Starburst
#228, Volume 19, number 12 -August 1997
Story-telling
Sidekick
by Joe Nazarro
Hanging
out with Xena is probably not the safest way to spend one's time.
Ask Gabrielle, the wide-eyed storyteller, who decided to leave her
village behind in order to follow the warrior princess on a life of
adventure.
Gabrielle has found her self attacked by everyone from blood-thirsty
Amazons to vengeful giants. She's also seen her newly-wed husband
savagely murdered by the evil Callisto; how can someone retain their
innocence under those circumstances? Well, according to Reneé O'Connor,
who's getting ready to start work on her third season of Xena:
Warrior Princess, there will be a residual effect on her character
in some of the upcoming episodes.
"I talked about that with [co-executive producer] RJ Stewart," says
the actress, "and he told me to think of each episode as its own separate
entity so the character can grow, and then I leave it alone and go
onto the next story. In that sense, my character can mature but I
can still keep the innocence of Gabrielle intact.
Playful Moments
"I do want to make sure she still has her light moments, her silly
moments, and her very girlish attitudes, as well as the experience
of life that she's seen. I think that's very natural for human beings:
every now and then, someone will go back to his childhood and play
around or feel some of those emotions. I have to be careful about
some of the choices I make; I think Gabrielle is so strong in her
beliefs that she'll always keep her optimism intact. Sure, she might
get to be a little more jaded as she sees some of the horrors of life,
but if she still believes there's a better way of life or the world,
then it keeps her balanced."
One of the reasons the up-and-coming actress finds her work on Xena
so exciting is its successful mix of drama and comedy. A darker, more
hard-hitting episode can be followed the next week by all-out farce,
so the audience never knows what to expect from week to week.
"We'll be doing that again next season," promises O'Connor. "They
like the fact that we have high drama in one episode, and in the next
we get a bit sillier and satirize ourselves. It's nice, because if
you have an emotional scene or two for the week, it's nice to break
it up and hop around the set and have a good time. I prefer the comedy,
because I enjoy the timing of it, and just laughing in between scenes
with the other actors. I feel more comfortable doing drama actually;
it's something I feel stronger at, but I enjoy doing the comedy more."
Another reason for the show's continuing success may be its ever-growing
repertory company. While the core of the series is the relationship
between Xena and Gabrielle, other characters such as would be warrior,
Joxer (played by Ted Raimi) and Xena's chief nemesis Callisto (Hudson
Leick) have also grown in popularity.
"Although I love working with Lucy who's the key to it all," agrees
O'Connor, "I think that whenever Ted or Hudson come along, it's just
a bigger energy on the set, and there's more to do, because there's
such a history between the characters now. I also know that Lucy is
in just about every scene, so whenever we have Ted or Hudson come
over and have a sub-plot following her, own plot line, it just creates
an easier workload for her. For me, I'm either with her character
or have my own plot so it's not nearly as bad."
Hold Your Horses
That repertory company was put to the test when Lucy Lawless fell
off a horse during a publicity stunt for The Tonight Show,
breaking her pelvis. The injury sidelined the star for several weeks,
requiring last-minute script rewrites and a massive burst of creativity
from the show's writer/producers. As O'Connor recalls, "I was a bit
worried that we would lose our audience to begin with. Obviously,
people tune in to see the character of Xena, and she does hold the
show.
"Although my character is important, I believe it's our chemistry
as two friends together that's most important over just my character
alone, so I was worried that without that chemistry we might have
lost a few of our loyal followers, but the writers just went to work
as quickly as possible, trying to find some way to make it all seem
logical, to keep the show moving, and we were lucky that it happened
to work out pretty well.
"They did mix the episodes up a bit - we filmed a couple of episodes
before Lucy's accident that didn't air until after the episodes without
her. We never really follow a storyline from one episode to another,
and if we do, it's very rare, so I think they have to look at each
episode as one piece; there's a beginning and an end and then move
on."
Callous Callisto
Reflecting on the just-finished second season of Xena, O'Connor
can point to a number of personal highlights, ranging from a few of
the more comedic episodes to moments of high drama.
"Looking back on my character's growth alone, I think The Return
of Callisto is the episode that gave Gabrielle another level to
express herself, and they definitely continued that string of courage
throughout the season. I think she's much stronger, more multi-faceted
in this last season, so that was one of my favourite episodes.
"Another would have to be A Day in the Life, where we had a
great time playing off each other and really developing our characters'
friendship a bit more on screen. There's also A Comedy of Eros,
which was a take-off on the Shakespearean A Comedy of Errors.
Ted came over for it, and it was nonstop entertainment and laughs,
so that was another highlight for me. There's a mixup of love interests,
and it was a nice way of taking the characters into an element they're
not used to."
One of the more technically complex episodes was the Halloween offering,
Girls Just want to Have Fun, in which Gabrielle is transformed
into one of the vampiric Baccae. "TJ Scott directed that, and he's
one of our favourite directors. He has a style about him that is fast-paced;
his stories take you on a frenzied adventure. His work is quick, lots
of energy, lots of movement, and I think that was just an expression
of his style. He also did the first Callisto episode, where we had
this big ladder fight.
"This episode had a similar style: lots of different shots and illusions
that drew you into the story, and before you knew what's going on,
it's over. We have a couple of other directors we call upon quite
a bit, but he's definitely one of our favourites. It was a pretty
exciting episode for me, because that was one of the first times that
Gabrielle was able to change into another character, so I enjoyed
it. The only drawback to the role was possibly the contacts, because
I'm not used to having anything in my eyes, so that was a test of
patience to keep the sand and smoke and everything else out of my
eyes, but it was worth it; I enjoyed playing that character."
As Xena progressed well into its second season, the writers
began to experiment with off-format episodes that pushed the envelope
a bit more. One of their outlandish experiments was The Xena Scrolls,
featuring O'Connor as a cigar-chomping Indiana Jones-type archaeologist,
Lucy Lawless as a damsel in distress, and Ted Raimi as an Inspector
Clouseau-like detective.
"We had a great time on that one, and I thought Ted was wonderful
with his accent; everybody spent so much time laughing on the set.
"I watched a couple of the Indiana Jones films beforehand, since we
were definitely ripping off the characters, and I had a great time
playing it up. I decided to go with it all, especially the cigar smoking,
which was a first. You should have seen me practising for that - they'd
keep the film rolling, and I think it was a test to see how long I
could keep smoking without gagging. It was pretty hilarious."
Another successful experiment was the tongue-in-cheek A Day in
the Life, which chronicled a 24-hour period in the lives of our
heroines. The episode was directed by Michael Hurst who took a break
from playing Hercules's sidekick Iolaus to work behind the camera.
"He has so much energy in his body that it just emotes throughout
the entire crew. He's very enthusiastic, he's passionate, and he established
a sense of trust immediately. He's a fine actor as well, and you just
let him take the piece and carry it. You'll try anything he says,
knowing that if it doesn't work, he'll think of something else to
try."
Bath Time
A comedic highlight from A Day in the Life was the now-infamous
bathtub scene, featuring Xena, Gabrielle, several buckets of scalding
water and a lost bar of soap. O'Connor remembers being slightly nervous
before shooting, but needlessly so.
"It was actually lukewarm and very comfortable, and it wasn't that
bad. I was a bit nervous going into the scene, wondering what we were
going to be thrown into to wear, how many people would be on the set,
but it was very easy to do. Everyone was very polite and considerate
of each other, and I felt very comfortable around Lucy, so it wasn't
a problem at all."
Platonic Friends?
That said, the bathtub scene has provoked a good deal of discussion
from viewers who have it as 'proof' that the relationship between
Xena and Gabrielle might not be strictly platonic.
"It's funny how that aspect of the show has developed over this season,"
reflects O'Connor, who finds the controversy somewhat perplexing.
"It's pretty amazing for Lucy and I to hear the feedback about that
aspect of the show. I think we play our characters very true to each
other; we have an honest friendship, and we love each other; that's
all there is to it. People just read into it what they choose to see.
"I think it's sad that people have to pigeonhole our characters into
one stereotype, because our relationship is so multi-dimensional that
you can't really place it into one mind or another. I guess people
see whatever they want to see, so we just have to move on and do what
we want to do."
Darker Directions
With the third season of Xena close at hand, O'Connor doesn't
want to reveal too much in terms of spoilers. Pressed for a few hints,
she finally admits that upcoming episodes will turn up the intensity
of her character's emotional arc.
"Right now, the writers have come up with some new ideas that are
so extreme, and I really don't want to give them away because I think
it will ruin it for the audience, but it's going to be challenging
enough for me that I have no desire to change any direction that they're
going with the character right now. Some of that direction is pretty
bizarre and much darker than we've done before, so it will be interesting
to see how the directors will portray it."
Although her work on Xena: Warrior Princess has kept her too
busy to explore other work, Reneé O'Connor says the role of Gabrielle
offers her just about anything an actress can want.
"I'm very fortunate to have this character," she affirms. "I was just
thinking about it recently: I have the action and the physicality
of Gabrielle, but the emotions are also there, the comedy, the drama,
and the wonderful friendship with Xena. It's so fulfilling, it's completely
challenging, especially with the writers constantly throwing new twists
and turns at us. It keeps you on your toes, but I wouldn't want to
be doing anything else. It's a perfect job. The people who come up
with these ideas still love the show, and I think that's the reason
why everyone is still as excited about it."
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