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Gillian Anderson seemingly went make-up free to play a homeless hiker in Marianne Elliot's big-screen adaptation of Raynor Winn's 2018 memoir, The Salt Path.
However, hair and make-up team Emily Bilverstone and Laura McDowell gave the 56-year-old X-Files alum a bronzed complexion to make her more authentic as someone who embarked on a 630-mile trek across England's South West Coast Path.
In the trailer, which dropped Wednesday, Gillian portrays Raynor Winn while Jason Isaacs took on the role of her onscreen husband Moth Winn, who's diagnosed with terminal corticobasal degeneration.
The real-life married couple - who became homeless after legally being forced out of their B&B - traveled the same uninterrupted path from Dorset to Somerset back in 2013 armed with only a tent and limited supplies.
When asked if they were retired, Moth admits: 'Homeless, actually.'
Raynor - who asks a bank teller to withdraw their final £1.38 - adds: 'We lost everything. Our home, our livelihood.'
Gillian Anderson seemingly went make-up free to play a homeless hiker in Marianne Elliot's big-screen adaptation of Raynor Winn's 2018 memoir, The Salt Path
At one point, Moth stumbles and tells Raynor: 'You should take me back to the shop and get a different [husband].'
She then kissed his forehead and replied: 'I don't want a different one.'
The Winns haul their rucksacks while struggling against all the elements including unwelcoming locals, navigation, hills, the cold, the heat, the wind, and unexpected high tides.
The troubled couple also experience the bliss and wonder of the great outdoors, ultimately bringing them closer together.
'Walking gives us time to think,' Raynor remarks.
Moth replies: 'I thought the house and everything was us, but it wasn't.'
The two-hour drama - which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival on September 6 - is scheduled to hit UK theaters next year.
'When I read the book, I could not get it out of my system for weeks,' Gillian told Variety at the time.
'It changed my perspective on homeless individuals, on people living rough, on the fact that any one of us at any time can become homeless and destitute, and [I] truly embraced the depths of my own compassion because it feels like a universal problem that needs to be solved in terms of what happens to individuals who are going through that.'
However, hair and make-up team Emily Bilverstone and Laura McDowell gave the 56-year-old X-Files alum a bronzed complexion to make her more authentic as someone who embarked on a 630-mile trek across England's South West Coast Path
In the trailer, which dropped Wednesday, Gillian portrays Raynor Winn while Jason Isaacs (R) took on the role of her onscreen husband Moth Winn, who's diagnosed with terminal corticobasal degeneration
The real-life married couple - who became homeless after legally being forced out of their B&B - traveled the same uninterrupted path from Dorset to Somerset back in 2013 (pictured) armed with only a tent and limited supplies
When asked if they were retired, Moth admits: 'Homeless, actually'
Raynor - who asks a bank teller to withdraw their final £1.38 - adds: 'We lost everything. Our home, our livelihood'
The Winns haul their rucksacks while struggling against all the elements including unwelcoming locals, navigation, hills, the cold, the heat, the wind, and unexpected high tides
The troubled couple also experience the bliss and wonder of the great outdoors, ultimately bringing them closer together
The two-hour drama - which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival on September 6 - is scheduled to hit UK theaters next year
Gillian told Variety: 'Here's a couple who in real life literally lost everything. And one step at a time, they made it through to the other side with strength of character, a strengthened love, understanding and belief in their own resilience and ability to get through anything'
Anderson noted how most people believe that the more money you have, the more freedom you have in society.
'The biggest freedom was actually experienced in not having anything, not having a plan, not having a root,' the two-time Emmy winner said.
'For so many of us — me included — the thought of losing all of those props, letting go into what would feel initially like the abyss feels like such a scary and profound experience. What they show...is that it is survivable, it is possible to come out the other side and have gained rather than lost in that journey.'
Gillian said humans are more resilient than they realize.
'We feel like things will literally kill us - deaths of relatives, children, traumas, losing jobs, relationships ending,' Anderson explained.
'Here's a couple who in real life literally lost everything. And one step at a time, they made it through to the other side with strength of character, a strengthened love, understanding and belief in their own resilience and ability to get through anything.'
And while 61-year-old Jason was born and raised in England, the Scoop star was technically born in Chicago but lived in London since 2002 after growing up there from ages 2-11.
Gillian's other upcoming projects include Joachim Rønning's sci-fi sequel Tron: Ares, Chris Roberts' video game Squadron 42, Channel 4 drama Trespasses, and Netflix western The Abandons.
Next year, audiences can catch Isaacs in Mike White's Thailand-set third season of The White Lotus for Max and Timothy Scott Bogart's tragic romance Verona's Romeo & Juliet.
