I Fought The Lawless Cult Times #15 , December 1996 Lucy Xena Lawless reveal the way of the Warrior Princess

Lucy Lawless had her first brush with Universal's new take on Greek mythology with a part in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, playing Lyla in the episode As Darkness Falls. Little did she know that only one episode later she would make her debut as the Warrior Princess, a character that proved popular enough to be the focus of a sister series, Xena.

How did you get the part of Xena in Hercules?

It was a huge and extremely happy, felicitous accident. The girl who was cast as Xena in the episode of Hercules got sick, and [the producers] said, "Oh no, what are we going to do? Why can't we just use Lucy Lawless, she was in the last episode, we think she can do it, she's on the spot..." And the studio said, "Are you out of your minds? We've just used her, and here's a list of five other actresses; we want you to track one of them down [and] bung them in the role.

And one after the other turned it down. And happily enough for me, they managed to find me on some incommunicado camping trip around New Zealand... And two days later I was on a plane, dying my hair and acting the part.

How would you describe Xena?

She's dysfunctional... She's a woman with a devil on her shoulder, so you must watch because you don't know which way she's going to jump. I try to make sure I keep a lid on the character, so the audience doesn't know too much about her, [and] she maintains a mystique.

Do you train hard to keep fit for the role?

I did as much [training] as we could squeeze in! I did some for a few months, but you do not have to be a great martial artist to do the stunt work, and the best training I had was when we were doing it on set.

The best thing I can do to maintain energy and enthusiasm is to try and have a life outside of it. I used to over-train trmendously to try and make up for a lack of athletic prowess, and it just about killed me. So now I try to snatch at least an hour a week of something unpredictable. It's very easy in my position to go from work with the same family of people to being completely alone at home, and you can get lost in it. I'm in the curious position of finding myself a slight misfit outside, thinking "what, I have to feed myself are you out of your mind?" When you have people to tie your shoes - literally - if you are not careful you forget your place in the world as a human being.

Have the trappings of fame taken you by surprise, then?

Completely, and it's only been a year and a half, so imagine what it must be like for those kids in soaps. They must be screwed for life!

I'm not out in the real world, not at all, I don't go to the supermarket anymore; somebody does it for me. I employ somebody to do my real-life stuff. I do not know, I'm ashamed to say, how much a pint of milk costs. And I came down with a bump, you know, on holiday in Turkey, where nobody know who I am... And I thought, "Oh my god! This is the normal amount of attention allotted to one individual? Is this it? I'm being ignored!"

It must be very strange to see yourself on huge billboards as a warrior princess...

When I came to New Zealand, that was different. I was driving along, and - ugh!... They'd picked these very unflattering photos, and it did my jaw drop actually, because in your home town, particularly in New Zealand and Australia, you have to keep a low profile, as far as your own sense of self-importance goes.

It's much more comfortable to do interviews with foreign press than in your home town! I know instinctively how to play the New Zealnad game, which is just to stay out of it! You try to achieve very quietly, and then they will claim you when you've done it.

You've got an 8-year-old daughter, Daisy. Does she watch the show?

She does. I think she's much more proud and impressed with it than she lets on... A bit of the fame rubs off [at school]... It's quite a hit with the kids. Initially she was a bit apprehensive about the way the children would receive it. She didn't want to watch the premiere, and I was puzzled as to why; and after it aired I asked her, "Did the kids mention Xena at all?" And she said, "Well yeah, they really liked it actually; they said they liked it just as much as Hercules!" She was very relieved, because she feared that the kids would say it was dumb compared to Hercules. So they didn't, and I liked that, because kids tell the truth.

Has the character evolved very much over the first year and a half, and how would you like to see her develop in the future?

It constantly evolves. As new influences come into the writer's life, and to mine, we get more daring and we're all constantly trying twists on some line or in the plot. The writers feel very free now to write whatever the hell they want to. We don't aim to be politically correct, and if certain elements are there days then we'll do and twist that too. So just as the audience gets comfortable with something we turn it around, and that seems to work.

You've got to be careful because it's a hero show. The one thing with Xena is that she may not be thick at any time, she may not be stupid. She can be wrong, which is unusual in a heroine's part. I like to play that, it's really uncomfortable because you feel like you're losing your grip on the whole hero thing. If you think, well the audience might not like, well then you're dead. In this series, you're dead. You pander to your audience and they won't thank you for it.

Is there any sense of competitiveness between the two shows?

Not really, because that's the big brother show. As long as we're both up there, as long as we're both vying for [the top positions], we're happy. It's the same family... what's good for them is good for us, and vice versa.

What are your ambitions for future roles, after Xena?

The closest thing I have to mentors would be Susan Sarandon and Helen Mirren, who are sensual and fiercely intelligent, and bloody good at their jobs... But I would like to play somebody intellectually challenged, or just somebody slightly thick, that would be fun.

But I intend to be in this for a long time. It's so challenging. I do absolute farce, very intense drama, action... There are few women in America who can do action, and I am also stretched in every other direction; as an actress pure and simple, it's very versatile, and the action part was a big surprise to me. I'm a very lucky woman to have this role.

FIVE FAB FACTS

Xena and Hercules were created by Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert, perhaps better known for a wealth of horror films including Darkman and the Evil Dead series.

Another connection with Evil Dead is Bruce Campbell, star of the films and now a recurring guest star in both Xena and Hercules as Autolycus, the King of Thieves.

The producers of the show aren't resting on their laurels with just two hit series. They have plans not only for an animated version of Hercules, but also a Young Hercules feature film.

Lucy's co-star in Xena, Renee O'Connor (who plays Gabrielle), also had a role in the "big brother" show. She played Deianeira in the feature-length Hercules and the Lost Kingdom.

Future episodes of Xena include on where Lucy plays three characters - the Warrior, the Princess and the Tramp - and a Halloween special featuring Xena and Gabrielle dressed as Bacchae, which is apparently paked with "sexual energy"...

John Binns