New
Zealand TV Guide -August 16 1996
Xena
Role Close To Reality For Star
by Keith Sharp
Take
a look at Gabrielle, the heroine's companion in Xena:Warrior Princess
(TV3, 9:30 pm, Fridays), and you'll see an adventurous young
woman with a love of poetry, story-telling and ancient history. Look
inside Gabrielle, and you'll find Reneé O'Connor, an adventurous young
woman with a love of poetry, story-telling and ancient history.
There was, it seems, more than just acting talent at work in that
bit of casting. How much more became obvious when O'Connor took time
out to speak to TV Guide recently in an Auckland cafe a few thousand
years away from the world of Xena. In her classic Texan tones,
the actress listed the areas in which she and her character touch
base.
"Gabrielle is very romantic," she says. "Very sentimental, which I
am, also. I love the words of poetry and stories and plays. "I see
her as a journalist. Gabrielle used to do a lot of research with mythology
and legends, which is fun for me to play because she knows all about
them. "If you give her one topic - a centaur, for instance - she knows
their history, their background, what they look like, the names of
the great leaders, and so on." That corresponds with O'Connor's own
passion for ancient history, which she is planning to indulge sometime
soon with a visit to Greece.
Another point at which actress and character meet is that, in a show
where action and violent death play a large part, Gabrielle - unlike
her friend Xena - is no fighting machine.
"That's a very important aspect of her character," says O'Connor.
"She sympathizes with humankind and always has that innocence. She's
a more compassionate person and could never take a life.
"As my character develops, I am learning myself as an actor, so the
first fight scene I had with a staff, I just felt so uncoordinated
and awkward, which worked very well for the character. "Further along
in the show, she's begun to develop these weaponry skills. "I've just
started working with one of our stunt men, Sam Williams. He's teaching
me some more martial arts because I've fallen in love with the whole
idea of having that coordination."
Although Xena started only recently on New Zealand TV screens,
production is now well into the second series and O'Connor has just
celebrated her first full year in New Zealand.
"I keep joking to everyone that I'm an official resident now," she
laughs, "and they say, ‘Oh, no-not yet'. But I'm expecting to stay
for as long as the show continues."
But this is not her first spell on these shores. In 1993, she played
another role in Hercules And The Lost Kingdom, one of the original
movies which spawned the Hercules/Xena TV series. Producers
Rob Tapert and Sam Raimi were so impressed by her work that they cast
her in another of their video movies, Darkman II, before inviting
her to audition for the role of Gabrielle.
Since then, it's been almost non-stop action and adventure in a mythical
world of gods, demons and monsters. And even after 34 episodes, O'Connor
still finds herself being amazed by it all.
"All the episodes are so fantastic, with such bizarre creatures and
stories," she says. "It's so surreal. There's always something new
on every episode that I just wonder how in the world do we produce
this? "
"Looking back on the beginning of the series - working 14 hours a
day, five days a week - I can see that I've learned a great deal about
the technical side of acting with the camera. I've come to regard
it almost as a film school."
"I've also learned a lot from the actors here, because their background
is mostly theatre. They have such freedom in their voices, changing
them and making such variable characters."
"So I try to learn something every day; to push myself a bit more
so that, when I come out of this, I'll be much better."
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