Lucy Lawless
WHEN
Lucy Lawless breezes into a room, she takes your breath away, but not for the reasons might you think. First, she looks about as much like Xena: Warrior Princess as I do. There's no signature black leather mediaeval
corset, no weapons and she's not even on horseback!
This Lucy Lawless is not the embodiment of the kick-ass warrior princess we all know and love -sitting with me in this Beverly Hills hotel suite. She's is a hip, straight talking, conservatively dressed (no leather and
proper shoes] New Zealander with a head for business (movies and TV) and a sense of humour to back it up.
Today, we're here to chat about her movie Eurotrlp (American Pie takes a twisted vacation), the teen comedy that puts her back in leather, including a whip, as the hilarious Dutch Mistress of S&M, Madame Vandersexxx.
The Xena: Warrior Princess Season Three DVD on Region 1 includes all 22 of the original episodes; it's digitally re-mastered with all the belts and whistles one could ask for, plus nine hours of new material. How
would you say it compares with the other DVD packages of Xena?
Compared to seasons before, it's got Rene [O'Conner] [typos are theirs] and I together with Rob Tapert, whose my husband and the executive producer, doing a B-track for certain episodes. And it has all the
episodes of that season, plus we did Commentaries by directors offering insights into behind the scenes and I've received letters from people who are really thrilled and perplexed by seeing the real us.
Thrilled and perplexed? Why is that?
Watching the characters and how we laugh at all the inappropriate moments - because that was a comedy set too, Xena.
Really, I never thought of Xena as a comedy before.
If you're going to flame a two-headed man or whatever, that's comedy! (Laugh) Even though it might be dressed up as drama. We're all laughing our heads off and when we're watching these things, so we have a totally
different viewpoint than the fans. And so I think the new DVD gives them insight into what the intention was because they take it very seriously.
How hands-on are you when it comes to releasing DVDs for Xena? How involved do you get?
Not at all, I'm not interested in calling the shots. I'm an actress.
When you see a Lord of the Rings movie, do you find yourself watching it and saying, 'Oh, I know where that location is? And I remember filming at this place'?
Sometimes, or I spot people in the background
and I go, "Oh my God, that was the wardrobe woman who was on Xena!" Like at the wedding at the end those were crew-members, the people in the audience. And I'm so thrilled - you know, sometimes you see a movie that you
were up for and you see they didn't do a great job, you think What a waste'. But when you see that kind of film mastery that (director) Peter [Jackson] and (screenwriter) Fran [Walsh] achieved you've got to give them all
their props.
What momentous film-making Return of the King is. It's flawless. I love those guys.
