'American Gods' Episode 1: Gillian Anderson Talks Most Challenging Famous Personality to Channel as Pilot Gets Early Praises
One of the characters that fans are excited to see in "American Gods" is Media to be portrayed by Gillian Anderson. Because of her role, she will be portraying famous personalities as well.
This includes the iconic actress Judy Garland. Anderson admitted in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that channelling her was a "curious process" because she has a certain aspect of her personality that is just "uncopy-able."
"And for a long time that I was working on her, I was struggling with that, working in my own space, trying to figure out what it was that was quintessentially her. I came to the conclusion that, actually, I might be barking up the wrong tree," Anderson said about prepping herself for her Judy Garland stint in "American Gods."
"Whereas with other characters, there were things I could hook onto that felt like [I] was tapping into an essence of some kind, I found Judy actually the most elusive or the most challenging to bring an element of her to the picture. So I had to ultimately make different decisions about how to represent her," she went on to say.
In the end, Anderson successfully found a way to effectively portray Garland in "American Gods." Fans will have to wait for the show's airing to see it though.
Although "American Gods" is not airing until the end of the month, some critics have already seen the pilot. Unsurprisingly, they have nothing to say but praises.
Telegraph says that the first episode was a "dramatic, cinematic exploration of mythology and migration" taking prestige television to the next level.
Polygon, on the other hand, believes that "American Gods" could be the best work of series creator Bryan Fuller yet, which is saying something as he worked with many notable projects like "Hannibal."
The site says that "American Gods" was faithful to its source material, which is the bestselling book of the same name by Neil Gaiman, a masterpiece with a huge following.
This means that those who have read the book will surely be satisfied as to how it was translated in the small screen, but those new to it will also enjoy the experience.
"American Gods" premieres Sunday, April 30, on Starz.