December 2009 Archives

There is a tiny bit of Lucy audio here on Hollywood Breakout site. I can't remember if this was posted around the time of the Spartacus TCA & Comic Con PR tour

Lucy Lawless, Trying to Keep It Real

LUCY LAWLASS, TV’s ever popular XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS, is returning to the small screen in a big way. She’ll be seen as the diabolical Lucretia in the upcoming STARZ NETWORK series SPARTACUS: BLOOD AND SAND. At the recent press conference for the show, LAWLESS talked about her character and how she doesn’t see her in quite the same light that others might.

(Click on the media bar below for audio):

I'm very pleased to welcome Sally Nabil to the Spartacus Artwork section. Sally has created three new pieces that have been added to the gallery:

Click here to view gallery

New Artwork by KatXena

Added new artwork by KatXena of Crixus and Lucretia.

Click here to view

According to The Press newspaper in New Zealand, Lucy will be a guest on Media 7 looking back on the year.

Time: Thursday 31 December 2009:

Media 7 (Thursday, 9.10pm, TV7) Sean Plunket, Peta Mathias, Lucy Lawless, Finlay MacDonald, Mikey Havoc and Pam Corkery look back at the year.

Click here for the official site (they don't list Lucy as yet)

Created some new artwork based on Lucy's character of Lucretia on Spartacus Blood and Sand.

Click here to view!

Other artwork in the series are: (click on the thumbnails for the gallery)

More Spartacus art can be found on the AUSXIP Spartacus Artwork Section.

Starz have posted on their Facebook page a Photo set which is marked as Spartacus's Photos - Spartacus: Blood and Sand Marketing Set.

Click here to view larger images

Greenpeace has released a video montage of all the events related to the Sign On Campaign starting from the press launch of the campaign at Lucy's home in Auckland. Also features the Planet A March and Concert (but no Lucy footage of her at the concert). Set to the music of Split Enz's fantastic song Six Months In a Leaky Boat.

Lucy attended a luncheon in Auckland called Beauty Inside & Out Summit on Wednesday 16 December 2009 with special guest Tyra Banks.

The Herald On Sunday had a report about the event and there is a Lucy mention. There was a no photo policy at the luncheon so I doubt we will be seeing any photos other of Tyra and the officially released images which have no Lucy. It seems the organisers arranged the photo ops with Tyra with selected guests.

The Lucy mention:

"Lawless, other the other hand, did what celebrities in New Zealand rarely do: mix and mingle with non celebs. She chatted to the young people from Starship."

Source: Herald on Sunday - 20 Dec 09

The Women of Spartacus will be show on Starz which has been added to their schedule and pages:

The Women of Spartacus -
Starring: Lucy Lawless, Erin Cummings, Viva Bianca

Genre: Documentary
Episode #5

Meet the powerful, sexy women of 'Spartacus: Blood and Sand' - the groundbreaking new series from Starz. USA - 2010 - TV14

Other Documentary pages Starz have updated:

• Spartacus: Blood and Sand Extras In Production Now
• Spartacus: Blood and Sand Extras Trailer
• Spartacus: Blood and Sand Extras Gladiator Camp
• Spartacus: Blood and Sand Extras Character Long Form
• Spartacus: Blood and Sand Extras The Women of Spartacus
• Spartacus: Blood and Sand Extras The Gladiators

News submitted by Barbara Davies

Spartacus Billboard in LA featuring Spartacus, Lucretia, Batiatus and Doctore!

RT @Scorpio_Sky: Spotted in Los Angeles #Spartacus billboard! #lucylawless @spartacus_starz http://twitpic.com/u2ca7

Click here to view the larger version on Twitter

Wellington, Dec 18 NZPA - New Zealand actress Lucy Lawless says there's a "truckload of blood," in her new cable television series, Spartacus: Blood and Sand, being filmed at Auckland.

""Life was very cheap then," she said of the Roman era in which the sword-and-sandals series was set.

Lawless told the Jacksonville Observer the series was set in hard times: "You're looking for the triumph of the human spirit in a sea of degradation."

The former Xena: Warrior Princess star is working long hours on the series created by her husband, former Xena producer Rob Tapert. The show, to debut on the Starz channel in the USA next month, has Tapert, Sam Raimi and Josh Donen as executive producers.

The show stars Australian actor Andy Whitfield as the gladiator Spartacus, and Lawless as Lucretia, whose husband (John Hannah) owns a gladiator camp. That's very handy for Lucretia, who is sexually voracious and fancies gladiators.

Asked how it was to shoot steamy sex scenes with her husband wandering around nearby, Lawless said: "He doesn't wander around on those days. He's not interested in being part of that equation on set. He's in the office working - on visual effects or editing or whatever. It's not emotional, you know, these scenes. Everybody is very professional and just wants to get the job done."

When she's done for the day, she heads home to Julius, 10, and Judah, 7, her sons with Tapert.

"My kids are of an age where they've had a lot of one-on-one with mum time. Now they've got their own social lives," she said. "They know I'm coming back. They can do without me for 12 hours.

"While it wasn't part of my plan to leave America -- I was having a great life with all my wonderful friends -- it's good for the family," Lawless said.

Lucy has sent the following message to be spread far and wide so here it is:

Gang, All hands on Deck!

I am not as pessimistic as others. Do not lose heart. This Summit will not fail. No matter what, we are part of an irreversible shift in consciousness about our responsibility to Mother Earth. Let's keep the sign-ups happening. Send this out to everyone you know.

WE CAN DO THIS!!!

Love always and everywhere,
lucy L

Copenhagen's last-ditch summit to stop catastrophic global warming is failing; only massive public pressure can save it. Sign the giant petition - it may be the largest in history.

http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_copenhagen_now

On the 13 December, Starz announced that Lucy would be answering questions submitted by fans and the best 10 questions will be submitted to Lucy.

Starz has updated this info with the following news:

Spartacus Reminder: Deadline to submit questions for the Lucy Lawless Q&A ends at 5pm MST today. If you see a question already posted you like or dislike, sign-in and rate the post. Thanks!

http://community.starz.com/starz/board/message?board.id=spartacus&thread.id=117

We welcome Klippart to the new AUSXIP Spartacus Artwork section with two gorgeous wallpapers of the mighty Lucretia!

Click here to view

You can now download the Planet A concert footage from the AUSXIP Lucy Lawless Planet A Concert Page. Videos available are:

Losing My Religion
Fooled Around and Fell in Love
Delta Dawn
GLORIA
Karma (We All Shine On)

I will be uploading the rehearsal video shortly.

Greenpeace has posted some Planet A concert footage including Lucy singing Gloria. I never tire of watching Lucy perform this song; the Planet A concert version is a little tamer compared to the London concert where she just totally went all out.

here is the Greenpeace clip

Starz has released some FANTASTIC wallpapers! Check these out and they are all available in sizes ranging from 1920 x 1200 and 1920 x 1400.

Click here to download

Added two Lucretia / Batiatus promo pictures to the Character Pages which were scanned from Emmy Magazine and US TV Guide.

Click here to view

Emmy Magazine Issue 6, 2009 has a spectacular 10 page article on Spartacus Blood and Sand. Fantastic article with some very interesting info in it.

Included in the promo pics is the elusive Lucretia and Batiatus couple shot that we've seen a small version of. This version takes the whole page :)

It's available to buy online at Zinio.com. Emmy Magazine Issue 6, 2009 Price $5.00 USD

http://www.zinio.com/reader.jsp?issue=416109427&o=int&prev=si&p=62

starting page 55 and it also has a spectacular promo advert for the show near the front of the magazine.

The cover is The Simpsons

There is a brief mention of Lucy attended the Beauty Inside & Out Summit in NZ with Tyra Banks. The following mention was in stuff.co.nz:

The luncheon, billed as the "first ever Global Beauty Inside and Out
summit," featured numerous media and Kiwi celebrities including Lucy
Lawless, Keish Castle-Hughes, Suzanne Paul and Robyn Malcom.

Read More

The Official Spartacus Press page has been updated with rotating images and character info and episode stills.

The screencapture is of Lucy as Lucretia. The others in the series so far are: Spartacus, Batatius and Doctore.

Click on the thumbnail to view the larger image

Click here to view the Press page

Click here for more about Lucy's role as Lucretia

Click here to view Official Spartacus Episode Stills for Episodes 1 - 5

News submitted by Barbara Davies

The Sunday Star Times 13 November 2009 had a brief article about the Planet A concert and it had a cute pic of Lucy with Jason Kerrison relaxing at the concert.

Click here to view

Click here for pictures, news and video on the AUSXIP Lucy Lawless Planet A Concert Page

Click here for more pictures, news, video on the AUSXIP Lucy Lawless Sign On Page

Starz has officially released HQ episode stills for the first 5 episodes and they have been posted to the AUSXIP Spartacus Blood and Sand Episode Stills Gallery - If you wish to remain spoiler free..don't look!

Episode 1 - The Red Serpent (No Lucy/Lucretia pics but she is in the episode)

Episode 4 - The Thing in the Pit (None of Lucy/Lucretia but she is in this episode)

Episode Stills featuring Lucy as Lucretia

Episode 2 - Sacramentum Gladiatorum
3 of Lucy/Lucretia

Episode 3 - Legends
8 of Lucy/Lucretia

Episode 5 - TBA
2 of Lucy/Lucretia

For Canadians, Spartacus to air 25 January 2010 on The Movie Network

There is a higher resolution photo of Spartacus on the main page (click on the thumbnail for the larger scan)

Click here to view site

The episode pages have the following episode stills

Click here to view site

The following was posted on The Official Spartacus Facebook page: Lucy Lawless has agreed to answer 10 questions in an exclusive interview for Spartacus fans. Please post your questions on the Spartacus message board. We will choose the 10 best for Lucy to answer. Deadline to submit questions is Thursday 12/17 5pm MST.

Click here to ask your question!

The Sunday News image of Lucy from the Planet A Concert is now available to buy from the Sunday Stills photo site

Do a search for the following image: GREENPEACE_001_108725.jpg

Read the Sunday News article which was a fantastic interview / article on Lucy.

News submitted by Barbara Davies

The following video has some GORGEOUS Lucy footage from the Planet A Concert. There is no sound other than background music but the photography is outstanding! Early on the video is Lucy singing but towards the end there are photos.

I love photos such as this one (it's my favourite Lucy in concert pose...I find something special in it it). The photographer who created the video and took the images is a kiwi Photographer (thanks Barbara for the link). Check out his site for the Lucy images (under Music galleries).

Created this wallpaper inspired by the new promo pictures that have been posted to the Character Promo Pages - I'm hoping to create a few for each character.

Character: Lucretia (Lucy Lawless)
Batiatus’ equal in every way, she sees every angle and manages situations with a steel grip inside a kid glove. Sexually passionate and longing for a child, she takes Crixus for her lover. She sees Spartacus as a wild animal who cost too much and will bring misfortune upon the Ludus.

There's been some godawful depictions of women on television. Luckily there's been some awesome characters that help make up for it. This list is restricted to series I've seen; I've also ruled out BBC adaptations of classic novels - otherwise it would be nothing but Elizabeth Bennett from Pride & Prejudice or Margaret Hale from North & South.

The Top Five Well-Rounded, Fleshed-Out, Properly Three-Dimensional Female Characters in Popular Television.

#4 Xena Warrior Princess

It's the shameless pick for superhero character of choice. Xena: Warrior Princess is often ridiculed for its Sapphic overtones and high camp episodes - but regular viewers know the series had bold, often epic story arcs, played out by a ballsy yet charming cast. At its centre is Lucy Lawless, undeniably brilliant as the repentant warlord on a quest to undo the wrongs of her past. Not needing Hercules' immortal parentage, or Buffy's "supernatural" powers, Xena is all-woman killing machine, highly-trained, intense, focused, deadly and above all, wise. She struggles with being "good", and the glint of joy in Lawless' eyes during fight scenes shows how much she loves to be bad. Xena's reliance on a tight group of close friends demonstrates the importance social interaction plays in helping people make good choices.

Also, she kicks a lot of ass. And I wish I could kick a lot of ass. And I imagine there'd be a fair few females who would prefer to be avenging self-reliant warriors much more than "Save me!" Disney princesses.

Read More

News submitted by Barbara Davies

Lucy is interviewed for a news segment about John Key going to Copenhagen. The video is from the TVNZ News on 03 December 2009.
Click on the image to see the video or click here

Many thanks to Adi for the news

The Sign On Blog has posted a Planet A March and Concert Highlights. Lucy's seen singing GLORIA and also the finale performance of Karma (We All Shine On).

Click here for pictures, news and video on the AUSXIP Lucy Lawless Planet A Concert Page

Click here for more pictures, news, video on the AUSXIP Lucy Lawless Sign On Page

The Planet A Concert that was streamed on Ziln during the concert is now available to view on the Ziln.co.nz site. This version is pretty good with the occasional loss of sound especially close to Lucy's time but it cleared up just in time for Rhys Darby to introduce Lucy around the 32 minute mark.

Click here to view

Click here for pictures, news and video on the AUSXIP Lucy Lawless Planet A Concert Page

Click here for more pictures, news, video on the AUSXIP Lucy Lawless Sign On Page

The Sign On Blog has a couple of photos of Lucy

Leading the marchers on Saturday, 5 December in Auckland. Lucy with dark hair is third from the right (the word NEEDS is directly where Lucy is located)

Lucy at the Planet A Concert

Read more of the blog

The Sunday News has an EXCELLENT interview with Lucy about the Sign On Campaign and Saturday's Planet A March and Concert in Auckland.

Sunday News 6 December 2009

Warrior Lucy Fights For Planet - Lawless From Xena To Greener Campaigner

LUCY Lawless became a worldwide sensation playing the lead role of Xena: Warrior Princess in the cult TV series. But now the Kiwi actress and mum-of-three is determined to save the planet as an environmental warrior leading Greenpeace's Sign On campaign.

"I just see myself as a human being, a mother and somebody who loves this planet." Lawless, 41, told Sunday News.

Read Full Article

Thousands of people, eager to draw attention to climate change issues, gathered or marched in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch yesterday, calling for a good outcome from the United Nations conference in Copenhagen which starts tomorrow.

Organised as part of the Greenpeace ‘‘Sign On’’ campaign, which calls for a 40% reduction in carbon emissions by 2020, the march in Auckland was followed by a concert featuring Opshop and Don McGlashan.

Boosting the ranks in the City of Sails were Greenpeace celebrity climate ambassadors Lucy Lawless, Rhys Darby and Robyn Malcolm, who have all been vocal about the need for Prime Minister John Key to attend the United Nations climate change conference.

They were pleased that Key has done a U-turn, announcing last week that he will be joining the big-wigs of international politics in Copenhagen after months of saying he was not going to attend.

Lawless said it took a big man to change his mind. ‘‘I’m absolutely thrilled that he’s going. There’s a real groundswell of support for a 40% emissions reduction by 2020 and I’m glad he’s seeing that the people of New Zealand do care.’’

Read Full Article

Here are all the videos from the Planet A Concert including the rehearsal which have now all been uploaded!

AUSXIP Sidekick Jo did an AWESOME job taking the footage. HQ screencaptures from the original footage will also be up shortly.

The videos currently available are:

Rehearsal -
01 Fooled Around & Fell In Love

Concert Footage
01. Losing My Religion | 02. Fooled Around & Fell In Love | 03. Delta Dawn | 04. G.L.O.R.I.A.|  05. Karma (We All Shine On) Group Performance
 
For complete coverage of the Planet A Concert go to the AUSXIP Lucy Lawless Planet A Concert page

Greenpeace has posted some pics from the March and Concert.

Check out the HQ versions on the Greenpeace site

Many thanks to Twink for the news

I'm going to be updating this page as news comes through...latest updates at the top...

Lucy came back on at the end for the final song together with all the performers. She was dressed in a white shirt with her hair in pigtails.Apologies again for the quality..it is set to the highest available for the stream...Lucy did a Xena yell towards the end which was cool.

Alrighty...a recap...The song list was:

Losing My Religion
Fooled Around & Fell In Love
Delta Dawn
G.L.O.R.I.A.

Lucy was AWESOME! She looked and sounded fantastic even with the choppy stream (isn't there a song about choppy streams?), loved the long dark wig, Daisy was in her Sunshine Band as one of the BV's and Lucy's voice was strong. Another great performance!


Apologies for the picture quality - the streaming video wasn't very good across the ditch so  my apologies..here are some screencaptures - better video and pictures to follow from around the web and other places (one hopes).


 

Starz has officially released promo character images for all the main characters on Spartacus Blood and Sand. These are now up on the Character Gallery on AUSXIP Spartacus Blood and Sand - check them out! Enjoy!

01 Spartacus
02 Lucretia
02a Lucretia and Batatius
03 Sura
04 Batatius
05 Doctore
06 Ilithya
06a Ilithya and Glaber
07 Glaber
08 Crixus
09 Varro
10 Asher
11 Barca
12 Naevia
13 Senator Albinius

Official Spartacus competition open to Starz affiliates - Rome is Calling Sweepstakes

CALL CENTER EMPLOYEES, ENTER FOR YOUR
CHANCE TO WIN A TRIP TO ROME, ITALY

You and a guest could experience the beauty of Rome. Simply enter the Rome is Calling Sweepstakes.

Read Rules | Entry Form

GRAND PRIZE:

Includes round-trip air travel, 7 days/6 nights first class hotel accommodations, 48 hour pass for Hop On/Hop Off double-decker bus tour, $1,000 spending money and tax assistance funding.

300 FIRST PRIZES:
Spartacus Gift Packs

Enter once every day during the sweepstakes to increase your chance of winning.

Betrayed by the Romans. Forced into slavery. Reborn as a Gladiator. The classic tale of the Republic's most infamous rebel comes alive in the graphic and visceral new series, "Spartacus: Blood and Sand." Torn from his homeland and the woman he loves, Spartacus is condemned to the brutal world of the arena where blood and death are primetime entertainment. But not all battles are fought upon the sands. Treachery, corruption, and the allure of sensual pleasures will constantly test Spartacus. To survive, he must become more than a man. More than a gladiator. He must become a legend.

News submitted by Barbara Davies

The Official Spartacus site has a great set of rotating images now on the main Spartacus page.

Click here to view

For more on Lucy's role on Spartacus go to AUSXIP Spartacus Blood and Sand

That's the forecast! Drying out about midday (just in time for the march at 1 pm) BUT there may be a chance that this prediction is wrong (it's Auckland weather and Lucy reckons it's unpredictable :) So the following was just sent through to the Sign On Blog with a Lucy quote and a bet from Dr Salinger to Lucy (looks like one of them is going to be buying pina coladas at some point tomorrow) <g>

With just over 24 hours to go until we officially land on Planet A, there is much nervous glancing out the window and logging on to meteorological websites. That said, we're choosing to ignore the story running on Stuff: "Heavy rain predicted for Auckland" and (i never thought i'd say this) but i have also opted to shun the advice of acclaimed climate scientist and Sign On ambassador Jim Salinger. He emailed Lucy Lawless and I yesterday, asking if we had a contingency plan given the shocking state of the weather. "Don't be ridiculous Jim, no one knows anything about Auckland weather!" said the actress to the weather expert. I concurred. He asked me when i'd stopped believing in climate science....

The point being, tomorrow is the day we show the Government and the world New Zealanders care about climate change. And we give the New Zealand delegation to Copenhagen the right send off and challenge, RAIN OR SHINE.

Besides, check out the latest prediction: Fresh easterly winds. Rain and showers from early morning dying out by midday. Skies clearing to partly cloudy by mid afternoon and temperature rising to 20°C by 4 pm.

On the back of that, Salinger has issued the following pledge to Lawless: "If this forecast is wrong then I will shout pina coladas all round, otherwise the shout is on you!"

See you all tomorrow!

For those thinking about going to the Planet A March and Concert ...pack your umbrella, it's going to be a very wet day on Saturday. Rain is forecast.

Auckland Weather Report

Click here for more info about the Planet A March & Concert

Click here for more info about the Sign On Campaign

TV Guide Network checks out some of the hottest actresses from Sci-Fi TV's past and present! Get the scoop on Grace Park, Yvonne Strahovski, Lucy Lawless, Erica Durance and a pair of purrr-fect Catwomen!

Lucy is #12.

Greenpeace Concert goes Live on Ziln
Wednesday, 2 December 2009, 3:06 pm
Press Release: Ziln

Greeenpeace Concert goes Live on Ziln

The Greenpeace "Planet A" concert in Auckland's Myers Park on Saturday afternoon is going to make history!!

It will be the first New Zealand free public concert broadcast live over the Internet and carried on Ziln - New Zealand's internet television service. (www.ziln.co.nz)

Wherever they are in New Zealand, viewers will be able to tune in and watch the concert in high quality over the internet on Ziln.

"Planet A" is the culmination of the Greenpeace "Sign On" Climate campaign and features Midnight Youth, Op Shop, Kirsten Morrell and Don McGlashan, with Greenpeace Ambassadors Lucy Lawless and Keisha Castle-Hughes and MC Rhys Darby.

There'll also be a giant haka to challenge New Zealand's representatives going to the climate summit.

Multi-camera live coverage and streaming of the concert is being provided by e-cast live to the internet on Ziln from 2:30- 6:30 pm on Saturday afternoon.

And from Monday night the entire concert will be available to view on-demand for the rest of the year on the Ziln website - www.ziln.co.nz

Source

Related Sites
AUSXIP Lucy & Planet A Concert Info Page
AUSXIP Lucy Sign On Info Page
AUSXIP Flawless Diva - Lucy's Music Site

Lucy has sent in a new photo to her official site of her wearing an AIDS Red Ribbon as a way to support World AIDS Day 01 December 2009.

Click here for the larger image

More Info
For more information about World AIDS Day go to the Official Worlds AIDS Day 2009 site

Related News
AUSXIP MaryD's Blog - World AIDS Day - 01 December 2009

The film industry in Auckland must breathe a huge sigh of relief every time US producer Rob Tapert arrives in town.

His close links to the NZ city began in the 1990s with the making of the Hercules series and Xena: Warrior Princess and now he is back living there, having just finished making a new swords-and-sandals series, Spartacus, and with a second series of Legend of the Seeker underway.

And with long-time partner Sam Raimi he has shot a "bunch of horror movies" there over the years.

The first series of Legend of the Seeker has just begun on Fox8.

It is based on Terry Goodkind's The Sword of Truth novels and stars Australian actors Craig Horner (Blue Water High), Jessica Marais (Packed to the Rafters) and Bruce Spence (The Matrix Revolutions), along with Jay Laga'aia (Water Rats, Xena), who grew up in Auckland.

When we speak, Tapert is in Sydney on holiday with his wife Lucy Lawless, who starred in Xena and is also in Spartacus.

Read Full Interview

In 2000 Lucy mainly financed and produced a movie called 'Her Iliad’ with writer Jessie Warn. Rated R for strong grisly murders and violence, sex, language and some drug use. This is the only film Lucy has produced/financed (that we know of).

You can now view the film on YouTube

Part 1

Part 2

Video links submitted by Barbara Davies