Lee Israel
August 2001

I was visiting Los Angeles last August (2001) and while I was there I thought I'd take the opportunity to try and see some X-Files filming. I made notes of where they were filming on location from the EIDC website (which now no longer lists location shoot, sadly) and made an effort to visit each location. The first shoot was at the Los Angeles Center Studios in Downtown LA, which was cool because that is the very building they blew up in Fight the Future! They were filming the first location shoot of Nothing Important Happened Today, a scene where Lucy Lawless walks into an FBI lobby. I didn't get to see much, just hung around outside and peeked in the large glass windows - I saw Lucy and Robert Patrick, which was cool. The scene they filmed there never made the final cut of the episode, which is a shame.

Later the same day they were listed as filming in Grand Ave. in Downtown LA so I went there and hung around in the hope I might get to see something . I found the shoot but it was in a small bar, Casey's Bar and Grill, which was kind of downstairs and underground so we (me and two other people who were waiting there to see filming) couldn't see anything. We were told they were filming a bar scene with Lucy, Carey Elwes, Annabeth and the "Wormus" guy from the season opener. We hung around for a LONG time until it was after dark, and the cool X-Files set people would come up occasionally and tell us what was going on. First they were filming Lucy Lawless's scenes with Wormus. At about 10pm, we saw her come upstairs to the sidewalk but she was done and was in a tiny dress so she rushed away in a minivan. Thinking I wouldn't see anything else, I started to walk back to my car, which was parked in a crappy car park not far away. As I was walking along the street, (about 11pm I think) I saw the car park where the X-Files trailers were, and I saw a woman outside her trailer smoking, who looked suspiciously like Annabeth Gish. Of course I didn't think it actually WAS her, but I was wrong!

Feeling brave and not wanting to miss an opportunity, I started to walk up to her. The security guard must have been asleep or something because no-one stopped me. I realized it was her as I got closer, and I asked her if she was Annabeth Gish. She said yes, and I introduced myself as a big fan. She shook my hand and we started talking. Now I don't know of many actresses who would talk to a fan late at night in a dark seedy area of Downtown LA, but she was incredibly nice and gracious to me. We just talked for a few minutes but it was really great to meet her. I wished her luck for the new season. She asked me where I was from and when I told her she said "Oh, that's a beautiful place." (I live in Sedona, AZ). I asked her what she was filming and she said she was filming a scene with Carey Elwes who she liked a lot. She mentioned he was British too, 'cos I'm British. She said she was very nervous about the filming as this was all new to her but that the fan reception had been warm, and that she was loving it. She was smoking and I asked her if she was still trying to quit, she said she was. I asked her to sign the call sheet I had got from a crew member and she did, which was cool. Then she finished her cigarette and said she had to go. I asked her if it would be OK to get my picture taken with her and she said "Of course." There was no-one around but luckily a security guard walked by right at that moment and she called him over to ask him to get our picture! Then she went back into her trailer and I walked back to the bar grinning from ear to ear to boast about what just happened! I waited around for another hour at least, and at some point, Annabeth and Carey Elwes came up to the side of the street for refreshments and started talking with each other. I went up and got Carey's autograph on the call sheet. He seemed very nervous. When they went back downstairs, I left, very happy! Annabeth was incredibly nice to me, she was genuinely interested about what I had to say as a fan and she was very open about how she felt about the X-Files. A few days later I went to my last location shoot in Venice, where they were filming the scene where Lucy and Wormus go for a drive - I met Lucy Lawless briefly just as she was leaving, she signed my call sheet too!

That was pretty much it, apart from when I met Gillian Anderson in Malibu by chance. She signed a magazine for me. I was in LA in December too, and I got to see Annabeth on Carig Kilborn's Late Late show taping. Nothing much to say about that though, everything I saw was on TV. She was very beautiful with her curly hair. Well, if you have any questions please let me know! Hope you enjoyed reading my experience of meeting her and I hope you can get to meet her some day!

Lee