Muscling the competition, HERCULES: THE LEGENDARY JOURNEYS has scaled Mount Olympus (i.e. the Nielsen numbers) en route to achieving a noble goal: dispersing prosperity among the land's proprietors (i.e. making a ton of money for the syndicators). The show's U.S. producers, dipping into New Zealand's talent pool, cast Lucy Lawless in four of the first season's episodes. Lawless clicked with the public; her warrior queen was subsequently reprised not as the Big Guy's sidekick, but as the title character in a spin-off series XENA.Pausing before her 7:30 a.m. workout, Lawless reacts to my admission that "sweating it out" is incompatible with such an ungodly hour. "That's right," she responds, nailing me on my Altoona, Pennsylvania grooming. "Americans who aren't from the west coast don't have a natural propensity for going to the gym have they? I don't either - but they're making me!" As she slips on a pair of sneakers, I congratulate Lawless on flawlessly executing the physical demands of the Xena role. " Awww, I'm faking it," she playfully grins while launching into jog.
Prior to her involvement with HERCULES, Lawless labored in New Zealand and Canadian productions. Assignments included co-host of AIR NEW ZEALAND HOLIDAY, a travel magazine show, and smooching with teen idol Rick Springfield on an episode of his syndicated series, HIGH TIDE. "It was obviously the thrill of my career at that time," Lawless recalls. "It was cool, man!" I ponder - "Wonder what Springfield's been up to, lately?" There's a slight pause. "You just did the perfect imitation of his voice!" exclaims an astonished Lawless. "He's got a really high voice. He was very nice. I like that about a person. Kissing him was like being thrown back to the eighth grade!"
"Xena knows about the darker side of human nature since she must battle it within herself every day." Lawless subsequently appeared with Oscar-winner Jon Voight in THE RAINBOW WARRIOR, a fact-based ABC production about the anti-nuke group, Greenpeace. TV ads supplemented her income, with variant roles ranging "from a lovely mummy to a harassed professional woman coming home after work, and finding that all the electrical appliances have come to life for her. Lights dance around vacuum cleaners, bring me my slippers.
I've done what I guess is considered a lot of commercials down here. They're all pretty good ads. I'm not ashamed of them. I've avoided advertising Tampax - oops! sorry, don't use a brand name! - I mean, feminine hygiene products. Not that there's anything wrong with them, you understand [laughs] - but who needs the money?" A busy schedule notwithstanding, Lawless continues to squeeze-in freelance work - including commercial voice overs and stage - upon retiring from the XENA set.
Making her debut in the spear n'sandal arena, the six-foot Lawless was cast as Lysia, a swashbuckling enforcer in HERCULES AND THE AMAZON WOMEN, the first of five two-hour "Action Pack" movies produced for television. Ratings prompted the transition to a TV series, and Lawless was engaged for a role as Lyla, the gallant bride of Deric the Centaur, in an episode titled "As Darkness Falls." Premiering her Xena character in "The Warrior Queen" episode, Lawless delivered as a vicious soldier who leans on her femininity to seduce Iolaus (Michael Hurst) into rebelling against his pal, the mighty Herc. Lawless encored as Xena in "The Gauntlet" episode, avenging herself against usurpers who smeared her name and disbanded her army.
"It almost makes me sick to think of it now," recounts Lawless. "It was a series of coincidences which brought Xena to me. The original lady from America got sick. The producers said,'Why don't we see if Luce will do it?' The studio said, 'No, no. You've already used her! We've got a list of five people here and we want you to call them. 'Everyone of them said, 'Yes!' then had to pull out for some reason.
"The producers finally managed to track me down. I'd gone on a camping holiday to get the camping experience just once, which I'm never doing again [laughs]! The producers rang all sorts of relatives and camping grounds. Anyway, they found me and said, 'Do you want to do the show? You have 30 seconds to get up here!' Xena was supposed to die at the end of 'The Warrior Queen,' and still isn't dead."
One requisite for the role was that damn training ritual at the gym. "Fighting is like doing a dance," Lawless explains. 'You do it to an extent, a double comes in and does it, then they try to clip as much of you into the fight as possible [laughs]! We're working on giving me muscles and making me run like a sprinter. I used to jog quite a lot. It's not the same as that lion-like brace that a sprinter has. There are things you can do to just work your body, and give yourself that kind of power. I've also been training with swords and weapons, as well as martial arts for playing the warrior queen. We're working on the basics right now, because I'm not the sort of person who has been fighting with swords all my life!"
Lawless & Kevin Sorbo (Hercules) come clean [sic - this is Michael Hurst (Iolaus) with Xena]. Lawless endures a routine quota of aches and pains per fight scene - naturally, that fetching costume makes her all the more vulnerable to the pokes, punches and mauling. "It's very bruising," she smiles. "My husband was embarrassed to be seen with me for about a month after shooting, because I was so mottled [laughs]! I don't own any discreet clothing, so he didn't want to look like a wife beater or something."
The role of Hercules has earned Yank actor Kevin Sorbo plenty of media attention in the U.S. Prior to lifting boulders and crashing toga parties, Sorbo was introduced to European audiences as "the Jim Beam guy." Just ask Lawless, his former supporting player: "Everybody in the world knows the Jim Beam guy. Americans don't. You can't advertise hard liquor, can you? In the little amoral countries, he's a big star! He's great, a good man. He never comes not having done his work. I've worked with Americans before, but he's as prepared as anyone. We've seen a lot of superstars who come down and haven't done any preparation. I guess that will come as the series progresses - Kevin will do a little less work [laughs]. No, I'm just joking. He's really good."
Our conversations drifts into a checklist of cultural contrasts between New Zealand and America. "We had a sort of gay Mardi Gras recently," says Lawless. "The American producer was down here and couldn't believe all the women's breasts around. He said, 'This just wouldn't happen in the States!' We have no morals at all! There were families gathered and we had our seven-year-old daughier there. I had to leave when the S&M float came along - not that there's anything wrong with S&M, you understand! - I thought maybe my kid had seen enough then. But she never blinked. It was cool."
Her role in HERCULES AND THE LOST KINGDOM prompted Renee O'Connor's casting as Xena's advocate. I note that "gay pride" in the U.S. is likely to be publicly displayed but with more restraint. Surprised? "No," replies Lawless, who brandishes a thorough understanding of colonial morality. "That Bible Belt mentality goes through the whole country. I love to watch OPRAH, and see these awful Nazis stand up and just tear strips off some poor, unwed mother. That's disgraceful. There are a lot of good things about America. It's not fashionable down here to say so, and never really has been.
"My family and I visited Los Angeles recently, and had a great time there. We really liked the people. It was really telling; not just the way they treated us, but the way they treated one another. The people we met listen to each other. If they don't like what's said, they'll go, 'Goddamnit! - ' It's out in the open and they care enough to explain what they mean. They regard one another. I like that."
Seems to me that New Zealand isn't the only country where pro-U.S. sentiments are unpopular. Does an intolerance for Americans prevail in Europe? "I don't think you'd find that attitude on a one-on-one basis," replies Lawless. "We like the accent. We kind of like Americans but, I for example, can't behave like an American and get away with it." And how do Americans behave? "You can't be that BIG," deadpans Lawless, "‹you can't talk that big down here. If you dream big...well, shut up and get on with it. Then, when you make it, everyone will claim you as their long-lost little brother. Otherwise, they'll sort of say, 'Come on, don't get up yourself!"'
Working closely with an Auckland trainer, Lawless has also been instructed by martial arts master Douglas Wong (DRAGON: THE BRUCE LEE STORY). I tell Lawless that the phrase "up yourself" would be interpreted by Americans as a profanity.
"It's naughty?"
You betcha, it's the equivalent of "Up yours!"
"That's what it means here," shrugs Lawless, "but we say a lot of things like that which are kind of endearments...like, 'Aw, you old bugger' [laughs]. It's an endearment. It depends on how you say it. Like my dad, who's just this lovely old Catholic gentleman, will say, 'Well, I'll be buggered!' It's just common. It doesn't mean anything. It's part of America's nature to be expansive and generous of spirit. That's something that really impresses me. That openness is something you take for granted. I love my friends over there."
Beyond the physical regimen, Lawless' adherence to her professional obligations provokes another hardship; separation from her family, sometimes for weeks. Lawless is relieved when her daughter visits the set, though the kid seems to have acclimated herself to mum's work habits. "She's been on movie sets before," explains Lawless. "She thinks everybody's mummy does it. We were sitting in a car in L.A. and she's saying, 'Yeah, after a couple of years, go to L.A. and get your own show' [laughs]. It's this perfectly natural progression for her."
"Out of the mouths of babes comes great wisdom," says yours truly, grinning.
"Pardon me?" inquires Lawless with raised voice, her blue eyes spitting fire. "Babe? Are you calling me a babe?"
"Whoa, who me? I was referring to your pre-adolescent daughter as a a 'babe.' Are my semantics getting in the way?"
"Yeah," Lawless chuckles. "Semantics. There is actually a world of vast differences that make it hard for us to understand one another sometimes. "
Breathing easier, I mention that I'd like to spend more time in New Zealand, its beauteous floriculture serving as backdrops in XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS.
"You'd have to be bored with America just to come down here and freshen up," replies the customarily candid Lawless. "Just as a small example‹the forests, the ranges‹you've got everything you want in the States; it's at your beck and call. When you come down here, you'll find things a lot different so you've got to not want creature comforts, services and all that to appreciate the place. Because if you're looking for a little America, it's not gonna be here. So, yeah! Come on down! The water's fine!"
