Santa Monica Convention Report
by Fran
Saturday at the Con
At the Con (which I attended sporadically because it was focused on Hercules), Alex Tydings (Aphrodite) was terrific. She looks great in person and was very personalable. She wore a rather unique outfit - sneakers, black leather pants, leather bodice and a blue feather boa. She said she enjoys playing Aphrodite but hates her costume. Says it could be a bit warmer when filming in the wintertime. Her favorite appearance on Xena is coming up in next week's ep "If the Shoe Fits". She said that she was surprised during "The Quill is Mightier" at how ripe Aphrodite became. It wasn't in the script, the director kept adding the touches in, much to her chagrin.
Gina Torres who played Cleopatra and Nebula (on Herc) was also there. She was quite fun, as well, especially since she's a former Bronx, NY resident. She also has performed on Broadway and ended her time by singing a song from Willie Wonka - who she said was her favorite fictional character. She had a very nice voice. Someone suggested that Nebula could kick Xena's butt in a fight, but she refused to agree. She must have seen us Xena fans picking up our rubber chakrams to attack her if she did. When asked which set she enjoyed working on the most she replied that each set had different feels - one clearly a "chicks" set and the other a guys set. She liked them both equally. Oh so politically correct with RenPic execs in attendance.
Robert Paul Coyle, a Herc Producer and a writer for each show, also appeared. He was more than a little bitter over the recent loss of the shows' time slots in LA. He also seemed to express disappointment with the direction both shows took in the past year. He felt that Herc had become "too dark" and he didn't like the Dahak storylines. He indicated that the series would have less long story arcs (at least Herc would) and that it would get back to what made it successful to begin with. In questioning, he got a lot of demands for Ioalus to be brought back on Herc (apparently, he died - who knew?). Overall, he came across rather bitter. Not the best guest to have there.
They screened Daughter of Pomira too. So, if my vcr didn't tape it right, I'm covered now. It was fun to watch it with a couple thousand other Xena fans.
Sunday at the Con
Sunday was wonderful at the Con. I will try to hit some highlights, hopefully, I can remember all the things I told myself to not forget.
The day started with the "Sisters" video. Basically, it just showed X and G kicking ass and taking names. It was nice. But I gotta tell you - the fan made videos (which Creation cannot show legally) are soooo much better. I saw some wonderful ones about the subtext and their friendship that made all the Creation garbage pale in comparison.
Then we sat through a live commercial for a CD-Rom game for X/G. Basically it's the Girls Just Wanna Have Fun ep in game format. Except they make Gabby dumber than dirt. Not happiness. And the voices are really offputting - ie, they're not LL or ROC.
Ok, then we saw a video salute to Gabby. They did it with the music "The Wind Beneath My Wings" which was very cool and appropriate. My only gripe with this video was it was very Xena heavy for a salute to Gabby video. But, gosh it was sweet.
Ok, then Clare Stansfield came out. The woman does not look like Alti. At all. She's 6'1" and very attractive. She said she considered wearing a skirt but decided that we needed to not see her covered up like Alti. So she wore black leather pants and a tan silk blouse. She looked very young and un- witchlike. Overall, she is the best Con guest star I've ever seen (except, of course, for the incomperable Hudson Leick). She answered all the questions thoughtfully with references back to her experiences on the Xena set. Most guest stars just blather on about themselves. And, as much as I like Clare, I like her because she was on Xena.
A couple stories she told that were funny:
She got the script from her agent and wasn't told which part she was to read for. She read it and saw the description of Alti "an old bag of bones" and kept reading. When she reached Cyane, she thought - yeah, I could do that. When she was told ... no, you're reading for Alti ... she wasn't entirely pleased with her agent. But she was assured she wouldn't just be a bag of bones.
During the fight in the trees scene, they first filmed it against a blue screen, but it didn't look right. So, they were attached to cables and hoisted up by cranes in the woods and went flying at each other. She said even though she knew Lucy would miss her by a couple feet, when Lucy came screaming, flying at her - it wasn't hard to get the right reaction on film.
In an upcoming ep, she has a sword fight against 7-10 guys. They practiced it a few times and then went to film. The only difference was in the actual shoot, the guys came at her screaming. She was terrified and stopped acting. They had to reshoot. She also had to work on looking like she enjoyed killing people.
She enjoyed working with Lucy. She said the two of them got along real well and joked alot on the set. She also said that Renee was one of the most intense people she had ever met. Renee was behind the lens - learning how to direct - so she was able to interact with her as well.
Someone asked her who was taller - her or Lucy. She said she was taller than Lucy by several inches. They asked about Renee. She laughed and said she was also taller than Renee, but Renee seemed taller. She said that ROC was so intense and on that she seemed to grow in stature and Clare felt like she shrunk.
Clare said that she and Lucy are now golf partners. Of course, both have only played twice. When she was down filming, Lucy gave the world cup trophy and she invited Clare to go with her as her golf partner. They went in a helicopter and played golf, then Lucy presented the trophy. Someone came up and asked them what clubs they used. Both of them just stared at the person until Clare remembered the name of the clubs her boyfriend uses. She said them and Lucy gave her a thumbs up sign. Clare joked that Lucy will now probably receive a free set of those clubs from the manufacturer.
Spoiler info she gave away was that Alti would be a recurring character. That her soul was evil enough to survive even death. She would be in at least three more eps, including the season finale. She said she could only hope to fill in the shoes left vacant by Hudson. She said after filming her eps, she finally saw Callisto. And said - that girl could kick some ass. The crowd went wild. She seems genuinely interested in the series and becoming a feature recurring character. We can only hope. Oh, she also indicated that Alti might have something to do with giving Gabby the haircut, but I'm not real sure about that.
Next up was Steven Sears - the executive producer of Xena and one of the writers. He mentioned it was hard to follow Clare (true, true). He talked mainly about writing the series. He said that by the end this season, both Xena and Gabby would know what their roles in life were. The fifth season would explore how they fulfill them. I really hope so. The angst and the relationship up/downs are really wearing on me this season. He said that X/G are closer than sisters, than family, than blood. That the two characters complete each other. He said that sexual acts don't define romantic love and that everyone can interpret the characters as they want. He said that an upcoming episode "Between the Lines" would deal with reincarnation. I think we're gonna see uber characters, my friends, which would be awesome. He said the upcoming India arc included some of the most satisfying eps ever.
Speaking of those, Sharon of Creation was carrying around a book of photos (which I never got to see) that showed spoilers for upcoming eps. Apparently, they show Gabby's short hair and I have it on good report that she looks gorgeous (but how could she not?) and that it looks like Gabby is painting the Hindu tats onto Xena's back. A couple of us said that the episode could just show that sequence for an hour - or three - and we would find the ep immensely satisifying.
Robert Field, one of the editors of Xena, came next. He was terrific. I love all the behind the scenes stuff (I got to do some video editing for a professional piece once and had a blast). First up was continuity footage. Just showing times when they missed stuff like Gabby's staff changing from left to right hand depending on which shot they used, or Xena's chakram or sword disappearing and reappearing on her. Stuff like that. Pretty funny. He then showed some "lost scenes" from three eps - Destiny, The Greater Good and Sac II. In Destiny, it was Xena's death scene and the fight scene a decade before. Those were first two separate scenes. But Rob T. thought it lacked punch. So, Robert re-edited the two together for what we see now. Not much footage was lost, but the impact was greater together. Rewatch the scene and you'll see what I mean. The scene from The Greater Good was right after Gabby has beaten up the tree. Originally, they had Argo come over and nuzzle Gabby. She has a sweet moment with the horse and promises to come get Argo after the big fight. I was rather glad this was cut. Imo, it looked like all Argo was interested in was some hay lying on the ground. It's hard to act with an animal, that's for sure. In Sac II, I am bummed we lost the footage. It was more of the fireside scene with Callisto and Xena. In it, Callisto admits to Xena that when Solan died, she felt nothing. And that was why she needs oblivion, because even the hatred has died in her. She once again reminds Xena that X created her. I thought it was a nice wrap-up to their relationship. Robert said it was felt that this scene was felt to be redundant and so it was axed. At the end of it, Callisto said to Xena - as X left in a huff - I'm really gonna miss our fireside chats. I miss Callisto so much myself. He then showed Season 3 bloopers. They were pretty funny and too numerous to mention. But what I did see was that Renee and Lucy really are good friends. It was nice to see their interaction on the set and the genuine affection between the two. I don't think I've ever seen another show where the main stars like each other and have nothing bad to say about each other, any of their guest stars, the producers, writers or anyone else. They are a class act all the way.
They had an auction next. On Saturday, the highest price stuff went for $800 for - I think - Kevin Sorbo's briefcase (?). And for a weapon with his signature on it went for $450. Well ... needless to say ... the Xena fans are a bit more affluent. Geez, most things went for $250+. Many for a $1,000. And, yes, a sword used on the set, complete with a scabbard, and signed by Lucy, went for .... $31,000. Wowza. The woman who bought it had previously bought a chakram from the set for $8,800. Nice to have that kind of discretionary income, eh? Anyway, pretty funny to see the difference between Herc stuff and Xena stuff.
Ok, next comes Karl Urban. He looked like roadkill. Baggy jeans, a grey NY t-shirt (might have been white and just soiled, ya know?) and his hair was going in many different directions. He explained his look by saying he was filming a movie with Danielle Cormack (Ephiny) in NZ and he played a dairy farmer. And ... apparently, they don't have bathrooms on the set, or on the plane, or even at the civic center. Oh well. So, his first official act on- stage is to answer the question - boxers or briefs. And then he dropped his pants. Oh my. I don't recall any of the answers to his questions. He pretty much acted like a valley boy, prancing around, flirting outrageously and bragging about his body. Oh well. He was cute, just a little dense.
Finally, finally, finally ... Lucy. She looks fab in person. She wore satin copper colored pants and a dark green sweater tank top. And she had that honking big daisy over her right ear. She looked beautiful. She has definitely been working out - her arms looked more defined than I've ever seen. She seemed happy, relaxed, glad to be with us, and extremely personalable. The audience went wild when she appeared and stayed star-struck throughout.
They tried a new format with her this year. They had brought in a professional in the entertainment community - note, I did not say a professional entertainer - and had her interview Lucy. As many will testify, she stunk up the house. I don't think she has ever seen an ep and she certainly didn't know jack about the series. She asked all the questions 99.9% of us could answer in our sleep about the Flawless One. So, she was useless. I think Lucy was bored out of her mind by her too. She kept tapping her fingers and toes and seemed anxious to get out of the chair they stuck her in.
Now, I liked the idea. I didn't want to her several of the very stupid Con- goers who always ask questions talk to her. And suffer through the torturous requests for hugs, kisses for dead pets named Xena and stuff like that. So, Creation gets points for trying, but geez. I also heard through the rumor mill that Creation gave the interviewer better questions that were more relevant to the current season but the interviewer decided to ignore. Stupid woman.
They also picked a couple people to ask questions. I don't know how they picked these people. And I heard rumor the questions were fed to them by Creation, but I don't know if that's true. Oh well.
Now, back to Lucy. She sang for us. She sang "Loch Lomand" aka "You Take the High Road and I'll Take the Low Road". She sounded great and seemed loose during it.
She was asked if Renee really cut her hair. And Lucy said no. <pause as the audience went wild with relief> She (Lucy) had cut it for her with her chakram. <pause as the audience sighed in disappointment> Then she reassured us that ROC looks awesome. She said one of them had to get a haircut and she picked ROC. <g> Oh well.
One of the interesting comments she made was that she would never choose to be anyone else ... and wouldn't want anyone else to choose another life either. She said "think of all the people you wouldn't know, who wouldn't have the opportunity to love you". She said from watching VH-1 Behind the Scenes, she knew that famous/rich/successful people didn't have better lives. It was a sweet moment.
She thanked us for our support and fandom. She seemed genuinely at-ease with a couple thousand people who adored her. She said she had looked forward to giving something back.
Lucy said she didn't think the Stevie Nicks skit was funny in SNL. She said she didn't get all the jokes about Tex-Mex food because they just don't have it in NZ. So, she kept begging the SNL producers to drop the skit, saying not to patronize her. The reason they put the skit in, btw, is b/c they asked if she could do any impersonations and she admitted to being able to do Stevie Nicks and Chrissie Hyde.
She said Meg was her favorite character to play. (Ugh.) But mostly because she loves comedy. That was clear. I think she has a gift for it, just the Xena writers don't have a gift for writing comedy. A slight problem.
A funny story from the set was a bet she , Renne and Rob Campbell had during the filming of Tsunami. She said that was hard working in the conditions they had - standing in lukewarm water with cold water dripping down for hours each day. There were also some cabbages floating in the water which grew more and more rank as the days went on. So, LL, ROC and RC made a bet - whoever complained first had to pay the others $5,000. <wowza> During one of ROC's shots, Lucy and RC kept floating stinky cabbages her way to make her crack. No one did. But Lucy felt she got close enough to where she probably owed them the money.
She also talked about the filming of Adventures in the Sin Trade I and II. She said it was a hard shoot - cold, rainy. And she was the main focus on just about every scene due to ROC's absence. She said it was hard and she wanted to break down and be complainy. But, she remembered that there were a lot of young actresses on the set and if they saw her act that way, they would think that behavior was acceptable. So she held it together. Good for her! Nice to see responsible stars!!
Overall, she was delightful.
During the autograph signing time, Rob Tapert came out and jumped down into the pit with Clare and Karl. Someone called out asking him marriage to Lucy was like. His response was "paradise found."
Hope this gives you a sense of what the Con was like.