F:\con report for lucy lawless

Report by:

Sashi Alexandra German, <sashi@feith.com>

THIS POSTING CONTAINS --SPOILER-- INFORMATION. DO NOT PROCEED FURTHER IF YOU ARE NOT INTERESTED IN READING ABOUT UPCOMING EPISODES

On a rather chilly day in late September, Lucy Lawless appeared at her very first East Coast convention. This was an event eagerly awaited by hundreds of Xena fans because the show had been on the air for a full two years and there had been no chance in our area to see Lucy at all.

Well, Sunday came -- with the convention starting at the early hour of 8:30am because Lucy had to appear early in order to make her afternoon matinee in "Grease" on Broadway where she was playing the part of Rizzo. She was originally scheduled to be on at 10:00am, but instead arrived at 11:00am. She was scheduled to appear for an hour, but we only got her for 50-minutes. A shame because the caliber of questions for this convention were rather poor.

Lucy came on stage wearing a black skirt and a white long sleeved kneck-lined shirt with black sandals. She looked *terrific*. She bounced all over the large stage which faced a huge auditorium which was a bit over half filled (much to my surprise). She took questions from a mic off to the side, but walked across the stage several times so people on both sides could see her.

This can't be a very long review for the simple reason that she gave out little information. For any of you who have attended a Star Trek convention with Terry Farrell (DS9's Dax) you know the routine -- people (men, women and A LOT OF children) come to the mic only to say "Hello" and say how much their worship the guest. That was exactly what this was like... with getting few questions during the 50 minutes while fans said things to her. Perhaps this was due to the fact that some people had never been to a convention before and didn't realize that it was a bit of a waste of time for the rest of the audience with dozens of people professing their love instead of asking questions. Perhaps it will be better next time.

She started out by saying that she had a cold, so hugging people (the many at the mic who asked) was something she declined.

XENA: The series has been renewed through the year 2000! This was met with thunderous applause! When asked about how the stunts are done, Lucy said she has no less than six stunt doubles working for her. She says they are varying sizes. If you don't see her face during a stunt, (those air flips, for instance) than it's not her. "Some stunts are way too lethal and we leave that to the experts." A woman named Gerri does her flipping stunts. "She wears a lot of fiberglass underwear with wires and a harness and is very uncomfortable." She said it takes a lot out of a person. She said some of the stunt work she does is often difficult, "You have to give up all notion of what a life is like." She said she just bears down and learns how to do things and doesn't complain, "The whole process would suffer if I were a hag." They all have to suffer together in poor weather and the crew doesn't get paid anywhere what she does... so she doesn't feel like complaining. Does the Xena character come from mythology? Lucy joked that Xena is actually "the power behind all the mythological stories like Hercules." She said the Xena stories come from the "Xena Scrolls" that creator and Executive Producer Robert Tapert "dug up." Of all the characters she has played on Xena and Hercules (including twins) which is her favorite? She said Meg: she has definitely had the most fun with that character. And she did a sentence or two in Meg's voice of us - brought the house down! There's a new episode coming up, "Warrior... Priestess... Tramp" that we should all look forward to (which features Meg once again). When asked what the Warrior Princess (and her companion) do for a hobby, Lucy replied they often play "20 Questions" when they travel. "I tease Rene mercilessly but she can hold her own." At two different points during her talk she asked all the men in the audience why they watch? (Some of us in the audience were snickering because we guessed they couldn't possibly be watching because she was scantily dressed in leather, now could it?) Among the few responses she got: * "I love you" *"I think you kick ass" * Enjoy the period of time series is set in (SCA fans) Lucy was asked if there would be a contest open to the general public where one could win a trip New Zealand and the set of Xena. Lucy said she didn't think that would happen, "We have to keep our minds on the show. Very few guests come" on stage. "We have to chug along like a train in filming" because she and Rene are in almost every scene. Having visitors like that would be a distraction. There are no plans to change the Xena outfit "because we worked all the bugs out of it." Lucy freely commented on "The Friendship" (Xena and Gabrielle) and how "you can make any damn thing you want" out of it. She said she was tired of the "gay bashing" and that "these characters should transcend being labeled. What they do with their own time is their own business." Someone asked about the violence on the show and did she think there was too much of it? Lucy said they have guidelines about the violence - they can't really show any blood. But often when people talk about the violence in the show her response is, "What violence?" because she is so focused on acting and the story. Will we be seeing any good villains? Hudson Leik will be returning as Callisto. "I hope she will be around for a long time. If she doesn't go off on her own show." She said they should "never get rid of good villains." Lucy talked about some of the things coming up this season, including Xena going to Mongolia. She laughed, how, "for some reason, I had to take my clothes off in a cold country!" This series of episodes will also address "trouble brewing between the two friends." She said she and Rene O'Connor had to remind themselves "to see the thread of love to find their way back to the friendship." She referred to Gabrielle in the story as "that do-gooder tree-hugging sneak." Someone asked about Argo, and will we ever see her again? Lucy said that Argo is back... the horse didn't appear for awhile because she wasn't completely healed after her accident and couldn't ride the horse just yet. But Argo is back this (3rd) season. I missed the original question (lousy audio at times), but she was asked about working with animals -- and chimpanzees. She said they were very smelly and when she heard they were going to appear in a Hercules episode, she had a good laugh. Did she ever expect the show to be this successful? Lucy did a sweeping gesture with her hand, pointing to the whole audience, "Ever expect this?" She said her naiveté made her think it wouldn't be popular in America, but is quite happy that it has caught on. The show has gone way beyond what she ever dreamed it would. The last question of the session was asking her what her favorite series episode was. She said she couldn't name any off the top of her head because "there are too many." She said the China ones (coming up this season) were very difficult to film, "hated it" but they may wind up being the best episodes. She also has a strong affinity for the comedies which "feed to my natural impulse to goof around." She gets to relax when shooting the comedies while the "dramas are the real killers" and are the most mentally challenging.

GREASE: At one point during her talk she asked how many in the audience had seen her in the play and there were *lot* of hands that shot up in the air. She will be remaining in New York City until October 19th when she has her last performance of "Grease." Four days later they start filming the rest of Xena's third season and she has to be on a plane to New Zealand right away. When asked about seeing people after her daily performances of "Grease" she said she only sees mostly charity people because she doesn't have very much time.

PERSONAL:

Lucy was asked if she was friends with trainer Douglas Warren - yes. And with Kevin Sorbo as well. Douglas trained her out of Los Angeles and she doesn't see him that much anymore. She said they're "wonderful friends." She knows some French, German and Italian. She learned some Hebrew during her a trip to Israel (didn't say when). At one point a man came to the mic and started speaking to her in French and she responded in kind. She was asked if she was doing a song album: No. There's the Xena soundtrack with on song of hers on it. Then there will be the soundtrack out when the Xena/Hercules animated movie comes out -- she has some songs on it. One of the songs is a "pop ballad" that she sings when "Gabrielle is turned into a big old bird by the bad old gods." She was asked what day was her birthday and replied that her mother had so many children that she actually couldn't remember Lucy's birthday. For years she celebrated it on the wrong day -- never learning this until she turned 18. She continues to celebrate it on the wrong day to this day. Lucy was asked about the American accent she uses -- is it hard? She said she's been using it for so long now that it comes rather naturally. Lucy talked about her singing, and how, during the ages of 15-18 she trained in classical opera. She feels she was too young to be in such serious study, in addition to the fact she feels she "learned some bad things" when learning how to sing. Her doing "Grease" is her way of "getting over my phobia of singing in public." A kid from Australia asked her what she thought of New York. "People are cool. I can never be considered obnoxious in this town." She said the city is jammed with things to do. She said she and her daughter, Daisy, have done a number of things in New York, including picking apples, "things to make her feel grounded. To prove that New York is a living, real place." She said Daisy enjoys many of the perks of being in new York. On the subject of Daisy, she said her daughter was, at first, a little freaked out over the publicity concerning her mother and TV show. However, over time, she 's gotten used to and the perk with living with a famous mom. The two are planning to visit the Bronx Zoo -- and in what appeared to be a funny coincidence, a member of the Bronx Zoo hospital was there and offered to give Lucy and Daisy a personal tour and even show them all the animals named after Xena. Lucy replied that she's never quite certain what to feel about pets being named after her character, "Hey, I named you after my dog, a Bull Terrier!" Another kid came up to the mic and commented on beautiful Lucy was - Lucy laughed and replied, "It takes four people three hours a day" to get her to look so good. Lucy was asked about other work, as an actress, she would like to do aside from Xena: "Well, I was thinking of doing a musical..." She said every time she does something other than Xena, she realizes all the more how she loves the Xena role. She said what other terrific role was there for a woman aside from Xena? Someone shouted from the audience about doing "She-Ra" (cartoon comic book character), I don't think Lucy replied to that. Is Lucy looking to see anyone soon? She said she's actually seeing someone right now (rumored to be series creator and Executive producer Robert Tapert who, weeks later, she is now officially engaged to). Lucy was asked about her first TV Guide interview where she said her favorite role model was Wonder Woman (Lynda Carter). Lucy said no, and that she really didn't remember saying that. She said her sister was into Wonder Woman. "It was an early interview... I had to say something nice." She said we should be happy about any woman getting a role in Hollywood. One teenager came to the mic and said that she really admired Lucy a great deal because she, herself, had recently hurt her back very seriously and when she saw Lucy recover so well from breaking her pelvis earlier in the year -- it was a beacon of hope to her that she would get better too (met with much applause). Comic Book artist Amanda Connor presented Lucy with a special rendering of Xena, just for Lucy. Connor commented that her father has a lot male friends who weekly force their daughters to sit down and watch Xena as a positive role model. Her best friend on the set is Rene. They both get along very well and Lucy said she felt she could tell Rene anything and never have to pretend about anything. She was asked about how she signs her name - her middle name is Frances and she always signs her initials. Tom Simpson, the owner of Tom's Xena Page (http:www.xenafan.com) introduced himself, and explained how he and his fiancé met through the Internet because of the Xena TV series. Lucy congratulated him.

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