January 2019 Archives

We have details of the 2020 Xena Convention in Los Angeles to celebrate Xena's 25th Anniversary. I've added a 2020 Xena Convention Page for all the news as it comes in. You can find it here:

http://ausxip.com/conventions/2020LAX/

All the news related to the convention will be posted on that page. Here's today's announcement from Creation:

Set your calendar! Creation Entertainment will be presenting A Salute to Xena’s 25th Anniversary on August 28-30, 2020 at the Hyatt Regency Los Angeles Airport giving fans from around the globe the opportunity for a once-in-a-lifetime celebration of the series and its stars that made it what it is!

It’s hard to believe it will be 25 years since Xena: Warrior Princess first aired in 1995! As a spin-off from the popular series Hercules, Xena was praised for having strong female protagonists, including Xena and her comrade-in-arms Gabrielle who took up their chakram and staff to help those in need.

Played to perfection by Lucy Lawless and Renee O’Connor, respectively, the epic journeys of Xena and Gabrielle have stood the test of time, became part of pop culture history, and, more important, our social culture, placing strong women heroes as stars of major television shows and films. The show gained a loyal and adoring fan base whose support for the series continues to this day.

Over the past two decades, Creation Entertainment has had the honor of presenting many wonderful Xena fan conventions. The Salute to Xena’s 25th Anniversary convention in 2020 will provide attendees with three days filled with wonderful celebrities, special events, and fond looks back at what made the fandom and the conventions such memorable events. Confirmed talent includes fan favorites: Michael Hurst ("Iolaus"), Jennifer Ward-Lealand ("Zehra/Boadicea"), Brittney Powell ("Brunhilda") and more to come!

If you were a Gold patron at the 2015 Xena Convention in Burbank, you are eligible to purchase a Gold Weekend ticket, prior to them going on sale to the general public. If you’re interested, please contact us at leticia.serafin@creationent.com and on the subject line type "XENA 2020" (as we will have a list of the people who purchased the 2015 tickets).

Our room block is filling up fast! Click here for details on how to reserve your hotel room TODAY, and make sure to check back for more guest announcements the closer we get.

We look forward to celebrating this milestone anniversary with the Xena family!

Your friends at Creation Entertainment

LOS ANGELES, CA
Fri., Sat. & Sun.
August 28-30, 2020

Hyatt Regency Los Angeles Airport
6225 West Century Blvd.,
Los Angeles, CA 90045

Confirmed Talent:
Michael Hurst Iolaus (Day TBD)
Jennifer Ward-Lealand Zehra/Boadicea (Day TBD)
Brittney Powell Brunhilda (Day TBD)
(More talent announcements to come soon)

Hotel Rooms:
Flat Rate: $169.00 Single (One King Bed), $169.00 Double (Two Double Beds)
Call 1-424-702-1234
Or use web link: Coming soon.
Cutoff Date: August 6, 2020
Parking Rate: Self-parking day use: $22.00 per vehicle/day. Self-parking overnight: $30.00 per vehicle/day

Airport Transportation:
Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)
Airport Phone: +1 855-463-5252
Hotel direction: 1 block east of LAX.
Hotel provides 24-hour complimentary airport shuttle service
Estimated taxi fare: $12 USD (one way)
Visit LAX airport website: https://www.flylax.com/

What if an animal working under oppressive circumstances could suddenly stand upright and rebel against his master? Thoriphants are pack animals, living an arduous life under the oppression of their cruel owners. But one family discovers an ancient secret that turns their world inside out. Thoriphants were not always four footed. They once walked upright and had hands. What caused this devolution? Do the uprights still exist? Courageous Mosley sets out to find their ancient city, but will a hired bounty hunter find him first? Mosley and his adorable son Rue must learn to face their fears and unlock the secret magic that can transform them into powerful uprights.

Leads include Markus Kristensen (art director/cinematographer), Mark Bowen (compositing), Jo-Ellen Bowen (lighting), Chris Omundsen (effects), Tahlia Garnier (surfacing), Brandon Dunn (texture), Morgan Loomis (character supervisor), Simon Jackson (dynamics), and Kathy Toon, Grant Watkins, and Brent Walsh (editorial). Harry Hansen and Alain Mayrand composed the film score. Voice cast includes John Rhys-Davies, Lucy Lawless, Rhys Darby, and Temuera Morrison.

Lotus Entertainment is selling the film internationally. Pre-sales include Australia/New Zealand (Rialto), Russia/C.I.S. (Top Film Distribution), China (China Film Group), Czech Republic/Slovakia (Fenix Distribution), Bulgaria, ex-Yugoslavia, and Romania (Programs 4 Media Limited), Israel (Five Stars), Middle East (Eagle Films), Portugal (Nos Lusomundo), South Africa (Filmfinity), and Vietnam (Ram Indo). No U.S. distributor has signed on yet.

Mosley is produced by Daniel Story, Trevor Yaxley, and Bill Boyce for Huhu Studios, Peikang La for China Film Co., and Huang Jun for China Film Animation. Executive producers are Tony Bancroft, and Jack Sheehan and Jeremie Guiraud for Lotus Entertainment.

Read More

https://www.cartoonbrew.com/feature-film/indie-cg-fantasy-feature-mosley-unveil-teaser-trailer-169568.html

http://collider.com/mosley-trailer/

2020 is going to be EPIC! Creation Entertainment has announced A Salute to Xena’s 25th Anniversary on August 28-30, 2020 at the Hyatt Regency Los Angeles Airport!

The Xena Horde are going to stream in from around the world!

For those going to the convention, AUSXIP will also have the new book celebrating Xena's 25 Years called "Xena: Their Courage Changed Our Lives" available to pick up a few days before the official release on September 4, 2020!

If you would like to submit your story on how Xena changed your life, go to http://xena25years.ausxip.com plus you can enter the art competition, video, and other goodies!

Here's the announcement!

Tweet from Huhu Studios about the upcoming animated film MOSLEY where Lucy does the voice of Bera.

Introducing the one and only @RealLucyLawless as BERA! What an honour to work with such a legend! We can't wait to share her wonderful work on Mosley with you all. MOSLEY coming to cinemas worldwide in early 2019... #mosley #mosleymovie #huhustudios #lucylawless

Source: https://twitter.com/HuhuStudios/status/998717187157196800

Stuff.co.nz has an article about actors and how they felt unhappy with their roles. Lucy is also featured as she felt uncomfortable to be thrust in the role of a role model for her portrayal of Xena.

A lot of us hate our jobs, so it makes sense that a few actors have been left unhappy with the roles they've been cast to play. But hey, you gotta work…A few Kiwis have also spoken about how the roles they've been cast in have made them uncomfortable.

And on the other end of a scale, actors such as Lucy Lawless have talked about how uncomfortable they felt to suddenly be held up as positive or progressive icons.

To be a role model, all of a sudden, can be confronting.  After the first season of Xena: Warrior Princess, Lawless shot to stardom. She was held up, by many, as a feminist icon and a sign of big changes in the entertainment industry. 

"Xena was held up as a fat girl's Barbie at first and I was like 'You're just objectifying me'. I had never been described before in print and it horrified me to be reduced down to a few words," she said, in an interview with Entertainment Weekly.

"Now I see the value of it. At 25 and 26, I couldn't bear to be iconised, because it's so reductive."

Read Full Article

52 celebrities you probably forgot were on 'Veronica Mars': Lucy Lawless, who you may recognise from “Parks and Recreation,” had a small role. The Xena: Warrior Princess star played FBI Agent Morris who takes over the investigation of Duncan Kane’s disappearance.

and some more photos:

and some screencaptures

Queering the air: The highs and lows of LGBTQ characters on TV - features Xena (of course because there wouldn't be a list featuring lesbian characters without our dynamic duo (yes yes they weren't OFFICIALLY a lesbian couple but now it is official and all although Xena was bisexual - you know that whole bad boy thang she had going for a while.

We won't talk about Gabrielle's dalliance with Ioalus (now that was awkward), that short lived whateveritwas thing she had with the bard in the Academy and then of course...who can forget Perdicus (we would like to). Dear ol' Perdi. Long story short...Xena and Gabrielle were lovers. End of debate.

Here's the blurb the Spin Off had about our girls

A few years later another television show would give rise to a queer icon in the form of Xena, played by Kiwi actor Lucy Lawless. It was queer shipping before shipping was a thing: with fans taking the relationship between kick-ass warrior babe Xena and her dutiful (and beautiful) lady companion Gabrielle (Renee O’Connor) and running with it.

As Lawless recalls on the new RNZ podcast Pop! Culture: “Renee and I were standing on the side of set and Rob, who’s now my husband, the executive producer, brought in a fax… of a Village Voice article which was talking about these two queer women kicking ass on TV. And we were really amused because it’d never occurred to us’!”

Lawless has since gone on the record saying that Xena was “definitely” gay, but back in the 90s if queer representation existed at all, it was almost entirely sub-textural.

“The line in the first episode of Xena [that resonated] was Gabrielle saying “I’m not the little girl that my parents wanted me to be”, and I just thought, ‘Oh well that’s normal teenage angst’… But all the gay girls out there knew! The message was clear to them,” says Lawless.

Hungry for stories they could relate to, queer audiences got good at scanning media for clues – and media makers got better at planting them. Famously, car manufacturer Subaru targeted the lesbians who loved to buy their cars by placing a car in an ad with the number plate “XENA LVR”.

Read Full Article

Film Victoria has released the schedule of when My Life is Murder will start filming.

Currently in Pre-Production:

MY LIFE IS MURDER
CJZ
Shoot: 11th Feb 2019
Wrap: 25th May 2019

Source: https://www.film.vic.gov.au/choose-victoria/in-production/

You can find out more about Lucy's role as Alexa Crowe on the new Australian TV Show "My Life Is Murder" by going to the AUSXIP Lucy Lawless My Life is Murder site

I think USA Today got this right. Hercules: The Legendary Journeys gave us one of the best spinoffs on TV. Far superior to Hercules.

If at first you do succeed, try, try again. Television spinoffs, which seem to have been around since the invention of the cathode-ray tube, are in the spotlight again. Of the legion of offshoot alternatives, some have spun peripheral concepts into gold. Others simply became canceled dross. Our take on the best and the worst:

'Xena: Warrior Princess' (Syndicated)

Few probably remember "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys," but its spinoff, "Xena: Warrior Princess," is a pop-culture touchstone that's easily identifiable even if you've never seen an episode. "Xena" outstripped "Hercules" in every way, from the magnetic talent of stars Lucy Lawless and Renee O'Connor to its irresistible campiness.

See full list

Lucy sent a reply to a fan asking about her health. She's on the mend from her concussion.