Files is being rebooted right now by Ryan Coogler. ‘It’s being rebooted by a real artist. Ryan Coogler coming in to take over that franchise, is such an interesting and radical concept. Kudos to our showrunner, Chris Carter, the creator, for allowing him to take the helm. It’s when you have a true artist step in and say, ‘I know exactly how to apply my sensibility and gifts to the best parts of what this represents and should be, or should have been’. It’s so interesting to also be in conversation about that at the same time as doing this. I think finally, for the first time in what feels like a very long time, there’s a modicum of hope that the industry isn’t falling backwards off a cliff.’

Though she won’t be drawn on if she’s involved in Coogler’s reboot (‘that’s another conversation, but thank you for asking’ she demurs), Anderson is an enthusiastic torch-bearer for the franchise, attending fan conventions alongside her co-star David Duchovny. ‘I haven’t really been obsessed with anyone, it baffles me a little bit,’ she admits. ‘We were lucky at the beginning because we were shooting in Vancouver, not Los Angeles, and there wasn’t social media which, looking back, was such a gift. I can’t imagine coming up and having to contend with that now. I experience fandom now at Comic-Cons. I recognise how important it is for some people to be face to face with me. I don’t feel like, ‘I’m so cool. They love me so much’. It feels like it’s for what I represent. It almost helps them define who they are, that Scully represents an aspect of their internal life. And I’m happy to show up as the embodiment of that thing.’

Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, X-Files, Hannah Einbinder, Jane Schoenbrun

Anderson is busy but admits to trying to think carefully about the projects she takes and what she gives her name to. ‘It’s hard, though. It takes patience. It does take a belief that if you wait and dare to do nothing until the thing arrives that it will come. I do have the tendency to just embrace everything. I enjoy all of it. I end up doing too much. There is a version of me that would do less, and only choose the jewels.’

Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS
Interview by JANE CROWTHER
Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasa premiered at the 79th Cannes Film Festival
Gillian Anderson wears a custom version the NAVA dress from the Mary Katranzou Resort 2026 collection