Chakram
newsletter #7, 1999
Transcribed by Susanne Henriksson. Thanks, Sussi!
"Ready
When You Are, Ms. O' Connor"
by
Sharon Delaney
Renee's
yellow robe, with an embroidered "G" on the back, reveals nothing
but her sandaled feet. I'm glad it's not raining and there's no mud.
A cold, wet bard with muddy feet and a staff sounds like a dangerous
combination. Oh, right, she tossed, the staff in the river. However,
she's still covered in Mehndi P' raps I'd do well to mind my P's and
Q's. Although, truth be told, as nearly half of Renee's 12-hour day
has already passed, the Mehndi is looking a little the worse for wear.
Never one to stand on ceremony, Renee walks over with two small wooded
boxes, places them out of camera and microphone range and we plop
down to have a chat.
I gaze down at her toes and say, "They gonna give you something
a bit more substantial for the winter?"
She laughs. "These are until the end of the season and then I go back
into boots. This episode and one more and then I'm out of the India
gear."
"I suppose Argo's been carrying around the green sports bra
outfit?"
I said, grinning.
"I don't think Gabrielle will regress to that again," Renee said.
"She's still discovering herself. I've enjoyed that. I love change
so anything they do is refreshing to me. I've had so much fun with
having no hair!"
"You've got the type of hair that 'flys' well, if you know what
I mean?" I said.
"Fly,' yea! It lives!" she laughed and tossed her head and the silky
blonde hair fell right back into place. She reminded me of a wood
nymph. "It's just so liberating, I think. Especially having had long
hair for such a short time. It was exciting to do something completely
different."
"It must have felt strange the first day you shampooed it?"
"You know, I didn't have to adapt to having short hair because I immediately
forgot what it was like," she said, astonished. "I remember watching
some of the episodes we filmed earlier and being shocked to see myself
with long hair. Isn't that weird? My mom has short hair and maybe
I was seeing her face so it was familiar."
"Has she seen it yet?" I asked.
"No. It will be interesting to hear what she thinks of it."
Renee's really reveling in this.
She continues, "There was too much debate over the changes in Gabrielle
- the staff, the hair, the tattoos, the outfit. So they're going to
try and find something that's a little more like the spirited, feisty
Gabrielle they had before she became a pacifist."
"I was wondering how a warrior and a pacifist would be able
to survive traveling together," I commented. "Would they each be able
to hold on to their beliefs?"
"It was an interesting turn of events for Gabrielle, but I think everyone's
tired of it. The show is about many women fighting. But I still enjoy
taking a nap during the fight scenes," she laughed.
Now - down to the nitty gritty. How did she enjoy being the
demon,
Tataka, in "Devi"?
"Oooooo - I had so much fun with that! So much fun," she crowed
gleefully. "It was the most fun I'd have with a character other than
Gabrielle since we started the show." I thought Tataka was just so
vain wanting all those pearls draped over her body. She wanted to
be idolized and anyone who disagreed should die. To me, that was the
core of the character and I went with it and had a ball."
"You looked right at home sitting on that throne," I teased.
"We shot that on a Saturday which is unusual for us," She explained.
"It was one of those situations where you just jump into the costume
and do it in five minutes and I thought it came off really well considering
how little time we had. It was so fast."
"Speaking of 'things only a demon could get away with.'" I said,
"I was trying to picture you and Lucy, each in your own home, reading
the script and coming to the part where Takata licks the side of Xena's
face and leaves an acid burn. Did that raise any eyebrows?"
"No, no. Lucy and I just said, 'Oh, yea, we can do that.' And I did
think it was quite funny. But I didn't enjoy it as was quite funny.
But I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would because the taste
of the makeup was so disgusting. What also bothered me was that I
felt that I was invading Lucy's space. That's something an actor is
always conscious of. But she didn't have a problem with it all. It
felt pretty outrageous," she laughed.
"Maybe if they had given the makeup a bit of chocolate flavor?"
I grinned.
"Yeah, right," she laughed.
Earlier in the day. I saw a woman with a still camera take a
picture of Renee's feet. I looked down at the tattoos on her hands
and asked, "They wear off as the day goes on?"
"They do," she said. "It's just makeup. It's a transfer they
put on every morning with alcohol. And they're ever changing. I think
I was covered in more in the first episode. I had them up my arms.
Since it's supposed to be henna, and true henna fades after three
weeks, we're saying Gabrielle puts it on every month," she laughs.
"Next episode, I lose the ones on the chest."
"Are they still on your stomach?"
"Yes. We have to match the feet and palms
for the crucifixion scene. That's why we're playing around a bit.
But it makes sense for it to change because Gabrielle could have let
one tattoo fade and started another one."
"Something else to store in Argo's saddlebag," I joked.
"Xena's off fighting and Gabrielle's waiting for her henna to dry,"
Renee laughed.
The question everyone has been asking is if Tataka was in Gabrielle
the whole time and was Gabrielle ever speaking for herself? Renee
sat back and smiled.
"I heard about this debate. I decided to play it where Gabrielle didn't
know. Otherwise you can't really play the scene between her and Xena
where Gabrielle is defending herself so strongly. Plus, who's to know
when it would emerge. So I thought it was legitimate to play that
aspect. The whole idea is to keep the mystery of the episode. who
is the demon in? If I play Gabrielle as if she's possessed, you lose
any mystery."
Renee then asked how long I was visiting and who I was interviewing.
I told her I was there for two weeks and was working my way through
the production team. Which was something she'd just finished doing
in preparation for her first directing assignment "Deja Vu All
Over Again".
"I went to each department to have my preliminary meetings," she explained.
"Ngila (Dickson - Costume Designer) is so profound in her thinking.
She wants to know why a person would wear that underwear and who would
have bought it for them. She goes into such detail to understand everything
the character would do. What is their history that makes them wear
that outfit. It inspired me to thoroughly analyze all the characters
before I started directing."
"Rob (Gillies -Production Designer) wanted to hear my ideas. Then
he would exponentially multiply what I started with on a small scale
into this vision of grandeur."
"Because my episode is set in contemporary time, I thought the set
would be finished at least a week before filming. I went to look at
it two days before and all they had was the frame and the paint on
the walls - no props or set decoration. And then, overnight, it was
completed. It's just incredable!"
"Can you tell me anything about the plot?" I prompted.
"It's a comedy. The episode takes a look at some of the feedback we've
received throughout the year and tries to remind everyone that we
are a vessel for entertainment! It's a combination of 'A Day In The
Life' and 'The Xena Scrolls,'" She laughed.
"Can you walk me through what steps a director takes preparing
for the job?"
She leaned forward and I received my first lesson in Directing Xena
101. "First I met with the heads of each department. We started off
with preliminary meeting and went through, with a broad stroke, what
the episode was about and what I had in mind. That was before Christmas.
Then I went off and basically worked with the story. I talked to R.J.
(Stewart) many, many times and tried to flesh out parts of the story's
structure I thought were important. He was wonderful, so supportive.
And so very, very patient." she said warmly. "I'm hoping he'll be
pleased."
"There were a few changes during filming, as I learned, by the actors."
She laughed and said to Lucy, who was walking by, "I was telling Sharon
how the actors change things."
"Enough about you, let's talk about me!" Lucy teased.
Renee sassed her back. "You changed that song, the 'Annie Banani'
song. Now you'll have to re-record it in the studio."
Lucy made a face at her. "We never do anything that would change
the plot," she said to me.
"Right," Renee said. "Just adding jokes. Which you might find on the
day that can help improve the rhythm."
"The synthesis of all these creative people," Lucy explained.
"Because you're in character?" I asked.
"Yes," Renee said. "And the atmosphere - you work off the other actors.
I remember trying to tell R.J. every change we made. But on the day
of filming..."
"...you can't do it." Lucy finished. "And by that time, the writer's
probably moved on and is working on other scripts. It's the synchronicity
that happens on set. And it's usually for the good."
"At least, that's what we have in mind." Renee laughed. "it's greater
than the sum of it's parts and...sometimes...it's not."
Lucy made a woebegone face as she was called back to the set.
"Lucy changed the song?" I asked.
"She did. The 'Joxer the Mighty' song. She didn't want to sing 'Annie
the Mighty' so she ad-libbed. 'Annie Banani with the lovely fanny.'"
Renee and I went into a chorus of "Annie Annie fo fanny, banana
rama fo fana."
So much for conducting this interview with a straight face. And I
wondered to myself what I would do when it came time to type it up.
I'm probably going to have to call all my friends and see if anyone
can help me with the song.
Renee was still laughing. "I went 'Okay Lucy. Whatever you want to
do.'"
"Because of your work here, you couldn't participate in the
editing the way most directors do, could you?" I asked.
"No," she said with a definite sadness. "I was quit disappointed about
that. I've just been sending over notes. I think you would learn so
much as a director to see what cuts together and what doesn't. That's
where I'm finding all my mistakes are popping out. You learn more
visually by watching the editor's cut. And saying, 'Oh, no, did I
really do that!" she said in mock horror.
"You've been sending a lot of notes to Rob Field?" I teased.
"Yeah," she laughed. "He's getting five-page descriptions of one change.
Like Ngila, he wants to know why you want to change something. Not
in a negative way, but to understand. To make it better. And he warns
me of things I might be doing that could cause problems which is great
because I'm learning from that as well."
"How was it looking at the dailies?" I inquired.
"I'm glad I could see them because after the first day, I was so mortified,
that I found it inspiring to see what was actually taking place,"
she said sounding grateful. "I'm quite hard on myself if I set goals
and don't reach them."
"Your a schedule keeper, aren't you?" I asked.
"Yeah," she said with conviction. "So
many directors have conversations with the producers at lunchtime
because they're behind. And I was determined that wasn't going to
happen to me!" She laughed. "But there I was running late like everyone
else," she sighed.
"Speaking of producers, how were Eric (Gruendemann) and Chloe
(Smith)?"
Renee smiled warmly, her eyes bright.
"They were very supportive. Of course, everyone treated me with kid
gloves because I'm on the show. Eric and Chloe stayed away the first
two days knowing how nervous I was about being behind schedule."
"There's a joke that is played on the first time directors here,"
she said conspiratorially. "At lunch on the first day, the producers
bring them an airline ticket back to the U.S. and say, 'First day
you get behind schedule, you're outta here.' I kept waiting to get
my ticket," she laughed.
She continued. "Chloe is a woman in the film industry who, with Eric,
is running a huge production company and I found her to be incredibly
inspiring. She wrote me a beautifully encouraging note before I started.
It was very touching. I thought, it is possible for a woman to have
a responsible job, be successful, happy and have a full personal life
as well. Because I still have other things I'd like to do. She's a
great role model."
"What lessons did you learn?"
"During filming. I learned how to compromise with what you have in
your mind compared to what's actually possible to manifest," Renee
said. "Maybe the costume department put great effort into a costume
and if you don't have any wide shots, what a waste of energy. Little
things like that you learn as you go. Try to make everyone happy,
but not yet lose your own integrity and vision. I Found that, early
on, I made some mistakes because I was too green in not knowing when
to hold my ground and when to let things go."
"Being the new kid on the block, were you more likely to pull
back?" I asked.
"Yes," she nodded. "I found that I realized on the support team of
the director of photography, the camera man, the first assistant director
to guide me. As I developed more confidence. I realized what my instincts
were and, if I really wanted to follow them, I had to be stronger."
"And this was good," she laughed. "Especially with the actors. It
sounds weird to say 'the actors. I did a lot of background with the
characters by approaching the scenes as I would as an actress. That
helped me a great deal when I had to support my theories of how a
scene should be played."
"It didn't happen often, but occasionally I had to say, 'I think we
should do it like this and this is why.' This was usually because
we were running out of time and I had no other option."
"I found I had to take some choices simply in order to make my day,
just to get our schedule accomplished because I was behind from the
get-go," she said ruefully.
"And I just kept getting deeper and deeper in the hole!" she laughed.
"It was really hard. I think I had no idea just how challenging it
would be. I constantly had to let things go."
"Would you do it again?"
"I hope they'll let me do another one," she said brightly. "It was
absolutely terrifying. Every day I'd come home being exhilarated,
and then I would see how far behind I was and think I'm never going
to do this again." she laughed. "But that's all changed now. Lucy
compared it to her performances when she sings. That it's the most
humiliating, humbling, terrifying and exciting experience all wrapped
into one event. And it's addictive because it's an adrenaline rush
and you can never get it right."
I wondered how it was directing her fellow actor's.
"Did they rib you at all?" I asked.
Renee smiled. "Lucy was wonderful." Then she laughed. "The first day,
she and Ted teased me a bit, saying, 'Oh I don't think I would play
it like that.' Just completely setting me up as an egocentric, precious
actor might do. They joked around saying. 'We'll dub my lines later.
I'll just stand off camera for this.' They were such a tease, but
very supportive. Especially Lucy. She tried to help me get everything
I could to succeed," she said warmly.
"She knew how important this was for you," I said.
"Absolutely. And she, more than all of us, has an appreciation of
how hard it is for directors to make their day. Maybe it's because
she's married to Rob and he's also a director," she said thoughtfully.
"She's very cooperative in having them place her where they need her
to go in order to get the shots that tell the story without having
them place her where they need her to go in order to get the shots
that tell the story without having to stroke her ego and say 'What
would you like to do as an actor?' She's very practical and says,
'What do you need to get the show on film?' Then she makes it work
with her own choices on acting.
"I'd always notice that before, but never appreciated it as thoroughly
as I did when I didn't have to apologize to Lucy for compromising
her acting in order to complete my day. I learned an appreciation
of that from her so that I'm even more docile towards directors now."
"Did your directing experience change you as an actor?" I wondered.
"I don't think I was difficult person to work with, but now I really
appreciate how hard everyone works. As an actor, you're protected
from the pressures everyone is under, because otherwise they think
you might forget your lines!" she smiled. "It hasn't really changed
my attitude acting-wise except that I realized I'd gotten a bit lazy
as an actor and hadn't been doing as much homework as I used to do.
So I'm putting more time into the analysis of scenes again."
Speaking of putting more time into her character, I wondered
if Rob Tapert knew Renee was so flexible when he put yoga into "Paradise
Found".
She laughed. "Rob warned me about a month before we started filming
that he had all these ideas about Gabrielle aspiring to become a pacifist
and I started taking yoga then. Although I've always danced. I think
when your body has a history of flexibility, it adjusts more quickly.
I took the lessons and fell in love with the whole idea of yoga. I've
kept it up. It's more strenuous than I thought it would be. You do
the headstands and handstands and standing poses where you're really
using your leg muscles. For me, I think it's the perfect complement
to my weight training workout.
"I think yoga is the closest I ever come to meditating because it's
quiet, it's relaxing, and yet you feel energy afterward."
"What's Rob like as a director?" I asked.
"He's very visual as a director and as a producer," she explained.
"He'll come up with a vision he wants to capture and that's where
he starts. He might have a photo from a book or painting and he'll
elaborate on that image."
"He also has a wonderfully bizarre sense of humor that I find hilarious,"
she laughed. "Like that bit with the turtle in 'Paradise Found,'
when we are left wondering whether or not Xena will crush the poor
thing as she comes racing down towards him. That's so Rob. And he's
very good with actors in that he can talk to them. There's a trust
there that you don't have with a lot of directors until they have
been around for a couple of episodes. He can get you to do anything.
Some directors just have that ability."
I'm intrigued by that statement that Rob knows how to talk to
an actor. "Is that something you were able to do?" I asked her, curiously.
"I found that very difficult," she said. "The problem I had was when
I had to compromise and have actors limit themselves in their movement
or what they wanted to do in a scene. For instance, I had time to
do one shot, not three, if they approached the scene in a different
way. For me to say, 'I'm sorry, you have to do it this way because
that's all we have time to do for,' was quite disappointing."
I asked her about what kind of guidance a director gives an
actor during a scene. For instance, in "Paradise Found," when
Gabrielle breaks down in Aiden's arms and Xena is watching from a
distance.
"You know what Rob said?!" Renee started laughing. "He said, 'Lucy,
she's in another man's arms!' And Lucy went, 'Another man's
arms!!'" Renee was laughing even harder. "It was hilarious because
it was quite a serious scene and Lucy couldn't hold it in. She just
started laughing. For the next take, Rob stood near Lucy and talked
her through the rest of the scene. It was quite moving. But that was
a hilarious line. One of those classic moments."
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