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Zadok PerspectivesAugust 1999
Xena's Feminine Mystique
"Only in the 90’s could the star of a children’s fantasy drama be invited to two successive Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gra’s. The star was Xena, the mythical Warrior Princess, with whom most of the television viewing world has become acquainted."
The mystical sphere of the "Xenaverse" has imbedded itself in the psyche of nearly 60 per cent of Australia’s children, not to mention those of the youth of Afghanistan, Russia and Iran. In America, Xena Warrior Princess has become the highest rating syndicated drama on television. The internet also has more than 100 Xena sites with content ranging from lesbian fantasy to pseudo-intellectual critique.
In real time, people are attending conferences, clubbing at venues with Xena theme nights, receiving newsletters and purchasing a giddy array of paraphernalia. At Sydney’s 1998 Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, 122 Xena look-a-likes marched up Oxford Street to the delight of the crowds. What’s more, American universities offer Xena 101.
Even a cursory observer must ask what is the fascination with Xena all about?
Creating the Xenaverse
Xena combines a montage of genres. It has been described by Ms magazine as "a delightfully schlock drama that often looks like Sparticus, American Gladiators and Mad Maxall rolled into one".
Cheesy, slap-stick humour is woven into a tapestry of occult and mythological themes which draws us into a surreal world of heroic adventures. It is constructed in ‘postmodern’ filmic format, where postmodern means an aesthetic which emphasises the fragmentary nature of images, the appropriation of images from previously created images and their resistance to a single local unity or subject position. In Xena, we not only see fragmented representations of Greek and Roman mythology, but also a mismatched combination of cultural dress, language and history.
In the opening episode "Sins of the Past", we hear Balkan women singing a chant with Bulgarian lyrics to what sounds like Bulgarian bagpipes and Eastern European drum rhythms. To this Tune Xena travels to her home town of Amphipolis in Ancient Greece. However, it is a lush green countryside we see on screen.
Later, in the same episode, Xena, a Greek female warrior, uses Asian martial art moves on some villanous character dressed in Northern European costumes whose leader is played by a Maori actor. Again, the time is Ancient Greece but the dialogue is spoken in today’s West Coast English. Adding to this montage, Xena is filmed in New Zealand.
Xena’s story can only be understood in the context of her past; a past that we are not visually privy to, but which has left her with a deep legacy to be reckoned with. An online Xena devotee tells her story:
Tales of the Warrior Princess were told for years. She ravaged the Greek world as a bloodthirsty warlord, bent on nothing but evil. But she was not always such. She was once an ordinary young woman, who cared about her family and her village. But then a warlord named Cortese came, and laid waste to her home village of Amphipolis. Bent on preventing this from happening again, she embarked on a quest to keep all enemies of Amphipolis weak…But on one of her raids, she encountered a person that would forever change her life, and her outlook on it: Julius Caesar. After he betrayed her and subjected her to crucifixion she was rescued by a female warrior who helped her find healing. Xena then changed into a blood thirsty killer. For years, she travelled the world, wandering into many wars as a mercenary, then finally forming her own army to terrorise the peaceful Grecian countryside. On her journeys she met Lao Ma, ruler of an Eastern faction who saved Xena from the king, and began to teach her some form of mysticism. She learnt the ability to move objects with the power of one'’ mind, and to harness the energy that flows around us all. Xena'’ first attempts were poor, and she was never able to utilise these powers until very recently. But it was a run-in with the noble Hercules, son of Zeus that diverted her from her evil ways, onto a path of righteousness. She has become a fighter for truth and justice, but she can never forgive herself for her past misdeeds.
It might also be noted that Xena’s pillaging and plundering history took a dramatic turn when she rescued a baby and was abandoned by her troops. It is here at the ‘turn around’ that we are invited to participate.
Xena as ‘wish fulfilment’
In attempting to ponder the phenomenon of Xena-mania it is vital we understand academic theories of viewing motivation. In reviewing the literature on the psychology of television consumption, most propose that a fantasy world is created to meet the conscious and unconscious psychological and emotional needs of the viewer. The material plays a ‘wish fulfilment’ function.
As academic Tannenbaum has observed, television programs are a "series of packaged fantasies". Adler, likewise suggests that television is a "vivid projection of our collective subconscious through which powerful messages are translated into an acceptable code for presentation….it is a process of disguising societal needs and wishes".
While psycho-dynamic theories are out of vogue, the phenomenon of Xena-mania lends itself well to their scrutiny. We may deny that base impulses of anger, fear and desire influence our choice of television programs, but we can be sure Hollywood knows the score and will be doing its best to exploit these emotions.
If we find it hard to accept that we are glued to Xena because our primal instincts are stirred, it may be easier to look at the psychological process of ‘identification’ to explain our fascination with her.
Burton and Whiting proposed a status-envy hypothesis which holds that a character has traits that the viewer desires and this evokes envy of coveted resources. It does not require a psychology degree to work out why people would want to identify with Xena, or her side-kick Gabrielle, for that matter. (More about this later.)
Some ‘coveted’ characteristics found to be important for TV star ‘idolatry’ are physical attractiveness, sexually suggestive behaviour, romance, prestige and power. Sound familiar? All these qualities, of course, need to be couched in a continuing narrative and moulded by the complexity of filming and editing devices to complete the identification process. Implicit also in this theory is the notion that the processes of identification requires the psyche to be a fertile ground of deprivation or alienation from which this envy of a hero grows.
In light of these theories we can look at the construction of Xena’s character, her journey and her relationship with Gabrielle. The world is gossiping about the gay ‘subtext’ of the latter which is nothing new, but it reveals a new boldness in television that is unprecedented, especially for a children’s program.
The new woman
Xena has been described as a "babe who kicks butt". Her outfit is comprised of boots, leather and breastplate, packing cleavage and thigh in suitable warrior attire. Her blue eyes, white teeth and blue-black hair are more ‘princess’ than ‘warrior’, not unlike Wonder Woman…..but scarier.
Through various waves of feminism beginning with the Suffragettes, women have attempted to break through the barriers of social forces in the search for identity and mastery in a world that was once purely defined and organised by men. From the 70’s onwards we have even been faced with the entrance into society of an unashamed female sexuality that is assertive, self contained and doesn’t rely on men or culturally feminine imagery to give it identity and value.
For many reasons this portrayal of womanhood is still seen as not quite complete, and in many circles still deviant. It can be suggested that Xena embodies the essence of such a female and she is in touch with her soft side ‘to boot’. One could even say Xena’s angry violent past is an analogy of angry feminism that had its place in history but is now seeking integration with other aspects of femaleness.
Australian writer Richard Neville has identified Xena as "just a big, brassy, pseudo-Greek legend waylaying everything in her path, especially men".
It has been pointed out that in Xena we see that the traditional male lead role of a warrior, symbolising the essence of masculinity, represented by a woman. Xena’s outward appearance is one part harem girl (feminine) and one part warrior (masculine). Her clothing highlights her femininity while at the same time ‘shielding’ it. Her sword, a masculine image of strength and power, which could be seen as a phallic symbol, is worn on her back or side. Her chakram, a circular metal disk with a razor sharp edge which can slice through steel as well as flesh when thrown, is worn on her hip. Its circular shape is symbolic of the female gender and it is her ultimate weapon and source of strength.
Dixie Harrison, a 38-year-old mother of five, grandmother of three and webmaster of Xena Online Resources shows the influence Xena as the ‘new woman’ can have on personal lives:
‘I was brought up on the tradition of bowing to certain inevitabilities – as a female, my job was compliance, cooperation and peacemaking. Any outward signs of resistance or feelings of rebellion were unacceptable…Xena is Xena and does what she thinks needs to be done…But she has her hidden weak points too – she is not infallible. She carries much pain with her…she’s just a woman – with all the fears, fallacies and pains of a woman – who strides the world boldly as a person’.
As a woman who does battle with warlords, monsters, gods and mortals, she is one hell of a role model. Neville points out that Xena "overturns the last impediment to a world of total equality", and Xena’s ‘wish fulfilment function’ can be seen very clearly when reviewing her physical abilities: combat and warfare skills; agility, acrobatics and martial arts. Smart, fearless and heroic she always tries to solve things peacefully; but once committed to a course of action, she is unrelenting.
The power of friendship
Despite the obvious advantages of Xena’s great power, audiences understand that it means nothing to her without the strength and life gained from a loving relationship.The tension between Xena’s ‘two sides’ is played out in her close relationship with the blonde Bard, Gabrielle, who escaped from an approaching forced marriage to join Xena in her adventures.
Gabrielle is protegee as well as handmaiden – or should I say ‘warrior’s companion’. Xena and Gabrielle have a mutual trust relationship, but Xena is usually the protector, mentor and ‘all knowing one’. Gabrielle has brought the caring and soft ‘human’ side out of Xena; a side that was once buried under the ‘warrior’. In a recent episode Xena said to Gabrielle, "I’ve seen so many changes in you, things I could never have expected. But as hard as the changes have been, you’ve got to know it’s for a reason. All of this is for a reason, otherwise what’s the point? I was asking myself that same question when I first met you."
This vignette of the nature of their relationship has a ‘sisterhood’ feel, highlighting the help women can give each other in their journey to freedom. It can also be suggested that the merging of Xena and Gabrielle as an interdependent unit may in some way draw the female viewer into identifying and uniting both parts of herself; the tough competent and strong, protecting the sensitive, vulnerable, nurturing and good. Most women would testify to the dangers of ‘wearing’ one’s persona the other way around.
Not surprisingly, in light of such an intense portrayal of friendship, Xena has become a lesbian icon, which has helped the program achieve cult status. Mr Showbiz, in an on-line interview with Lucy Lawless, who plays Xena, quizzed her about the speculations about the nature of Xena’s relationship with Gabrielle:
"Ah! You mean do we play it up?….We do have fun with that aspect, but I never want to shove it down people’s throats because it can also be alienating and we don’t want to do that to any sector of our audience. But we don’t want to alienate our lesbian following. We love ‘em all!…I think I can speak for some of the people who work on the show – we all like pushing the boundaries…We try to make highest common denominator viewing".
Liz Friedman, Xena’s producer, calls herself a "representationally starved queer" (quoted in Woosh Online). (sic) "Honestly," she says, "we didn’t write the characters to be explicitly lesbian. Going into it we never really had any thoughts about that. I think what we really wanted to do was we wanted to make a very trong and real relationship between two of them in that their friendship does not consist of the two of them talking about their boyfriends and what kind of sanitary protection they like, which tends to be what you see on television when women talk. They have a real concern and respect for one another."
Intimate moments when Xena and Gabrielle are together seem to overlay classic images of a heterosexual-stance. There is sensuality with a subtle edge of eroticism and flirtatious banter, sometimes appearing as sisterly care, yet allowing an interpretation of romance. Perhaps the best example of this is the kiss between Xena and Gabrielle in the episode "Quest". The kiss occurs in a kind of a dreamscape while Xena’s spirit is in the body of a man. Xena and Gabrielle are shown at the beginning of the kiss, but just before their lips meet, the image changes to show the man and Gabrielle kissing. This scene has produced some of the longest ‘Are they?/Aren’t they?’ debates in Xena fan-dom.
Diane Silver, in the August 1997 edition of Woosh Online, (sic) suggests we can apply a lesbian reading to Xena and Gabrielle’s relationship due to its similarity to the daily realities of lesbian life, which consists of caring and vulnerability, commitment and the impact of loss of the other. One could argue, however, that these sentiments can be found and encouraged in platonic friendship.
Why is it that Hollywood is unable to portray intimacy with out a sexual overtone? Are we, in our hurried and detached loves, producing a society which hungers for intimacy to the point where saccharin screen sexuality, as a substitute for true, deep connection, must appear everywhere for a decent rating?
It is hard to know how much Xena is written to cater for its gay audience. (Oh yes, by the way, the program is not just for the kids!) Is it a coincidence that most of Xena’s heterosexual encounters were in the days when she was ‘evil’? As a redeemed person intent on doing good she has rescued Gabrielle from an arranged marriage. Now neither of them need men, although opportunities abound. They have a choice.
How does this subtext translate to the cultural acceptance or diffidence to the lesbian relationship? A ‘queer’ reading of text means we must deconstruct previously held stereotypes and understandings of homosexuality. Xena and Gabrielle, if they in fact are supposed to be lovers, contradict the stereotype of the lesbian as butch and somewhat invisible. They are sexy, stunningly attractive, have enjoyed men at times yet they choose each other at this time and place.
Spirituality in the Xenaverse
Are there also spiritual metaphors in Xena? We must not forget, as this prologue describes, "Xena is set in the ‘Golden Age’ of myth, long before ancient Greece or Rome, on the distant frontier of known civilsation far away from the land of mighty Hercules. The whims of capricious gods and their greed of human tyrants make her world a treacherous one."
Xena borrows imagery and ideology from pluralistic Graeco-Roman civilsation, where blending of mythologies and civil concerns gave rise to individualised cults and philosophies. Xena, like the Roman Empire, has absorbed and synthesised many streams of thought and practice, making it a melting pot of spiritual, moral and philosophical notions.
The meta-narrative is that there does not seem to be one. When visually ‘reading’ Xena, there doesn’t seem to be any clear differentiation between right and wrong, real and imagined, mortal and immortal. Apart from the situational ethics which guide individuals in their own story, there is no mega-story which defines the nature of good and evil.
Through the course of her adventures, Xena has dealt with many gods and goddesses. Sometimes her dealings are peaceful, sometimes not. She has encountered the most powerful beings in her world and survived. She teaches us that nothing is beyond our power, internal or external.
Saint Augustine, in his Confessions, speaks of his pre-conversation enjoyment of theatre in the ‘arena’, the cultural heart of the Roman Empire. Here the morality of plays were drawn from pagan Greek mythology and the loves of the gods were mimed for the audiences. Augustine observed that the ‘gods’ were a projection of sinful human qualities, engendering a curious fascination in the observer.
Are we drawn to Xena in the same way people were drawn to the ampitheatre two millennia ago? Because the program is rated for children we are only viewing milder forms of the whims and agendas of the gods, but we are never the less feasting on their reality. Is that what television is all about; dressing up our primal desires in a palatable theatrical form?
It is interesting that Xena has appeal for those searching for a form of spirituality which is viewed as much less confronting, morally challenging and ‘parental’ than Christianity, which appears offensively steeped in male-dominated tradition. Especially attractive and popular is the ideology and mysticism of eco-feminism with its goddess cults and ancient mythology, which urges us re-attune body and soul to the rhythms of ‘mother earth’ and the ‘sacred feminine’.
This form of spirituality tells us something about what women are searching for in God and community. Its theology and expression side-steps the patriarchal or masculine order of conventional religion in an attempt to align itself with a greater ‘female’ authority, one whose sovereignty is based on the principle of interconnectedness, and who inspires from a position of indwelling rather than transcendence or supremacy.
The goddess does not rule the world; she is the world and is present, accessible and available. In a recent discussion paper for Deakin University: "Women’s Spirituality" The Place of Transcendence in the Feminist Pantheon", academic B. Dobin suggests powerful goddess figures represent the externally sheltering womb. Enter again, Xena Warrior Princess.
If Xena embodies the essence of a pagan goddess, or more simply the invincible ‘self made woman’, it is easy to understand why viewers, especially those in the lesbian community, are drawn to identify with her. For women who have been personally, socially or politically injured by men, as well as those who have a deep desire to connect with an all-encompassing, nurturing ‘power’, she stands as sword and shield.
Christians must in this cultural moment remember that God has referred to himself in the Bible many times as both male and female, exhibiting qualities which far transcend the narrow gender roles Christians often impose on him. While Xena’s reliance on violence and powerful conquest is cathartic for many women oppressed by male domination in whatever form, it is obviously not a realistic motif for lasting personal and social transformation.
I sometimes wonder what would happen if one day Xena strayed into the farthest desert, and met a travelling sage who spoke of how one should not slay one’s enemies but "offer the other cheek", release others from debt and act in accordance with the law of love. Wouldn’t work, would it? |
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TV TimesAugust 1999
She’s happily married, has another child on the way and is still riding high on the hit series Xena : Warrior Princess. LL takes time out to count her blessings.
Four years now, LL, 31, has enthralled audiences around the world as the fierce and fearless title-holder of Xena : Warrior Princess. Never before has television seen anyone quite like her a woman as smart, strong, courageous and committed as any male hero in the history of television.
A native of Mt. Albert, Auckland, New Zealand, the actress, almost sic feet tall, with jet black hair and piercing blue eyes, first caught the imagination of television viewers with her portrayal of the statuesque, leather-clad Xena in several episodes of Hercules : The legendary Journeys.
Prior to that, she has guest-starred on Hercules as Lyla, Deric the centaur’s courageous young bride, and appeared as the menacing Amazon enforcer Lysia in the tow-hour action-packed telefilm, Hercules And The Amazon Women.
Xena : Warrior Princess not only made her a household name, it also "found" a husband for her in the form of Rob Tapert, the executive producer of Xena, Hercules and the new Young Hercules. Married last year, the couple who are expecting their first child in October, spend most of their time along with Lawless’s 11-year-old daughter Daisy from her first marriage, in Auckland where all three series are filmed.
How lucky to be starring in a hit television series that is also filmed in your hometown of Auckland, New Zealand!
Yeah, I know! It’s just luck. The producer, Rob Tapert, who’s also now my husband, was walking across the parking lot at Universal Studios one day when he met an old friend who told him he was filming down in New Zealand. When Rob told him he was thinking about filming a television series in South Africa his friend told him he should first check out New Zealand. SP Rob sent somebody down there to scout locations and they loved it. So that’s how Hercules came to be filmed there. It’s all been a staggering set of coincidences that brought me to the part.
Do you believe in fate?
Yes, I think out fate is already written, I believe that you have to have your own eyes open in order to take advantage of opportunities as they present themselves. SO it may feel like we’re creating our own destiny but I’m sure it’s already written for us.
Xena is such a strong character. Are you concerned you’ll never be able to escape the connecting between LL and Xena?
I don’t and I don’t allow that to be a part of my focus. I think that would be very defeatist. I don’t allow that to enter my way of thinking. Additionally, when people meet me I’m very different from the person they expect to walk in the door. It turns their prejudice on its head. I know that my agent finds it a lot of fun to pitch me for things, because he likes to say to people, "Whatever you think she is, whatever you read, she’ll surprise you when she walks in the room because she’s completely different." (laughs) So I hope I don’t let my agent down.
In 1997 you starred on Broadway in Grease as Rizzo. Did you take the role to show Hollywood you’re much more than just a warrior princess?
Actually the whole idea of me starring on Broadway was such a momentous occasion for me! I really loved it. I was so glad I did that! And I made some lifelong friends out of it. It was just something I always wanted to do. That was really the only reason why I did it, to be honest.
Life seems to be fitting into place very nicely for you.
Yeah, it is. But I work hard to make sure that it stays like that.
Besides one divorce, have you any other angst in your life worth mentioning?
Sure. But keep in mind I have selective amnesia. I seem to be able to wrap up and get closer on all my bad experiences so that they don’t haunt me for too many years. I don’t drag my old problems to new relationships. An days, of course I have problems, I watch VH1’s What happened To Teen Idols series and it just brings it home to me that nobody gets out of life unscathed.
Did you fear that maybe that could be you one day?
(laughs) Yeah, "whatever happened to that girl LL?" I’ll tell you what though, when I leave this business it will be my choice. I doubt I will end up like those people. I will tell you that in quieter moments I have stopped and soldered what would I rather be doing.
Why? Aren’t you happy?
The effort of show business is extremely wearing. So I have thought about what would I rather be doing, but I can’t think of anything else that I’m good at besides being a mother.
I find it fascinating that someone like yourself - with beauty, fame, money, a loving husband and daughter, and another child on the way - could feel depressed or unhappy.
Actually, it's frightening to me! If you feel that way I should be jumping off a bridge. Why am I so miserable? I have the man of my dreams and a fantastic healthy daughter, I'm healthy and I have a great job. I don't at the moment have to worry about my bank account and I live in my dream house. It's a stunning house! So why am I not blissfully happy? I think I'm one of the more successful human beings in this business because by and large I live in a state of joy. I really experience wonderful things. What I mean is, the sky is blue and I'm digging it! I don't take things for granted.
How is it working for the man you're married to?
Well, our jobs really don't overlap. I'm on the far end of production. He's more involved in the writing of the stories for Xena and working on studio deals and all of that awful stuff, whereas I'm on the set with my feet in the mud. So we don't conflict very much.
What's the most bizarre thing you've ever read about yourself?
(Long pause) Um.. (laughs) There's so much stuff that is silly! I don’t know really. You see, I don't get those clippings sent to me, so I really wouldn't know what they're writing. Plus I have a buffer zone of about 5000 miles between me and the gossip columns.
In my dealings with photographers I've always understood that it's kind of a two-way street. You do your poses and you move on. I realise that they are a part of the job. You can work with them to a certain extent without becoming a puppet. But I really shouldn't say anything because I really don't know anything about that world.
It's impossible to do an interview with you without discussing your huge base of "alternative" fans. As far as you can tell, has it increased or calmed down?
Um - I don't know if there's so much mania attached. It seems rather that they look at Xena as an icon of some sort. Rather than me, they seem to be more interested in the warrior princess character.
Would you agree that the writers of Xena know that they have a guaranteed built-in audience if they play up the friendship between Gabrielle (played by Renee O'Connor) and Xena?
Not anymore. We did that a lot in the beginning, and it's not that we don’t play it up at times, but it's not for "our alternative fans". We really do it for ourselves, because it just makes the scene a bit more funny to throw in some nuances. We try to please ourselves more than anyone else. Because when you start trying to please specific factions of your audience then you end up what we in New Zealand call Blanc Mange, which is something that's white, pasty and tasteless. So you can't design by committee.
Ms. Magazine once called you a feminist icon. How does it feel to be an icon?
I feel that Xena is an icon. But when that article first came out I sort of freaked out. I had no idea at the time the impact we were making. It shocked me. I thought that they were trying to hold me up as some sort of Barbie Doll for big chicks. I was very uncomfortable with being objectified like that. So I took a defensive posture toward that article.
Speaking of objectifying, what would you say is your greatest physical attribute?
(Long pause) Um - I'm thinking about my feet, my legs, my toes! (laughs)
Last question. Why is Xena spelled with an 'X' instead of a 'Z'?
(Producer) Irving Shapiro told my husband if you write it with an 'X' the kids will understand it. And it's true! It's more of a symbol, like a cross. It's like a strong icon. Visually, it means more to the kids.
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New WeeklySeptember 13, 1999
Xena - As You Have Never Seen Her
Lucy Lawless, the star of Xena: Warrior Princess, will soon be stroller as she prepares for the swapping her sword for a birth of her second child next month. She happily displayed her bulging belly recently while filming some scenes for the fifth series of Xena on a chilly beach in her native New Zealand.
As these exclusive pictures show, Lucy's pregnancy has been written into the new series, and she couldn't be more excited by the idea of being the first ever television superhero mum.
"Just because it hasn't happened yet in TV history, it doesn't mean it's impossible," says Lucy. "I rather fancy Xena wheeling a little baby carriage across the savannah. I think it would give people something to talk about."
A spokeswoman for the American producers of the series said that the father of Xena's child, and the details of its conception, would remain a mystery until the 100th episode, airing in the US next January. The child will be born a few episodes later.
"This will be a cataclysmic change for Xena, her child and the whole world," says the spokeswoman.
Ever the trouper, Lucy insisted on filming one of TV's most demanding roles throughout her pregnancy. The only concession to the impending arrival has been the dumping of Xena's corset-like leather frock and other form-fitting clothes for more "adaptable" maternity wear.
The pregnancy hasn't been exactly hush hush, with Lucy and her husband of 18 months, Xena and Herculesproducer Rob Tapert, 44, spending even more time together than usual in preparation for the big event.
Lucy made no secret of the fact that she wanted another child before her Xena contract expired at the end of the year and, in fact, has said that she would like two playmates for her 11-year-old daughter Daisy as quickly as possible. "I've always wanted three kids," Lucy said before announcing the pregnancy. "I don't know why three, but it sounds like a great number to me."
A single mother after her seven-year marriage to bar manager Garth Lawless broke down in 1995, she said she would try to raise this child differently to Daisy.
"With Daisy, I really didn't have a clue what I was getting into," she says. "We raised her in an idealistic and naive way for the first few years.
"We really wanted her to have a say in everything, which I think, in retrospect, was quite confusing. Children need to have boundaries, and it's confusing to them when they're given too many options."
One thing is for sure, thoughLucy and Rob will try to give this child as normal an upbringing as possible. When filming is over, the family likes nothing better than forgetting about Xena and spending as much time together as they can.
"When I'm on my death bed, I'll know the best thing I ever did was raise my kids," says Lucy. "So, for family and health reasons I am not prepared to sacrifice everything for a job. You can't put a price on time spent with your children. It's irreplaceable."
The season four finale airs on Network Ten later this month, and series five will screen next year. |
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Cult TimesNovember 1999
Making History
Cult Times has shared the path to redemption with Xena: Warrior Princess. We take a look at her exploits leading up to the show's fifth season.
BOTH Xena: Warrior Princess and this very magazine were unleashed upon the world in the autumn of 1995. Since then they've grown and expanded, eventually rising beyond their humble beginnings. Xena itself proving to be superior to Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. Many of you are no doubt thinking, 'But surely Hercules came first, thereby making Xena an extension of the Fantasy genre, rather than actually revolutionising it!' And of course, the answer is, 'Goodness, you know a lot of big words, don't you? Now shut up and let me explain.'
Hercules, by its very nature, had to stick to tradition. The backstory of Hercules, the monsters he met, his godly relations, his labours, are all well-documented in Greek myth. Therefore, there wasn't much scope for the series beyond Herc travelling the world doing many of the same deeds we were already familiar with. Xena was another matter entirely. Inhabiting the same universe of gods and monsters as Hercules, Xena's adventures were, at least in the beginning, far more grounded in reality, with warlords and kings turning up far more often than the ancient gods mentioned in the opening narration. For this reason, rather than retreading old traditions, the adventures of Xena resulted in the creation of a new kind of Fantasy hero: a strong woman who could hold her own against any enemy. And it didn't stop there, as Xena continues to grow with each new event in her life.
Despite resorting to borrowing characters from Hercules in attempts to draw audiences to both shows, some of these guests actually found a home in Xena, where there was a greater possibility for them to make their mark. After first turning up in the Hercules tale The King of Thieves, Autolycus arrived in Xena's neck of the woods (and she does travel through a lot of them) in The Royal Couple of Thieves. As a thief and con artist, Hercules is obliged to catch Autolycus so that he can be imprisoned, but to Xena he can be a useful (and sometimes less-than-useful) ally, with skills that Xena is willing to use rather than turn him in for.
Ares is another character inherited from Hercules. Although actor Kevin Smith goes back and forth between the two shows, Ares being Herc's brother and all, there's more potential in the God of War taking on a woman with no special powers except her own cunning, rather than a man who can hit really hard. The relationship between the two has broadened in surprising ways as the series has progressed, of which more later.
Since the beginning of her adventures with Gabrielle, Xena has come a long way, both physically and mentally. She has journeyed across Greece from one side to the other, and paid a visit to India as well, where her adventures got so sacrilegious they were banned from all right-thinking countries so as not to offend any more people.
It was towards the end of Season One that Xena's scope began to broaden. The introduction of Callisto was the first step, as a character was introduced to demonstrate just how far Xena had come and what she could have been like had she continued her warlike ways. Despite being given several chances to change her way of Life, Callisto refuses to give up on her mission to avenge her parents by making Xena and Gabrielle's lives hell. Although Callisto does stop by to make trouble for Hercules, she seems at odds with the lighter atmosphere that normally exists in his series, making Surprise close to being a Xena episode without the star. It even paves the way for Callisto's next return in the sister show as an immortal.
Season Two of Xena continued in a similar vein to the first, featuring a mix of dramas and comedies, but it could gradually be seen to be working its way towards a darker area. The last episode of Season One, Is There a Doctor in the House? showed a grim and gritty realism that Hercules was far too upbeat to be able to pull off. It was Callisto who once again spelled changes for the show, as the marriage of Gabrielle and murder of her husband shortly after by Callisto began a story and character are for both of the two leads that would play out in the following year. Part of this could also be seen in Season Two's The Price, in which Xena is forced to put all of her ruthlessness to use fighting against the Horde, a group of silent, vicious killers who she knows of old. Attempting to protect a beleaguered army from a Horde attack, the warrior princess, to Gabrielle's dismay and disgust, must become the soulless killer she once was.
Season Three, now running on Channel 5, begins a two-year storyline that takes both Xena and Gabrielle through more trials than the rest of us could manage in several lifetimes. The Furies sees the start of this, as Xena is driven increasingly insane by the Furies through not avenging the death of her father. After two seasons with little information revealed about Xena's ancestry, news of her father comes as something of a surprise, as does the revelation that Xena may be the daughter of Ares, a fact that rings true with events in Ties that Bind. If Ares could impersonate her father then, maybe he simply was the same man all along.
It's the relationship between Xena and Gabrielle that forms the basis of the series, though, and the start of the pair's problems is in Gabrielle's Hope. Themes of motherhood and loss are prevalent as the birth of daughter Hope to Gabrielle, thanks to dark god Dahak, drives a wedge between the two. Gabrielle's determination to halt the child's destiny through love is countered by Xena's knowledge that where evil has taken root it cannot be removed, and the child must die. Due to inaction on both the pair's parts, Hope and Xena's son are killed, leading to guilt, recriminations and blame in Xena and Gabrielle's relationship. Even after a trip to Illusia in Bitter Suite, there is still an underlying tension between them, to the extent that in Forget Me Not, Gabrielle visits a temple hoping to have her unpleasant memories of her time with Xena completely erased, the only way she can regain the friendship she once had. It is only in season finale Sacrifice that Gabrielle finally makes peace with her decisions and forgives Xena, sacrificing her life so that Hope cannot be reborn.
As if further proof were needed about Xena surpassing the series that spawned it, the fourth season began with Xena undertaking a quest to find Gabrielle's soul and return her to the world of the living, a quest undertaken by Hercules a year later when Iolaus is killed in tragic circumstances. In both cases, our hero's losses are so great that they act out of character. Hercules loses his desire to help others, and without Gabrielle to anchor her, Xena reverts to her more vicious warrior nature. When Xena succeeds in restoring Gabrielle, both she and her companion build a stronger relationship, while rediscovering a purpose in life. At the end of the latest season their friendship left both of them being crucified for their crimes against Caesar, but in Xena death is never the end but the start of a new phase in the characters' lives. Rest assured, they'll be back. |
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Way back before Lucy Lawless slipped into the leather garb leather garb she's made famous as Xena: Warrior Princess she was watching Whoopi Goldberg host the Academy Awards. The imposing Kiwi with the glacier-blue eyes was 22 years old and in her own words, "Lying in a malaise on a beanbag at four in the afternoon - alone."
She was pretty pissed off she wasn't cutting it as an actor herself and barely conscious to the telecast when Goldberg switched her on. "To all those kids out there dreaming about being up here with me and Oscar - you better believe it can happen."
Despite this cliche-to-end-all-cliches, Lawless snapped to the problem. "I thought: Yeah, it's your own lack of faith which stops you from having a bloody good crack at anything. It's go hard or go home!"
So she did. As a result her success as the mythical Xena: Warrior Princess, a spin-off from the now defunct Hercules series, has made her one of the world's best known pop-culture icons and put her into New Zealand's "10 Wealthiest People list". Not that it's apparent on the dank Auckland film set during FHM's visit. Above the hubbub of moviemaking one thing rings most true Lucy's mother-of-all Kiwi accent especially when you're expecting Xena's Midwestern drawl.
"Why would I lose my accent? I value it, eh," she says over (wait for it) a roast lamb lunch with the crew. "I liken it to driving a flash car. You've almost got a duty not to be a wanker if you're driving one. Enjoy it, but don't be a moron."
But while the twang stays other things are changing. The size of her belly for one. Heavily pregnant and draped by a full-length Mandarin- style outfit to disguise it in Series Five, Lucy (and her most valuable cargo) are preparing for the show's 100th episode where the make-believe father (lucky bastard!) will be revealed to Xenaphobes across the planet. Three episodes later, "Xena-Junior" will be born and only God and the scriptwriters know what sort of impact that will have.
But what's been the immediate effect? "I'm much more Zen. Focused. And everything's a whole lot sexier. There's a fear of 'the belly' for men, sure. Pregnant women are rushed off to hospital where mysterious things happen. We're all accustomed to seeing flat bellies and big breasts not that there's anything wrong with that I intend to have them myself one day! But boys, men can get real lucky when women are like this."
And with that worldwide sales of contraceptive pills hit rock bottom...
So all your husband Rob has done is impregnate you, his one great moment...
That's quite a tricky feat when it's planned!
And you're saying that because of the very obvious outcome of that moment he walks pasts and...
I jump his bones in the corner.
Excellent. Bang on, Rob! Similarly, Xena's had some big moments in history herself, hasn't she?
We like setting people straight on that - history. Xena was solely responsible for the Ides Of March and for setting Brutus on a path against Julius Caesar and for making sure a certain pregnant woman on a donkey got a lift!
You realise that if we put a video of Xena into a time capsule, whoever opens it a thousand years from now might call bullshit on accepted history books?
People are more likely to believe what they see than what they read in print and that's fair enough. Maybe there was this pre-Hellenic bitch in leather running around. Ha! Let's talk about your outfits, which are a big deal for your male audience...
Oh, are they...?
Er, yes. Is leather underwear comfortable?
Yeah, leather's good because it doesn't crumple and it breathes... ah... not at all like latex. I would choose leather over latex any day, but oh!, lycra's the best. I've come to appreciate modern fabrics. But right now? Xena would be wearing a bloody muu-muu if she could.
What about being outside in leather undies?
You're lying in a corset in the mud and it starts to rain. And you're freezing an you think it can't get any worse and that's when they release the rats! Ant the rats are so afraid they defecate everywhere. So you're freezing and you're covered in rat crap. Ha! You gotta laugh.
Legend has it you were known as "Unco" at school. I can't believe that watching your action scenes?
Very unco. I'm not now because I've been smacked around enough to get good. A kid that is habitually frightened has reflexes like a hare, it's a naturally-occurring phenomenon. They used to train spies like that, with short, sharp shocks. Really, I'd always be fifth to get picked in the netball team at school. People thing I'm being modest when I say this, but I'm not prone to false modesty!
Is Xena a good role model for women?
Yeah. She's the archetypal feminist, because she says "I can", but she'll beat up a female baddie just as soon as a male baddie. There's not sexual discrimination with Xena. If you're askin' for trouble you're goin' down!
She's not the type to suffer from penis envy?
There were a few remarks as to whether she had one herself early on! People were insinuating. Noooo.... No penises, envy or otherwise, there.
She's no man hater, though. She's a fan of men.
Some men some of the time; some men all of the time, ha! She's a hot-blooded woman, but you don't often get to see that. Although, as she says when she's diagnosed as being "up the duff" which is a decidedly un-American term, "Doctor! I've been a love-free zone for QUITE some time!" We're putting more antipodean sayings like that into the show as we go too. I love that. For instance Xena is always calling Joxer "Dumbarse!" We'll have them all saying it in LA. soon.
Why are men threatened by powerful women?
It takes a man with a great self-esteem and sense of his own personal ambition to play second fiddle to a woman in a relationship. Most men would like to be manhandled by Xena, but I don't think they want to marry her.
How do you handle being such a huge star?
New Zealanders love to sort you out and bring you back down to earth and that's what's kept me from getting too carried away with myself. "Don't be up yourself!" New Zealand doesn't let you get away with that too much. Which is kind of a flaw in our national character. It's lovely to be self-deprecating, but you've got to dare to dream big and I did. I always planned to be where I am, but you just go on quietly and work bloody hard and be professional. I think it's better to stride out with too much confidence than too little, because life will soon beat you up otherwise.
You were once a goldminer in Kalgoorlie, how was that for a girt from NZ?
Good! It was a rough tough boys town, but I never heard anything rougher than growing up with my brothers, but the work on the core saw was tough.
The what?
Think of a circular saw with a diamond blade and they're boring down into the earth and they pull out two miles of rock cylinders and you have to cut them into bits all day from seven until whenever with that saw. The rest of the time I was running around the outback, jumpin' over snakes, mapping the earth with a compass. It was bloody great.
You were at uni before that. What did you study?
French, German, Italian and some other crap. I had no intention of finishing. When you're 17 four more years in the slammer seems like too much!
Is there anything else you'd like to say?
I feel like I've answered you too responsibly: what do your readers really want to know?
What's your favourite sport?
Ice hockey. It's mesmerising. The rhythm, the shushing back and forth, that's really sexy. And of course it's totally unpredictable.
Like women. And the only thing our readers like more than one woman is two women.
I get more letters from guys who want to be beaten into submission by Xena on her own than from guys who want both Gabrielle and I to go at them. I did get one proposition in Vegas from a woman and her husband who invited me back to their room, but sadly I didn't investigate. I made myself unavailable that night. They were there selling their own videos I think. They would have had a peephole camera for sure.
Are you a flanno pyjama girl or do you sleep nude?
I'm a tight white T-shirt girl in bed.
What's your best physical attribute?
My feet. I have great feet, eh?
Struth, what size are those plates of meat?
About eight-and-a-half |
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TV Week MagazineFebruary 7 - 13, 1998
Lucy's Little Princess
Fortunately for Xena: Warrior Princess star Lucy Lawless, her husband-to-be - the show's executive producer, Rob Tapert - was not intimidated by her larger-than life image as the powerful mythic beauty who kicks butt with the best of them. But he's in a minority. "Unless they're extremely drunk, men won't approach me," Lucy tells TV WEEK in an exclusive interview at the NATPE (National Association of TV Programming Executives) convention in New Orleans, where she's pressing the flesh to help sell her action-adventure syndicated series, already screening in 82 countries. "I've only been asked out twice in 10 years - by Troy the refrigerator repair man and (New York mogul) Donald Trump, who asked me out for a drink. But I thought, 'Well, those are the only two guys in 10 years whose had the guts to come up and ask me for a date!"'
The down-to-earth New Zealander has a surprisingly thick Kiwi accent when she's not in character. She looks every inch the TV star, dressed in a shiny bonecolored skirt suit with matching high heels and full make-up. She's gracious and charming to the executives and fans who flock to meet her at the convention centre, aware that her three seasons as Xena have turned her into a bonafide celebrity. But she also seems completely unimpressed with all the fuss. "Maybe it's because it's happened later in life," the 29-year-old divorced mother of Daisy, 9, ponders humbly. "But I just don't get off on it. I'm just the public face for a lot of people's hard work, and, like everything else, the novelty has worn off."
Lucy is unfailingly polite and open during our interview, and is genuinely thrilled that her show has become successful in Australia - a place she has an odd history with. "It was a case of brilliant adolescent logic," she says sheepishly of her year in Australia almost a decade ago. "I was in Europe with my boyfriend and we ran out of money and we wanted to get to Russia, so I said, 'Hey let's go to Australia so we can get some money and go back to Russia!' So we lived in a caravan out in the sticks, 200km out of Kalgoorlie, and worked for a gold mine, digging the earth for samples, putting them in bags and running for miles. "That was the extent of my goldmining," she adds, as if anticipating the follow-up question. "I didn't go down a mine shaft with a canary in a cage or pick up nuggets. People often want to hear the romantic ideal of my life and they hate to be disappointed. I never make anything up, but I often feel like they really want you to be their fantasy."
It's hard to believe Lucy could disappoint anyone. Certainly not her growing legion of fans world-wide who have helped make the show - initially a spin-off of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys - one of the most popular in syndication, spawning "Herc and Xena" conventions, major merchandising deals and a live attraction show at the Universal Studios theme park in Florida.
She's also not disappointing her own family. It is a decision she made early on that has kept her public appearances in her hometown of Auckland to a minimum. "I find that I need to keep rooted in my home life for my own sake and for my family - Daisy and Robert," she says. "So on the weekends we go and see 101 Dalmatians and every week I have a Spice Girls convention at my house. Daisy and her friends dress up and sing and I have to videotape their awful choreography, which brings me back to reality," she says, laughing. "I have to put my child my husband-to-be and my parents top of the list and that replenishes me, because being famous is depleting."
Since Lucy claims only two men have asked her out, how did she wind up getting engaged to another one? "Rob and I were just worlds colliding," she says, with a smile about the man she fell in love with who supervises much of the behind-the-scenes work on her show. "It happened in spite of ourselves and it was a very healthy thing. I'm not going to talk about my relationship, but we couldn't be happier.
The couple are planning a wedding later this year, but face a logistical nightmare. "Rob's family are back East (the East Coast of the U.S.), and mine are in New Zealand, so we haven't even decided on what continent to have the wedding," she says. "But New Zealand will always be my home. I dread thinking about leaving, because my daughter is still in school, her dad lives in Auckland and I wouldn't want her to have to make that decision. So for a few years at least, we'll be in New Zealand."
As Xena, Lucy inhabits an often-hostile world in the time of ancient, and largely mythical, Greece. Using swords, staffs and the martial arts against villains both human and supernatural, Xena also finds time to work on friendship issues with her sidekick Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor).
As she attends a symposium at the convention to discuss the phenomenon of her show's success, Lucy is surrounded by admiring TV executives, many of whom tell her she is an idol to their children and, in many cases, themselves. "In the beginning I really feared that pressure and thought it would be horrible to be a role model," she says. "I thought, 'It's hard enough to be a role model for my own child - I don't want to be responsible for anyone else' - but it has became an easy job to carry."
"The show has turned out to be a good bonding thing for women, because it's time women stopped hassling and tearing down each other, and Xena and Gabrielle have a good place in all that." Lucy also fights hard to raise her own daughter with those and other values close to her heart. "I want her vanity to be less than her beauty," she says, softly. "I've been careful never to make a comment about somebody's physical appearance because those things are instilled early on, and I don't want her to be critical of herself. I want her to be kinder and smarter than she is beautiful. "She's a very beautiful girl. I used to get comments about my blue eyes or white teeth, and after a while I stopped hearing them. I think that's because my mum didn't overly value our appearance, or make and issue out of it, and I hope I can give that same gift to my daughter."
Listening to Lucy, it's clear she handles her celebrity with impressive dignity. "The best thing I've discovered from this journey is that being who you are is good enough," she says. "You don't have to go to parties; you don't have to be seen; and you don't have to act 'starry', to be a star. I've also learned that you should never say a negative thing about anyone or anything, because people don't really like to hear it, and they're embarrassed by whingeing.
"People are bloody good to me, I have to say. All they want is a smile, and if you don't put on airs and graces, people respond to you in kind."
WHAT'S IN MY FRIDGE?
"I always have baked beans, chilli, soy milk and eggs in there. There is always yoghurt in my fridge. I keep on saying to the person who does my grocery shopping, 'I don't eat dairy. I don't eat dairy.' But its always there anyway!" - Lucy Lawless |
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Who WeeklyApril 20, 1998
LAWFULLY WEDDED
Xena’s lovestruck Lucy Lawless makes it legal.
Had it been Xena, Warrior Prineess, who married on March 28 and not Lucy Lawless - the stunner from New Zealand who plays the butt-kicker Amazonian on TV - things would have been different. Instead of walking down the aisle, for instance, Xena would have done back flips. She might have let out a deafening war cry rather than just a discreet "I do." And surely she would have run her trusty sword through a caterer or two had they overheated the hors d’oeuvres.
One other thing: Xena wouldn’t have gone all weepy. Yet there was Lawless, 30, sniffling away as she exchanged vows in a Catholic ceremony with Rob Tapert, 43, an executive producer on her hit series. "There were moments that she had her handkerchief handy," says Renee O’Connor, who plays Xena’s gal pal Gabrielle. "Looking at her dress, I don’t know where she kept it." Having traded her leather mini for a slinky, hand-beaded, silk-satin ivory gown by Xena costume designer Ngila Dickson, Lawless lit up the Saint Monica Church in Santa Monica. "Lucy looked so radiant," says O’Connor. "She was beaming."
And why not? The 1.78m (5ft 10in) beauty from Auckland, who’s now in her third year as the gladiator-stomping goddess, surrendered her heart with abandon. "This has been the greatest year of my life," she told WHO WEEKLY after the ceremony (and before slipping away to an undisclosed honeymoon hideaway). "Rob is the finest man I’ve ever known." Divorced from first husband Garth Lawless since 1995 (they have a daughter, Daisy, 9), Lawless met the never-wed Tapert when she was hired for a spot on Hercules: The Legendary Journeys in 1995. Impressed, he and the show’s other producers spun her off into her own series; two years later she and Tapert were an item. "I’ve waited 43 years for this day," he told WHO. "And 43 years for this woman."
Their latest co-production was a formal yet funky affair for 340, including most of the Xena cast. "We see each other slogging around in the mud all the time," O’Connor says, laughing. "Nobody believed we could clean up as well as we did." The reception at the ritzy Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills had a seafaring theme (Tapert is a fishing aficionado) that included a cake topped with figurines of a mermaid and Poseidon. There was also a surprise Elvis impersonator and obligatory hoofing to a 15-piece band. Taking no chances, Lawless had brought dance instructors to the set a few weeks earlier. "We’d break for lunch," says O’Connor, "then practise our rumba and cha-cha." Even so, "being out there on the dance floor was like going on a bumpercar course."
The smoothest move took place right after the newlyweds finished their first dance, to "Beyond the Sea". As guests tapped spoons on their glasses, Tapert "reached over, dipped Lucy and gave her this big kiss", says a friend. "The entire room cheered." Xena, Warrior Princess, would have flipped the guy over her shoulder. But Lawless, brimming with joy, merely swooned. |
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NZ Woman's WeeklyJune 15, 1998
Xena's Secret Desire
Lucy Lawless may be strong and powerful on TV but at home she's soft and feminine, deeply in love with her new husband and hoping to become pregnant in the very near future.
"My fondest ambition now is to have a child with Rob, something that's part of both of us. That will make everything absolutely perfect," she's been telling Hollywood friends
Rob, of course, is Rob Tapert (43) - executive producer of Lucy's hit series Xena. Warrior Princess, seen in 50 countries and on 2000 US stations, and the handsome American she married in a fairy-tale Los Angeles ceremony in March.
Lucy (30) says achieving her parental ambition is simply a question of timing. Will she go for the baby before the year 2001 when she hints she may drop out of the phenomenally successful Xena role, or will she try and combine motherhood with being a warrior princess before the millennium?
Daughter Daisy (9), by Lucy's first marriage to Garth Lawless, is "keenly anticipating" having a brother and sister, as she's fed up with being an only child. Lucy and Rob have discussed their baby plans with Daisy "because we always make her part of our major decisions".
And because she's married to the boss of her TV show, Lucy's even asked Rob to invite their writers to come up with some sample Xena scripts covering a possible pregnancy.
They'll either write it into the show or select camera angles which will hide her fuller figure, and have stunt women do the action shots.
Another alternative would be for Lucy to shoot the acrobatic action scenes in advance against the day when she's too big to do them herself.
"I think I'd actually prefer the latter solution. Personally, I feel the idea of a plump warrior princess waddling around the place would be slightly absurd, no matter how convincingly it's written into the show," she admits to Hollywood friends.
Lucy isn't daunted by the fact that she and Rob work and live together - a situation that's destroyed numerous other highprofile marriages. They have a pact not to discuss work during precious private hours together and rarely break it.
"My agents and lawyers deal with all the financial matters. They go to Rob and negotiate with him when they think I need more money or better working conditions," she chuckles.
"I like it that way. Talking about business takes all the romance out of things when you work together. I want him to think of me primarily as a wife when he's at home, not as a troublesome actress."
Rob is senior producer for the Xena and Hercules shows and is often called upon to be in America, while Lucy usually stays behind in Auckland. She tries to keep separations from Daisy to a minimum.
While Lucy enjoys America, she wants her daughter to have her "primary education and important early life experiences in New Zealand because it's not only safer for children, but I think it's a more natural life. I don't want my child turning into one of those awful Hollywood brats!"
She and Rob are agreed they'll remain in New Zealand at least until Daisy's a teenager and, hopefully, by then they'll have become parents to their own child. Then
the family may move to the US where Lucy hopes to pursue a movie career.
"I can't go on being Xena for the rest of my life, as much as I like the part," she says.
"But while I'm doing this role, I'll give it everything I've got because I'd never want to let my loyal fans down."
She enjoys the warmth and affection Americans have shown her and considers it only fair that when she presents Rob with a baby, it should be largely raised in his native country.
In the meantime, Daisy's content in Auckland where she spends a good deal of time with her dad Garth, who's remained friends with Lucy since their divorce. She often stays with him when Lucy's working or out of the country.
And while there's a great deal of love between father and daughter, Daisy also shares a strong bond with Rob.
"I'm really so very grateful that Daisy gets on well with her stepfather. That can always be a touchy situation with children," Lucy admits to friends.
"But they've hit it off from the first moment I introduced them to each other three years ago."
When he's at home, Rob includes Daisy in many of the activities he and Lucy enjoy. She goes on fishing, hiking and saiIing trips with them and "relishes her visits to America, which she thinks is magic".
Meanwhile. Lucy says the honeymoon with handsome, high-powered Rob has never stopped. When they've needed quality time away from the crowd, there have been romantic trips to Northern California, where they've rented a Big Sur beach-front cabin with a wood stove and oil lamps.
"We love just walking down a lonely beach holding hands." she says.
When Rob's out of the country, he calls his bride every day to say "I love you".
And there's always a bunch of red roses on Valentine's Day, accompanied by diamond earrings or a gold bracelet.
"He sends me charming love poems or notes by e-mail, too. He's very romantic and I adore every moment of it." she sighs.
"I don't know or care what Xena would make of a guy like him. All I can say is I like being plain Mrs Rob Tapert when the cameras stop rolling!" |
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Sci-Fi EntertainmentJune 1998
Xena Warrior Princess - Behind the Scenes
WHETHER SHE'S swashbuckling with a sword or hurling her chakram, Xena is a warrior to be reckoned with. The phenomenal popularity of Xena: Warrior Princess continues unchecked as the third season winds down. Rarely has a spin-off series become as popular as the show that spawned it (in this case, Hercules, the Legendary Journeys), but Xena has, and the. Two shows (which will begin running on the USA Network in August) have outmuscled even Star Trek in the syndicated ratings arena. Tracking down cast and crew members for this thriving show can be as difficult as fending off an angry Dryad, but I was lucky enough recently to talk to Executive Producer R.J. Stewart and to Ted Raimi (brother of Sam), who plays Joxer, the warrior whose braggadocio exceeds his brawn. Stewart, who was recently promoted from Co-Executive Producer to Executive Producer, is quick to point out that the negotiated credit doesn't change his principal contribution to the show. "I'm the head writer," he says. "That's my main game, and to feed the script monster that eats a script every week is my main job, and to keep the quality of those scripts as high as we can. To keep the show imaginative and varying, and to run a writing staff and keep writers happy and productive - or if it's better, [then] that they're unhappy [laughs]. Different people have different management styles. I like happy writers, To work with Rob [creator/producer Rob Tapert]: he has very specific visions, for each episode and and I work very closely to see that those visions are realized. And do all that for a reasonable amount of money; to stay within budget. My part of the Executive producer credit is that I'm the head writer."
The Xena writing staff consists of Stewart, Co-Executive Producer Steve Sears and Executive Story Editor Chris Manheim and is. overseen, like most of the by creator/producer Rob Tapert. Stewart notes that episodes for the show, like most others, evolve from story meetings.
"Very much so. You know, one of us will have an idea for an episode, and it's either Rob or myself or Steve or Chris, and we will pitch it to each other. Of course, Rob is the ultimate veto power, although certainly he's anxious to make things work so he's not running around vetoing things, though he's in that position. And so we sit around and talk about how it would make a good idea. Steve and I being in the position we are, we're given a lit the more autonomy to go off to work it out, Chris will sit room and actually talk about it before we run off to do a beat sheet. Then when the beat sheet is done, we all sit around and talk, about the beat sheet and hopefully we'll go to script or another beat sheet. And that's how it goes. Rob certainly plays a very important role in all of that."
A beat sheet, according to Stewart, is "really a treatment or an outline. I've got into calling it a beat Sheet because they called it a beat sheet when I came on here - Renaissance did. It's really an outline or treatment: seven to ten pages describing what the episode is, and to give production a head start: we actually break down the sets. Just like a script it'll actually say 'Exterior; Village of Andros; Day' and then we'll have a little paragraph underneath describing what happens in that scene, which have the act breaks and all that stuff. I would say that for the staff people, the beat sheet is the most time-consuming of the processes because people wouldn't be, on staff - Chris and Steve and I wouldn't be here if we didn't hit the first draft pretty close. So once we get the story right, we hit the first draft. And then there's always some notes on the first draft.
"However, it's impossible for a freelancer to hit it just right because the don't know what we were talking about just the week before. In those cases the story sessions take just as long if not longer, but then also the script can be very long because we have to rework it, and inevitably either I or Steve will rewrite the freelancer's script. I'm sure if I thought about the three years, I could think of an example - I think there were two where we didn't have to do that: Just a little bit of polish. But in most cases there are some pretty big rewrites done on these freelancer scripts. And I'm not one who wants to do it - there are [some head writers] where everything has to run through their computer - I don't feel that way at all, I love the freelancers when they hit it - it's just real hard. Both Rob and I are really into things happening in episode one, that pay off in episode five - you know, those kind of cool things - and how could a freelancer know that? They miss things by just days, sometimes. The freelancer will be sent the script, and while he's writing the script, Rob and I are cooking up some twist that'll change the script. It's no knock on the freelancers. This is what I'd consider to be a really good experience with the freelancers: If they gave us a first draft and then a polish in which I could, or me or Steve could, turn it around in two days that'd be great: a wonderful experience with a freelancer. If it gets into four or five days that we have to spend on it, that's not such a good experience."
Sometimes scripts can be in development for quite a while. "Oh yeah, oh yeah," Stewart says emphatically. "Sometimes they're months. If we're behind, or things' go wrong. I'm sure you're familiar with the famous one Lucy falling off a horse - but there are other things that can go wrong, and suddenly you're behind on a script when you thought you were ahead. And we had this case where our plan was to have six scripts coming back from hiatus, but a series of things led to [us coming] back with two and we've been playing catch-up ever since. Other times we've been way ahead. I want to try and do that going into the fourth season, get way ahead. Boy, that sure makes the job that much more fun."
Have Stewart and his writing team dipped the mythological story well dry yet? "Not yet," he says, "Knock on wood. We haven't yet. Of course it's difficult at times. I think conceptually, this is a pretty sharp team: Rob, me, Steve, Liz Freeman - I think we can be, to be collectively modest, pretty sharp with coming up with story ideas. We usually have a lot of things bouncing around the room and I haven't really felt the strain yet. I'm sure' there'll be a day where ... it's not coming, but coming up with the idea and getting how to tell the story, that's a huge gap. Certainly that's the most difficult thing. But you know, sometimes it's a great idea but you know what, folks? It's impossible to tell the story that happens. Or we'll put it on hold, "I'll give you an example: somebody suggested: Why doesn't Xena meet Socrates? And you know what? If you do the thing that's most famous about Socrates, [then] he drinks the hemlock at the end and dies. So we spent some time on it and we realized, what is she going to do? Is she going to give him the hemlock? Is she going to help him escape and then send out word that he died? But what does that do? Socrates' whole thing was standing for the truth ... so it became an impossible story to tell. It had such an obvious flaw in it that I don't know why we spent so much time on it."
Stewart allows that it there are sometimes story ideas where the special effects would be too prohibitive. "Yeah, we see that all the time. It's not just the budget, but that - and Rob says this all the time and he's absolutely right - we can't compete with features, as far as what we do. So if you construct a really cool story around special effects it's never going to be as effective as if you construct the story around the emotions and the characters or some dramatic thing. And there's a big difference between what we do and what the same genre would be in features. There, you could make an incredible fight at the end the whole hook for the movie, but ours, although I think we do do some terrific action and some nice special effects, in the end it's never going to compete with features so we have to make, sure there's a good story to be told there, that's about the emotions, and the heart, and the evolution of these characters. That's going to be much more effective on television."
The character-driven scripts can yield real dividends, such as rich characters like the revenge-obsessed Callisto. "I came up with that idea while driving to work one day," Stewart says, "I just thought: Xena has got off easy. She had all this dark past, then decided to go good, got a 22-episode order and really didn't have to pay for the deeds she did in the past. So I thought, what if there was someone out there who's really scarred and comes back to get revenge on Xena, and what if that somebody is a woman? Now my idea for it was a two-parter and she'd die in the second part, which is what we really did: it was "Callisto" and "The Return of Callisto." And the reaction, number one, to seeing the dailies of how great Hudson was, and the reaction of the fans was such that clearly it was someone we had to bring back. So then, very soon, like even before "The Return of Callisto" had gone to script, we decided to make sure we did the one with the body switch, which opened up the door for when Lucy fell off the horse and we had Hudson play Lucy, which was very fortuitous. That was a case where we saw how good she was. I'd always planned to bring her back a second time, but if she had turned out horrible, we wouldn't have even done that. There have been other characters we've developed that we hoped would repeat, but sometimes you lose actors. They go off to do something else."
Stewart is quick to point out that his favorite aspect of working on Xena is "telling these cool stories. This is such an exciting arena. I lived in Greece when I was a kid, and I'm totally saturated with Greek myth, and now I get to bring those stories to life, And I'm also into things like Eastern philosophy, and I was able to pump all that stuff into [the showl. It's such a liberating experience: In a network television show, when you're, dealing with a contemporary show like NYPD Blue -- and I'm not knocking the show in any way, but clearly they're so limited to what goes on in New York - but we can do anything! So it's very satisfying, This next year we're going to have them on the road again and [with] all kinds of different cultures and people. It's a terrific thing."
So how does Stewart account for the enormous popularity of the show? "The totally honest answer is that I have no idea. I think you start with Lucy Lawless: She's a very charismatic, powerful presence. I think you go then to the concept of the woman warrior, which is so unique. And I'd like to think that [the fact that] we keep it interesting and tell good stories has some effect on it. And then dumb luck: filling a void that was there, the idea that there hadn't been a female action figure, before. Your guess is probably as good as mine. I talk to the fans, not just at the conventions - the fans at conventions are, obviously the most zealous of the fans - but I talk to fans I meet in restaurants or here at work when they come up and talk to me, and there's always sort of a breathless enthusiasm for how unique it is. I think a lot of that comes from the [idea of] the female warrior. I think what Rob did with Hercules, it was a unique world he created, and then this is one step more unique: now there's a female warrior.
"Trust me, the first few months we were doing it, we had no idea. We were afraid. Very, very afraid. One of the reasons I took the job was that I saw a clip of Lucy and I thought, 'that's a very impressive person - that's a star.' But I think another reason is that we had the Hercules lead-in, so we had a platform for some success right off the bat. So it wasn't as painful in the beginning as it would have been if you had a syndicated show without that lead-in. But certainly in a way that adds a certain pressure to you, because now you've got a lead-in and you'd better succeed. So certainly we didn't go into it with any cocky attitude like this was a sure thing. Early on, I don't want to tell you how scary some of the moments were when we had a couple of bad numbers come in or some things we were planning to do with the show that I think in retrospect would have been totally wrong. Fortunately we didn't. Rob held firm on everything and I think it turned out great."
Ted Raimi credits Stewart for the inspiration behind his character Joxer. "You know, that's always a tricky question to answer, but I think that it's probably 75 percent R.J. Stewart and 25 percent Ted Raimi. I think with every show they see what kind of an actor you are, and they see how creative you are, and if the producers are up for it, and if they like you and if you're up for it, they'll let you improv a lot of lines and they let you do a lot of gags and stuff. All the gags I do are all me. Every time you see me do some gag or other, that's me. But the heart and soul of the character was created by R.J. Stewart, who decided that Xena needed a character who was a great fighter in his own mind but who really couldn't fight, which is a very funny concept, and something that is able to be sustainable through many episodes. If he were just a goofball, first there'd be no reason for him to be there and then it'd be sort of one long Jim Carrey gag, which would be funny for five minutes and then I think you wouldn't really care about him anymore."
Raimi's character is one of several recurring roles in Xena. "Things actually couldn't be better at this point. I just got back from two episodes and I'm going back to do a third this calendar year, and it's the last episode of season three and I can't believe I've made it -t hat Joxer has been continued through the end of the third season."
Raimi attributes some of his character's staying power to the necessity for some comic relief in Xena. "I think that the audience probably doesn't want to see Gabrielle and Xena being too funny, which in a way is a shame, because Lucy and Renee have such good comic abilities. They do let them shine about every fourth episode, those guys - for me it's every episode. And once in a great while I do an all-serious one. But yes, I think it does - it needs something. I mean, there's so much murder in that show and pillaging and burning of villages that you need to laugh at something."
Joxer wasn't always a popular character for some fans, though. After he debuted, a controversy brewed on the Internet. "Well, I think that any amount of controversy - can controversy be good - ?" Raimi asks. Oscar Wilde seemed to think so. "Well, then any amount of good or bad controversy is a good thing. It's like, if people are talking about it then they're interested in it, you know? And that's always a good thing. There was a point when all Joxer internet commentary was negative. I think it was like 95 percent, and then there was 5 percent which was my fan club. 'No, we like him!' [laughs] Ninety-five percent were actively trying to find ways to get me off the show, either by writing the producers or posting these web sites that were you know, 'ways to kill Joxer.' They invited users to find ways to kill Joxer, and it was like fan fiction. They had the eleventh way to kill him, the twelfth way - when it got to around forty, I think I turned off the computer and never looked again."
Raimi found this a bit disheartening, as might be expected. "It was demoralizing, but you know, in a way it's a great compliment, because if they didn't care about him one way or another that would have been worse. But this way they were saying 'I hate him becauseŠ.' So it was kind of a neat thing because at least I was making an impact. Most people never really attacked my acting ability they just attacked the character, but it was understandable, because here you have this very successful show, with two female leads and these leads never had men, and when they do, it’s sort of like how guys have girls, in that they'll have an affair and then leave them, you know? A very sort of male attiitude - should say it's a classically male attitude, which I think the fans really liked. And then suddenly there was this guy on the show and they were wondering what his position with them was going to be like. I mean, was Joxer going to say to them 'Hey Xena, go make me a sandwich, with plenty of mustard like I like,' and 'Hey Gabrielle, go fetch my slippers and I mean now, and get ready for some kissin' later,' whatever. And [the fans] were terrified that that was going to happen and of course it never did, but I think {there were} a lot of fears about that. Most of the negative criticism I got was from women, surprisingly or perhaps unsurprisingly, but now the fans accept me, which is a nice thing." |
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Grace MagazineJune/July 1998
Lucy, Honestly
Lucy Lawless in the morning. Vulnerable. Open. Taken from a collection of vivid portraits in a new book by Sally Tagg.
Lucy Lawless sits bleakly at her kitchen table in the hard morning light. No make-up. Hair tousled. A cup of tea steams in her hand. Can this be the international star who plays games of verbal chess with talk-show hosts? Is this Xena, Warrior Princess? Yes and no. This is the real Lucy Lawless, raw and vulnerable, captured for a few vivid seconds by the lens of portrait photographer Sally Tagg.
The shots appear in Tagg's new book of celebrity portraits, On Top Down Under (HarperCollins, $39.95), a collection of fresh and quirky images of well-known New Zealanders, with words by Witi Ihimaera.
Tagg admits she was skeptical about the chances of Lawless agreeing to be photographed for the book. When she said yes, Tagg was surprised and delighted.
"But due to her schedule, it had to be at 7am at her house. That was the thing. It was really early and I arrived knowing that we hadn't arranged hair or make-up or anything like that. Basically she greeted me looking as if she was about to sit down for a cup of tea and toast. She told me: 'Well, I want people to see me as I really am and this is me.'"
Tagg asked: "Well, do you want to brush your hair?"
"No," she replied. "I don't."
Says Tagg: "I thought even without that, she in fact looked gorgeous. She had absolutely no make-up on and it felt totally appropriate to put her in the kitchen because it was so early and she had the little one (daughter Daisy, 10). We just started shooting. The interesting thing about that particular day was that she was due to fly out that afternoon to Las Vegas. Really, I could tell she was exhausted and I felt really kind of ..... I felt a lot of respect for her because she was giving her time to something and she was also being very vulnerable, she was making herself very vulnerable as to how she looked. She wanted the shots to be really honest."
At one stage, Lawless found a Las Vegas headline in that day's paper, folded it into a hat and plonked it on her head. The jauntiness of that silly hat contrasts sharply with her total weariness.
The thing that stuck in my mind most of all was when she said. 'You've got to be careful what you wish for.' In some of the shots you could even see the tears in her eyes.
"I said, ' Do you want me to stop?' She said, 'Nah, just shoot it.' Really, I was near tears too. What happens with shoots like that is they are precious because they are so real and because she has the courage to share them and share that part of her and it makes her real for us." |
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Just EntertainmentJune/July 1998
Xena: Web Princess
The Net loves Lucy! And Lucy Lawless, better known as the warrior princess Xena, loves the Net. David Sheff meets a heroine of classical antiquity who is both grounded in the twentieth century and wired up for the twenty-first in this Internet interview.
Even David Letterman is not as hip as the Internet. Had he been, he wouldn't have asked Lucy Lawless, "Now, tell us what Xena is." With the patience of a warrior who has thrown around - you can take that literally - tougher customers than Letterman, Lawless was succinct. "Xena is a badass, kickass, pre-Mycenaean girl who traverses the time lines," she explained.
By now Letterman knows what the world knows: that Lawless is the star of the wildly popular TV show Xena: Warrior Princess (a spin-off of the cult hit Hercules: The Legendary Journeys) and is fast emerging as one of the hottest actresses on TV and the Net, where Xenites - her numerous fans - gather en masse. A typical review of Xena appeared recently in The Washington Post. "You will notice her breasts," it began. "Really there's no way not to, what with all the swirls and twists of metal buttressing her leather bustier....And the thighs - long and muscular beneath the flaps of her leather miniskirt. And her ululating battle cry: 'Iyi-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi!' She is the sort of women who can grab an arrow in midflight, who can hurl grown men through the air."
Lawless herself has been propelled to international stardom. At last count there were at least sixty Web sites devoted to the 28-year-old New Zealand native, who is the fifth of seven children from a close-knit Catholic family. Lawless is a sensation online - the Net really does love Lucy. And is isn't just pictures of her lethal leather bustier. There are discussions about every aspect of Lawless and the show - all fast and funny - and reams of fan fiction, analyses of scripts, and inquires that seek to pin down the show's obscure setting.
Lawless, who is a single mother of an eight-year-old daughter named Daisy, works on the set of Xena for long, 12-hour days, but took a break from her shooting schedule to sit down with us in front of her computer in her Auckland, New Zealand, home.
DO YOU GO ONLINE TO TALK TO FANS?
When I do, I go through somebody at work. Besides the privacy issue, I go through the official channels so that people know it's actually me. When I've gone online on my own, the truth is I've gotten into trouble, goofing around when I was ill.
WAS THAT WHEN YOU FELL OFF YOUR HORSE ON THE XENA SET?
Yes. I broke my pelvis. I couldn't sleep and sat up in the middle of the night and went online.
TO WHERE?
I joined a conversation about Xena, which was a mistake. At first, I was encouraged to talk; they thought I was some rather shy person who was also a very slow typist. With all that encouragement, I felt the pressure to say something and I made some jokey comment about Xena not being real. The people in the room were appalled. "I can't believe what she said." It was the worst possible thing you could ever say about Xena, apparently. I got flamed and they all left me there.
SO IT WASN'T A POSITIVE EXPERIENCE?
No, though there have also been many positive ones. During that time there was an outpouring of kind wishes from fans that came in: get-well notes from around the world via the internet. I got heaps. And I have to say, they really did cheer me up in some pretty dark moments in the night. It was the first time I got a sense of the community out there. Now I carry it with me. If I go on some talk show I can breathe a bit easier; I don't have a panic attack because I have a sense of who the people are out there, that they are people I know.
HAS THE INTERNET BEEN IMPORTANT IN THE SHOW'S RISE. KEEPING THE BUZZ GOING, THE FANS INVOLVED, CREATING A PLACE FOR THE XENITES TO CONGREGATE?
I think it has been, though frankly, we're so busy trying to get our work done each day that it's hard to know how it all works. Everyone on the show, the crew and the cast, are actually amazed when we meet hard-core fans. We kind of look at them like they're specimens and ask them questions. We're just fascinated. Maybe it hasn't sunk in; we've only been making the show 18 months.
MANY YOUNG WOMEN ONLINE SEEM TO LOOK TO YOU AS A ROLE MODEL. IS THERE A RESPONSIBILITY THAT COMES WITH THAT? DO YOU TAKE IT SERIOUSLY?
I take it as seriously as I believe I should. I try not to behave in a way that could encourage someone else to do anything they shouldn't, just in case. I don't smoke; I don't want people thinking that that's OK to do. At the same time, I can't imagine why anybody would want to be like me.
WHAT DO THEY GET FROM XENA?
I think there are a lot of women out there who are very encouraged to go out and do things that they feel they should have done, they've always wanted to do and denied themselves. Now that their kids are grown, they feel inspired to do that by watching a female hero - two, actually [including Gabrielle]. They also seem inspired by the model of a great friendship between Gabrielle and me and the great self-determination of these women.
HAVE YOU SEEN ALL THE XENA SITES?
How can you possible look at them all? I have seen some and I'm really impressed by them. They all have a slightly different mood. They're just awfully crazed and funny.
DO YOU FEEL IT'S AN INVASION THAT YOUR IMAGE IS SO PREVALENT ONLINE?
Not really. There are so many things out of my control and I'm just going to let them go. It's part of my job, giving pleasure.
Lucy's Top 5 Sites:
1.. Cinemania "I look at Cinemania all the time to find out who it is who is sending me scripts."
2.. Internet Movie Database "Everything you want to know about every movie made in Hollywood..."
3.. ESPET SportZone "Detroit Red Wings scores day or night. I'm hooked on hockey."
4.. Flyfish.com: "Everything about fly-fishing. I'm hooked on this, too (ha ha)."
5.. Detroit Free Press "My guy's home town." |
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Evening PostWellington - New Zealand
July 4, 1998
Her earnings are estimated at a cool $34 million. She's an international cult figure, role model and feminist hero. But Lucy Lawless, star of the TV series Xena, Warrior Princess, rejects the labels. In her own words, she's just "a bloody girl from Mt Albert". A traditional girl, at that: she recently remarried (to her producer) in a traditional white-dress Catholic wedding. In a disarmingly frank interview with Post staffer Sarah Daniell, published today, Lawless talks about the pressures and pitfalls of fame - and of her determination to avoid them.
"When I started Xena," she reflects, "people were disappointed when they saw me driving around in an old car. They were slightly bummed that I was ordinary. And now I have all the trappings of success they like the fact that I'm ordinary. Not exactly accessible, but ordinary."
Lawless has a blunt turn of phrase to match her down-to-earth image. On gossip columnists, for example, she says: "You don't expect a weasel not to act like a weasel. And you don't expect a gossip columnist not to act like a gossip columnist."
Lucy Lawless is making a mint out of mythology. Sarah Daniell talks to the star of the hit TV series, Xena, Warrior Princess.
The name's Lawless. Lucy Lawless. Lucy Frances Lawless, actually. Lucy FLawless? A bold name but, as they say, if the cap fits.....
She needs no introduction - the startling blue eyes, the raven mane and striking physical presence are legendary qualities in themselves. But what is most startling is that when Lawless drops her warrior shield, she blows the myth of the staunch defender.
This mellow, self-effacing 30-year-old who once seemed, with her pre-Mycenaean alter ego, to give the two-finger salute to convention and patriarchy seems to be revisiting her conservative origins. Once the "recovering Catholic", Lawless was happy to walk up the aisle earlier this year as a Catholic bride, and is happy to play the role model if that is what the public want.
This might be at odds with modern mythology, but right now Lawless doesn't have to give a damn, frankly. She has gone where few NZ actors have gone before, and without the affectations of many of her Hollywood counterparts.
As she warmly chats on the phone from her Auckland home, it's hard to imagine this actor throwing a wobbly on set because she has the wrong brand of mineral water in her trailer. Lawless gets on with the job. She describes as "precious" the people who work with her 12 hours a day, six days a week, and insists she is merely one part of a dedicated team.
"If I'm a crumb-bum and make their lives miserable, for God's sake they'll leave. I know my mood affects so many people's work and that the staff set the tone on the set. They may not set the pace but they certainly set the tone."
She breaks off to tell the dog, Lucky - "a crazy mutt" - not to be sick on the carpet ("I'm not really a huge pet person") and laughs when confronted with questions of fame and icon-ism.
Two years ago, she reeled when American magazine Ms saddled her with leading a mass-culture movement. "I feel they [feminists] are objectifying me .... they think I'm a counter Barbie Barbie," she said at the time. "Well f... you. Don't set me up as television's gladiator Roseanne..." And: "I don't wanna be anyone's role model. Go away. I have enough trouble being my daughter's role model."
Now she seems to shrink from such impassioned responses. "It's just that I was terrified. I mean, you're a bloody girl from Mt Albert [in middle-class Auckland suburbia] and all of a sudden they're hailing you as an icon. And that's hard to deal with. Now I can take it all with a grain of salt. I know it's not me, it's just some media spectre they've helped conjure up. They need it. People need that sort of thing. When I started Xena," she reflects, "people were disappointed when they saw me driving around in an old car. They were slightly bummed that I was ordinary. And now I have all the trappings of success they like the fact that I'm ordinary. Not exactly accessible, but ordinary."
It's probably just as well she's more relaxed about being a role model, because her massive following would be hard to ignore. Young men and women identify with this "bloody girl from Mt Albert". She is strikingly beautiful but about as far from bimbo as it's possible to get. She's tall (1.8m) and she's not likely to blow over in a gust. And there has never been a female character like Xena on television. Wonder Woman? The Bionic Woman? They were, well, just too nice and besides, Xena's strength comes naturally - she hasn't been tampered with electronically (at least, not that we know of....). The closest Xena gets to enhancing nature is a Wonder bra. "Real women wear padding, they don't get plastic surgery," says Lawless.
While 18-year-olds get Xena, thirtysomethings TV viewers get Ally McBeal - she who teeters about in a state of perpetual uncertainty. Where McBeal teeters, Xena just saddles up and gallops into the fray.
So close is she to the character, has Lawless ever slipped into Xena mode, forgetting who she is? Perhaps letting slip a blood-curdling battle cry in a supermarket queue? American actor Kevin Sorbo, of that other legendary series, Hercules, once said Lucy *was* Xena: "Who else but a mythical warrior woman would look like that?" Does she ever forget where Xena ends and Lucy begins? "I'm always Lucy. I never feel any pressure to be anyone else. I mean, who else can you be?"
"There were times when it was difficult and then I kind of got over it. And what amazes me is that your ordinariness all of a sudden makes you unique. So it's really easy to go on being yourself and it's the happiest way to deal with life too. I don't want to be miserable. I know how short this life is, that I'll be 80 one day."
The fearless qualities that sparked such labels as "feminist icon" seem part of Lawless herself, who intermittently throws in statements like, "Feel the fear and do it anyway". It is less a conscious political statement. "It seems totally natural to me that women are equal to but different to men. I never questioned that it was any other way."
Interesting then, that she should choose a most patriarchal institution in which to bond publicly with her second husband. She walked down the aisle with Xena producer Rob Tapert in a style nothing short of fully traditional. Celebrity-ville, white dress in a Catholic church. The Works. She sounds positively dreamy when recalling the pomp and ceremony of her fairy tale day. "It was the best day of my life - the best *arranged* day of my life. I got married in a Catholic church and it was great because culturally, to me and to Rob, who grew up in the same way, it was the most significant way to declare publicly your commitment to another human being, and it was wonderful. If you want to get married in a Catholic church you have to do a six week marriage course. It's not so much religious, but about focusing on what makes marriages go right. And I thought this was such a gift."
Maybe this too was an act of defiance against what is expected of her. Or maybe it was a Mt Albert girl going full circle. Her father is Frank Ryan, former mayor of Mt Albert, and her mother, Juliet, a "tireless community worker". Lawless was the fifth of seven children and decided from an early age to perform. SHe sang at home to her treasured Grease soundtrack and had an affinity with bad girl Rizzo - unwittingly rehearsing for the role she would play 20 or so years later on Broadway. Later she appeared in TV commercials and co-hosted a travel programme. She travelled, worked in Australian gold-mines and got married to Garth Lawless, with whom she has a daughter, Daisy, now 10. The marriage ended, but she is philosophical about that chapter in her life.
"All experience in life should make you a better person..... If you don't accept 50 percent of the responsibility, not blame.... for whatever position you're in, you can't heal yourself. You can't go on and do things because you're playing the victim. It means now that now I'm a far better potential partner, yep."
And then along came Xena, a role she only got because others were sick or turned it down. Since the beginning of the Xenaverse (a frenzied Internet following, a cartoon spinoff and a massive merchandising and licensing campaign) speculation puts her earnings around $34 million. So she must be rubbing shoulders with the million dollar man, Jerry Seinfeld? "No, but it's not that I'm not worth it!"
What if it were all gone tomorrow - the stardom, the glamour, the money?
"Fame was never the end product. I'll bet your bottom dollar I'm still working when I'm 80."
It does seem a lavish life-style doesn't match the income. She is clean living, has given smoking and vegetarianism the boot ("being a vegetarian made me anaemic") and says she's in bed by eight o'clock each night. But she enjoys "killing a few brain cells about once a year".
She has property ("more than I need") including a bach near Taupo, where she goes fly fishing with Tapert, and she has reportedly bought a stately mansion in AUckland for $4.2 million. She is fiercely protective of her privacy and aware of the repercussions of fame for those close to her. And she's more than a little gun-shy after a recent column all but revealed her Auckland address.
"You don't expect a weasel not to act like a weasel. And you don't expect a gossip columnist not to act like a gossip columnist."
Women's magazines get a swipe of the warrior's sword too, and though she has graced the cover of many, she has never granted any an interview.
"It's like making a pact with the devil, you know. If you take the ups from them, you also have to take the downs with them. If they don't keep you rising and falling in popularity in their own personal poll, then they have nothing to fill their pages with."
Credibility is crucial, even when it came to turning down a $60,000 tampon commercial, pre-Xena days, as a single mother. No doubt the money would have come in handy. "Hey, but everybody has their price. For a certain price I could have swallowed my pride."
This Mt Albert girl who cite mega-clever actor Susan Sarandon as a hero, keeps her own counsel. She knows Xena has an expiry date. But right now she's having a hell of a time. "I know that when I'm 80 I'm gonna say 'Wow man, I did Broadway'. And I know that if I die young, I know that I'm sucking the life out of every day. I'm not waiting to be happy later." |
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Xena's the bravest babe on TV. Who would have ever thought she would be such a cross-over hit? Young girls love the action scenes, dream of dressing up in Xena costumes and fighting for the admiration of sexy young men. The gay community has embraced her for the same reasons. Here's some facts about Lucy Lawless that you might not know:
* She's from Mt Albert. Auckland.
* Lawless first portrayed Xena in three episodes of Hercules. She got such a strong response they decided to make a spin-off series.
* Hercules fans may also recognise Lawless from her work in the series as Lyla, the lovely and courageous young bride of Deric the Centaur.
* She's almost six feet tall, is the fifth of seven children and the oldest girl in her family.
* Her father, who became mayor of Mt Albert the year Lucy was born, is currently Chairman of Finance for Auckland City.
* Apart from a two-year public school stint, Lawless attended convent schools. Following graduation at 17, she attended Auckland University for a short time before leaving for Europe, "to go grapepicking on the Rhine."
* When she ran out of money, Lawless took off for Australia and signed on with a gold mining company operating near Kalgoorlie. One of the very few women miners, she did the same gruelling work as the men - digging, driving trucks and pushing huge core samples of earth through a diamond saw.
* Lawless landed her first real acting job at 20 with a comedy troupe on television called "Funny Business." She then moved to Vancouver for eight months to study drama at the William Davis Centre for Actors Study. Returning to NZ in early 1992, she accepted a job as the co-host for Air New Zealand Holiday, a travel magazine show broadcast in New Zealand and throughout Asia.
* Lawless has spent years doing yoga and was a good horse rider before taking on the show.
* During a brief visit to Los Angeles last summer, Lawless trained with martial arts master Douglas Wong (Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story) to learn basic kung fu moves, as well as fighting techniques with swords and staffs.
*Lawless speaks English, German, French and some Italian, and has often worked on US co-productions requiring a mid American accent. |
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NZ Woman's Day
August 10, 1998
Oh Baby! Lucy's Big Plan
Fame and fortune aren't the main things in life for the Kiwi warrior woman - she has decided it's time to deliver!
Luscious Xena: Warrior Princess star Lucy Lawless has revealed her plans to trade in fame for a family. The Kiwi actress, who has a 10-year-old daughter Daisy, says she is looking forward to motherhood second time around, following her March marriage to Xena and Hercules producer Rob Tapert, 43.
In her first exclusive interview since her fairytale Californian wedding, the statuesque beauty says she is fending off lucrative Hollywood offers as she has chosen to put her husband and family before career, and plans to become pregnant before her Xena contract expires in 2000.
"I have always wanted three children. I don't know why three, but it seems like a great number to me," says Lucy, 30, who became pregnant to her first husband, Garth Lawless, when she was 19 years old.
"I'm sure a lot of people thought my life was over at that time. Still a teenager, there I was living in a tiny flat with a baby. But I didn't care what anyone thought. I got a wonderful daughter out of it, and proved there is life after teenage motherhood," says Lucy.
"I know one day I'll look back on my life, and I know I'd kick myself for all the time I spent away from my family. So for family and health reasons, I'm simply not prepared to sacrifice everything for a job. You can't put a price on time spent with your children. That time is irreplaceable and precious."
With nappies and potty-training many years behind her, Lucy confesses she thought long and hard before committing to having another child. "Well, I've had a few squeamish moments there," she admits. "When I was first pregnant I didn't really know what I was doing! But I think the next time around I'll be a lot more relaxed."
"Daisy originally wasn't keen on the prospect of my having another child. She hated the idea for a long time, but she's decided she' fed up with being an only child."
Rapidly propelled to international fame following the incredible success of Xena - now aired in 50 countries - Lucy says it was when she was nearly crippled two years ago after a fall from a horse on Jay Leno's American TV chat show that she found time to consider what was most important to her in life.
"Although it was agonising at the time, I've always had a kind of new-age philosophy that good things come out of bad packages, a belief that everything happens for a reason. My convalescence allowed me time to put my house back in order. Suddenly I had time to think; I couldn't do anything in a hurry," says the actress, who fractured her pelvis in four places when the horse skidded on painted concrete.
"I discovered a lot about myself as I lay there in hospital, and I was able to spend time with my daughter, who was dealing with the aftermath of divorce. Mummy hadn't always been able to be there for her, and she was busy rearranging the chips of her life," says Lucy.
And Lucy has no plans to leave her base in NZ. "Absolutely not in the near future. I'd hate to do that to Daisy, so it isn't really on the cards for us. Anyway, LA's only a 12-hour flight away - it's not the end of the earth. The fact is that Daisy is a Kiwi kid and needs to remain so for another few years at least. I wouldn't contemplate leaving NZ until she is old enough for university. All her family lives here and she has a very loving father. As an actress it's always painful to turn down offers, but I couldn't accept anything that involved being parted from Daisy for any stretch of time. I've made a bundle of money, but that's not everything. Daisy comes first. I wouldn't be a happy old lady if I hadn't spent precious time whit my daughter while she was growing up."
While there is a great deal of love between father and daughter, Daisy also shares a strong bond with her new stepfather. "I'm really grateful Daisy gets on well with Rob. That can always be a touchy situation with children. But they hit it off from the moment I introduced them to each other three years ago. Rob is a wonderful stepfather."
Rob includes Daisy in many of the activities he and Lucy enjoy - fishing, hiking and sailing trips.
Lucy attends parent teacher meetings at her daughter's Auckland school and is involved in community fund-raising.
"She likes that her friends think I'm cool, although she doesn't want to share me. She gets annoyed when kids crowd around me. In fact, I've stopped signing autographs at school for her sake." |
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New Weekly (Australia)August 17, 1998
"I'll Put My Kids Before My Career"
With a new husband and plans for more children, could this be the end for the Warrior Princess?
Could it really be that Xena is read to trade in her sword for a stroller? In her first exclusive interview since her fairytale marriage early this year, Lucy Lawless, the star of the hit TV show, has revealed plans to do just that.
"I have always wanted three children," announces Lucy, 30, who wed 43-year-old Xena and Hercules producer Robert Tapert in March. "I don't know why three, but it sounds like a great number to me."
Already mother to 10-year-old Daisy from her first marriage to Garth Lawless, the Kiwi actress has always made her daughter top priority. Now, despite a flood of lucrative offers from Hollywood, Lucy plans to be pregnant again by the time her Xena contract expires in the year 2000.
"It's always painful to turn down offers," she says, "but I couldn't accept anything that involves being parted from my daughter for any stretch of time.
"When I'm on my death-bed, I'll know the best thing I ever did was raise my kids. So, for family and health reasons, I am not prepared to sacrifice everything for a job. You can't put a price on time spend with your children. It's irreplaceable."
Lucy admits that she though long and hard before deciding to have children with her new husband. "I've had a few squeamish moment - I was only 19 when I was pregnant for the first time and I didn't really know what I was doing! But I think next time round I'll be a lot more relaxed.
"Daisy originally wasn't keen on the prospect of my having another child. In fact, she hated the idea for a long time, but she's decided she's fed up with being an only child," she adds.
Having been rapidly propelled to international fame following the incredible success of Xena - currently airing in 50 countries - Lucy reveals it was only after she was nearly crippled by a fall two years ago that she found time to consider what was most important to her in life.
"I have always had a kind of New Age philosophy that good things come out of bad packages. Everything happens for a reason. In my case, suddenly I had time to think. I discovered a lot about myself as I lay in that hospital bed," says Lucy, who fractured her pelvis in four places.
"What's more, I was able to spend time with my daughter, who was dealing with the aftermath of divorce. Mummy hadn't always been able to be there for her."
It's not been easy for Lucy to find time for her child in her schedule, which often demands 15 hour days, six days a week, but she knows where her priorities lie.
"Work is the second most important thing to me and I don't want to exhaust myself. I want to be a very happy lady when I reach old age and that's not going to happen if I work myself to death now."
So will things be different with her next two children? "With Daisy, I really didn't have a clue what I was getting into. We raised her in an idealistic and naive way for the first few years.
"We wanted her to have a say in everything, which I think - in retrospect - was confusing. Children need to have boundaries and it's confusing to them when they are given too many options.
"Setting boundaries and rules frees them up to be just kids rather than being forced to make choices. Of course, they've got to know they do have a right to certain things. They have a right to the privacy of their own bodies and they have a right to make up their own minds and not have to agree with anyone else's opinion.
"What I realise today is that a child needs to be given the freedom to be a child. It's not right to force a child to take responsibility or make decisions at such young age. It weighs heavily on their shoulders."
Lucy became a single parent after her seven-year marriage ended in 1995, but while there's a great deal of love between father and daughter, Daisy has also managed to forge a strong bond with her new American stepfather.
"I'm really very grateful Daisy gets on well with Rob," Lucy reveals. "That can always be a touchy situation with children. But they hit it off from the first moment I introduced them to each other three years ago.
"Rob is a wonderful stepfather. If it's taking any toll on him it doesn't seem to show. We're all very happy."
When he's at home, Rob includes Daisy in many of the activities he and Lucy enjoy. She goes on fishing hiking and sailing trips with them and "relishes her visits to America, which she thinks are magic.
"Raising children is difficult whatever the situation. You never know that what you're doing is right," says Lucy who believes Daisy is very much like her. "We share a lot of similarities. I see myself in her a lot. She's very headstrong and independent. She's not particularly ambitious, but then I wasn't at her age, either. Right now her ambition is to become an animator and work with animals, too. She has no desire to become an actress, which I'm pleased about."
Lucy says the honeymoon with the handsome, high-powered Rob has never stopped. When they've needed quality time away from the crowd, there have been romantic trips to northern California, where they've rented a beach cabin.
"We love just walking down a lonely beach holding hands." she says. "When he does have to leave us, he sends me charming love poems or notes by e-mail. He's very romantic and I adore every moment of it.
"I don't know or care what Xena would make of a guy like him. All I can say is I like being plain Mrs Rob Tapert when the cameras stop rolling!"
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TV Highlights (Germany)August 1998
Hardly any actress has gained a bigger worldwide audience resonance in the past few years than the New Zealander Lucy Lawless. For some she is an exceptional sex-symbol, for others the woman who flies the flag of emancipation and defies those genre supermen. Just before Lucy Lawless went to the marriage-altar with XENA-Producer Robert Tapert, RTL [the German tv-station broadcasting XWP] and TV-HIGHLIGHTS had a very interesting interview with this sympathetic power woman.
TV-Highlights: How do you like the variations in Season 3?
Lucy Lawless: There are a lot of changes, a rift, a strife between the two friends and this is going to be a big challenge for our German audience, because Xena and Gabrielle are the heart of the series, in my opinion. There are going to happen some really awful things. This is rather controversial. The whole series changes to a dark tone. The friends are going through an evolution that will be very demanding for the audience. But I think that's okay. To my mind it is good when a series proves to be provoking. A lot of it is made for adults. That's the reason why I warn people, tell them it's no kid's-show. Parents should be careful at what they let their children watch.
TV: Then you like these changes for the challenge it provides for you as an actress?
LL: Absolutely. As an actress I almost live for artistic challenge. And this show supplies me with it in abundance. I'm never bored. Sometimes it is incredibly difficult and I have to get myself together for not letting my attitude and working moral suffer. But I never get bored. This is the most demanding role for a woman on television at all because it takes so much from you physically. You are very often under emotial pressure in this role, and this I love a lot. We have a lot of fun while filming, the atmosphere at the set is extraordinarily good.
TV: Coming back once more to the physical aspect: How do you manage, how do you prepare, how do you train?
LL: I had no experience whatsoever in this regard. At school I wasn't very good at sports. They called me "Unco" because I was so "uncoordinated". It was very suprising for me to get this role. But I guess, I have a certain physical capability, a corporeality, that shows in my athletic skills. My coordination has become a lot better by now. This here is the "school of heavy punches" and if you don't improve you get hit a lot and get hurt...
TV: Then it is not true you always had a favor for martial arts?
LL: No! No, I never said something like this. I never felt interested in it, but if I can do it, everybody can do it. I'm no martial artist, I never would claim this. I have a wonderful stunt-double who does all the dangerous things. For many of the things we do around here you simply don't need an expert. I'm really no martial artist, and I don't want to be one. I want to be a real good actress, and this I pursue with all my energy. I have no attitude whatsoever to become an athlete. I have to be fit for the show... but the show doesn't make me fit.
TV: What memory do you have of your stay in Germany?
LL: I ran away from home when I was 18. I have been to Europe three years before that with my mother. We did an opera-tour because I was very interested in opera and foreign languages. Those were my favourite subjects at school. And at the age of 18 I got on my way, stout-hearted and without even one penny in my pocket. First I went to Switzerland, visited friends near to Luzern, after that it took me to Munich. It was a rather difficult time because I had no money. But I only have nice memories of this time. How it began to snow and I was in the Residenzstrasse - is this right?
TV: Yes, in Munich.
LL: A real nice street. It was a real hard time because I was almost broke, but I was very much alive, the whole surrounding was so stimulating and exciting. It was splendid.
TV: Did you work as an actress while you were in Germany?
LL: No. At that time acting was a far distant dream for me. I was just a wild teenager, who hung around in Germany without any money. I didn't know what I wanted to become later. When you come from such a small country like New Zealand you simply have to travel. Everybody leaves the country between 18 and 23 to see a bit of the world. And I wanted to get to Germany, this was very dear to me. I love the food and the tradition and... I hope some day I can attend Fasching [that's a colorful feast with parades where everybody dresses up, similar to Mardi Gras or Carneval in Rio - but then again totally different, wonder who ever made her curious to watch this...], I would really like to see that.
TV: Why have you decided on learning German at school?
LL: I like the intonation. I like Iwrit, Hebrew as well that has similar sounds. I just like it, I don't know why.
TV: Did you learn something about German Poets at school?
LL: We studied Schiller and Goethe, but nobody contemporary. Of course I read Kafka and at University I took German literature as a subject, but I remember only very few, I don't remember any word.
TV: Next to a totally different subject: You did GREASE on Broadway and at XENA you did the musical episode The Bitter Suite - do you plan on doing a music-CD in the near future?
LL: I don't think so. You know, I love a certain kind of music, and I get offers too. I could do it, I guess, but I m simply to tired and my voice is far from being as good as it could be because I'm simply working too much. And as a singer you have to take care of your voice, and I spoil mine a lot. I neglect it, this word tells it the best. [I'm sure she used once again one of her wonderful elaborated and distinguished expressions, but I couldn't find any suitable one myself. Sorry.] No, I have no such plans, I'm far too busy. Acting come always first.
TV: You, Renee O'Connor, Kevin Sorbo and Michael Hurst - are you not just friends on but as well off screen?
LL: Yes, we are, though we all live totally different. I have a child and Michael has a child and Kevin and Renee are single. Um, no, Kevin has just married. At the weekends we are with our family and friends. But on the set we are very good friends. We don't see much of HERCULES, the crews are so large that we film at totally different locations throughout the town. But Renee and I are very close friends, we are very close connected. I can't imagine anybody else in her role. Gabrielle has indeed been written for Renee and I'm very glad about it... She is fabulous, she takes care I won't lose the right way and stay highly focused.
TV: What are your hobbies, what do you do in your free time, if you have any.
LL: I spend a lot of time with my daughter. She dresses up as a "Spice Girl" all the time, she's very fond of this at the moment. She is nine. At the weekends all the other "Spice Girls" come to us... I have only one real hobby apart from my career: I like working with tools. I like building shelves, I like painting and assembling things, But apart from reading books there is not much time for other activities. I had to reduce my life. I live in a microcosm due to the long days at the set. I think we are all in the same position here.
TV: Do you get fanmail from Germany too?
LL: I don't get to see a lot fanmail anymore. Yes, I know there are those from Germany as well, but I don't get to see a lot of it because the bulk of mail has simply become too big.
TV: How do you like they even started to put you in comics?
LL: I like that a lot. Even if I don't look perfect or it doesn't look like me at all, I don't mind. I think it's all totally funny. And this is, I believe, the best attitude towards it. If you are too particular about fan merchandise you become crazy. I think it's all great. Who ever thinks of becoming a cartoon character or seeing your own face on a book or a t-shirt? Meanwhile there are such crazy stuff like magnets or halloween costumes. That's grand.
TV: How do you deal with being a sex-symbol?
LL: Ah well, here I ain't a sex-symbol. Everybody will confirm it to you. I am no sex-symbol at work or at home. So I don't know what you are talking about at all. That's the way I deal with it. I simply ignore it. I don't want to deal with it.
TV: How big is your influence on your character's evolution?
LL: Well, every role has to come from inside of you. Rob Tapert created this character, the authors give it a direction. But of course the role has to be performed from the inside, and this is my task as the actress. Thus Xena is a part of me, though I - of course - am more than just Xena, you understand? Xena is just a fraction of my personality.
TV: How would you explain the role of Xena and the approval of it?
LL: I don't know. I just do it, I go to work and do my job. I no longer try to explore what people think.
TV: But how do you explain the big success?
LL: I think everybody would like to have a friend like Xena. And everybody would perhaps like to be a Gabrielle. They all are attracted by the friendship, everybody needs a partner, everybody wants to see a hero. Apart from this young women and young men as well see a woman on tv who breaks down old pattern: she needs no man to help her, she is an indipendant woman. I think this is a good message. Besides she is a flawed heroin. She doesn't always know what is right and she hasn't an answer to every question. We see an ordinary human being who has to get on well with extraordinary situations. This happens all the time in real life. But finally there is this somebody on tv, somebody we all can relate to. Another reason for the role's attraction is we finally see a woman on the screen who doesn't care about her looks. She is a woman of deeds, a woman of few words. Sometimes I think men like her because she is a woman with whom they could hang around and drink a beer.
TV: And why do you think the show is such a success? You think there's a longing for some romance in our high-tech world?
LL: Now that's an interesting theorie once! But I don't think so. I think people love stories with a heart, big emotions. The series functions on many different levels - there is action, fantasy, but what takes people to tune in again and again is the fact the stories evoke emotions. And we count exactly on this. Despite this being a rather funny, comic fantasy genre we try to provide real drama for the audience. Sometimes we just want to make them laugh. We don't call upon the people to think about something, we convey emotions.
TV: What do you prefer then? Romance or drama?
LL: I'm not so mad about romance anymore. I'm going to marry soon and I don't like kissing people. I loathe it. But basically I like it all. First interest is acting. This is going to be my number one forever, acting, drama. But my roots are in comedy. The funny episodes are a great relief for me, because they are just fun and easy. You know, if you don't analyze that much and if you are ready to look ugly you can be a great comedian. If you worry about your looks or if the people perhaps think you're an idiot, you can forget it right away. That's not funny anymore.
TV: A last word on your mother-country. How do you like the series to be filmed in New Zealand?
LL: Oh, that's phantastic! Well, I got this job here. It's not like I have been in the US and they took me here. It's not such a big coincidence. The show HERCULES has been filmed here and then this character was introduced and a lot of US-actresses refused it because they didn't know what a huge success HERCULES would become worldwide. And so I got the role as a local resident. The rest is wonderful, glorious history...
TV: Would you like to see more movies filmed in New Zealand? It happens to be the perfect landscape for this kind of show.
LL: A fascinating landscape. It is quite original. The trees here don't have the civilized flair of northern hemisphere deciduous trees. Trees of the southern hemisphere appear more spooky. The landscape really looks great, besides I'm at home here and my family is near. My daughter goes to school here. So - yes, I would like to work here on good quality movies. Let's just wait and see what future brings.
TV: Many thanks for the open words and good luck furtheron! |
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Star Week MagazineSeptember 5, 1998
Xena's Home Is Where Her Heart Is
"One of my role models, Xena, the Warrior Princess, comes from here," said U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright during an August stop-over in New Zealand.
It was big news to the 3.5 million people of New Zealand, most of whom claim never to have seen a single episode of Xena: Warrior Princess - the fantasy-adventure series shot locally and starring one of their own, Lucy Lawless. But it was no surprise to the tall, dark actress whose leather-clad and sexually ambivalent character can kick any man's butt.
"I suspect that Xena is less successful in its home country that it is that it is in any other country in the world," says Lawless, 30, a mobile phone glued to her ear while cleaning the swimming pool at her spacious new house on the outskirts of Auckland. "It's funny, because the show is really big in Australia."
Lawless doesn't take personally what may be perceived as a slight elsewhere. "I think, because I've had personal experience with it, that families in small countries have difficulty accepting that their own progeny, as it were, can produce something that is genuinely good. They have a slightly patronizing or negative reaction to their own product.
"Though they don't watch the show, I think people are proud of it and proud of me," Lawless continues while removing a leaf from the water surface. "New Zealanders are extremely warm when they meet me first-hand. At my daughter's school opening, I had a conga line of 9-year-olds strapped around my waist and their parents taking pictures. Typically, I get a huge, friendly reaction from the people around me, but they don't watch the show. That's okay - we're No. 1 in Turkey, a cool country."
Born and raised in nearby Mount Albert, Lawless has her parents, six siblings and a lot of friends from childhood to keep her head on straight. "Strangers treat me oddly for the first minutes of meeting me, but everything is the same with old friends. A couple of mates go back to kindergarten. And one of my best girlfriends is married to one of the chaps who works on the show."
Hollywood television stars are famous for throwing hissy fits if the trailer is too small or the tea is too tepid, a situation Lawless studiously avoids. "There's no time to fool around on the set as the shows and casts get larger and larger - we now have three camera units working on each show," she explains.
Extremely pleased with her film crew, Lawless tries to maintain a happy family relationship on the set "by not complaining, not being a pain and not making their lives miserable. Otherwise they could just move on, New Zealanders are not apt to put up with too much nonsense. Unlike the States where people will work 18 hours a
day, New Zealanders won't." Lawless's husband, however, is frequently back in Los Angeles taking care of business as one of Xena's executive producers. Rob Tapert, 43, also executive produces Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Young Hercules along with Sam Raimi and is probably stretched to the limit on most work days.
They were married at St. Monica's Catholic church in Santa Monica on March 28, the day before Lawless's 30th birthday. "We have a truly great relationship and a great friendship because we're both from the same Irish-Catholic culture. It shocked me to find that I went to meet his family in Michigan, his Irish-Catholic family mirrors mine. That culture is most significant in our life partnership and we're very, very happy."
On her hiatus last year, Lawless spent nine weeks singing and dancing her heart out as Rizzo in the Broadway production of Grease. Absolutely exhausted from Xena's incredibly physical demand, she has no intention of working hard - if at all - when the production breaks in September. "I'm looking at a few scripts, but I would like only to do a tiny little part in somebody's fantastic film for a top notch production company. If not, I sleep in for a couple of months."
Not that she regrets burning off energy in Grease, an obvious thrill of a lifetime. "It was a scary, wild and interesting thing to do - but who in her right mind would turn down an opportunity to go on Broadway?" says Lawless.
After tinkering for sometime with the automatic pool cleaner, Lawless managed to put it back together and launch it back in the water. A split second later she is drenched in water by 10-year-old daughter Daisy, using the garden hose she just finished bathing the dog with. "Go away, you horror!" she yells, laughing. "I see you lurking behind that skinny palm and I'm gonna..." Daisy takes off, shrieking. And then they're gone. |
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NZ Woman's WeeklySeptember 1998
Our Day With Xena
Xena fan Anthony Launer had a dream come true when he won a competition to take his family from Brisbane [Australia] to New Zealand to meet Lucy Lawless, star of Xena: Warrior Princess.
"I've always been a huge fan of Xena and Hercules and dreamed about meeting their stars, Lucy and Kevin Sorbo. My chance came through a competition by our local newspaper newspaper and a TV station that runs both shows. My wife, Aline, and !, and our daughters Alicia, 10, and Shai-ann, 5, were so keen to win we entered 830 times. When they told us we'd won, it was one of the most exciting moments of my life. We flew to Auckland, our first time in a plane, and that night, thinking about our meeting with Xena, I felt like a five-year-old on the night before Christmas.
"We were taken to the show's costume and props department at Renaissance Pictures, where we bumped into Kevin Smith, who plays Ares, the god of war, being fitted for a new costume. He was only too happy to be photographed with us and he took time out to stay and chat. Then, on the main set, we saw Lucy sitting in the distance waiting for her next scene. She looked so much more beautiful than she does on TV. She turned and said, 'You must be the lucky Launer family.'
"As we shook her soft hand, I was star-struck. We talked about Australia and how she used to live there. We kept talking with Lucy inbetween takes and then her husband, Rob Tapert, who's Xena's executive producer, showed us around the set. Rob told us how Lucy fell off her horse and injured her knee and how she had to stand waist deep in cold, swampy water. In one scene, when Lucy had a heap of live rats dropped on her while crawling through a tunnel, she got bitten and scratched and had to have a tetanus shot.
"We had lunch with Lucy and Rob and then went to Lucy's trailer where she autographed posters and photos for us. Then she pulled out a stunt sword and gave it to Alicia and Shai-ann. The girls' eyes lit up. We got a few photos with Lucy and she hugged our girls goodbye. "I went back into the studio with Lucy where she signed a few more autographs for me while her hairdresser brushed her hair. We talked about hair extensions and her marriage to Rob and I said my goodbyes with a kiss on Lucy's cheek.
"We did some sightseeing in Auckland and then, two days later, we visited Lucy again on location. Lucy walked over wearing her full Xena outfit. She greeted us again with her big, beautiful smile, looking every bit the perfect Warrior Princess.
"Lucy called her daughter, Daisy, over to have a talk with us. Alicia's first question to Daisy was, 'What's it like to have a famous mum?' Daisy said, 'It's all right.' At first Daisy found it funny seeing her mum running around with fighting blades in her leather dress. 'But now I'm used to it,' she says.
"Lucy got called for her next scene. She said goodbye with a big hug and a dimpled smile. Meeting Xena was an experience we'll never forget." |
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TV HitsSeptember 1998
Girl Power
No-one can stop the awesome Xena - except TV Hits, of course! We sat down with our fave super hero - also known as Lucy Lawless - for all the goss!
*What's the best thing about being a Warrior Princess?
LL: People won't mess with you! (laughs)
*Is it fun being a super hero with a Girl Power message?
LL: I think the show's popularity among women stems from the fact that Xena carries the message "Yes, I can" in both her actions and her demeanour, "Yes, I can" - all alone, with no male support. That's a very positive thing for women. We haven't had this kind of role model for quite some time, and not ever in episodic television.
*Has your life changed sides Xena's popularity?
LL: My life has changed in every conceivable way. The only thing I own from my pre-Xena days is a pair of socks. But I've never been happier.
* Are you getting recognised around the world a lot?
LL: Well, I've only been to America since really. But I've been to Turkey once and places where Xena was filming, but no, not really.
* How does your daughter feel about your role on Xena?
LL: I think it gives her a bit of trouble, but she is enjoying it at the moment and she is very proud of me. She's a really lovely little girl.
*Are you mostly on a film set or do you travel on location a lot around New Zealand?
LL: Well, once in a blue moon we go down-country or film in the plateau area up in the high country up where we always film in some place spectacular.
*What's the atmosphere like on set?
LL: Fantastic. It's a very loving and caring crew. We have a lot of laughs, and we always try to keep the mood light because we work such hard, long hours. Otherwise, people would want to leave!
*What's been your favourite episode?
LL: The one's where we went down-country and filmed a story where Xena was a bad girl. She did a musical, which was very exciting.
*What are your memories of your first day on set?
LL: I remember the very first day I played Xena was when she was a character in three episodes of Hercules. I had only been playing the part for 20 days before that, but I came on set, and it came to the make-up and I said, "I'm not ready for this!" and burst into tears! They said, "Oh, you are!". They pushed me up, squeezed me into a costume and pushed me out there and I was fine. But it was that heart stopping moment where it all came crashing down on me - the weight that I had on my shoulders.
*What's the hardest part of your work?
LL: The producers and writers are constantly throwing fireballs at me, and I thrive on that. I think that's the beauty of the show. You don't really know exactly what you're going to get every week - you just know you're going to get terrific stories with heart. What's great is that our writers feel comfortable sending Xena and Gabrielle to hell and back, knowing that Reneé and I as actors are always looking for the love in the scene.
*Is is difficult to film all the physical stuff, like fighting?
LL: Well, I love to go to work every day so it's not the most exhausting thing. I'm always challenged by the role - intellectually and emotionally. The physical difficulty of it just continues as ever, but I'm a little fitter and a lot more at home with the schedule, so it just seems normal to me. I continue to do all the fights - I just don't do anything that's too dangerous. The rule of thumb is that if you don't see my face it's probably not me.
*What things do you think of when you hear the word Australia?
(Laughs) I think of the outback! |
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Rolling Stone (Australia)October 1998
Dark Angel
Xena's Lucy Lawless
Meet the Real People's Princess
 Xena: Warrior Princess, Like Hercules and the upcoming Young Hercules spin-off, is filmed in and around Auckland, New Zealand. The locations are not so much a secret as low-key, and the majority of the sets are constructed in a series of anonymous industrial estates in West Auckland. Inside the temples, barns, ice caverns and labyrinths, most made of polystyrene foam and built (and torn down) at an alarming rate.
Past a panel beater’s workshop and a couple of bored looking dogs, Lawless is shooting the series four episode "Sickness and in Hell". Her hair is wild, sticking up at in all directions. Xena has a nasty itch, she’s lost her horse, Argo, and she’s momentarily distracted from the serious business of being a hero by the overpowering need scratch herself. Lawless is clearly playing the scene for laughs, ably assisted by the similarly-stricken Gabrielle (played by Texan actress Renee O’Connor) and the bumbling but lovable Joxer (the Mighty, played by Ted Raimi; They have developed, as American director Josh Becker points out, into a formidable comic trio.
When the scene is done, Lawless makes her way across the crowded set to introduce herself. She’s tall (even, Xena boots she’s just a shade under six feet) but not imposing and the vibrancy of her eyes and smile is startling. She smiles a lot, far more than grim old Xena ever does, there is more than a hint of mischief about her. Her voice is full of fun too, and she is prone to exclamations such "far out, brussel sprout!" She speaks in a clipped New Zealand accent, slightly higher pitched than the flat, mid-American voice of the Warrior Princess.
Her trailer is small and sparsely decorated. A few F dumbbells lie in one corner on the floor. A few CDs Tuck and Patti, Lenny Kravitz, are scattered on a shelf. It may not be much, but it’s enough to allow Lawless some rest between shooting. Her role is a physical one and it’s tough. "It’s not always fun anymore," she says. "I love comedies ‘cause they are fun. l’m at the stage now where I look back and the things I’m proudest of are actual comedies. I don’t know why but they really feed m way that the other ones don’t. But I still love my job never get bored, even when it’s not fun."
Lawless was born in mount Albert, Auckland, the fifth of seven children (five boys, two girls, of which Lawless is the eldest) to Frank and Julie Ryan. Growing up with a bunch of rowdy boys "and a sister who was tougher than the rest", Lawless gained some early inspiration for the role of Xena through, of all things, fear, "the fear that so-and-so was going to get you or that you had to get so-and so". Her mother tells a story about coming around a corner one day to find the young Lucy chanting "Got to be a strong girl, got to be a strong girl." Acting, from the age of eight in school plays and musicals, came naturally. It was around this time that she developed her first real crush, on "the fey one in the Bee Gees". She’s pretty sure she means Robin Gibb.
Strangely, Lawless was not exactly an athletic child. "I have no talent whatsoever for sports," she says. "I think I have always been physical, but with no . . . finesse. No aim, no balance." Her nickname at school was "Unco", for "uncoordinated". "I couldn’t hit a ball with a bat. I can now, but only because the job’s forced me to develop quick reflexes. I really, seriously am living proof that anyone can develop those skills if you’re given enough short, sharp shocks." Literally. As Xena, Lawless has taken her fair share of knocks. "You get punched a couple of times and you learn to be really quick on the uptake if a stuntman’s coming at you."
Under the tuition of martial arts master Douglas Wong, Lawless has learned basic kung fu moves and can now fight with swords and staffs. "I do a lot of the arse-kicking myself," she says, and she enjoys the adrenaline rush of swinging punches and high kicks in all directions during the show’s many fight scenes. She doesn’t do the back flips and she doesn’t do reverses (if you see the back of Xena’s head, it’s not Lawless) but the dynamo you see on screen is mostly Lawless. Still, elements of the old, "unco" girl lurk in the background. "Running on screen is my bug bear," she says. "It’s pretty amusing if you really look hard."
Because she is Xena there is a tendency to tell Lawless’s life as a series of heroic adventures: running off to Europe, picking grapes on the Rhine, swinging a pick in a gold mine. "Ah, the gold mining!" she says. "People really pick up on that. It’s a good gag, you know? ‘She went gold mining?’ And people have a romantic notion that you’re down shafts with canaries in cages digging for gold with a little conga line of dwarves behind you or something. And in fact, I wasn’t even working in mines. I was working with my then boyfriend and we were mapping the earth, working with compasses and running from point to point taking samples."
At the age of 18, after one year at Auckland University studying Italian, French and German, Lawless took off for Europe with then boyfriend, Garth Lawless. When they ran out of money, they headed for Australia and for the gold mine in Kalgoorlie, outside of Perth. "To me the world never seemed like a formidable, unconquerable place," she says. "It was really hard to die, that’s what I found. Even without money, it’s really hard to die so what are you afraid of?" Lawless fell pregnant in Australia, where she and Garth Lawless were married in 1988 (the couple have since divorced; Lawless married Rob Tapert in March of this year) before returning to New Zealand. Lawless gave birth to a daughter, Daisy, now aged 10, and began pursuing a career as an actor.
She always believed she’d succeed. "I always had this unbelievable faith in myself, to the point of arrogance," she says. At 2x1 she shuck in to "some sort of film commission awards" and accosted New Zealand pop star Dave Dobbyn. "I went up to him and said, ‘My name’s Lucy Lawless, just you remember my name!"’ she says and bursts out with laughter. "Needless to say, he doesn’t!"
Commercials and bit parts followed, as well as eight months in Vancouver, Canada, at the William Davis (The XFiles’ Cancer Man) Center for Actors Study but, says Lawless, "I could never score a regular part. I truly feel that I was too big, too in your face. I don’t think I probably ever came across as a team player that would just fit into a groove and stay there. I could not be trusted to stay three years in a soap, forget it. And I think they were probably right never to cast me in those things." She was working as the co-host of a travel show, Air New Zealand Holiday, and considering an offer for a tampon commercial (the offer was $60,000 she would have done it for $80,000) when she was cast (not as Xena) in Hercules and the Amazon Women. The role of Xena, originally as a three-part episode of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, came up a year later when American actor Vanessa Angel, originally cast in the role, fell ill. The part was offered to four other actresses, all American, who all turned it down, before it was offered to Lawless. After a quick change of hair colour (Lawless’s natural colour is an ash-blonde), Xena was born.
Xena: Warrior Princess" quickly grew a fan-base from committed Hercules watchers, but also began attracting a different crowd. "Fortunately, the lesbian community in New York first hooked on to the show and started a sort of underground buzz on it," says Lawless. "Not only lesbians, but they were the most vociferous in their support because here at last were two women travelling on their own with no signs of male support. That started a kind of culty groove about it, which pleases me."
There have been reports of special Xena nights at lesbian bars and even in women’s prisons. Then there was the troupe of marching Xenas at last year’s Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, at which Lawless was scheduled to appear. "It was very cool. That’s cool, eh?" she says. "We were so thrilled about that and we had our tickets to get on the plane and we had an accident on set. We had, like 40,000 gallons of water burst out of this tank." No one was hurt, but filming was set back.
As for the supposed lesbian subtext in the relationship between Xena and her feisty sidekick Gabrielle (O’Connor), Lawless admits that it was something she and the rest of the crew played up to. Still, she says, "We’ve kind of gone beyond that. I guess we got bored with all the chat about it. We just got over it, that’s all. And I always thought, you know, Xena is what she is and she’s not asking to be categorised or to fit in with a particular lobby group [she laughs]. And we wanted to leave it so that the audience could make whatever of it they saw fit. Sometimes we went a little overboard because it made us laugh and we thought it was a good gag. It was fun. We might have got a little carried away, but most of it was from us, on set, on the day."
Sexuality aside, it’s the relationship between Xena and Gabrielle that keeps people tuning in, as well as Xena’s ongoing quest for redemption. Good and evil is never black and white in the show, and Xena is constantly battling her own demons.
Lawless, meanwhile, is developing into a classic, old-time star, an allround physical performer who can sing and dance (see the surreal musical Xena episode "The Bitter Suite" or Lawless’s turn as Rizzo in Grease on Broadway last year) and take a pie in the face. She knows the experience is invaluable. "I am aware that in this job I’m stretched all the time," she says. "It’s a constant challenge. And the more good people I get to work with, I find that they enrich me and make me get better, Renee [O’Connor] and Ted [Raimi], Bruce Campbell [who plays the recurring character of Autolycus, King of Thieves] in particular.
"And I am sometimes struck by the irony that, for example, the wardrobe department will never win an Emmy, it will always get beaten out by The Drew Carey Show or something because we don’t have any members there to vote for us. I will probably never get an Emmy for it, it doesn’t matter how good I am. It’s not awards we’re working for. It’s for our satisfaction and to make us laugh. That’s the way the show works, is that it’s not consensus. We’re only pleasing ourselves. We’re not trying to please the fans, so you’re not getting blancmange."
It’s an approach that appears to be paying off. As the show develops, more and more Xenites are attracted to the strange and wonderful world of the Xenaverse. Whatever their reasons, Lawless knows that the recipe for Xena: Warrior Princess’s success is a simple one. "At the heart of the matter is, people like seeing chicks kicking butt. Sure people like the heart of the show and the relationships, but it’s certainly true that chicks kicking butt rocks." |
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ETC MagazineOctober 1998
X-RATED! Lucy Lawless aka Xena on sex, love & leather
I love Lucy!
She's baaaack! Xena's kicking butt again. Meet Lucy Lawless - mother, newly-wed and, now, a Broadway star.
Robert Tapert loves Lucy. Not only has she made him rich as the star of Xena: Warrior Princess, the show he produces, he also married her in a lavish ceremony a few months ago.
But Robert isn't the only one to succumb to Lucy's charms. It seems like the rest of the world has followed suit - men, women and kids have fallen in love with this brunette Amazon who kicks ass for a living.
You see, Lucy Lawless is BIG. Not just mortally big, though the New Zealand actress does tower at a stunning 5'11". But she's the biggest TV star on the Internet right now with more than 200 websites devoted to her and the alter-ego she portrays every week on the syndicated series Xena: Warrior Princess.
"And we're number one in Turkey." says Lawless, "a cool country." You can add Australia, England, Singapore, Malaysia and Iran to that list, too. "They blow up every image," she says of her Iranian broadcast. "So you only get close ups of the faces and you don't get any cleavage. It's very bizarre." What's not strange, really, is how fast the Xena phenomenon has overtaken the planet. The character started out as the enemy in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, starring the hirsute Kevin Sorbo.
But the character has become so popular with a whole range of audiences: women and girls who admire her strength, men who admire her other things, boys who love the action and, er, ladies on the other side of the fence who enjoy the ambiguous relationship between Xena and her sidekick, Gabrielle.
Lawless, 30 this year, has gone from mining gold in outback Australia (yes, you read that right) to being an international icon. Originally from New Zealand, Lawless married in Australia before returning to her home town of Auckland where she scored minor acting parts on TV and the stage.
A stint studying drama in Canada followed before she found herself home again, landing a hosting job on a travel show called Air New Zealand Holiday.
After the second season of the show, in 1994, Lawless was cast in Hercules & The Amazon Women. Guest roles followed in various Hercules eps before producers developed Xena: Warrior Princess.
The birth of Xena
In her simplest history, Xena was a peasant girl who saw her family butchered by marauders. So she studied the art of war and turned herself into a warrior.
The way executive producers Sam Raimi and Robert Tapert (the Evil Dead trilogy and TV's American Gothic), saw it, her acrobatic jumps would spin her off to her own show. In 1995, Xena: Warrior Princess burst into living rooms across syndicated America. Ironically, Lawless didn't even know about Xena before she was cast, the original actress fell sick and Lawless stepped in.
The show clearly provokes audiences. Little girls are ripping Barbie out of her Malibu dream house and sending her off to do battle. Teenage boys are peeling posters of buxom blonde beauties off their bedroom walls and replacing them with pinups of the statuesque brunette, who was one of People magazine's 50 Most Beautiful stars last year.
Lucy in Leather
How does she deal with being a sex symbol? "Here in Auckland, I'm not a sex symbol. Everybody will confirm it for you," she says. "I'm no sex symbol at work either. That's the way I deal with it. I simply ignore it."
And that's probably why she's shocked when told that some women's prisons are reportedly having Xena nights. Even though Xena and Gabrielle have male lovers, their post-modern relationship is ambiguous and certainly, fantasies have been aroused. "Good lord!" Lawless exclaims. "We're happy to have every constituency under the sun but we never pander to any particular section of our audience." But for the record, "Gabrielle is allowed to rub my shoulders but she's not allowed to play with my hair. And she can't use my toothbrush. That's reserved for the fourth season,: she adds wryly.
The audience Lawless is most pleased and thrilled about is young boys and young men. "Because whether they know it or not, they're getting to see women in a different role to what they've seen before."
Well, Ms magazine did name Xena a role model for all women. And she did come in third in a poll conducted by The San Francisco Chronicle, who asked a bunch of kids what they most wished they could be. (First Kid Chelsea Clinton came out tops, followed by golfer Tiger Woods, while Michael Jordan came in fifth.)
However, Lawless admits she's received a lot of unusual fan letters. "Probably the weirdest one was a poster from some girl's porn video. She had written on it, 'Dear Lucy, I love you. Call me. I only do girls and my husband.' I thought, 'Wow, there's an offer I can't refuse.' "
In her own life, the only girl Lawless wants is her 10-year-old daughter Daisy. A precocious child, Daisy is very pragmatic about her mother's success. Lawless remembers Daisy playing with her Xena action figure dolls - impossible to find in a regular toy store and heavily marked up at specialty stores - and remarking, "She needs to be browner and the chakram needs to be smaller."
Xena in love
By her own confession, the toughest foe Lawless had to vanquish was getting a divorce from Daisy's father in 1995, her high school sweetheart. The success of the show had nothing to do with it, she says, "It was just contemporaneous. The show helped because I didn't have time to wallow in it. I did think, 'How can such a great idea feel so rotten?' I never realised divorce was an option."
She did, however, decide to keep his name rather than go back to being Lucy Frances Ryan. "I recall sobbing (at the time of the wedding), 'Oh no, people will never take me seriously with a name like this!' (But now) it's actually a good name for somebody who plays a warrior princess." The good news, of course, is that Lawless has found love again, with Xena producer Robert Tapert. They married a few months ago with Daisy standing by her side, with Lawless in a traditional long, white gown - a far cry form her usual leather garb.
"Xena has only one costume," Lawless reveals. "She's a minimalist. Besides, you can't just buy these things off the rack."
No kidding. The Herculean prototype of her 'armour' was originally black and malevolent, with claw-like shoulder pads and a cape. "The producers thought it was too evil for a hero, so we changed it to brown and made it a little more audience-friendly. But I miss the original outfit because it was sexy!"
Lawless, who is fair-skinned in real life, admits that it is her fault Xena is so dark, thanks to the makeup artists who take all of five minutes to sponge on the tan. "I pushed for her to look like those statues in Madrid - big and curvaceous and bronzed, with a mane of hair. I imagined something Gabriela Sabatini-esque, but with brains."
Kicking butt
That aside, Xena fights with the strength and skill of a hundred men. She'll whack you with a fish, blow fire into your face with mead and a torch, swing around sideways on her battle staff while kicking. That chakram can loop your head off like a double-edged boomerang. And she can slay you with a cutting remark.
Lawless does many of her own stunts, although she had no special training in swordplay or martial arts before Xena. Since she fractured her pelvis while shooting a skit for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, however, she has had to rely more on her stunt double for the strenuous tasks. Xena's trademark battle cry, however, that ear-piercing banshee shriek, was something Lawless came up with and will continue to do on her own.
"Our executive producers wanted the Arabic warble - the tongue goes from side to side and then up, " she says. "But this one came easily and I can do it loud and prolonged without ruining my throat. It's like Tarzan: you need a gimmick. It's the same reason Xena does acrobatic flips when she could walk."
Lawless is taking full advantage of her new career opportunities. On hiatus from TV last year, she spent nine weeks singing and dancing on Broadway as Rizzo in Grease!
"Who in her right mind would turn down a chance to go on Broadway?" she asks. "You know how they wheel in the latest celebrity? And I thought, why the heck not?" Unlike other TV stars who have tried to make the jump into the big screen and fallen, Lawless has no intention of leaping into anything she can't handle. "The smartest thing for me to do would be to have a small, but pivotal, juicy part in someone's blockbuster." |
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"I FEEL READY FOR A LONG AND PASSIONATE MARRIAGE"
Lucy divorced Garth Lawless, the father of her daughther Daisy, in 1995.She remarried with Robert Tapert, 43 years old, who is the delegated producer of Hercules and of Xena. The 30 year old actress admits that her love for her new husband sometimes complicates her work experiences with him.
Lucy explains how she has overcome the difficulties imposed on her by the Xena episodes that were made last winter. This actress for whom spirituality is important shares with us her experiences and her hopes.
LUCY, YOU MARRIED ROBERT TAPERT THE PRODUCER OF THE XENA SERIES. CAN YOU SPEAK TO US ABOUT WHAT YOU FELT THAT DAY ?
The day of my wedding was the most beautiful day of my life. It was magnificient. Rob and I have been raised in the irish catholic religion and we have chosen the the way of traditionnal marriage. For us it was the most significant way to emphasize our commitement towards each other.I feel ready to live a long and passionate marriage. It is our intention to be together for the rest of our lives.
HAS IT BEEN HARD TO WORK WITH YOUR SPOUSE SINCE YOU GOT MARRIED?
I found it a lot easier to work with him when I first fell in love with him. Now that I am even more in love with him , it has become more difficult. Last winter, the filming was physically trying. It was cold and humid and, because of that I started to be down in the dumps: I had this feeling of disgust, anxiety, even horror, and that started to invade all aspects of my life. I could not bring myself to talk obout this problem on the site, and the fact that the deligated producer of the show is my husband made the situation worse. But after having sensed that it was the cold that I found unbearable, and not my work, I managed to sort everything out and look for solutions. I changed my attitude and now I am a lot happier.
HAS YOUR MARRIAGE CHANGED THE WAY YOU HAVE IMAGINED YOUR CAREER ?
Yes. I turned 30 years old the day that I married Rob. Presently I am at a crossroad. You know, I have all that a woman can desire: I have found the man of my dreams, I have a daughter in good health and happy, I have the role that I desired, I know glory, I earn a good living, I have nice clothes; however all of that does not fulfill me. I am I not infinitly happy? I imagine that is my destiny.Since my wedding, I am on a spiritual quest. During one of the more sombre moments of my existence,I bought cassettes of a known guru, and I can assure you that he has changed my life.
WHAT RESULTS HAVE YOU NOTICED AFTER HAVING TAKEN THAT STEP?
I feel a lot less stress than before when I have to fulfill my professional obligations. I put things in perspective. For example, if I do not have the shoes that it takes to participate on the Jay Leno show, I do not worry about it anymore. What is essential is that I be with people that I love. I am waiting for a sign that will indicate to me what meaning I must give to my life, but right now my existance is satisfactory.
HAVE YOU TAKEN YOUR NEW HUSBAND'S NAME?
No. I continue using the family name of my daughter Daisy's father, because I do not want her to feel abandonned .
WILL YOU LEAVE AUCKLAND (NEW ZEALAND) AND GO LIVE IN THE UNITED STATES?
I can not answer that question at this moment. In fact I am very happy that I do not have to decide that yet.I can neither leave Daisy nor distance her from her father, who is a wonderfull man.That will be, without doubt,the great lesson that I must understand of my existence: chose between glory and a family life. When I am old, I would never forgive myself for not having taken that last choice, because I would find myself alone, and nobody can suffer that.
NOW THAT YOU ARE MARRIED TO AN AMERICAN,IS THAT CHOICE MORE DIFFICULT?
Yes, I am torn. I had to leave New Zealand for this interview(which was done in Los Angeles) but I returned a day earlier than planned because I could not stand being separated from my husband any longer. Useless to say that he was suprised and happy to see me. Since my daughter needs me Rob comes to join me more and more in New Zealand. Him and I are together 9 months a year. Besides that, we speak to each other two or three times each day.For the moment it works well, but we know that we will have to find another way to do that.
WHAT ATTITUDE HAD YOU ADOPTED TOWARDS YOUR DAUGHTER DAISY, DURING THE TUMULTUOUS PERIOD WHERE SHE GOT TO KNOW HER STEPFATHER?
But that period was not tumultuous at all! On the contrairy it did her a lot of good. Besides, I do not impose on her my beliefs or my theories. It is discouraging to have a mother that always gives lessons in morality. I prefee preaching by example, very simply. The best gift that I can give her, is to show her that I am a happy mother. I want daisy to understand that life is good and generous and that most people are kind.
A FEW YEARS AGO, WHEN YOU WERE VISITING LOS ANGELES, YOU FRACTURED YOU PELVIS. ARE YOU COMPLETLY RECOVERED?
Yes, and it did not take me a lot of time to recover, because I was determined to heal quickly. 8 days after the accident, I could get up. But I had to use a wheelchair for a certain period, which was very disagreable. It is not a very fashionable accesssory.
YOUR SHOW IS VERY DEMANDING PHYSICALLY. DO YOU HAVE TO BE CAREFULL SO AS TO NOT GET INJURED?
Yes, because I am a very intense worker. The filming crew has to assure itself that I do not risk breaking my neck,specialy when I get on a horse when the ground is wet. I try to be prudent, because a lot of people count on my presence to pay their mortgage. I feel responsible because I too have a mortgage to pay. (laughter)
WERE YOU TALL WHEN YOU WERE A CHILD?
Yes, I was already tall at school, but that never represented a problem for me. I sometimes admired the beautifull small children, charming and delicate,but I did not want to look like them. Today I am 5 feet 10 inches.
DO YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF TO BE AN ATHLETE? AND DO YOU FOLLOW A STRICT DIET?
Yes , I once thought that I was an athlete, but I unfortunately was the only one to think that! (laughter) Since my work is not enough to keep me in form, I follow a diet and I run every morning at 5 am; like that I keep warm during the filming, which is sometimes difficult to endure because of the cold and the humidity.
HAVE YOU TAKEN ANY COURSES IN MARTIAL ARTS ?
You know, the stunts that I do in the battle scenes that we see in Xena resemble more a dance than a fight. But I followed, during a few weeks, the teachings of a martial arts trainer in Los Angeles. I learnt from my mistakes: after having received short and precise blows- I once had a black eye, a tooth scraped and many ligaments stretched- I refined my attention and developped my reflexes. Now, they are faster.
WHAT ADVICE DO YOU GIVE TO YOUR DAUGHTER?
I tell her how magnificient it is to be tall. I encourage her to always accept her physique. I try also to never give a negative image of myself, no matter what my feelings are. I also avoid disparaging others. It would not be a good example for her.
HAS THE SHOW XENA HELPED YOU TO VANQUISH YOUR PERSONNAL DEMONS?
The discipline that it imposed on me has helped me a lot. Xena is very evolved, she is authentic; today she is a part of me. I hope evidently to play a lot of other roles. I also would like to be producing when I get to 40 - 50 years old. |
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Psychology TodayNovember 1998
Why are TV shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, La Femme Nikita and Xena: Warrior Princess so popular, especially among teens?
You can gauge the public's true feeling by what its entertainment is trying to salve.
Television's weekly one-hour shows, known in the trade as "episodics," constitute the bulk of America's exposure to serious drama. These series of mostly depict cops, doctors and lawyers-professions on the gritty interface between working citizens and the ruling powers, professions that all Americans are leery of in real life.
We watch to reassure ourselves that the representatives of Officialdom can be depended upon in a pinch. We need to be reassured; deep at down, we harbor the nasty notion that nobody's really looking out for us. These shows soothe our fears. Somebody cares. The heart of society is good, after all.
I've dubbed these dramas the Priest-and-Nun Shows: characters agonize earnestly and endlessly over moral choices and their own worthiness. ER, Chicago Hope: priests and nuns with stethoscopes. NYPD Blue, Homicide: Life on the Streets: priests and nuns with guns. Law and Order, The Practice: priests and nuns with briefcases. The X-Files: a priest and nun (who, unlike most of the other "clerics," seem to be celibate) fight the Dark Powers, for the truth must be out there somewhere, a moral conviction if ever there was one. Throw in Baywatch: naked priests and nuns. And Dawson's Creek: the teen novitiate hour.
Such fare speaks of a people unsure of what it means to be good or bad. In classic Hollywood films, moral choice wasn't an issue, wasn't the meat of the drama. The major characters had already drawn a hard line between right and wrong; the drama was in getting the job done against enormous odds. Now characters anguish over where the line is, or whether it even exists. They always come out on the side of traditional morality, of course. That's the point of the exercise, though it can take a while to get there, to reaffirm that the heart of society is, after all, good.
But there is another breed of show on TV, with a very large and mostly young following, that takes the opposite stance: the heart of society is demonic. Society is Hell. The vision is fatalistic, the moral choice made for us before we were born. There may or may not be a God, but the Devil is the bully in your neighborhood. And to be human is to constantly fight demons.
The X-Fi!es, at first glance, seems to fall in this category But Fox Mulder and Dana Scully continue, despite all evidence to the contrary, to believe that there's a moral solution to their dilemma. If only the truth "out there" were known, they'd be victorious.
The real society-is-hell shows aren't so optimistic. For one thing, they don't believe there's an end to the struggle. For another, in these shows men aren't much good at demon-fighting. It's up to the women.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer follows a perky high-school girl (Sarah Michelle Gellar) whom fate has designated the Slayer. Every generation has one, and if you're it, you have no choice. Two students, a boy and a girl, are Buffy's allies, but she's the Slayer. She does all the fighting, mostly kickboxing. Convinced that she'll die young--you can only kickbox for so long, Buffy lives for the moment, though she's kept so busy with her duties, she doesn't get to date much.
According to Buffy; the American high school lies right around the corner from the Mouth of Hell, which constantly spews forth demons (mostly teens) intent on disrupting the course of education. With the exception of the school librarian, adults are oblivious to the evil reality. Bizarre events occur with unnerving regularity and Buffy is rarely home nights, but her single Mom remains certain that things will be normal in the morning and that fluffy could finish her homework if only she had the right counseling.
The symbolism is dizzying. Drugs, alcohol and gangs are conspicuously absent from Buffy's high school, but its clear that these are Hell Mouth's vomitus. Demons are the gangs. The surreal transformations in gullible kids victimized by demons-that's your brain on drugs. And the helplessness of grown-ups in the face of this Hell-that's life. Even Buffy's love, Angel, is in the end just another vampire.
Done with sly yet generous humor, Buffy lets us forget the pain of its premise-which is precisely its appeal. Buffy, the pagan priestess, struggles to turn darkness into light, but the battle is unending. There's always another vampire to fight, every night, every generation. Humor makes it bearable but doesn't change it.
Only one show has a bleaker premise: La Femme Nikita. With fluffy', Hell's around the corner. But Nikita lives in Hell. It's called Section One, and its even located underground. "l was falsely accused of a hideous crime," intones Nikita in the opening narration of each episode, "and condemned to death." Section One staged her funeral, recruited her, trained her, "and if I don't play by their rules, I die."
If Buffy is uncorrupted by her struggle, Nikita has fallen victim to it, accepting corruption and far worse. Nikita herself is a demon, one of the living dead, but darkly on the side of light. Section One fights terrorists. And in fighting terrorists, the ends justify the means. Nikita kills and tortures on order. She resisted the practice at first, but now she breaks fingers with the best of them. The show's horrors are something Buffy would not dare contemplate.
But make no mistake: La Femme Nihita's weekly torture session, indulged in by characters with whom viewers are encouraged to identify and empathize, is unconscionable. Torture is disturbing, but the real ugliness here is the sty'lisric flourish with which it is presented. tri Nikita, torture is not a horror but a titillation.
Nikita pushes our preconceptions in other ways as well. While Bully is a squeaky-clean hetero teen, Nikita (Peta Wilson) is a seductive 20-ish blonde, a fashion plate with a runway walk who sexually swings both ways. In one episode Nikita falls in love with a stunning African-American woman, and their close-up tongue-twirling kiss makes the cancelled Ellen's lesbian lip-locks look as tame as a Brady Bunch buss. In most episodes, though, 'Nikita's love is a cold control-freak named Michael. A Section One comrade, he's passive-aggressive, effeminate and masculine
Hell, in other words, knows no boundaries. Butch/femme, straight/gay good/evil, sweet/bitter, control/chaos--everything's blurred. Hell is just like the Nineties. The ambivalences that frighten Americans so much are taken for granted on La Femme Nikita.
You want Officialdom to be on your side? OK, it's on your side, sort of. But it's evil. If it has to threaten you and your children to stop a terrorist, it will. Being on society's side doesn't necessarily mean being on your side. La Fenme Nikita provides no comfort. It assumes we're living in the worst of worlds. As with Buffy there is no future. For every terrorist you kill, you'll have to lace another.
What fluffy and Nikita have most in common is that they are warriors, Western storytelling hasn't seen their ilk since the legendary female fighters of the Celts. So it's fitting that the most brazen of TV's new warrior women is the Celtic battler Xena (played by the grand Lucy Lawless).
Buffy and Nikita inhabit the Devil's kingdom, but Xena frolics in a sorcerer's realm where Playboy-foldout witches come and go in puffs of smoke. Xena is never threatening like Nikita or focused like Buffy. She cavorts safely in the legendary past. It's all comic book-except for the look in Xena's eyes.
A scantily-clad butch who's still femme enough to please the boys, Xena has a sentimental streak and a fundamental sweetness. But her eyes blaze with rages and fears, bright with paradoxes that belie the silly scripts. The strain of her fierceness wears on her. Where we see a fairy realm, she seems to see a bad dream. A very human face stares from that comic hook, and you can't get more Nineties than that surreal mix.
Not so long ago, viewers wouldn't follow a woman into such hellish worlds. Now they wouldn't follow a man. (Hercules, for all its popularity is basically a cartoon for little kids- ifs Xena; Warrior Princess that grabs both teens and adults.) Far from softening the shows, these warrior women make the nightmarish visions all the more stark. Male heroes just aren't flexible enough to handle the conditions that Buffy, Nikita and Xena deal with. To handle, that is, the Nineties.
John Wayne would sooner nuke Nikita's world than tolerate it, even if it means blowing up the planet; Humphrey Bogart, trapped in Buffy's high school, would get drunk and stay drunk; Errol Flynn, faced with Xena, would drop his sword and abandon the field. The old dramatic conception of the male hero depends upon strong boundaries and clear choices. In a world increasingly without boundaries, those guys would just look lost-as their descendants usually do on the male-dominated Priest-and-Nun shows.
America isn't ready to accept sexual ambivalence in its male action heroes. America still wants them to make clear moral choices, even if they have to struggle to get there. None of this half-angel, half-devil stuff. In a man, that's still seen as somewhat sinister; in a woman, ifs seductive.
Young America, the big audience for these shows, seems willing to let warrior women lead in the realm of the betwixt-and-between, morally sexually every which way If the women prove survival is possible in such a world, the men may eventually tag along. But they won't be ready until they like Buffy and Xena, can not only tolerate but learn to relish ambivalence, and, unlike poor fallen Nikita, refuse to let a lack of boundaries demolish their morality. |
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SFX Magazine
November 1998
The Kick Inside - Xena Pregnant Princess?
"I rather fancy Xena wheeling a little baby carriage across the savanna. I think it would give people something to talk about."
It's a case of from here to maternity, according to the recently married Warrior Princess, ALIAS ACTRESS LUCY LAWLESS. "I'LL PLAY XENA PREGNANT!" SHE TELLS ERIC BlACKMOOR...
The past year has been a wild ride for Lucy Lawless, | the five-foot, ten-inch dark beauty who stars as the impossibly athletic Xena: Warrior Princess. Last Autumn, she starred as Rizzo in the musical "Grease" on Broadway - a particularly impressive feat considering she was still recovering from shattering her pelvis in a dozen places during a horse-riding accident only a few months before, while shooting a sketch for The Tonight Show With Jay Leno.
Earlier this year, on Saturday 28 March - the day before her 30th birthday - she married Rob Tapert, 43, one of Xena's executive producers. The ceremony was held at St. Monica's Catholic church in Santa Monica in front of 300 guests flown in from such diverse places as Detroit, Michigan and Auckland, New Zealand.
Daisy, her ten year old daughter by her first marriage, was in attendance and accompanied the newlyweds on their honeymoon at a lush resort in Mexico and a brief visit to Northern California's tranquil wine country in Napa Valley.
After knocking off 22 episodes of America's favourite one-hour syndicated show, Lawless is currently taking a few months off, pottering around in her new home on the outskirts of Auckland and enjoying the fruits of her hard physical labour. But new hubby Tappert is still out and about. "He's in the US now," explains Lawless. "Rob's here [in New Zealand] at least nine months of the year. He'll go away for two weeks, then stay at home for five or six weeks. We talk at least once a day, so our monthly telephone bill is probably the size of the national budget of an emerging country, but it's worth it."
And there are no plans for a change of lifestyle to fit in with their marital status?
"No, Rob's life is full beyond his imagination, writing and strategizing on how to best handle the production company," admits Lawless. "I don't plan on taking him away from that. I want him to be happy and fulfilled and do as much or as little as he wants. My aim is to always be there for him, as he is for me. We're totally supportive of each other's mental and physical health and whatever other stresses come with our jobs. We get peace of mind as partners."
But now she's a married woman, Lawless is seriously considering about hanging up Xena's trademark leather basque, admitting she'll only continue for, "a couple more years. But I do want to work, doing two movies a year and spend the other six months with my kids. I want to have more kids. Three sounds like a really good number to me, but I don't know if that's three more or two more. Let's see what life allows. I want everything - a loving family and a successful, long-lasting career. Now that I've reached this stage in my life, I have to develop a new attitude towards it all and start making things happen. Time is whizzing by."
But wouldn't getting pregnant mean quitting the very physical demands of a show like Xena?
"I don't know... We'll roll with the punches," she laughs. "In perfect health, it's conceivable that we'd hide the pregnancy by filming Xena standing behind a bush, peeking around the trunk of a tree or standing in water up to her neck. It has been done before with actresses hiding behind refrigerator doors and big planters."
Why not make things easier and actually incorporate the pregnancy into the plot - make Xena herself pregnant, for instance?
"It's never been discussed. But just because it hasn't happened doesn't mean it's impossible. I rather fancy Xena wheeling a little baby carriage across the savanna. I think it would give people something to talk about."
Much has been made in the US of the lesbian overtones in the relationship between Xena and her sidekick Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor), and it's a game Lawless is happy to play along with.
"I'm not tired of it; I just don't think about it any more. I'm very thankful to the New York lesbian community because they were the first ones to latch on to the show in a cultish way and make it hip. I'm totally comfortable with that. To me, it's like saying Xena has grey eyes instead of blue. Big deal! I'm sure most gay people don't think about being gay all day long. We could make a big deal about it and say, 'Oh, gosh, she's not [a lesbian]' or 'Yes, she is' and then alienate a part of our audience. Why on Earth would any show want to do that? We don't have a mind to and it isn't an insult to us. That's a very '90s way of looking at the world, isn't it? It just doesn't hurt us or make a difference one way or another."
Despite her wish to break into the movies, Lawless isn't making ridiculous sacrifices for the sake of her career. "I don't go back and forth to LA much - especially while filming Xena, which is all done in New Zealand - because I tend to get tired in the middle of the season. I recently cancelled a week-long trip to the States to discuss some film projects and do a couple of chat shows because I knew I'd come back home in a worse physical condition. To avoid a complete physical collapse, I stayed home."
But she has a warning for any Xena fans who have been drooling over apparently "naked" photos of her on the Net. "They're not real, unless somebody's looked into my bedroom. I wouldn't even bother logging on to find out that sort of thing. It's garbage. They just doctored them. There are no nude photos of Lucy Lawless." |
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Impact Magazine
December 1998
Hit & Myth
Xena: Warrior Princess has been setting young men's hearts aflame for several years now. After a successful spin-off series from the equally enjoyable Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, it was only a matter of time before the lady made her way to British screens. Now she can be frequently found on both Channel 5 and SKY battling legendary monsters and sword-wielding maniacs. Nice work if you can get it...
It's not hard to see why the show is so popular, after all it combines classic sword-fights, attractive characters and a quiver-load of one liners shot into both comedic and dramatic situations. Here is a show that doesn't take itself too seriously. Swash, buckle and let the subtext take care of itself. If Highlander and The Raven are satisfying meals, then Xena (and Hercules) are equally attractive desserts. One look at some of the episode titles gives an idea of the way the show is pitched to audiences: A Comedy of Eros, Athens City Academy Of The Performing Bards, Hooves And Harlots. But these lighter episodes are balanced with darker more serious observations about friendship and love.
A lot of the show's success can also be attributed to Lucy Lawless, an actress who quickly got the balance of the character right. On a physical level we weren't expected to believe that a slight, willowy woman could beat whole armies. Lawless was muscly without been unfeminine and physically fit enough to carry the demands of a role which required her to be physically exerting herself for a majority of the action hour. At the same time she had to act and make the character as interesting as the action taking place.
Renee O'Connor plays Gabrielle, her friend, companion and something of a conscience - reminding the Warrior Princess not to venture down the dark roads which Xena originally travelled. Xena, if you want to look deeper into the show, is all about a character trying to redeem herself.... but who says a girl can't have fun at the same time! Some media attention has pointed out that the characters' relationship may be more than platonic. In many other shows such insinuations are shrugged off - the producers and actors letting fans have their own fantasies whilst insisting that there was no intention of including that idea in the original thinking.
However, with this show there weren't the usual brush-offs for such theories. There is no denying that both Xena and Gabrielle are close. Cleverly the show hasn't denied this aspect, simply saying that there is nothing wrong in any loving relationship. If the characters are close... so what? Whether as sisters or partners, their chemistry works because we believe in their willingness to die (walk through Hell and back - literally in some cases) for each other. There is nothing obvious to actually titillate audiences and nothing explicit or definite. Any further discussion on that aspect of the show seems redundant.
Xena was, originally, something of a risky venture. There was an in-built audience from the Hercules show, but putting a female lead in a hi-visibility venture meant a leap of faith from the producers (it shouldn't have... but that's the nature of TV and demographic-wary executives). The first female 'superhero' series since Wonder Woman immediately proved itself to be something that would attract the male audience (for fairly obvious reasons) but an equally vocal female fan-base who loved the fact that the damsel-in distress factor was being firmly put on the back-burner. Xena is as likely to plead with a guy to save her from an untimely death as Hannibal Lector is to go vegetarian! This lady took on the men at their own game and kicked serious mythical butt. The first series did well with TV audiences and critics, though the second series was nearly brought to a resounding halt when Lawless was injured when she fell from a horse. Quick script re-writes allowed a story-arc in which Xena switched bodies with her arch nemesis, Callisto. It wasn't a perfect solution, but it allowed the series to progress through an important time and in the end it thrived.
While shows such as The X-Files have used their Canadian base of cities and countries, the producers of both Xena and Hercules have utilised the New Zealand climate to similar effect. It's warmer climate gives the show a softer, more lush feel to the proceedings - allowing it to be used for a whole range of mythical and real locations. The Xena time-period is a flexible one with her meeting both Gods and famous historical figures (the latest series will see her cross paths with Julius Caesar). The guest stars are also well used, with recurring characters such as the hapless Joxer (Ted Raimi, actually Executive Producer Sam's brother, excellent as the clumsy but well-meaning warrior-wannabe). Bruce Campbell (Evil Dead/Brisco County Jnr) another Sam Raimi favourite, has made regular appearances in both Hercules and Xena as Autolycus, a thief with a well-disguised heart of gold - but equally likely to leave scruples scattered all over the floor should the occasion warrant it.
The show has been marketed well and has been a huge international success. Its following in Britain is substantial - despite the fact that Channel 5's transmissions are still not perfect and SKY is only obtainable by satellite subscription. The BBC and ITV networks are probably kicking themselves. Given the lightness of touch and quality of both comedy and dramatic performances, Hercules and Xena are liable to run for the expected six-season runs, though it will be interesting to see how the writers handle Lawless's reported pregnancy. In the time of heroes and monsters... anything is possible! |
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Cleo MagazineJanuary 1997
Wild at Heart
Women love Lucy Lawless' character Xena, the Warrior Princess, for her strength. Men love her tiny leather outfits. Right now, Lucy's fame probably outshines Pamela Anderson's -- the incident involving a horse falling on her resulted in a fractured pelvis and, more importantly, masses of free publicity for her sky-rocketing career. So how did a single mother from Auckland with little acting experience land a plum job on American Television? Twenty-eight-year-old Lucy Lawless has been on a "wild ride" for the past year and a half. After her marriage fell apart, she had to cope with being a single mother, and find a new place for herself and her eight-year-old daughter Daisy to live. About the same time, she was being propelled into international stardom as the darkly sexy title character of the American-produced TV series "Xena: Warrior Princess." Then she fell in love again. During a recent visit to Los Angeles, the rarely-interviewed Kiwi megastar decided it was time to tell her story.
Cleo: There is a new man in your life?
Lucy: I have been in a relationship for just over a year and am terrifically happy. We do not live together because of the long working days on the series -- in fact, we're a hemisphere apart. He likes to come down and visit me every month, but we'll see how that works out.
Cleo: Who is he?
Lucy: I'm not telling. I'm not getting into details, but he's an American and the finest man I've ever met. I consider myself a very very lucky person.
Cleo: Have you had offers for other television and film projects?
Lucy: Yes, my lawyer and I have looked at other offers. But I don't want to star in anything else, because it would not support my show, which is my franchise. It would leave me too tired to do things right when I returned to Xena.
Cleo: Why did you leave your nice, cushy job as the co-host of "Air New Zealand Holiday" after two seasons to concentrate on the unstable craft of acting?
Lucy: Well, it paid okay, was fun and took me to some thrilling locations, particularly Israel, but you often couldn't tell the whole truth. You'd really want to say, "Wow" Don't go here. It's crappy!" But I knew in my heart that it wasn't what I was meant to do. I was either going to become a big fish in a small pond or risk it all. So I gave it up, even though there was nothing in sight. When a part in the two-hour television film "Hercules and the Amazon Women" [as Lysia, a vicious Amazon enforcer] came along, I knew that I had made absolutely the right decision. Going on as a presenter would have made me heartsick.
Cleo: How much acting experience did you have at the time?
Lucy: Very little. I had done a couple of seasons with Funny Business and some bit parts here and there, then spent eight months in Canada studying drama at the William Davis Centre for Actors Studies in Vancouver. By the time I cam home in 1992, I felt like I had received some very fine training that will always sustain me. It's stuff that works and I don't hesitate passing it on to others. I'll always be grateful to them.
Cleo: Why did you look for work in American television productions?
Lucy: They were the kind of jobs I tended to get in New Zealand. I don't have a typical New Zealand look, I suppose. I cannot fathom why. I was never fingered for success, I would never get the New Zealand drama jobs. Did I not look right? I'm perplexed. It was painful at times, but something has come out of it. I'm not sorry about every job I didn't get, but I discovered my direction from the types of jobs I did get. Therefore, I developed the American accent.
Cleo: How did you get that accent right?
Lucy: Just hard work and a natural talent for languages. I can get along in German, French and Italian.
Cleo: How did you wind up as the star of "Xena: Warrior Princess?"
Lucy: From "Hercules and the Amazon Women" I went on to do three episodes on "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys" as Lyla, Deric the Centaur's new bride. When the producers of Hercules decided on the spin-off series, the actress originally cast as Xena pulled out. They had a list of five other actresses for the part and they all turned it down, God bless 'em. So they got down to Lucy Lawless, who was in country and available.
Cleo: How does your daughter Daisy feel about her mother's new-found celebrity?
Lucy: She is a bit quiet about how she feels. She says she doesn't like the fact that kids are always asking her, "Is your mum Xena? Is your mum Xena?" when the kids know perfectly well that I am. A part of her is quite proud of it, but to a point she doesn't want any part of it. Daisy also keeps telling me that I don't know anything. She keeps me sane and my feet on the ground. Fortunately, she doesn't want to become a performer. She isn't out there, a show-off kid, like me.
Cleo: You were a rather precocious kid?
Lucy: I think so. I always had this kind of bug to perform, but always tempered by the Tall Poppy Syndrome. You have to be a very quiet achiever in New Zealand, they get behind you once you have succeeded, but nobody wants to hear about it on the way up, so, that's what I did.
Cleo: Who is Xena, Warrior Princess, in your mind?
Lucy: She's a working woman in a tough environment. Although she isn't a particularly gods-fearing chick, she is atoning for past sins by doing good deeds. Xena's comeback line is, "I have many skills", some are acquired, some natural. The characters are parodies on all the people the writers and the actors have ever met. Every now and then a line that my father recognizes well will come out of Xena's mouth.
Cleo: Is "Xena: Warrior Princess" making a political statement?
Lucy: This show is absolutely not to be taken seriously. It was never my intention that the show should make any such statements. It wasn't the plan, although people see what they want to see and read what they want to read into each story and character. However, we do try to come up with some thought-provoking stories and try to push the envelope a little, because it makes life more interesting for us. Like the biracial relationship where Xena's lover was black.
Cleo: Feminists often wonder exactly what Xena's relationship is to Gabrielle, her loyal sidekick.
Lucy: Xena is a woman of many skills...
Cleo: What is it like to run around in the woods only wearing panties and a bustier?
Lucy: Although the North Island is subtropical, the winters can be bloody miserable, especially when you're wearing nothing but a corset and a whip. It's no fun to walk around in a frost-bitten mini-leather outfit, it doesn't fill me with enthusiasm.
Cleo: There is talk about moving the production of "Xena" to Hollywood or Vancouver. Would that fit into your plans?
Lucy: Not very well. For my needs, the show should stay in New Zealand, because my daughter adores her dad, who lives not very far from me. I would hate to make her choose between the two of us. This is as together as a separated family can be, and it works very well.
Cleo: Of your family members, who is Xena most like?
Lucy: My older brother Tim, the cross-dresser. He wears this little, short dress...I'm joking! I'm joking! He is a goldminer, a driller, in Australia right now, and a lovely man. But he gave me trouble when we were young, because I was the bratty little sister who made his life miserable. He's the one who most resembles Xena and gave me a lot of material to work with.
Cleo: What was it like to grow up in the Auckland suburb of Mount Albert with five brothers and one sister?
Lucy: Chaos, of course. I'm the fifth child, with four older brothers. My one and only sister is studying languages and working as a translator in Amsterdam at the moment. We're very close, but look nothing alike. She has dark hair and I have dyed dark hair. It used to be mousy brown. Another brother is a money manager in London. The rest are fine tradesmen in Auckland, a couple of plumbers and a builder. I love having them around...because I'm remodeling my kitchen and bathroom right now.
Cleo: Is your mother, by some miracle, still alive?
Lucy: Very much so. A lot of traffic for one womb, for sure, but it was quite a standard sort of family in the Catholic parish I grew up in. My father was the mayor of Mount Albert once, before it was absorbed by the city of Auckland. I think they wanted to suck up some of the rates dollars.
Cleo: You left home at 17 to travel in Europe and Australia for two years, what did you learn on your journey?
Lucy: It's a big, cold world, but there's nothing much to be afraid of, because it's really hard to die despite the fact that you have no money, nothing to eat, and nowhere to sleep.
Cleo: What was the strangest place you visited in Europe?
Lucy: The Players' Park in Prague, a city where they really support the performing arts. I'd go to see free plays there, just rubbish. The worst was by a group of Canadian students whacking each other over the head with big mutton chops and screaming about the plague. I sat there, watched it a while, and decided that I wasn't as miserable as I thought.
Cleo: How did you wind up in Australia?
Lucy: My boyfriend followed me to Europe and when we were almost out of money we came up with a brilliant tactic: go to Australia, earn a bit of money and get back to Europe so we could travel in Russia. We wound up doing very bloody dirty work for a goldmining operation in Kagoorlie. They would lay waste to the landscape with huge explosive charges, then huge machines would sift out microscopic particles of gold. I never saw any gold in the ground there.
Cleo: What is it like to be a woman in a miners' camp?
Lucy: I never had any trouble, though the ratio of women to men must be 1 in 50 out there. It's only an unhappy accident if you get yourself in trouble. You don't want a pack of randy miners on your tail, believe me. I don't put out those kinds of vibes, so I don't attract unwanted attention.
Cleo: Why did you leave Australia after 11 months, going home instead of Russia?
Lucy: I got pregnant, so we decided, "Hey, here's a really cool idea, let's get married!" We got married in a cement-block building, I've always hated cement blocks, in a Registry Office with two witnesses whose children were screaming, "Mummy! Mummy!" I wore my sixth-form ball dress. I don't know why I took that to Europe and Australia, but I had it on hand. I was wearing that, but couldn't get it to fit right because I was three months pregnant. It was a kind of sorry exercise...but I mustn't say that because it's not right. It was the way it had to be, and things have worked out for the best.
Cleo: Any regrets about not making it to Russia?
Lucy: No, I was much more pleased with having a baby.
Cleo: When and why did you decide on a showbiz career?
Lucy: I just had some irrepressible urge to perform, it never left me, and I simply went out to auditions and doing acting classes. I just kept going, supported by my then-husband.
Cleo: What acting jobs did you start off with?
Lucy: Small stuff, a TV commercial here and there. It picked up a bit with the Funny Business group and after my studies in Canada.
Cleo: How dangerous is it to play Xena, besides popping in and out of your leather bustier?
Lucy: Well, we all take cuts and bruises. I have a marvelous stunt double, but there are action scenes calling for the star's face and I'm on. I got a beautiful black eye once, turning my head the wrong way just as an actor took a swing at me. But I've been a lot luckier than Kevin Sorbo (Hercules) who took a nasty cut on the head with a metal sword and had to have 10 stitches. |
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XPoseJanuary 1997
The Xena Scrolls
The Making of a TV Legend
XENA is the perfect modern heroine in a series set in the past. The multifaceted Xena: Warrior Princess has influence far beyond the television audience. Xena is a complex character and the exploits of her off screen counterpart, Lucy Lawless, get as many headlines as the Warrior Princess herself. You can find Xena someplace on television almost anywhere in the world. She'll be riding into battle as the music swells...
"In a time of ancient gods, warlords and kings, a land in turmoil cried out for a hero. She was Xena, a mighty princess forged in the heat of battle. The Power. The Passion. The Danger. Her courage will change the world." Xena's popularity has started to appear in unexpected places. Alternately, Xena can be a symbol for good, assertive womanhood, a seductress, a dominatrix or a lesbian. Like sister show Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Xena has spawned the usual line of toys and trinkets. Thousands have swarmed to the Xena conventions where the floors can be seen crawling with Xena look-a-likes and tiny Warrior Princesses. You can enjoy the Xena ride at Universal Studios or watch the Xena and Hercules animated movie.
The other places Xena has popped up are a little more obscure. When the Lehigh women's basketball team found themselves facing the unbeaten Navy team, they resorted to what their coach called a tough-minded Xenastyle' defence and shocked Navy into their first loss of the season. American Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has been favourably compared to the warrior woman and appreciates the compliment. There is even a 'Xena' in the United States Air Force. Formerly stationed with the 25th Fighter Squadron in Korea, you can find First Lieutenant Michelle 'Xena' Vestal flying out of Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona.
In spite of this far-reaching influence and interest, the genesis of Xena was low-key. She started from that humblest of television beginnings, the spin-off. Back in 1995 during the first season of Hercules, Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert started looking for a concept to ride the popularity of Hercules into another syndicated adventure. Tapert wanted to combine their established fantasy sensibilities with the speed and dynamics of Hong Kong action films. At the time, they weren't looking for the Xena we know today.
The original Xena concept called for a blonde warrior in the typical fantasy mould. They even contacted an unnamed actress to play the part but she backed out at the last minute. Luckily, Lucy Lawless had caught Tapert's eye during her previous work on the show. She originally played Lysia in the very first appearance of Hercules, Hercules and the Amazon Women. The producers were going to have Lawless dye her hair to match their original concept, but Lawless was able to talk them into going for a different look.
"Let's make her a kind of Argentinean princess and bronze her up," Lawless said and the show took on a whole new, more cosmopolitan, look. Lawless turned out to be the right choice for Tapert in more ways than one, He went on to marry her in 1998.
They created the show's opening credits to give this sweeping sense of Xena's World. From the dramatic narration to the background Bulgarian female chorus, the entire opening sequence was designed to give the show an epic feel. Unlike most show openers cut from show footage, several scenes, like the one of Xena saluting Poseidon, were filmed just for the opening. According to designers at Flat Earth Productions who did the Poseidon sequence, the episodes Ulysses and Lost Mariner resulted partially from public demand to see this scene.
That is all part of the show's fun. From the opening to the final credits, the cast and production crew on Xena: Warrior Princess never forget their sense of humour. Lucy Lawless has said she had to let go of a lot of the "character protection" actors go through to make their on screen personas look good. On Xena, she's as likely to be called on to do a pratfall as a drop kick.
Even the show's closing credits have a sense of humour. If you've never done it, stop the VCR sometime and check out the disclaimers at the end of the episodes. The one at the end of Sacrifice II reads 'Gabrielle finally went off the deep end during the production of this motion picture.' You'll remember that this was the third-season-ending cliff-hanger that sent Gabrielle plummeting into a volcano with Hope. Another at the end of Past Imperfect, a fourth season episode that saw the death of Xena's former lover Borias, reads 'Borias' Goose was cooked during the production of this motion picture.'
This innate sense of humour may come from the real-world Xena. Lucy Lawless the actress gets almost as much press as the show does. She'll be the first to tell you she makes an unlikely fantasy warrior. Her high-school nickname was 'Unco,' which was short for 'uncoordinated.' She worked in musical theatre, studied opera, and even mined a little gold in Australia before landing the Xena role. This is far from the resume of the physical actress the role demands. Lawless had to balance 14-hour shooting days and lengthy workouts and training while still trying to maintain a life. She hasn't let the show stunt her personal growth or her love life.
In March 1998, Lucy Lawless married producer Rob Tapert at a ceremony in the Saint Monica Church in Santa Monica, California. Ngila Dickson who designs costumes for Xena: Warrior Princess designed a much softer wedding dress for Lawless. Tapert and Lawless are expecting their first child together this fall. This is in addition to daughter Daisy age 11 from a previous marriage. Lawless says that family life will always be more important than her career.
Unfortunately, not everything has gone swimmingly off the set. In October 1996, Lawless fell off a horse while filming a skit for the Tonight Show. She suffered a pelvic fracture and sent the Xena production team scrambling to replace her in several second season episodes. Bruce Campbell who plays Autolycus and Hudson Leick, otherwise known as Callisto, stepped in to pick up the slack and play the part of Xena. Bruce Campbell as Xena? How'd they do that? The solution was to change the ending of Intimate Stranger to leave Xena in Callisto's body and allow Hudson Leick to portray her in the episode Ten Little Warriors. The end of Destiny was changed to leave Xena dead so she could occupy Autolycus as played by Bruce Campbell in The Quest. This episode also gave us a steamy on screen kiss between Gabrielle and Xena, but that's another story. Watch for these post-accident episodes and see how they worked around the disaster: Ten Little Warlords, Here She Comes... Miss Amphipolis, The Quest, A Necessary Evil, A Day in the Life, For Him the Bell Tolls, The Execution, Blind Faith, Ulysses, The Price, Lost Mariner and A Comedy of Eros.
If you've been reading Xpose, then you've already seen the details of Xena's most recent trial off-screen. Several Hindu groups have banded together and convinced Studios USA and Renaissance Pictures to pull a very pivotal fourth-season episode from syndication. The controversy hinges on the portrayal of the Hindu god Krishna.
It is unfortunate that this controversy has shelved The Way. It was the last part of one of the most introspective story arcs in television history. This past season, Xena: Warrior Princess has taken a long hard look at the woman Xena and the world she inhabits. In episodes Paradise Found, Devi and Between the Lines we've watched as a story line unfolds that resolves in The Way. This story line deals with Xena's past and her future and looks at both the dark and light sides of Xena's nature.
Xena wasn't always one of the good guys. Back when she led an evil army of warriors in battle, they gave her the name 'Warrior Princess.' She was a ruthless and merciless warlord. She finally sees the light and starts fighting the good fight in the first-season Hercules episode Unchained Heart. You can see the beginnings of this change of heart in her flashback from Past Imperfect this season.
As she gives up her son to be raised by the Centaurs she says, "Take this child. He is my son... the Son of Borias. If he stays with me, he'll become a target for all those who hate me... He'll learn things a child shouldn't know. He'll become like me."
If you listen to the female voices singing in the background during the opening credits you'll hear this theme of light from darkness spelled out.
Bulgarian voices sing: Jeneta iazdi samotna (A woman is riding alone) Neinoto Minalo srazi ia (Her shameful past almost destroyed her) Sreshtu voiskite ot tumen sviat (She is battling an army of the dark world) Vouva za dobro tia (She is fighting in the name of good) Rogovi zvonove idvat (Horns are sounding as she approaches) Napraite put na voina! (Way must be made for a fierce battle) Turpani biat vuv ritum (Rhythmical drums are heard) Princhesata e pak tuka! (The Princess is back)
In addition to this heavy-handed subtext of personal responsibility, there is a much more playful and more often discussed subtext lurking near the surface. It's the question you have been dying to know the answer to. Is Xena a lesbian?
"There was a time when we played with the idea," says Xena co-star Renee O'Connor. Just what goes on with her and Gabrielle anyway? Why do they have so many scenes in the hot tub together? The truth is much more pedestrian yet still surprising. The subtext is a conscious addition to the episodes and has spawned everything from protests to doctoral dissertations. It is played up so you can take it either way.
Another star of the show is Xena's circular weapon known as a chakram. Based on a weapon used by the Sikhs of Punjab, India, Xena gives it her own flair by having it return to her. The Sikhs were known to use several in a battle, but Xena keeps better track of hers. At the end of this season, a well-placed throw of Xena's chakram by Callisto sealed Xena's fate and left us aching for more.
What's in store for the season ahead? Xpose' has used its crystal ball to peer ahead and seen a few glimpses of Xena's future. Long-time co-star Argo the horse will be getting his own episode titled either Wild Horses or Animal Attraction. You can look forward to another musical Xena episode and possibly even an animated episode! Claire Stansfield who played the evil shamaness Alti in this past season has revealed that she returns in an episode titled Them Bones, Them Bones. She also noted that she spends a lot of screen time completely naked! For the rest of next season's secrets, you'll just have to watch the show. Judging from their efforts so far the entire Xena crew intends to give us another great season. |
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TV Hits (Australia)March 1, 1997
1997 is set to be the year of the Warrior Princess! Hot on the heels of her good mate Hercules comes Xena star Lucy Lawless, ready to kick butt with her own super-hot spin-off show. But did you know that this high-flyin' action babe used to sing opera and is originally from New Zealand? It's true!
TVH: How did you get into acting?
LL: When I was 15 I went on an opera tour of Europe with my mum to see all the best opera like Carmen a million times. It really awakened my senses. By the time I was 18, I was itching to get out of a small country at the bottom of the world so I left New Zealand and headed for Lucerne in Switzerland, for some reason.
TVH: It's hardly the wildest place on earth!
LL: I know. I was just desperate to escape my claustrophobic family and go and have a wild life. When I got to Lucerne, I found out it was a really upstanding moral place. It's not the sort of place you go to have a cathartic, teenage rebellion at all. So I went to Munich and hung out
at cafes.
TVH: Did you say you were an opera singer?
LL: I studied opera for a few years as a teenager until I realised I didn't have the passion that you need to keep it up after all the rejections you get. I've also sung on the animated version of Xena which we just recorded and it's coming out as a movie next October.
TVH: Did you miss home?
LL: Yeah, but it was an adventure. They were dangerous days because you have no money, you're young, you don't know anybody. You're too proud to ask for help from your parents. I travelled across the continent for about 11 months before I went home.
TVH: How did you get the part of Xena?
LL: I got this part through some incredible feat of serendipity. Somebody else pulled out of the role. She had been training for a month and got sick, so she couldn't do the role. They rejected me at first. Apparently, when he heard my name for the part, one studio executive said: " Are you crazy!" I'm from New Zealand and they wanted an American actress only. I'm very grateful to those Americans who turned down the role before I finally got it.
TVH: How did you prepare for such a role?
LL: I've got eight years of acting experience behind me and I've always been a bit of a fighter. I was a rough diamond as a child, coming from a large family. I was used to scuffles and I had ridden on horses as a kid, which has proved very useful.
TVH: Did you endure any special training?
LL: Yeah, I was brought to LA and trained by a guy called Doug Wong who was a kung-fu master who prepared Jason Scott Lee for The Bruce Lee Story. I can do some pretty good stunts, even though I have a stunt double and an acrobatics double.
TVH: We wouldn't like to run into you in a dark alley!
LL: I think a lot of guys think that. Men are horrified by me when I bump into them in the street because they confuse me with Xena. I am never ever approached by men in the street, only women.
TVH: On TV you appear more muscular, why is that?
LL: Well, first of all, I usually am a little bit more built up when working. I lift heavy swords and it builds up muscles. But I've been on holidays and just let myself go.
TVH: Do you work out for the role?
LL: A little. I rely a lot on the costumes which are so well-made as to accentuate a muscular form under the right lights!
TVH: Do you naturally have black hair or is it dyed for the role?
LL: Yes, it's dyed raven black. It helps with Xena's scary image on screen. She has brown skin - I'm painted up every day but I have naturally pale skin and that scares people in real life. I must look like some childhood idea of a witch! I definitely scare people and then I have to reassure them by saying something goofy to put them at ease.
TVH: What's happened to your New Zealand accent on the show?
LL: Well, I do not have an all-New Zealand girl look because it didn't win me roles. When I come back from holiday in New Zealand, I have to re-practise losing the accent each time, which is difficult.
TVH: You live in LA but your daughter lives in New Zealand.
LL: Yeah, her name is Daisy and she is eight. I have been too long away from her. I consider myself a hard-working mother who wishes she could be with her daughter more often.
TVH: What are your daughter's reactions to seeing you on TV?
LL: Very mixed. On one level she's proud and on another level I think she would like the whole thing to just go away and life to go back to how it was. She doesn't like the feeling that she has to share her mother with so many people.
TVH: What do you look for in a guy?
LL: You know what the greatest aphrodisiac for women is? If I can be so bold as to generalise like this, the greatest aphrodisiac is somebody who is good at their job. Nothing makes me angrier than somebody who is not good at their job. If you're no good at it or don't like it, then go and do something else but don't waste my time and money!
LUCY'S LAWS
*Born: March 29, 1968, New Zealand
*Height: 180cm
*Family: Five brothers and one sister!
*Marital Status: Lucy is divorced from her first hubby (they married at 19) and is "seeing someone. No he's not an actor! No, no, no!"
*Career Break: Lucy's first major acting role was in the New Zealand comedy series Funny Business. She also starred in NZ's ASB bank ads and had a presenting role on the Air New Zealand Holiday show.
*Fact! When she was a kid, she wanted to be a marine biologist or pathologist. She even worked on a goldmine in Australia.
*Fact! She speaks good German, OK French but poor Italian!
*Fact! Lawless is her married name. "When I first got married I thought nobody was ever going to take me seriously with this name and then I just got over it."
*On Xena: "Xena is a positive image because she doesn't come across as stupid. She doesn't fall over and get rescued by men. She does the rescuing."
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Entertainment WeeklyMarch 7, 1997
Xenaphilia
In a time of pop-savvy adolescent couch potatoes, urbane camp addicts, and postfeminist professionals, a land in turmoil cried out for a heroine: She was Xena, a mighty princess, forged in the heat of prime-time syndication.
Striding through the TV landscape in truly mythic fashion, our heroine has dealt a decisive blow to her competition in record time. Midway through its second season, the Universal Television fantasy-adventure series Xena: Warrior Princess (check your local listings) regularly beats syndication champs Baywatch and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, not to mention the sibling lead-in from which it was spun off, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. Earlier this year, the show even won its Saturday prime-time slot against network competition in New York and L.A.
Xena's weapons? A snarky, kitchen-sink warping of one of TV's most notoriously formulaic genres, the superhero odyssey. And the introduction of a lead character (played by Lucy Lawless) who has single-handedly upped the ante on women's place on television. As Xena, the Amazonian Lawless traverses the known world--with faithful sidekick Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor) in tow, defending the defenseless, righting wrongs, and vanquishing anyone who gets in her way. Each episode affords a plethora of ass-kicking opportunities, in giddily absurd, hyperkinetic action sequences equally reminiscent of Jackie Chan and TV's Batman: See Xena vanquish foes with her trusty chakram, a razor-sharp metal circlet she hurls with ludicrous accuracy and force! See Xena vault into multiple midair somersaults! Hear Xena's "Yi-yi-yi-yi-yi!" battle cry, a bansheelike wail her fans avidly ape!
Lately, those fans have become legion. Like Star Trek and The X-Files before it, Xena is speeding toward that most oxymoronic of distinctions, mainstream cultdom. Evidence includes the first official convention (in Burbank, in January), numerous Xena-fests (organized by fans), Xena-themed apparel, trading cards, fanzines, action figures, CD-ROMs, and a Web presence of more than 60 sites and counting. Perhaps more indicative of Xena's pop-culture infiltration are the increasing homages on network television: Both Roseanne and Something So Right have featured Xena doppelgangers.
What separates Xena from its cult predecessors is its ability to reach a variety of rabid audience segments on totally different levels. There's something--and something quite different, for everyone. For the married-with-children set, the show offers nearly bloodless action and a morality tale in which good triumphs over evil. Feminists like Dana Eskenazi, a 37-year-old schoolteacher from New York, see a take-no-crap grrrl breathing fresh air into an estrogen-deprived genre. "There hasn't been a female TV character who is totally independent of a male figure in her life," says Eskenazi. "This is a woman who can fight, and beat, men, who walks the world like so many male adventurers have."
And Xena's invasion of a staunchly male domain, by the way, doesn't offend straight guys. Hardly: "What's not to like? The show is a scream. Xena's a total babe. Not only that, she's a babe who likes other babes...it's a babe-fest," says 20-year-old George, an online devotee. "I watch her in action and think, 'Wow, she could kick my ass and I kind of dig that." Gay females, ironically, are hooked for much the same reasons.
At Meow Mix, a New York nightspot, all eyes are glued to the TV screen over the bar, where Xena is about to plant The Kiss. As she leans in and locks lips with those of Gabrielle, her fresh-faced charge, the distaff horde packing the bar erupts in a cacophony of whoops and whistles. A few rapturous seconds later, Gabrielle opens her eyes only to find she's not been kissed by Xena at all but by a man, albeit a man carrying Xena's soul in his body. Disappointed moans erupt at this typically tantalizing sleight of hand, followed, seconds later, by a full-throated cry of "Rewind!"
A fixture of Gotham's downtown lesbian scene, Meow Mix has also become a sort of pulse point for the burgeoning cult. Once a month the club presents Xena Night, featuring a screening of, and Rocky Horror-esque interaction with three episodes, followed by a toy-sword fight in honor of the warrior princess. "It's the one show on TV where I don't feel invisible," says Montana, a 29-year-old library-science student who appreciates the show's acknowledgment, however indirectly, of her lesbian lifestyle.
Though the character of Xena is regularly shown in the intimate company of men, sexual ambiguity is a mainstay of the show, which openly gay Xena producer Liz Friedman is all too happy to admit: "I don't have any interest in saying they're heterosexuals. That's just bulls, and no fun, either." Much speculation attends the Xena/Gabrielle bond, and the appeal of the relationship is that you can believe what you want. "They have love for each other," says Xena supervising producer Steve Sears of the two women, who teamed up in the first episode (Xena saved Gabrielle from a wicked warlord). "It's up to the audience to determine what that love is."
"It's sort of like the old Star Trek," says Kym Masera Taborn, chairperson of the board of the International Association of Xena Studies--no kidding--a Web-based think tank of sorts. "It's so off-the-wall and seems so cut off from everything that you can do some pretty controversial things."
Truth be told, the show is more slyly teasing than downright naughty, which, smartly, keeps it family and advertiser friendly. During a recent episode, Xena, masquerading as a contestant in the Miss Known World beauty pageant, pastes a lingering kiss on the winner, Miss Artiphys. The miss is really a mister (natch), and, in typically envelope-pushing fashion, the producers cast drag queen, gay rights activist, and recent inductee into the Adult Video News' pornstar hall of fame Karen Dior, a.k.a. Geoff Gann, in the role. Sexuality isn't the only thing Xena plays fast and loose with. In chronicling the exploits of the babelicious leather and metal-clad crusader, executive producers Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert adopted the campy, irreverent signature they used to comic effect in their Evil Dead film trilogy. In the Xenaverse, the name given to the show's timeless sense of place by its devotees, history is bunk. Characters spout Shakespearean platitudes one minute, Brooklynese wisecracks the next. Plotlines don't so much careen across eras as commingle them, creating a milieu that's primeval, classical, medieval, and surfer dude all at once. One episode finds our heroine plunked into the middle of the Trojan War (turns out Helen was an old acquaintance); in another, she's visiting 1940s Macedonia. Somehow, hilariously, it works.
But while the show might be a goof, Xena's power is not. "In the past, when a woman had been inserted into a basic male archetypical story, [TV producers] made the female almost too female," says Taborn, who also edits the online Xena 'zine WHOOSH! (a reference to the show's omnipresent sound effect). "With this one, they've kept her pretty serious." Friedman agrees, contrasting Xena with a TV predecessor: "Wonder Woman's nails were always perfect, and she really looked like she cared about it. If Xena were in the middle of a fight, and a guy accidentally yanked off her top, she wouldn't go 'Aah!' and cover her chest. She'd punch the crap out of him."
The aptly, and truly, named Lawless (Flawless to her fans) debuted as Xena on Hercules in a three-part arc that aired in the spring of 1995. In her original incarnation, Xena was an evil warlord and foe of the mythic strong man. When overwhelming viewer response led Tapert and John Schulian to create a spin-off, Xena underwent a transformation to become a force for good, though one still plagued by the sins of her marauding past.
With her severe good looks, Xena evokes a long line of pop-cult visages, Barbarella, Vampirella, even '50s pin-up queen Betty Page, as she rapidly joins that pantheon. To embody this uberwoman, Lawless, an Auckland, New Zealand, native, has made good use of her comedy background (she appeared on the New Zealand skit-com Funny Business at age 20), her training in music (the former opera student will sing her own songs for an upcoming straight-to-video Xena/Hercules cartoon), plus a self-assuredness in storming traditionally male strongholds (during a brief stay in Australia, she was one of the country's few female gold miners). And as the separated mother of an 8-year-old girl, Lawless, 28, is sympathetic to young women's need for a role model. "I hope it does become the next great TV phenomenon," she told the Baltimore Sun in January. "I think it has caught a wave, a need of some kind for a stronger female hero." But the actress quickly added that Xena's greater purpose is to make you laugh. "It's mainly a hoot."
Still, Xena represents a refreshing divergence from the mawkish, movie-of-the-week brand of female heroism that has proliferated in the '90s. And Raimi wouldn't have it any other way. In fact, he's cashed in on postfeminist heroism before, in his depiction of Sharon Stone's strong, silent gunslinger in the 1995 film The Quick and the Dead. That role, along with an evil hell-raiser portrayed by Hong Kong actress Brigitte Lin in The Bride With White Hair (1993), was to some degree a forerunner of Xena. With Xena's success, Raimi believes, the people have spoken, and he's hoping his new action series, Spy Game, starring Allison Smith (see review on page 56), will benefit from a growing taste for kickboxing chicks. "The audience is not afraid of watching some women break out of the conventional mold," says Raimi. Unfortunately, he adds, "the Hollywood establishment may not be aware that the audience really wants that."
Currently, next to Lawless' Xena, the most conspicuously empowered female leads in prime time are The X-Files' brainily alluring Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), Kate Mulgrew's Captain Janeway on Star Trek: Voyager, and the USA Network's La Femme Nikita (starring Peta Wilson and based on the 1991 movie of the same name). Since three out of those four are very popular (Nikita debuted less than two months ago), why do meaty female action roles continue to be such a rarity?
"I think that television in particular is a medium of the familiar, not of breathtaking new changes," says Xena's Friedman, who points out that in TV's 50-year history, only a handful of successful, rock-'em sock-'em female leads have emerged, Emma Peel (The Avengers), the Bionic Woman, Wonder Woman, Cagney and Lacey, and most of them in the more politically strident '70s.
A predictable target of blame: the still-male-dominated ranks of TV execs. "It's a bias of the TV industry, [this belief] that women will watch shows about men, but men won't watch shows about women, and therefore half the audience will be lost," says Susan Douglas, author of Where the Girls Are: Growing Up Female With the Mass Media. The Xena audience proves that theory wrong: About half of its adult viewers are male. Granted, they're watching as much for Xena's pulchritude as for her pluck; nevertheless, it's sending a message.
For the most part, though actresses playing forceful women must navigate a tightrope between strength and femininity. "I'm often cautioned not to cross a certain line one way or the other, 'Don't be too butchy, don't be too vulnerable,'" says Kate Mulgrew of playing Janeway. "But I'll tell you, I'd much rather have this set of challenges than play some bimbo on Melrose Place."
Kay Koplovitz, founder and CEO of USA Networks, a rare female network head, maintains that the balancing act is in deference to viewers of both genders. "I think when you develop this kind of role, you risk having a strong action figure who is not sympathetic. It can be intimidating, it can be off-putting. Women who are too strong can be overbearing to men and women."
Friedman believes that Xena has figured out a way to solve that problem. How? In a word, subversion. "I've always been a big believer in the power of popular culture," she says. "The best way to convey more challenging ideas is to make something that functions on a mainstream level but that has subtext that people can pick up on - or not." Add a Trojan horse and you've got an episode of Xena. |
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XPoseApril 1997
WAY OF THE WARRIOR
GROWING up in New Zealand, Lucy Lawless was as free-spirited as many young residents of the small island nation. She sought adventure, excitement and when bit by the proverbial acting bug, Lawless would have to admit that fame had its definite attraction. Little did she realize that she’d experience the excitement of adventure and fame while just in her 20s.
She was born March 28, 1968 as Lucy Ryan in Mount Albert, Auckland, New Zealand, the fifth of seven children of Frank and Julie Ryan and the oldest of two daughters. Her first real exposure to adventure came when she traveled to such European cities as Vienna, Florence and Rome with her mom at age 15.
"Florence was a very romantic place to be a young girl even though I was traveling with my mother," Lawless recalls fondly. "I had smart lines for all the boys that would chat with me."
She has the same attachment for her second tour of Europe a few years later."All New Zealanders kind of escape their tiny little country at the bottom of the world and go on their OE, their Over seas Experience, to see the world. Australians do it too, before they go home and pay off their student loans and get serious about the world."
It was during this adventure that Lawless found herself, along with then boyfriend Garth Lawless, working odd jobs throughout Europe to sustain themselves. And it was while in Europe that Lawless discovered she was pregnant.
It was then time to return to New Zealand and be with family and have the child, which we did. Best mistake I ever made," she says in affection for her daughter Daisy, now 10.
Lawless married Garth and eventually they located to Auckland where she renewed her determination to pursue a career in acting. Television commercials followed as did her first real acting role at age 20 with a comedy troupe on television called Funny Business. She appeared in a number of television shows in Australia before taking the advice of an American actress whose name she never knew and whom she met but once, and moved to Vancouver, Canada to study at the William Davis Center for Actors Study (an institution that should be familiar to X-Files fans).Eight months later she returned to her native home where she spent two years co-hosting a New Zealand travel show before being cast in what was supposed to be a small, supporting role of the internationally syndicated seriesHercules: The Legendary Journeys.
An American actress had been cast as Xena, the female counterpart to Hercules in three episodes of the series. However, when that actress became ill, the producers turned to Lawless to make additional appearances on Hercules. A three-part storyline turned into Xena: Warrior Princess, the series that is now in its fourth successful season.
In discussing the irony of how she captured the role, she says, "1 thought it was going to be a raging success."
She chuckles before adding, "When you’re a kid from the sticks you have no expectation other than it’s an American show. Why won’t it be. huge? So it was just a bliss of naivete and ignorance, and it’s been just marvelous, a once in a billion lifetimes experience."
From that experience, the actress says she’s learned "Discipline, I guess. I don’t think of Xena as a character. See, when you say Xena to me, well, she’s part of me but she’s not all there is. I think she’s certainly rooted in truth, and she’s who I would be if I grew up in that situation."
Yet, when asked if she’s afraid of being typecast due to the role, she responds with a resounding, "I’m not! Why am I not? Because that’s a state of mind. I won’t buckle into that one. Besides, Xena offers me a lot of scope. I get to play slapstick and I get to do musicals for goodness’ sake and play a lot of different characters. Plus, there are no other roles out there with this much complexity. As one guy said, ‘It’s a smart show that pretends that it isn’t.’ And it is."
It’s also a role that besides the success and stardom, it’s brought significant changes to the actress as well. Three years ago she and her childhood sweetheart, Garth, divorced. In the aftermath, however, she and Robert Tapert, executive producer of both Hercules and Xena fell in love and married. They married, in fact, on Lawless’s 30th birthday, March 28.
It was at this same time that Lawless discovered just how much the series’ success and her marriage had affected her outlook on her career.
"It has actually," she says in her distinct New Zealand accent when addressing an inquiry as to how she looks upon her career. "1 don’t know if that’s because I got married. I turned 30 at the same time. I’m actually, since you asked, kind of at a crossroads in my life.
"I’m sure others have been through this where you say, ‘I aimed for this success and stardom. What now?’ That fame doesn’t fill you up! Even money doesn’t fill you up. I can have clothes. I have the man of my dreams, a happy, healthy daughter, the job of my dreams.Why am I not blissfully happy?"
"THERE ARE NO ROLES OUT THERE WITH THIS MUCH COMPLEXITY"
She pauses to allow her comments to settle into the thoughts of her listener. "I think it’s because that is not life’s intention," she says matter-of-factly. "So I’ve been soul searching since my birthday and since I got married. And in one of my darker moments I was given some tapes from a self-help guru, an American guy, Tony Robbins. You know, the big guy with the teeth? I swear to God he changed my life.
"I’ve realized that we are all a collection of atoms, and who we are is actually immaterial. Our spirits, our souls are immaterial. So what’s the bloody point if we’re just atoms and we’re going to blow out of here into the cosmos!
"But then I realized that in giving our talent or receiving somebody else’s, since I’m not a doctor and can’t save anybody’s life, all I can do is this thing called entertainment. In giving my talent and in receiving other people’s God kind of grows bigger. The cosmos grows bigger!
"So I know to try and do something good with this fame phenomenon which is a happy by-product of what I do but it’s certainly not the end product. It’s not the final reward. A lot of famous people come and go, and I intend to enjoy this journey through my life. I don’t know what it’ll bring."
And how has this new attitude changed her?
"A great reduction in stress," she says candidly. "If I’m not making a deadline, if I don’t have the right shoes to wear, these things are not important. If I have to go back across town and miss a cool party because I want to pick up my husband to go to something else later, well, that’s what’s important.
"It’s being with your loved ones. That’s vital and not cool parties and it means that I’m a much happier person. I’m still waiting for epiphany. I’m still waiting for my last purpose to drop out of the sky, but in the meantime I’m doing this. But I’m a whole lot happier doing it."
The obvious question now is has her new perspective changed the relationship with her husband as to what it is now that they’re married and working together versus when they first met and were working together.
"I was looking for a new attitude in life," she says. "I was becoming trapped and a prisoner of my own making, as it were. It was a lot easier doing my job when I was falling in love with him than now when I’m very in love with him simply because of this Tony Robbins approach."
Lawless is happier in her work in her marriage and as a mother to her daughter, the latter two of which are truly tested with her work being in her native home and her husband being in the States a lot of the time.
She agrees that it truly does test the stability of the marriage, but, she says, "Rob’s living down there more and more, we’re together nine and a half months a year, so that’s pretty good I think. We talk at least two or three times a day. It works, and it won’t be for long."
However, that doesn’t mean she’d contemplate uprooting Daisy and moving to America.
"That’s a very difficult thing," she says honestly. "I would say I can’t yet move to the US. I’m extremely happy that this is not an option for me at this time because my daughter has a wonderful dad who lives in Auckland. I could no more leave her than take her away from him or force that choice upon her.
"Perhaps that will be life’s lesson for me. I thought of that last night. Perhaps I’m going to be forced to possibly choose between: Do I want this marvelous bauble of fame and fortune, or am I going to choose home and family?"
"FAME IS A BY-PRODUCT OF WHAT I DO BUT ITS NOT THE END PRODUCT" |
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TV GuideMay 3, 1997
TV's Triumphant Warrior Princess and Her Wild Ride To The TopShe plays a mythic hero but lives in the modern world. Somehow she seems to have found the perfect balance.
Xena the Warrior Princess may have only a horse to get around the ancient world, but when she's in Los Angeles, Lucy Lawless, the 29-year-old New Zealand-born actress who plays her, rates a limo. In fact, because of her jam-packed schedule, the stretch Lincoln's back seat is the only place Lawless can fit in a chat about being a role model, a mom (to 8-year-old Daisy), and a mythic hero who can kick anyone's butt and still find time to work on friendship issues with her gal pal, Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor).
Lawless' day so far has included a long outdoor photo shoot, promos for an animated direct-to-video Hercules and Xena movie (due out this fall), and an appearance on the NBC sitcom Something So Right (which aired April 29). Now all she really wants to do is head home and have dinner with her boyfriend, Xena cocreator and executive producer Rob Tapert. But for the moment, cruising along Mulholland Drive at dusk while sipping a rum and Coke seems like a pleasant way to unwind.
TV Guide: In your cameo on NBC's Something So Right, you confronted their Xena rip-off character, Thena. That must tell you something about how well your show is doing.
Lucy Lawless: It says our show is really having an impact. Of course, my personal goal is to totally infiltrate popular culture.
TVG: In other words, world domination.
LL: In a nutshell.
TVG: Do you feel more empowered?
LL: The whole fame thing makes me giggle.
TVG: Your previous attitude was more sober.
LL: Yes, I used to be more afraid of being famous, but now I'm determined just to roll with the punches. I'm not going to suffocate and fall down dead.
TVG: Initially, you felt awkward being an instant role model, right?
LL: I've relaxed tremendously about that. I finally realized that being a role model doesn't mean people are encouraged to be like me - they're encouraged to go out and be more of themselves. Before, it was too much responsibility to ear because it's all I can do to be a good role model to my kid. I don't need other people's kids on my plate.
TVG: Who in your business inspires you?
LL: Susan Sarandon and Helen Mirren. I also think Madonna's an admirable creature, but I don't intend to model my career on hers. Xena's breastplates will not suddenly go all pointy.
TVG: You weren't the first choice for Xena. The original actress got sick and had to drop out. Did you ever meet her?
LL: Once, and to my everlasting shame I was kind of a smart-ass. She didn't know who I was and I knew full wel who she was - Vanessa Angel - and she was working on the Universal lot in Weird Science. I leapt off this Universal tram and said, "Oh, can I have a photo with you?" Now I have this photo with her being so genuine and me having a smart-aleck look on my face. She was so kind to someone she didn't even know.
TVG: Apology noted. How, in your life, have you had to be a hero?
LL: By being a working mother and going through a divorce [from Garth Lawless, a bar manager]. You feel you're losing your kid and you can't defend yourself. You can't speak ill of the father. You can be persecuted, but you can't persecute. Your kid thinks that you don't care. There have been moments when I've had to fight every natural urge to strike back. Xena does the same thing, fights urges.
TVG: How has your daughter reacted to your show - especially since it's now on in New Zealand - and your celebrity?
LL: At first, she really hated it. Wanted it all to just go away. She equated it with the breakup of her family. In fact, the two were completely unrelated. [pauses] She's much more comfortable with it now. she's realized that Xena is not going to turn my head away from her. She's even slightly proud. She realizes now that it's a cool show. When it finally aired in New Zealand, the next weekend - she stays with me on weekends - I asked her, "Did the kids say anything about the show?" She went, "Yeah, they really liked it actually!" She kept using the word "actually."
TVG: You've talked about Xena's dark side. She's been bad, and now she's good. What urges are buried inside that she's still trying to resist?
LL: She may be good, but she doesn't feel she's good. Xena's agenda is just to get through the day without killing someone.
TVG: So Xena is just fated to keep wandering around the ancient world?
LL: Yes. She keeps moving. If she puts down roots, she might have to face herself. She'll never have a home. She's a misfit - and that's where we are similar.
TVG: Why do you think you're a misfit?
LL: I have chosen to live in a rarefied atmosphere. People react differently now that I'm on the telly. I become more of a misfit all the time, but I suppose that's what I wanted to be.
TVG: How would you characterize your relationship with Kevin "Hercules" Sorbo?
LL: I would characterize it as [leans close to the microphone and smiles]: We have no competition going on whatsoever. He's my big brother, and I love him. Just because Xena came from Hercules' rib doesn't mean I want to knock him off.
TVG: Xena has switched bodies with her archenemy, Callisto. What if you switched bodies with Hercules? What would you do with a day in his skin?
LL: I would totally corrupt Herc's reputation, no doubt! Not deliberately, of course. The possibilities are mind-blowing. I suppose I might also be very freaked out and looking for a surgeon. Boy, would he be sorry when I changed back!
TVG: In the firect-to-video animated Hercules and Xena movie you not only do your character's voice, but you also sing a song. Will your voice be balm or blasphemy to your fans?
LL: All the hard-core fans know that I sing. The song is a real kid-pleaser. It's a pop ballad.
TVG: So should we expect an album of Lucy Lawless singing Greek classics?
LL: Yeah, I'm thinking of doing Sappho's greatest hits.
TVG: I hear that you'll be segueing from one Grecian formula to another in the fall, playing the part of Rizzo on Broadway in "Grease." How did that happen?
LL: It was a complete surprise. When I did The Rosie O'Donnell Show last August, I also sang. During our chat she told me she'd been in "Grease." I asked her what role, and she scoffed and said, "What role do you think I played? Rizzo, of course. Do you think they're going to cast me as Olivia Newton-John?" A couple of months later the offer came through. Apparently the play's producers just happened to be watching at the right time. I think it's ironic that even in my time off from being a bad girl who wants to be a saint, I play a bad girl.
TVG: What modern, indispensable comfort would Xena kill to have?
LL: Tampons.
TVG: Well - you're clearly a lot saucier than that stern spoilsport Xena.
LL: She can be lots of fun. In an episode this season Xena went undercover at a beauty pageant. You see her dumb and blond. You even see her uncovered. [Smiles] I walk up the ramp, and as I pivot at the end, I give a little flick of my tush, and you get to see right up Xena's skirts. It was a happy accident, and the angle was good, so I didn't mind.
TVG: Is there anything you'd like to change about your regular costume?
LL: I wish it was a caftan, but you can't high-kick someone in a caftan.
TVG: Xena is more experienced with men than her pal, Gabrielle. What advice is she dying to give her young friend?
LL: She's not really in any position to give advice. Recently we had a guest star who had a problem with her man because he was in love with Xena. Xena decided to give her some womanly tips. Next thing, the woman comes out wearing some sort of Neanderthal dominatrix outfit. That was Xena's advice!
TVG: What criticisms of the show have you heard that you just don't get?
LL: I say, Lay the hell off Joxer. I think many of the die-hard fans dislike him because they think that Xena and Gabrielle dislike him. That's an affront to a wonderful actor, Ted Raimi. He's comic relief, and the show needs that because Xena cannot fill that role. Nor can Gabrielle. Neither of us is allowed to look silly. Joxer is a good vent for the audience because everyone loves seeing him get hurt. So stop being nasty about him on the internet. I am offended on behalf of a friend and colleague.
TVG: Heaven and hell have their ancient equivalents in the Elysian Fields and Tartarus. Where is Xena going?
LL: I think she will find, to her great surprise, that she gets pushed through the cat flap in the door of the Elysian Fields. She'll get in by a whisker.
Xena's Naughty Nymph
Battling grotesque mythical beasts can wear a warrior princess down, but no one is more bothersome than comely psycho-babe Callisto, who's played with lip-smacking zeal by Hudson Leick. "I love playing Callisto. I lo-o-ve it!" says the Los Angeles-based Leick.
"When I'm her, I can do no wrong. Through her I can spit and I can scream. Callisto is just so yummy!" Her character's frothing-at-the-mouth fury is fueled by revenge: After Callisto watched a pre-heroic Xena and her renegade army annihilate her entire family, she made it her mission to rid the ancient world of the warrior. Ironically, Callisto's fantasy became Leick's reality, at least temporarily, when Lawless fractured her pelvis during a Tonight Show stunt last October.
Since Lawless and Leick had just finished a two-part body-swapping episode, the solution seemed simple: Leick would once again step into Xena's shoes (actually, Xena's spirit would once again step into Callisto's body] while Lawless recuperated. "It's really hard to play someone else's character," says Leick. "I had to imitate Lucy Lawless playing Xena, and that's a tough rote to play," And after playing a raving maniac, the idea of playing a hero just doesn't appeal.
"It's hard not to make heroes boring. It's much easier to play a bad guy. When you're a good guy. you have to constantly be aware that you can never look dumb. It's just too many things to think about."
Two Who Trounced Trek
Toppling the Star Trek ratings empire was not a job for mere mortals. Since 1987, the inter-galactic dynasty has dominated the syndicated-drama charts: not even Baywatch's leggy lifesavers, who bobbed in second place for four seasons, could attract a larger audience. That's what makes the recent triumph of Xena and Hercules over Star Trek: Deep Space Nine seem so, well, Herculean. The Star Trek franchise seemed so invincible that when executive producers Rob Tapert and Sam Raimi launched Hercules in 1995, they didn't even bother reaching for the stars.
"Our initial goal was to bump off Baywatch as the number-two show," says Tapert, overjoyed with their mythic conquest. This is something I never expected to accomplish." |
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Detroit Free PressMay 8, 1997
Xena gets it off her chest
WOMC-FM's (104.3) Dick Purtan landed the interview of the day Wednesday, connecting live with "Xena: Warrior Princess" actress-turned-national-anthem-singer Lucy Lawless. In case you didn't hear, Lawless' breasts popped out of a skimpy Uncle Sam costume at Tuesday's Red Wings/Mighty Ducks game in Anaheim. She told Purtan she was unaware of how low her bodice slipped as she removed a blue blazer: "You mean I've been flashing on national TV? . . . I am horrified; it did not really come down, did it? Only a little popped out. Big deal."
Lawless is a New Zealander who was pictured in this week's "World's 50 Most Beautiful People" edition of People magazine, wearing a black clinging body stocking. "You saw more last night than you see in People," she said Wednesday.
Still, Lawless seemed to be unaware just how much of her bosom was exposed. After Purtan and his morning show cohorts gave her a detailed explanation of how her costume let her down, she said, "Oh, you lie. . . . Oh god, don't do this to me. . . . I don't need that kind of publicity. I get plenty of attention as it is. That costume was too damn small. My mother will cry."
Exposed breasts, she said, were "the least of my worries. I was worried about slipping on the ice in these stupid shoes." |
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Fortune MagazineMay 12, 1997
The Universal Appeal of Schlock
THE LAST TIME AN ACTION SHOW WAS ATOP THE Nielsens, America swooned over scruffy, sockless Don Johnson, patrolling Miami's streets. Judging by the crop of fall pilots and the breakout success of shows like Xena: Warrior Princess, the top-rated syndicated action hour in the U.S. (which depicts the trials of a strapping, leather-clad heroine who kicks ancient Greek butt), the genre's making a comeback. Foreign audiences can't get enough of it; Xena-philia is rampant in Europe. "Action hours were a dying breed until the international market just asked for more," says Christine Amdur of Baskerville Communications in London.
Production companies used to make a ton of money creating action dramas for U.S. networks and selling them into syndication after 100 or so episodes, what they made overseas was gravy. Now, domestic revenues alone are not enough to make a network show profitable. When Hollywood heads to Europe and Asia to sell its programming, about 50% of a show's potential revenues are at stake. Action hours, depending on their quality and U.S. performance, can grab as much as $150,000 per episode in Europe. The chairman of International Television Trading Corp., Klaus Hallig, calls this trend "a Marshall Plan in reverse."
With the burgeoning foreign market, studios have found an afterlife for a genre that was presumed dead. While sitcoms have become the profitable darlings of U.S. network syndication, drama reruns, other than the most successful, have ended up on cable, if anywhere. "The domestic revenue stream is nowhere near where it was. Basic cable doesn't pay what free syndication used to pay ... You're not getting that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, which was syndication," says veteran drama producer Dick Wolf, creator of NBC's Law & Order and Fox's New York Undercover.
Xena is not the first action show to conquer the overseas market: Baywatch is the show that proved the interaction shows like Xena are a hit in the U.S and, especially, overseas.
National appeal of high-action dramas with simple plots (and buff cast members who don't wear much clothing). When NBC canceled the show in 1990, the show's producers, eager to keep it afloat, solicited foreign partners to finance it. Since then it's become a phenomenal hit in Europe and has demonstrated how lucrative foreign markets can be. Universal Studios, one of the largest providers of American programming abroad, capitalized on this trend early by signing deals with European net works to ensure that its programming has foreign outlets. Over the past year, Universal signed se\ eral lucrative deals to package older shows like Columbo and Miami Vice (which might otherwise collect dust in its library) along with fresh schlock like Xena.
Seeing that Xena has done so well abroad and in the U.S., studios are working on a sle\ of action-adventure pilots for the fall TV season Network press kits are packed with pilots like Players, a police drama starring rapper Ice-T, and Timecop, based on the Jean-Claude Van Damme mo vie. Universal is developing Team Knight Rider, a synd dicated version updating the 1980s hit. For all the studios' eagerness, however, they may be too late. Europeans' television habits are as fickl as Americans'. Comedies, once duds overseas be cause of translation difficulties, are becoming more popular. Kirch Group, a German medi company, may launch a comedy channel that with incorporate NBC's Friends and Seinfeld as well some German sitcoms. This new channel also ex emplifies the largest problem American studio will face, namely that European viewers, and Eu ropean governments, want more locally produced fare. "You don't need a quota to tell people that the want to watch local shows. To fight for ratings. Eu ropean broadcasters need their own homegrown stuff," says Amdur. "I think American studios should enjoy the windfall, because they are not going to get it again." This makes sense in theory, but ... German sitcoms? |
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San Francisco ChronicleMay 29, 1997
XENA TV's warrior princess rules over a diverse fan base while expanding her multimedia empire Hail Xena, warrior princess and gender-bending yet mainstream superheroine! Vanquisher of Star Trek, Hercules and nearly every other syndicated TV rival!
Now that the mighty fighter has firmed up her lead on the syndicated action circuit, Xena producers plan to keep her out front by introducing several surprises next season. And her legions of fans are helping to expand her empire with activities and goods ranging from Xena conventions to comic books.
Xena wears a bronze-plated bustier Madonna would envy and a nail-studded leather miniskirt, but she hasn't let all that heavy metal slow her down. In February, just midway through her second TV season, she passed her most fearsome syndicated TV rival, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, in the ratings game. In San Francisco, Xena fans tune into the show on Channel 20 at 9 p.m. Tuesdays; it repeats at 10p.m. Saturdays.
But despite her skimpy outfits, this is no Baywatch babe. Xena is a statuesque superheroine who, with the help of her loyal sidekick Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor), traverses ancient worlds and eras, battling merciless gods and ruthless warlords, and defeating syndicated TV contenders such as Baywatch.
Her arsenal includes Hong Kong-style butt-kicking blows, campy char acters and the ongoing theme of a mythic heroine's attempt to make peace with her dark past as an evil warlord. It doesn't hurt that the series is filmed in the lush woodlands of New Zealand, the homeland of its star, Lucy Lawless. Then there's Xena's fan-pleasing banshee battle cry: "Yi-yi-yi-yi-yi!''
And while Xena is short on clothing, she's long on attitude. As she's defending women from a roving band of rapists, she says to one, "You like shoving women around so much? Try me!''
Picture Jackie Chan meets Wonder Woman, add a dash of Thelma and Louise and you've got Xena.
Next season, the series will feature a musical episode in which Lawless and the cast sing. Viewers can also expect a new villain, said Robert Tapert, who with Sam Raimi produces the Xena and Hercules shows. "We also want to
challenge the bond between Gabrielle and Xena,'' he added.
Until then, ``Xena'' fans can get their fix at Xena-fests, including one in Sacramento this Saturday featuring Hudson Leick, who plays the villain Callisto, and Robert Trevor, who plays Salmoneus. O'Connor and Michael Hurst, who plays Hercules' buddy Iolaus, are slated to appear at a San Francisco convention October 18.
`XENA' PARAPHERNALIA
Fans who attend such shows may even take a little piece of Xena home. At the Burbank convention last January, one bidder paid $8,500 for an official copy of Xena's discus-shaped weapon, called a chakram.
There are less expensive Xena action figures, Halloween costumes, more than 60 Web sites, a CD-ROM and a direct-to-video animated musical due out this fall. Topps Comics will give Xena her own comic book in August.
Xenaphiles have already found succor in three Xena-based novels by Ru Emerson: The Empty Throne, The Huntress and the Sphinx and The Thief of Hermes. The
Oregon-based writer hadn't heard of Xena until her agent suggested she tune in. "The first show I saw opened with a hilarious scene in which Xena takes on 15 goons and flattens 'em all,'' said Emerson, 52. "I hadn't seen anything that good since Emma Peel in The Avengers'!
In TV land, homages to Xena have appeared on ABC sitcoms Ellen and Roseanne and NBC's Something So Right.
But Xena reaches her largest audiences on her own show, where she appeals to viewers on multiple levels. "It's the `Rocky and Bullwinkle' of the '90s, because it offers a lot of sly adult humor but also appeals to kids,'' said Charles Novinskie, 36, a sales manager for Topps Comics. He cites the oft-repeated curse, "Oh, for Gaia's sake!''
TALES OF MORALITY
The married-with-children set may like Xena because the show, while violent, minimizes gore and serves up a morality tale each episode. ``It's a representation of how women's roles have changed in society,'' said Paul Brooks, a soil scientist at the University of California at Berkeley, and father of two young children. "In other shows, women may be physically strong, but they're always helped out by a man
when things get rough. Xena never is. Thirty years ago, a show like this wouldn't have been as accepted as it is today.''
Women often view Xena as an icon of female empowerment. "I love seeing two strong women who have a sense of humor, and who don't take crap from anyone,'' said Miryam Ramos, 39, owner of The Comic Shop in San Leandro. Male fans like the fantasy of a woman in a dominant role, says Sam Liebowitz, 35, of Software Sculptors in New York, which sells an encyclopedic CD-ROM about the Xena and Hercules shows. Adds Liebowitz: "And we like her outfit.''
MORE THAN FRIENDS?
Then there's the don't-ask, don't-tell angle. While Xena may have men in her life, fans such as Julie Hill view Xena and Gabrielle as more than friends. "If you're gay, you pick up on the fact that they're lovers,'' she said, noting that the pair have kissed onscreen.
Hill, 31, helped launch a ``Xena'' viewing night Tuesdays at the Chat House in San Francisco. "Now we're talking about a Xena float in the (June 29) Gay Freedom Day Parade,'' she said.
Executive producer Tapert strives to keep the Xena-Gabrielle relationship ambiguous. "I have a huge following of kids who look at them as absolute role models, so we try to present the broadest picture,'' he said.
But the show playfully pushed the envelope again in a recent episode in which Xena wound up kissing the default winner of the Miss Known World beauty contest. It turned out the winner -- Miss Artiphys -- was really a mister.
LAWLESS LIVES BY HER OWN RULES
Lucy Lawless was born to play a battling babe.
The actress who as Xena kung- fu fights her way through ancient lands, said her origins as the eldest girl in an Irish Catholic family that included four older brothers gave her plenty of on-the-job training for the role.
"At age 10 in a play about the prodigal son,'' said Lawless in a phone interview from her home in in Auckland, New Zealand, "I was the woman who rips him off. I played the tough broad even then.''
Tougher still was accepting her status as an icon of female empowerment. "I was afraid they'd try to copy me,'' she said.
Instead, she found Xena inspired many women to try things they had feared. "One woman wrote to me about how she went out and damn well bought that Harley-Davidson she'd always wanted, and that blew me away,'' she said.
Lawless is about to take on another tough-gal role when she appears as Rizzo in the musical Grease on Broadway this September. She hesitated to talk about how she'll portray the headstrong Rizzo, then added, "You can't help but make choices with lines which are born out of your own personality and history.''
WORLD TRAVELER
Given Lawless' past, she can draw from quite a range of experiences. The daughter of the former mayor of Mount Albert, she enrolled in 1986 at Auckland University to study languages and opera, but soon grew restless.
"I went traveling to Switzerland, Italy and Greece and my boyfriend, Garth Lawless, joined me,'' she said. The couple also traveled to the outback of Australia, where the
then-Lucy Ryan worked for gold-mining companies, mapping and taking soil samples. She soon discovered she was pregnant and the couple married. They returned to Auckland where Daisy, now 8, was born.
COMEDY TROUPE WORK
Determined to act, Lawless landed a job with a comedy troupe on a New Zealand television show called Funny Business. She was working as a co-host for a travel show when she got a call for a role on a Hercules show that eventually led to her own series.
Lawless is divorced and now seeing Robert Tapert, executive producer of Hercules and Xena. Eventually, she hopes to have a larger family. "I want to be a very happy 80-year-old woman. And for me, that means having more of a family. And kids require time.''
Lawless claims she's not particularly interested in developing a film career, at least not while she's playing Xena. "Being a warrior princess is a full-time job,'' she
said. |
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Yahoo Internet MagazineMay 1997
Lucy Lawless speaks with an interviewer about TPTB's attitudes toward ratings and the power of margins Lawless also discusses the role of the Internet and the fans in her life and during her injury
"Xena, much like myself, doesn't think a thing about what she's wearing, if it's acceptable or not."
"Nobody wanted to put on a female hero show, so we always felt like the underdog and we still do."
"I'm more worried about my taxes and will the tomatoes in my garden rot than controlling my image."
YIL: Is it ever a disadvantage to be living and working so far away from Hollywood?
LAWLESS: It's an advantage in every way. My daughter can go to the same school she's always gone to and nobody bothers about it. My family is here, so I always have a support network. It keeps you grounded.
YIL: Might you be less grounded in L.A.?
LAWLESS: God, yes. "Grounded" isn't the word most people use when they are describing those in L.A., particularly those in the entertainment business. People who have always known you are not going to let you get too big for your boots. The attention that comes from a successful TV show is really nice but you should only have it in miniature doses-like chocolate.
YIL: Do you enjoy L.A. when you visit?
LAWLESS: I love it. I've got wonderful friends there. But it's always good to get home. And it's not like I'm that far away. I've got the phone and fax machine-and the Net.
YIL: The Net makes you feel closer?
LAWLESS: It's easier to keep in touch now than it ever was. It's one of the great things about the computer.
YIL: Is e-mail the solution for communicating across all those time zones?
LAWLESS: Yes, but I'm careful because I don't want many people to get my address; I'm just shy of neurotic about my privacy. But among friends, e-mail is fantastic. It's so immediate, isn't it? I love coming home and finding e-mail from friends. The telephone's one thing, but I can read my e-mail when I get home at 11 o'clock at night and write back even if it's two in the morning in America and not bug anyone who is asleep.
YIL: Do you also go online to talk to fans?
LAWLESS: When I do, I go through somebody at work. Besides the privacy issue, I go through the official channels so that people know it's actually me. When I've gone online on my own, the truth is I've gotten into trouble, goofing around when I was ill.
YIL: Was that when you fell off your horse on the "Xena" set?
LAWLESS: Yes. I broke my pelvis. I couldn't sleep and sat up in the middle of the night and went online.
YIL: To where?
LAWLESS: I joined a conversation about "Xena," which was a mistake. At first, I was encouraged to talk; they thought I was some rather shy person who was also a very slow typist. With all that encouragement, I felt the pressure to say something and I made some jokey comment about Xena not being real. The people in the room were appalled. "I can't believe what she said." It was the worst possible thing you could ever say about Xena, apparently. I got flamed and they all left me there.
YIL: So it wasn't a positive experience.
LAWLESS: No, though there have also been many positive ones. During that time there was an outpouring of kind wishes from fans that came in: get-well notes from around the world, many via the Internet. I got heaps. And I have to say, they really did cheer me up in some pretty dark moments in the night. It was the first time I got a sense of the community out there. Now I carry it with me. If I go on some talk show I can breathe a bit easier; I don't have a panic attack because I have a sense of who the people are out there, that they are people I know.
YIL: Have you seen all the "Xena" sites?
LAWLESS: How can you possibly look at them all? I have seen some and I'm really impressed by them. They all have a slightly different mood. They're just awfully crazed and funny.
YIL: Does it stun you that you're the focus of so much attention?
LAWLESS: It's not real to me. It's absolutely not real. It has nothing really to do with my daily life. Real life is the cliché: You get up and put your pants on one foot at a time like everybody else. Then you go out and water the garden or clean up the dishes from the night before.
YIL: Xena does dishes?
LAWLESS: She does. That's what I think about. I'm not thinking about ratings.
YIL: Though the show's ratings are apparently rising.
LAWLESS: Yes and we are gratified, of course; we're making something that we are really proud of and we want people to like it.
YIL: Has the Internet been important in the show's rise-keeping the buzz going, the fans involved, creating a place for the Xenites to congregate?
LAWLESS: I think it has been, though frankly, we're so busy trying to get our work done each day that it's hard to know how it all works. Everyone on the show, the crew and the cast, are actually amazed when we meet hard-core fans. We kind of look at them like they're specimens and ask them questions. We're just fascinated. Maybe it hasn't sunk in; we've only been making the show 18 months.
YIL: It has been the same 18 months that the Internet has taken off and been used by masses of people throughout the world.
LAWLESS: Yes, and it has brought with it something remarkable. Television itself is obviously a powerful medium, reaching the wide world. The Internet covers the same territory but offers something else. It's not just a one-way thing anymore. They're all connecting up. They're diverse and widespread, but it's a tight-knit community.
YIL: United by "Xena."
LAWLESS: It's not just "Xena." Every interest is represented. There is the community of Xenites and the community of people obsessed with everything else you can think
of.
YIL: Many young women online seem to look to you as a role model. Is there a responsibility that comes with that? Do you take it seriously?
LAWLESS: I take it as seriously as I believe I should. I try not to behave in a way that could encourage someone else to do anything they shouldn't, just in case. I don't smoke; I don't want people thinking that that's OK to do. At the same time, I can't imagine why anybody would want to be like me.
YIL: But like Xena?
LAWLESS: Yeah, I guess I do see why they might like to be like Xena. So I do take it as seriously as I should but no more than that. I'm not letting it dominate my life. If I did, I'd be an unhappy woman.
YIL: Too self-conscious?
LAWLESS: Yes. You can't live your life. You'd be too self-conscious to make mistakes and experience life.
YIL: Do most fans understand that you are not Xena?
LAWLESS: Some people are a little confused, but not many. When you meet me in person, I'm wildly different. For starters, my hair's a different color. I talk funny. I'm a goofy sort of person. In fact, people always say they can't believe I play her though I look a little like her.
YIL: Have you gotten a sense of who the typical Xenite is?
LAWLESS: They're all called Becky or Bob.
YIL: Becky or Bob?
LAWLESS: An awful lot seem to be.
YIL: And what are they like?
LAWLESS: I know I like them. They are all types.
YIL: What do they get from "Xena"?
LAWLESS: I think there are a lot of women out there who are very encouraged to go out and do things that they feel they should have done, they've always wanted to do and denied themselves. Now that their kids are grown, they feel inspired to do that by watching a female hero, two, actually [including Gabrielle]. They also seem inspired by the model of a great friendship between Gabrielle and me and the great self-determination of these women.
YIL: What do the Bobs get?
LAWLESS: If nothing else, they see females in a different role on television.
YIL: Is that why feminists have embraced you, even putting you on the cover of Ms.?
LAWLESS: I suppose. And I'm thrilled, by the way. I'm thrilled that women are encouraged to follow their dreams and I am equally pleased that young men are getting a new view of women: an unapologetic woman.
YIL: How would you describe the women mostly portrayed on TV?
LAWLESS: The opposite. All the stereotypes. Whereas Xena is an assertive woman and yet honorable, though it may not always be in her nature to act honorably.
YIL: And she's very sexual. How much of the attention is because of that?
LAWLESS: I'm sure it's part of it. All television is at least 5 percent eye candy. We try to keep it between 5 and 10 percent.
YIL: With the rest being...?
LAWLESS: Content, and maybe a little style. And even Xena's sexuality isn't a simple cliché. No matter how sexy Xena is, it's very unself-conscious. Xena, much like myself, doesn't think a thing about what she's wearing, if it's acceptable or not.
YIL: She doesn't wear much.
LAWLESS: She wears those things because they're better to fight in. They are comfortable. It doesn't get in your way like trousers.
YIL: The show seems to encourage the speculation that Xena and Gabrielle could be lovers. Is it intentional?
LAWLESS: We find it mildly amusing and then we just get on with our day. We love all our audience: all colors, races, creeds, sexuality. And I have to say that we do want to push the boundaries of what's acceptable on television. Nobody wanted to put on a female hero show, so we always felt like the underdog and we still do. We're just going to keep our nose to the grindstone and keep challenging mores. We don't want to make blancmange.
YIL: Blancmange?
LAWLESS: It's a French white pudding made out of God knows what. It's bland, nothing. That's what we don't want to make. We mean to make a path and be radical and challenging.
YIL: Do you think you're allowed to do things on the show because it is made so far from Hollywood?
LAWLESS: Definitely. More to the point, it's because we're not on a network. Network shows are usually ruled by consensus.
YIL: Yet many of TV's best shows are indeed network shows.
LAWLESS: Generally [made] by producers with the clout to have everyone leave them alone. Well, we can, too. For us, the buck stops with our executive producers. We can experiment. We can make exciting television.
YIL: Much of the Internet itself is about individuals expressing themselves and being who they are. There's no consensus. Is there a connection with "Xena"?
LAWLESS: There is. I've thought about it. It's people communicating from outside the establishment. There's another thing that ties us together, I think. I don't want anyone to be offended, but there is a similar type of nutball who might be on the computer day and night and who might go to a Star Trek convention or otherwise gravitate towards cult television or some other form of pop culture. They have this funky taste. They're hip without necessarily being part of the hip world outside. They're hip in their own funky way, in their own studios, in their own offices, in their computer rooms. They're influencing pop culture in a more underground kind of way. I think they are people that might like a show like mine. Computer nerds like it.
YIL: Have you looked at the fan fiction that some of these nerds create?
LAWLESS: I've seen some very funny stuff. My favorite story was one about Xena and Gabrielle going on MTV. Cindy Crawford is on the show and Xena says to Cindy, "Hold on, Cindy, you've got something on your face." She pulls out a whip and flicks it at her and knocks off her mole. It falls right off her face. I read that and howled with laughter. The fact is, there is that kind of subversive, ironic flavor that we use a lot in our show. There are certain twists in our psyche and I think that's part of our appeal.
YIL: Are you aware of the online discussions about the historical liberties taken in the show?
LAWLESS: Yes, but we don't care much about chronology. We have Julius Caesar one week and Jesus Christ the next. People mustn't worry their pretty little heads about it.
YIL: Do you feel it's an invasion that your image is so prevalent online?
LAWLESS: Not really. There are so many things out of my control and I'm just going to let them go. It's part of my job, giving pleasure.
YIL: Which you're happy to do.
LAWLESS: Sure. If it makes somebody smile to have your picture in the front of his school book or on his computer screen, well, good job. Isn't that an honor. I'm more worried about my taxes and will the tomatoes [in my garden] rot than controlling my image.
YIL: Have you checked out the Web's martial arts sites?
LAWLESS: No. I am much more likely to look up hockey scores to see how the Detroit Red Wings are doing.
YIL: How did a Kiwi end up a fan of the Detroit Red Wings?
LAWLESS: My man is from Detroit. I just got hooked on hockey. I've never really been into sports as a spectator so it's weird. That's my obsession.
YIL: What's your favorite sports site?
LAWLESS: I look at all of them. And I must say that they aren't as fancy as the "Xena" sites that people create. I guess it means people spend a lot more time making their home pages for "Xena." |
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PlayboyMay 1997
20 Questions - Lucy Lawless
What do you say to a woman with jet-black hair and piercing baby blues who also wears a leather battle dress, twirls a sword and gives you a saucy don't-fuck-with-me smile? We don't think it's "spank me," even if you've done something very wrong. Better to back up quickly. That's what most foes do weekly on "Xena: Warrior Princess," starring New Zealand actress Lucy Lawless.
Spun off from "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys," "X:WP" quickly became a top syndicated show. According to "Ms." magazine, its mythical heroine is a role model for women of all ages, everywhere. There's also plenty in "X:WP" for guys who appreciate a postmodern kick-ass warrior gal from across the sea of time. Lawless, 29, plays Xena with grit and style, doing many of her own stunts. Plus, she gets to love and loathe gods, battle tyrants and Cyclopes and ride the classical world while her trusty sidekick Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor) walks.
The show is funny, too. And using the relationship between Xena and Gabrielle, it doesn't mind playing with your fantasies, either. We asked Contributing Editor David Rensin, who never misses the show, to meet with Lawless. She was recuperating from the pelvis-fracturing fall she took last October while filming a skit for "The Tonight Show." Says Rensin, "Lucy may have an American accent on the show, but in person she speaks flawless New Zealand English. She glided to the front door in a wheelchair and welcomed me with hearty good cheer. Then she asked me to get her a rolling office chair, switched seats and prepared a delicious brunch of garlic and tomato on toasted shepherd's bread. I kept my eyes peeled for the sword, though."
playboy: How much fun can you have with a name like yours?
lawless: I did toy with Rita Reckless for a time, but that's not as good as Lucy Lawless. Lawless is my ex-husband's name. The implications never occurred to me until after I got married. I recall holding my head in my hands, sobbing, "Oh no, people will never take me seriously with a name like this!" I got over it. It's actually a good name. In fact, I believe that I couldn't have thought up a better name for somebody who plays a warrior princess.
2.
playboy: Xena's costume is not only aesthetically compelling, it's also a marvel of structural engineering. Were other styles tried? What's more flattering, a Wonderbra or a breastplate?
lawless: The first time Xena appeared on the Hercules series, her costume was black and malevolent. It had big claw-like epaulets and a cape. The producers thought it was too evil for a hero, so we changed it to brown and made it a little more audience-friendly. However, I miss the original outfit because it was sexyl I also miss it because it was more comfortable. The current costume has a longer bodice, and it feels like my whole abdomen is in a straitjacket. The first left me more free to move. The Wonderbra and the breastplate work together just fine. You can't have one without the other. In fact, Xena has only one costume. She's a minimalist. Besides, you can't just buy these things off the rack, now or in ancient times.
3.
playboy: What did you have to do to land the role that made you famous? Were the gods looking out for you?
lawless: I didn't even know about Xena. The role fell to me. Everyone the producers tried to give it to got sick or pulled out. I got it because I was there and had done a couple of non-Xena parts in Hercules TV movies. When the call came I was on holiday, fighting the flu, trying to give my daughter the camping experience. We were in some Podunk town. They had shut down the paper for three days, and in the last edition were the three days' horoscopes. We were reading these things and laughing our heads off. Mine said: "Fame and fortune await you. Overseas travel. This could be the big one. You'll get a call from overseas." I got the call to be Xena that day.
4.
playboy: Do you now regularly consult the stars?
lawless: I'm loath to believe in New Age mumbo jumbo. It wouldn't occur to me to consult my horoscope unless it came across my gaze as I was flipping to the comics. But these things do happen. When I was in Turkey during our last hiatus, we were told that a young girl, the cousin of the wife of our guide, had a prodigious talent for telling fortunes from coffee grounds. You drink thick Turkish coffee from small cups, leaving the sludge. You put a saucer on top and flip it all over and leave it to cool. Then the fortune-teller lifts the cup, and the more suction, the stronger the fortune inside or the more potent the news. My cup would hardly come off. She said, "You'll do well for yourself and make a bunch of money," and all sorts of other stuff, things about people dying and other things I had no interest in believing. But later, after the accident on The Tonight Show, my traveling companion came to see me in the hospital and said, "How about that fortune-teller?" I said, "Well, she talked a lot of crap, didn't she?" He said, "But remember how she said there would be a man with a big chin or a long face [Jay Leno] and that pain would be involved?" I said, "Oh my God!"
5.
playboy: What's your best advice for anyone who has to deal with the gods? Does pantheism make for a more interesting life than monotheism?
lawless: If you piss off the gods, you have to have a good escape route. They're an argumentative bunch, and if you're smart, you can turn them on one another instead of on yourself. Monotheism is a lot simpler. You have only one god to bother with. But pantheism has its advantages because people can blame lots of other influences for their own behavior. Personally, I'm still dealing with this god concept. I am a recovering Catholic. Still, I don't want to have a lot of gods. Imagine having to assuage all those egos. One is more than I can handle.
6.
playboy: You are fair-skinned. How come Xena is so tan?
lawless: It's partly my fault. In the beginning I pushed for her to look busty and sexy and dark, like those statues in Madrid, big and curvaceous and bronzed, with a mane of hair. I imagined something Gabriela Sabatini-esque, but with brains. So they paint on the tan with a sponge and it takes about five minutes. It takes a lot longer to get it off. My bathroom is a mess, and I hate cleaning tile grout.
7.
playboy: Xena has to sleep on the ground. Do you recommend it?
lawless: The woman's mad. I like the Four Seasons Hotel in Chicago, the ancient, mythological equivalent of which would be some bum boy following you around laying his cape over puddles.
8.
playboy: During the show's first season, Ms. suggested that Xena was a feminist icon for our times. In this postfeminist era, what does feminism mean to you?
lawless: The maturing of women, who are 51 percent of the society. There will come a day when women will say, "What do you mean, subjugated?" When I came here and was hit with all this "You're an icon, we need you," I was taken aback because it had never really been an issue in my life. People may find it hard to believe, but I am blessed to be the recipient of nearly a hundred years of suffrage in New Zealand. Women in New Zealand had the vote before other women anywhere else in the world. My mother is an influential woman in the community. I'm not saying that women in New Zealand are treated better than they are anywhere else. But I am saying that we're pretty strong because it was a hard land to colonize. We've retained that get-on-with-it attitude.
9.
playboy: If Xena were to marry Hercules, what labors would she require him to do around the house?
lawless: He would be very handy for picking up that centaur poop. However, no one's yet written that episode because it's so, well, unattractive. She'd have him in a French maid's outfit. She'd subjugate him, make him wear a collar. Actually, I doubt the wisdom of a match between Xena and Hercules. He's innately good-natured, and her pendulum swings violently. It would just be a vortex of misery. Xena would be whining to Gabrielle, "He's not passionate enough! He's so nice." I see a match made in hell.
10.
playboy: Clearly the show likes to provoke its audience. For instance, in some women's prisons, inmates reportedly enjoy Xena nights. Even though Xena and her trusty sidekick Gabrielle have male lovers, their relationship seems intentionally ambiguous. Is it?
lawless: Xena nights in prisons? Good lord. Although we're very happy to have every constituency under the sun, we never pander to any particular section of our audience. We simply want to make a show that we, the twisted individuals who make it, want to watch. We like to shock, but not too hard. We don't want to alienate. We don't have to be moralistic, either. We're not trying to change the world, we just want to entertain. We take delight in twisting it just a little when the audience is getting comfortable. We want to shake them up. For instance, the first couple of episodes this season were gentle, emotional, heartstring pullers. And then we wrote a fast-paced, almost rock- video-girlie- vampires-on-the-moon Halloween episode in which Gabrielle bites Xena on the neck. We shot in slow motion, close up. We laughed so much when we did that.
11.
playboy: Gabrielle is a great friend, almost a sister, perhaps more. She and Xena will defend each other to the death. But can she borrow your cloak?
lawless: No. She can get up on my horse, but she can't touch my weapons. She has to keep her hands off the chakram. She's allowed to rub my shoulders, but she's not allowed to play with my hair. She can't use my toothbrush. That's reserved for the fourth season.
12.
playboy: Let's talk about interspecies mating. In one of the early Hercules TV movies, before you were Xena, you played the bride of a centaur. What are the wifely duties when your husband is half man, half horse? What do you do when he's feeling his oats? Does neigh really mean nay to a centaur?
lawless: First, you've got to carry around a spade. It's like owning a dog in Los Angeles. You also have to pick stuff out of their feet and keep laying down new straw. When he feels his oats you sow them, but neigh really does mean nay, even in ancient times.
13.
playboy: What sort of ancient decor do you have in your home?
lawless: I have some breakaway Grecian urns for smashing people over the head. And I always keep a sword from the show in the back of my car. It's rubber-covered metal and quite weighty. I need to practice a lot.
14.
playboy: Have you been invited to lecture to university classics departments?
lawless: No. [Smiles] I get letters from professors, but none with university logos on them.
15.
playboy: Name three things that start with x, not including xylophone, Xerox or X ray.
lawless: A good question, but not quite fair. Let's see: xenophobia, Xavier . . . oh, what's another one? I'll kick myself.
I don't know. But I'll tell you this story: The reason Xena is spelled with an X is that Rob Tapert, the show's executive producer and co-creator, learned it from Dino De Laurentiis. De Laurentiis said that if you spell the word with an X, "kids will understand." And he's right. I remember so clearly being a kid and thinking that Xs were really attractive. They're not used much and they're a cool symbol. And only interesting words start with an X. It has kid appeal, and everybody has a kid inside somewhere. Besides, what does a Z mean? It means sleep. Zzzzz. Snoring.
16.
playboy: As a princess of sorts, what's your advice to other royals? Should Diana and Fergie get real jobs? Should they go out and fight evil?
lawless: Should they lop off their ex-husband's heads? Knocking of royals is part of a proud tradition. Yeah, definitely, get a bloody job. Keep out of the tabloids. Learn a bit of discretion. Or, they could just abolish the monarchy.
17.
playboy: Even though New Zealanders and Americans technically speak the same language, there are probably words that are innocent in one country but faux pas in the other. What should the American traveler not say?
lawless: Fanny pack. We say bum bag, because fannies in New Zealand are not located at the back. They're at the, uh, other side, round the front. [Laughs] Also, knickers are underpants. And all my life I've heard people say, "Oh, bugger off" or "Well, bugger me!" In my country no one thinks about what that really means. It's just an expression, like "Blow me down with a feather." But in America it's a different story. We also say "Good on ya" a lot. It's like a blessing, "Good for you," a word of encouragement. One American producer thought we were saying "Get on ya," and he'd reply, "Well, get on me, then!" He would laugh and we'd try to be polite and go "Ha-ha, what the hell is he laughing at?" It took us a year and a half to figure that out. Also, people down under don't understand the generosity of the American spirit. In America, if you catch somebody's eye you'll say, "How are ya?" If you do that in New Zealand, and I've seen this time and time again with Americans who come down, people turn away quickly. They're embarrassed. Eye contact with strangers is impolite.
18.
playboy: What would a shrink tell Xena?
lawless: "Lighten up!" The devil's in her gut and the angel's in her heart, and her head has to get the two together. Her gut reaction is fight, not flight. I think she realizes she has to change. No, she realizes there's a need for redemption, but she doesn't recognize that she has to change. I like the way the audience thinks it knows her better than she does. The audience feels closer to her than she does to herself. She's a good person who doesn't think she is. I love her just as she is. I'm astounded when people say she's moody or grim. The shrink just better hope she doesn't bring her sword to the office. One mention of Prozac and she'd take him out.
19.
playboy: How did you come up with Xena's battle cry?
lawless: It's a really good sound. You don't want to do it in a small space. Our executive producers wanted the Arabic warble, the tongue goes from side to side and then up, but it's a difficult movement that I couldn't master. But this one came easily and I can do it loud and prolonged without ruining my throat. It seems useful. Some people hated it at first, but it's like Tarzan: You need these gimmicks. Same reason Xena does acrobatic flips when she could walk. More gimmicks. Let's face it.
20.
playboy: What's Xena's vacation fantasy?
lawless: A biennial sailing trip to Lesbos. |
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San Francisco ChronicleJune 17, 1997
'Xena' benefits from Gabrielle
Editor: I really enjoyed Laura Evenson's article (''TV's Warrior Princess Rules Over a Diverse Fan Base While Expanding Her Multimedia Empire,'' May 29) on ''Xena: Warrior Princess.'' It is my favorite TV show, which still surprises me. I did not
start watching Xena until this year; I thought it was just a female version of ''Hercules'' or ''Baywatch.'' What makes ''Xena'' different from the usual campy action show is its
quieter moments, usually between Xena and her sidekick, Gabrielle, which give the characters depth and make them, and the show, a bit more interesting.
I was disappointed, however, that Renee O'Connor received only a passing mention as Gabrielle. Unfortunately, Renee's contribution to the success of the show is usually overlooked. Gabrielle is much more than the typical sidekick who is around
to provide comic relief, to be rescued and to tell the heroine how wonderful she is. The friendship between Xena and Gabrielle is the heart of the show; ''Xena'' really is a buddy show. Without O'Connor's strong, mature performances and the great
chemistry between her and Lucy Lawless, the show would not be the runaway hit it is.
In all the articles I have read on ''Xena,'' the violence on the show is passed over with the usual arguments that it is comical and also acceptable in the context of the story, with the good guys/gals winning.
Other people, such as Chuck Norris, have been criticized for using these arguments. Given that violent crime has dropped in this country for the fifth year in a row, maybe the tone and context of the violence in a show, whether it is a raised voice or a raised sword, are much more important in how people react to the violence than the anti-violence crusaders had thought. Maybe ''Xena's'' popularity will help take some of the emotion out of the TV violence debate and allow for a more reasoned
examination of the issue. |
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React For TeensJune 16-22, 1997
Xena Warrior Princess From A - Z
She's big, she's bad, she's buff and she's got an awesome battle cry. Here's the scoop on TV's hottest heroine.
Ever since Xena: Warrior Princess debuted in the fall of 1995, people just can't get enough of this iron maiden. Whether you've seen all 40-plus episodes or haven't seen any, we're here to help you brush up on your Xena glossary with a handy-dandy A to Z guide. After all, a good warrior princess, or prince, for that matter, is always prepared.
Auckland, New Zealand. The land next to the Land Down Under (that's Australia) where Xena is filmed. Auckland is also the home of the series' star, Lucy Lawless.
Bride with White Hair, The. The Hong Kong action movie that inspired the makers of Hercules to invent a warrior princess character of their own.
Chakram. The razor-sharp ring that Xena throws at people, people she's really mad at. Ouch.
Daisy. The name of single-mom Lucy Lawless' 9-year-old daughter.
Enemy, The name is Callisto (Hudson Leick). Sort of like a really mean version of Jenny McCarthy.
Five-foot-11. The actual height of 29-year-old Lawless, minus her boots.
Gabrielle. Xena's spunky, sunny sidekick. Played by Texas native Renee O'Connor.
Hercules. Mythical Greek strongman. When Xena and Hercules (Kevin Sorbo) first met, it was murder. Literally. Xena wanted to kill the guy—she was a little, well, misguided in those days. Soon Xena buried the hatchet with Here and vowed to give up a life of random pillaging. She was rewarded with a TV series of her own.
Internet. Xena's domain extends into cyberspace. There are hundreds of Xena sites, including the all-Spanish site Xena: La Princesa Guerrera. Check out many Xena links through virtually react: www.react.com
Joxer (Ted Raimi). A frequent guest warrior, and comic foil for our deadly serious Xena. Also the brother of Sam Raimi, executive producer of Xena and the maker of bizarre (yet hip) movies like Evil Dead and The Quick and the Dead.
Kismet Also known as destiny. Lawless landed her leather crusader role when the actress originally slated to play Xena on three episodes of Hercules got sick. Faster than you can say, "Yi, yi, yi, yi," Lawless got the gig.
Love. Yes, Xena does sometimes find herself in the arena of love. Some of her more prominent suitors include Marcus, a man from the past who popped back into Xena's life during the first season, and Ulysses, cute King of Ithaca, from last season.
Musical. Xena goes from Greece to Grease! From Sept. 2 to Oct. 19, Lawless will take on the role of the gum-smacking Rizzo in the Broadway musical. (What? You were expecting her to play sweet Sandy?)
National anthem. In case you missed the hype, Lawless belted out the national anthem for a hockey game several weeks back. Unfortunately, just as she hit a high note, her strapless costume didn't exactly rise to the occasion. Oops.
Opera. Lawless' voice training at Auckland University almost led to a career warbling Madam Butterfly instead of battling barbaric enemies. Guess that's where she got the ear-shattering war cry, huh?
Pelvis. Bone that Lawless fractured last October while filming a skit for The Tonight Show.
Quirky. The best way to describe the: lime zone in the show. Usually it's set in The age of "ancient gods, warlords, and kings." to the Xenaverse. however, our heroine can sometimes pop up in weird places like Macedonia, circa 1940. Alrighty then.
Renewed. That's right, the syndicated show was. picked up for another two Seasons. Check your local TV listings If things keep going, the way ihey are, we could be watching Xena into the 21 Century.
Sound track. The Xena CD features music from series by composer Joseph LoDuca. Ms Lawless herself one number called "Burial."
Toys. You know you've made it big when they make an action figure of your likeness. Check out the 5- and 10-inch Xenas. now collectors' items. Sword, chakram. bow and arrow included, of course,
U and 1 million other fans watch Xena some mythical rear end every {Yeah, yeah, so we're fudging
a bit on the one. U try coming up with something for "U.")
Video. Hercules & Xena: The Animated Movie is coming to video stores this fall Yep, your favorite leather-clad heroes in cartoon form.
Wizards of the Screen. A new live-action Hercules and Xena show debuting this summer at Universal Studios in Florida. Xena touch.' A variation on die old Mr. Spock "death grip" from Star Trek. An effective two-fingered pressure-point technique that Xena uses to zap foes silly.
Yoga. Lawless' workout routine. To make her battle scenes more realistic, she also has studied basic kung fu moves and sword-fighting techniques.
Zena. Greek name, meaning "guest" or "stranger." Also spelled (you guessed it "xena." An apt moniker for our wandering heroine. |
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HX For HerJune 1997
Xena-Mania Sweeps the City!
RILED-UP FANS GATHER TO REVEL IN THE WARRIOR PRINCESS'S DYKE APPEAL
IT'S the second Tuesday of the month at Meow Mix, aka Xena night, and regular attendee Dara Eskenazi is nervous because the first episode of Xena: Warrior Princess is about to begin and two of the other most devoted fans have not yet arrived.
"I'm saving them seats at the bar," she says, pacing anxiously between the stools and the front door. Finally they burst in and it feels like a family reunion, with hugs and kisses and playful apologies for lateness.
Eskenazi, a 37-year-old schoolteacher, is one of about 20 hard-core fans who gather around Meow Mix's television each month to view three pretaped Xena episodes and to bond with other "Xenites" about their favorite superhero. She and her girlfriend make the trek from their home in Valley Stream, Long Island, and they explain that while they originally got hooked on Xena and her sidekick Gabrielle because "they were both so cute," their now full-blown obsession is based on much more.
"Xena is a strong female who doesn't need a male to succeed or to prove herself," Eskenazi says. "It's something that's been needed [on television] for so long."
She is far from alone in her undying admiration for the character (and for the lusty actress who plays her, Lucy Lawless). Tonight, close to 100 women (and several men) are packed into the place, along with a CNN camera crew that has come to film the quirky evening for national TV viewers. The fans, already documented by a story printed in Entertainment Weekly magazine earlier this year, are by now unfazed by the spotlight, and whoop it up even louder than usual for the cameras.
Meow Mix is also not the only Xena game in town. A weekly Saturday-afternoon gathering has been taking place at the East Village's Boiler Room ever since Xena hit the airwaves in 1995. Organized by bartender Joe Hepworth, the party attracts a small crowd of devoted male and female fans who enjoy the show's campiness.
And in the lesbian social hub of Park Slope, Brooklyn, Rising Cafe has started hosting its own weekly Xena night on Tuesdays "cause she's a babe and she kicks butt," according to cafe employee and Xena fan Shannon Baumann, who is responsible for taping the episodes each week. The regular gathering, which started in mid-May, has already attracted close to 30 fans, and was just switched from 7:30 to 8pm to accommodate women who take a night class at Brooklyn Women's Martial Arts and didn't want to miss a chance to meet others who share in their admiration of the ironclad diva.
Meow Mix's Xena party, which will celebrate its one-year anniversary on June 10, was founded by bar employee Andrea, aka Big Mamma Freak, because her television had bad reception and she needed a place to watch her favorite show, according to co-host and Xena video archivist Montana. Also, she says, Andrea's girlfriend "hated Xena," so it was best that she not watch it at home. The crowd quickly formed from there, and the night really took off.
Big Mamma has since moved to Los Angeles, and drag king/DJ Lizerace has filled her shoes since then, at the behest of bar owner Brooke Webster. Montana, who tapes and catalogs the shows and edits out commercials, says that she sometimes organizes certain episodes for special Xena theme nights like "lesbian subtext night" or "Gabrielle night."
For those who have not yet caught on to the craze, Xena: Warrior Princess, a Renaissance Pictures production for MCA TV, is a spin-off of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. The show, which is about to enter its second season, is set in ancient times, in a treacherous mythical world filled with capricious gods and greedy tyrants. Surrounded by barbaric tribes, slave traders and countless other evils, Xena (Lawless) is on a mission to protect and defend the powerless, freeing them from tyranny and injustice. She works closely with her younger protegee, Gabrielle, played by Renee O'Connor, and often risks her life to save her "best friend."
Montana, who has been a part of Meow Mix's Xena night since its inception, says she has watched it grow from a regular gathering of 10 to 15 people to at least 30 or 40, even in the freezing months of January and February.
"People here have rearranged their work nights to be here," she says proudly, adding that the all-are-welcome attitude brings in women who might not normally spend their time hobnobbing in bars. "The only prerequisite is that you're a Xena fan," she says. "We don't care if you have three heads."
And although there are no three-headed monsters in attendance, the crowd is anything but uniform, with fortyish dyke couples who have come from New Jersey, Long Island and out of the neighborhood; to a few straight men who have wandered in by accident and are staying for the fun; to baby dykes from New York University. One young woman, Mila, has brought along her mom, who is visiting from Germany.
"I just wanted to show my mom," Mila says, explaining that her mother had always taught her to fight back. Xena is "the first girl who would go into a bar and, if someone is bullshitting her, she's like boom\" she says, popping her fist into the air.
"It's about being strong and kicking back. It's beyond just a stupid adventure series," she adds, her mother nodding in agreement and laughing aloud at Xena's campy on-screen antics.
Marsha Weiler, 42, who lives in New Jersey and sits at the bar right in front of the screen, is one of the hard-core fans who never misses a Xena night at Meow Mix. Also a Star Trek fan, she says she instantly related to the premise of Xena, as well as to the relationship between the princess and Gabrielle.
"I love the fact that it's subtle," she says about the hinted-at lesbian relationship. "I don't feel that Xena has to come out." |
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Scotland On SundayJuly 6, 1997
Warrior Woman
Channel 5 Has Finally Chosen Well - A Camp, Sexy, Action-Packed Fantasy Series With Bags Of Attitude
SADDLE a series with the dread epithet 'camp' and it tends to have a short shelf-life. The C word implies style over substance, a refusal to take itself seriously that swiftly palls on the essentially literal medium of TV.
Just occasionally though, a show can be so flamboyantly over the top that its extremes become its raison d'etre and it tips over from campness into the more lucrative realms of a genuine cult. Wild Palms never quite pulled it off, Xena: Warrior
Princess does so effortlessly.
Already aired on Sky, the American-made fantasy adventure series reaches a wider audience from next Saturday on Channel 5. If trends in the States, where the show pulls in bigger audiences than Star Wars or Baywatch, are any indication, the channel could soon be enjoying its first substantial hit.
When you first clap eyes on Xena: Warrior Princess your jaw drops and just keeps dropping. Set in a Hollywood Ancient Greece populated by centaurs, Cyclops (Cyclopses? Cyclopi?) and Californian he-men, with dialogue along the lines of "so you really knew Oedipus, wow, what was the guy like?" the show cheerfully steals its backdrop and its sense of anachronistic fun from those Sixties Ray Harryhausen movies.
But that's not the point. Across this canvas sprawls the mighty Xena, played by the strapping and brilliantly named New Zealander Lucy Lawless. Clad in her metallic Wonderbra and a skirt made of leather thongs, Xena somersaults through the air,
clamping her muscular thighs round the scrawny necks of undeserving blokes, bellowing out her trademark war yodel, sneering at the feeble threats of mere menfolk, her soft words strictly reserved for faithful sidekick Gabrielle ( Renee O'Connor).
On the surface Xena is a brilliant example of a character designed to please everybody. A scantily-clad, raven-haired action heroine isn't going to disappoint that section of the male audience currently ogling Anna Kournikova's lithe limbs at
Wimbledon, but on the other hand a female protagonist who regularly proves herself tougher, smarter and wittier than men has a genuine feminist appeal.
As it turns out Lawless plays Xena with such gleeful panache that you soon stop worrying about the sexual politics. To hear her talk about the character, you know the actress is more than half in love.
"The devil's in her gut, and the angel's in her heart," she says, "and her head has to get the two together.
Her gut reaction is fight not flight.
She realises there's a need for her redemption, but she doesn't recognise that she has to change. I like the way the audience thinks it knows her better than she does.
The audience feels closer to her than she does to herself. She's a good person who doesn't think she is. I love her just as she is. I'm astounded when people say she's moody or grim."
Xena started out as a mere supporting player in the parent show, Hercules - The Legendary Journeys. Lawless's character proved so popular that the producers Sam Raimi and Robert Tapert (they of Evil Dead notoriety) gave her her own spin-off. In an
uncharacteristic piece of Hollywood stupidity they attempted to cast an American in the role but Zeus struck down the Yank with a nasty illness and Lawless was allowed to reclaim Xena, turning her into what Vanity Fair described as "a dominatrix the whole family can enjoy".
All America loves Xena, but the series has a particularly high profile among female viewers, suggesting a fondness for a female character who is the exact opposite of a hair-flicking Jennifer Aniston sweetie.
US TV critic Joe Queenan is in no doubt that Xena is a Good Thing .
"Sure I admire Lawless's aerodynamic achievements," he says, "but the real reason I like the programme is because she makes such an impressive role model for girls like my 12-year-old daughter. Because at heart the message of the show is 'Men are
jerks. If you want to get ahead in this world buy an axe.'" Lawless herself puts it more gently: "There are a lot of people out there who have suffered from some kind of abuse - women, gays, kids, and they all relate to Xena. She's always fighting the good fight. I have met a heap of women that seem to be incredibly inspired by the show, and not inspired to be like Xena, but inspired to be themselves.
They use the word empowered.
And it's good for little boys to see a strong woman in a starring role, a multi-dimensional character."
Note that Lawless slipped in 'gay' there. Unusually for a syndicated American series Xena: Warrior Princess has not only refused to play down its homosexual overtones, it has positively encouraged them.
The internet buzzes with discussions on the show's "Sapphic subtext", and indeed you don't have to look far for examples of same-sex tendresse between Xena and Gabrielle.
They are forever caressing each other's hair, pulling off each other's boots, kissing each other's cheeks or engaging in giggling skinny-dipping sessions. When Xena has a male love-interest it's invariably with some ulterior motive (information or power). When Gabrielle has a boyfriend he always ends up dead (usually courtesy of Xena). All of which has had sapphically inclined viewers acclaiming the first lesbian
heroine of a major drama hit.
There's nothing so overt of course but Xena: Warrior Princess (with a producer, Liz Friedman, who is gay), perhaps breaks new ground in being aware of the importance of courting homosexual viewers rather than alienating them. "Sure, the gay thing is there," confirms co-creator Robert Tapert. "Certainly there is that belief that Xena and Gabrielle are having sexual relations."
Lawless cheerfully acknowledges the show's gay following.
"We are aware and we're not afraid of it. This is a love story between two people. What they do in their own time is none of our business."
Channel 5's opening episode finds Xena trying to atone for some bad girl behaviour in her past, meeting up with Gabrielle, and indulging in some terrific fight sequences. "Xena doesn't apologise," says Lawless, oozing Antipodean attitude. "She doesn't accept that being a woman is a disadvantage in this world. Neither do I."
You've got to feel sorry for that Cyclops. |
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NZ Woman's WeeklyJuly 7, 1997
Lucy Outshines Rachel
Americans are going nuts over the sword-wielding, leather-clad Lucy, opting for her down-to-earth approach rather than Rachel's model lifestyle.
New Zealand Amazonian heroine Lucy Lawless is rapidly overtaking Rachel Hunter as America's Kiwi of choice, soaring to new heights of popularity with her Xena: Warrior Princess series, fascinating Yanks, both young and old.
It's not just the jumping on and off horses, crawling through mud and defeating warlords that's got everyone's attention. It's also Lucy's open Kiwi personality that's intrigued and won the heart of America.
Unlike Rachel, who's enveloped in her own and Rod Stewart's celebrity aura, Lucy marches fearlessly through interviews telling journalists they're "nitwits" when they ask silly questions, and talks openly about both her professional and personal life, including motherhood to nine-year-old daughter Daisy and her relationship with Xena's executive producer Rob Tapert.
And unlike Rachel's glossy, impossibly-perfect, jet-setting lifestyle, Lucy's not afraid to admit her life has had its dark patches.
As she plays her role with a mixture of dour seriousness and deadpan sexiness, Americans in their millions tune in to watch the 29-year-old Lucy, who NZ Woman's Weekly readers may recall was once crowned Mrs New Zealand.
She's become both a pin-up girl and feminist role model to many fans. She's a huge hit on US chat shows with ratings soaring when she appears. And she's even bigger on the Internet where nearly 200 web pages applaud her.Additionally, prison inmates gather for "Xena nights" and the show's developed a loyal gay and lesbian following, due largely to Xena's strong female image and the ambiguous, quasi-erotic relationship between Xena's character and her sidekick Gabrielle, played by Renee O'Connor.
Even critics as divergent as Ms Magazine and Playboy have sung Lucy's praises. She was voted one of the "Most Beautiful People" of 1996, was a finalist for the People "Icon of the Year Award" and included on America's "Most Intriguing People" list.
Everybody, it seems, loves Xena, a role that's fast propelling Lucy into the $NZ1.5 million-per-week category with a hefty salary from the series, personal appearances and earnings from merchandising. This compared with Rachel Hunter's earning capacity of $NZ 20,000 per day.
The show's campiness - the swoosh of Xena's sword whizzing from its scabbard, the flash of absurdly exaggerated stunts, the goofy double-entendres - is part of the appeal.
In a world where TV superheroes abound, Xena and Gabrielle are a welcome change. "She's strong. She's not a wasp-waisted beauty like on Baywatch" says Harvard media expert Karen Wood. "She doesn't need a male or a male accomplice to look after her."
In fact, some abused American women draw inspiration to stand up to their abusers, seek help and have the bad guys locked up.
"A lot of women write to me after they've been through a rape or something and they say they're not going to be victims again. I'm thrilled that's something they got from Xena," says Lucy.
There was a lot of sympathy from Americans when Lucy was thrown from a horse last year and broke her pelvis just before an important chat show appearance. Thousands of get well cards flooded the studio, flowers from admirers filled her hospital room and bulletins about her recovery were followed breathlessly by worried fans.
"Not even major American TV stars get this kind of attention, this kind of outpouring of concern," says Los Angeles critic Carla Kempton.
"Everyone here is nuts about this Kiwi and I think she could have a significant TV and film career if she comes to Hollywood.
"She's not only a good actress, she's a natural, unpretentious figure off stage and that's what we all like so well."
Lucy laughs, "We're always winking at the audience, there's a lot of satire and irony in what we do. You're silly if you take it too seriously, it's a lot of fun to watch and I just love doing the show."
And unlike greedy, fame-hungry Hollywood stars who rush from TV into multiple film projects during their show's hiatus, Lucy says she won't do that.
"Work is the second most important thing to me. But I don't want to exhaust myself when I'm not taping Xena; it wouldn't be fair to the series or to the role. I plan to continue giving it my all. And there won't be any Xena workout videos! I want to be a very happy lady when I reach old age and that's not going to happen if I work myself to death now," she says.
Lucy's now sporting a copper-plated bra. A bit different from her Mrs New Zealand days "I know I've made a bundle of money, but that's not everything. I wouldn't be a happy old lady if I hadn't spent precious time with my daughter Daisy while she was growing up, or if I lost my partner."
Lucy adds it wasn't exactly great in the early days for Daisy to have a famous mum bouncing about on TV in a miniskirt and copper-plated bra. "She's more comfortable with it these days. But for a long time she would hate me coming to her school because kids would flock around me, yell out and bug her about me all day long. Now she's realised that Xena isn't going to turn my head away from her. She's even slightly proud. She realises that it's a very cool show.
"When I first started appearing the kids would make fun of Daisy, and that hurt. But they're cooler about it these days. Now she's proud of her mum, rather than being embarrassed. She even allowed me to attend a recent school concert!"
Lucy's real ambition for the future is to become a "fine actress". But in the meantime, she's dramatically established in the American consciousness, with producers eyeing her for major film and TV roles. She admits some of the offers are tempting.
"Whether, as has been the case with Rachel Hunter, she'd be willing to leave New Zealand for a life in the US remains the big question. Somehow I think Lucy's Kiwi roots are too precious," says Carla.
"I don't think she'd want her daughter growing up in America, no matter how popular Lucy's become here. I think she remains a New Zealand girl at heart." |
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TV Times Magazine (UK)July 13 - 18, 1997
My Mum's got real girl power
TV's newest heroine Xena is 5ft 11in and a kung fu expert - but the biggest battle for the actress who plays her has been winning daughter Daisy's approval
Crowds of young Amazons in bosom-popping brass bras and gold belts part as Lucy Lawless, 28, star of Channel 5's Xena: Warrior Princess, walks across the ballroom.
At 5ft 11in, she's a good head and shoulders above the 400 Xena wannabes who've flocked to meet their idol at a sold out Xena / Hercules convention in California. At first Lucy, who films the series in her native New Zealand, had a problem with all this. 'I felt like I'd become some kind of anti-Barbie,' she admits. 'But now I find it a pleasure. I've even used it to change a few things in my life; I quit smoking, for instance, because I don't want the young women who look up to me to think it's OK. 'Xena's a wonderful role model,' she adds. 'Anyone who's suffered any kind of abuse can relate to Xena. She's always fighting the good fight.'
Lucy, a kung fu expert, lets the stunt doubles handle the truly dirty work, and has sustained few injuries during the series. Ironically, her worst injury occurred on a US chat show, when she fell off her horse as she rode onto the set. Lucy reckons the time she spent in hospital recovering from a shattered pelvis, brought her closer to her daughter, eight-year-old Daisy.
'She's a lot prouder of her mother now that the show's a real success. Originally she blamed Xena for the break-up of the family/ says Lucy, who divorced Daisy's father, bar manager Garth Lawless, and is now dating Xena's co-creator and executive producer Rob Tapert.
Working 16-hour days, she only gets to see her daughter Daisy at the weekends; her ex-husband looks after her the rest of the time. 'I wish I could spend more time with her/ she says. 'But we're doing the best for her. I think the toughest thing I've done in my life is go through a divorce and be a working mother. You feel like you're losing your kid and can't defend yourself. Even your kid thinks you don't care. At times I've had to suppress every natural urge to fight back and say my piece.' Raised in Auckland, New Zealand, she 'lived a charmed existence. I have five brothers and one sister; I didn't know I was a girl until I was eight.'
Crowned Miss New Zealand in 1989, she studied for three years to become an opera singer, then moved with her husband and child to Canada, where she went to drama school and won tiny TV walk-on parts. Returning to New Zealand three years ago, she guested on the hit series Hercules twice as another character before winning the part of Xena. I was fighting the flu and trying to give my daughter a camping experience in New Zealand when they tracked me down and offered me the part/ Lucy explains.
Luckily, Lucy already had the body of an Amazon. But she still had to alter her looks for her new role -she got hair extensions: They're ghastly/ she says, 'no one can run their fingers through my hair!'
There were some changes made to her character, too. 'When Xena guested on Hercules she was the most reprehensible woman there ever was Lucy remembers. 'She's a lot less nasty now: one brush with Hercules made her a better person!'
HOW XENA GETS HER KICKS
She talks as tough as John Wayne, dresses like a dominatrix in black leather, kung-fu kicks her way out of trouble and only reveals her softer side to her sidekick, Gabrielle. Xena: Warrior Princess, is a very Nineties ancient heroine. A spin-off from the tongue-in-cheek fantasy series Hercules: The legendary Journeys, the show combines mythology and martial arts action -although Xena always tries to solve things peacefully first The series has achieved cult status in the US, where it's the top-rated syndicated show. Here, if s been doing well on Sky 1 and Channel 5 has high hopes: 'We're confident Xena will build the audience on a Saturday night,' a spokeswoman says. |
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Parade MagazineJuly 27, 1997
She's A Woman, She's a Warrior, She's A Wonder, She is XenaIn Step with Lucy Lawless
Yes but can she sing? When she isn't clobbering bad guys on TV's Warrior Princess, Lucy Lawless is busy pursuing a path to the Broadway stage.
Until two or three years ago, Lucy Lawless was an unknown.
Today the New Zealand actress is so famous that, when I called on her at New York's Four Seasons Hotel, I was carefully instructed to ask not for Lucy but for "Irma McHugh."
In case you haven't been watching, Lucy stars in the syndicated series Xena: Warrior Princess, part-fantasy, part-adventure, sheer fun and all Lucy. As Xena, the tall, strong, athletic beauty with gloriously blue eyes is togged out in boots, a leather miniskirt and metal breastplates that do her breathtaking body no harm at all.
This "warriorprincess" inhabits an often-hostile world in the time of ancient and largely mythical Greece. (Xena is a spin-off from Hercules, starring Kevin Sorbo.) She uses swords, staffs and the martial arts against villains both human and supernatural. After less than 50 episodes and two years on American TV, the show is fast overtaking another popular syndicated series, Baywatch, in terms of stations carrying it and in millions of viewers.
The Xena phenomenon was what had Lucy in Manhattan doing interviews, including mine, and meeting with Broadway producers. In September she'll star in Grease! in the role of "Rizzo," earlier played by Brooke Shields and Rosie O'Donnell. Oddly, O'Donnell was in part responsible for Lucy's Broadway debut. "I was on Rosie's show, and we were talking about Grease! and she said in that tough accent she puts on, 'Sing uz a song, babe.' And it went from there."
Has she done a musical before? "Only in school plays," said Lucy. "But I'm a quick study. You have to be when you do a series. There's only two weeks for rehearsals and previews, then I'll do the play for seven weeks." Does the idea of a Broadway opening night and those savage theater critics intimidate her? "No. There is a run-up to any show, even a talk show, where I realize I can go up there and be fantastic, or I can completely fail." And has Lucy ever completely failed? 'I haven't yet," she said, "but I live in fear." Funny, she didn't look fearful. And Lucy promised, "I will study hard. Voice and dance and my lines. I want to be prepared."
Talking about Xena's appeal, I suggested that she's so physically impressive, in addition to being beautiful, that she may intimidate other women, make them envious or resentful. "I am not intimidating," she quickly replied. "I am a woman's woman. I love hanging out with women. And people are really inspired by this show."
Is her daughter, Daisy, impressed by her success? "She's sort of bored by Mommy's work, that I have to go out to work every day. As far as she's concerned, I might as well work in a bank."
BRADY'S BITS
Lucy's real life has had its share of adventures. She grew up a tomboy with four older brothers in Auckland, where her dad is a politician. After a year at Auckland U., she went bumming around Europe. ("My mother made me take this big, ugly, yellow suitcase, a millstone around my neck," moaned Lucy.) When the money ran out, she headed for Australia and worked as a gold miner for 11 months. Lucy then wed her high school sweetheart, Garth Lawless, and had a daughter, Daisy. While Garth managed a bar, Lucy raised Daisy, did comercials and studied acting.
She's naturally fair-haired and dyes it black for Xena ("It's really brutal on my hair," she said) Most clips refer to her as nearly 6 feet," but Lucy told me she was five-10 to five-11." And weight? I guessed about 135. "No," she said, "about 140, and sometimes I put on five or 10 pounds." I was astonished and noted that the tennis star Gabriela Sabatini was the only other woman I'd ever interviewed who added pounds. Now it was her turn to show surprise: "But I modeled Xena on her! She's how a warrior princess ought to look." |
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USA TodayAugust 1997
'Xena' takes on 'Broadway
NEW YORK - "People tell me I look smaller and younger and prettier, which is a way of saying on TV, I look older, fatter and uglier."
So says self-deprecating, unpretentious Lucy Lawless, the 29-year-old New Zealander who has found global fame as the mythical warrior woman of syndicated television's Xena: Warrior Princess.
Next Tuesday, Lawless might add critical respect - or foolhardiness - to her resume as she begins a seven-week run as Rizzo in Broadway's long-running Grease revival. She has never been on a stage professionally or sung publicly.
But like her physique (she's 5-foot-10 but seems more petite), her sweetly accurate alto is a surprise.
Between bites of a spaghetti-and-salad lunch squeezed between nonstop rehearsals, Lawless sings a few bars, not only from Grease but also Moonshine Lullaby from Annie Get Your Gun, her favorite musical.
"I did some work with a vocal coach," she says.
Rizzo, the tough-talking "greaser" chick, has already been played by Rosie O'Donnell and Brooke Shields in this production.
Why has Lawless opted for the much less lucrative Broadway terrain than work on a movie? "This is not for the money," she says with a smile. "A good reason is to 'broaden my career base.' But the actual truth is I want to sing again. As I did as a
teen-ager, just for the love of it.
"Again, my choice might be naive, but I get offers to play a lesbian policewoman or something like that. That's not what I wanted to do in my hiatus (from Xena).
"Anyway, I feel a change coming in my life. I just want to do this, and my kid's coming over in a few weeks."
She is separated from Garth Lawless, whom she married in 1988, and they share custody of their daughter, Daisy, 9.
"She's not so keen on mum being famous," Lawless confides. "She likes mum being Xena and she likes me to pick her up from school, nowadays. There was a time she didn't want to share me.
"So I try to stick close to her in a crowd, keep a hand on her shoulder, so she knows she's preferred and not usurped. She's happy these days."
So is Lawless, whose boyfriend is Robert Tapert, an American who's one of the executive producers of both Hercules and Xena.
"A total cliche, the producer and the actress," she says, rolling her blue-blue eyes. "But I don't think he's ever been out with an actress in his life. We're very happy."
That's all Lawless will say on the subject. "I don't want to talk about that, but needless to say, it's a very healthy and natural alliance."
It's obvious that the unknown who became a feminist role model, leather-clad sex symbol and lesbian heroine with Xena has not lost her moorings. "You have to choose to be happy wherever you are," she reasons.
She is one actress who has no desire to direct, to do a lucrative Playboy layout ("I don't do nudity") or even a big-screen Xena.
"I am fighting them off," she reveals. "They'd really like to do a Xena movie, but I have to ask, 'At what cost?'
"If I star in something for 18 months solid with no hiatus, I'm going to be a hag, horrible to live with and unhappy. Life should be better than that. That's why I don't do it, and the cast supports me in that."
Lawless already is planning to take off from Xena; she won't go beyond the year 2000 when her contract is up. "Anything beyond will be frightening. I don't see me doing it just for money. Once you're tired, that's it.
"Rob and I have discussed it and we'll just run out of stories. You want to run out on a high note and leave a great series.
"What I'd like is a juicy little bit in somebody else's blockbuster, some little scene-stealing part. Then I could take off for Tuscany." |
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Satellite TimesAugust 1997
FEMINIST WARRIOR?
Alex J Geairns considers the huge benefifs of "Xena - Warrior Princess", showing her charms eyery Sunday at 7pm on Sky Two, and wonders if the series isn't actually designed for kids .....
When pressed, Janet at Sky's publicity department was kind enough to send me a huge wad of printed matter concerning their new smash hit series, featuring an Amazonian-style woman who no doubt intimidates many a man. Argue with her, and she'll have you on the floor in moments. But we ain't talking passion here, guys, you've probably been laid low by a quick step
and a side kick.
I also asked for a good selection of photographs to illustrate the feature. I was requested to define "good". Ones that show off the charms of the Warrior Princess herself, I replied. Normally, you get a wry comment when requesting such images from ladies in publicity offices. This was a little different though - as if Xena was someone you could be allowed to fantasize about.
What goes on? It was only when I read the documentation that accompanied the pictures that the penny dropped. You see, what I hadn't realised is that Xena, Warrior Princess, has become a feminist icon.
Excuse me? Yes, even though she's got more cleavage on display than in half a series worth of "Charlie's Angels", Xena has become a positive role model to many of her female fans. Donna Minkowitz, in the July edition of "Ms" magazine, drew womankind's attention to not only the obvious aspects of her behaviour in the series, the ability to flatten opponents, use a whip and/or sword to best advantage, and ride her horse Argo with great skill, but also to the underlying lifestyle that she leads.
Xena doesn't'have a boyfriend. Admittedly, Hercules (Kevin Sorbo) converted her from the path of evil that she rode when the character first appeared on the parent series "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys", and she sees him now and again, but that doesn't stop her taking a number of male lovers when the mood, or need, arises. Xena's also one of the first white female characters to passionately kiss a black male on screen. His name was Marcus (played by Bobby Hosea).
It is the fact that she chooses to travel with an idealistic, outspoken and gregarious lady called Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor) that leads to the other ambiguity in the character of Xena. Mix into the equation the fact that the series is set around the time of events in Ancient Greece, and the possibility arises that maybe, just maybe, Xena is bisexual.
Of course, how much should be read into events on-screen is a matter of personal perceptions and taste. I certainly didn't immediately think that this was a show that would be applauded by some feminists. What is interesting is the comparison of Xena's audience demographics with those of its parent show, Hercules. Young boys don't like watching Xena, but do watch Hercules. Young girls watch both. Where Xena scores is that men and women aged 18 to 34 watch it in greater numbers than they do Hercules. It even does better overall in syndicated American TV ratings these days than both "Baywatch" and "Star Trek - Deep Space Nine" - now, how's that for vital statistics?
Xena battles a selection of mythical villains and evil-doers with a mixture of strength, cunning, acrobatic agility, martial arts skills, and a variety of weapons. Her arsenal includes the chakram, a razor-sharp discus-like weapon she throws like a boomerang at her adversaries, and the "Xena Touch", a two-fingered pinch on the pressure points of the neck, which she uses to extract information from otherwise reluctant sources. Did someone detect Vulcan heritage in her, too?
The star of the show without doubt is Lucy Lawless, destined to be 1997's pin-up of the year. Born On 29th March 1968, she's a lady who has already lived an incredible life. The fifth of seven children - five brothers and one younger sister - her Catholic upbringing in Auckland was punctuated with the family fascination of rugby. Her father, Frank Ryan, was a former mayor of Auckland. Mother Julie always proudly describes the way little Lucy used to sing and dance on the coffee table, using a sea-shell as a pretend microphone.
In 1986, she went to Auckland University to study languages (she's now fluent in German and French, with a little knowledge of Italian) and opera, only to leave the following year to jaunt around Europe. Childhood sweetheart Garth Lawless found her and took her back to Australia (via Greece!), where they settled in Kalgoolie, near Perth. Soon after, Lucy found herself pregnant and, following a "quickie" marriage in 1988, daughter Daisy was born. The marriage was destined for trouble, as can often happen with couples that marry so young, and it broke up last year: Her daughter is now her top priority.
Lucy's first acting break came in 1989, featuring in a New Zealand comedy revue show called "Funny Business". Appearances in shows such as "High Tide", "The Ray Bradbury Theatre" and the film "Rainbow Warrior" followed, and she even spent a few months in Vancouver studying at the William Davis Centre for Actors Study in 1991 (yes, X-Files fans, that probably is the Cigarette Smoking Man himself we're talking about). Her association with the Hercules saga began when she was cast as Lysia, the second-in-command of a bunch of Amazonians, in the Action Pack movie "Hercules and the Amazon Women", due to be screened soon on Sky's movie
channels. Then, she appeared in two regular episodes of Hercules, "As Darkness Falls" and "Outcast' as Lyla, the wife of a centaur called Deric (I kid you not!). Soon after, she found herself as a last-minute replacement for the role of Xena in the episode "The Warrior Princess". Her hair was dyed black, which accentuated her steel-blue eyes, and by accident the production team found themselves a star. Two more episodes of Hercules followed, "The Gauntlet' and "Unchained Heart", before the decision was taken to launch Xena in her own spin-off series, a move made when fellow Action Pack series "Vanishing Son" suddenly got cancelled.
Though a student of yoga, Lucy has no particular training in martial arts, sword play or stunt work. However, martial arts master Douglas Wong taught her some basic Kung Fu moves, as well as fighting techniques with swords and staffs to give her a grounding for her adventures in the series. Her passion for jazz and opera came in useful when she actually does sing in one episode - look out for it.
Like Hercules, Xena is filmed in Auckland, New Zealand, and will be continuing production into 1998 at least - its popularity being so huge. Perhaps the final word should be left to executive producer Robert Tapert, who noted "Many local TV stations in America initially refused to air our show because they thought no-one would want to see a woman hitting men. But they were wrong".
And you can see just how wrong they were by tuning in to Sky Two on Sunday nights! |
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HX for Her MagazineAugust 1997
BROADWAY BABE
LUCY LAWLESS TRADES IN HER ARMOR FOR A PINK LADIES' JACKET IN GREASE!
"Oh my God, I've fallen in love with New York," says Xena: Warrior Princess star Lucy Lawless, who is enthusiastically making Manhattan her home through october for her stint as Rizzo in Broadway's Grease! "It's so fucking great! Oh man, what a place," she continues. "I love everything from the seasons to the way the air feels, to the great food to the wacky people."
Lawless's appreciation for New York has certainly been reciprocated. The statuesque actress has sent countless TV shows and magazines clamoring for interviews, and the reviews of her performance as the tough talking Pink Lady, Rizzo, have been glowing, even though the 29-year-old hasn't sung on a stage since high school.
A Broadway musical may sound like an odd choice for this TV star, but Lawless says that she grew up listening to show tunes sung by the likes of Mary Martin and jumped at the opportunity offered to her by the producers of Grease! "I try to take risks," she says thoughtfully. "I mean, I could do a film, and it would pay a gazillion dollars, of course, but it wouldn't reward me."
Lawless laughs and swears in a good-natured one-of-the-girls kind of way. It's easy to envision her sitting at a table in an Auckland pub, chatting up her friends over a few Foster's and teasing the guys at the pool table. In fact, talking to her is like talking with a good, funny old friend.
There are many sides to her, however, and humor is just one of them. Lawless is disarmingly honest, and her rich, velvet voice can turn coarse when discussing a manipulative journalist, tender at the mention of her nine-year-old daughter Daisy and bubbly when talking about the cast of Grease!
The company just immedicately opened their bloody arms toward me", she says of her current co-workers. "They are a very loving bunch and as funny as all get-out. I thought Xena was the only nice set in the world."
Xena is, of course, how her fans know her best. The new season begins taping just four days after she leaves Grease! "I can't bitch," she laughs. "It was my decision."
The warrior princess will get deeply dramatic in 1998. "Pretty nasty, dark stuff coming up this year. This season's really got to be screened if you've got kids," she warns. "Of course, it's not really
a kid's show anyway. It's for big kids like us."
Big kids like the ones who show up at Meow Mix for Xena Night on the second Tuesday of every month. In an unprecedented move, Lawless has shown up twice at the bar. "The women there are so great," she says with genuine awe. "I've been twice now, and the second time was amazing because it was Xena Night. These women are so welcoming."
The show's huge lesbian following hasn't frightened Lawless into overstating her heterosexuality. Just try pulling relationship stuff out of her. Currently involved with Robert Tapert, an American
executive producer for Xena, she strives to keep that part of her life private.
Lawless is not only comfortable with her lesbian following but also thrilled by it. "Meow Mix is the only contact I've had with the gay community as a whole," she says. "I mean, obviously I have plenty of colleagues and friends who are lesbians, but these two experiences were incredible."
One of seven children born to the mayor of Mt. Albert, Auckland, New Zealand, and his wife, Lawless was a tomboy surrounded by brothers and horses. After starting college, she left to travel the world with now-ex-husband Garth Lawless. They married in 1988, the same year she gave birth to her daughter.
Daisy is "nine and divine," coos Lawless, who hates being away from her child for too long. Despite her hectic schedule, she still understands how important it is to "save part of yourself for
yourself," she says. It's a lesson she learned from her mother, who, along with her father and Daisy, is in town visiting.
Lucy's acting career was a meteoric ride that began on a New Zealand travel show. Roles in the Hercules: The Legendary Journeys TV movies led to a part on the series and finally to Xena. Along the way, she also co-starred in the lesbian-themed independent film, Peach.
Now that she's done Broadway, what's next? "Well," she sighs, "four million years of Xena and then, who knows? Something that keeps me moving forward like Grease! did. Sometimes I come home and I've found all new ways of screwing up. Every day I'm a little better in some part of it, and then I find another way to screw up somewhere else," she says, beginning to laugh. She gets serious rather quickly. "But it's part of it, you know? It's all part of it, and it makes me feel alive." |
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MetroAugust 1997
The Ballad of Lucy Lawless
From the dubious distinction of representing her country 10 years ago in Las Vegas as Mrs. New Zealand, Lucy Lawless, a.k.a. Xena, Warrior Princess, has moved on to center stage as the star of the television show which today is right up there with Star Trek and the X-Files in pop-cultism. Shes rated one of the worlds 50 most beautiful women and ranks third only behind Chelsea Clinton and Tiger Woods as the person American kids most want to have over to play. This month, she tells Tom Hyde, she will realize a lifelong ambition when she debuts on Broadway in the musical Grease.
"Hi!" Lucy says, "remember me?"
"What? Wait a second," I say, "isnt that supposed to be the other way around?"
I meant that she is the star and the subject of this piece; Im just another reporter appearing on the set to research it, to listen to her story --- a story that shes told a thousand times (okay, 50 times) since she became Xena, the Warrior Princess who doesnt take shit from anybody. Give her any lip and shell give you the "Xena touch", that two-fingered pinch on the neck, Dracula-esque, that seems to have to the power of a hypnotic spell.
"Do I remember her?"
Lucy Lawless is one of People magazines 50 Most Beautiful People in the World and ranks only third behind Chelsea Clinton and Tiger Woods as the person American kids would most like to have over to their house to play. Shes appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Late Night with David Letterman and The Rosie ODonnell Show. The only ones missing are Oprah and Howard Stern.
Do I remember her?
What she was referring to was the Crummer Road days, a time we shared, however brief, at a flat in Grey Lynn nearly 10 years ago. It should have been me asking her: do you remember me? I was, after all, only an extra in that scene. The key roles were played by her and Garth Lawless, her husband at the time and the father of their daughter and only child, Daisy, who turned nine last month.
Supporting roles were played by Garths sister, Debbie (now in Wanganui), former New Zealand basketball start Warwick Meehl and his wife, Denise, and national trampoline coach and trainer John Docherty.
"Doc" owned the house. He lived in one room; Lucy, Garth, and Daisy in another. Debby slept in a room at the back. The place was kept warm in that winter, a winter of discontent, by an open fire and Van Morrison. Some of us, not Lucy as I recall, smoked "green".
For me, Crummer Road was a stopover in my own journey through time and Grey Lynn in the 80s. We were all restless and uncertain and so was Lucy, despite the fact that in later years she emerged as more certain than others. She wanted to pursue an acting career as whatever cost; she was certain that being married-with-children didnt have to stop that --- and it didnt. She was talking about those days when she told me: "Im not motivated by money; never was, even when we were on the bones of our arse."
In that way she hasnt changed. It has been speculated that she earns $US 28,000 a week playing Xena. That may sound extreme but think about it: Jerry Seinfeld, whose half-hour show hovers around number five in the national US ratings, gets $US 1,000,000 a week. Lawless, as all Xenaphiles know works a one-hour weekly show that hovers around number nine. If Seinfelds worth a million, Lucy Lawless must certainly be worth whatever shes getting. "Like Star Trek and the X-files," wrote Mike Flaherty in Entertainment Weekly, "Xena is speeding toward that most oxymoronic of distinctions, mainstream cultdom."
"Evidence includes that the first official convention (in Burbank), numerous Xena-fests (organized by fans), Xena-themed apparel, trading cards, fanzines, action figures, CD-ROMS and a Web presence of more than 60 sites and counting. Perhaps more indicative of Xenas pop-culture infiltration are the increasing homages on network television: Both Roseanne and Something So Right have featured Xena doppelgangers."
Yet for Lucy, money is not the aim of the exercise. For all her fame, at least in the United States where the Hollywood public relations machine has made her into an icon, she doesnt play the celebrity game. She doesnt have the time; be even when she does, she doesnt ask for money, for example, when approached by a glossy magazine for an interview. There are times when she is on the set six days a week, 12 hours a day. Sunday is strictly off-limits; its her time to be with Daisy. Her time for interviews is extremely limited, but if she consents to an interview its understood to be part of her job and its the work that matters most, not the money.
Right now, she is Xena, but when that show runs its course, expect her to appear in feature films, perhaps with Susan Sarandon, one of her most admired actors and someone shed like to emulate. The attraction to Saradon? Lawless describes it as "hot energy".
During the Crummer Road days she was crowned Mrs. New Zealand. The local contest was held at the Tamaki Yacht Club. Winning meant flying off to a world final in --- where else? --- Las Vegas. Lucy would have been an odds-on favorite. She and Garth stayed at the Flamingo Hotel where they met Baron Hilton. Of course, the Baron met as many contestants as he could. Mrs. Peru won. Its not a memory she wants to dwell on today but she remembers: "My mother was busily sewing something together as we drove out to the airport. I wore this sparkly blue number that I later made into a Super Daisy cape."
Today, when shes not in Xena gear, Lawless is more likely to be found in sweat pants, a T-shirt, and a comfortable pair of slippers borrowed from where was it? The Four Seasons Hotel in Chicago? The Hilton in New York? The South Coast Plaza in LA?
Lucy and Garth were on holiday, camping, when she received the offer of the part of Xena. It sounds romantic enough, from bush to Broadway, from the Hollyford to Hollywood, but in fact is wasnt a happy time for her. Her marriage was failing. She had met Garth Lawless at Club Mirage where they both worked. He was the bartender, she looked after tables. They were only 18. Lucy went to Europe and he followed soon after. They traveled together briefly before running out of money and decided to head back this way and work in the Australian goldfields. The American media make quite a big deal of that.
"They have seized on it," Lucy acknowledges. Ms. Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, and Playboy all mention this fact because it paints a picture of Xena as a warrior woman in real life, taking on a mans world. Some stories project an image of the two of them on the wild Australian frontier, panning for gold.
Its an image which suits romantic American narrative and feminism, but its overstated. "There was no pan," she says, "only a caravan. We lived in a caravan for two weeks at a time taking measurements and doing surveys." If anything, she came away from that experience sensitized to the brutality of land stripped bare.
The couple were married in 1988 in the Australian outback in a registry office and only after they discovered Lucy was pregnant. Reality would catch up and finally overtake their youthful naivete. Her early success landing work as a host of Air New Zealand Holiday didnt help either. As a television star she was the target of some resentment by her old friends, but more than that, the work took her away from home which put stress on the marriage: "I'd come home from doing one of those shows and walk back in and theyd look up and say, "How dare you waltz back in and expect us to be here for you; we dont need you, The work never did pay well enough to compensate for that."
When asked by TV Guide to identify a time in her life when she was called to be heroic, she noted her divorce. She elaborates for Metro: "Going through a divorce calls for a kind of heroism because you have to try to be fair, no matter how bad you feel, fairer than you want to be; if you have children, you have to put their needs before your own, no matter how much it hurts. I could have also said that being a working parent is also heroic. You suffer guilt for not always being there when youre needed and your kids dont understand that."
To suggest that Lucys success as Xena brought about the breakup of their marriage is to oversimplify the situation. The marriage had ended before she became Xena; she remembers that pre-Xena camping trip as "the worst Christmas ever, for everybody."
The woman originally cast as Xena had become ill and alternatives back in California were offered the job but turned it down. Lucy was known to the shows producers because she had appeared in Hercules.
"It was an amazing series of circumstances," she says, looking back. Had she not turned down $60,000 to do a tampon commercial in Australia (I'm just reporting what she said), she never would be where she is today.
The story goes like this: Rather than go back to Australia, where she was married, where she became pregnant, where the money was good, Lucy took charge and, in a Xena-like way led the family from Crummer Road to Vancouver so she could study drama.
They may have been on the bones of their buttocks but she wanted formal training and she was going to get it. "When you come from a big family," she says, "you learn how to get what you want."
A woman she had met while traveling in Europe two years earlier had told her about the William Davis Center for Actors Study in Vancouver. She was adventurous and it was the only drama school she knew about, so they went. Her one-year course did not result in any immediate work here, the highlight of her career at this stage was co-hosting Holiday, but she considers William Davis (sometimes seen on the X-Files) one of her most influential teachers.
Its a path-of-life argument. She figures that had she gone to Australia and started working there, she would not have been in the position to take the Xena job when Renaissance Pictures called her back to the big smoke from the smoke of her camp fire.
And shes probably right. Of course she s right. Shes Xena! Don't quote me, quote Hercules. Kevin Sorbo has said, "Lucy is Xena." Its the long black hair, the sharp, beautiful face, those white-as-white teeth and those famous laser-blue eyes. Who else but a mythical warrior woman would look like that?
After two years its hard to imagine anyone else playing the part. Lucy has become Xena. A nervous passenger in a speedy car at the best of times, I felt comfortable riding in her Alpha Romeo as she steered us through a storm in the city from the Xena set on Henderson Valley Road. It was the Monday of Queens Birthday Weekend, the first truly miserable day of winter if you recall, and only the middle of the afternoon but with dark clouds and a dark sky, wipers going full bore, holiday traffic building up, our car swooshing and splashing between lanes to gain an advantage. Yet there was nothing to fear, because Xena was at the wheel!
Lucy Lawless was born in Auckland 29 years ago, the first daughter after four sons of Frank and Julie Ryan. Frank Ryan was the mayor of Mount Albert and today is an Auckland City councilor. The Ryans were a large Catholic family of five boys and two girls; Lucy is number five and the eldest girl. Playboy asked her in a recent interview about her Catholic upbringing and she described herself as "a recovering Catholic". No explanation was given.
Over a cup of tea at her Auckland home, a modest and unpretentious-looking house on the outside, with a recently renovated interior, she told me: "As a child, certain dogma really affected me. It was the mortality issue, you know, "Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Id have to say that it was the thought of dying, I suppose, that frightened me. I dont blame my schooling for that. It was something in me that latched on to the death aspect, and for a six-year-old to realize ones mortality is a pretty intense discovery. Other girls had the same experience and never reacted as fearfully as I did."
Lucy was 23 years old before she gave up Catholicism; she doesnt attend church now. "Ive put the scary monsters to bed," she says, "and I should also say that the discipline of those school years help me make me what I am today. I didnt screw around. I worked hard and I still work hard. Ive always been a hard worker and I think it goes back to my early school days."
Her father was supportive but it was her mother, Julie, who arguably had more to do with developing Lucys interest in performance. "As the mayoress, my mother had senior citizens to entertain every week," she remembers, "so she would rope a friend and I into helping her out. I was 10 years old when I discovered I wanted to be an actor, but that was at Marist Primary when I had a part in the parable of the Prodigal Son. What I thought would be scary turned out to be quite a lot of fun."
Her mother bought the opera records Lucy listened to and when Lucy was 15 they went off together on an opera tour of Europe (compliments of Dad). Back in Auckland, she performed in school musicals at Marist Sisters College in Mount Albert where she was also the head girl, and although she appears to be athletic, she wasnt sporty. Her father told NZ Womens Weekly: "She had a find singing voice but all she wanted to do was get into film and television." Or as her mother told People Magazine: "She used to get up on the coffee table with a seashell for a microphone and sing away."
Next month, one of Lucy Lawless childhood fantasies comes true when she debuts on Broadway. She'll spend the two-months break from shooting Xena playing the part of Rizzo in Grease. Its an opportunity which developed from an appearance she made on The Rosie ODonnell Show, one of the leading talk shows on American television. Rosie herself played a part in Greaes and the producers of the long-running Broadway musical saw Lucy on her show that night and one thing led to another. "Im a little frightened of the prospect," she admits, "but Im also very excited."
Lucys appearance on Rosie ODonnell has lifted her career but the same couldnt be said after her appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno last October. While rehearsing for the show, Lucys horse fell and she was thrown onto the concrete outside the studio, fracturing her pelvis in four places. "I was trying to ride a western horse English-style on shiny, painted concrete. I had to bring the horse to a trot around a corner but the set was tense, everyone was in such a rush, the horse was tense, and I didnt have the guts to stop it and say to them, "Youre not listening to me." I thought, 'Oh, just be a trooper and get on with it. So we did two takes that were okay and I agreed to a third and final take. It was as if someone pulled a tablecloth out from under us. We rounded a corner and the horse slipped and went down. I was thrown clear and [was] lucky in a way not to have been caught underneath."
By any account, Lucy is a star in America. In Auckland and on the set of Xena shes also the star, but youd never know it by the way she interacts with the rest of the cast and crew. The hours are long, made longer by the attention to detail required by all involved, from Oley Sassone, one of the three directors of the series, to Donny Duncan, the director of photography, to the lighting and sound crew and the rest of the cast: about 400 in all for both Hercules and Xena.
Yet for all of the demands, complicated at times by the weather, the making of Xena is fun. A big budget helps (no figures revealed) but its also the story. Anyone who takes Xena seriously is missing the point.
"In Xena," reports Entertainment Weekly, "history is bunk. Characters spout Shakespearean platitudes one minute, Brooklynese wisecracks the next. Plotlines dont so much careen across era as co-mingle them, creating a milieu thats primeval, classical, medieval, and surfer dude all at once. One episode finds our heroine plunked into the middle of the Trojan War (turns out Helen was an old acquaintance); in another shes visiting 1940s Macedonia. Somehow, hilariously, it works."
For Lucy, the shows star, its especially important she not take herself and her role too seriously. "Its true," she says, "that the lead actors are the mood-setters on a set because everybody is looking at you all the time. If youre difficult, if you whine and moan, it makes everybodys life more difficult. You have to respect other people for the work they do; they work just as hard as you do and theyre not getting paid as much."
Its been two years since the divorce. Garth tells me "were friends again," while Lucy tells me "Daisy is happier than she's ever been and so am I."
Shes now in a relationship with one of the shows producers, Rob Tapert. Tapert is originally from Detroit and an avid fan of the Detroit Red Wings, thus the connection that led to Lucy singing "The Star Spangled Banner" at a Detroit-Anaheim National Hockey League play-off game in Los Angeles earlier this year. She sang the American national anthem well, by all accounts, but when she waved to the crowd, her red, white, and blue top slipped, exposing a breast. She told People Magazine: "Obviously I was mortified. It was quite a bit more exposure than I want." She told Metro: "Some people thought it was a publicity stunt, but as adventurous as people think I am, Im also an extremely private person, certainly not the type to show off my body parts in that way. Ive never done a nude scene and I doubt that ever will."
She is "for women" without making an issue of it, which may be why she has never appeared at the New York lesbian nightclub Meow Mix, where "Xena nights" are famous, where every time she kick-boxes a male culprit into oblivion, the standing-room only crowd goes crazy. "Can you imagine," she says, "me walking into that club and introducing my boyfriend?"
She told Bill Zwecker of the Chicago Sun-Times that her toughest day on the set of Xena was shooting an episode in rain and hail but that she got through it because she knew it wouldnt last forever. In a philosophical way she acknowledged that "all things end".
So where will it end for Lucy Lawless? She feels three more years of Xena will be enough and declare she'll never do a television series like it again, because it takes her away from her daughter for too long and it gives her little or no time to enjoy life. She'd like to move on to feature films, not a Xena film.
"Im just having a rich life," she said. "Ive done all these crazy, geeky, dangerous, and sometimes slightly embarrassing things and I just think I'll lbe so glad when Im an old woman and I can look back and say Ive lived a life. Put myself in some spooky situations others would not have. The payoff will be that when Im on my deathbed Ill be going, Hooray, I went for it."
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TV Zone (UK)August 1997
Warrior Princess Xena
XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS is a rarity in genre television. With tongue stuck firmly in cheek it stands alongside brother series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys as an antidote to the conspiracies and doom-laden ongoing plots that seem to be afflicting just about every other show currently on air. Entertainment is to the fore, with a winning combination of fast paced plots, outrageous action scenes plus a visual flair and eye for comedy that is often sorely lacking in television Fantasy.
Girl Power
The decision to make both leads women has, whether by accident or design, tapped into the current rise of girl power. Xena (Lucy Law- less) and her travelling com- panion, Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor), are both strong characters, well written with just the right amount of self-deprecating humour. They have pre- dictably been labelled 'role models', although the idea of a former killer be- ing a role model is some- what disturbing to say the least. It is practically guaranteed that the world will one day be taken over by monosyllabic, karate-chopping, sword-wielding babes in leather bodices. Actually, it doesn't sound so bad...
Producers Sam Raimi and Robert Tapert, not content to simply duplicate the success of Hercules, have given Xena a darker side, opening up new avenues for the series to explore. Xena's introduction (in the Hercules episodes The Warrior Princess,
The Gauntlet and Unchained Heart) charted her fall and rise from all-conquering warmonger to lone warrior in search of her identity. Lucy Lawless has said, "Xena's agenda is just to get through the day without killing someone". Whereas Hercules is the perfect hero, Xena is flawed. She can, and often does, kill and is not above making mistakes. Her journey down the long and difficult road to redemption provides the foundation stone for the series.
The efforts to make Xena as different from Hercules as possible can also be seen in the almost total absence of monsters. Instead, the writers must content themselves by dealing with the monsters within Xena, the violent urges she is constantly trying to suppress. It is a good decision, which adds much needed depth to the show.
In the second episode, Chariots of War, she kills a warlord without the slightest hint of remorse. By Season Two's Return of Callisto we are seeing a very different character. Xena is no longer a heartless killer, and her guilt over one act of vengeance has crucial consequences further down the line.
Her struggles with her conscience manifest themselves almost immediately. In the pilot, Sins of the Past, she is rejected by her mother and stoned by the villagers of her hometown, Amphipolis. Eleven years before, Xena had rallied them to defend the village against the warlord Cortese. Many died, including her younger brother, Lyceus. She refuses to defend herself against their wrath, knowing that they are right to blame her for the tragedy which befell them. She is only saved by the arrival of Gabrielle, who promptly talks - as she tends to do! - the warrior out of trouble.
Lights, Camera... Action!
We are quickly shown, however, that this is not how Xena usually extricates herself from sticky situations. She likes to fight. In fact, she loves to fight. She's the kind of person you would definitely want on your side. It is hard not to feel sorry for her opponents as she glares at them with flashing eyes, smiles that wicked smile - and then flattens them with her trademark split-kick. The bad guys may as well beam into the scene wearing Starfleet security uniforms for all the chance they have of getting out in one piece.
Fans of Raimi and Tapert's Evil Dead movies will feel instantly at home with the knockabout humour. The action sequences are a giddying mix of quick cuts, swooping cameras, hilarious stunts and exaggerated sound effects. Xena's ability to pluck an arrow out of mid-air, to anticipate a blow before it arrives, and the uncanny way in which her trusty Chakram always finds its way back to her hand, all embellish her mythical nature. When she defies gravity, running up trees and somersaulting through the air, it merely serves as proof that the Force is not limited to a galaxy inhabited by Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker. And as she breathes into the ear of her victim, after paralysing him with her infamous pressure point attack, "I've just cut off the flow of blood to your brain - you'll be dead in seconds unless I release you" you have to believe her. They always tell her what she needs to know.
Friends and Foes
Xena : Warrior Princess features several recurring characters. Ares, God of War (Kevin Smith), is Xena's biggest fan. Striding about in black leather, his attempts to woo her back to a life of murder and mayhem are both dramatic and amusing. Smith has appeared in several episodes and always steals the show.
Ares isn't the only god on hand, with both Hades (Erik Thomson) and Aphrodite (Alexandra Tydings) taking time out from their duties on Hercules. Tydings, as always, is a delight, playing the Goddess of Love as a self-absorbed Californian beach babe with attitude.
Other characters to look out for are the Amazons Ephiny (Danielle Cormack) and Velasca (Melinda Clarke), Hercules regular Salmoneus (Robert Trebor), and Autolycus, the King of Thieves (Raimi stalwart Bruce Campbell). The appearance of Autolycus in The Royal Couple of Thieves provides one of the comedic high points of the series, as he joins forces with Xena to try to recover a stolen weapon. When he tricks Xena into posing as his concubine you have to wonder about his sanity - and fear for his life. '
Kevin Sorbo and Michael Hurst reprise their Hercules roles in Prometheus, one of those rare crossover stories that actually works. Hurst also makes cameo appearances in The Quest, as Iolaus, and Mortal Beloved, as the whinging
old ferryman Charon who gives Xena an amusing tour of the underworld; "Looking to the left you will see the Caves of Despair. And coming up on the right, the Hanging Gardens of Disgusting Diseases". Sounds just like a Club 18-30 holiday...
Towards the end of the first year the producers changed the shows' emphasis slightly. Xena's most interesting foes are those who can hold their own against her, and the introduction of Callisto (Hudson Leick) was a turning point. She is the embodiment of Xena's darker side, out to avenge her family's deaths at the hands of the warrior's army. Leick is superb in the role, conveying the madness she has been driven to with wild eyes, a manic smile and a barely perceptible quiver in her voice. Callisto is also the first character to make the leap from Xena to Hercules, in the episode Surprise.
Last, but by no means least, is Joxer (Ted Raimi), a bumbling would-be warrior who takes over the reins of comic relief from the maturing Gabrielle. Raimi does a fine job in the role - which is no mean feat considering he is beaten senseless with alarming regularity. "I cultivate this image," Joxer says, "it let's me get the jump on people". Obviously the endless physical abuse has had more effect than he cares to mention.
Warrior's Companion
The importance of Gabrielle to the development of the series cannot be underestimated. The strong and believable friendship that grows between the two women over the course of the first year is the heartbeat of the show.
Gabrielle is the series's moral centre, keeping Xena's wilder emotions in check and effectively ensuring that our hero retains the viewer's sympathy. This is beautifully illustrated during a campfire scene in 'Callisto'. When Xena wonders what the need for revenge might drive her to should Callisto harm anyone dear to her, Gabrielle makes her promise that, no matter what happens, she will not give in to the hatred that burns inside her. It proves to be both a moving and pivotal scene, beautifully played, and exemplifies the depth of character that has been woven over the course of the first 22 episodes.
The most important event in Gabrielle's growth, however, occurs in one of the first season's lesser instalments. Hooves and Harlots sees her, by a bizarre twist of fate, become an Amazon princess. During the course of the story she begins to learn how to use astaff. This fulfils the necessity for the character to be able to fight at Xena's side - without killing anyone - and also marks her transformation from sidekick to able companion.
These developments are handled deftly and consistently. Although it comes as a shock when Gabrielle demands that her friend should teach her how to use a sword in Return of Callisto it is a wholly believable change, born out of the depths to which their enemy will plunge in order to torture Xena. The scene is played with fierce conviction by O'Connor and Lawless in what is undoubtedly the series' most intense story to date.
This episode also sees Xena and Gabrielle's first kiss, an event which has been jumped upon by gay viewers. Whether or not this is justified is open to debate, as it could be viewed as a simple declaration of the depth of their friendship, but it is handled with an admirably light touch and adds another facet to the series' growing back story. Maybe we'll find out one day.
Changes of Pace
The road Xena and Gabrielle travel is much like a pinball machine. They have been hurled into adventures from legend (the siege of Troy in Beware Greeks Bearing Gifts) and bounced into meetings with history (Julius Caesar's appearance in Destiny). Then, when the ball gets stuck, the writers tilt the table, throwing up comedies such as Warrior... Princess... Tramp, in which Lucy Lawless is given the opportunity to play both Xena and her remarkably coincidental twins Diana and Meg. In Here She Comes... Miss Amphipolis, Xena is amusingly offended to be called in to help a group of "under-dressed, over-developed bimbos" in the Miss Known World beauty contest, despite her own scantily clad state. She wins the contest herself, naturally.
The show isn't above lampooning itself either, as illustrated by The Xena Scrolls, which ends in the present day with a young writer (Ted Raimi) pitching the idea for the series to Robert Tapert, suggesting that it could be made on the cheap in a Third World country using the locals as extras! One imagines that went down well in New Zealand.
Looking beyond the action and humour, it is the underlying core of the characters' respective 'journeys of the soul' that proves to be the most satisfying aspect of the show. For Xena it is the rediscovery of her humanity. Although we spend each episode rooting for her, it must be remembered that she was once a brutal killer. It seems safe to say that, when the character does find inner peace (of which she is given the briefest glimpse at the end of Remember Nothing, Xena's answer to It's a Wonderful Life), the series will draw to an end. For Gabrielle it is the voyage to maturity. Considering this is a character who started out idolizing Xena and hanging on her every word, it is a journey that has already come a long way.
Rising Stars
Both actresses have thus been given the scope to show considerable acting ability. Lucy Lawless is a master of the sardonically raised eyebrow, and her wonderfully expressive features allow her to speak volumes with just one look. She has an unquestionable flair for comedy, and revels in the series' dramatic moments (as shown by her marvellous performance in the season one finale Is There a Doctor in the House?). It is also easy to forget that her natural voice and New Zealand accent are quite different to those that she gives the character. Along with her ability to handle the physical demands of the series, she continually amazes with both the depth of emotion she portrays and the conviction with which she carries this, her first starring vehicle.
Renee O'Connor is also excellent, forcing the writers to abandon any plans for Gabrielle to remain as mere comic relief -although she is still not averse to the odd wisecrack ("You're not much for girl talk are you?" she asks Xena in Prometheus). She has also had plenty of episodes in which to shine. In The Greater Good, possibly the series' finest hour to date, Xena is shot with a poisoned dart that gradually incapacitates her. O'Connor is a revelation in the scene where Gabrielle returns to find Xena dead, silently kneeling beside her friend's body and stroking the warrior's hair. Moments later we see her expelling her rage and grief by furiously battering a tree trunk with her staff. It is a sequence that is so simply shot and wonderfully acted that it carries an immense emotional impact, something few people would have thought a series such as this was capable of.
Never Work With Animals
On 8th October 1996, while filming a promotional sketch for The Tonight Show, Lucy Lawless suffered multiple pelvic fractures when her horse fell. Naturally, this had a dramatic impact on the filming of the second season and the writers and producers had to dig deep in order to cover for her absence. The ending of Intimate Stranger was changed to leave Xena's spirit trapped in Callisto's body, allowing Hudson Leick to continue as Xena in Ten Little Warlords. She does an impressive job, perfectly imitating Lawless's phrasing and intonation. The biggest compliment to her is that it was as though Lawless had never been away.
The running order was then re-shuffled and the end of Destiny altered so that Xena 'dies' after taking a massive blow to the head, allowing the events of The Quest to take place. In the end, a potentially damaging situation was catered for with such ingenuity that you might almost think it had been planned. And, happily, Lucy had recovered enough by the end of November to be able to return to work.
Hit or Myth?
Xena is currently a regular in the top three syndicated action shows in America, even beating Hercules and Deep Space Nine to the top spot with its' second season Hallowe'en episode Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. A long and prosperous future seems assured. One thing is for certain; the series has yet to rest on its laurels since hitting its stride midway through the first season, and Raimi and Tapert do not seem like the kind of people who are afraid to take chances in order to prevent format becoming formula. With them at the helm it is possible that Xena's courage could indeed change the world. |
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RIOT
August 1997
Hercules and Xena: The Battle For Mount Olympus Preview
The Hercules movie that everyone's been waiting for is not the one playing in theaters this Summer. Universal Studios' new animated Hercules and Xena movie, coming hot on the heels of the highly successful live-action television series, will premier soon in its direct-to-video release this Fall. Featuring the voices of the series' stars, including Kevin (Hercules) Sorbo, Lucy (Xena) Lawless, Renee (Gabrielle) O'Connor, and more, as well as some amazing animation that could put that other movie to shame, this movie could take some people by surprise. Now, for the first time anywhere, riot gives you a look the film as well as the inside info. on this rather well-timed project.
WHAT COMPETITION?
Michael Pollis (Universal Home Video's Director of Marketing) and Dana Long (also from Universal) are far more relaxed than they should be. As two of the people leading the charge up the Mount Olympus of making Universals' Hercules and Xena animated movie stand on its own against some rather well-known competition. Pollis and Long seem to have a real battle ahead of them.
"I'm really not worried," Pollis shrugs. "This is a cutting edge movie. The animation is stylized. It's almost to the point of being caricatures of the live-action stars. This is real artwork in this film."
What Pollis is getting at here is that his Hercules is closer to the real thing than any others you may have seen. That this is animation based on real people and not simply jolly cartoon characters. And that, based upon response to the Hercules and Xena live action series, Universal's betting this animated version is more than ready to take on any competition. "On the web-site alone" explains Long. "there are over 30,000 registered fans of the television shows. And that's just our site, that doesn't even include the fan-generated sites. Our audience for the show is so broad already, this movie is only going to expand
upon that."
BIG BATTLE
Okay, okay. We've heard all of this before. Give us the real deal, though. What really goes on in the movie?
Pollis smiles, beginning, "lt's a great plot. Hercules' mother, Hera, is kidnapped by Zeus and taken to Mount Olympus. She decides that she wants to rule Mt. Olympus, and the only way she can imagine doing this is to release the Titans to help her. This doesn't work so well, though, as the Titans get a little out of control and end up defeating the gods and making a real mess of things on Mt. Olympus. They're basically not fit to oversee the world. So then Hercules and Xena, after seeing all of
this, reluctantly decide that they're going to set things right and take down the Titans."
Easy enough to follow, but what's so great about that?
"The battle," Long exclaims, grinning. "There's this huge battle at the end, with all of this stuff going on, and these amazing graphics. Stuff that we could never do on the television shows because the special effects would just be so enormous for a weekly, live-action television series. But in the animated film, we didn't have those restrictions of course, so we've pulled out all the stops. It's just enormous."
Long pauses here, and then adds, tentatively,"And then there's the singing."
BIG MUSIC
Yes, that's right, like most of the more successful animated movies of recent years. Universal's Hercules and Xena will have an original soundtrack to make the movie even more of a total cinematic experience.
Pollis enthuses. "And we've even gotten Lucy Lawless to sing one of the songs in the film." Yes folks. at one point, rather than 'battling on.' Xena breaks out into song.
"It's sort of at a moment where Xena needs to figure out some things."explains Pollis. "and she just sort of uses the song to help clear her head and make up her mind. She has a wonderful voice." Lawless's singing voice is, in fact, well-known in Hollywood as well as on Broadway, where she'll make her debut this Fall in a revival of Grease. As 70s obsessed as people have become these days, this may be the perfect move for the warrior princess, adding a new level to her popularity
The animated Hercules and Xena, in fact, has at least three original songs already, and the possibility for a best-selling soundtrack hasn't gone unnoticed at Universal. "The music," Long admits. "is often what keeps kids coming back. They like to hear the songs they recognize and see the scenes they enjoy over and over again."
BIG AUDIENCE
All of which brings to mind exactly who this film is for--the kids or the adults out there?
"Our core audience," says Long. "is mostly made up of teens and adults. But we have a lot of kids who are fans, and even a surprising number of older people who watch and really enjoy the television shows. Our fan-base is tremendously broad."
Pollis agrees, and he believes the animated movie will capture that audience as well. "It's a cartoon, of course, so there will certainly be the kid-appeal. But Moms love the show. They like watching Kevin Sorbo as Hercules, and they really enjoy the fact that Xena: Warrior Princess features two main characters that are female. There aren't many television shows that can say that. And it will most likely be Mom, after all, who purchases this video. So I don't see how it can miss."
So all of this stuff about competition really doesn't faze these two? It appears that way. As the Hercules and Xena animated film nears final completion, Pollis and Long study the graphics laid out on the desk in front of them (one of which you see here). Long looks up from them and smiles, "Looking at these, you know this is going to be a fantastic movie. I can't wait to see the reactions it gets."
We'll all only have to wait a bit longer, until October, to be exact, until the movie hits nearby shelves and we can decide for ourselves which Hercules is really strongest. |
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EsquireAugust 1997
Thank You, Xena. May We Have Another?
Lucy Lawless has been the subject of more frenzied exegesis than any actress in the history of prime-time syndication. But there's nothing particularly complicated about why her character, Xena, is so wildly popular. She's the first mass-murdering, bisexual homeless woman to capture the hearts of America's families. The only mystery is why no one thought of it before. C'mon, a diabolical hybrid of Joan of Arc, Bettie Page, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, and Aileen Wuornos ... of course it's gonna be huge!
Is Lucy Lawless Xena or simply the most recent of innumerable avatars of Xena? I say the latter. I first met Xena thirty years ago. I was eleven. My parents, who belonged to a Maoist synagogue on the Upper East Side, had just finished getting dressed to go to some congregation gala when the new baby-sitter arrived. As soon as Mom and Dad were out the door, the brunette doffed her parka, and Oh, my God.... There was this big, fleshy girl in a leather bustier with metal breastplates, a short leather-and-metal skirt, wrist- and armbands, and boots, with a huge sword in a scabbard down her back. She was the sexiest girl I'd ever seen, a real girl, a demented, sweaty, hometown gifl living in some primeval dreamworld.
Thirty years later, I'm sitting in my office with three graduate students from the Department of Syndicated Drama at Stevens Institute of Technology here in Hoboken, and we're analyzing a videotape of the Xena episode in which the Warrior Princess subjugates the Horde, a bunch of miscreants who look like New Guinean Kiss impersonators. And we discover, to our astonishment, that we all have the identical Lucy Lawless fantasy. It goes like this: You're at home, just kicking back, watching TV, flipping through a magazine, and you hear this "Yi-yi-yi-yi-yi!" and there's Lawless doing this midair somersault through your front window, and she decapitates you with her chakram, and then she throws a Getz/Gilberto CD on the stereo, and your headless body goes at it with her, and then she hauls you outside and throws you into the pit with the others.
See, it's all about surrender. Ceding control. Letting go. |
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People WeeklySeptember 1, 1997
TV Titans
It is good to be a king or queen of prime time. Meet the monarchs currently enjoying the view from the top of Mt Nielson
"Xena is threads of my character taken to extremes"
"Who could have expected this kind of success?" gushes New Zealander Lawless, 29, about her astral trajectory as Xena, history's most bodacious barbarian. "My daughter [Daisy, 9] tries to pretend that Mom being Xena is a bit of a burden," says the 5'10" divorcee (she's dating Xena producer Rob Tapert). "But I think she truly loves it." So do the millions of fans in more than 50 countries where the show airs. But proving that she can carry a tune as gracefully as a sword, the opera-trained Lawless is leaving the forest for the asphalt jungle. From Sept. 2 to Oct. 19 she'll be starring as -- who else -- tough cookie Rizzo in the Broadway production of Grease. Still, Xena remains Lawless' signature character. "People are attracted to her masuline bent," says the actress. "Finally, a woman you can have a beer with."
THE BUZZ: "She dishes out camp with more gusto than Linda Carter ever dreamed of," says Roush.
"Xena is a woman who doesn't rely on a man for help," says Lawless. "And that's a good message for all." |
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E OnlineSeptember 6, 1997
Xena Sings On Broadway
Xena's Lucy Lawless has traded in her sword and dagger for a song and dance.
Yep, Xena: Warrior Princess has joined the cast in the Broadway revival of Grease as bad girl Betty Rizzo.
Lawless will strut her stuff on stage for seven weeks in a stint that runs from September 3 through October 19 at New York's Eugene O'Neill Theater.
While the notoriously tough Gotham theater critics have yet to register their reviews, the Warrior Princess received standing ovations for her performance at the preview show September 2 and on opening night, according to publicist Leah Krantzler. (What happens if the audience doesn't applaud? A Xena death-grip perhaps?)
Meanwhile, Lawless is relishing her time on the Great White Way. "This is a very exciting opportunity for her," Krantzler says.
If nothing else, it will be an opportunity for the former beauty queen (Mrs. New Zealand 1989) to demonstrate that her talents as an actress extend beyond battling the tyrannical enemies in her mythological world.
In fact, the 29-year-old Lawless recently told USA Today that she has balked at making a Xena movie and plans to leave the show when her contract is up in 2000. Lawless wants to branch out from the role she has starred in since September 1995.
For now, Lawless is filling some pretty big shoes in her role as Rizzo, the terror of Rydell High. Stockard Channing and Adrienne Barbeau created the role on screen and stage, and, in recent incarnations Brooke Shields, Rosie O'Donnell, Joely Fisher, Mackenzie Phillips, even Debbie Gibson, donned a Pink Ladies jacket and belted out "There Are Worse Things I Could Do."
Xena fans, take heart. Even if Lawless can't out-act the other Rizzos, we guarantee she could kick their butts in a brawl. |
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NZ Woman's WeeklySeptember 1997
Lucy Lawless - Natural Born Fighter
Fame drove TV's Lucy Lawless into battle - to keep her daughter's love. Being both a superhero and an international celebrity can be tough - just ask Lucy Lawless, star of the hit sword and sorcery TV3 series Xena: Warrior Princess. While she reputedly earns as much as $30,000 an episode, 28-year-old Lucy has been paying a high price for her success.
The series, in which Lucy plays a sword-wielding she-devil who fearlessly champions good against evil, threatened to destroy her relationship with her eight-year-old daughter, Daisy.
"At first, Daisy really hated the show," says Lucy, who is divorced from her bar-manager husband, Garth Lawless. "She wanted it all to go away and equated it with the break-up of her family. Daisy blamed Xena for the breakdown of my marriage. "Fortunately, she's much more comfortable with it now. She's realised that the show is not going to take me away from her. I put aside everything so I can have a great relationship with my child."
For Lucy, the odyssey from battling mum to warrior princess has been far from easy. "I think the toughest thing I've done in my life is go through a divorce and be a working mother," says Lucy, who is now happily dating Xena co-creator and executive producer Rob Tapert.
"You really feel as if you're losing your child and you can't defend yourself. You can't speak ill of the father. You can be persecuted, but you can't persecute. Your child thinks you don't care and there are moments when I've had to suppress every basic urge to fight back and say my piece."
A natural-born fighter with a strong streak of independence, Lucy grew up in Auckland, where she attended a Catholic school and "lived a charmed existence. I have five brothers and one sister, and my mum said I didn't know I was a girl until I was eight."
In the early days of the New Zealand-made show, which began last year as a spin-off from the successful series Hercules, Lucy had a problem dealing with her new identity. Now she is more relaxed about her alter ego.
"I felt threatened at first," she says. "I felt I had become some kind of counter-Barbie. I was infuriated at being reduced to some sort of icon. Now I find it a pleasure, and have already made a few changes in my life as a result. I used to smoke, but now I've stopped because I don't want the young women who look up to me to think it's okay. The character of Xena is a wonderful role model. There are people out there who have suffered some kind of abuse - and they relate to Xena. She's always fighting the good fight."
A kung-fu expert, Lucy admits to preferring to let the stunt experts handle the truly dirty work, and so she has had remarkably few injuries during the course of the series. Ironically, her worst accident to date happened while she was plugging Xena on America's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. She safely made her entrance on horseback but, afterwards, the horse slipped, throwing her onto the concrete of the studio's parking lot. She spent three weeks in hospital recovering from pelvic injuries.
While she describes the accident which happened a year ago, as "being like a bad dream", it did focus attention on the show. The accident was big news in New Zealand and helped boost Xena's ratings. And Lucy believes this brought her closer to her daughter. "She's a lot more proud of her mother now that the show is a success."
Crowned Mrs New Zealand in 1989, Lucy considered a career as a marine biologist before studying for three years to become an opera singer. Deciding that she didn't have the passion for it, she and her husband and daughter moved to Vancouver, Canada, where she attended drama school and won TV walk-on parts. Returning home three years ago, she was cast twice on Hercules - as Amazon queen Lissla who gave birth to a baby Centaur, and another time as a bully girl - before winning the part of Xena.
Her opera training hasn't gone to waste, though. This month, she will star in the US in the Broadway production of Grease, taking over the role of bad-girl Rizzo from comedian Rosie O'Donnell. "My voice isn't that good," she admits. "It's not as if they offered me the Olivia Newton-John role! But I certainly never expected to get to Broadway. I'm very proud of that."
Working 16-hour days, her schedule means she only gets to see Daisy at the weekends, while her ex-husband looks after her the rest of the time. "I wish I could spend more time with her," says Lucy, "but at least she's with her father. We're putting her needs before our own." |
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Sydney Sun Herald
September 1997
WONDER WOMAN
Lucy Lawless, in her role as the super-tall heroine Xena, wields a razor-sharp discus known as a chakram in the TV series.
They love Lucy: now Xena takes Rizzo role
KIWI actress Lucy Lawless, who found world-wide fame as the warrior princess in the TV series Xena - is the latest Australasian to score a role in Grease.
Lawless, 29, who starred in Australian films before moving to the US, has been cast as tough cookie Rizzo in Broadway's longrunning Grease revival. Olivia Newton-John played the more demure role of Sandy in the Grease film.
Lawless, 175cm tall, happily follows Brooke Shields into the part, although it will pay her less than her smash-hit role of the mythical warrior woman Xena, which was syndicated globally.
Lawless, who acknowledges the Xena role has earned her a big following in the Manhattan lesbian community, has never been on stage professionally or sung publicly. Separated from New Zealander Garth Lawless, with whom she shares custody of a nine year-old daughter, Daisy, Lawless says she is not taking the part of Rizzo for the money.
"I want to sing again, as I did as a teenager, just for the love of it," she said. Lawless said Daisy "liked mum being Xena and liked me picking her up from school".
Lawless said she was comfortable with Xena's image as feminist role model, leather-clad sex symbol and lesbian heroine.
"People are attracted to Xena's masculine bent," she said. "She doesn't rely on a man for help, and that's a good message." |
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NZ Woman's WeeklyOctober 6, 1997
Lucy Triumphs Over Obsessed Fan
Lucy's Dark Side
New Zealand's biggest star may come complete with action dolls, t-shirts and a theme park but she struggles to deal with the devil within.
Lusty and gorgeous Xena star Lucy Lawless has become an action heroine for the '90s to her millions of fans in America. Britain and at home in New Zealand. But Lucy's revealed some of her admirers are taking their obsession with her sword-wielding, leather-clad alter ego way loo far. "I was sent a nude poster recently by a video pom star," admits Lucy (29).
"It had her phone number and a little tag saying, "I only do girls and my husband. I love you'.
"And there's another woman who's moved to New Zealand and hangs about near this boat we use for filming to give unofficial tours. Frankly it's a little scary, but what can you do?"
With Xena: Warrior Princess now the number-one syndicated TV series in the US, after just two seasons. Lucy has rapidly had to learn to deal with the dark side of her fame. At times the home-loving Aucklander finds it a bit of a strain, but she's smart enough to cope with being viewed as a role model by millions of women.
"At first it really terrified me that people would be trying to copy me." she confesses. "But it hasn't turned out to be an awful burden. I get a lot of letters from women who have bought the Harley Davidson they always wanted or left an abusive relationship - gotten on with their lives. Got a life,
"Some people have a lot of trouble because they want to believe in the fantasy. Human beings love heroes and it's hard for them to let go of that. They believe I really am omnipotent, that I can help them in their lives. In reality, I'm just an actress and the best contribution I can make is to get on with my job. "I never had a star mentality, I still don't," she says. "Growing up, I did have a poster of Rowan Atkinson on my wall but he would be the closest thing to a sex symbol. You won't find me dressing up in leather or rubber at home."
But there's more than a little bit of Xena in Lucy. "Xena's a woman with a devil on her shoulder - a dark, mean chick, a very human hero - who knows all about the darker side of human nature since she must battle it within herself every day.
"It's parts of me taken to an extreme and she never pops out unintentionally, but she's there. So be careful," she laughs.
Obsessive fans aside, Lucy says the worst part of playing an action heroine is the atrocious conditions she must sometimes film in on Auckland's wild west coast.
"Mud, rain and wind at the same time. If we only have two of those things I'm happy, but when you get all three it can make a day just interminable. I crunch down inside my chariot and say, 'This must end, this too shall pass'.
"Last year while filming, I was crawling through this tunnel and there were so many rat droppings on the ground, I was slipping. Then they dumped all these rats on me. They were biting and scratching and getting caught in my hair. It was so vile, I had to get a tetanus shot."
Lucy is now New Zealand's biggest star-she's become a cultural icon with all the paraphernalia. She comes complete with action dolls, an animated movie and now her own $16 million theme park attraction at Universal Studios in Florida. There are nearly 200 Internet websites devoted to her, Xena and Hercules conventions are attended by thousands and she's the subject of regular theme nights in lesbian bars.
But unlike Rachel Hunter and Sam Neill, she still lives and works at home in New Zealand. "I get a very pleasant reception at home," she says. "Fortunately, people don't find me terribly approachable because of the intimidating character I play, and in modern clothes I'm often not recognised.
"I don't look that threatening in real life. People don't get aggressive as they're usually disarmed by the fact I'm not in costume. I don't know what I would do if I was faced with violence. If I was mugged... on reflection, I'd probably go into automatic Xena mode."
To Lucy's amusement, much of Xena's camp appeal comes from the Sapphic subtext on the show. Xena never smiles at men unless she really likes them, which doesn't happen often, reserving public displays of affection for her feisty, blonde sidekick Gabrielle. Even the new attraction at Universal Studios plays up to it - as Xena catches Gabrielle in her arms, they exchange a look that could start a forest fire.
"The fans seized on the lesbian theme because we were two females travelling alone through the world with no apparent male company," says Lucy.
"What they do around the camp fire after hours is open to conjecture, which we refuse to confirm or deny. For a while we thought it was very funny and played along with it but I never wanted to shove it down people's throats.
"We like pushing the boundaries a little. This is a love story between two people. What they do in their own time is none of our business. Now I think the show has transcended all that." Xena began as a spin off from Hercules: The Legendary Journeys but has quickly surpassed its creator in the ratings. There have been reports of intense rivalry between the two shows, that Xena gets the best stunts and special effects, but both Lucy and Kevin Sorbo (Hercules) deny it.
"We're part of each other's franchise," says Lucy diplomatically, though she can't resists adding, "And besides my boyfriend, Rob Tapert, is the executive producer. Hercules is my partner's show so it's my show, too."
 Lucy's own agenda is very different to the traditional star route followed by Kevin Sorbo, who's taken time out during the series' shooting hiatus to star in his second Hollywood movie. Lucy, meanwhile, is on Broadway for seven weeks playing Rizzo, the bad girl, in the musical Grease. Any longer away from Auckland, she says, will disrupt her daughter Daisy (8) too much. "Kevin is single while my priorities are slightly different," she explains. "Daisy comes first. It's not that I'm naturally such a great mother but it will be my everlasting regret if I don't pay as much attention to her as I could."
She also dismisses any talk of doing a Hercules and Xena movie. "It may be heresy to most actresses but I say what seems true to me," she insists. "I don't think they could pay me enough. Everyone has their price but my price is so exorbitant it isn't going to happen.
"I'm doing Grease for hardly any money because it's rewarding and it will make me a happy, old woman. I have always been aware of my mortality so I make all my decisions based on that." |
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Who Weekly (Australia)October 13, 1997
THE ONE THAT THEY WANT
From Warrior Princess to Pink Lady: Lucy Lawless storms NY in Grease!
I think Rizzo's a less evolved form of Xena," says Lucy Lawless, who, while on a seasonal break from her role as Network Ten's toughtalking, leather-clad butt kicker, is playing the tough-talking, leather-clad vixen in a Broadway production of Grease! Lawless, 29, landed the role after one of the show's producers caught her impromptu rendition of "I'm an Old Cowhand" on The Rosie O'Donnell Show, a US talkshow.
"Lucy brings with her an aura," says Grease! producer Barry Weissler. "Before she even walks on stage, we're already wondering what the Warrior Princess is going to act like as Rizzo." One-upping her predecessors (including O'Donnell and Brooke Shields), Lawless adds sexuality and menace to the role, slaying audiences, made up largely of Xenaphiles, like so many rampaging Visigoths. And the New Zealander is having a ball in the limited run limelight (her stint ends later this month). "My maxim is 'Risk all'," says Lawless. "I want to get to the end of my life and just go, 'I knocked the [bastard] off,' which is what Sir Edmund Hillary said when he elimbed Everest. There's no more time to be afraid. I won't be young long." |
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NZ Woman's DayOctober 27, 1997
Lucy's Wedding Joy - My Perfect Love Match
The Xena star is blissfully happy about her upcoming wedding. NEWLY engaged Lucy Lawless has landed the right man, says a family friend who saw love blossom between the Xena: Warrior Princess star and television producer Rob Tapert.
North Island tour operator Doug Posa knew the pair were meant for each other when he noticed their "special chemistry" during a fishing outing last year. "They looked like the perfect family," says Doug of Lucy, her new man and her daughter Daisy, 9, who had escaped Auckland for a weekend.
"I think both Lucy and Rob enjoyed getting away from the pressures of filming, and the publicity. Although they were very restrained in front of Daisy, you could see there was chemistry."
Doug, who has known dolphin-watcher Lucy for five years, says she, Rob and Daisy spent an idyllic day fishing off Whakatane, and American-born Rob was thrilled to catch two yellow-fin tuna. "Lucy and Rob seemed so compatible. They both loved the sea, that was obvious. They were both just so easygoing, so easy to get on with. I know it is a cliche, but they were made for each." Doug admits he was cautious about Rob, a big-time Hollywood television producer, but he quickly warmed to him.
"He was a down-to-earth person, just like Lucy, not a big flashy producer like you might think. If you didn't know he was an American, you would think he was a Kiwi.
"He got on really well with little Daisy. He would make a great father."
It was no surprise to Doug when it was announced on US television show Entertainment Tonight last week Lucy and Rob were to marry in the New Year.
"I am not sure you can ever say at the beginning of a relationship they were destined to be married, but I'm certainly glad they are going to tie the knot, and I wish them all the best," says Doug.
Rob reportedly proposed to super-sexy Lucy, who has just finished a sell-out seven-week season of Grease! on Broadway in New York, over a candlelit dinner for two. It will be the second marriage for both lovebirds. Lucy was formerly married to bar manager Garth Lawless, Daisy's father, and Rob was married to a US television scriptwriter.
Lucy's large, close family was delighted to hear of her engagement. Her proud parents, Frank and Julie Ryan, flew to New York to see her play Rizzo in Grease! and to share her happy news. They also passed on congratulations from Lucy's six brothers and sisters, and then toured the US on a holiday of a lifetime.
Handsome, laid-back Rob is popular among the crew on the set of Xena, a show he sometimes directs. His no-fuss personality is reportedly what Lucy loves about him. The happy pair love to take time out in Taupo, where they indulge in Rob's passion for fly fishing.
When they're not away on romantic weekends, they love to don jeans and T-shirts and hang out in her west Auckland home, which she has had extensively renovated.
Although Lucy is excited about the upcoming nuptials, she says divorcing her first husband recently and being a single, working mother was the hardest personal challenge she has overcome. Her bravery and courage, qualities she shares with her dynamic character Xena, are especially admired by actor Geoff Gann, otherwise known as Karen Dior, who appeared with her on the highest-ever-rating episode of Xena in the US earlier this year.
When Geoff, who has AIDS, heard of Lucy's engagement he spoke of his special friendship with the stunning actress. He says they met on the set of Xena in Auckland and quickly forged a close friendship.
"Lucy and I just bonded instantly and became best friends," says Geoff. "I told her about having AIDS and she told me about the accident [last October] that broke her pelvis. She gave me so much support. She helped my acting and is really the most fabulous and giving person."
The episode, filmed last October and expected to screen in New Zealand next year on TV3, saw Geoff playing a man masquerading as a female beauty queen. Xena discovers his facade and keeps his secret, with the episode ending in a poignant kiss, which caused a stir when it screened in the US.
But Geoff says Lucy ignored opinion she was wrong to kiss an AIDS sufferer. He says the kiss was at her insistence, to prove that people with the disease deserve to be treated like everyone else.
"The whole scandal that Lucy Lawless kissed someone with AIDS just made people want to watch," he says. "It was just supposed to be one of those beauty-pageant kisses on the cheek, but Lucy suggested I should grab her, dip her and give her a really passionate kiss," he laughs.
The furore over the kiss didn't phase Geoff, who was taunted as a child for being gay. His AIDS has improved since he started taking a revolutionary new treatment, protease inhibitors. He says his next move is to try to catch up with Lucy. "Most of all I would love to go back to New Zealand and do another Xena." |
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NZ Woman's WeeklyOctober 27, 1997
Wedding Bells For Lucy
Lucy's heading down the aisle. She said yes to her producer's proposal - marriage, that is - but apparently a pay rise isn't part of the contract. Marriage a second time around holds no fears for New Zealand's best-loved international TV star, Xena princess Lucy Lawless. Nor does she think being hitched to the top producer of her hit series is going to be any problem.
In fact, if she wants a salary increase, she won't be asking TV executive and husband-to-be Rob Tapert for it. She says he'll get a call from her lawyer who does all Lucy's financial negotiating. "We know how to keep things separate. We're both pretty driven people who do our respective jobs," says the Auckland actor, who's also become a singing and dancing hit as Rizzo in the New York Broadway production of Grease.
"I'm not really interested in the machinations of the TV industry. We don't talk about that kind of stuff at home - even though, technically, he is my boss."
Lucy, who's divorced from her first husband Aucklander Garth Lawless, concedes she's lucky to have landed handsome Rob, who's the executive producer of Hercules, Xena and a number of other TV shows. "Hed never gone out with an actor before he met me. Actors were a breed he didn't really cotton on to," she chuckles. "But I managed to change his mind. I'm not your typical acting type, you know. I was drawn to him from the first day we were introduced. He's just the funniest, finest man I've ever met - so, of course, I'm going to marry him."
"My first marriage was unfortunate, but that didn't sour me on the institution forever. I'm looking forward to becoming a wife again. All we have to do now is sort out the time and place. Lucy says the problem with her forst marriage was simply she and Garth "got married too young". "I was 19 working as a gold miner in the Australian outback when I discovered I was pregnant. We went home to get married and Garth got a job in a bar. I always wanted to act but I just wondered how the hell I was going to manage it with a baby on the way and no visible means of support. But becoming a mother meant I didn't have so much time on my hands so I couldn't go off the rails. Having Daisy really focused me, and kept me on the straight and narrow."
Lucy, using swords, staffs and martial arts, against human and supernatural villains, is now a world-class star - leather-clad beauty who fires both male and female imaginations.
After 50 episodes and two years on American TV, the show is fast overtaking the top-rated Baywatch in the number of stations carrying it and the millions of viewers it attracts worldwide. The warrior princess has also won the hearts of Americans with her amazing Kiwi frankness. "I'm really happy, really honoured and very proud of my work and our show. It's a fun show. It's campy, but we work bloody hard to make it the best we can."
Asked about Xena's big lesbian following, Lucy explains, "It's because, for the first time, there's a show with two female heroes. It's about friendship between two women. They're both strong and they don't rely on a male sidekick to get them out of sticky situations.
"I think it's very empowering for a lot of women and women's groups - not just the lesbian community."
At first, it wasn't appealing to Lucy to be stuck with the label of feminist icon. "I was very taken aback at first and wanted nothing to do with it. I felt I was being politicised. I thought they were putting me up as a counter Barbie and to combat "Barbie-ism" they were going to put forward Xena - a big, puff chick. I really hated that but it hasn't proved to be a burden at all. "I'm very happy my character fills a niche. I hadn't realised there was a shortage of strong female role models. If I help women to feel strong and confident, that's fine with me."
Lucy says taking a singing role on Broadway was a major achievement for her because she had always been insecure about her singing ability. "I sang as a teenager. I studies quite seriously and I think it really shut me down. To study anything so seriously as a teenager is possibly a mistake. I really wanted to get back to a time when I just sang for joy, for the love of singing. I developed a phobia. But my friends would ask me to sing at their weddings and I felt compelled to do it. I gave really crummy performances. So this Broadway role was therapy for me.!"
Her parent, Auckland City councillor Frank Ryan and his wife Julie, her grandmother and two aunts went to the US to meet Rob's family and see her perform on stage.
Lucy was thrilled everyone got on so well. "It was like they'd known each other all their lives. I must admit I was nervous at first, but everything was great."
Always concerned to look at things in a positive light, Lucy says even her accident earlier this year, when she was thrown from a horse and injured her pelvis during an American talk show skit, had a positive effect on her life. "I've finally learned to slow down. Even as a kid, I was always rushing everywhere. The teacher at school would complain and my parents were always moaning about my terrible hurry. "That broken pelvis slowed me quite a lot and gave me plenty of time to think. It made me pay attention to my family, to my daughter Daisy and to my partner.
"I discovered a lot about myself as I lay there in that hospital bed. I realised everything in life is about making lemons into lemonade. Nobody gets out unscathed. You have to press on." |
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Esquire
October 1997
Lucy Lawless - Throngs of Praise
 Xena is fighting fit and ready to crush you between her thighs.
"Move over Tank Girl, Batgirl, Barb Wire and tell Red Sonja the news-Xena:Warrior Princess is the new queen of girl-power icons and every modern guy's fave-rave pin-up.
Played by New Zealand newcomer Lucy Lawless, Xena is Conan with a clitoris;a she-he-man with awesome mammaries and muscle from (as the credits say) "a time of ancient gods...when a land in turmoil cried out for a hero." Along with her sidekick, Gabrielle, (Renee O'Connor) Xena wanders round defending the weak, fighting for truth, justice and the right to kick men in the nuts. Xena:Warrior Princess is actually pretty awful. It looks cheap and cheesy but is redeemed by large doses of comedy and camp. Real fans of Ms. Lawless like to kid themselves that she's a good actress - actually every time Xena raises a sardonic eyebrow you can hear it creak. Still, she looks great in her leather-thonged skirt, knee-high boots and leather breastplate. She has beautiful blue eyes and big sexy thighs that a man would give his right arm and left testicle to have his skull crushed by. So what is it about these warrior babes that men can't resist? Are we just suckers for psychobitches who, like Xena, can do embroidery, disembowel a bloke, defy gravity, challenge the gods, destroy tyrants and still find time to shave her legs? Yes! Yes! YES!
OK, boys - here's the bad news. Xena probably drinks from the fur cup. Gossip among the Aphrodite set suggests that Xena and Gabrielle are an item - they certainly exchange plenty of smouldering looks, sweet somethings and in one famous episode ("The Quest"), they actually kissed. But don't forget that Xena once had the hots for Hercules and promised her dead mother she'd marry a wuss called Mathias. So, fingers crossed.
Interestingly, she has become a cultural phenomenon at the very time when the male-action hunk is fast becoming history. Xena actually started life as a bit player in the series Hercules:The Legendary Journey. Now her show is more popular than his. And none of the new generaton of Sky TV studs - from Sinbad to Tarzan - have captured the popular imagination like Xena. She's not only got her own theme park in America and over 190 websites, but there's an Association of Xena Studies, too.
Xena is that rarest of cultural icons:a unisex sex symbol that can not only make men weak at the knees but women wet with desire too. Mums dads, dykes, dogs and cats - hell, everyone can find something adorable and droolable about Xena. Long may she reign." |
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Cult TV Magazine (UK)October 1997
Modern Mythmakers Joe Nazzaro chats to the writers and producer who are breathing new life into old legends Hercules and Xena.
Fantasy on TV is booming, and its all thanks to the twin trimuphs of Hercules :The Legendary Journeys and its sister series Xena: Warrior Princess. Although shows like The Adventures of Sinbad and Roar are cashing in on their sucess, its these two ongoing sagas from Ancient Greece that continue to attract the best ratings.
Hercules started out as a series of TV movies. It's tongue-in-cheek approach, helped by star Kevin Sorbo's wry performances, proved so successful it was given its own regular series, and a year later spun off Xena - Lucy Lawless playing the eponymous warrior women. Both shows feature the same winning combination of over-the-top action, cutting-edge SFX and stunning location work.
While Hercules and Xena are being shot in distant New Zealand, two teams of writers are busily churning out myths in the land of fantasy known as Hollywood. The Herc team is based at Universal Studios while, several miles away in the LA suburbs of Studio City, the gang of Xena are creating their own weekly adventures. It's a shared universe, but for the most part, each team has staked out its own distinctive mythological turf.
The man best qualified to explain the contrasts and similarities between Hercules and Xena is executive producer Rob Tapert, whose many responsibilities include overseeing the writing on both shows.
"The biggest difference between the two shows when we're working on scripts is that on Xena, we always look at what change takes place in Xena or Gabrielle, but we don't do that on Hercules," Tapert says. "Xena is somebody who learns something on a weekly basis, and the episodes work best when the drama flows out of her as a character and the decisions she's made. Hercules, because of the nature of the show, is a kind of an unchangeable hero, who's already a good guy, and very few times do we find a way to have the drama flow from him. He usually comes into a situation and rectifies it so he acts more like a teacher."
"I think Hercules is an extremely difficult show to write," Xena's supervising producer Steve Sears asserts. "I have nothing but admiration for the writers and producers on that series. Hercules is a good, noble moral character, and believe it or not, that's difficult to write. Our hero has flaws, she has a very dark background, so it's not as easy for us to do the lighter or fun stories that Hercules can do. We've never really had a problem of starting off with a script here and having someone say, 'This seems more like a Hercules script than a Xena script.' The two characters have their own ingrained differences, so the stories will naturally go off in different directions. We saw a cut of one of our episodes and somebody turned to me and said, 'Well there's no way we can confuse this with Hercules!'"
Anything you can do...
While that may be true, both shows are working with the same group of Greek Gods, monsters, heroes and historical figures. With this in mind it seems inevitable that the occasional overlap may occur.
"One of the huge pitfalls for us when we start bandying around stories is when we hear those hateful words, 'You know, on Hercules...'" Sears says laughing. "I was working on a story and Rob was down in New Zealand, and when he came back, I gave him the basics, and he said, 'Let's have lunch tomorrow.' We had lunch, and he said, 'Let me pitch you a Hercules,' and pitched me my story. I stopped him and said, 'I know where you're going Rob, and you can't do it!' He said, 'We're already doing it.' I'm sure the most horrible words they hear over in the Hercules camp are, 'You know, on Xena...'
"In fact, I ran into that yesterday," Tapert admits. "and I'm now having to make a show decision. Over the coming years on Xena, we're going to show more and more the decline of the Greek Gods and a world awash with all different sorts of religious beliefs, which was really true of ancient times. Most of the great religions already had some basis by 500 BC, and then the guys on Herc came up with a huge arc they wanted to do. I had to say. 'Okay, that's going to run right smack into what we're going to do on Xena here and there, so let's marry it up, and guys, if this road we're going down doesn't work, both shows are going to tumble!' Once this arc begins, there's no going back!"
One of our stars is missing
The success of both Hercules and Xena has led to some interesting complications on the writing side during the shows' last seasons. When Sorbo took and extended studio-approved hiatus to work on Kull The Conqueror, the staff on Hercules had to think fast when he was late returning from the film.
"Without getting into nasty studio politics, had I really known that he was going to miss three episodes, I would have written a storyline for it, 'Why is Hercules missing?' and embraced it," says Tapert who admits to having mixed feelings about the actor working on another sword and sorcery project. "Because I found out he wasn't going to be in two out of three episodes at the very last minute, I couldn't make adjustments for a three-episode arc, with Hercules frozen in rock or something, and everyone's asking, 'Where is Hercules?'"
"That was unfortunate," agrees Bob Bielak, a former freelancer who's now co-executive producer on Hercules. "It was really a moving target in a sense wondering when Kevin was going to be there and when he wasn't. I don't know if it's anybody's fault, but the studio promised us one thing and then it didn't happen and suddenly he was gone, so we had to scramble to change thing around a little bit. It certainly would have made our lives easier and we could have geared ourselves up for a three-episode arc if we knew for sure that he was going to be missing for three episodes rather than maybe one or two, but its not so different than what everyone runs into on other shows. People get hurt too, and we've been very fortunate with all the action we do that there's been no major injuries. Micheal Hurst (who plays Iolaus) broke his wrist last year, which impacted on three episodes, and there was some scrambling at the last minute to accommodate that. Things happen; that's why they pay us the medium bucks to adjust it."
It was an injury that had Xena staffers scrambling for their word processors last year when Lucy Lawless fell off a horse during a taping of an American chat show and broke her pelvis. The accident prompted a number of last-minute rewrites to cover their star's absence.
"I remember when this accident with Lucy happened," Sears recalls, "and we were discussing how we were going to fix it. Somebody said, 'This could be a disaster,' and it struck this line in me that came from Apollo 13 where somebody said that in the movie, and Ed Harris' character says, 'Excuse me, I beg to differ; this will be our finest hour!' That really was true, because I thought this was where we really had to be creative, so let's prove what we're getting paid for, and I'm very pleased with what we did."
Even after Lawless reported back to work, the writers weren't anxious to write too many knock-down, drag-out fight scenes involving Xena and a couple of dozen testosterone-heavy stuntmen.
"To a fair extent, nobody wanted her to be pushing herself and really doing some damage." adds Xena's story editor Chris Manheim, the sole female staffer on either series. "We wanted her back 100 per cent, and even when she was feeling great, we were still getting reports of, 'Lucy is doing some kicks on the set,' and we were saying, 'Somebody stop her!' because we didn't want any kind of permanent injury to flare up in her later life either."
It's not such a small world
Because Hercules and Xena exist in the same universe and feature some of the same characters (human and immortal) you'd think the two heroes would meet up for the occasional cup of grog or to compare recent scars. Think again.
"During a crossover with Kevin or Micheal is extremely difficult because of the scheduling, and the same thing with sending Lucy or Renee over for one of their episodes," Sears explains. "We're shooting at the same time, and we both have a full slate, so those crossovers are very few and far between. As far as the residual characters such as Salmoneus or the Falafel man, we like doing that; we just don't want to do it so much that the two shows blend. We're actually obsessed with coming up with characters on our series that we can give back, because Hercules is our flagship and we borrowed a lot from it. Eventually, if we use Joxer more, maybe he can go over there.
Getting it right
While the fantasy genre is now as crowded as fleas on a centaur's bum, Hercules and Xena are still incredibly difficult to write for. Both shows have a deceptively simple recipe that most freelancers seem incapable of following.
"Many outsider writers took the myths too seriously and too literally," explains Hercules' former co-executive producer (and Xena co-creator) John Schulian. "They thought we were just taking all that incest and fratricide and all that good stuff and putting it on screen, but nothing could be further from the truth; we were just taking a sliver of mythology and spinning it in our own way.
"Finally, people started getting the message, but we still had some awful stories proposed to us." he winces, "It defeats the purpose of the show if your going to have time travel, because if Hercules travels to 1997 to solve some problems, that just makes the show like every other show on TV. He has a very specific and unique world, that he lives and works and thrives in, and why should we walk away from that?"
If it's any comfort to the creative team behind Hercules, several miles away in Studio City, Xena's staff aren't safe from the writers pitch from hell either.
"There's the space alien idea which we threw out a long time ago." Sears jokes. "Not only that, but we've heard so many versions of the future idea: Xena is transported into the future, or people are transported back there, and that's certainly not our show. I say that's in our fifth season when we've been cancelled in four!" |
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US MagazineOctober 1997
The Importance of Being Xena Warrior Princess
ON PLAYGROUNDS, GIRLS ARE SELLING THEIR Malibu dream houses and sending Barbie out to battle evildoers. In lesbian coffee-houses they've dropped their Betty and Wilma fantasies to cheer a TV heroine actually kissing her gal pal. In teen-age boys' bedrooms they're ripping down pinups of blond, eyelash-batting babes to make way for posters of a blue-eyed brunette who can slay them with a cutting remark or a swift kick. What's behind it all? (Cue the ear-piercing banshee shriek.) It's Xena: Warrior Princessl Now, you might think the woman who plays Xena couldn't possibly live up to her onscreen image. And while it's true that statuesque New Zealander Lucy Lawless, 29, can't subdue men with a single, lethal touch, she is in many ways deserving of the title Warrior Princess. Pursuing a successful career while raising a 9-year-old daughter (Lawless was divorced in 1995) is surely enough to guarantee her the honor. But she is also an accomplished singer who is making her Broadway debut as Rizzo in Grease! She is a champion angler who once caught a world-record-breaking 44-pound pargo (a kind of red snapper) in Mexico. She has mined gold in the Australian outback and picked grapes along the Rhine. And despite a nasty fall last year that fractured her pelvis while she was shooting a Tonight Show skit, she's a proficient horsewoman, though she vows never to canter on concrete again.
Reached by phone at her Auckland, New Zealand, hideaway, Lawless is busy rousting daughter Daisy and boyfriend Rob Tapert, an executive producer of Xena, for a week-end outing to fish for their dinner.
What do girls watching Xena today have that you didn't have growing up?
Well, I did have it growing up, a female role model who says, "I can." I did have that, because I had an interesting, wacky mum. And my father very importantly told me at a young age, "Lucy, you can be anything you want to be."
How is your mother interesting and wacky?
She's quite eccentric and political, without aligning herself to any particular party. New Zealand was the first place where women got the vote. She wanted to commemorate women's suffrage, so she raised $18,000 for a statue. She also dresses in a kooky fashion, unconcerned about any convention.
What does your daughter think of the show?
She's never home when it's on. She comes to work with me on Fridays. But she's very proud of her mummy. Hold on. [Addresses her daughter] Daisy, it's time to get ready. [Daisy, in background: "I'm tired." How do you feel about the show? [Daisy gets on the phone: "I like how they do the weird moves and things, and how they throw people back."] Initially she was afraid that the kids wouldn't like me and she was going to be rejected. And when they came to school and really liked it, it was a big weight off her little shoulders.
You have brothers?
Yes, four older, one younger. My mother had so many children, she couldn't remember our birthdays. The greatest mother in the world, but there were too many kids. But I was a horrible little sister. I managed to get up their noses regularly.
In your own life, what is the toughest foe you've vanquished?
[Whispering] Gotta move out of the child's hearing. I'd say, getting a divorce was a biggie. I'm glad that's all over.
Did the show have anything to do with it?
No, it was just contemporaneous. The show helped, because I didn't have time to wallow in it. I did feel, how can such a great idea feel so rotten? It was a long time coming. I never realized that was an option, 'cause all I'd ever seen in life were happy 40-year-old marriages still going strong. I was the first one in the entire family. But it worked out how it had to, and I'm very happy.
Any feelings about the show's lesbian following?
At first it was a surprise to hear that people were throwing a loopy slant on it just because two women were traveling around with no visible means of male support. We kind of laughed and played along with it. That was a long time ago, and since, we've moved on. I think the characters transcend labeling, just like gay people don't want to be identified solely by their sexuality. They contribute so many things to society that to limit it to their sexuality is unimaginative.
Do you get many weird fan letters?
I get a lot. Probably the weirdest one was a poster from some girl's porn video. She had written on it, "Dear Lucy, I love you. Call me. I only do girls and my husband." I thought, wow, there's an offer I can't refuse.
Is it difficult dating someone whom you work with on "Xena'?
No. We don't talk about work a lot. Occasionally, he wants to direct, and then I have to see him as the director and not whoever's cooking dinner tonight. He's a great chef. He makes good trout. Actually, we're going fishing for fresh trout tonight. |
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GlamourOctober 1997
Star Turn: Lucy Lawless on Xena and sex
"I'm not interested in labeling Xena as gay or straight," says Lucy Lawless, the native New Zealander who since September 1995 has played the leather-clad superheroine on the top rated syndicated series 'Xena: Warrior Princess'. Ms Magazine has called Xena - originally an evil warrior on the show 'Hercules' - a feminist icon for our time, and ever since last season when she kissed her TV sidekick, Gabrielle, viewers have wondered (and thousands have logged onto the internet to discuss): Is she or isn't she? Lawless, a single mother, won't answer that question - so we talked about her career.
Is your nine year old daughter Daisy aware that mom is a cult figure?
The impact of the show has been pretty major on the kids in New Zealand. At first Daisy was afraid that my program would flop and she'd be laughed at. When that didn't happen, she felt free to be proud of me.
What's the most unusual job you've ever had?
I worked for a gold-mining company in the Australian outback. We dug the earth and took samples. The ratio of women to men was one in 50. I never saw any gold, but I did change a lot of tires.
You studied opera and are appearing on Broadway through October as Rizzo in the musical Grease. Tell us about your passion for singing.
I sing when I'm happy, but for many years I stopped singing. That time's over. I take nothing for granted since I fractured my pelvis while performing a stunt on 'The Tonight Show' last October.
How did it feel when you were asked to sing the national anthem at a Detroit Red Wings game - and your breast popped out of your shirt?
It was awful! It may have been my worst performance ever, and the networks wouldn't stop replaying it.
It wasn't as if you grabbed your crotch à la Roseanne.
No, it was a bloody accident.
Would you take your clothes off on camera?
I've been offered a lot of money to pose for Playboy. It holds no interest for me; nor will I do it in the movies. Lucy Lawless is a private person, I have a daughter and a partner, and I don't want to share my personal side with anyone else.
Do you think Xena and Gabrielle will share more intimate moments this season?
Not really. Just as there are no plans for Hercules and Xena to get together. Having said that, there are times to make a little innuendo, and we'll keep doing that. |
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Who Weekly (Australia)November 3, 1997
Best Bodies
The producers of Xena Warrior Princess wanted the high-kick! the cult series to be a blonde. But the show's star, New Zealander Lucy Lawless, whose locks are naturally ash-blonde, talked them out of it. "I said, 'She should be like an Amazon, rounded and buxom and dark,' " says Lawless, 29, whose mental picture of Xena resembled Argentine tennis pro Gabriela Sabatini. After dying her hair black and adding extensions, the opera-trained actress (who has just finished playing teen vamp Rizzo in the Broadway production of Grease) took on the Amazon look with ease. She's a statuesque 1.78m, says Xena's costume designer Ngila Dickson, "with magnificent shoulders, beautiful arms, lovely cleavage and a beautiful face". Playing such a feisty woman required some extra body-buffing, weight-lifting and boxing provided that until Lawless fractured her pelvis in a horseriding accident as she taped a stunt for The Tonight Show in the US last year. Since then, the divorced mother of Daisy, 9 (her fiance is Xena executive producer Rob Tapert), has taken up 50-minute swimming sessions and hour-long walks carrying 1.5kg handweights. "Exercise frees you up not to worry about the next day," explains Lawless, whose freezer is stocked with meat pies and whose favourite dish is spicy lamb curry, "and I can eat what I want!" |
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ExaminerNovember 18, 1997
Xena's Really a Scaredy Cat
Plagued by bizarre phobias, TV's Warrior Princess fears dying young
ACTION actress Lucy Lawless boldly fights off enemies on her hit TV show, Xena: Warrior Princess. But in real life, she's full of secret fears!
"Ever since I was a little girl, I've had a crushing feeling I would die young," says the 29-year-old New Zealand native. "I also have phobias about flying and singing in public."
Now, Lawless is facing her fears head-on in a desperate effort to cure them, and she's doing it with the kind of courage that would do Xena proud. "I guess because I always believed I would die an early death, I've always grabbed life with great gusto," says the sexy star.
"I figured if I didn't go for it, I'd fear of flying stems from her fear of run out of time." dying young. Says a source close to the for- "When she first landed the role of mer Mrs. New Zealand: "Lucy's Xena and found out she'd have to fly between New Zealand, where the show is shot, and the United States, she freaked out.
"But she didn't have any choice. So, every time she hops a plane for the 12-hour flight, she arms herself with a portable CD player and a stack of magazines to take her mind off what she's doing.
"It's a control thing with her. If she feels she's in control, she's fine, but if it isn't in her hands, she's petrified." Losing control of a galloping horse did put her life in jeopardy last year. While filming a stunt for Jay is fearless, actress Leno's Tonight Lucy Lawless admits Show, the horse she was riding slipped and fell on top of her, crushing her pelvis.
But she's back in the saddle again, and she's resumed her torturous daily workouts in the gym. "Lucy is convinced that if she doesn't keep herself strong and healthy, a horrible fate awaits her," says the source. "She has great discipline and drive about her eating and exercise habits, she's in control.
"Flying makes her feel helpless. But her fear is dwindling with every plane trip." Lawless is also conquering her fear of singing in public, by appearing this fall in the Broadway production of the musical. Grease.
"The first few days of rehearsal, she acted like a terrified rabbit," says a theater insider. "But she's very strong-willed, and she was determined to give the role everything she's got. She practiced long and hard, and as soon as she realized she could. Lucy has chosen to face her fears head-on and hold her own against the other pros in the show, she gained confidence.
"That's all she needed. Singing in public still doesn't thrill her, but she steps onstage bravely every night, and it's getting better."
For moral support, Lawless relies on the new man in her life, Xena producer Robert Tapert. "He's the finest man I've ever met," gushes the brawny beauty. Lawless divorced her husband, Garth, when she fell for Tapert on the set. She and Garth had been together since they were teenagers. They have an 8-year-old daughter, Daisy, who lives with her dad while-Lawless tackles her phobias halfway across the world. |
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Lesbian NewsNovember 1997
Lucy Lawless as Xena: Warrior Princess
Everyone keeps repeating that I am an extraordinarily lucky woman. This is not something with which I'm prepared to take issue but for two weeks, the people who were apprising me of this were not talking of my rapier wit and celestial beauty. They were Lucy Lawless fans or Xena: Warrior Princess fans, or both. Apparently, that I was going to interview the New Zealand beauty was a point of great envy for my gay female friends, straight male friends and one or two female friends who call themselves straight. Of the latter, one tells me she, "dreams of being Gabrielle."
At the time the editor asked me to interview Ms. Lawless, I had seen Xena but once. Of course, I didn't get to the WNBA this season. I don't play pool and I don't have a cat, either, so generally speaking this is not an awful transgression in the annals of dykedom. I knew, of course, who Xena was and had even been dragged to Xena Night - by two straight girlfriends, no less - at a lesbian club in New York City called Meow Mix. I was not, however, one of the many, many women who would have give their eye teeth to conduct this interview.
Still, here I am, 10th row center to see Broadway's Grease and its newest
star, Lucy Lawless. Our appointment to speak follows in a couple of days
and I want to be prepared. Every now and then you interview someone who you
just like immediately and such was the case with Lawless. We have spoken
occasionally, kept in touch while she's been in New York and she is
incredible fun.
The beginning of the interview did not portend this connection, however.
"Emma, it's Lucy," followed by a long, noisy yawn.
"Sorry," she continues. "I'm just so fucking exhausted. I've never worked so hard in my life." When she is thanked profusely for agreeing to the interview, given her many commitments and long rehearsal days, she responds with a blunt, "Yeah."
Don't gush around Lucy Lawless, it makes her extremely sarcastic. In the
last two years, during which she has turned into a major television star,
the 29-year-old actress has learned to be wary of the obsequious.
Compliments are laughed off and the adulation so craved by some celebrities
seems to bore this one.
What does not bore Lawless is discussing her role as Rizzo in the Broadway staple Grease. She can talk about it at length, to anyone and maintain an enthusiasm that seems uncharacteristic. "Oh, God, it's like being forced to jump through hoops," she laughs. "I didn't think it could be much harder than Xena, than the 12-hour, very physical shoot days that we have but it is. It really is."
For years, actors searching for professional respect and a juicy acting experience have turned to the boards. Lawless is well aware that this role represents a major departure for her career and that it could go either way. She admits it's "the scariest fucking thing" she's ever done.
"It becomes less of a fear. It better, anyway." She lets loose a throaty laugh. "And eventually you play the mistakes. Like, I have a hoola hoop in one scene and I can not get it going despite having won a hoola hoop competition when I was a kid. I can not hoola hoop this bloody thing," Lawless yelps. "So, I just hold it. You know, Rizzo doesn't give a rat's ass anyway. You just play the mistakes in character and you stop feeling like you want to throw up all the time."
Still, entering the elitist world of Broadway is an audacious move. Even her predecessors, Brooke Shields and Rosie O'Donnell, though no Bernadette Peters, seem likelier candidates than the action star to head the cast of a Broadway musical. But as she says in television ads for the show, "You can't be a warrior princess all of your life."
"Look, I could do a movie which would pay a g'zillion dollars, of course, but it wouldn't reward me. So that would cost me. I'm trying to take the riskier option. I just feel so alive now."
The amazing thing was not that she debuted on stage but that she debuted on stage in a musical. Lawless is surprisingly good, too. "From a small child, really," she claims, it has been her dream to be on Broadway. "I always used to listen to Broadway music. I loved Mary Martin and Hermione Gingold. It was a realization of that childhood dream."
Lawless has a singer's voice, strong, confident, with interesting phrasing. There is some awkwardness as she moves on stage, bereft of the heavily choreographed moves of Xena but she readily admits that each day is a new adventure in learning. "I picked up some very bad technique. I think, as a teenager singing." She says she has worked, "damn hard" with the musical's director to overcome this.
Lucy Lawless has become a Broadway star.
New York City's Times Square certainly isn't what it used to be. Once nicknamed "The Great White Way," and synonymous with elegance, top hats and tails, it rotted in the sixties, leaving behind fetid ground with seemingly more porn per square inch than Bangkok. On the upswing, kind of, it's now rather like one giant action pack. The theme restaurants crowd two and three per block and there's a Disney store on every corner.
Still, at night when the Broadway marquees burn, the dirt is masked by night and the restaurants and stores fade into the background, the theater district not only comes alive but regains some its faded glory. With the economy booming and Broadway producing more shows than it has in many season, town cars clog the streets and great crowds of well-dressed theater mavens line the sidewalks.
These are the well lit, fall nights that Lucy Lawless drives through, on her way to and from the Eugene O'Neill theater on West 49th Street. "Oh, my God do I love New York! What a place!"
New York quite returns the sentiment. Although sales haven't been quite what the producers hoped, notoriously harsh critics have been very complimentary of her performance. "It's pretty hard to believe, actually," she begins. "It's very hard to take it seriously because you're just you, you know? No matter how other people see you you're just the same old person who pulls her undies on one leg at a time."
This is the essence of Lawless, candid, funny, with a strict no bullshit policy. At the interview's start, Lawless seems uninterested in being there. She sounds sleepy as she answers the first few questions but, after a brief personal conversation, she changes almost completely. Swearing,laughing and making jokes at her own expense, she has a ribald sense of humor and reacts better to good dish than anyone you've ever seen. This sudden stardom is not an easy thing for Lucy Lawless and there are lots of things she just plain doesn't understand.
As she goes in the stage door each evening around dusk and leaves each night well after eleven, swarms of people wait for her. Many of these fans are gay women and many of them come every night, like the woman in the pink hair whom Lucy almost looks for now. While she understands why Xena is a lesbian icon, and therefore so is she, she doesn't seem to understand the abject worship. After you see it yourself once or twice, you do wonder.
Lawless is staunchly supportive of her gay fans, though, and has made quite a splash in New York's lesbian scene. Here barely one week, she made herfirst trip to the lesbian bar, Meow Mix to meet some of her more ardent admirers. One of the many hip new places that have sprung up since lesbian chic, Meow Mix is the haunt of Xena-philes. On the first Tuesday of each month, the owners proclaim Xena night, playing the most recent shows in a loop without commercial interruption. There are sword contests and slightly reworked scene re-enactments, usually with Xena and Gabrielle ending up in an unscripted, erotic clench.
The first night she misses the big Xena party and ends up at a benefit filled with "funky students. Mostly men because there is this benefit going on." Regardless, the buzz of the news that Lucy Lawless had gone to Meow Mix fried the phone wires the next morning.
The second visit to the club was a far greater success, with Lawless actually making Xena night. Through the thick clouds of cigarette smoke, women and girls hovered and watched, ogled and asked for autographs. When they approached, it was great respect and gentility. That night, Lawless was taken there by another journalist trying to get a story. This time, the implication was clear and the sheer manipulation of the stunt left her angry.
"I was annoyed. I was annoyed," anger crackling in the air, "that this person should take me as if I was a publicity stunt and I felt manipulated. I felt he was pushing a bloody agenda and I freakin' can't understand people spending so much time trying to out me." The anger disappears and she smiles a bit as she continues. "So, I just came to the conclusion that I wouldn't give him the energy, or buy into it, or worry about it."
The women there, she says, are "just great" and gay women are some of her favorite fans. "They're not confused about a character. They don't demand that I be the character. They're not blurred, that's all. I feel easy in their company, funnily enough."
Since her words about the journalist had been fairly strong, I question the wisdom of publishing her statements and give her the opportunity to bag out of the quotation. We're not all scum, I want to say. Lucy calls the next afternoon to say she's been thinking that maybe it's not the best idea to attack this person.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah but, I don't know. I always feel like I should tell the truth and just let it fall where it may. The whole point is that it's tiresome and a waste of time for humans not to be honest with one another. But that was damn nice of you, my God."
Fame is a dance with the Devil, at best. Level-headed and sound, there are still too many instances beyond her control. Those are the ones she says she doesn't handle too well. Her cult figure standing, for instance, that has spawned some rather unsavory admirers.
"There are," says Lucy without a hint of her trademark humor, "a lot of wackos out there. Some sections of fandom are a little confused. They think Xena is me. Gay women, on the other hand, are so loyal because Xena is the first strong, kick-ass woman on TV. They're just thankful to me for my part of the show. I'm the public face."
Public or not, the celebrity thing is something she doesn't particularly cotton to, either. "I don't like to be made to feel like a one-trick pony. That's the reason I don't go to celebrity parties. I don't like to be some low-ranked celebrity for hire. It's like the Meow Mix thing. If I go I want it to be because it's my own idea, out goodwill (sic) and a sense of fun and because I'm respectful of the women who run that place because I like those women. Not somebody else's little piece of manipulation because that
means we're all being manipulated. And I think the women in the club are being used."
Lawless has returned to the topic of the errant journalist and her already sexy, low voice has dropped another two levels. The New Zealand accent has calcified, her "a's" are so flat they get caught in the back of her throat and the words curl around her tongue. She's pissed and she's not really a person you want angry with you, even without a sword.
Since fame came to the leggy Kiwi "later" in life, if you can really say that 26 is later in life, Lucy retains an edge to her personality that hasn't been buffed off by years of being groomed for celebrity. "I often think that if it happens too late in life it's too late to get jazzed about it. And I want to appreciate it because it can all go away." Then she says softly, "I want to appreciate it because to be sucked in, to believe your own hype, it's the worst mistake. It's a come on."
Born Lucy Ryan, she is the oldest of two girls and one of seven children in the family. Her father was the Mayor of Mount Albert, New Zealand and her mother was a housewife with political leanings. Lucy was a tomboy who rode the flat gray-green earth on horseback and fought with her five brothers. There was an independent streak taking root even then, instilled by her mother.
When Lucy was still a girl, her parents set sail for a trip around the world, leaving the family for over eight weeks. "It must have been very difficult for my mother," sympathizes the actress and mother of a nine-year-old daughter. "It was a very good enlivening thing. She came back an interesting woman. I really think that it was a brave thing for my mum to do."
At 18, Lucy left college where she had been studying acting, to explore the world with her boyfriend, Garth Lawless. Along the way, she pan-handled gold, picked grapes on the Rhine and learned world-class fishing skills. In 1988 she married Lawless and gave birth to daughter Daisy that same year.
These three people, her daughter, her father and her mother, seem to form a kind of lifeline for Lucy. Due in town that very week, she gets incredibly excited when she discusses their visit and she has a lot planned for Daisy.
Lucy tries to manage the decades old balance of family and work that is more successful some days than others. Daisy, however, is the constant; the most important person in Lucy's life.
Kids are a frequent topic and reference for Lawless who manages to slip her daughter into the conversation pretty regularly. Daisy is, "nine and divine" according to the doting mum, although not a zealous fan of Xena. She does manage to attend the Friday taping which gives them a little more time together.
"I don't want to go into that too much." Then with a bit of gentle prodding, she changes her mind. "I miscalculated and it's five weeks before I see my daughter instead of three and a half and five weeks is way too long in kid time, and it's way too much for me. And it's very hard," Lucy lays on the word, a little distraught, "for a little kid to comprehend waiting for her mum. You know," she concludes just a little out of breath, "I miss her so much."
Mother and daughter are close and the most valuable lesson Lawless learned about raising her daughter was handed down from her mum. "My mother taught me a very good lesson: you mustn't give everything up for your children because your children will go off. That's their job. It's their mission in life. You must save part of yourself for yourself."
Lawless is nothing if not pragmatic. At times, it's a little hard to believe that she's actually an actress which isn't meant as harshly as it sounds. It's just that Lawless has a good sense of herself and a clear understanding of what's important.
Recently, she announced her engagement to the American executive producer of Xena and Hercules, Rob Tapert. The break-up of her marriage to Daisy's father was traumatic and not a thing she expects to repeat. "He's the sweetest guy, for one thing but also, you know, we just like being around one another. You can say that about some guy, you marry him!"
The two, who have no trouble interacting at work and at home, have been linked for a while now but there are those who speculate that the timing of the engagement may have had something to do with Lucy's increasing gay interaction. Her visits to the gay bars landed her gossip (sic) columns in the straight and gay communities and the Web is filled with constant speculation about her personal life.
Perhaps this confluence is the reason for a recent misstatement on a late-night talk show. When the host asked her about a certain lesbian club that held Xena night, Lucy tossed off his question with a laugh. Then she claimed that she had never visited the place and the subject quickly changed. I do not get the chance to ask about this and I can not fathom the answer because she is basically such a straight shooter. What could she say?
Lawless has been spotted at everything in the last couple of weeks, parties, benefits and openings. "Well," she giggles, "I'm trying to have a good time but you know, I'm so exhausted. I sleep, then, like today, I'll go to the gym after this. I'll try to get some food in the fridge and then I'll have to go back to the theater."
Staying in a hotel near Central Park, Lawless has tried to explore in other areas of the city. On one recent trip to Greenwich Village for dinner, she ran into an actor she has "adored for years," whom it turned out, was a fan of hers. Days later she is still giggling over the encounter.
"The waiter comes over to me and says, 'there's a gentleman that says you're Xena. I told him he was nuts.' I said, well, he's not nuts, or maybe he is, but I am Lucy Lawless." Meanwhile, across the room, Rupert Everett, star of My Best Friend's Wedding, was having dinner. Lucy admits to the biggest crush on him, ever since Another Country. "That was a big movie in my house. So I call the waiter back over and say, 'Isn't that Rupert Everett?" Get this, and he's like, 'yeah and he's the one that recognized you!"
Lawless is so impressed with the whole scene that it's hard to imagine her happier. Until, that is, I mention that Rupert is my next door neighbor. "No way!" she shrieks. Later that day when Rupert passes by my courtyard window with his black lab, Mo, I mention that I met a new friend of his. "Oh God," he says as only he can. "I just love Lucy. She is so great. Love the show, just love it."
When I tell her this she is beside herself. "Fuck! Isn't this amazing? He's a doll! He's sweet but he's capable of being so incredibly nasty and wicked." Actually, he's a great neighbor. I explain, but he is wicked. Then I relate the story of how he once sent a particularly vituperative critic a lock of his pubic hair after a bad review. She gasps and then is lost in peels of laughter.
As Lucy's successful run on Broadway draws to a close, she prepares to go back to work. Xena begins taping just four days from the date she leaves Rizzo behind and the warrior princess is in for quite a season. "We're doing a musical this year," she squeals in laughter. "A really wanky, Wagnerian type opera Xena. It's going to be great."
Will there be any lesbian subtext, or, better yet, any lesbian sex? "Look, it's ambiguous. That way everyone can get from it what they want. Really, who cares anyway. Pretty nasty, dark stuff coming up this year, though, so, don't let your children watch. This season's really got to be screened."
So fans won't be getting everything they want from the show this year but they do have Lawless' heart. "I got this letter, though I don't usually read my mail. I get some weird stuff. I'd have to live behind bars if I read it all but I got this great lesbian fan letter that said how important our show was to her. It said," she stops, still incredulous at the content, "this girl said, 'It's so important that you're not afraid of us,'" Lucy pauses for a long time. "Do you have any idea what that means? Any idea the kind of existence one must have to need to say that to me. It's shitty. I felt bad and great at the same time. Just shitty good luck is all."
Will the luck continue in the career of Lucy Lawless? She has no intention of leaving Xena (David Caruso are you there?) and she chooses interesting work on her off weeks. Material that she says, "stretches her," so one imagines there is much more to come.
As always, the Warrior Actress sums it up best. "I take great pride in my work. I don't like sloppy work and I always try to push your own boundaries. So, I see no reason why I should just suddenly vanish in the future. Not at all." |
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Cult MagazineNovember 1997
Xena: Warrior Princess
Everything you'll ever need to know, and more...
The Premise: "In a time of ancient gods, warlords and kings, a land in turmoil cried out for a hero. She was Xena, a mighty princess forged in the heat of hat-tie..." Each week these words lead the viewer into the world of Xena: Warrior Princess, a bad girl turned good who travels across Ancient Greece battling evil and attempting to atone for her previous crimes.
Background: Writer John Schulian wanted to tell the tale of the woman who came between Hercules and Iolaus. Producer Robert Tapert wanted to create an uncompromising female character and bring the energy of the Hong Kong action movies to television. As a result, nasty Xena and her army were introduced in a three episode arc during the first season of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. When Universal cancelled Vanishing Son (the drama which followed Hercules), the now repentant Xena provided a ready-made replacement.
First Run: The pilot, Sins of the Past, aired in America on 4th September 1995. Sky 2 brought the series to Britain on 8th September 1996, with Channel 5 following on 12th July 1997.
Number of Episodes: The first season consisted of 24 one-hour episodes and the second season 22.
The Good- Guys: Xena, played by New Zealander Lucy Lawless, is accompanied on her travels by a young bard named Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor). They are occasionally joined by the clumsy but good-hearted Joxer (Ted Raimi of seaQuest fame). And not forgetting Hercules (Kevin Sorbo), Iolaus (Michael Hurst) and Salmoneus (Robert Trebor).
The Bad Guys: Ares, God of War (Kevin Smith, who also appeared in Hercules as the hero's half-brother Iphicles), and Callisto (Hudson Leick), the warrior woman driven mad by a lust for revenge against Xena, whose army was responsible for the deaths of her family.
And isn't that...? There are many familiar faces to be found during the course of the series. Of particular note are: Bruce Campbell (the Evil Dead films, The Adventures of Brisco County Jr, Lois & Clark and American Gothic) reprising his Hercules role as Autolycus -the King of Thieves, John D'Aquino (whose other credits include seaQuest and two appearances as the brother of Sam Beckett's mentally handicapped host, Jimmy, in Quantum Leap) as Ulysses, and Tony Todd (Kurn in Star Trek: The Next Generation, and an elderly Jake Sisko in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's The Visitor and, of course, Candyman) as Cecrops, the lost mariner.
Best of the Bunch: For comedy, The Royal Couple of Thieves, a laugh riot thanks to the chemistry between Lawless and the irrepressible Bruce Campbell, as Xena and Autolycus join forces to recover a stolen artifact. Additionally, A Day in the Life, an episode which shows just what the title says in a multitude of hilarious ways and is notable not only for the infamous bathtub scene but also for the rather ignominious fate suffered by one of Gabrielle's scrolls. For drama, Destiny, in which we learn more of Xena's murky past and of her encounter with Julius Caesar and, lastly, The Greater Good, which finally allows Gabrielle to come of age after Xena's apparent death.
Bottom of the Barrel: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, whose sole purpose seems to be to titillate by having a Bacchae-possessed Gabrielle bite Xena's neck. Also, A Solstice Carol, a by-the-numbers Christmas episode, bogged down with the inevitable American schmaltz. Yuck. |
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Woman's Day (NZ)December 1, 1997
New Xena-Land
 Forget Jenny Shipley as prime minister. As far as thousands of US viewers are concerned, Lucy Lawless is the princess of a tiny principality in the South Pacific known as New Xena-land. Her prince consort is a half-man/half-god named Hercules. In this one-hour special, US host Todd Newton heads down our way and appears on the set of two of the most popular shows on American television.
In this rare chance for the average New Zealander to look behind the scenes of the two shows, and Lucy reveal what it's like to be modern-day legends in the realm of TV heroes. "Our only rule is to make 'em laugh, make 'em cry, but just don't bore 'em," says Lucy. It's a golden rule, too, judging by all the copy-cat shows starting to hit the airwaves in an attempt to cash in on the phenomenal success of Hercules and Xena. Knocking these two off the Mt Olympus of TV ratings will take a Herculean effort. |
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Chicago Sun TimesDecember 1997
Mighty popular; Family background gave Lucy Lawless strength she needed for Xena
Lucy Lawless thinks her family background -- being the oldest girl in a family of seven children -- was the best training she could have had to become the star of "Xena: Warrior Princess."
Yet Lawless does not believe she was only prepared to play that brave mythical character, now spun off into her own series thanks to the surprise success of "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys" action franchise. "I think coming from a large family is the best preparation for anyone wanting to become an actor," said Lawless, in Chicago recently to talk about her newfound fame in the syndicated show, now entering its second season.
"You learn how to charm, wheedle and manipulate... plus you learn how to keep coming back from the knocks. That's so helpful when you become an actor and have to face rejection so often when you lose out in an audition.
"It made me a fighter."
And fighting is a big part of what Lawless' character is called upon to engage in "Xena." The character -- originally introduced in a three-part episode of "Hercules" -- lives in a mythical pre-ancient Grecian or Roman era, in lands populated with vicious tyrants, barbarous tribes and bizarre monsters.
Originally, Xena was an enemy of Hercules, bent on destroying him in her quest for ultimate power. However, after she engaged in an act of compassion, her army betrayed her -- leading Xena to realize her obsessive drive to become a great warrior made her forget her own humanity. In the kind of plot switch only possible in such story lines, Xena became not only an ally of Hercules, but a love interest as well --
before heading off into her own series.
Lawless, virtually unknown before a lucky chain reaction of events led to her casting as Xena ("including the original actress dropping out"), is delighted by the success of the show, but she is not surprised.
"Audiences are attracted (to the show) because we take them on a fantastic voyage every week. . . . We take them out of the humdrum and try to give them a show that we (the cast and crew) would want to watch ourselves."
She also thinks the way the show is filmed adds a great deal of spontaneity to the final product. Because of the demanding "Xena" schedule -- nine months of the year, with "only one week, sometimes two, off every six weeks, there is no time for rehearsals, except to block out some of the physical stuff while they're setting up
each camera shot. . . . I think that makes it look fresh," said Lawless.
In addition, Lawless believes that her character, though from mythological antiquity, strikes a chord with modern, 1990s audiences, particularly women. "We do seem to have caught a wave of something that works today. The world is ready to accept a strong female character." But Lawless adds she doesn't want audiences to take it all too seriously. "The most important part of 'Xena' is the humor. We are always winking at the audience, having fun with it all. There's really a lot of satire and irony in what we do."
In fact, the actress was concerned when she realized Xena was becoming something of a role model to young women. "It frightened me, really," said Lawless. "I wasn't ready for that. I didn't want that kind of responsibility. I felt like saying 'Go away! Leave me alone! What do you mean this is making a statement about political feminism? We're just a bunch of twisted individuals making a show that we like," said Lawless with a laugh, tossing her long mane of brunette locks in a very Xena-esque manner.
Now, the actress believes she can handle the whole role model thing in the proper perspective. "I don't think of it as a burden. If people are genuinely helped by watching a television show . . . if some women are inspired to go chase their dreams, then so be it. That's a positive thing."
Lawless, who stands nearly 6 feet tall, grew up as the fifth child and oldest daughter of a prominent politician near Auckland, New Zealand. Her father, formerly mayor of Mount Albert, currently serves as chairman of finance for Auckland city. The actress
believes "even though my father rarely brought his business home," preferring to leave politics at the office, he did encourage lively dinner table conversations. "Oh, yes indeed!"
Lawless also credits her parents with inspiring her independent spirit. While "acting was always the most important thing to me," she did go out into the world to experience an unusual array of temporary careers. After a short stint attending Auckland University in her native land, Lawless headed for Europe in her late teens, spending some time picking grapes at a vineyard on the Rhine. "When I ran out of the money I'd saved, I headed to Australia," where she worked as a gold miner for 11 months.
"People have romantic notions about mining for gold. It's rough, dirty work." In addition, Lawless was bothered by how the gold-mining process in Australia destroys the environment. "There are miles and miles where they just blow the landscape to smithereens." It was in Australia that she married and had her daughter, Daisy, now 8. Though now divorced, Lawless says she and her ex-husband have a good relationship and feels fortunate that he "only lives down the road," so their daughter gets to see both parents "all the time."
Shortly after marrying, Lawless returned to New Zealand to actively pursue her acting career, beginning with television commercials. It was while serving as host of a travel magazine show that she was asked to audition for "Hercules."
That temporary role, of course, led to her big break.
What was it, that the producers saw in Lawless that gave her the edge to become Xena? "I think they were looking for a new face, obviously. But perhaps I was the rough diamond they were looking for."
Clearly, her ability to handle the very physical aspects of the role were a big plus. Though, Lawless stresses, she had no martial arts training prior to doing "Hercules" or "Xena." In fact, she even has learned that too much exercise can cause problems.
"After I was first cast, I thought it was critical that I be in top shape, so after our already long days of shooting, I would work out for two hours every day. Finally my back gave out and I spent two days in bed. That completely shut down the production, since without me there's no work -- for anyone. It made me realize that doing the role is exercise enough, and if I'm flat on my back I don't do any good to anyone." The actress does have some days that do make her wonder about it all. The worst episode, in terms of difficulty?
"No question, episode No. 2, 'Chariots of War,' " Lawless answers immediately. It was a horrendous day, raining and hailing like crazy. I was soaked, and let me tell you, wearing cold, wet leather is no treat... The only thing that kept me going was the realization that time always passes. This had to end, it just didn't end soon enough!"
The best part of playing Xena for Lawless is the fact that the show is entirely filmed outside her native Auckland. "I am 20 minutes from work . . . no matter what." As the mother of a young child, "that gives me a lot of comfort."
While she realizes the growing international popularity of "Xena" may lead to Lawless having greater opportunities in the world's entertainment arena, right now she's happy where she is. "Being a mother and being an actress are equally important. I am very lucky that right now I can do both things without having to choose
one over the other." |
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The Daily TelegraphDecember 11, 1997
The Xena PhilesAs fearless Xena, the Warrior Princess, actor Lucy Lawless has cut a swathe through the conventions of television popularity. She's the subject of great debate on the internet, a hit with children and an object of desire for red blooded men and women.
On screen, Xena: Warrior Princess battles men, monsters, the gods, in short, she's pretty much unstoppable.
In real life, it's much the same. From humble beginnings as a minor character in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Xena has become one of the world's hottest products.
Aside from the TV series, there is a movie, cartoon, action figures, trading cards, magazines, soundtrack CD, clothes, a university course (truly, it's called Xena 101) and even a Xena ride at Universal Studios.
She's become a pin-up for hormone-charged young boys, a role model for young women, and a gay and lesbian icon.
It's a phenomenon which has taken everyone by surprise.
"When Xena was released, Universal just put it through with the standard crop of May screenings (the US off-season)" a Ten spokeswoman said.
"No one was too enthusiastic, yet three years later it's gone crazy. In Australia, people have taken to Xena like...well there's no comparison."
The spokeswoman said while programs such as Lois & Clark and Hercules have always attracted a specific audience, Xena has broken through to other areas.
"Xena has struck a chord with so many people." she said "it's been huge for us!"
Even the woman behind Xena, New Zealand-born actor Lucy Lawless, admits it is a big overwhelming.
"The show has branched out in so many ways that none of use could have predicted," Lawless said.
"All I can say is I'm thrilled and honoured by it's success, and I'm holding on white-knuckled, just trying to ride this tiger".
Riding a tiger is fairy accurate way to describe the fervour Xena ispires in her followers.
In countless fanzines, clubs and on the internet, every aspect of the Xenaverse (as it is known by devotees) is discussed.
There are Web sites to see Lawless in (and out of) her street-clothes and Xena in what passes for her combat clothes. You can also hear her sing in Yiddish and listen to her versions of the battle cry. There is also the chance to discuss her private life - Lawless, a 29 year old mum, has apparently just married a fellow Xena cast member.
A typical Xena chat site will include dozens of opinions on why she is without doubt, the most important woman on the planet.
"I think our show has appeal to the kind of people who enjoy spending time in the cyberworld," Lawless said
"As for fan mail..."
Locally Ten received about a dozen letters a week addressed to either Xena or Lawless. They are passed on to her publicist in Los Angeles where someone - usually not Lawless - responds.
"A very limited amount actually gets to me," Lawless said.
"When the volume of mail became overwhelming it broke my heart not to be able to respond. But it I handled it personally, I'd become Xena: Letter Writer, not Xena: Warrior Princess.
"People should also be aware that any gifts they send me will be forwarded to a charity. I beg fans not to spend money on me."
Lawless would also probably beg some of her more fervent fans not to send such bizarre offerings through the mail.
The worst, she recently told an American reporter, was a poster from a fan's home porn video.
Undeniably, however, it's Xena's sexuality which contributes to the show's popularity, whether it be with teenagers or the growing lesbian fanbase.
"She's not becoming a lesbian icon, she's been one for years," said Barbara Farrelly, editor of the Lesbians on the Loose magazine and self confessed Xena fan.
"She's got a huge following in the US and we've always been a Xena fan club here".
Lawless has expressed surprise that people were throwning a "loopy slant" on the program.
"Just because two women were travelling around with no visible means of male support," she said.
One Web site which explores the theory contains soundbites from the series. They include Xena and her off-sider, Gabrielle, uttering lines such as "You are beautiful", "Gabrielle, you are a gift to me"
and "I'm coming out!".
"We kind of laughed and palyed along with it," Lawless said.
"I think the characters transcend labelling."
Perhaps but not merchandising. |
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Glitter: TV EditionDecember 15, 1997
Princess Xena... She-Herc
One woman's loss is another woman's gain. This statement readily described how Lucy Lawless, unwittingly, became the most popular TV actress (next to The X-File'sGillian Anderson) on Planet Earth.
Revealed Xena: Warrior Princess writer John Schulian, "The actress we originally cast to play Xena in the Hercules three-oart story was Vanessa Angel (Weird Science TV Series). She got sick and we couldn't find a replacement for her over the New Year's Weekend."
Lawless was actually surprised when she got the call to try out for the role of the Warrior Princess because it was only a few weeks earlier that she guest-starred on Hercules: The Legendary Journeys as the scheming, centaur-loving Lyla.
"I had just been in the previous episode, 'When Darkness Falls', so I think the execs were saying, 'Oh no, we can't use her because we just used her. Here's a list of five other actresses you should try."
The actress explained wryly in a fanzine interview, "For some reason, every one of them pulled out. Pilot season was coming up, so they decided, 'Oh no, we don't want to go down to the bottom of the world in pilot season and do a 3-week stint that will come to nothing, when we could stay here in Los Angeles and do a pilot that could possibly become a series.' "
"I had been on a camping holiday, so they had to move heaven and Earth to find me. I flew to L.A. and had my hair changed. They made the costume up for me and then I was shooting. It was a huge twist of fate or good luck, or whatever you want to call it, but here I am."
But Lawless admitted it wasn't all that easy. "I was never a sports freak or anything like that. Unlike Kevin Sorbo, who is a sportsman from way back, I need to get my skills up and keep them up, because it doesn't come naturally to me."
Luckily, the actress had a good teacher in the person of martial arts master Douglas Wong, whose working credits include Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story. He taught her basic kung fu and fighting techniques with swords and staffs. Plus, the producers had her enter an actor's workshop.
"It was like the old studio system," Lawless described. "they took me to L.A. for training in dialogue, kung fu, personal training and film technique. It was just wonderful and really kick-started me again. After I left acting school four years ago, I had kind of plateaued. It took me four years to understand I had been taught, and then to think, 'Holy guacamole, WHERE DO I GO FROM HERE?'."
It certainly didn't take long for her to figure out the answer to that question. "I was sitting in the bus of second assistant director Rob Tapert when it was hinted to me that Xena might have her own spin-off series. I was trying to be all cool about it, saying, 'Yeah, yeah, we'll believe it when it happens, and I'll talk to you later, thank you, Mr. Tapert.' I went away and had lunch on my own, and tried to pretend I hadn't heard what I heard. Anyway, the upshot is, four months from that day, the series was happening. It seems like forever ago."
Now about to enter its third season, Xena: Warrior Princess has emerged as one of the top shows on syndicated television, sometimes surpassing Hercules : The Legendary Journeys in the ratings war. But the actress declared there was no rivalry between the two shows.
"Because we screen at different times," Lawless explained, "there's no point in being in competition. We don't really compete because the flavors of the two shows are so distinct from one another. There are things that happen on Hercules that will never happen on Xena, and vice versa. There's no point in competing. I also think we're working way too hard to be looking at each other's shows."
She also revealed that the casts of Hercules and Xena are like one big happy family. In fact, she only has high praises for her fellow actors.
"Kevin Sorbo really hasn't changed very much," the actress described her male counterpart. "he's a nice guy and good to work with. This has, in a funny way, become Kevin's home, and I think he's already bought a place here in New Zealand. he has a lot of friends here, and it's quite enriching, living in another country for a period of time. he seems to be handling it fine, and because he's here, he doesn't have people hounding him every two seconds. It's like a beach holiday."
Then there's Michael Hurst (Iolaus). "We did develop a really good rapport early on. I don't think it had anything to do with the fact that he's an established New Zealand actor, because we were only barely acquainted before that, but we really hit it off. Most women love talking to Michael. I think he gets a lot of mail already, but he's a pretty good guy, and would never get uptight about it. He and his wife drafted out some replies, but at this stage, I think the load has gotten too heavy and they just won't be able to keep doing that. He's such a busy man, directing plays and all sorts of things.
What about her own sidekick, Renee O' Connor? " I have a huge respect for Renee as a person. She's easy to listen to in film acting terms, and that's the magic: if you're actually listening and talking in somebody's face. That's real acting."
In truth, Lawless regrets not being able to spend some time with Renee off the set. But during filming, the duo have been engaging in a competition of sorts on the number of bruises they could get while filming the fight scenes.
"I've actually gotten much better about the fight sequences," the actress bragged. "I just got five bruises today, and I don't even know how they happened."
Despite all that rambunctious female energy on the set, Lawless admitted that there is a downside to filming all those long hours. Her job made it hard for her to find time for her personal life. She divorced her husband, Garth Lawless, in 1995. But she does have custody of their daughter, Daisy. Besides that, she recently got engaged to Rob Tapert.
"It is difficult sometimes, but we're managing," she revealed in one magazine interview. "Initially, Daisy was afraid that the kids wouldn't like me and she was going to be rejected. And when they came to school and found out they really liked the show, it was a big weight off her little shoulders. Sometimes, Daisy comes down to the set with me on Fridays."
Being a concerned mother, the actress was once worried about letting her daughter watch Xena because of the violence and the supposed lesbian 'tinge' of the show. "I might have had a question mark regarding the violence on Xena before but I think yes, I would, because all the sound FX and speed ramping make the fights cartoonish."
"Daisy could see Xena even if people label it a lesbian show. She has seen The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and we're a bit less inhibited about those things here in New Zealand. We just had a festival which is like Mardi Gras, and I was surprised at how shocked our American friends were at all the naked breasts walking around in the main street, but that's New Zealand."
"But, to be honest, at first, it was a surprise to hear that people were throwing a loopy slant on it just because two women were traveling around with no visible male support. We kind of laughed and played along with it. That was a long time ago, and since, we've moved on. I think the characters transcend labeling, just like gay people don't want to be identified solely by their sexuality. They contribute so many things to society tat to limit it to their sexuality is unimaginative."
Through it all, Lucy Lawless doesn't have any regrets because she loves her popular TV character. "If you're going to play a character for a couple of years, the I can't think of a better character to play than Xena. She has such duality and complexity that I should consider myself a very lucky actor to play her." |
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Woman's Day (NZ)December 28, 1997
Lucy's Lavish New Hollywood Home
Lucy's Hot Property
Xena star has bought a fairytale mansion sparking rumours she is about to fill all those extra rooms with kids
What's a name befitting of a mythical princess - Eureka Drive.
While Lucy, 30, has always protested her reluctance to move 11-year-old daughter Daisy from her Auckland school, the actress believes her daughter may benefit from an education where being the child of a celebrity is the norm rather than the exception.
Lucy adds it wasn't great in the early days for Daisy to have a famous mum bouncing about on TV in a miniskirt and copper-plated bra.
"She's more comfortable with it these days. But for a long time she would hate me coming to her school because kids
would flock around me, yell out and bug her about me all day long. Now she's realised that Xena isn't going to turn my head away from her. Now she's proud of her mum. She realises that it's a very cool show," Lucy says.
Lucy and Rob's new purchase has further sparked rumours that a baby is soon on the way since she recently announced, "When the day comes that I present my husband with a baby, I feel our child should be largely raised in Rob's native country where all his family lives," says the actress who plans to become pregnant before her Xena contract expires in 2000.
"I can't say whether Auckland or the States will become my permanent home just yet," she says. "I am torn. Since my daughter needs me, Rob comes to join me more and more in New Zealand. He and I are together nine months a year. Besides that, we speak to each other two or three times each day. For the moment it works well, but we know that we will have to find another way.
"My daughter's father lives in New Zealand while my new husband lives in America. I can neither leave Daisy nor distance her from her father, who is a wonderful man," says Lucy, who admits that while she has become Mrs Rob Tapert in her private life, she will continue to use her ex-husband's name of Lawless for her professional career.
"I continue using the family name of my daughter Daisy's father, because I do not want her to feel abandoned," says Lucy who became pregnant by first husband Garth Lawless when she was a 19-year-old hitch-hiker.
"I am at a crossroad. I have all that a woman can desire - the man of my dreams, a daughter in good health who is happy, the role that I desired, nice clothes; however that does not fulfil me.
"I am on a spiritual quest. What is essential is that I be with people I love. I am waiting for a sign that will indicate to me what meaning I must give to my life," says the actress who says she wants at least two children with her new husband. My family and my husband are far more important to me than any movie role or career opportunity."
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People Magazine
December 29, 1997
Lucy Lawless: a Kiwi actress breaks the action-hero mold.
(star of 'Xena: Warrior Princess')(The 25 Most Intriguing People of '97)
America loves Lucy -- Lawless, that is. With a high-pitched yelp and flashing broadsword, she has taken the country hostage. Xena: Warrior Princess, the nation's most-watched syndicated drama series, enthralls some 6 million viewers a week, and the 29-year-old New Zealander in the formidable leather minidress is a cutting-edge female icon. Week after week the warrior princess beats the stuffing out of thugs to protect the defenseless, a proactive stance that has struck a fractious nerve. Teenage girls delight in Xena's powers, and a gay cult following applauds her purposely vague relationship with sidekick Gabrielle. Even serious-minded Ms. magazine crowed, "Many feminists have been dreaming of mass-culture moments like this since feminism came into being."
Now in her third season playing Xena, the 5'11" Lawless is still trying to understand the phenomenon. "I wasn't in need of a female role model," says the daughter of a former mayor and a homemaker, "so it really shocked me that people were looking for me to be one for them." Although she took time to do a turn on Broadway as Rizzo in Grease!, Lawless is happily committed to playing the mythological gladiatrix until 2000. For one thing, Xena is filmed just a short ride from the Auckland home that she shares on weekends with Daisy, 9, her daughter by ex-husband, bar manager Garth Lawless. (He takes care of Daisy on weekdays.) For another, Lawless plans to marry the show's executive producer, Rob Tapert, 42, next year.
"Lucy has a natural intelligence and wit," says Tapert. "That creates an element of intrigue." Maybe, but sometimes fame's a drag. "I can be 'on' for about two hours," says Lawless, "then I have to do something real--like clean the grouting."
"If I'm part of something that has such a positive influence on society," says Lawless of her Xena role, "I should be counting my blessings." |
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Syndicated ColumnFebruary 23, 1996
Laying Down The Law With Xena's Lucy Lawless
Nobody, it seems, is "Xena''-phobic.
"Xena: Warrior Princess,'' the syndicated series which stars Lucy Lawless as the rough-and-tumble, sword-swinging battler of all things evil, tyrannical or unjust, ranks high atop the ratings. It has whisked men and women, boys and girls, into its wildly entertaining world of mythos, action and offbeat humor.
"Everyone tells me the show is a huge hit in America, which is great, but we're shooting in New Zealand, and it's not even on here,'' says the friendly but groggy Lawless, 27, calling from her Auckland, New Zealand home at the break of dawn her time.
"We're excited, but we don't really feel it here. We're all reluctant to get carried away,'' she says. "There's no guarantee it will last, but we're thrilled it's a hit. We're quite proud of the show, and it's a bonus that it's doing so well.''
The soon-to-be divorced Lawless, whose parents live within a mile of where "Xena'' shoots, and whose 7-year-old daughter Daisy is a frequent set visitor, credits the series' prosperity to luck, timing and the fact that "Xena'' features a TV rarity: a female action hero with brainpower and a complex personality.
"There's definitely an appeal to that,'' she says in her gravelly Kiwi accent. ``The last female action hero was probably
Lindsay Wagner (from ``The Bionic Woman''), and that was back in the 1970s.
"I think people were ready for a show like ours. It's fun, campy and it's got cool special effects,'' Lawless says.
"What's not to like?''
The 6-foot-tall actress was born in Mt. Albert, New Zealand, and raised there with her four brothers. While she acted in a few school plays as a teen-ager, Lawless was soon working as everything from a grape-picker to a gold miner before once again trying her hand at acting.
By age 20, Lawless was performing in commercials and soon after in guest spots on New Zealand TV shows. Then, she landed a job as co-host of a travel magazine program. Finally, in late 1994, Lawless was cast as Xena in the syndicated series "Hercules,'' starring Kevin Sorbo as the title character.
Initially, Xena intended to kill Hercules, but by Lawless's third episode Xena realized the error of her ways and turned a new leaf. Thus was born the unstoppable spin-off, "Xena: Warrior Princess.''
Lawless won't reveal any upcoming "Xena'' plot threads. "You'll have to tune in to see them,'' she says.
A Hercules-Xena reunion thrilled fans in November, and Lawless reports that another crossover episode may be produced way down the pike.
"Kevin is busy enough with his show,'' she says. "But we'd love to have him back on 'Xena' any time he's available.''
While savoring her "Xena'' success, Lawless is also thinking ahead.
"I love this show,'' she says. "I'm surrounded by a wonderful, creative cast and crew, and we're all having a great time.
"I'd eventually love to work in America, but I'll have to cross that bridge when I come to it. Right now, though, `Xena' is so
all-encompassing, I can't even think about anything else.
"I need to, want to, devote all my energy to Xena." |
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The NZ PostApril 3, 1996
Lawless Days for Ancient Warriors
ANCIENT warrior Hercules meets his match this week when he comes face to face with Xena, The Warrior Princess, played by Auckland actress Lucy Lawless.
Lawless makes her debut as Hercules's deadly opponent in a performance that so impressed the show's American producers they created an entirely new series for her. The spin-off is now almost as popoular in the United Statres as the original Hercules.
Sharp-eyed Hercules fans may have already spotted Lawless as Lyla, the courageous bride of Deric the Centaur, in an earlier episode. But it is her work as Xena which catapulted the actress to stardom in the United States.
Almost 1.8 metres tall, with dark hair and intense blue eyes, Lawless is the fifth of seven children and the oldest girl in her family.
A self-confessed tomboy as a child, she appears every bit as independent as her strong-willed character.
After finishing high school, where she appeared in many musicals and plays, she attended Auckland University before leaving for Europe "to go grape-picking on the Rhine".
When she ran out of money, she went to Australia and worked for a gold-mining company in the small outback town of Kalgoolie. One of a few female miners, Lawless did the same work as the men, digging, mapping the ground, driving trucks and pushing huge core samples of earth through a diamond saw.
She married in Australia and returned to Auckland where her daughter Daisy, now seven years old, was born.
At the age of 20 Lawless landed her first real acting job alongside Comedy Central's Willy de Wit, in the comedy series Funny Business. She then moved to Vancouver, Canada for eight months to study drama at the William Davis Centre for Actors' Study.
When she returned to New Zealand in early 1992 she accepted a job as co-host for travel show Air New Zealand Holiday, which she continued for two seasons.
Lawless sees the role of Xena as her first major breakthrough as an actress. She describes the character as "a woman as strong as any man or woman has ever been, who lives by her wits, but is also a fighter. She's a very human hero, who knows all about the darker side of human nature since she must battle it within herself every day." |
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People MagazineApril 8, 1996
LUCY LAWLESS HAD A VISION OF JUST how Hercules's gal pal should be: dark, dangerous, riding wild unicorns, running with gods. Doing battle with gladiators fit the bill; stepping on rat poop in a sewer pipe did not. And yet, there she was last year, in a make-shift subterranean tunnel, sludging through the stinking mess in her assault on some evil king's castle. "There were so many droppings on the ground, I was slipping," says the 28-year-old New Zealand native, "and then they dumped all these rats on me that were biting and scratching, getting caught in my hair. It was so vile. I had to get a tetanus shot."
Happily, her superhero health insurance was paid in full. As the star of the popular, syndicated TV show Xena: Warrior Princess, a spinoff of the cult hit Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Lawless has attracted a devoted following of sword-and-sorcery fans. Still, Xena is a strange job for a single mom like Lawless. When it's not raining rats on her, there is always a motley mix of villains waiting to pounce. "This is the most physically demanding show for any woman on television," says Eric Gruendemann, producer of Xena and Hercules, both of which are shot in New Zealand to keep costs down. "With that much stunt fighting, you're going to get hit."
The 5'10" actress from Down Under can hold her own, and says she enjoys mixing it up. "A little while ago, while fighting a rebel leader, I collected a beauty, a true black eye," she proudly reports. "The makeup department took a Polaroid in case they ever need to replicate a shiner."
There was a time Lawless had a more genteel vision of show-business success. The fifth of seven children in a close-knit Catholic family, she was raised on equal parts of rugby and religion by her parents, Frank Ryan, 64, a former mayor of Mount Albert, the suburb of Auckland where Lucy grew up, and Julie, 59, a homemaker. But what she loved best was theatrics. "She used to get up on the coffee table with a seashell for a microphone and sing away," says Julie. Growing up, the family ham performed in class plays and trained in opera. In 1986 she enrolled in Auckland University to study languages and opera, but a year later she gave up on school, and singing. "I didn't have the passion," she says.
What she did have a passion for was adventure. At 18, Lawless took off for Europe, traveling through Germany and Switzerland, sleeping where she could. "I lived on coffee and cigarettes until I was skeletal," she says. After her high school sweetheart Garth Lawless joined her, they went to Greece, then to the outback of Australia, taking odd jobs along the way. While in Kalgoorlie in 1987, Lawless discovered she was pregnant. The couple obtained a quickie marriage, then moved back home to a tiny apartment surrounded, she says, "by mad old ladies with cats that drove me insane."
Garth managed a bar, and after Daisy, now 7, was born, Lucy took acting classes. Within a few years, her flair for drama had turned into a career. In 1994 she was cast in a one-episode role as a renegade Amazon lieutenant in Hercules. Her second appearance, as a villainess who seduces Hercules, might have been her last, but an American actress cast for a three-part role as Xena fell sick at the last minute. Says Gruendemann: "We needed someone fast." Within a week, Lawless's ash-blonde hair had been dyed black and cameras were rolling. Three episodes later she'd charmed her colleagues and high-kicked her way into her own series. Says Hercules star Kevin Sorbo: "Lucy is Xena."
Since the breakup of her marriage last June, she is also single. "Garth and I just got married too young," says Lawless. For the past six months she has been dating "a wonderful man," she says, but her top priority is her daughter. During the week, while Lawless works and trains, Daisy lives with her father; on weekends she stays with Lawless in her simple, four-bedroom home in Mount Albert. "It's relentless challenges," says Lawless of life as a superhero-mom. "I would not mind if Daisy wanted nothing to do with acting," she adds, laughing. "But I'm afraid there's a lot of me in her." |
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Spectrum # 5May 1996
Xena: Warrior Princess
One of the surprises of the past year's television programming has been the huge success of Xena: Warrior Princess. This success is relative, the series is syndicated, so the audience doesn't approach a prime time "hit" for a major network. Nevertheless, its popularity among its syndication competitors has been astounding. It regularly ranks in the top twenty, and if one considers only hour-long dramas (eliminating shows such as Oprah, Home Improvement, and Wheel of Fortune), Xena is in the top five.
Clearly, much of its success is owed to its association with Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, currently among the top three syndicated dramas, a close weekly battle among Hercules, Baywatch, and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. (We're using "drama" loosely here; we recognize the emphasis on humor in Xena and, especially, Hercules.) The meteoric rise of both of these shows is somewhat astonishing, given that they basically came out of nowhere and are not carbon copies of the popular network fare.
Of course, that's part of their appeal. Neither would have survived the cut with a network, they're too hard to pigeon-hole into easy categories. The shows are just, there's no getting around it, really, really weird.
Xena: Superhero Princess?
If reduced to a bare-bones outline, Xena is easy to describe and actually sounds fairly generic. In an ancient time, grim Xena and her bubbly, talkative sidekick Gabrielle travel the countryside fighting crime and helping citizens in need of a protector. A female version of Batman and Robin, right?
In a way, yes. Xena stands as one of the best television comic books ever. How ironic that it didn't start out as a four-color adventure. (A Hercules comic is on the way; no doubt Xena will be close behind.) Interestingly, executive producers Sam Raimi and Robert Tapert were responsible for the M.A.N.T.I.S. superhero TV movie from Fox a couple of years ago (a horrible endeavor that was later turned into a moderately enjoyable weekly series; see Spectrum 3).
Xena-as-a-television-comic-book is not intended as a put-down. As comic book fans ourselves, we enjoy watching those sensibilities played out on television with some quality (which has rarely been done). But Xena seems reminiscent of the comics of the sixties, before the Marvel and DC "universes" got so large and complex that they became immensely complicated. Xena is like the old Stan Lee/Steve Ditko Spider-Man comics, some adventure, a little melodrama, and a lot of humor, treading the thin line between genuine drama and tongue-in-cheek campiness.
Such comparisons may be stronger than many viewers think at first. Above we mentioned the difficulty of describing Xena. The obvious label is "sword and sorcery," a sort of "Conanette the Barbarian." Yet the show is at least as much, and maybe even more, a superhero series. How else to explain the heroine's superpowers? (Of course she has superpowers: a leaping ability that might as well be flying; gravity neutralization that allows her to stay airborne while kicking an entire line of enemy soldiers, see the episode "Warrior...Princess" ; hands of steel that enable her to grab swords by their sharp blades and wrest them from their attackers; the "Xena touch" that cuts off the blood supply to the brain; and no doubt others to be revealed as the series progresses.)
Another comic book/Xena comparison is instructive. One of the current fads in comics is the strong superheroine, usually a bit nasty and able to fight with the best of her male counterparts. Forget Wonder Woman; now we have Barb Wire, Celestine, Angela, Lady Death, Shi, Vampirella, Warrior Nun Areala, Avenge-lyne, we could go on and on. Grim fighting females are all the rage. Of course, comic book readers' tastes don't necessarily reflect the much larger television-watching audience, but the comic book sub-culture is showing that there is a market for heroines on the rampage.
Bleak Action and Enjoyable Acting
Although both the Hercules and Xena series are related, the character of Xena first appeared in a guest-starring role on Hercules, the two series are fairly different in tone. Well admit that we're less familiar with Hercules, but the episodes we've seen are much more upbeat and lighthearted than Xena. No doubt much of this arises from the central characters. Hercules is not trying to make amends for his past atrocities. Xena started out as a villain on Hercules. She was a somewhat bloodthirsty conqueror who sought to subdue as much of the countryside as she could. Thanks to Hercules, she turned her back on her past and now seeks to atone for her crimes by helping others defend against the criminals that roam the land. Yet (particularly in the early episodes) her past keeps catching up to her, and she finds that her Damascus-like experience is not believed by those she is trying to help.
Her bleak history sets the tone for the series and establishes the personality for Xena, who rarely smiles but sets about her life as one on a serious mission. The series, however, has a fair amount of humor, primarily because of Xena's sidekick Gabrielle. It's a well-established formula, think again of the grim, mission-oriented Batman accompanied by the carefree, slightly irresponsible Robin. Gabrielle, facing marriage to a "dull and stupid" man, seeks adventure by accompanying Xena.
The pairing works well. Gabrielle is a talker who loves telling stories, a perfect complement to Xena's overall silence. Xena is the wise, well-traveled adult with a wide range of experiences; Gabrielle is the (relative) youngster full of innocence.
One of the pleasures of watching Xena (and Hercules, for that matter) is seeing how well-acted the shows are. The casual viewer might very well expect a couple of syndicated "barbarian shows" to be showcases of bad acting, where all of the Hollywood rejects end up as a last resort. We remember recommending Xena to a friend, and he called back the next week surprised: "You know, Lucy Lawless can really act." Indeed, despite the constraints of the character, Lawless has proven to have enough of a screen presence that, following her stint on Xena, she should find a wide selection of roles available to her.
Far from the overacting that adventure roles usually exhibit, Lawless manages to imbue Xena with remarkable subtlety and depth, a haunted performance necessary for viewers to believe that the character actually does have a less-than-honorable past. She can express more with a raised eyebrow or slight smile than many actors can with complete body language. And while all the episodes prove Lawless's ability to portray a Xena-type character, one episode in particular shows she has greater range. In "Warrior...Princess," Lawless plays a dual role as Xena and as Princess Diana, a naive, slightly daffy recluse forced to live outside the castle with the "little people" for a short while. This is standard sitcom-type material, and Lawless excels at the opportunity to immerse herself in it.
Renee O'Connor also is wonderful as Gabrielle. The role doesn't have the range of Xena. Often, her purpose in an episode is merely for comic relief, or to fall in love on a weekly basis with the good-looking, gentle males chat the two constantly encounter. These combine to make Gabrielle a more shallow character than Xena, yet O'Connor makes the most of it. One episode, "Athens City Academy of the Performing Bards," she virtually carries on her own. In another, "Hooves & Harlots," she has a major role. In both, plus in numerous brief scenes throughout the series, O'Connor shows an impressive comic ability. Even if she never gets offered another dramatic role (and she's been in many, including Follow the River, which we reviewed in Wrapped in Plastic 17), we could easily see her establishing herself as a major star in comedy roles.
Xena: Anachronistic Princess?
One of the strangest aspects of Xena is its use of mythology from a variety of sources, regardless of the time or place of the original stories. As such, the show thrives on anachronism. Actually, both Hercules and Xena utilize this at times to make humorous comments about contemporary life. In one episode of Hercules, a man at a roadside stand sells Hercules some "fast food." Hercules takes a bite and immediately spits it out. "This is horrible!" "Yes," answers the vendor, "but it's fast?' Salmoneus, more of a regular on Hercules than on Xena, seems to exist primarily for this purpose. At one point he says that Xena needs a "theme song" for herself, which, of course, he would be happy to provide.
The official press kit states that Xena "is set in the 'golden age' of myth, long before ancient Greece or Rome, on the distant frontier of known civilization far away from the land of mighty Hercules." That seems vague enough, yet clearly elements of Greece and Rome dominate the episodes (although with no specific time reference). But how can Homer (of Iliad and Odyssey fame) tell the story of Spartacus (which he does in "Athens City of the Performing Bards," to be covered in Spectrum 6) when that particular slave revolt occurred at least seven hundred years later? We're tempted to offer an ad hoc, "Marvel No-Prize"-type of explanation: there were two Spartacuses, and the second, more famous one (as depicted in the Stanley Kubrick film) used the first one as a role model! Or here's another theory: Xena is, unbeknown to her, a time traveler. As she walks the countryside, she's slipping through different time portals.
In fact, such dilemmas aren't meant to be given serious thought. The show is treating myths and historical elements as game pieces to be moved at will into a particular episode if they will create more entertaining stories. Sometimes multiple myths will be combined. "Cradle of Hope" merges the story of a baby (who is remarkably similar to Moses) with the Pandora legend, with Xena as the link. Sometimes the myths are re-written by simply adding Xena's influence. For instance, classical mythology tells that Hercules (Heracles) freed Prometheus from Mount Caucasus.
In the world of Xena, however, we learn that Hercules had assistance from the warrior princess.
Mythological Adventures
A comprehensive study of Xena would require extensive presentation of the various myths and historical events that influence various episodes. We do not claim to be experts in either mythology or history (we took the usual college classes), so the following guide will provide only a rough overview of some of those aspects of any given episode.
Finally, a few notes about the episode guide itself. First, because Xena is essentially a fantasy genre show, we will forgo our usual episode-by-episode ratings. (We applied the same rule to M.A.N.T.I.S. in our third issue.) Most of these episodes would fall into the three-star (or "donut") category (see page 26). Secondly, because the end credits are presented in microscopic type (and thus presumably not meant to be seen or read, much like the legalese at the bottom of car commercials), we are omitting listing those credits below. Third, we've tried to get the spellings accurate on the various characters, but we can't guarantee that we were completely successful on everyone.
As mentioned in our editorial, we could not fit the entire feature in this issue Following is part one of the episode guide Part two will appear in Spectrum 6. |
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Salon MagazineJuly 29, 1996
Yes, 'Xena' Does Rule
It's summertime, and there's nothing to watch except reruns and the Games of the Nike/Coca-Cola/AT&T Olympiad. At last, we have the time to answer some of the TV questions that have been piling up in the Salon mailbag.
1. Does "Xena" rule, or what?
C. Paglia, Philadelphia
Most definitely. This syndicated spinoff from Sam Raimi's "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys" is the perfect antidote to "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman's" Martha-Stewart-on-the-frontier sanctimony. "Xena: Warrior Princess" is just as anachronistic as "Dr. Quinn" in its portrayal of a strong woman beset by strangely modern dilemmas, but it's infinitely hipper and funnier. "Xena" is the coolest cult fave around, as well as one of the highest-rated shows in first-run syndication.
Like "Hercules," "Xena" takes the comic book tour of ancient Greece. It's a colorful hodge podge of kung fu, pro-social messages, off-the-wall modern colloquial language and, of course, Ray Harryhausen-esque titans, multi-headed snake-beasts and Cyclopses. But, let's be honest here, nobody's watching "Xena" to brush up on their Greek mythology.
Star Lucy Lawless (honest!) is a strapping, buff, black-haired Amazon poured into a leather bustier and skimpy skirt. Stalking her prey with supreme confidence, scowling under her bangs, Xena looks like one of the big-boned Petersen sisters from the Bangles. Unlike Lynda Carter, TV's "Wonder Woman," Lawless is no prissily made-up beauty queen (also, unlike Carter, her breasts and costume move in the same direction when she runs).
Xena is terrifically surly, and you can't blame her. Her whole village was destroyed by marauders, her brother was killed, she doesn't know who her father is and her barmaid mother doesn't approve of Xena's career path. Xena is as misunderstood a bad girl as Catwoman or Madonna (who must look at Xena's breastplate costume and biceps and drool). Xena used to fight and kill out of anger over her brother's death, but ever since her tryst with that happy-go-lucky dude Herc, she's been trying to use her fighting skills for the good of mankind.
And, man, can she fight! Xena has more martial arts moves in her arsenal than Jackie Chan, and when those don't work she's got her trusty spear, whip and "round killing thing," a razor-sharp discus-like object. Never has a superheroine been allowed to display such enjoyment of the fight, when she somersaults and kicks her way into battle, Xena ululates like a Middle Eastern woman and she's got a hang time of, like, hours.
Along for the ride is Xena's sidekick, Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor), a young virginal bard seeking excitement. The two have a prickly relationship with single mother/teenage daughter overtones. But let's not put too fine a point on the subtext. The glory of "Xena" is that she can kick the crap out of anybody, guy, god, goddess, snake-headed monster, whatever. So, yes, "Xena" does rule. |
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Ms MagazineJuly/August 1996
Xena: She's Big, Tall, Strong, and PopularXena-mania: Why is TV's warrior princess a hit with women?
A six-foot-tall woman dressed like a warrior walks into an ancient " bar" filled with men. When one pats her ass, she knocks him across the room. After that, every man in the bar is polite to her and her woman companion.
Three children stare gratefully at the fighter who has saved their village from an invading army. "Did you see the way she finished off those guys?" one boy chirps. "Zing! Pow!"
In successive weeks, a mortal woman rescues Prometheus, defeats the war god Ares, enters the underworld, and returns
from it. In between, she saves poor farmers from enslavement and defends women from a roving band of rapists. "You like
shoving women around so much?" she says to one. "Try me!"
******
Many feminists have been dreaming of mass culture moments like this since feminism came into being. But we've almost never seen these fantasies realized. The Bionic Woman smiled too much. Even Cagney and Lacey worried about looking "overmasculine." No woman television character has exhibited the confidence and strength of the male heroes of archetype and fantasy, or if she did, she was a one-episode fluke, and her anomalous presence could reassure viewers
that next week all the regular women characters would be back, nervous and self-questioning as ever.
Until now. Each week since September 1995, Xena: Warrior Princess has begun with these words: "In a time of ancient gods, warlords, and kings, a land in turmoil cried out for a hero. She was Xena, a mighty princess forged in the heat of battle." The grim warrior, played by Lucy Lawless, wanders through the ancient world, protecting the powerless, chiefly women, children, and poor people. Xena, an "ancient Greek" hero invented out of whole cloth by the series' producers, doesn't apologize for being a better fighter than almost every man on earth. And she doesn't smile at men unless she really, really likes them, which is seldom.
Xena is a spinoff of the popular Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, itself a feminist and progressive retelling of Greek myth. But its female protagonist was initially conceived as an evil figure. Executive producer Rob Tapert says he based Xena on the "evil warrior princesses" portrayed by Hong Kong cult film star Lin Ching Hsia in movies like 'The Bride with White Hair' and 'The Swordsman' II and III.
When Xena first appeared as a guest character on Hercules, she pillaged the countryside at the head of a rapacious army and murdered thousands. She delighted only in profit and cruelty. Xena, who came from a family of farmers like the ones whose homes she burned, was eventually called "princess" because she was such a powerful warlord.
MCA TV, the studio to which Tapert proposed the spinoff, and which now syndicates the show, was not pleased with the character's image. "The studio said, 'Can you get her turned around so that she's good?'" Tapert remembers. "I said, 'I guess, but it won't be as much fun.'" After initial misgivings, I, for one, am glad about the change. Xena's writers have used their hero's evolution as the backdrop for a sophisticated discussion of morality. Xena isn't good because of innate virtue. She has genuinely struggled with questions of ethics and has finally chosen to act or her moral impulses. In fact the show's greatest innovation may not be the toughness of its female lead, but her deep awareness of her own desire to exploit and intimidate others.
Xena continually confronts the parts of herself that are least likable. She keeps meeting people who are terrified of her because of the atrocities they've seen her commit. And though she's reformed, Xena is one hero whose ethical struggles are never over. In one episode, after a prolonged period of imprisonment and beatings, Xena slugs her best friend, Gabrielle. The punch is presented as stemming from the imperfections that are a part of us all--even feminist superheroes.
In just one season, Xena has become the most successful new action series in syndication, and has ranked as high as number 11 overall, beating out Baywatch and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Many local station masters initially refused to
air the show because "they thought no one would want to see a woman hitting men," says executive producer Tapert, "but they were wrong." Tapert and coexecutive producer Sam Raimi had built their careers with male fantasy thrillers and cult movies like Darkman, but Tapert was eager to try his hand at a fantasy story with a female hero. "I believe, in the basest and crassest of ways, that there's a formula to stories about heroes," Tapert says, "and no one had ever tried to do it before with a woman hero. Or if they did, they made excuses for her being a woman."
Fighting men and refusing to smile aren't the only ways that Xena breaks the rules. There's also sex:
* The warrior princess doesn't have a boyfriend. Xena has taken a number of male lovers, including, on occasion,
Hercules, but never settled down with any of them. "That will never happen," promises Tapert.
* Xena is one of the first white women in TV history to passionately kiss a black man onscreen. Several times, in
fact. She was in love with this character, a warrior named Marcus, who reappeared in several episodes.
* In our interview, Tapert spontaneously brings up the possibility that Xena also has love relationships with women. "People ask me frequently about Xena's sexual orientation," he informs me, "especially about her relationship with Gabrielle. I tell them that she has had a string of lovers in her life and that now she is trying to get control of her emotions." It's hard to imagine a more ambiguous statement, but it's certainly not an utter denial. Indeed, Tapert proudly tells me that the show "has become a favorite with gay women" and that some lesbian bars have special Xena viewing nights. (So do a number of women's prisons.) "Early on, the studio came down on me, because they wanted to make sure no one perceived Xena and Gabrielle as lesbians," the producer says. He doesn't seem to be trying very hard to accede to their demands.
On the show's Web site, male and female viewers allude supportively to Xena's perceived sexual relationship with Gabrielle, whom Xena rescued from a forced marriage in the opening episode. Ever since then, the pair have been inseparable. Gabrielle, a girlish storyteller with lots of pluck but not much combat skill, functions as a feminine foil for her kick boxing friend. (As the season has progressed, Gabrielle has gradually learned how to defend herself under Xena's tutelage. In the season's final episode, Gabrielle led the people of her home village in a successful stand against an imperialist army.)
The Xena-Gabrielle friendship is a deeply committed one. The women risk their lives for each other, refuse to leave each other for men, even work on "issues" in their relationship, such as Xena's reluctance to include Gabrielle in situations that might become dangerous. Despite the innuendo, the two women are never overtly sexual with each other, as they are with men (although Gabrielle, fascinatingly, is a virgin, a status depicted as neither superior nor inferior to Xena's status as sexually active). If they are lovers, it is mostly in the covert Batman and Robin way.
Whether Xena is gay or straight is ultimately beside the point--but it is disturbing that in a show set in ancient Greece, not one of the characters has an identifiable gay or lesbian relationship. "I've proposed that to the writing staff, but I have to tread very carefully," Tapert says. "We don't want to alienate people. We don't want to alienate kids."
While Xena is breaking new ground in its treatment of sex, it doesn't ignore the old standby of adventure films, violence. But even here, there's a progressive gloss on the mayhem. Unlike some feminist fantasy figures, say, Hothead Paisan--the warrior princess and her sometime costar Hercules never attack out of vengeance. They nurse their enemies' wounds after a battle. And they kill only to defend themselves.
Still, Xena isn't primarily a political vehicle, but a delightfully cheesy schlock drama that often looks like Spartacus, American Gladiators, and Mad Max rolled into one. It wouldn't he entirely truthful to say that the show doesn't romanticize violence. Half its thrill comes from the blows our hero administers to exploiters and rapists. So much time and love are devoted to the combat scenes that we might as well see the ecstatic Pow! and Zap! titles they used on the sixties Batman TV series. It's probably impossible to completely separate fantasies of ethical resistance from fantasies of breaking heads and making people crawl. But for what it's worth, Xena and her creators try hard to do just that.
All these surprises, plus the campy story lines, add up to a program that is extremely popular with young adults of both sexes. According to Tapert, Xena's most faithful viewers are women and men ages 18 to 34. That's almost identical to Hercules' demographics, except the strongman pulls in more kids. "Hercules has a much bigger audience among girls and boys ages four to six, the toy-buying demographic," Tapert says. "Xena's audience is older and probably a little hipper." Tapert will not speculate as to why this is. Are little boys unwilling to watch a woman warrior? The conventional wisdom among producers of children's television is that boys won't watch shows with female leads, but girls will watch shows with female or male leads. If that's right, why aren't girls watching Xena by themselves? Is it possible that parents object to Xena's feminist content?
Though they apparently aren't watching the show enough to make a dent in the demographics, young girls do write fan letters by the hundreds to Lucy Lawless. "I'm thrilled," she tells me in a phone interview from her native Auckland, New
Zealand. "They write about how encouraging it is to see someone who's so strong. Mostly very young girls. I have all these photos of little girls with Xena costumes on." Tapert says Lawless got a letter from a pair of five, and six-year-old sisters who refused to use their proper names. "They just wanted to be called Xena."
But Lawless seems defensive when asked if she thinks Xena is a feminist show. "No, I don't! Well . . . yes, it is. But it is not anti-men! I suppose it could be called feminist in that it's about women who do not see themselves as at all limited by their femininity. Personally, I never believed in glass ceilings or in being handicapped because of being a woman, but if women draw strength from the show, that could be called feminism. Though we're not male-bashing in any way!"
Lawless says she is not a feminist, though she does allow that "feminists might identify with me because I'm unapologetic in what they think is a male-dominated world . . . no, I guess, what is a male-dominated world, but in my microcosm New Zealand, women are not disadvantaged, except by their own fear." Lawless says that as a child she never longed to see a woman superhero like Xena, because "I never saw it lacking from my life." Good thing she's a good actor.
Lawless also differs from Xena in her approach to athletics: she's not in the least delighted with the physical training she's had to endure for the role. "I've been trained and bullied into some level of proficiency. When I started, my coordination was hopeless." In fact, her grueling schedule of weight training gave her a back injury, Lawless says. As for her costume, a sort of sleeveless leather-breastplated jumpsuit that, nicely enough, doesn't emphasize her breasts, Lawless describes it as "hellish to wear." In Auckland, where the series is filmed, "in winter it's utter cold, and you're running along some cliff with the wind whipping at you, in this costume that leaves your lungs bare, and it's tight. Being in constant discomfort
can make you cry, especially if you're doing bloody kung fu."
I suppose a worker-friendly environment and a politicized star would be too much to ask from a show that has already favorably portrayed the Amazons (Gabrielle became an honorary Amazon after a mysterious bonding ceremony with the Amazon Queen) and created a feminist ending for The lliad (Xena to Helen of Troy: "What do you want to do?" Helen: "No one's ever asked me that before!").
Sex appeal is surely another reason that people watch the show. "Everything about the show is sexy," Lawless offers, "because it has this energy--charisma, self- confidence. We want to take people out of the humdrum." But a friend of mine took one look at Xena's long legs and tight leather breastplate and decided that the warrior princess was just another R. Crumb drawing in the guise of a feminist hero.
Is Xena sexually objectified by the show? If so, does it matter? The answer probably depends on your definition of objectification. On the Internet, Tapert says, there are arguments between men and women as to whose hero Xena is:
"whether she's a hero for women, or a hero and a sex symbol for men."
Although having men treat a feminist hero as a sex object might make many of us uncomfortable, I can remember only one occasion on which Xena's sex appeal was depicted offensively, a commercial for the show in which a male character stared up at the warrior and sighed, "Those boots! That leather! Those legs!" It's worth noting that Hercules' star, Kevin Sorbo, displays his body just as much as Lawless does. "We've gotten a lot of feedback, from both straights and gays, that people really like it when Kevin takes his shirt off," Tapert says. It's important to consider, too, that men who are Xena fans may be motivated by factors other than sex appeal. Many women fans somehow manage to bring together an appreciation for Xena's feminism with an appreciation for her body. Why is it so difficult to imagine men doing the same?
Finally, if straight men find Xena erotic, it may be a sign that their eroticism is changing. Both Hercules and Xena make occasional, coded references to women dominating men sexually ("You're cute when you're nervous," Atalanta, Greek mythology's powerful runner, told Hercules in one episode, lifting the blushing hero high in the air). Then again, some men who watch the show may simply be excited by a woman who refuses to be subservient. Or by a woman of tremendous physical strength and courage. "She doesn't fall into this svelte, silicone image," Tapert says. "She's a big woman with big shoulders, big hiphones, and big thighs."
And a bloodcurdling battle cry. |
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Starlog YearbookAugust 1996
Savage Sword of Xena
With a dark past & a deadly blade, Lucy Lawless battles on as a Warrior Princess
Playing Xena, syndicated television's hottest new action heroine, is no easy task, and Lucy Lawless has plenty of bruises to prove it. The sword-wielding New Zealand actress, who's currently sharing a weekly double bill with the legendary strongman Hercules, insists that wounds, welts, scrapes and scars are all just part of the job.
"I've actually gotten much better about that," Lawless happily announces from the Auckland studio where much of Xena is shot. "I just got five bruises today, and I don't even know how they happened. When the camera rolls, you don't even think about it, and your reflexes get sharper after you've been hit a few times!"
Lawless is quick to point out that her fighting skills have improved considerably since her first appearance as an amazon warrior in one of the two-hour Hercules movies. "I've never thought of myself as a very physical person," she insists. "I was never a sports freak or anything like that. My nickname was 'Unco,' or 'Uncoordinated' at school, so it was a big shock to me to be doing this sort of thing. They've been giving me a lot of training, which has helped a lot. Unlike Kevin Sorbo, who is a sportsman from way back, I need to get my skills up and keep them up, because it doesn't come naturally to me.'
Xena: Warrior Princess is a spin-off of last season's surprise adventure-fantasy hit, Hercules The Legendary Journeys, starring Sorbo as the mythological demigod. Xena first appeared in three top-rated episodes of that series as a merciless warrior chief out to eliminate Hercules. She eventually renounces her warlike ways and teams up with Herc to battle her former compatriots. The warrior princess turned out to be so popular that MCA TV greenlighted a Xena spin-off series featuring the same combination of mythology, action-adventure and stunning New Zealand scenery that made Hercules so successful.
The new series began with Xena determined to make amends for the sins of her past,and setting out to battle the forces of evil. She's joined by Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor), a feisty, fast-talking young woman who's looking for a little excitement in her life. As Gabrielle quickly discovers, hanging out with Xena means all the excitement she can handle - and then some!
Carrying the weight of a weekly action-adventure series on one's leather-clad shoulders would probably be a daunting prospect for even the most seasoned of actresses. For Lawless, it really hasn't been a problem, and she credits the crew of Xena for making her job that much easier. "I don't really feel that pressure, because I'm surrounded by so many people who are giving their all as well. Everybody‹from the people who lay out the cups, to the generator operator, to the makeup people‹everybody is working so hard that it's not really my show. There's a really good feeling. We saw the first episode the other day, and it just galvanized everyone."
While Lawless has already shot almost half of the first season's 22 episodes, she doesn't have a firm idea yet of what her character is all about. "I'm still looking for it, and it doesn't matter what's on paper. After your first rehearsal for the first episode, you know what the history is, and that acts as fuel, but because Xena's always a character in transition and she's on this journey, you never quite know what she's about. I just have a feeling, and the rest of it happens organically and continues to grow, or at least I hope it does."
One trait that has begun to emerge is Xena's surprisingly wry sense of humor, usually sparked by exchanges with the idealistic and outspoken Gabrielle. Lawless says the character is considerably less dark than in her early appearances, and while Xena will probably never be a barrel of laughs, she's obviously picking up some of the actress' own infectious good humor.
"You haven't seen anything yet!" Lawless promises half-threateningly. "I don't think Xena ever thinks she's funny. She isn't the knee-slapping, thigh-slapping, rib-tickling sort, but as you'll see, there's a wry humor to her. I'm also sorry to tell you this, but Gabrielle never entirely gets the better of her."
The actress goes on to say that the give-and-take relationship between Xena and Gabrielle is key to the series, and "it's getting better and better the more we get to know each other. I have huge respect for Renee as a person. She's easy to listen to in film acting terms, and that's the magic: if you're actually listening and taking in somebody's face. That's real acting."
Amazon Wife
Looking back at her own real-life expenences, Lawless would probably say they mirror those of the brash young Gabnelie more than the seasoned warrior woman Xena. After attending Auckland University for a short time, the young Lawless contracted a serious case of wanderlust and left for Europe to go grape-picking on the Rhine. When the money began to run out, she moved to Australia, where she signed on with a gold mining company operating in the Outback. Relocated to a small mining camp even farther from civilization, Lawless found herself doing the same work as her male peers: digging, mapping and driving trucks. After getting married in Australia, Lawless moved back to Auckland with her husband, determined to pursue a career in acting. She landed her first real acting job at age 20, with the TV comedy troupe Funny Business, and after a string of guest-starring TV roles, I she moved to Vancouver for eight months to s study drama at the William Davis Center for Actor's Study.
In 1992, Lawless returned to New Zealand, where she accepted a job as co-host for Air New Zealand Holiday, a travel show which took her around the world. A second season followed, and then a role in the two hour Hercules TV movie Hercules and the Amazon Women. As Lawless admits, she didn't think, "not in a million years" that the character would one day help her land the role of Xena.
In Amazon Women, Lawless portrayed Lysia, lieutenant to Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons (played by Roma Downey). Looking back on the first of her many Hercules guest appearances, the actress admits that her memory is a bit blurred, particularly of the battle sequences. "You know, I don't even remember doing fight scenes when I was in that," she says with mock surprise. "Were there really fight scenes?
"I have to say, I've surprised myself by the physicality of it all, because it's obviously some sort of natural aggression that shines through. It's something that I never recognized before, but I think growing up in a house with seven kids probably helped in that regard. I have five brothers, so it was pretty much the law of the jungle. It was a very loving home and everything, but it was still very rowdy. I could really relate to that running-the-gauntlet scene in the second Xena episode."
On the other hand, the actress has no trouble remembering the scenes with the legendary Anthony Quinn, who played Zeus in the five two-hour movies. "He was great; I was really surprised. Some people were a little nervous about having him around, but because I had not, to my everlasting shame, ever seen an Anthony Quinn movie, it didn't bother me. I knew his name and that he was somebody, but you treat everybody the same until you find out they're an idiot.
"He seemed to like me because I didn't kowtow to him or whatever, but he was a superstar and I could see that. I felt really privileged to meet him, because there aren't many of them left. There are only a few of his caliber from that era, and I know he's working still, which only makes him greater. He was a real gentleman."
Lawless also enjoyed working with leading man Sorbo (STARLOG #211), who was still far from being a household name in those early days. 'Kevin really hasn't changed very much: he's a nice guy and good to work with. This has, in a funny way, become Kevin's home, and I think he's looking at buying a place because he has been down here for two years. He has a lot of friends here, and it's quite enriching, living in another country for a period of time. He seems to be handling it fine, and because he's here, he doesn't have people hounding him every two seconds. It's like a beach holiday."
When Hercules was picked up as a weekIy series the following season, Lawless invited back, but this time in a different role. In "When Darkness Falls," she played thc scheming Lyla, who tries to help her centaur friends by drugging Hercules at a local wedding festival. While Lawless was happy return to the series, she's not quite sure whyshe was asked back as a different character. "I don't know, that's a producer's question, so you would have to ask Eric Grundemann that. Hey, Eric!" she jokingly yells to tbe Hercules producer working in a nearby office. "Eric would know, or [exec producer] Rob Tapert, but I couldn't tell you."
Warrior Woman
What Lawless can say is she had no difficulty with the complicated visual FX required to create the realistic-looking centaurs in that episode. "I don't have any trouble with special FX. If you have an active imagination, you just use it and it's not difficult at all. I actually find it easier than working off actors. It never even occurred to me that this might be a difficulty; it was just normal acting."
When Lawless was asked to return a few weeks later to play Xena in a three-episode story arc that closed Hercules' first season, it was almost literally a case of being in the right place at the right time. The original actress hired to play Xena got sick at the last minute, and the producers had to find a replacement over the New Year's weekend.
"I had just been in the previous episode, so I think the execs were saying, 'Oh no, we can't use her because we just used her. Here's a list of five other actresses you should try,' and every one of them pulled out for some reason. Pilot season was coming up, so they decided, 'Oh no, we don't want to go down to the bottom of the world in pilot season and do a three-week stint that will come to nothing, when we could stay here in LA and do a pilot that could possibly become a series,' so thanks girls, thank you very much!
"I flew up there two days before and had my hair changed. They made the costume up for me and then I was shooting. I had been on a camping holiday just before that, so they had to move heaven and Earth to find me. It was a huge twist of fate or good luck, or whatever you want to call it, but here I am."
Xena's debut came in "The Warrior Princess," in which she seduces Hercules' friend Iolaus, driving a wedge between the two longtime comrades. For Michael Hurst, who has played Iolaus since the two-hour movies, working with Lawless was a pleasure. "Like Kevin, there's no selfishness about her," he notes. "She has a lot of generosity and we had a ball making those episodes. Both Lucy and I were really in our element, being picked up for the series, dressing in the most amazing way and doing scenes together. It was fantastic for both of us, and we both had a good time."
According to Hurst, one of the most uncomfortable moments in "The Warrior Princess" was the scene in which Xena disrobes and joins Iolaus for a bath. The reason for that discomfort? Not the one you might think. "Let me tell you, that water was lukewarm, and we had a lot of little pieces of styrofoam, which they use to create the look of stone, floating around, it looked like soup. As anybody would tell you, the last thing in your mind is any sense of eroticism! It was really businesslike, and we actually lost it sometimes. We just couldn't help but start laughing at the whole ridiculous situation: shooting this scene in a warehouse in the middle of Auckland City. It was very funny."
"We did develop a really good rapport early on," agrees Lawlass. "I don't think it had anything to do with the fact that he's an established New Zealand actor, because we were only barely acquainted before that, but we really hit off. Most women love talking to Michael. I think he gets a lot of mail already, but he's a pretty good guy, and would never get uptight about it. He and his wife drafted out some replies, but at this stage, I think the load is already getting too heavy and they just won't be able to keep doing that. He's such a busy man, directing plays and all sorts of things."
Xena returned in "The Gauntlet," and this time, the warrior princess was beginning to tire of her warlike ways. Unfortunately, leaving that life behind meant having to endure a trial by combat with her former comrades.
Lawless feels that although the episode may have been a bit too intense, it also signaled the beginning of Xena's evolution into a dramatically different character. "That first episode was directed by Bruce Seth Green, and then Jack Perez did the next one, which was a much darker show. It was written dark, and shot dark. Xena is a very different character now. Before, she had no honor, but this Xena is very different. It's part of her life changing transition, and now she does have her own warped code of honor."
It was during the shooting of "The Gauntlet" that Lawless remembers hearing the first hint of a possible spin-off series featuring Xena. "I was sitting in the second AD's bus, and I was trying to be all cool about it, saying. 'Yeah, yeah, we'll believe it when it happens, and I'll talk to you later. thank you, Mr. Tapert.' I went away and had lunch on my own, and tried to pretend I hadn't heard what I heard. Anyway, the upshot is four months from that day, it was happening. It seems like forever ago, but it was really only January, and now we're already up to our ninth episode."
Barbarian Mom
In order to prepare their lead actress for the new series. the producers of Xena sent Lawless to train with martial arts master Douglas (Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story) Wong, who taught her basic kung fu moves, as well as fighting techniques with staffs and swords. "It was like the old studio system; they took me to LA for training in dialogue, kung fu, personal training and film technique It was just wonderful and really kick started me again. After I left acting school four years ago I had kind of plateaued. It took me four years to understand everything I had been taught, and then to think, 'Holy guacamole, where do I go from here?'"
If there's anything more difficult than battling mythological monsters and barbarian warriors, it's trying to maintain a happy domestic life. With the long hours she has to spend on the Xena set, Lawless concedes it isn't always easy to find time to spend with her husband and seven-year-old daughter Daisy. "It is difficult sometimes, but we're managing. My daughter comes down to the set after school some days, and I know she's well-looked-after because she's with her father, and she couldn't have a better father, so she's fine."
And what does Daisy think of Mom's new job? "She thinks it's pretty cool. She likes to have the posters and things, but she hasn't actually seen any of these new episodes yet."
That brings up an interesting point: whether or not the action-oriented Xena is suitable viewing for small children. "I might have had a question mark over that one before," says Lawless, considering whether she would let her own daughter watch the series, "but now I think yes, I would, because all the sound FX and speed ramping make the fights cartoonish.
"I think she could see Xena: she has seen The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and we're a bit less inhibited about those things here. We just had a festival which is like Mardi Gras. and I was surprised at how shocked our American friends were at all the naked breasts walking around on the main street, but that's New Zealand."
It may be too early to discuss some of the highlights of Xena's first season, but Lawless says there are plenty of moments where everything seems to click. 'You get that once or twice a day. You might see the playback, and you see somebody slug you on the head with a foam thing. They came nowhere near you, but it just looks fantastic because you dropped at precisely the right moment.
"I've got to say, although initially they were never my favorite thing to do, watching the fight scenes is really rewarding. In fact, seeing them once the sound FX have been put in, I get the biggest kick out of them."
The actress also wants Xena fans to know that she's doing a lot more of her own fighting these days. "They still use a double sometimes, because some of the things are not only difficult but dangerous, with the flips and so forth. I have wonderful acrobatic doubles and a stunt double and a horse riding double. These women do the most amazing things, and beautifully, too. That's what I mean when I talk about this not being just my show. They all help to enrich the character, so it's really a huge team effort and I'm grateful to all of them for their hard work."
With Xena and Hercules both shooting in the same Auckland studios, one might think there was a little good-natured rivalry between the parent series and its spin-off. "Not really," says Lawless, "because we screen at different times, so there's no point in being in competition. We don't really compete because the flavors of the two shows are so distinct from one another. There are things that happen on Hercules that will never happen on Xena, and vice versa. There's no point in competing. I also think we're working way too hard to be looking at each other's shows."
Nonetheless, the two characters meet again in an episode of Xena. "We just shot it, and I think it has turned out great. It was so nice to work with Kevin again. It's really like an ensemble cast, because everybody knows their characters and you're not mucking around trying to find something in a scene, so filming went much faster."
Should Xena: Warrior Princess turn out to be the same unexpected success as Hercules: The Legendary Journeys last season, it's entirely possible that Lucy Lawless could be battling the forces of evil for many years to come. The actress considers that possibility for a moment. "If you're going to play a character for a couple of years." she finally reflects, "then I can't think of a better character to play. She has such duality and complexity that I should consider myself a very lucky actor if I do." |
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Daily NewsAugust 19, 1996
A star on the strength of 'Xena'
'XENA' star Lucy Lawless walks through the door, and you can't help but look behind her to see if the Warrior Princess has, by some mistake, been left behind in the lobby. Yes, Lawless is nearly 6 feet tall. But having exchanged her trademark leather-and-metal armor for an ultra-feminine lavender lace shirt and black miniskirt, the TV action hero puts even the most popular catwalk striders to shame with her graceful presence.
Just goes to show that Lawless, star of the hit syndicated series "Xena: Warrior Princess," didn't always make a living single-handedly battling Cyclopes, centaurs and armies of grimy-looking marauders. Slim and soft-spoken, the New Zealand native has settled into her one-in-a-million role. Xena was successfully spun off into her own series last year after audiences took note of the fearsome female character in a three-episode story arc of "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys."
Now, "Xena" trades off and on with "Hercules" and "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" for the top spot in the weekly syndie drama ratings. "Xena," which follows "Hercules," airs locally Saturday nights at 9 on WPIX/ Ch. 11, and repeats Sunday afternoons at 2.
The show, and its runaway success, "was a complete surprise," says Lawless, 28, who swung by New York as part of a whirlwind American press tour. "I never in my wildest dreams thought I would be an action star." And the work. Lawless adds, is fun, but grueling.
"I'm constantly stretched, because the writers go, 'Wow, if she can do this, then let's try this.' We all let our imaginations run wild."
Even the knowledge that she's become a popular role model doesn't bother her nearly as much as it used to.
"I used to be terrified, just terrified," she admits. "Up until I came here this week, and I met so many women and young girls who feel, to use their word, and I'm a bit embarrassed, but it's a good word, empowered, by watching. I realized this isn't a burden, this is an honor."
Of course, the one little girl whom Lawless wants to inspire the most is her 8-year-old daughter, Daisy, who's still adjusting to having a TV-star mom.
"She's not entirely sure that she likes Mommy being the focus of everybody's attention," says Lawless, who divorced shortly before she landed the Xena role. "She doesn't like to share me too much." After all, Daisy not only has to answer questions like "Is your mom Xena?" but, Lawless explains with a laugh, she's forced to respond to other, more ridiculous queries, like: "Is your dad Hercules?"
"She pretends that she doesn't like it," says Lawless. "But I think in her heart she does."
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Winston-Salem JournalSeptember 1996
Producers try to make 'nomadic Superman' of ancient Greece accessible
It's hard to believe that the highest-rated syndicated drama on TV began as an idea its producers weren't too crazy about. A few years ago, cult-movie producers Robert Tapert and Sam Raimi (Evil Dead II, Army of Darkness, Darkman) were approached by MCA TV to do a series of movies about Hercules.
"We said Jeez, we'd really prefer to do Conan,' " Tapert said by telephone from his office in Los Angeles. "They went, 'No, Conan's rights are all tied up,' so we went and we watched all the Hercules movies. As kids they were great to watch, but nowadays they just don't hold up. So we kind of designed our own ancient world and infused modern language into it, and made it so it was relevant and not stilted and as accessible as possible."
The result was The Legendary Journeys of Hercules, a series of five movies that were shown in MCA's Action Pack of syndicated TV-movies. Tapert and Raimi's instincts in re-interpreting the character were right on target, and the movies proved popular enough to be spun off into a weekly series. As Hercules: The Legendary Journeys starts its third season this week (6 p.m. Sunday on WGHP), it is firmly planted at the top of the ratings for hourlong syndicated dramas. Its companion show, Xena: Warrior Princess (which starts its second season at 5 p.m. Sunday) generally comes in at number two, beating out such popular programs as Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Baywatch.
"The biggest problem I had with the old Hercules is that, the Hercules character was good-looking but he really wasn't somebody you wanted to invite into your house every week, where I think Kevin Sorbo kind of embodies that," Tapert said.
Sorbo plays Hercules as a sort of nomadic Superman, traveling the countryside of ancient Greece righting wrongs and helping the helpless. The series relies on a mixture of wild stunts, state-of-the-art special effects, fantastic physiques (both male and female) and tongue-in-cheek humor, rarely taking it self too seriously.
The early success of Hercules made a spinoff inevitable, and a character who was originally a villain became the star of that spinoff, Xena: Warrior Princess.
"Xena was a way for us to try out some Hong Kong-style action and give it to a woman character," Tapert said. "Myself and my partner, and people working in the office, are big fans of a lot of the Hong Kong movies. We see a lot of them. We wanted to make a powerful, evil warrioress who Hercules has to come up against, and as soon as the studio saw the first one, they said 'Can you spin her good, and we can probably do a spinoff from that' and we went, 'Sure.' "
The third-season premiere of Hercules, "Mercenary," has a more intense tone than fans of that series are used to.
"It's a slightly darker, more dramatic show than we had done this past season," Tapert said.
In the premiere, Hercules is taking a mercenary back to Sparta to stand trial for murder. The ship they are on crashes, and a wounded Hercules has to join forces with the mercenary to survive on a desert island swarming with nasty pirates and nastier monsters that live underneath the sand, striking like sharks. Tapert describes it as Hell in the Pacific meets Tremors.
In addition to the sand creatures in "Mercenary," computer-generated effects have been used on Hercules and Xena to create such mythic creatures as centaurs, dragons, snake demons and assassins made of water and fire. Tapert speaks highly of the effects team, led by Kevin O'Neill.
Tapert and Raimi's production company, Renaissance Pictures, is now working on several other Hercules-related projects, both of which are straight-to-video: Young Hercules, a series depicting the exploits of teen-age Hercules (due out next spring), and an animated Hercules/Xena movie (due later in 1997). |
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Black BeltSeptember 1996
What Puts the Punch Into Hercules & Xena
Not since the days of The Green Hornet and The Wild, Wild, West have American television audiences been treated to the kind of an energetic, creative pugilism demonstrated in “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, and its spin-off series Xena: Warrior Princess. Hercules and Xena have not only quickly emerged as two of the top-rated syndicated television shows in the United States, but have done so by entrusting their success to, of all things, the wild-and-wooly, frenetic-paced action formulas of Hong Kong film.
Executive producer Robert Tapert, known for his work in Jean-Claude Van Damme’s Hard Target and Timecop, explains the reasons for this strange twist. “I’ve always been impressed with the Hong Kong cinema style of action,” he says, “so with Hercules, we initially tried to emulate that style. In fact, when we pitched the idea for Xena, I made a demo reel of four Hong Kong movies to show the syndicators the kind of action sequences we wanted to do in the show. We also weren’t afraid to break the rules of fight realism and go for action that’s entertaining and something that the American television audience has never seen before.”
This imaginative blend of cross-cultural fantasy and reality is further enhanced by the fresh, exotic and spectacular scenery of New Zealand, where the two series are shot. Set in the golden age of Greek mythology, Hercules (played by Kevin Sorbo) uses his wits, courage and strength to defend the poor, virtuous and downtrodden, and in doing so, is forced to battle an outrageous array of demons, beasts and gods bent on destroying him. Similarly, Xena (played by Lucy Lawless) righteously battles barbaric tribes, slave traders and dregs of the Earth in her mission to free the oppressed from the clutches of injustice and tyranny.
The man responsible for serving up this mouth-watering menu of mayhem is the show’s stunt coordinator, Peter Bell, who is known for his work on films such as Savage Island, Mutiny on the Bounty and Willow.
“Although Kevin and Lucy are not serious martial artists, most of the stunt team are boxers and martial artists, and they have to be good fall guys,” Bell relates. “In order for a fight to work, you’ve got to have the stunt people sell the hit. Things like flying through the air and somersaults can make a fight look far more visual. If people who watch the fight cringe after a guy hits the deck, then it’s a good fight.”
Sorbo, who practices white lotus kung fu when time permits, is a refreshing break from actors who claim martial arts “mastership” merely because they are stars of action-oriented shows. “People can identify with Hercules; they find him a very approachable hero, someone who is attainable,” Sorbo states. “You can walk up to him and feel comfortable.”
Although the training schedule is tough, and he suffers from the usual injuries associated with this style of show, Sorbo gladly embraces the Hong Kong-type action. He is up at 4:30 a.m., films for 12-14 hours, then returns home to train with weights, practice fighting maneuvers, and study his lines. “I sleep maybe five hours if I am lucky,” he says. “I’ve seen the Hong Kong [action films]; they are crazy. We have that style of action, and our own tongue-in-cheek humor, but the scripts have strong dramatic elements. I do 90 percent of all my stunts, and I think the ‘stunties’ can respect me for that.”
Tapert proposed the Xena spin-off show to Universal officials based on the character of the same name who appeared in three top-rated episodes on Hercules. Lawless is a New Zealand-born ex-gold miner from the Australian outback who starred in the film Hercules and the Amazon Women.
“Xena is as strong as any man or woman has ever been,” Lawless says of her character. “She’s sort of dysfunctional and knows about the dark side of human nature. She is actually the person I could have been if I had been born to different parents.”
Lawless particularly enjoys her work in the show’s fight scenes. “Usually I get more out of doing dialogue, but when I see the results of the fights on the screen, it’s just so rewarding,” she says.
She admits the physical requirements of her role are demanding. “Oh man, it’s incredibly strenuous,” Lawless relates. “It’s one hell of a challenge to achieve some sort of balance, so that I am not too tired to do good acting, yet remain flexible enough to do the fights and certain jumps. I do weight training, boxing, and I love my kung fu classes. As a kid, I was always uncoordinated, but I have overcome that with my martial arts training. I’ve only practiced a couple of months. It’s a start, and I enjoy learning.”
According to stunt coordinator Bell, one of the keys to a successful fight scene is adding emotion to the techniques. “There’s only so many techniques you can put in a fight, so we bring out the emotions of a fight by using different camera angles and speeds,” he explains. “When Hercules hits someone, he sends him flying. For that effect, we’ll either use ‘jerk harnesses,’ ‘jerk rams’ or and ‘air ram’ to launch the assailant through the air. The air rams can throw someone 10-12 feet up or 20-30 feet out. When Hercules picks someone up and hangs them by their ankles or carries him around like a shield, we just use simple wire rigs. All these things can help me change the look of the fights.”
Sorbo, while enjoying the fight scenes, wishes he had more time to prepare for them. “We don’t get enough time to choreograph and practice the fights,” he claims. “I learn most of this stuff on the day we are going to be doing it. It’s just go, go, go. Once that camera starts rolling, I’m thinking ‘What am I doing?’ I’ve got a sword in one hand and a torch in the other, and I’m about to go through 40 guys. I’m amazed when it’s over that I did it. Doing this show is fun for me; it’s like being a kid again. I used to play Hercules and Superman [as a kid]. Even after seeing Bruce Lee I would run about the backyard and ‘kung fu’ everything. Reliving those fantasies is a fantasy.”
They may be newcomers to the martial arts, but Lawless and Sorbo already have their share of “war stories” to exchange with others. Lawless received a black eye during one scene, and recounts another difficult episode. “I had gotten whacked and apparently the bones on the top of my back were quite severely [out of alignment],” she relates. “My head was off to one side. For nine days, I couldn’t concentrate, my sinuses were gone and my vision was affected. It was difficult because I didn’t know why I couldn’t do anything. I really just had no energy. But these things can happen. We go extremely fast; there is almost no time to rehearse, except between takes. But the ‘stunties’ are fantastic - it’s like working with a dancing partner. Plus, I’m feeling more comfortable with the swords and fighting with that ‘boomerang thing’ (a chakram - a razor-sharp, discus-size throwing thing).”
Bell takes great care to prevent Lawless’ fight scenes from becoming clones of Sorbo’s fights. “The nature of their fights are different,” he explains. “Lucy’s are more martial-artsy, so for her fights we use a lot of wire rigs, where she can run up or flip backwards off trees, or run along walls sideways. With Kevin, we use more air rams, swings and jerk rams. With either actor, it’s not good to put in too many fancy kicks in the fights, because I’ve got to make it look like they’re really doing it. However, with some kicks, I can get them to start the kick, then a double can finish it.”
“Peter is aware of my limitations,” Lawless adds. “It’s only recently that I’m getting better at just forgetting my limits, tapping into my body, and just going for it. In fact, in one show there’s this neat fight where I run along the side of a wall and do this fancy leg-pumping flying kick.”
Often referred to as a “Hong Kong film-kick” or “no shadow kick,” this movie technique was invented by Hong Kong film-maker Ching Siu Tung, for use against one or 50 opponents at a time. Such a kick is perfect for the Hercules and Xena series, in which one individual=7F frequently fights large groups of opponents rather than a series of one-on-one confrontations.
The shows are also noted for their special effects, which are the inspiration of Ray Harryhausen, who was responsible for the effects in Jason and the Argonauts, Valley of Kwangi and the Sinbad movies. The earlier episodes of Hercules featured puppetry effects, but eventually the leap was made to computer-generated images.
The man in charge of bringing giant snakes, three-headed dogs, half-human snake demons, centaurs and sword-wielding skeletons to life, is visual effects supervisor Kevin O’Neill, known for his work on Dracula and Cliffhanger. Perhaps his best work on the show is a scene which pits Hercules against eight sword-wielding skeletons, which was adapted from a memorable scene in Jason and the Argonauts.
“What we did was buy a skeleton model, then modify it to match the eight skeletons that we planned to use in the three-dimensional animated fight sequence,” O’Neill says. “I first had eight guys put together a fight and rehearse the sequence, then we filmed it once with the guys and once with just Kevin fighting by himself.”
Sorbo recalls the scene well. “It was wild seeing this thing put together,” he says. “First the stunties went through the entire fight sequence, strike for strike, and filmed it as one big master shot so the computer guys could see what it was going to look like. Then I did the fight by myself against no opponents, copying the exact moves. Then I did it a third time tight, with the special effects guys operating the skeletons’ arms and legs. Then the computer guys got a hold of it and pieced it together. I’m always amazed at what they do.”
Each of the shows has an average of three big fight scenes in each episode, meaning Bell must coordinate about six fights a week. “I’ve got to create at least one new movement per fight, then just basically rehash the old ones and make them look different,” he says.
Adds Tapert: “Although we wanted to emulate Hong Kong’s style of action in Hercules, we quickly found out that we couldn’t incorporate a lot of the acrobatics because we felt it was out of character for ‘Herc.’ I love the fights in Xena, but Herc’s fights are getting a bit dull and too repetitive. It’s hard with a guy who punches people to continue to come up with new brawls that are interesting. We are continuing to try, but are being careful not to use too many |
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St Louis Post DispatchSeptember 5, 1996
FOR THE LOVE OF LUCY
She comes to me in the the late-night glow of the tube, and I am transfixed. She's buxom, she's brawny, she's clad in a leather skirt and bronze breast (and I mean breast) plates. No one can conquer her‹not evil kings, not fickle gods, not filthy hordes of gnarly barbarians. On foot or on horseback, swinging on ropes or flipping through the air, she is the ruler of my TV universe.
What can I say? I love Lucy. No, I'm not talking Ball. I'm talking Lawless, as in Lucy Lawless, as in star of the syndicated television show "Xena: Warrior Princess." Xena's official web-site (http://www.mca.com/tv/xena) describes the superwoman of ancient Greece this way: "Surrounded by enemies, barbaric tribes, slave traders and a host of other evils, Xena is on a mission to help people free themselves from tyranny and injustice."
She is also, according to the tabloids (which I read as religiously as I watch this show), a major sex symbol for lesbians. In fact, the show "Xena: Warrior Princess" has apparently become the "Melrose Place" of lesbian bar communal TV watching. Instead of gathering to watch who Heather Locklear will destroy next, gay women gather to watch Xena kick scummy male butt and hang out with her faithful female companion, the demure Gabrielle. I understand these women's fixation, because Lucy/Xena's appeal cuts across all age, gender and sexual preference lines.
To paraphrase Dennis Miller, I'm not gay or anything, but Lucy Lawless is hot. She uses her goddess-like strength to grind dirt-bags into dust. As in the great comic book tradition of all superheroes, Xena puts herself in constant jeopardy, yet always wins in the end. An icky barbarian ties her up and holds her hostage in his tent? Not to worry‹she escapes from leather strap bondage by popping a knife blade out of her ample cleavage and into the air, where it slashes down and snips right through her ankle restraints.
A man slaps Xena's face? No sweat‹she head-butts him into unconsciousness. An angry army attacks her with spears in a castle? The woman improvises with aplomb‹she grabs two wet towels, flicks them in circles like twin twisters in a locker room, and uses these make-shift whips to lash the army into submission. You can't keep Xena down, and you can't stop her. And once hooked on t his TV wonderwoman of the '90s, you can't ever look at ancient Greece the same way again (because, frankly, Xena's ancient Greece looks a whole lot like exterior shots of Northern California and interior shots of Cecil B. DeMille reject sets in a Burbank back-lot). Like I said, I love Lucy. Hail, hail, Xena, Warrior Princess, ruler of my late-night heart. |
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NZ Woman's WeeklySeptember 16, 1996
Lucy Was Always Popular With Boys
The parents of Xena star Lucy Lawless open their family photo album exclusively for Weekly readers.
To millions of TV viewers around the world, Lucy Lawless is none other than the sword-swinging, man-bashing Xena: Warrior Princess. But to her parents, Frank and Julie Ryan, at their home in Auckland, Lucy's still the sweet-natured, trusting little girl they've lovingly raised for 27 years.
"Lucy was a very special child to us. She was the first girl after four boys," says Frank, the former Mayor of Mt Albert who's now a councillor for Auckland City.
"She always wanted to be rich and famous. It was quite a joke in the family. She was a lovely little kid, never any trouble."
"Lucy was tall, but never ungraceful," recalls proud mum Julie of her strapping, 1.83m (6ft) daughter. "She was a bit of a tomboy, I suppose you could say, and she was always a great one for performing. I'll never forget the little gymnastic displays, concerts and dramas she and her friend used to put on. They'd make all the neighbours come and watch their shows.
"And it was nothing to have six or seven children in bed with us in the mornings. The poor bed just couldn't take the strain in the end, one of the legs broke so we had to prop it up telephone books."
One of Frank's happiest memories while raising their seven children were the happy, rollicking games the family enjoyed around the neighbourhood of their sprawling Mt Albert bungalow.
"We'd go down to the back field and have these great battles with grass clippings and rotten fruit.
"Lucy would always be right in there, giving it her best. She had a great throw - she's got a good strong arm. And being one of only two girls in the family, she learned early on to give as good as she got.
"She topped her form in her second year at Wesley Intermediate. That was the first time we recognised she had the ability to excel in whatever she chose to do. She was also voted the girl most likely to succeed."
Lucy was also a keen participant in school plays and musicals, and her parents have very fond memories of
They'd open the toilet door to get The Mikado, South Pacific and The Pirates Of Penzance while she was at Marist Sisters College, where she eventually became head girl.
"She had a fine singing voice, but all she wanted to do was to get into film and TV," says Frank. "She was always very popular with the boys. She'd get all the telephone calls, but I'm happy to say she was always treated with great respect. There was no nonsense, and we were never let down by her."
Julie says her daughter was always very sensible. "I remember one of the mothers saying Lucy was never a child. She was always grown up in her manner."
Frank and Julie are now the biggest fans of Lucy's hit TV show, Xena: Warrior Princess. "Of course we watch it," says Julie. "It's an amazing show, isn't it? It's a great role for Lucy because it uses all the things she's learned, like horse riding and doing all those tumbles and flips.
"And of course, she gets to give the boys as good as she gets. It could have been written for her. We've heard it has a huge following in America and I think she's handled the fame extraordinarily well."
Frank and Julie are delighted with Lucy's success. "She's worked so very hard," says Frank. "I can remember a time when she was crying on my shoulder, sobbing, 'I'm trying so hard but I can't get a break'."
Says Julie: "It was very tough for her trying to get work in New Zealand productions. They seem to have a set group of people they use all the time. And besides, with Lucy's height, she needs a leading man about seven feet tall!" |
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Sky TV GuideOctober 1996
Just For Kicks
Xena Warrior Princess is a big hit on Sky 2. But don't take her too seriously, says star Lucy Lawless
You know the usual scene? A simpering blonde cowering behind some strapping hunk while he valiantly fends off the baddies? Well, forget it! This is the Nineties and sisters are doing it for themselves. Leading the charge is the raven-haired, six-foot tall Kiwi, Lucy Lawless, otherwise known as Xena: Warrior Princess and currently wowing audiences on Sky 2. In her on-screen guise Lucy is a lean, mean fighting machine who, along with sharp-tongued sidekick Gabrielle, played by Renee O'Connor, puts the fear of God into any evil wrong-doers who dare cross her path.
Modern day heroine
A hard-hitting, high-kicking modern day heroine, Xena was such a success in her three-episode appearance on Sky l's Hercules: The Legendary Journeys that she was immediately given the limelight in her own series. Not that Lawless, who's been described as looking rather like Demi Moore's more statuesque sister, was surprised at Xena's incredible impact. 'She is a woman who doesn't see herself as at all limited by her femininity,' she reasons, 'and I think people find that very appealing.'
Much the same can be said for Lawless herself, who once worked as a miner in the Australian out- back, digging, hauling and driving trucks with the best of them!
'I never believed in glass ceilings or in being handicapped because I'm a woman,' explains the onetime tomboy who modelled herself on her four older brothers. But she did have one problem when taking on the role of Xena. Given the nicknamed 'Unco' at school because she was so uncoordinated, Lawless' toughest challenge was mastering the control of the necessary arts skills.
'I've never thought of myself as a very physical person,' she insists, despite boasting a physique that would put most people to shame. 'I've had a lot of training, however, which helped a lot. But unlike Hercules star Kevin Sorbo, who is a sportsman from way back, it doesn't come naturally to me.'
Not anti-men
Try telling that to the snarling centaurs and wicked warlords she manages to dispatch this month with one kick of that
lengthy leg!
Indeed, in America Xena has been hailed as a feminist icon. But it's an accolade that doesn't rest too easily with Lawless. 'Xena is not anti-men and we're not male-bashing in any way,' she quickly and firmly points out. What Lawless would prefer is that the show be seen simply as good, entertaining fun. And bearing in mind her mighty karate chop, few would argue with that! |
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Orange County RegisterOctober 4, 1996
The Adventure Continues For Xena
PROFILE: Lucy Lawless, who plays the Terminatior-in-a-bustier heroine, dishes the new season.
It ain't easy being a bona fide warrior princess, but Lucy Lawless is finally cozying up.
"Xena is so completely unlike me, I think she's a hoot," Lawless says during a visit to Universal City, far from her native New Zealand, where the high-buzz series "Xena: Warrior Princess", part sexy action show, part sly pop-culture parody, is filmed.
On TV, Xena's voice is archly American, but off-camera Lawless sounds as Kiwi as they come. And her voice is surprisingly tiny -- "I'm notoriously hard to hear."
Clad in black slacks and striped top instead of scanty leather combat gear, Lawless looks just as stately but rather less sculptured than Her Mighty Xena-ness.
"I know, I know," Lawless, 28, admits. "I don't know how to deal with that. People keep coming up to me and saying, 'I thought you were bigger.' They may think Xena is real, but she is not reality to me. I use just a sliver of myself to play her. She is just so dour and humorless, so ironical.
"But I'm not going to fight it. I guess I just have to run with it now. I, Lucy Lawless, am going to be held up as some sort of role model, along with Xena herself."
If Lawless sounds mildly discomfited by her fame as the Flamboyant Female Terminator of ancient Greece, she is clearly reaping its rewards. In Hollywood you've arrived if you're ripe for parody. And a recent send up as "Thena: Warrior Goddess" on the NBC sitcom "Something So Right," plus a skewering on the season premiere of CBS sitcom "Almost Perfect" on Wednesday, suggest that Xena, and Lawless, are ripe.
Also ripe for harvest is the growing buzz about the relationship between Xena and her faithful traveling companion Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor) as the new season of "Xena" begins. Last season, "Xena" picked a peck of publicity from the duo's relationship, lesbian if you choose to read it that way, just heterosexual friends if you preferred not.
This season the "are-they-or-aren't-they?" adventures continue.
"Well, apropos of the *special* relationship between Xena and Gabrielle -- Gabrielle gets married," Lawless begins, describing an episode slated for later in the season, as she whispers in mock-conspiratorial tones.
"As Gabrielle is saying goodbye, Xena kisses her and Gabrielle hands over the bouquet, and Xena goes, 'Ha, ha.' "
Here Lawless gives the laugh an ironic insider twist.
"That was my idea, that one -- which is probably why I think it's so damn funny. It's just part of broadening people's horizons.
"You know, the show has been embraced by a lot of political groups with it's biracial angle" -- the show employs multiethnic casts, and white Xena has had a black male lover -- "and its feminist angle, although I've never had any political pretensions. Of course, it's the most natural thing in the world that two women would be traveling together. Then people started reading into it things where there wasn't any deliberate attempt.
"There is a huge lesbian community that's right behind us -- and we certainly don't want to lock anybody out from our show, either. Renee went home (to Texas) and said, 'You know, there's all this talk about the lesbian element,' and people said, 'What are you talking about?'
"That just made Renee and I howl with laughter. So if you don't want to see it, you probably won't. If you do" -- she adds a theatrical pause -- "you probably will. Maybe we like to give our audiences what they didn't know they wanted. Then again, just when they think they've got us pegged, aha!"
Never bound by conventions herself, the duality of Xena's sexuality suits Lawless just fine. So does Xena's transformation from evil murderess in her murky past to today's righteous protectress of the helpless and innocent as she roams through misty, and sometimes hilariously reconstructed, classical mythology. It's all part of the great "Xena" goof, to which Lawless seems well-suited.
"I grew up in a family with a lot of ribbing going on," she says of her childhood in Mount Albert in "middle-middle-middle Auckland, like Middle America.
"I went to Catholic school, where at 8 or 9 I discovered how cool it was to be a dunce, because you could get away with so much by just pretending to be a dummy. The next year, I discovered acting when we did a dramatized version of the story of the prodigal son. I was the woman who met him on the road and stiffed him out of his coins and clothes, that felt really good.
"And now I happen to be working with people (executive producers Robert Tapert and Sam Raimi) who also have that twisted humor."
Between stiffing the prodigal son and romping through ancient Greece in Xena's leather bustier, Lawless worked as a miner in a remote region of Western Australia, "taking dirt samples, jumping over lizards and snakes and pushing ore through a diamond saw", and had a daughter, Daisy, now 8.
Then came comedy work on a TV skit show, "Funny Business," and a stint as co-host of the travel show "Air New Zealand Holiday."
Now "Xena" gives single mom Lawless a five-day work week, with weekends devoted to her daughter, renovating her house and reading psychology books "to see what makes people tick, and me, too."
Lawless: "Xena's got a very wide universe, but Lucy doesn't really at all." This season, "Xena's" universe gets wider.
"If you saw Xena when she first emerged in 'Hercules,' she'd really use her sexuality. She was far more of a vixen. We go back and explore that. We meet her when she was merely imperialistic, prior to her going really off the deep end. We go back and meet the guy who really sent her over the edge, whose name is Julius. I'm not telling you his surname."
And here's how twisted minds Tapert and Raimi will wickedly tweak "Xena" during the important ratings measurement period of November sweeps. In an episode called "Xena Scrolls," a parody of "Raiders of the Lost Ark," Lawless and O'Connor play the descendants of Xena and Gabrielle in the 1940's. Here O'Connor is the hero, the Indiana Jones character popularized by Harrison Ford, and Lawless is the sidekick, a ditzy Southern belle.
"We get all these flashbacks about how all this was supposed to happen. And they only burn Renee's character up, driving a wedge between them.
"That's another thing that will be happening this season -- there's a schism in their relationship, between Xena and Gabrielle."
In the meantime, Lawless, like Xena, has prodigious TV tasks to perform. On Tuesday she is slated to appear on NBC's "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno." Watch for a silly Xena skit.
In the season premiere "Orphan of War," Xena trounces evil marauders and re-encounters her son Solan, 9, shades of her daughter, Daisy, whom she left with Centaurs for his protection shortly after birth.
And in episode two, "Remember Nothing," Xena rules again, what else?, and is granted a fateful wish that will change the course of her life. |
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San Diego Union TribuneOctober 15, 1996
Xena Allure Makes Her Legend In His Own Mind
Venus, according to classic mythology, "sprang from the froth of the sea" and so impressed the immortals with her beauty that they made her goddess of love.
Xena, according to studio press releases, was "initially conceived as an evil figure" in one of "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys" but so impressed the viewing public that they made her a warrior princess headed for television immortality.
It takes time for a new folk hero to solidify in the mass mind, but Xena is the most likely new candidate since Mr. Spock and Darth Vader. She's a hero approaching Hercules' own Olympian proportions.
"Xena: Warrior Princess," being a syndicated TV show rather than a network program, shows up all over the TV log, on Channel 69 in San Diego and Channel 5 in Los Angeles. Could be this floating schedule exposed her to a wider audience than a fixed weekly spot. Maybe the lurid, comic strip title snagged a few more viewers. Whatever, Xena captured enough fans to position herself on the 212 U.S. stations in the new season for a run at the syndicated champs, like "Bay Watch."
I stumbled across Xena last season, while looking for something mindless to accompany Saturday night dinner. Right away I got hooked and, all things being equal, there are few current television shows I prefer now more than this pungent stew of Classic Comics mythology, kung fu flicks, computer tricks, science fiction, fairy tales, arcade games, cheesecake, slapstick, campy romp and buddy epic that all blends so smoothly together.
What's the big attraction? Here's my guess, roughly in order of importance:
HEROISM: Though not perfect, Xena manages to nurture fairness and virtue in a world where the distinctions are slippery. She is a mortal made special by her purity of purpose yet kept interesting by the flaws she must control.
ATMOSPHERE: The show, shot in New Zealand, simply drips gorgeous, lush, unspoiled scenery, quite acceptable as an ancient world where elaborate wonders are commonplace. The large and vivid crowds, the complex special effects, the rich textures of the decor, the vast outdoor panoramas and even the broad overacting of the supporting players all contribute to an accumulated sense of importance.
ATTITUDE: A gee-whiz sense of wonder balances precisely with casual hangout humor to solve deftly the problem of access between eras. The producers simply ignore the inconsistencies. Of course knowing exactly how much modern slang will work, "you guys" and "she's starting to bug me" are OK but "cool dudes" would not be heard, is part of the formula. The rest is a genial shrug that links classic resonance and contemporary comfort into a shared conspiracy simply to suspend disbelief and enjoy the story.
CASTING: Maybe this should rate higher, because Lucy Lawless is *really* terrific, a tall brunette with the look of eagles in her icy blue eyes and the voluptuous figure well-displayed in comic-book tradition. Her presence is commanding and her athleticism is formidable, but her real secret is the intelligent sensitivity she brings to her acting. While Xena certainly is what the Irish call "a fine broth of a girl," careful study reveals the sophistication of Lawless' technique.
STORIES: There is no richer, deeper supply of tales than the mythology of ancient Greece. But the makers of "Xena" don't limit themselves to the foibles of Olympus. In a recent episode, the giant Goliath wanders through from the Old Testament. And some of these standard Greek icons turn up in surprising contexts, like Bacchus as a bad guy. By remaining vague about the shows dates (roughly 1000 B.C.) and background (something about a wronged girl who learns martial arts to seek revenge), the producers provide themselves limitless opportunities for borrowing legends to retool.
Many of these elements are present in Xena's parent show, "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys." Kevin Sorbo, a definite hunk with an easy, unforced charm, has grown into the lead role despite being less beefy than one might expect from the strongest man in the world. He gets the same great scenery, the same natural cool and the same rigid code of ethics as Xena, plus they're both stuck with the same silly kung fu stuff.
But Hercules is coated with centuries of stereotyping. Even audiences who can't name one of his 12 labors still know that he was gifted beyond most mortals and that he retired more or less undefeated. Not so Xena, who totes no more baggage than any other attractive, assertive young woman surviving in a traditionally masculine business.
They both handle the action with a hero's aplomb but she gleams with the added glow of the unexpected, a fictional hero both resourceful and efficient who also happens to be a major babe.
After a good launch in 1994, Hercules' people seem to be going dry. The first two offerings of the new season were a standard two-rivals-against-the-real-baddies plot with some menace borrowed from Frank Herbert's sci-fi classic, "Dune," and a muddled tale about Daedalus, bummed at losing his son Icarus in the world's first plane crash, turning out weapons of mass destruction.
The villains are mere cartoons, the plots are clumsy (a female scribe does a tiresome enterprising reporter bit) and Sorbo seems bemused to find himself, as the greatest hero in history, helping jolly peasants with their yardwork.
No such drift with Xena, though her season premiere does labor through enough alternate universe gibberish to stir interest aboard the starship Enterprise.
There's a temptation to see these two series as interchangeable. But Xena is pulling away in the subtlety stakes, thanks to the little mysteries that surround her past and her future.
Take the sidekicks, for example. Each hero has a principal pal, a shorter, plainer, funnier and less perfect version of themselves, but Xena's Gabrielle is far more interesting than Hercules' Iolaus.
There was an Iolaus in the Hercules myths, a sort of assistant hero who was a big help during the Herculean labors. According to Plutarch, one of the best sources for the times, Iolaus inspired shrines "where lovers used to go and bind themselves by the most solemn oaths of fidelity, considering the place as sacred to love and friendship."
Now that's a bit racy for a popular television action series, so Sorbo and Michael Hurst (as Iolaus) do a lot of guy stuff to compensate.
But Xena and Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor) are another matter. When they cuddle, the air is charged with romance. And, believe me, the Internet is buzzing.
Unless you're really obsessed with metaphors, both shows are, finally, just well-crafted escapist nonsense. But Hercules, who already has had his centuries of fame, probably will fade away soon (along with the inevitable imitations now turning up) while Xena may turn out to have surprising legs, if you'll pardon the expression.
Other than the obvious opportunity for women to identify with a hero as assertive, confident, daring and crafty as any man, the creators of Xena also offer a vivid central character at home in a timeless universe and just waiting for an entire history of her own.
It isn't often that we can watch the birth of a new legend. |
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Star MagazineOctober 26, 1996
Brave Xena Vows To Ride Again
PLUCKY Xena star Lucy Lawless vowed she'll be back riding horses and doing her own stunts, just days after a terrifying accident left her writhing in agony. The action star was filming a comedy skit with Jay Leno for The Tonight Show when her horse slipped and sent her crashing onto the pavement.
"Everyone was horrified," says a witness. "You couldn't help think about what happened to Christopher Reeves. "Lucy just lay on the ground moaning in tremendous pain, but everyone was breathing sigh of relief that it was her pelvis that had been broken and not her neck.
"It all happened so fast. It took everyone a second to realize just what had happened. Jay and the rest of the crew ran over to her and the paramedics were immediately called."
Leno was beside himself as Lawless, 28, writhed in pain.
"Jay got down on the ground next to Lucy and held her hand. He was very sweet to her, trying to ease her and keep her distracted," according to the witness. "He said. 'Oh. my God. I am so sorry. Nothing like this has ever happened before. Don't worry about anything. Don't worry about anything ... we'll take care of it, we'll take care of everything.'
'"He managed to get a little smile out of her when he jokingly added, 'We'll even re-book you.'
"At the same time, she was apologizing for messing up, which really got to Jay. He was feeling guilty enough and now she was saying she was sorry and hoped it didn't ruin his show for that evening. But Lucy swears she'll be back riding horses and doing her stunts, just not right away."
Lawless, a 6-foot New Zealander, was taken to Providence St. Joseph Medical Center, near NBC's Burbank Studios.
She was listed in stable condition with pelvic fractures. Leno sent huge bouquets of flowers to Lawless' room, visited her in the hospital and has called every day.
He also told his staff: "Whatever she wants, make sure she has it."
Leno told a pal: "I feel so bad about this. It's going to take at least six weeks for her to heal."
"But I can tell you this, nothing like this will ever happen again."
The insider says: "Jay wanted to do a comedy sketch with Lucy. The one that everyone agreed on, which Lucy thought would be fun, had her ride up to the stage door on the back of a horse, like her character Xena."
Luckily for Xena fans, there are 10 new episodes ready to air through November sweeps. It will then go into reruns as originally planned. |
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TV Guide (US)November 9, 1996
Mything Links
 On a park bathed in buttery New Zealand sunlight, two women, deep in conversation, stroll up a path, tracked by a boom mike and a camera-mounted crane. One is red-haired and diminutive, clothed in a tunic. The other is zaftig and leggy, dressed like a walking tack shop: leather wrist thongs, leather bicep gauntlets, leather knee pads, leather miniskirt, and a leather bustier embellished by breastplates that look something like swirls of brass whipped cream.
Suddenly a man bent over a tape recorder starts to joggle his headphones and fiddle with his dials.
"Cut!" calls the director, who turns to the soundman. "Are you getting it?"
"Yeah," says the soundman. "But I've got a little squeaking on Lucy's costume."
Whereupon Lucy Lawless's expression goes from stern cobalt-blue-eyed warrior to smiling showgirl wannabe, and the soundman reaches gingerly to adjust the offending piece of metal on Xena's leather bustier.
"There's a reason she has metal breastplates," says Renee O'Connor, Xena's sidekick, Gabrielle, on the show, "but I don't know what it is."
The truth is, if Xena's squeaking breastplates don't make a lot of practical sense, they're a perfect fit in a world where a goddess windsurfing on a giant clamshell can utter the word "tubular," or Hercules (Kevin Sorbo) can buy a falafel sandwich at the world's first fast-food outlet on a forest path, or Xena can vanquish a half-dozen bad guys in a riverside rumble, using two fish on the end of a string as her weapon of choice.
Part "Road Warrior," part "7th Voyage of Sinbad", with a nod to Terry Gilliam and a leering wink at Hugh Hefner, the on-screen world of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess is a place where the whimsy is as important as the warring. And not surprisingly, the scene behind the scenes Down Under reveals a frenetic and fanciful production world that's delightfully lacking in TV-industry convention, and long on spontaneity, improvisation, and seat-of-the-pants production.
Casts and crews are stocked with energetic locals on loan from New Zealand's burgeoning film industry, and every suggestion, no matter how off-the-wall, can be fodder for either show.
"We hop around from century to century; we do whatever we want," Sorbo says between takes one day on a Mediterranean village set. "There are no rules. We make fun of ourselves... .I think people are tired of reality. I mean, ER is great, but I think you want an escape.
"And this thing has some sort of formula nothing on TV has right now", which makes the breakaway success of both Herc and Xena all the more surprising. Traditionally, success in syndication comes to the most formulaic shows, but Hercules and Xena, in their third and second years, respectively, have climbed through the syndicated rankings to regularly challenge Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the perennial action-drama king.
But where DS9 had three decades of tradition on which to build an audience, Xena and Herc have turned the formulas upside down, starting with the handful of made-for-TV syndicated Hercules movies that Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert, the team behind the comic-book cinematic stylings of "Darkman" and "Army of Darkness," produced in 1994. Their success led to the syndicated series (check TV Guide listings for day and time). Now, action figures, comic books, and cartoons are quickly being spun off, and at the end of last season, 44 more episodes of each show were ordered.
But neither show is resting on its laurels. After a messy shuffling of Hercules' writing staff last spring, prompted by a feud between Sorbo and former head writer John Schulian, Hercules' on-screen demeanor is going to become a little less heroic, according to executive producer Tapert. Tapert aims to dethrone DS9 once and for all by gradually adding a more dramatic, darker, and mortal dimension to Sorbo's character this winter.
Xena has already been proven eminently mortal, or at least the woman who plays her has. Lawless's spill off a horse during a stunt for The Tonight Show last month (see page 38) resulted in multiple fractures in her pelvis. But with the fall season's shows already in the can, and Lawless on the mend, there will be no Xenas without Xena this year.
Welcome to the microworld of Hercules and Xena, an operation scattered all over the environs in and around Auckland, chosen for both its distinctive landscape and low production costs. Depending on what the day's script calls for, filming will span from the beaches to the west to the lush parks of the green-filled city itself. But most of the filming takes place on a 70-acre tract of overgrown vineyard scrub to the south.
From the nearest paved road, the lot is a sprawl of brush and trees, awaiting the inevitable arrival of a housing development like the one springing up nearby. Only the discerning eye will notice the minarets and parapets poking out of the trees. A half-mile down a winding dirt road into the vineyard, a visitor discovers, in quick order, a medieval castle, a Moroccan marketplace, a Polynesian village, an army camp of no discernible time or place, and a stage that looks ominously like a sacrificial altar.
"We wanted a lush environment with a time that's undefinable," producer Eric Gruendemann says. "We try to pollinate our world with every imaginable and available type of person. We wanted to see if we could invent our own world."
They have clearly succeeded. In the Moroccan set, for instance, the props include a modern hibachi that sits beside an ancient urn. The village streets are prowled by an impressively woolly cast of pierced and hirsute extras who appear to have been reunited from a Bronze Age Woodstock.
In the meantime, up in the middle of town, two prop shops churn out scimitars and sea monsters as fast as the writers can conjure them. And near the docks, behind the unassuming doors of the historic Auckland Municipal Markets building, where produce was once auctioned, the shows' cavernous costume department creates as many as 70 original costumes each week. The art directors, costumers, and prop folks working in these quarters have created an aesthetic texture so distinctive that the shows' art direction has earned praise from Artfo-rum, the glossy bible of the visual world.
On a typical day, costume designer Ngila Dickson sits in her industrial-loft-size shop, surrounded by seamstresses at work. This afternoon, Dickson, the costume designer for the acclaimed 1995 New Zealand film "Heavenly Creatures," wears a black dress and black stockings. Her hair is black, her skin is white, and her lipstick is the color of the fake blood in a Roger Corman film.
"We always try to have a theme," Dickson says of the costumes she concocts for whatever armies have been written into the scripts. "You have to have some focus: 'Let's make them Neo-Ninja Nazis this week, shall we?' And away we go." As she speaks, Dickson's fingers idly stroke a rubber battle helmet she's just invented out of a mold made from a pineapple.
And what's planned for the Xena episode on which her staff is frantically working? "It's basically two armies and some priests. It's a bloodbath. Haven't done one of those in a while." Dickson's lips curl into a crimson smile.
On the floor above, art director Rob Gillies goes about his business of decorating this timeless universe. He considers a rough sketch he'd drawn a couple of days before. A Hercules script had called for a land yacht. So Gillies thought up a sort of three-wheeled scooter with a huge sail on its back and sent the drawing over to the prop shop—where, three days later, the full-size yacht is wheeled out of the garage by a half-dozen 20-somethings who have worked overtime to get the thing built.
"It'll go 70 kilometers per," says 26-year-old sculptor Chris Fitzpatrick, a member of the prop shop's crew, as he admires the saber-toothed tiger skull he's mounted on the prow of the craft, just in front of a crossbow-style slingshot. A tour of Fitzpatrick's garage reveals a macabre den, indeed. There's an entire room devoted to swords, on shelves arranged by category: Reptilian, Bony, Mystical.
"Skulls are kind of good," he says with a disturbingly straight face. The chances of the television audience taking note of this meticulous attention to detail are minimal, but to the New Zealanders involved in the production of both shows, this doesn't matter They're clearly excited to be part of the project, both behind and in front of the camera. New Zealand's best-known Shakespearean actor, Michael Hurst, who plays Hercules' sidekick, Iolaus. bristles at suggestions that he's slumming on the Hercules set.
"A guy said to me, 'What is a Shakespearean actor doing in a show like this?' I just went, 'Excuse me? I get to do these amazing fights. I get to play love scenes. I get to play comedy. I get to play great scenes of comradeship and friendship. Does that sound like Shakespeare to you?'
"Of course," he concedes, "it is a little different." Well, a little. The Herc episode in which Iolaus gets to share a hot tub with Xena comes to mind.
We are in the business of selling beautiful images," Lawless says one day over lunch on the Xena set, months before her Tonight Show accident. She's shed the breastplates but is still packed into the leather costume. Lawless's neon-blue eyes are her most striking physical attribute, although the bustier and short skirt are clearly designed to accentuate some of her others.
"I feel that the show should be, at the most. 15 percent style, 5 percent eye candy, and 80 percent content," she says.
This is not to suggest the native New Zealander doesn't enjoy the attention she's getting for her fairly formidable physical presence. Nonetheless, it's the role's dramatic arc that intrigues Lawless. "For my money, [it's] the best part for a woman in 30 years of television."
In particular. Lawless relishes the more complicated and ambiguous shades of personality that the writers intentionally visit on Xena. Tapert readily admits that the writers for Lawless's show try to balance every comedic episode with a dramatic one, while Hercules has tended to offer far lighter and more predictable action fare.
Sorbo is eager to see the formula change.
"I'd like to see more growth in Hercules," he says one day over lunch on the Hercules set. Out of character, Sorbo, a native of Minnesota, is a mild-mannered sort with a self-deprecating sense of humor. "I'd like to see more dealing with his own personal life. I think there has to be some romantic interest. Make the stakes bigger in the show. I'm beginning to find repetition; I want to be challenged. As an actor I want to make myself better. Give me a chance to grow. I think there needs to be a bigger story. What's his view? What's his agenda?"
Sorbo's concerns, Tapert says, will soon be addressed, although the producers are limited in how much they can tinker with the formula. The merchandising machine won't tolerate too much of a slackening of Hercules' godliness, for one thing. For another, there's the demographic to consider. When they developed the show, Raimi and Tapert were aiming at a teenage audience. They hadn't anticipated Herc's popularity with the preadolescent set.
"We've had him sleep with a woman once, and I got so many letters from parents who'd thought I'd violated something," Tapert says. "It's hard not to pay attention to the parents who trust we aren't going to turn him into someone promiscuous.
"But I am going to shake up the formula for Hercules for January and February. We're going to do a big romantic arc with Hercules that will air in February. And we're going to play with his godlike powers."
Diehard aficionados need not fear. There will be no toying with the staples of success: This season's Hercules premiere featured Sorbo vanquishing a couple of giant sandworms, and in Xena's impressively gory opener, Lawless slayed a minotaur using a giant arrow, straight to the chest.
As the saying goes, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Especially if it's wearing bronze breastplates.
XENA'S OH-SO-MORTAL ADVENTURE
In a mythic universe, Xena is quite indestructible. It's only the hazards of modern times, in this case, filming a skit in The Tonight Show's parking lot, that give her trouble. The script called for Lucy Lawless to arrive on horseback. She was on her third take when the horse's hooves slipped, landing her in the hospital with multiple fractures of her pelvic bone.
"It was like someone pulled the tablecloth out. It all happened so quickly," Lawless said from her Burbank hospital room soon after the October 8 accident. "I knew that I couldn't move my legs. I was lying there in a fetal position. The next thing I knew, Jay Leno's face flopped into frame, which made me laugh." Lawless has since been inundated with flowers and calls from Leno and various industry types, but has kept all at bay.
"I haven't been keen to have visitors," she said. "I'm sitting here with my hair in a big, ridiculously tangled knot. I have tubes in my arms. The nurse rotates me every two hours. It's not a very good image for a warrior princess to be seen in a wheelchair sitting on the balcony watching the cars go by." |
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Contra Costa NewspaperNovember 17, 1996
The Xena-Philes: TV’s Warrior Princess draws a mighty following
The calls kept coming. With each successive one, the caller would try to disguise his voice. But Karen Provenza was on to this trick. No matter how hard he tried to lie and weasel, he wasn’t getting any more Xena posters.
Provenza, of KOFY Channel 20, the WB network affiliate in the Bay Area, says that the fantasy show "Xena: Warrior Princess" is out of control. The station gets calls all the time. Before Halloween, three or four people would call a day just asking how to make a Xena costume. But by far the biggest indicator came at the annual Gay Freedom Day parade.
"We had a cardboard stand-up of Xena," Provenza says. "People were trying to steal it. They wanted to buy it. We had to protect it like you wouldn’t believe."
"Xena" Warrior Princess" is the highest-rated show on KOFY. It has had similar success around the country, where it appears on roughly 200 stations and is seen in 99 percent of the country, rare for independent programming.
The show is only in its second year but has been extended through 1998 and licensed to 15 foreign countries. The series and its star, Lucy Lawless, have been featured in People, Entertainment Weekly, TV Guide and "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno."
"Xena: Warrior Princess" may ultimately be hurt by the Leno stint because Lawless fractured her pelvis while taping a stunt in the parking lot. Lawless may have to cut back on her stunts or skip some episodes, says Rob Tapert, executives producer of the series.
But at this point it would be hard to stop the cult of Xena.
She’s got her own web site. She has countless Internet news groups bowing at her feet. Her rabid fan base resembles the much bigger "Start Trek" juggernaut and that of "The X-Files", which is a network show.
"It’s just phenomenal," Provenza says. "It’s straight men. Gay men. Women. Children. Everybody loves Xena. It’s crazy.
I’ve worked here eight years and I’ve never seen a reaction like this."
Nobody predicted this. The character who should have captured the imagination of people everywhere was a familiar muscleman. "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys" was the show that was supposed to fill a vacant niche on television – fantasy hero.
It is also the show that spawned Xena. She first appeared as a vicious warrior hell-bent on destroying Hercules. But an act of kindness made her see the error of her ways and now she's a do-gooder. She's assisted by her sprightly young protégé, Gabrielle. And she gets the job done by being an acrobatic phenom, a martial arts killer and one highly skilled at using weapons.
Hercules can’t measure up, mostly because he can’t do the Hong Kong-style action sequences. Xena had a fling with Hercules. He should count his blessing and cling to that, since he’s been left behind as a pop icon.
Call any toy store and you can have your choice of three or so Hercules dolls. Ask for Xena and all you’ll get are laughs.
Toy stores say it is one of the most sought-after action figures going. You can’t find them on the shelves anywhere.
"People want to buy stuff from the show, but all you can buy is the doll, and you can’t find it," Provenza says. "That doll is going out the back door of stores."
"Xena: Warrior Princess" is set in the mythical "Golden Age," well before Greece or Rome. In the words of the show itself:
"Surrounded by enemies, barbaric tribes, slave traders and a host of other evils, Xena is on a mission to help people free
themselves from tyranny and injustice."
Does that sound like a recipe for success? Not exactly. But add this: Lucy Lawless is a babe, the show is kitschy enough to be cool, it uses contemporary dialogue and the producers have cleverly tapped into a variety of elements that have attracted a diverse crowd.
"I think there’s a whole slew of things," says Tapert, co-creator of both "Xena" and "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys."
He joined Sam Raimi ("Darkman," "The Evil Dead" movies) in filling a void they saw on television.
"I think (Xena’s popularity) has something to do with the fact there hasn’t been a woman superhero on TV like this. It’s found a niche," Tapert says. "Lucy brings a lot to that role."
But Tapert says the main reasons behind the success of "Xena" are easy to spot. "I like two things, playing with the relationship between the two leads, from comedy to drama to casting doubts in the audience’s minds, and the action." |
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Satellite TV EuropeNovember 1996
Xena Warrior Princess: She's the most provocative and militant female superhero ever to burst onto our screens. Xena: Warrior Princess, aka Lucy Lawless was very revealing about herself on and off-screen during a recent trip to London
Xena: Warrior Princess has got to be one of Sky 2's best programme acquisitions to date. From the makers of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (who also produced cult horror movie The Evil Dead), Xena combines three ingredients which make great viewing: mythology; martial arts; and a heroine to drool over in the form of body beautiful Lawless.
Almost six feet tall with black hair and blue eyes the 28-year-old who turned down tampon commercials and a safe wage packet in return for pursuing her dream of becoming an actress, finally struck gold when she appeared in just three episodes of the action series Hercules. American audiences were captivated by her lusciousness and so were the programme producers.
So much so that they decided to take a chance on a complete unknown and give Lucy her own show. "Xena is a sliver of me: she's woven out of threads of my personality. She's kind of a dark mean chick and there's a dark mean chick in all of us," reveals a softly spoken Lucy during her visit to London. Unfazed by her new found stardom and simply clad in jeans and a sweater, Lucy insists: "All the hype and publicity about me is great because it works well for the show - it's a good image to push but I don't take it personally. It has nothing to do with real life." But the reality is a smashing success story for Lucy - Xena: Warrior Princess is a huge hit in America where it has even beaten Baywatch in the ratings - proving that sex and sorcery can outdo sex and beaches' Lucy admits: "Men are intimidated by my looks and that definitely works in my favour because nobody hustles me. In fact people are bloody nice to me." The New Zealand born actress, who could easily have been a super model, is certainly more then just a good looker. At just 18 Lucy decided to seek adventure and left her home town of Auckland for a jaunt round Europe.
She says: "I had this romantic idea about going off to pick grapes, but I never actually picked a single grape. I spent my time smoking loads of cigarettes and running around being a tragic, penniless silly teenager until I became a wife." Lucy married her child-hood sweetheart Garth back in NZ, and at age 20 gave birth to their daughter Daisy who is now 8. She exclusively reveals: "Garth and I have recently separated and I'm waiting for the divorce to come through - it's going to take some time. It was a natural break up - I should have realised it was over a long time ago."
Now a single mum, Lucy, who comes from a large Irish-Catholic family (she's the fifth of five brothers and a sister), explains: "I work a 16 hour day and I train three times a week when we're filming Xena so Daisy is with her dad Mondays to Thursdays and with me at the weekends. I think it's the best for her under the circumstances."
Although a tough cookie on and off screen, Lucy has a stunt woman and an acrobatics double to do all the action scenes in Xena which are simply too dangerous for her to perform. But that doesn't mean she doesn't get injured during filming. A huge black bruise on her arm tells a tale. "I get hurt all the time - it's par for the course. I've had a black eye and whip lash but the moments that you live for as an actor are when the camera is rolling: you don't feel the cold, the sting of the punches, there's no pain. It's an amazing adrenaline rush."
So, is fame and success, not to mention the fortune, all that she expected? "Yes, but it's a little less scary than I thought. It's nothing you can't handle so long as you don't believe your own press." Nice one, Lucy!
Xena: Warrior Princess is on Sky 2 every Sunday at 19.00
ABOUT XENA: DID YOU KNOW?
A one minute fight sequence in Xena takes four hours to film
Xena is filmed on location in Auckland, NZ
Naturally fair-skinned Lucy wears a paint-on tan for the part of Xena
One episode of Xena costs $950,000 to produce
Lucy may look like she could give Pam Anderson a run for her money in the boobs department, but all is not what it seems! She reveals: "The buxom thing is a product of a lot of people's work in the costume department!"
Robert Tapert is Executive Producer of Xena: Warrior Princess. He has also directed episodes of the show. He says... "I always wanted to produce a woman super hero show, and I knew there had to be a different spin on programmes like The Bionic Woman and Wonder Woman. So we tried out some crazy actions - what I call Hong Kong movie style action scenes - and got a result. We put those action scenes in the first three episodes of Xena and saw that there was a chance of creating a woman super hero who would be interesting and different without white washing the character. Xena has worked well because she's an interesting character, complex and conflicted. We throw her into many moral dilemmas without pandering to the audience, i.e. each episode hasn't got a happy ending. We didn't know Lucy when we started the production for Xena - so we threw her in at the deep end to test her ability, 26 episodes later we now know that we can create any scene on script and Lucy will deliver it back on film better than we ever imagined." |
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Sydney Morning HeraldDecember 2, 1996
Buxom biff artist
YOUNG fans of Hercules (and they are legion) will be delighted with this spin-off, but parents of those fans may be less than enthralled.
Xena, warrior princess, is a hugely buxom person, a kind of female pastiche of Power Ranger, Ninja Turtle, Bruce Lee and Captain Planet, except she ululates fearsomely while shredding the foe and, gosh, aren't there a lot of them? Xena was allegedly once "a provocative and militant villainess bent on destruction", but has now morphed into "a heroine on a mission committed to fighting for good and helping mankind".
This impressive wench (clad rather scantily in some kind of S&M leather harness thingie that creates a Wonderbra effect, hugely enhanced by metal whorlie bits around each breast) apparently captivated American audiences with her portrayal of the character in three episodes of Hercules.
Xena is produced by the same team that delivered Hercules and it uses the same format - high-action martial arts, amazing special effects and a kind of moron's mythology.
New Zealand actress Lucy Lawless stars as Xena, dedicated to fighting the evil warlord Draco and these 22 upcoming episodes were filmed in New Zealand (which the production notes, incidentally, refer to as "the distant frontier of known civilisation".)
The series is leavened by humour and I rather enjoyed Xena's comrade, Gabrielle, who recklessly follows Xena in search of excitement, using her sharp tongue to avoid conflict - unlike Xena who disembowels first and asks questions later.
Xena film-makers Rob Tapert and Sam Raimi are keenly aware of the unfortunate attraction of such lethal fighting skills as the two-fingered pinch to neck pressure points; the headlock using knees; the throat punch combined maniacal headbutt and, of course, the chakram throw where a razor-sharp, discus-like weapon neatly removed one's head. |
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Cult TimesDecember 1996
I Fought The Lawless
Lucy Xena Lawless reveals the way of the Warrior Princess
Lucy Lawless had her first brush with Universal's new take on Greek mythology with a part in 'Hercules: The Legendary Journeys', playing Lyla in the episode 'As Darkness Falls'. Little did she know that only one episode
later, she would make her debut as the 'Warrior Princess', a character that proved popular enough to be the focus of a sister series, 'Xena'.
Q: How did you get the part of Xena in Hercules?
A: It was a huge and extremely happy, felicitous accident. The girl who was cast as Xena in the episode of Hecules got sick, and the producers said, 'Oh no, what are we going to do? Why don't we just use Lucy Lawless, she was in
the last episode, we think she can do it, she's on the spot..' And the studio said 'Are you out of your minds? We've just used her, and here's a list of five other actresses; we want you to track one of them down and bung
them the role.' And one after another turned it down. And happily enough for me, they managed to find me on some incommunicado camping trip around New Zealand... And two days later I was on the plane, dying my hair and acting the part.
Q: How would you describe Xena?
A: She's dysfunctional... She's a woman with a devil on her shoulder, so you must watch because you don't know which way she's going to jump. I try to make sure I keep a lid on the character, so the audience doens't know too
much about her, and she maintains a mystique.
Q: Do you train hard to keep fit for the role?
A: I did as much training as we could squeeze in! I did some for a few months, but you do not have to be a great martial artist to do the stunt work, and the best training I had was when we were doing it on the set. The best thing I can do to maintain energy and enthusiasm is to try and have a life outside of it. I used to over-train tremendously to try and make up for a lack of athletic prowess, and it just about killed me. So now I try to snatch at least an hour a week of something unpredictable. It's very easy in my position to go home from work with the same family of people to being completely alone at home, and you can get lost in it. I'm in the curious postition of finding myself a slight misfit outside, thinking 'what, I have to feed myself, are you out of your mind?' When you have people to tie your shoes -literally- if you are not careful you forget your place in the world as a human being.
Q: Have the trappings of fame taken you by surprise then?
A: Completely, and it's only been a year and a half, so imagine what it must be like for those kids in the soaps. They must be screwed for life! I'm not out in the real world, not at all. I don't go to the supermarket any more; somebody does it for me. I employ somebody to do my real-life stuff. I do not know, I'm ashamed to say, how much a pint of milk costs. And I came down with a bump, you know, on holiday in Turkey, where nobody knows who I
am... And I thought, 'Oh my god! This is the normal amount of attention allotted to one individual? Is this it? I'm being ignored!'
Q: It must be very strange to see yourself on huge billboards as a warrior princess...
A: When it came to New Zealand, that was different. I was driving along, and - ugh!... They'd picked these very unflattering photo's, and it did make my jaw drop actually, because in your home town, particularly in New Zealand
and Australia, you have to keep a low profile, as far as your own sense of self-importance goes. It's much more comfortable to do interviews with foreign press than in your home town! I know instinctively how to play the New Zealand game, which is to stay out of it! You try to achieve very quietly, and then they will claim you when you've done it.
Q: You've got an 8-year-old daughter, Dorothy. Does she watch the show?
A: She does. I think she's much more proud and impressed with it than she lets on.. A bit of fame rubs off at school...It's quite a hit with the kids. Initially she was a bit apprehensive about the way the children would
receive it. She didn't want to watch the premiere, and I was puzzled as to why; and after it aired I asked her, 'Did the kids mention Xena at all?' And she said, 'Well yeah, they really liked it actually; they said they liked it just as much as Hercules!' She was very relieved, because she feared that the kids would say it was dumb compared to Hercules. So they didn't, and I liked that, because kids tell the truth.
Q: Has the character evolved very much over the first year and a half, and how would you like to see her develop in the future?
A: It constantly evolves. As new influences come into the writer's life, and to mine, we get more daring and we're all constantly trying twists on some line or in the plot. The writers feel very free now to write whatever the hell they want to. We don't aim to be politically correct, and if certain elements are these days then we'll go and twist that to. So just as the audience gets comfortable with something we turn it around, and that seems to work. You've got to be careful because it's a hero show. The one thing with Xena is that she may not be thick at any time, she may not be stupid. She can be wrong, which is unusual in a heroine's part. I like to play that, it's really uncomfortable because you feel like you're losing your grip on this whole hero thing. If you think, well the audience might not like that, well
then you're dead. In this series, you're dead. You pander to your audience and they won't thank you for it.
Q: Is there any sense of competitiveness between the two shows?
A: Not really, because that's the big brother show. As long as we're both up there, as long as we're both vying for the top positions, we're happy. It's the same family...what's good for them is good for us, and vice versa.
Q: What are your ambitions for furture roles, after Xena?
A: The closest thing I have to mentors would be Susan Sarandon and Helen Mirren, who are sensual and fiercely intelligent, and bloody good at their jobs... But I would like to play somebody intellectually challenged, or just
somebody slightly thick, that would be fun. But I intend to be in this for a long time. It's so challenging, I do
absolute farce, very intense drama, action...There are few women in America who can do action, and I am also stretched in every other direction: as an actress pure and simple, it's versatile, and the action part was a big
surprise to me. I'm a very lucky woman to have this role.
Five Fab Facts:
* 'Xena' and 'Hercules' were created by Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert, perhaps better known for a wealth of horror films including 'Darkman' and the 'Evil Dead' series.
* Another connection with the 'Evil Dead' is Bruce Campbell, star of the films and now a recurring guest star in both 'Xena' and 'Hercules' as Autolycus, the King of Thieves.
* The producers of the shows aren't resting on their laurels with just two hit series. They have plans not only for an animated version of Hercules, but also a 'Young Hercules' feature film.
* Lucy's co-star in 'Xena', Renee O'Connor (who plays Gabrielle), also had a role in the 'big brother' show. She played Deianeira in the feature-lenght 'Hercules and the Lost Kingdom'.
* Future episodes of 'Xena' include one where Lucy plays three characters - the Warrior, the Princess and the Tramp - and a Halloween special featuring Xena and Gabrielle dressed as Bacchae, which is apparently packed with
'sexual energy.' |
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Who Weekly (Australia)
December 16, 1996
Xena-File: New Zealander Lucy Lawless conquers dastardly foes -
and American audiences - as Xena: Warrior PrincessLucy Lawless had a vision of just how Hercules's gal pal should be: dark, dangerous, riding wild unicorns, running with gods. Doing battle with gladiators fit the bill; stepping on rat poop in a sewer pipe did not. And yet, there she was last year, in a makeshift subterranean tunnel, sludging through the stinking mess in her assault on some evil king's castle. "There were so many droppings on the ground, I was slipping," says the 28 year-old New Zealand native, "and then they dumped all these rats on me that were biting and scratching, getting caught in my hair. It was so vile. I had to get a tetanus shot."
Happily, her superhero health insurance was paid in full. As the star of the new Network Ten series, Xena: Warrior Princess - a spinoff of Ten's Hercules: The Legendary Journeys - Lawless has attracted a devoted following of sword-and-sorcery fans. Still, Xena is a strange job for a single mom like Lawless. When it's not raining rats on her, there is always a motley mix of villains waiting to pounce. "This is the most physically demanding show for any woman on television," says Eric Gruendemann, producer of Xena and Hercules, both of which are shot in New Zealand to keep costs down. "With that much stunt fighting, you're going to get hit."
The 1.78m actress from Down Under can hold her own - and says she enjoys mixing it up. "A little while ago, while fighting a rebel leader, I collected a beauty, a true black eye," she proudly reports. "The makeup department took a Polaroid in case they ever need to replicate a shiner."
There was a time Lawless had a more genteel vision of show-business success. The fifth of seven children in a close-knit Catholic family, she was raised on equal parts of rugby and religion by her parents - Frank Ryan, 64, a former mayor of Mount Albert, the suburb of Auckland where Lucy grew up, and Julie, 59, a homemaker. But what she loved best was theatrics. "She used to get up on the coffee table with a seashell for a microphone and sing away," says Julie. Growing up, the family ham performed in class plays and trained in opera. In 1986 she enrolled in Auckland University to study languages and opera, but a year later she gave up on school - and singing. "I didn't have the passion," she says.
What she did have a passion for was adventure. At 18, Lawless took off for Europe, traveling through Germany and Switzerland, sleeping where she could. "I lived on coffee and cigarettes until I was skeletal," she says. After her high school sweetheart Garth Lawless joined her, they went to Greece, then to the outback of Australia, taking odd jobs along the way. While in Kalgoorlie in 1987, Lawless discovered she was pregnant. The couple obtained a quickie marriage, then moved back home to a tiny apartment surrounded, she says, "by mad old ladies with cats that drove me insane."
Garth managed a bar, and after Daisy, now 7, was born, Lucy took acting classes. Within a few years, her flair for drama had turned into a career. In 1994 she was cast in a one-episode role as a renegade Amazon lieutenant in Hercules. Her second appearance, as a villainess who seduces Hercules, might have been her last, but an American actress cast for a three-part role as Xena fell sick at the last minute. Says Gruendemann: "We needed someone fast." Within a week, Lawless's ash-blonde hair had been dyed black and cameras were rolling. Three episodes later she'd charmed her colleagues and high-kicked her way into her own series. Says Hercules star Kevin Sorbo: "Lucy is Xena."
Since the breakup of her marriage last June, she is also single. "Garth and I just got married too young," says Lawless. For the past six months she has been dating "a wonderful man," she says, but her top priority is her daughter. During the week, while Lawless works and trains, Daisy lives with her father; on weekends she stays with Lawless in her simple, four-bedroom home in Mount Albert. "It's relentless challenges," says Lawless of life as a superhero-mom. "I would not mind if Daisy wanted nothing to do with acting," she adds, laughing. "But I'm afraid there's a lot of me in her." |
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TV Guide (Canada)14-20 December, 1996
A sexy new brand of superhero comes to life in the lush wilds of New Zealand
In a hilly park bathed in buttery New Zealand sunlight, two women, deep in conversation, stroll up a path, tracked by a boom mike and a camera-mounted crane. One is red-haired and diminutive, clothed in a tunic. The other is shapely and dressed like a walking tack shop: leather wrist thongs, leather bicep gauntlets, leather knee pads, leather miniskirt, and a leather bustier embellished by breastplates. Suddenly a man bent over a tape recorder starts to fiddle with his headphones. "Cut!" calls the director, turns to the sound man. "Are you getting it?"
"Yeah," says the sound man. "But I've got a little squeaking on Lucy's costume." Where upon Lucy Lawless's expression goes from stern blue-eyed warrior to smiling show girl, and the sound man reaches gingerly to adjust the offending piece of metal on Xena's leather bustier.
"There's a reason she has metal breastplates," says Renee O'Connor - Xena's sidekick, Gabrielle, on the show "but I don't know what it is."
The truth is, if Xena's squeaking breastplates don't make a lot of practical sense, they're a perfect fit in a world where a goddess windsurfing on a giant clamshell can utter the word "tubular," or Hercules (Kevin Sorbo) can buy a falafel sandwich at the world's first fastfood outlet located on a forest path.
Part "Road Warrior," part "7th Voyage of Sinbad" with a nod to director Terry Gilliam and a leering wink at Hugh Hefner the on-screen world of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess is a place where the whimsy is as important as the warring. And not surprisingly, the scene behind-the-scenes in New Zealand reveals a fanciful production world that's delightfully lacking in TV-industry convention, and long on spontaneity and improvisation. Casts and crews are stocked with locals from New Zealand's burgeoning film industry and every suggestion, no matter how off-the-wall, can befodder for either show.
"We hop around from century to century; we do whatever we want," Sorbo says between takes one day on a Mediterranean village set. "There are no rules. We make fun of ourselves... I think people are tired of reality. I mean, ER is great, but I think you want an escape. [And] this thing has some sort of formula nothing on TV has right now." In fact Hercules and Xena, in their third and Id second years respectively, have climbed z up the U.S. syndicated ratings to regularly challenge Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the action drama king.
But where DS9 had three decades of tradition on which to build an audience, Xena and Herc have turned the formulas upside down, starting with the handful of made-for-TV syndicated " Hercules " movies that Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert - the creative team behind "Darkman" and "Army of Darkness" produced in 1994. Their success led to the syndicated series.
Now, action figures and comic books are being spun off, and at the end of last season, 44 more episodes of each show were ordered. But neither show is resting on its laurels. After a messy shuffling of Hercules' writing staff last spring, prompted by a feud between Sorbo and former head writer John Schulian, Hercules' on-screen demeanor is becoming a little less heroic, according to executive producer Tapert.
Tapert aims to dethrone DS9 once and for all by gradually adding a more dramatic, darker and mortal dimension to Sorbo's character this season. Xena has already been proven mortal or at the least the woman who plays her has. Lawless's spill off a horse during a stunt for The Tonight Show in October resulted in multiple fractures in her pelvis.
But with many of this year's shows already shot and Lawless recovering, there will be no Xena without Xena.
Welcome to the microworld of Hercules and Xena, an operation scattered all over the environs in and around Auckland, New Zealand chosen for both its distinctive landscape and low production costs. Depending on what the day's script calls for, filming will span from the beaches to the lush parks of the green-filled city itself. But most of the filming takes place on a 70-acre tract of overgrown vineyard just to the south. From the nearest paved road, the lot is a sprawl of brush and trees. But just a half mile down a winding dirt road into the vineyard, a visitor suddenly discovers a medieval castle, a Moroccan marketplace, a Polynesian village, an army camp of no discernable time or place and a stage that looks ominously like a sacrificial altar.
"We wanted a lush environment with a time that's indefinable," producer Eric Gruendemann says. "We wanted to see if we could invent our own world." They have clearly succeeded. In the Moroccan set, for instance, the props include a modern hibachi that sits beside an ancient urn. The village streets are prowled by a woolly cast of pierced and hairy extras who appear to have been reunited from a Bronze Age Woodstock. In the meantime, back up in the middle of town, two prop shops churn out scimitars and sea monsters as fast as the writers can conjure them. And near the docks, behind the unassuming doors of the historic Auckland Municipal Markets building, the shows' cavernous costume department creates as many as 70 original costumes each week. On a typical day, costume designer Ngila Dickson sits in her industrial-loft-size shop, surrounded by seamstresses at work. "We always try to have a theme."
Dickson says of the costumes she concocts for whatever armies have been written into the scripts. "You have to have some focus: 'Let's make them neo-ninja Nazis this week, shall we?' And away we go." As she speaks, Dickson's fingers idly stroke a rubber battle helmet she's just invented out of a mold made from a pineapple. On the floor above, art director Rob Gillies goes about his business of decorating this time less universe. He considers a rough sketch he'd drawn a couple of days before. A Hercules script had called for a land yacht. So Gillies thought up a sort of three-wheeled scooter with a huge sail on its back and sent the drawing over to the prop - where, three days later, the full-size yacht is wheeled out of the garage by a half-dozen twentysomethings who have worked overtime to get the thing built.
"It'll go 70 kilometres per," says 26-year-old sculptor Chris Fitzpatrick, a member of the prop shop's crew, as he admires the sabre-toothed tiger skull he's mounted on the prow of the craft, just in front of a crossbow-style slingshot. A tour of Fitzpatrick's garage reveals a macabre den, indeed. There's an entire room devoted to swords, on shelves arranged by category: Reptilian, Bony, Mystical. "Skulls are kind of good," he says, with a straight face. The Changes of the television audience taking note of this meticulous attention to detail are minimal, but to the New Zealanders involved in the production of both shows, this doesn't matter: They're clearly excited to be part of the project, both behind and in front of the camera. Even New Zealand's best-known and admired Shakespearean actor, Michael Hurst, who plays Hercules' sidekick Iolaus, bristles at suggestions that he's slumming on the Hercules set. "A guy said to me, 'What is a Shakespearean actor doing in a show like this?' I just went, 'Excuse me? I get to do these amazing fights. I get to play love scenes. I get to play come dy, and great scenes of comradeship and friend ship. Does that sound like Shakespeare to you?' Of course," he concedes, "it is a little different."
"We're in the business of selling beautiful images," says Lawless, in defence of her series' format. "I feel that the show should be, at most, 15 per cent style, five per cent eye candy, and 80 per cent content." This is not to suggest the native New Zealander doesn't enjoy the attention she's getting for her fairly It formidable physical presence. Nonetheless, it's the role's dramatic arc that intrigues Lawless. "For my money, it's the best part for a woman in the past 30 years of television."
In particular, Lawless relishes the more complicated and ambiguous shades of personality that the writers intentionally visit on Xena. Tapert readily admits that the writers for Lawless's show purposely try to balance every comedic episode with a dramatic one, while Hercules has tended to offer far lighter and more predictable action fare. Sorbo is eager to see the Hercules formula change. "I'd like to see more growth in Hercules," he says one day over lunch on the set. Out of character, Sorbo, a native of Minnesota, is a mild mannered sort with a self deprecating sense of humor. "I'd like to see more dealing with his own personal life," he says. "I think there has to be some romantic interest. Make the stakes bigger on the show. I'm beginning to find repetition; I want to be challenged. I think there needs to be a bigger story. What's his view? What's his agenda?"
Sorbo's concerns, Tapert says, will soon be addressed, although the producers are limited in how much they can tinker with the formula. The merchandising machine won't tolerate too much of a slackening of Hercules' godliness, for one thing. For another, there's the demographic to consider. When they developed the show, Raimi and Tapert were aiming at a teenage audience. They had not anticipated Herc's growing popularity with the preadolescent set.
"We had him sleep with a woman once and I got so many letters from parents who thought I'd violated something," Tapert says. "It's hard not to pay attention to the parents who trust we aren't going to turn him into someone promiscuous. But I am going to shake up the formula for Hercules in January and February. We're going to do a big romantic arc with Hercules in February. And we're going to play with his powers." Diehard aficionados need not fear. There will be no toying with the staples of success. As the saying goes, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Especially if it's wearing bronze breastplates. |
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PR Newswire
May 5, 1995
MCA TV SET TO LAUNCH 'XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS,' NEW ACTION HOUR SPIN-OFF OF 'HERCULES: THE LEGENDARY JOURNEYS' THIS FALL Spin-Off Series Star Lucy Lawless Guest Stars as Xena in
Currently Airing Episodes of `Hercules' (w/o May 1 and May 8)
LOS ANGELES, May 5 /PRNewswire/ -- MCA TV will follow up the huge success of "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys," this year's most highly rated new syndicated hour, with "Xena: Warrior Princess," another action hour from critically acclaimed filmmakers Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert. Set to premiere in national syndication this September, the new series is a spin-off of "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys" and stars New Zealand actress Lucy Lawless, who is guest starring as Xena in currently airing episodes of "Hercules" (weeks of May 1 and May 8).
Designed to deliver the successful combination of non-stop action and humor that has made "Hercules" the breakout hit of the season in syndication, "Xena" will feature dazzling sequences of martial arts and acrobatics with both comical characters and the ultimate female hero, Xena.
Xena first appeared in a March episode of "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys" as the half-man, half-god's most formidable female foe. Lawless drew an incredible audience response for her portrayal of the character, with her "Hercules" episode scoring a 6.3 (GAA%) rating, over-achieving the series 6.2 season to date average. The warrior princess was initially presented as a provocative but militant force bent on destruction. In the currently airing episodes, however, an enlightened Xena emerges who is committed to mending her wicked ways and dedicating herself to helping mankind.
The new Xena is like a "soul mate" to Hercules. While she may not be half-god, she is definitely all hero. Pursued by the evil warlord Khan the Great, she travels from town to town, and battle to battle, and invariably finds herself caught between the innocent and the forces of darkness. Her band of self-invited comrades includes Gabrielle, antiquity's version of a teenage runaway who recklessly follows the warrior princess in search of a more exciting life, and Pan, an acrobatic gymnast of the forest.
"Hercules: The Legendary Journeys" resumed production in New Zealand this month for its return in the fall. "Xena: Warrior Princess," which will air as its companion series, is set to begin production of 22 episodes in June, also on location in New Zealand. "Xena: Warrior Princess" will be produced by Renaissance Pictures and distributed exclusively in national syndication by MCA TV. |
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Broadcasting & CableMay 8, 1995
MCA TV has decided to replace the television drama 'Vanishing Son' with a new superhero show called 'Xena: Warrior Princess.' 'Xena' will air after 'Hercules,' which skews toward a younger demographic than 'Vanishing Son.' Stations said that the lead-in provided by 'Hercules' would be likely to provide an audience for 'Xena,' which is a spin-off from 'Hercules.' 'Vanishing Son' will be offered to cable and broadcast networks.
'Vanishing Son' will disappear to make way for spin-off series
MCA TV is set to begin production on a syndicated action hour spin-off of its hit Hercules series that, on Sept. 4, will replace Hercules' companion action hour, Vanishing Son.
Xena: Warrior Princess will be produced by Hercules: The Legendary Journeys producers Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert and seeks to deliver the high-action, highproduction value elements that have made Hercules the most successful new action hour of the 1994-95 season. The show has averaged a 6.2 Nielsen household gross average audience rating since launching in January and already has been renewed for fall.
Most stations currently air in tandem the campy Hercules superhero saga and serious Chinese-American-themed drama Vanishing Son, which has earned strong though lower ratings. However, Xena is thought by MCA officials to be a more compatible complement to Hercules.
"This is a highly unusual situation where we are replacing a hit show," says MCA TV President Shelly Schwab. "In many markets, Hercules is the lead-in to Vanishing Son, and it became obvious that the two shows appeal to different audiences and that people watching Hercules didn't stay for Vanishing Son, which was more of an adult show. Stations said we were not taking advantage of that huge lead-in."
A total of 22 episodes of Xena will be produced by Renaissance Pictures in New Zealand beginning in June. Title character Xena appeared in Hercules as the superhero's nemesis, but the new show will see her mend her wicked ways and dedicate herself to helping mankind. New Zealand actress Lucy Lawless will reprise the role of Xena, which she originated in three episodes of Hercules.
MCA said that Vanishing Son, which has earned a solid 4.5 Nielsen household gross average audience since launching in January, is being shopped to cable and broadcast networks for a possible run there.
Although some industry sources were surprised that MCA TV would risk killing off a successful show like Vanishing Son in favor of a new show, others were not. One station representative executive said that with 13 one-hour episodes of the show to have been produced by fall and 4 two-hour Vanishing Son movies produced last season when the series was part of MCA TV's Action Pack wheel of first-run syndicated movies, the syndicator already may have enough hours to sell to a cable network, even if the show is not picked up for further production.
"I think replacing Vanishing Son with Xena makes a lot of sense." says Blair Television Director of Programing Lou Dennig. "They could well have more success with a mythic show than with Vanishing Son." |
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CinescapeJune/July 1995
Xena Warrior Princess
"She's a block-bustin' ball-buster, baby. she follows his path to righteousness." She gets her own show! Why? I'll tell you Before turning to good deeds, Xena why: because she's an interesting character had spent her life burning, looting and
and we got a great audience response to her. The people at Universal said, 'They love her so much, you guys should give her her own show.' That's what happened."
So proclaims Sam Raimi of the syndicated Hercules spin-off, Xena Warrior Princess, which debuts this fall on various indepenedent stations. Considering that Hercules is the third most popular syndicated drama (following Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Baywatch) it clearly seems to be a viable idea.
"I think she's an interesting character because she really has an evil history,' says Raimi. "She's a great warrior, skilled in martial arts and ancient fighting techniques long lost. But as our series begins, she has changed. She has decided to forgo evil forever to take up the fight for good. She's been so influenced by Hercules, her mentor, that she follows his path to righteousness."
Before turning to good deeds, Xena had spent her life burning, looting and stealing from the villages around where she grew up.
"Having developed a conscience," Raimi explains, "she's now returning to these places and trying to make up for the sins of her past. So she has a very exciting history to her, she's not cheered, she's hated. And she's on a journey of redemption. She's learning what it means to be good, about the types of sacrifices it takes to be a hero. So I think she's a richer character in that she's got a much larger journey than superheroes like Hercules who are born good, are good and always will be good. As such, I think she's a role model for women and men." |
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Broadcasting & CableAugust 21, 1995
MCA muscles in on action hours; on strength of 'Hercules,' producers add 'Xena.'
MCA TV hopes to capitalize on the success of the action show 'Hercules: The Legendary Journeys' with 'Xena: Warrior Princess.' The shows are the work of Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert, the team responsible for the movies 'Darkman' and 'Hard Target,' among others. Raimi and Tapert are also producing the suspense western 'American Gothic.' The popularity of 'Hercules' is attributed to star Kevin Sorbo's ability to mix humor and heroism, as well as Raimi and Tapert's theatrical flair.
On strength of 'Hercules,' producers add 'Xena'
When MCA TV in 1994 launched its Action Pack syndicated package of telemovies (featuring five different recurring movies by feature film producers and directors), Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert's Hercules: The Legendary Journeys was deemed by many the runt of the litter.
"Few people paid much attention to it or gave it much chance for success compared [with] the other projects," says MCA TV President Shelly Schwab. A 6.0 Nielsen gross average audience household rating after the five Hercules movies aired made it clear, however, that the superhero might pack a punch after all.
And so it has. Since January, when MCA launched Hercules as a weekly syndicated show, it has risen to rate consistently among the top three syndicated action hours.
"It surprises a lot of people, but it doesn't surprise me and a lot of people at MCA," says Schwab. "We felt good about it because we knew the people who would do it, Sam and Robert, have such a strong track record and had such passion behind it that it had a shot."
Now Tapert and Raimi, whose feature film credits include "Darkman" and Jean-Claude van Damme thrillers "Time Cop" and "Hard Target," are expanding their small-screen ambitions.
For fall they are producing syndicated Hercules spin-off Xena: Warrior Princess and CBS suspense thriller American Gothic, which deals with an evil sheriff who terrorizes a small town. All three projects are being distributed by MCA Television Group, with which Raimi and Tapert's Renaissance Pictures has a production deal.
With the syndication and network markets littered with the cancellations of action hour projects, Tapert says it is the pair's theatrical approach to the action and suspense elements in their shows that sets them apart.
"I think we bring a greater and wilder action than normal," he says. "Hercules is a big barroom brawl on a massive scale, while Xena's action will be more a Hong Kong style of acrobatics, martial arts and weaponry."
They also give credit to "Hercules" himself, Kevin Sorbo, who they say strikes an appealing balance between camp and a strong image that makes an impression on adults, teens and kids.
Tapert says Raimi, who directed "Darkman" and "Army of Darkness," has met extensively with the directors of Hercules and Xena to infuse them with his trademark kinetic camerawork and suspenseful editing.
American Gothic's signature will be suspense rather than action, he says. "There's not too much violence, because violence is a turnoff," says Tapert. "It's the threat of violence that drives the audience crazy."
However, the opening scene in the American Gothic pilot was an early--and glaring--exception to that game plan. In the scene, a man hits his 16-year-old daughter with a shovel. The evil sheriff (Gary Cole of Midnight Caller) walks up and snaps her neck. An uproar followed release of the tapes to television critics; the scenes eventually were shortened to imply rather than dramatize the blow, and the thud of impact was removed.
Raimi later told the critics that although he understood their concerns, he felt the scene was essential to establishing the amorality of Cole's character. The series, created by former teen heartthrob and Hardy Boys star Shaun Cassidy, is scheduled for Friday at 10 p.m., a low HUT slot but one that will allow the show to face relatively light competition from 20/20 on ABC and Homicide: Life on the Street on NBC. Tapert hopes that AG will garner a crossover lead-out audience from Fox's own quirky show at 9-10 p.m., The X-Files. "We think this will be an accessible version of Twin Peaks," says Universal Television President Tom Thayer. "It has a very fine tonal line and a good premise and a writing staff that can take it in a lot of directions."
Despite their use of visual effects and action, shows like Hercules, concludes Tapert, are no less in need of good writing.
"After looking at all the episodes and which ones have rerun best, we realized the shows that did the best weren't those with the best special effects," says Tapert. "The episodes that rerun the best are the ones with good stories, good villains and some sort of moral and redemption to them. We're trying to create stories that flow out of personality and goals."
Tapert and Raimi find themselves concentrating almost exclusively on television less by design than by fortuity, says Tapert.
"We did something that spun out of something else which spun into something else," he says. "It's not as lucrative as feature films that work, but what I enjoy most about producing television is that in feature films you spend 18 months producing two hours, whereas television is a whole different ballgame."
Commitments to 57 hours of programing for the coming year, 22 episodes each for the syndicated shows and 13 for American Gothic, will keep them busy for the time being, Tapert says. But the pair already is developing another action hour for fall 1996, a pirate saga that would feature their former Renaissance partner, actor Bruce Campbell.
Ironically, Tapert and Raimi nearly swore off action hours just before Hercules and after their experience producing the pilot for Mantis last season for Fox. They left the project after serious creative differences with Fox.
"It was a horrible battle, and eventually we were paid off and left," says Tapert of the groundbreaking project, which featured Carl Lumbly as an African-American superhero. The show repeatedly was tinkered with by Fox, including a reduction of its African-American elements to broaden its audience, but it never gained a ratings foothold and was canceled.
"Fox violated a basic rule of a superhero story," says Tapert in retrospect. "They failed to protect their hero and made him not a hero." |
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Sci-Fi UniverseOctober 1995
Xena Warrior Spin Off
Xena: Warrior Princess follows Hercules into the treacherous ground of first-run syndication this fall
Beginning September 4, fans of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys will have another mythology-based series with a colon in its name to look forward to. Xena: Warrior Princess will follow the exploits of Hercules' most popular villainess-turned-heroine, played by New Zealand actress Lucy Lawless.
Though Xena was introduced as a side character on Hercules, executive producers Robert Tapert and Sam Raimi don't plan on having any future crossover between the two shows. Xena will have her own agenda, consisting primarily of wandering the Earth in hopes of proving she's forsaken her past evil ways. The likeably vicious heroine will be joined on her quest by Gabrielle, a young runaway, and Pan, a character described as "an acrobatic gymnast of the forest."
Fear not, friends, just because Xena is forsaking her evil ways doesn't mean she'll be nice and sweet. Tapert promises the show will have as much action and excitement as its predecessor, Hercules, if not more. In particular, Tapert says Xena's martial arts abilities will allow him and Raimi to play around with the kind of wild action they've come to love in Hong Kong movies.
Xena only appeared on three episodes of Hercules, but the resulting ratings were high enough for the MCA bigwigs to decide to take a chance on the warrior princess. "Xena is a long story, all about ratings and budget," Tapert explains. "What it boils down to is Vanishing Son [a Universal martial arts series], which is a very good show in its own right, was probably not the proper show to follow directly on the heels of Hercules. The studio made a decision that they wanted to move forward with something more compatible. We had done one of the episodes with Xena, so we said, 'Hey, maybe we can do something with this.' "
Xena's series promises to exhibit a similar sense of humor and action to what is seen on Hercules, but her warlike past could lead to her being a tougher nut to crack than her male counterpart. "For Hercules, the world is very straightforward," Tapert says. "He knows that he's doing good in a situation. He goes in, he kicks butt, he kills the monster. Xena's in a slightly different position, because she's been a killer her whole life and now she's trying to get away from it. But she finds out that she constantly has to kill in order to protect all that she now finds decent."
Sure, it sounds ridiculously overbaked. But, as any fan of Hercules will tell you, that's probably a darned good sign. |
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NZ Woman's WeeklyNovember 6, 1995
Look Out Hollywood - Lucy Lawless Is On Her Way To The Top
Kiwi actor Lucy Lawless is a force to be reckoned with. In the United States our home-grown talent is a huge star. Her face stares down from giant advertising billboards all over Los Angeles and every week millions of people tune into her hit TV series Xena: Warrior Princess.
That series is shot in great secrecy in locations all around Auckland, using a largely New Zealand cast and crew, but unfortunately we still don't know when we'll see it here.
Lucy, who is 1.83m tall with long hair dyed black for her new role, describes her formidable TV character Xena as "a woman as strong as any man or woman has ever been, who lives by her wits but is also a fighter. She's a very human hero, who knows all about the darker side of human nature since she must battle it within herself every day".
Xena is set in a golden age of myths. Surrounded by barbaric tribes, slave traders and other evil forces, the warrior princess is on a mission to help people free themselves from tyranny and injustice.
For Aucklander Lucy, taking on the starring role in such a major international series  has meant work, work and more work. During the winter, she travelled to Los Angeles to train with martial arts master Douglas Wong, who taught her basic kung fu moves as well as fighting techniques with swords and staffs. Now back in Auckland, she's working closely with a personal trainer.
With viewers and critics praising her performance in Xena, there's a starry future awaiting Lucy in Hollywood. But, although the former presenter of Air New Zealand Holiday and Stanley's mum from the ASB Bank ads loves overseas adventures, it's highly unlikely she'll ever abandon her native country.
"No matter what happens this will be my home," insists down-to-earth Lucy. "I belong here." |
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Entertainment WeeklyNovember 24, 1995
Lucy Lawless of 'Xena'
TOYS IN BABELAND
Want to make Lucy Lawless mad as Hades? Just ask the star of Xena: Warrior Princess about her soon-to-be-released action figure. "It looks like they put my head on a He-Man's body!" she huffs. "It's got these enormously muscular arms. They could shave a few bloody cubic inches off that dolly!"
Still, the leather-clad Xena is no Barbie - and neither is Lawless (yes, that is her real name). On the phone from her native New Zealand, where Xena is filmed, the six-foot actress sounds like a female Charles Barkley. "I don't want any of this role-model nonsense," declares Lawless, 27, whose show is the highest-rated new syndicated series. "I don't want anyone copying me...don't waste your time." She waxes tough on subjects ranging from her hair dye ("I love being a brunet. People are kind of intimidated") to the show's kung fu-style fight scenes ("I've hit plenty of people on the set, and it's great because stuntmen don't cry").
How'd the blue-eyed Kiwi get such brass? Her far-from-Hollywood upbringing probably has something to do with it. Lawless - who recently separated from her husband and lives in Auckland with her 7-year-old daughter, Daisy - took off at 18 to go "grape picking on the Rhine," then headed for Australia to work in a gold mine. She eventually turned to acting, snagging spots on commercials down under before her breakthrough last year as the archvillainess on Hercules.
Next came the Herculean task of turning the butchering Xena into a spin-offworthy heroine. "We're trying a 12-step program," says executive producer Rob Tapert. The actress, meanwhile, started a physical regimen. Once nicknamed Unco (for uncoordinated), Lawless hired a personal trainer last summer and did a stint in L.A. with a martial-arts master. But perhaps her biggest challenge has been squeezing into her costume: "It makes you crotchety to be trussed up like a chicken," she says. "I think that's why Xena's such a grump." |
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New York Daily NewsNovember 29, 1995
Success on 'Hercules' brings actress Lucy Lawless her own show
Many actors believe you'd have to be blessed by the gods to go from a guest appearance on a hit series to the star of your own spinoff. In Lucy Lawless' case, it was a demigod who made it all happen.
The New Zealand native signed on to do a three-episode arc on the popular syndicated series "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys'' during its first season. Before her stint was over, Lawless was headlining her own actioner, ``Xena: Warrior Princess,'' which airs Saturdays nights.
Lawless first appeared on "Hercules'', which stars Kevin Sorbo as the mythological half-god, half-man good guy, as a feared, evil marauder who flattened everything in her path. Problem was, audiences loved her. So Xena did a quick 180, and now battles evil with the best of the boys.
It all came about, says Lawless by phone from New Zealand, with an incredible call from ``Hercules''' co-executive producer, Rob Tapert _ ``just a voice from America'' _ who asked her if she'd like to have a show of her own.
"I said, 'Pardon?' and he repeated it. And I then said: 'Ah, Mr. Tapert, that sounds very nice. Why don't you get back to me at a later date when it's a bit more concrete?'''
Obviously, he did.
Currently, "Xena'' is the fifth-highest-rated syndicated one-hour drama, no doubt buoyed by the phenomenal success of "Hercules,'' which often takes top Nielsen honors.
Lawless, who hasn't been to America since the show launched, is still a bit shellshocked over the sudden success of "Xena,'' which doesn't yet air in New Zealand, where the show is taped. "If this is a big deal at all, nobody down here knows it,'' she says.
And she laughs at the idea that, before long, little fans will be acting out their own shows with "Hercules'' and "Xena" action figures, which will be available in stores soon. "It's a very odd facsimile," she says of the doll, ``and the body's like He-man's body in a skirt....But that's the fun of it.''
There are, she admits, clouds hidden inside the bright silver lining.
First of all, there's the loss of personal time.
"I was sitting in the looping studio late one night and I had this epiphany that they weren't paying me for my acting, for god's sake, but to own me. And from then on, it became clear and an awful lot easier to deal with ... that that's what my contract was all about,'' says Lawless, a single mother who sees her 7-year-old daughter, Daisy, on weekends. The rest of the week, Daisy lives with her father.
Then, of course, there's Xena's rigid, restrictive leather and metal costume, which Lawless wiggles in and out of. |
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TV GuideDecember 16, 1995
A Feminine Fable
While Hercules tends to tease, its spin-off show Xena: Warrior Princess takes things more seriously. Xena (played by Lucy Lawless) is a more soulful and enigmatic character than Kevin Sorbo’s droll, meat-and-potatoes Herc. Co-creator and executive producer Rob Tapert says Xena was deliberately given a more mature perspective. "The thing that stands out about the Hercules character is his decency," Tapert notes. "It’s pretty basic and easy to understand. With Xena, we have a character whose way of carrying herself states, ‘I have something to say, but I can’t quite say it yet.’ That will deepen, actually, before it’s resolved." Lawless is a native of New Zealand, where the shows are shot, so she doesn’t have to deal with the homesickness US-born Sorbo contends with while shooting Hercules. Tapert credits movies from Hong Kong with inspiring his vision of Xena: "The female superheroines you see in Hong Kong fantasy and action films have the same kind of steely resolve we gave Xena. There weren’t really a lot of television precedents to draw from, or that we would want to draw from. I think the last female superheroine on television was Wonder Woman. Lawless chimes in: "I’ve just had a sudden urge to cross my wrists in front of my chest." |
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Entertainment WeeklyDecember 29, 1995
Kevin Sorbo & Lucy Lawless: Hercules and Xena, TV's most pec-tacular duo.
(Special Year-End Double Issue: Best of 1995; Entertainers of the Year)
Thank Zeus for those few TV shows free of latte bars and Manhattan apartments. In other words, thank Zeus for buff thespians Kevin Sorbo and Lucy Lawless, who masterfully lord over Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess, two syndicated hours of Bronze Age camp.
This year, Sorbo's Fabio-length locks and deadpan delivery snagged him both colossal Hercules ratings and a seven-figure movie deal (he'll star in Kull the Conqueror). It's a break-through, says the veteran commercial actor, that seemed centuries in coming. "I've paid my dues," sighs Sorbo, 37. "It's not like I was an accountant and all of a sudden I said, `Hey, I want a series.'" Much less one so popular that it yielded a spin-off starring Lawless, 27.
The kung fu-chopping actress says she "turned green" with jitters after learning Xena would get her own series, but she soon got comfy in those dominatrix boots. "I guess it's the culmination of 35 years of feminism," she says. "Women can be as badass as any man ever was." |
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NZ Woman's Weekly
January 31, 1994
Born Performer
Lucy Lawless is a woman of many talents...an actress, singer, TV reporter and daredevil
When Lucy Lawless was four years old, her godfather asked what she wanted to be when she grew up. "Famous!" was her immediate reply.
More than 20 years later Lucy is well known as an actress and TV presenter. Last year she starred in Marlin Bay as Chloe and travelled the world in Air New Zealand Holiday. She has also appeared in several commercials, including ones for Shell service stations and Philips electrical equipment, and she has been approached by people who've recognised her as the mum of baby Stanley in Auckland Savings Bank advertisements. But fame, she says, is no longer important. "There are other things that matter more."
Such as her husband Garth Lawless and their daughter Daisy. "If my acting career stopped tomorrow I would be all right because I have Garth and Daisy and a wonderful family behind me," Lucy says.
Not that she has any plans to give up acting. She has wanted to tread the boards since she was a child, but kept her dreams to herself.
"I felt I shouldn't tell people I wanted to act because they would think I was a show-off," she recalls. "I've always been like that - part of me tends to cower. I don't want people to think, 'She's up herself.
"But now I think 'big deal'. We should all just be who we are. I'm a horrible ham if I let myself be. I love to perform - but I'll perform more in some places than others. Some of my best performances have been in the shower!"
Lucy, a former Mrs New Zealand, is also a talented singer who once studied opera. "I lost confidence in that," she says. "I woke up one morning and thought, 'I don't really care about music that much', whereas I do care about acting. I'd like to do a musical one day, though -that would be fun. I important to have fun. I'm much more relaxed about things than I have been in the past."
Relaxed or not, the willowy actress says she still had some doubts about the offer to work on the Holiday programme. "I was hesitant because I felt it was a wild diversion from my acting," she says. "But I'm glad I took the offer. "It has expanded my thinking and I've learned a lot about myself. To be a good actress and play a wide range of roles you need to get out there and experience life. With Holiday I've seen a lot of points of view and been in some different situations." She has also done some daring and unusual things for the show, such as bungy jumping from a helicopter, abseiling into the "Lost World" at Waitomo, caving and swimming with dolphins.
"They're the sort of things I have always wanted to do and I couldn't turn down the challenge," she says.
Most of Lucy's assignments have been in New Zealand and the Pacific, but she has also travelled to European destinations like Prague and the Rhineland. It's not the first time she has been there.
"When I was 18 I ran off on my own to I Europe like a mad schoolgirl. It was a bit of a disaster - I didn't have enough money, so I just hung about in cafes in Germany. "In the end I rang my boyfriend in New Zealand and he came and rescued me. I hate to think where I might have been if it wasn't for him. He was my knight in shining armour and he still is, only now he's my husband!"
Garth and Lucy married in the Australian outback when Lucy was 20 and pregnant with Daisy (now five). "Getting pregnant was not a thing of shame for me," says Lucy. "Occasionally I would feel a bit written off, as if people were saying, 'There's Lucy Ryan (as I was then), we thought she was going to make so much of herself.' But I got unconditional love and support from my parents and in-laws."
While Lucy loves to travel, it has made her realise there's no place like home. "Europe is incredibly civilised. The people are so cool and refined, but as much as that is wonderful, they lack something. Their energy seems to have ebbed. "There's a rawness about New Zealand other countries don't have. When I'm away I miss the land and the rain. No matter what happens, this will be my home. I belong here." |
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NZ Woman's WeeklyMarch 28, 1994
Great Escape
When Lucy Lawless wants to get away from it all she heads for the wild west coast of Auckland, and the beach at Piha. "Piha is very special to me," says the TV presenter and actress. "I used to go there a lot when I was a teenager. I like the wild ness of it, the raw energy of the place."
Lucy says she prefers it there when the weather is rainy and miserable, rather . than fine and sunny.
"There's nothing better than Piha on a wild, grey day." she says. |
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NZ Woman's WeeklyAugust 1, 1994
What A Nightmare
Holiday disasters can happen to the most experienced travellers.
Just ask TV presenters Lucy Lawless and Alexandra Smith
It has happened to nearly every tourist at some stage. Despite the best-laid plans, meticulous organisation and double checking, things can easily go wrong on holiday, sometimes drastically.
We've all heard of luggage that goes to Singapore when you're bound for Sydney, suitcases that rip and spill their contents, including your dirty washing, on to the baggage carousel, and hotel rooms that are double booked, forcing you to walk the streets in search of a bed for the night.
Disaster can strike even the most experienced travellers, and while you can look back years later and laugh, at the time it can seem a major catastrophe.
Lucy Lawless, presenter of the TV travel show Air New Zealand Holiday, has travelled extensively, both with the programme and as a teenager in Australia and Europe. She admits to suffering her fair share of holiday hiccups. She will never forget a nightmare experience in the Italian port of Brindisi, which has a ferry service to Greece.
Lucy, then 18, and her travelling companion, arrived in town to catch a ferry to Athens, or so they thought.
"The second our bags came off the train, a little old man hoisted them on to a cart and barrelled off down the road with my companion and me in hot pursuit," recalls Lucy. "He led us to what must have been the most expensive dive in town, which we turned down flat. Then he took us to a more moderately-priced hovel around the corner which we accepted through sheer exhaustion.
"Not having learned the first rule of travel - "know your currency" - we tipped the old geezer about $US60 and he scampered off, gleefully, of course." It transpired they had been sold tickets for a ferry to Athens on a day when there was no sailing so they were stuck for three days in Brindisi, which Lucy describes as a "hostile wee town".
The local travel agent was no help whatsoever. "We pleaded and yelled to no avail The travel agent just gave the infuriating little continental shrug indicating, 'What are you going to do about it?' "
Lucy says Brindisi was a tourist trap full of rip-offs too numerous to mention. "So, despite having a real love affair with the rest of Italy, I will never return to Brindisi."
Lucy's fellow Air New Zealand Holiday presenter, Australian Alexandra Smith, says one of her worst travelling experiences happened at Tel Aviv Airport, ironically when she was with Lucy working on the show. "We flew into Israel from Frankfurt just five days after the Hebron massacre, and the security was a lot tighter there than usual, and that's saying something," says Alexandra.
"Lucy and I were both interrogated separately, for about an hour, about what we would be doing there. It was really quite scary.
"Then they opened our luggage and went through everything, papers, clothes, [video] tapes. They asked where every bit of paper came from. Then this woman was doing my suitcase up and she broke the zip. So I was there, in the middle of all this, trying to fix my suitcase with masking tape. It was a nightmare."
Another time, on her first working visit to London, Alexandra was told the guest house where she would be staying was just around the corner from Victoria Station, so she decided to pull her ample luggage on a small carrier rather than catching a taxi. "Just around the corner' turned out to be about 4km away and an exhausted Alexandra, who'd just flown for 24 hours, had to push her way through crowds, stopping every 30 seconds to adjust her bags.
She finally reached her room to discover it was so small she could lie in bed and turn the taps on in the bathroom. To cap it all, the fire alarm went off in the middle of the night, but the clanging bells and stampede of people rushing down the corridor weren't enough to get her up. "Even if there were a fire," she says, "I wasn't going anywhere." |
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New IdeaAugust 21, 1993
A Holiday Job
Next month a new series of Air New Zealand Holiday hits our screen. So for the past few months Lucy Lawless and Jeremy Coney have been on a working holiday
Who said going on holiday was easy? For Jeremy Coney and Lucy Lawless it has definitely been hard work. The duo, who landed plum jobs as reporters for TVNZ's travel show, now called Air New Zealand Holiday, have been so busy zooming around the world that they have not yet had time to meet!
"I've seen Lucy on the ASB ads," says Jeremy. "...I guess we will catch up sooner or later!"
For the past few months actor Lucy and Jeremy, a TVNZ sports-caster, have been flying to exotic locations to bring home a slice of the local life. They have been everywhere from Berlin and the Grand Canyon to the Catlins.
It sounds like a job to kill for -but it's not all a matter of slurping pina colada under a sun umbrella.
"I know it sounds rather glamorous," says Jeremy, "but the reality is we're up at 6.30 every morning and work until the end of the light - which is about 8pm. Then it's back to the hotel to see what we have shot."
There may not be a lot of time spare for lingering in the shops or developing a suntan but the pair have managed to fit in some fun.
"In the Catlins I was hunting a moa," says Jeremy... but I can tell you now that I went into a dairy and asked for a moa pie -and they only had steak mince and cheese!"
In Fiji, however, it was Jeremy who was being hunted. "I was doing a wee bit of snorkelling with a couple of people when someone yelled 'shark!' I exited the water tout vitesse!"
New Idea caught up with the former cricket champ en route from Hollywood to the Grand Canyon, where mules were waiting to take him on a trek to a local Indian tribe.
"I've never been to Hollywood," says Jeremy. "This job is very good practice for when I come back. You know, things like driving on the right side of the road..."
Lucy, meanwhile, has been experiencing life in Berlin, Prague, Switzerland and Queenstown - where she leaped out of "something with rotor blades." (We're not sure if she was paid danger money.)
It's a big jump from the days when she set off for Europe at the age of 18. "I lugged around this humungous yellow suitcase full of everything surplus to requirements which my mother made me pack. In the end most of it got dumped. It was the year of the heatwave and people were dropping like flies.
"From there I went to the. Australian Outback which was also quite uncomfortable."
As for Lucy's pick of places she has visited with Holiday, it has to be Prague, the capital of former Czechoslovakia.
"It is steeped in the middle ages, like a fairytale. But all I can say is go soon! Things are a-changihg there pretty fast. People are into making money .there hand over fist."
The new series of Air New Zealand Holiday, a joint production between New Zealand and Australia, starts on Saturday, September 4 on TV One and also includes reports from Australians David de Vos and Sarah Henderson.
As well as screening in New Zealand and Australia, it has been bought by an Asian channel, Star TV, with a potential 40 million viewers. |
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NZ Woman's DayNovember 29, 1993
Hairdo From Hell
Actress Lucy Lawless says the most disastrous haircut she's ever had didn't particularly upset her... because she couldn't see the worst of it.
"One day, in a fit of blue funk, I went to this really arty hairdresser, who shall remain nameless, and said 'Go for it'."
"Technically, it was a good cut, but he also shaved out shapes up the back of my head." Recards the presenter of Air New Zealand Holiday. "I wasn't too bothered because I couldn't see it, but a few other people didn't think much of it."
One of those not taken with Lucy's hairstyle was her then boyfriend, Garth, who "absolutely hated it." But it obviously didn't put him off Lucy. The couple have now been married for 6 years. |
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