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Majestic Gillian launches film festival
Evening Standard19 Oct 2006
A heavily pregnant Gillian Anderson helped launch the London Film Festival with the premiere of her The Last King Of Scotland.
Former X-Files actress Anderson stars alongside Forest Whitaker and James McAvoy, who were also at the premiere in Leicester Square.
US star Whitaker has been tipped for an Oscar for his performance as the brutal Ugandan dictator who seized power in a military coup in 1971. He said: "Making the film was an unbelievable experience."
McAvoy, who plays Dr Garrigan, said: "What appealed to me was that I would be playing a westerner in Africa who wasn't a hero but was self-serving, arrogant and selfish; as we have been in Africa and all over the world.
"Filming in Uganda affected me and I'm going back in January to raise awareness for the work of the Red Cross."
Director Kevin Macdonald won an Oscar for Touching The Void, a drama documentary about two climbers.
