Interview: Daily Life, Australia
Posted at 9:34 AM (PDT) on Saturday, October 5, 2013

Gillian Anderson's new stella role
By Marion Hume
October 6, 2013
Daily Life, Australia

I set off to meet Gillian Anderson. She turns out to look rather unlike Stella, as she walks in wearing a floor-length, floral flutter of a sleeveless chiffon maxi dress accessorised by wedge sandals. Stella would be in something slippery, mean stilettos and the peek of a black lace bra.

She's passionate about The Fall and the relief that the role of DSI Gibson is making her known for being a grown woman – "although I'm not Stella by any stretch".

"I feel that Stella has had nothing but a positive effect on how I am in my life. Not to say there weren't elements before, but I think she's sharpened my sense of self and femininity," says Anderson.

As for "What would Stella do?" becoming an online mantra to inspire other women, Anderson has had bumper stickers and fridge magnets made, with the proceeds going to a women's shelter.

The writing is whip-smart and female-friendly (although penned by a man, Allan Cubitt).

What's novel – though it shouldn't be – is the capacity for female friendship that ripples through The Fall. "That's really important," says Anderson, "to show adult, mature women – completely different in the experiences they'd been through and the choices that they'd made – bonding through womanhood. Too often, what is portrayed between women is either 'girly' and going shopping, or the opposite, the negativity."

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