Latest news with #JasonIsaacs

News.com.au
22 minutes ago
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
The Salt Path introduces real-life drama that was not in the book, says Isaacs
Jason Isaacs says that his new movie The Salt Path introduces real-life drama that was not in the book it is based on. The movie follows a couple on a year-long trek after they receive devastating news.


The Sun
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Sun
It's part of what actors do but it's never a joy, says Gillian Anderson as she reveals all about filming sex scenes
A TWO-MAN tent on the windy south-west coast of England might not be everyone's ideal spot for a steamy encounter. But that is where former X-Files actress Gillian Anderson found herself acting out a sex scene for her new film The Salt Path, about a homeless couple embarking on a 630-mile trek. 8 8 She was even asked to squeeze into a sleeping bag with co-star Jason Isaacs — and now she has spoken about the awkwardness of filming intimate acts with someone you barely know. Mum-of-three Gillian, 56, said: 'That is something you just expect as an actor. "That's part of what one does. I had an experience for many, many years working with the same actor every day. 'I've also done sex scenes on the first day of working, which is never a joy at any time during filming. "So you're thrown stuff all the time and just show whatever you're given. 'And Jason makes it very easy. He's very amenable, he's very likeable. 'And certainly physically, we feel like we're the same language — certainly by the end. 'We feel like our journey is baked into us, and we feel like we're part of the same conversation.' So is sex in a tent ever a good idea? Gillian said: 'Well, sex in the back of a car, sex anywhere, I mean, yeah, why not? 'Uncomfortable, tight quarters, but needs must . . .' The star became an international sex symbol playing FBI special agent Dana Scully in The X-Files, alongside David Duchovny as special agent Fox Mulder, in the original hit series that ran from 1993 to 2002. Secret desires Since then she has enjoyed a distinguished three-decade career that has seen her take on a variety of roles, from Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in The Crown to therapist Jean Milburn in Netflix's racy series Sex Education. She has also found time to become a real-life crusader for female sexual empowerment and is currently working on a follow-up to her hugely successful 2024 book, Want. The collection of anonymous female sexual fantasies included one from a woman who wanted to be intimate with an office doorknob. I read the book and I couldn't speak for days. I was really profoundly affected by it. I think I might have threatened them within an inch of their lives to hire me! Gillian even hid one of her own fantasies in the mix — although she has not revealed which one — and has hinted that she may put more of her own secret desires in book two. The Salt Path is based on the book of the same name by long-distance walker and writer Raynor Winn. It tells her real-life tale of walking from Minehead in Somerset to Poole, Dorset, with her husband Moth after he is diagnosed with an incurable neuro-degenerative disease called corticobasal degeneration, or CBD. The couple had also become homeless in 2013, so they decided to set out on the 630-mile South West Coast Path with nothing but a tent bought on eBay, £115 in cash and a paycard to withdraw £48 a week in tax credits. 8 8 The heartwarming book went on to sell more than a million copies and, at this week's Hay Literary Festival, Raynor described the moment she found out that Gillian was going to play her in the film. She said: 'I thought, 'How is that ever going to work? She's so perfect, so glamorous, so beautiful. How is she going to capture me at such a raw moment in my life?' ' The tent sex scene with White Lotus star Jason did not feature in the book, but was added by writers for the movie adaptation, which was released on Friday. Raynor added: 'There's only one particularly hot scene in that book — I gave them big waves. I got back a sweaty scene in a tent.' For Gillian, playing Raynor became one of her most challenging roles, but one that she was desperate to play. She said: 'I read the book and I couldn't speak for days. I was really profoundly affected by it. I think I might have threatened them within an inch of their lives to hire me!' Gillian has always been drawn to playing strong women and found that becoming those characters on screen instilled a new-found confidence. Rebellious teenager She said on Fearne Cotton's Happy Place podcast: 'I think it awakened in me a kind of stirring in my own sense of my sexual self and sensual self. 'I don't know whether it had always been asleep or whether it was awake when I was younger and then was asleep. 'But the fact that so much of my career as an actor — starting as Scully in my 20s, where suddenly I was consistently called on to be the smartest in the room — I was asked to show up and believe that I could do those things. "It showed that I had it somewhere in me to look that smart, to be that powerful, to be that confident, to walk that way.' Gillian was born in Chicago but raised in London during her early years. Most of the time when I show up to work, particularly at the beginning of a job, I think I am going to be fired. Every single job, the first two days are hell. Then the family moved back to the US when she was 11 and she later became a rebellious teenager. She went through a lesbian phase, was arrested and dabbled in punk — getting into what she called 'dangerous things'. By the time she was 14 she was in therapy. Ten years later, while living on benefits in Michigan, she landed the X-Files job — and found overnight global fame. But Gillian admits she still struggles to conform. She told the We Can Do Hard Things podcast: 'I always have been a bit of an outsider. I didn't really make a lot of friends in high school. 'My hair was always not unlike it is right now — ratty and not curled. 'Then I started wearing oversized thrift clothes, cinching it with a belt, pointy black boots with buckles, and I started to shave my head and have a Mohawk. Also, by then I'd had a lesbian relationship that they all knew about and teased me about. 'I was kind of on the outside. Then true to form, on graduation night, I was actually arrested, because I tried to break into the high school with my then boyfriend to glue the locks shut.' 8 8 'I started panicking' Gillian, who has been married twice, currently lives in London where she has been in a long-term relationship with The Crown writer Peter Morgan. Mum to daughter Piper, 30, and sons Oscar, 18, and 16-year-old Felix, she juggles acting with running the soft drinks company she founded with Peter's son, Robin. And despite being at the top of her game for more than 30 years, she admits she still feels insecure at times. On playing Margaret Thatcher in 2020, she said: 'It was daunting. From the moment I said yes, I started panicking. "She is a big deal in the UK. And she's a very divisive character and however people feel about her, there's no middle ground — they either absolutely hate her or they love her. "So I knew people felt very strongly, and obviously I wanted to do a good job. So I felt quite a lot of pressure.' She added: 'Most of the time when I show up to work, particularly at the beginning of a job, I think I am going to be fired. 'Every single job, the first two days are hell. Literally I think that I'm going to be fired and that the producers are huddling around the monitor. I'm literally going, 'Oh my God, what have I done?' 'And so the point is that I can do that and act as if I am this confident person, despite having panic attacks. 'If I can do those things, then as far as I'm concerned, anybody can.' 8


BBC News
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Minehead locals "so excited" for The Salt Path film release
People who live along a coastal road where part of the new film adaptation of The Salt Path was set say they're very excited for its film, out on 30 May, stars Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs, who play a married couple who walk the South West Coast Path after losing their home and one of them receiving an incurable early part of the film was shot in Minehead, alongside Porlock Weir, Bossington and various locations in Devon and who live on Quay Street in Minehead have fond memories of spotting Anderson and Isaacs outside their homes two years ago. Mandy Nixon's home overlooks where the filming took place and is one of those living on Quay Street who has read the book by Raynor and others have shared the book and passed it between houses since the filming first inspired their said: "We're all actually going together to see the film and we're very excited."Regarding the filming, she said: "We had to move our cars and they were here for two or three days." Mandy's husband Mark remembers it being "very, very busy and with lots of people coming to watch the filming" on their said he wanted to invited Anderson and Isaacs in for a cup of tea."We moved down here for the scenery, the hills, the sea... so we're really excited to watch the film," he added. A few houses down lives Mark Kingston-James, who also saw the cast filming outside his home in Minehead and photographed Gillian Anderson and the said: "We are the gateway to Exmoor and I've noticed since (the filming) an increase in walkers using the coast path."It shows what Minehead's got nature wise and I think it's a different angle."The film showcases some of Exmoor's most picturesque locations and was made with the help of Screen Somerset and the South West Coast Path Association (SWCPA) as well as Exmoor National Park, Visit Exmoor and Visit Salt Path is released in the UK on May 30.


BBC News
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
The Salt Path: Melton woman who inspired film relives emotions
A woman who travelled across the South West Coastal Path with her terminally ill husband has said a film depicting their journey took her "right back" to those difficult Winn, a writer who grew up on a farm in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, said she lost her dream home in Wales in 2013 after a financial dispute just days after her husband Moth was diagnosed with Corticobasal Degeneration (CBD), a rare brain nothing to lose, the couple set off on a 630-mile trek from Somerset to Dorset, via Devon and journey across England's largest uninterrupted path has now been made into a film - The Salt Path - featuring Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs. "As we were preparing to leave the house, and the bailiffs were knocking at the door, we were hiding under the stairs. We were not ready to go," Mrs Winn said."It was in those last moments that I saw a book about someone who had walked the coastal path with their dog."In that desperate time, it just seemed like the most obvious thing to do. All we wanted to do was pack our bags and take a walk." Five years on from the adventure, in 2018, Mrs Winn released her memoir entitled The Salt received nationwide acclaim, and was shortlisted for the 2018 Wainwright Prize, an award that celebrates travel-based writing."We had nowhere to go. We knew that when we stepped out of the door, we were going to be homeless."Moth's illness had no treatment, or no cure. I was drawn to following a line on the map. It gave us a purpose, and that's what it was all about." 'Huge in emotion' Just a few months after her book was published, Mrs Winn said she was approached by a producer and filming of 'The Salt Path' started in the summer of 2023."It makes no sense. I remember the day we met. There was a knock at the door, and there was Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs outside."They told me to put the kettle on. That's not what is supposed to happen to a girl from Melton Mowbray," she Winn said the film took her "straight back to those emotions that were so difficult". "The producer and director have created something that's sparse in dialogue."It's huge in emotion and it urges anyone to focus on the now. Just focus on now and all will turn out differently tomorrow," she said.


Los Angeles Times
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Jason Isaacs looks at the internet and has regrets
Jason Isaacs talks 'Harry Potter' fandom and his fondness for reading the internet while answering our Very Important Questions presented by Disney Plus.