XENA MEDIA REVIEW #28 (10/11/97) Borg 2 of 6 ================ CUT HERE ================== =================== AMENDED ANNOTATIONS =================== [434] 08-14-96 WGN. TV interview. COMMENTARY: Interview of Lucy Lawless on WGN TV. TRANSCRIPT: REPORTER: Well we got better than Don Johnson. You can feel the presence [laugh] everyone's been calling. A little disappointed about the outfit... LAWLESS: I'm wearing it under this... show you later. REPORTER: Really cool. Oh Lucy you don't know what you're talking about. It's getting hot in here... Lucy Lawless, we'll be right back... REPORTER: Wow. That hurt. There she is in action. Lucy Lawless who plays Xena. What do you think? Are you impressed? LAWLESS: I'm very impressed. With you, with you guys? You're stunning. You're stunning. REPORTER: What's it like watching this, because really this is your first big role. You've got your own show here. Has it changed things for you? LAWLESS: It's changed everything. I don't live in the same house REPORTER: Bigger one? LAWLESS: Yeah, it is bigger. REPORTER: Did you get as many strange phone calls about Xena as we have the past few days? LAWLESS: My parents do. My parents get people-- don't ring my parents, leave them alone! People from New York saying, "We really need to get a hold of Lucy, some important business from the states." And my dad's just going, "What the hell are you talking about? REPORTER: Do they get the show in your native New Zealand? LAWLESS: They've just started getting it. Up until then it was total anonymity and it was the perfect working enviroment really -- REPORTER: Oh you liked it like that? LAWLESS: Yeah, oh yeah, but it's all over now, baby blue. REPORTER: Someone might think that you were a tomboy growing up, doing these dangerous games on TV. LAWLESS: I was. My mother said that I didn't know that I was a girl until I was 8. Nobody told me! REPORTER: What would you refuse to do? LAWLESS: Something's missing! Something's missing! REPORTER: But you have four older brothers though so it kind of came natural. LAWLESS: There was a lot of squabbling, it was a really good, loving home but you had to be kind of tough to survive. REPORTER: And is there home videos back from New Zealand some of your brothers there? How much work goes into the stunts there? Obviously there's a lot of, you know, you gotta be precise when you're swinging those swords around. LAWLESS: Uh, well I don't want to give away too many secrets and say that really you could be a foot away and nobody would know. REPORTER: You've just ruined it for America. LAWLESS: Yeah, uh sorry. I've been hit a couple of times REPORTER: Have you? LAWLESS: Oh, quite a few times. I got a beautiful black eye. And Michael Hurst who plays Iolaus broke his arm. Kevin got 10 stitches on the back of his head from a metal sword. REPORTER: And he told us that. You know, Kevin was here, he told us that LAWLESS: Oh Kevin will get that one out at every opportunity! No it was a really nasty hit actually I saw it on video, and the next week I did it to him myself and I just felt terrible! REPORTER: Of course you weren't filming at the time... out at dinner? LAWLESS: It was just fun REPORTER: I was going to ask if she could show you a couple tips... So I could be a warrior princess too? 'Cause you were whipping that thing around during the commericial break.... She was not me... LAWLESS: Yeah, well these don't have any weight. REPORTER: I know that's not up to your normal standard LAWLESS: Oh no, this is about it. This is about the size of it. Uh, see I can't even do it. REPORTER: I'm going to sit over here LAWLESS: Oh you don't have to go far REPORTER: Oh that was pretty cool LAWLESS: You can run but you can't hide. I don't know if I can, it's kind of difficult... REPORTER: You just stick it in? LAWLESS: You just stick it in. Give it a little kikokiko. REPORTER: Hey that's pretty good... Sonya Warrior Anchor... I like the title. You know what Lucy, you had an interesting past. You were a gold miner? LAWLESS: Yeah I was REPORTER: Grape-picker? LAWLESS: That was a fantasy, that was a fantasy. I got this idea in seventh form French once that I was going to Europe and pick grapes on the vine 'cause it sounded so romantic, you know. And I got there and just sat in the city and hung out with insolubriate company. They were good days but I'm glad they're over. REPORTER: I have no idea what it would be like in a gold mine digging gold and there weren't, I can't imagine that there were many women down in the gold mines. LAWLESS: There were not. And again you have this romantic idea that I'm down underground with a light on my head picking chunks of gold out the soil, but uh, in fact they detonate just miles of Australian landscape and smash it to smithereens. It's open cast mining. REPORTER: So you through with a sifter or something? LAWLESS: Yeah, a very fine sieve REPORTER: And somebody watching you to make sure you don't go home with free samples? LAWLESS: That's right, that's right we walk home laden down with nuggets. But I'm glad those days are over, too. REPORTER: These days are much better I'm sure LAWLESS: These are the best days of my life to date. REPORTER: I didn't know we had that kind of influence. LAWLESS: Yeah, this is the best day of my life Larry. REPORTER: It all goes downhill from here LAWLESS: Yeah [laughs]. REPORTER: Well Xena airs on WGN on Saturdays from 3 to 4 in the fall. It's moved around a little bit because of baseball in the summer but that's when you can look for it from 3 to 4. Thank you so much for being here LAWLESS: Thanks for having me. REPORTER: Maybe we can work on this in the break, ok? LAWLESS: Ok. REPORTER: Stay with us everybody we'll be right back =========== ANNOTATIONS =========== [461] 09-01-96 SCI-FI ENTERTAINMENT PRESENTS SCI-FI TV FALL PREVIEW. Vol. 2. No. 1. Page 65. --- words. "Hercules and Xena: Greek Mythology Meets Hong Kong Action" By Craig Reid. COMMENTARY: The magazine was officially titled "Sci- fi Entertainment Presents Sci-fi TV Fall Preview", but on the cover it called itself "Sci-Fi Flix". Article was a Robert Tapert interview. Tapert was quoted as stating, "Next season's Hercules and Xena have many new storylines and new characters. Although Herc and Xena are pretty much cemented in stone, more fun things are brewing, as well as introducing more intelligent creatures...In Xena, we're going to introduce a new male character, Joxer, who will appear in about a third of the season's episodes. [Note: This was before Lucy Lawless' accident. Also, Ted Raimi, who plays Joxer, has been signed for half the shows for the third season.] He is a 'warrior wanna-be' and will be to Xena what Salmoneous [a traveling toga salesman] is to Hercules, except he will be a totally different character. We're also going to have a few episodes with a recurring villain from earlier on, Callisto, a very evil warrior, played by Hudson Leick. She is not a martial artist. She is a force..." [And she will apparently return in the third saeason in the episodes MATERNAL INSTINCT and BITTER SUITE]. Mentioned also was that the Christmas and Halloween specials would be Hercules and Xena cross-overs. Tapert stated: "Hercules and Xena are going to do very special Christmas stories...I don't think we'll actually have a Christ character, but the crossover stories will be dealt with differently for Herc and Xena. Think of it as three guys, who are kind of nutballs, following some star -- ancient motorcycle riders on their camels -- following a star and some special message they have. [Xena's Christmas show was SOLSTICE CAROL, a homage to Dicken's Christmas Carol.] In another Bible story, Xena will be meeting David and Goliath, where Xena and Goliath were best friends and she owes him a favor." Mr. Reid added "When asked if Xena fights David for Goliath and wins, Tapert hedges, 'Xena does what is right.'" [This episode was called GIANT KILLER.] Regarding the Halloween shows, Tapert stated: "And, oh yes, our Halloween specials. Both shows will have elements that resemble Halloween but are very different stories. In Hercules, he will battle a mummy, and in Xena we have vampires. They will be an odd mixture of ancient and slightly Hong Kongish vampires." Mr. Reid then explained the difference between Transylvanian vampires and Chinese ones: "...the Chinese vampire has pale green skin, yellow fangs, long nails, and, most notably, hops after its victims like a sleep-walking kangaroo." Tapert continued: "We won't explore any of the western myths, but there is bloodsucking. It's very exciting. These vampires are in service to somebody else -- more of an initiation. I don't want to give away too much of the storyline." [This episode was GIRLS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN, and Bacchus was who they were in service too. The vampires were Bacchae.] Specifically regarding XWP, Tapert stated: "I think on Xena that if there is anything I would like to say, it's that we're expanding her universe. We're actually doing a modern-day story, not a time-warp thing, but a modern story where Gabrielle and Xena's personalities will be in modern people. [This episode was XENA SCROLLS.] I'm directing a back story episode, a moment in Xena's past. A story of betrayal by somebody she once trusted. It has cataclysmic consequences to her life. [This episode was DESTINY.] Right now, we're doing an episode where Lucy plays three different characters: a warrior, a princess, and a tramp. It will be far and away our most slapstick episode, which is something that's at the very root of Sam's and my consciousness." [This episode was WARRIOR...PRINCESS... TRAMP, which was a sequel to WARRIOR...PRINCESS. WPT will have a successor as well in the third season, called WARRIOR...PRIESTESS...TRAMP.] The article closed with Tapert stating his appreciation at all the mail the show received and regretted that it all can't be responded to individually. [KT] REPRINT: [transcription needed; any volunteers?] [462] 09-01-96 BLACK BELT. September 1996. Vol. 34. No. 9. 1876 words. Page 36. "What Puts the Punch in Hercules and Xena? Popular TV Shows Filled With Hong-Kong Style Martial Arts Action" By Craig D. Reid. COMMENTARY: This time Dr. Reid altered his interview article when he sold them to two different magazines. In this interview he included quotes from both Kevin Sorbo and Lucy Lawless. In discussing the Hong Kong precedents for XWP, Tapert said: "In fact, when we pitched the idea for Xena, I made a demo reel of four Hong Kong movies to show the syndicators the kind of action sequences we wanted to do in the show. We also weren't afraid to break the rules of fight realism and go for action that's entertaining and something that the American television audience has never seen before." [As revealed in several WHOOSH interviews, this practice is continued. New directors of XWP shows are given a series of tapes of Hoing Kong action films in order to illustrate the feel that the producers wants for the show.] Peter Bell, both show's stunt coordinator, was quoted several places in the article regarding the use of martial art techniques, the challenges in keeping the fight scenes fresh, and the reliance of the show on "no shadow kick" movie technique. Lawless was quoted as saying: "Xena is as strong as any man or woman has ever been...She's sort if dysfunctional and knows about the dark side of human nature. She is actually the person I could have been if I had been born to different parents." [Reid used this exact quote in his April interviews XMR217.5a & b, xmr #16.] There were further quotes regarding Lawless' enjoyment of the fight scenes, her resentment of the physical demands, and some of her war stories about her black eye and her back and sinus problems. Kevin O'Neill, the visual special effect supervisor, was quoted as being proud of his work on the HTLJ Jason and the Argonauts episode. [Reid wrote about this episode in detail in his April interviews, XMR217.5a & b, xmr #16.] [KT] This may be the best description written so far of the work behind the fight scenes in HTLJ and XWP. A must-read for any fan who is interested in the action. [DS] TRANSCRIPTION: Sandi-J (sjepsen@verinet.com) REPRINT: Not since the days of The Green Hornet and The Wild, Wild, West have American television audiences been treated to the kind of an energetic, creative pugilism demonstrated in "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, and its spin-off series Xena: Warrior Princess. Hercules and Xena have not only quickly emerged as two of the top-rated syndicated television shows in the United States, but have done so by entrusting their success to, of all things, the wild-and-wooly, frenetic-paced action formulas of Hong Kong film. Executive producer Robert Tapert, known for his work in Jean-Claude Van Damme's Hard Target and Timecop, explains the reasons for this strange twist. "I've always been impressed with the Hong Kong cinema style of action," he says, "so with Hercules, we initially tried to emulate that style. In fact, when we pitched the idea for Xena, I made a demo reel of four Hong Kong movies to show the syndicators the kind of action sequences we wanted to do in the show. We also weren't afraid to break the rules of fight realism and go for action that's entertaining and something that the American television audience has never seen before." This imaginative blend of cross-cultural fantasy and reality is further enhanced by the fresh, exotic and spectacular scenery of New Zealand, where the two series are shot. Set in the golden age of Greek mythology, Hercules (played by Kevin Sorbo) uses his wits, courage and strength to defend the poor, virtuous and downtrodden, and in doing so, is forced to battle an outrageous array of demons, beasts and gods bent on destroying him. Similarly, Xena (played by Lucy Lawless) righteously battles barbaric tribes, slave traders and dregs of the Earth in her mission to free the oppressed from the clutches of injustice and tyranny. The man responsible for serving up this mouth-watering menu of mayhem is the show's stunt coordinator, Peter Bell, who is known for his work on films such as Savage Island, Mutiny on the Bounty and Willow. "Although Kevin and Lucy are not [serious] martial artists, most of the stunt team are boxers and martial artists, and they have to be good fall guys," Bell relates. "In order for a fight to work, you've got to have the stunt people sell the hit. Things like flying through the air and somersaults can make a fight look far more visual. If people who watch the fight cringe after a guy hits the deck, then it's a good fight." Sorbo, who practices white lotus kung fu when time permits, is a refreshing break from actors who claim martial arts "mastership" merely because they are stars of action-oriented shows. "People can identify with Hercules; they find him a very approachable hero, someone who is attainable," Sorbo states. "You can walk up to him and feel comfortable." Although the training schedule is tough, and he suffers from the usual injuries associated with this style of show, Sorbo gladly embraces the Hong Kong-type action. He is up at 4:30 a.m., films for 12-14 hours, then returns home to train with weights, practice fighting maneuvers, and study his lines. "I sleep maybe five hours if I am lucky," he says. "I've seen the Hong Kong [action films]; they are crazy. We have that style of action, and our own tongue-in-cheek humor, but the scripts have strong dramatic elements. I do 90 percent of all my stunts, and I think the 'stunties' can respect me for that." Tapert proposed the Xena spin-off show to Universal officials based on the character of the same name who appeared in three top-rated episodes on Hercules. Lawless is a New Zealand-born ex-gold miner from the Australian outback who starred in the film Hercules and the Amazon Women. "Xena is as strong as any man or woman has ever been," Lawless says of her character. "She's sort of dysfunctional and knows about the dark side of human nature. She is actually the person I could have been if I had been born to different parents." Lawless particularly enjoys her work in the show's fight scenes. "Usually I get more out of doing dialogue, but when I see the results of the fights on the screen, it's just so rewarding," she says. She admits the physical requirements of her role are demanding. "Oh man, it's incredibly strenuous," Lawless relates. "It's one hell of a challenge to achieve some sort of balance, so that I am not too tired to do good acting, yet remain flexible enough to do the fights and certain jumps. I do weight training, boxing, and I love my kung fu classes. As a kid, I was always uncoordinated, but I have overcome that with my martial arts training. I've only practiced a couple of months. It's a start, and I enjoy learning." According to stunt coordinator Bell, one of the keys to a successful fight scene is adding emotion to the techniques. "There's only so many techniques you can put in a fight, so we bring out the emotions of a fight by using different camera angles and speeds," he explains. "When Hercules hits someone, he sends him flying. For that effect, we'll either use 'jerk harnesses,' 'jerk rams' or and 'air ram' to launch the assailant through the air. The air rams can throw someone 10-12 feet up or 20-30 feet out. When Hercules picks someone up and hangs them by their ankles or carries him around like a shield, we just use simple wire rigs. All these things can help me change the look of the fights." Sorbo, while enjoying the fight scenes, wishes he had more time to prepare for them. "We don't get enough time to choreograph and practice the fights," he claims. "I learn most of this stuff on the day we are going to be doing it. It's just go, go, go. Once that camera starts rolling, I'm thinking 'What am I doing?' I've got a sword in one hand and a torch in the other, and I'm about to go through 40 guys. I'm amazed when it's over that I did it. Doing this show is fun for me; it's like being a kid again. I used to play Hercules and Superman [as a kid]. Even after seeing Bruce Lee I would run about the backyard and 'kung fu' everything. Reliving those fantasies is a fantasy." They may be newcomers to the martial arts, but Lawless and Sorbo already have their share of "war stories" to exchange with others. Lawless received a black eye during one scene, and recounts another difficult episode. "I had gotten whacked and apparently the bones on the top of my back were quite severely [out of alignment]," she relates. "My head was off to one side. For nine days, I couldn't concentrate, my sinuses were gone and my vision was affected. It was difficult because I didn't know why I couldn't do anything. I really just had no energy. But these things can happen. We go extremely fast; there is almost no time to rehearse, except between takes. But the 'stunties' are fantastic - it's like working with a dancing partner. Plus, I'm feeling more comfortable with the swords and fighting with that 'boomerang thing' (a chakram - a razor-sharp, discus-size throwing thing)." Bell takes great care to prevent Lawless' fight scenes from becoming clones of Sorbo's fights. "The nature of their fights are different," he explains. "Lucy's are more martial-artsy, so for her fights we use a lot of wire rigs, where she can run up or flip backwards off trees, or run along walls sideways. With Kevin, we use more air rams, swings and jerk rams. With either actor, it's not good to put in too many fancy kicks in the fights, because I've got to make it look like they're really doing it. However, with some kicks, I can get them to start the kick, then a double can finish it." "Peter is aware of my limitations," Lawless adds. "It's only recently that I'm getting better at just forgetting my limits, tapping into my body, and just going for it. In fact, in one show there's this neat fight where I run along the side of a wall and do this fancy leg-pumping flying kick." Often referred to as a "Hong Kong film-kick" or "no shadow kick," this movie technique was invented by Hong Kong film-maker Ching Siu Tung, for use against one or 50 opponents at a time. Such a kick is perfect for the Hercules and Xena series, in which one individual=7F frequently fights large groups of opponents rather than a series of one-on-one confrontations. The shows are also noted for their special effects, which are the inspiration of Ray Harryhausen, who was responsible for the effects in Jason and the Argonauts, Valley of Kwangi and the Sinbad movies. The earlier episodes of Hercules featured puppetry effects, but eventually the leap was made to computer-generated images. The man in charge of bringing giant snakes, three-headed dogs, half-human snake demons, centaurs and sword-wielding skeletons to life, is visual effects supervisor Kevin O'Neill, known for his work on Dracula and Cliffhanger. Perhaps his best work on the show is a scene which pits Hercules against eight sword-wielding skeletons, which was adapted from a memorable scene in Jason and the Argonauts. "What we did was buy a skeleton model, then modify it to match the eight skeletons that we planned to use in the three-dimensional animated fight sequence," O'Neill says. "I first had eight guys put together a fight and rehearse the sequence, then we filmed it once with the guys and once with just Kevin fighting by himself." Sorbo recalls the scene well. "It was wild seeing this thing put together," he says. "First the stunties went through the entire fight sequence, strike for strike, and filmed it as one big master shot so the computer guys could see what it was going to look like. Then I did the fight by myself [against no opponents], copying the exact moves. Then I did it a third time tight, with the [special effects] guys operating the skeletons' arms and legs. Then the computer guys got a hold of it and pieced it together. I'm always amazed at what they do." Each of the shows has an average of three big fight scenes in each episode, meaning Bell must coordinate about six fights a week. "I've got to create at least one new movement per fight, then just basically rehash the old ones and make them look different," he says. Adds Tapert: "Although we wanted to emulate Hong Kong's style of action in Hercules, we quickly found out that we couldn't incorporate a lot of the acrobatics because we felt it was out of character for 'Herc.' I love the fights in Xena, but Herc's fights are getting a bit dull and too repetitive. It's hard with a guy who punches people to continue to come up with new brawls that are interesting. We are continuing to try, but are being careful not to use too many gadgets." ================ CUT HERE ================== XENA MEDIA REVIEW #28 (10/11/97) Borg 2 of 6