The
WOMAN Behind The WARRIOR:
The Lucy Lawless Interview
XENA
Warrior Princess
The Official Magazine
#1 Premiere Issue
Comic
book-style superheroes may come and go, but realistic, fleshed-out characters
are eternal. That's the philosophy of Renaissance Pictures, creators of TV's
reigning king and queen of mythological muscle, Hercules and Xena.
And it's a philosophy actress Lucy Lawless wholeheartedly endorses.
"Compared
with Wonder Woman, Barbarella, and the rest, Xena is a real, three-dimensional
character," she observes. "And that goes back to the way she's
written, the way the producers conceived and developed her. They've been very
far-sighted and very generous and we've risked all to make this character really
live. Frankly, I think it's the best role for a woman... ever!"
It's
certainly one of the most influential. Not satisfied with conquering U.S. TV
syndication (beating out Star Trek and Hercules), Xena is
now poised to take over the world: the show is currently broadcast in 80
countries, from the
One
of those places is Broadway, as the 28-year old New Zealand native stretches her
creative muscles, taking on the singing role of "bad girl" Rizzo in Grease.
"I love to do dangerous things, things that are risky for me
personally," she explains. "I'm incredibly rusty now when it comes to
the singing I let it fall pretty much by the wayside for ten years. And even
if I don't succeed, at least I tried. And that's really the whole secret. It's
all a matter of courage and living your life to the fullest. We're
only here once, you know."
The
road to stardom traveled by Lawless was a curious and unpredictable one, filled
with odd detours and few cliffhangers worthy of her small-screen counterpart.
Educated primarily in convent schools, the youthful Lawless soon developed an
active imagination and a passionate interest in play-acting. After attending
After
giving birth to daughter Daisy in 1989 and jump-starting her acting career,
Lawless eventually became a Renaissance Pictures favorite, winning the Xena role
and enduring yet another change in hair color (she's ash-blonde by nature). What
began as a one-shot role over the course of three Hercules episodes soon evolved
into a pop cultural phenomenon. In '96/'97, Xena: Warrior Princess
reigned supreme, a unique series with a loyal and remarkably diverse fan
audience.
"I
used to marvel at this last year," the actress reflects, noting that the
nature of her series and character allows for an unusual range of performance.
"Everything I ever learned in my life, everything I ever studied, every
weird experience I had, every encounter with aggression, has been useful for
this job. It's as if all the threads of my life have come together; and at the
axis is this role, Xena.
Of
course, every fantasy superheroine is something of a feminist icon, and Lawless
understands the importance of this... and the danger. "Women are finally
beginning to achieve some kind of equality," she observes. "But with
equality comes a great deal of responsibility, and you have to be prepared for
that. Personally, I think there are going to be some unforeseen ramifications of
genuine equality down the line."
For
the most part, equality in the Xenaverse has more to do with human-god
relationships than any kind of gender issue, and that in itself adds to the
show's unique appeal. "Xena's about the end of the Greek gods, the
denouement, when human beings are really starting to fight back against their
supernatural oppressors," she says. "I think that the evolving nature
of human psyches would eventually bring about the demise of these gods. As a
matter of fact, this year on the show, the gods are under actual attack!"
Speaking
of the supernatural, many fans have speculated that Xena may have been sired by
Ares, the God of War, who turns up periodically as a villain and/or love
interest. "We really toyed with that idea," Lawless mentions with a
sigh "We actually wrote an episode in which the question of her parentage
the question of who her father is comes up. But we decided it was not good
for the character to be a demi-god, in spite of all the amazing things she does.
The strength of this character is her mortality, and that's what people relate
to."
Even
so, Xena: Warrior Princess is clearly a flamboyant fantasy, with some of
the wildest concepts and notions ever conceived for a TV series. What are the
folks at Renaissance doing right that so many others before them have screwed
up?
"Let's
face it: fantasy speaks to the child within all of us," Lawless declares.
"It's true that the essence of the show is very pure to the human
condition, with real emotions being explored. But if people can suspend their
disbelief about how we get there, we can make them 'feel.' I think it's easier
for viewers to suspend disbelief in a totally ridiculous scene, such as we are
routinely providing, than in a comparable scene for, say, a cop show. I mean,
there are some brilliant cop shows out there, but not everybody can relate to
that."
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At
some interesting creative juncture, outlandish fantasy ideas meet the realistic,
conversational dialogue that has become the trademark of both Hercules
and Xena (not to mention the countless period imitation shows that have
followed in their wake). "There's a danger with that kind of
dialogue," Lawless admits. "We try to keep a lid on it so that it
doesn't become too self-indulgent. The minute that starts to happen, the
audience pulls back emotionally... it doesn't provoke a response. So we try line
readings a few different ways, before settling on what works best."
With
Season Three now fully underway, things couldn't be better for this dedicated
Warrior Princess and her team of screwball filmmakers. And it'll only get
screwier. "There's no holding the writers back, they're so wild and
creative," Lawless laughs. "We're doing a musical in the next couple
of weeks. Then there's an episode where I'm wearing nothing but chemo-body
paint, moving through the dark like a bloody spider up the wall! There are so
many kooky ideas being implemented here that I'm just being carried along on the
tide, really. I'm always trying to keep
up."
In
the meantime Lucy Lawless can't help wondering what the future has in store for
her. Years of hard work and determination have indeed made her an international
celebrity. But she's also a mom, and family always comes first, which is
something she learned from her own family many years ago in
And,
as every Xena fan knows, Warrior Princesses haven't the time to sulk. They're
too busy changing the world.