Date: Sun, 19 Mar 2006 16:37:56 -1000 (HST) From: Jackie M. Young To: Hawai'i Fans: ; Subject: Con 2006 [LONG], BSG, Herc DVDs Doin' a bunch of catch-up.....it's LOOOONG.....;/ Passing this on from the Chakram-Refugees mailing list: Date: Fri, 20 Jan 2006 13:37:55 -0900 (AKST) Subject: [chakram-refugees] Con 2006 Lucy Lawless Part 3 Lucy was asked about working on Veronica Mars. She said it was what happens when "Somebody who you knew when is producing a terrific show" She plays an FBI agent. "She's hot on Veronica's tail about this stuff." And reliably, at this cue combining the words "hot" and "tail", giggles were heard skittering around the audience. Lucy continued, "Hot on the case." More and louder snickers. I think Lucy responded with a slightly questioning "What's going on out there?" look. Because she knows us and also because the folks on stage often need comments or questions from the audience repeated to them, she did give us that look at times. I'm just not sure it was now. Finally she realized why people were laughing. She MAY have raised her eyebrows as she continued, "Hot on the case about, I think there's been some custody dispute about the baby. I loved working with them. Love Enrico, Love Kristin Belle." (Note: We heard during Lucy's stint on "Just Shoot Me" that she was friends with Enrico, who played Elliot on that show. I don't know if this is totally true or if it's fan-generated gossip.) "It was really nice to go on another woman's show where you don't get the freeze put on ya." She told us she was surprised that she felt burnt out by the end of the year. She hadn't really realized how much she worked last year. Someone had a question. Lucy said, "She's wondering if I have any more bug movies planned. I loved working in New Orleans. We had dinner with three of the kids from that show last night." Two women at the mike told her they were from New Orleans and they thanked her for everything she is doing for the city. They had a little gift for her--a small, maybe two foot wide umbrella, colored and decked out for Mardi Gras. So it had panels of traditional purple and gold with green parts and sparkly bits on it. It was very nice. Lucy said thank you. They said, "No-thank YOU so much for doing this for us. You get how unique New Orleans is." As they talked Lucy began to lightly twirl the umbrella very slowly. Then she started to dance a little with it. While listening intently the whole time. Heh. They talked about how much they appreciated what Lucy did and was doing. Lucy answered, "Anything I can do." One of the women immediately piped up, "Give me a hug?" Cracked me up. Lucy smiled and said, "I'll give you a hug." I think they went up on stage to get them I don't think Lucy came down for it. Lucy continued to talk about the devastation from the hurricanes. "New Orleans is a gorgeous place filled with amazing people. Everybody was just shell-shocked for an enormous time. They were flighty. It's unbelievable the things they have to do to prove they were in New Orleans. All their papers are gone." I believe that Lucy said she has a homeless person from there living with her for now. She laughed as she said, "There's a steady stream of actors and homeless people coming through our house." Someone asked how she felt about having to put a real rat in her mouth in "Locked Up, Tied Down". Lucy said, "Real rat!? They didn't give me a real rat. Renee did eat squid but it was not alive and people often eat squid. I would never put a real rat in my mouth. And they wouldn't ask me to. They're responsible people." Then, "I had a spider in my mouth but it went in on its own. The spider had all the power. I'm lying there wondering, 'Would it just crawl out?' but it did come out on the other end." Again, some people in the audience began to snicker and chortle. Lucy stopped, looked around and then asked people in the front row something, presumably, what people were laughing at. Eventually it came out that the giggling was over her phrase, "It did come out on the other end." She was still not sure what the joke was, I don't think, but finally someone explained it to her, what coming out the other end might entail (so to speak.) She got this disgusted look on her face and then yelled, "Potty mouth!" at the woman in the front row. Who replied, "Well, you said it." Someone asked Lucy about working with Gillian Anderson on X-Files. "Gillian was cordial but remote. She wasn't putting the freeze on me. She was decent. I think she was just over it by then. She wasn't interested in another guest performer. I didn't take it personally. I have no complaints against her." "Would you work with Faith Prince again?" (Her co-star in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.) "I always would. I learned a lot from her. She did have to rap my knuckles once." Lucy began to laugh in delight. "We were goofing off in the background. Faith made it very clear that that would not be happening again." Anyway, someone asked Luce about being crucified. "I hated it! I would rather go into labor than pretend to be crucified again. You're hanging on a meat hook for hours and hours. And it's always winter. You're always freezing." The fan told her what Katherine Fugate had said earlier about Lucy saying to her, "I hate you for crucifying me again." Lucy said, "I just always blamed Rob." The fan insisted that Katherine had told us that Lucy had told Katherine she hated her and that Katherine said she had replied, "But you die so well." Lucy looked at her for a minute, processing, and then said, "I'm not going to tell you what I thought you said because (and she gestured to the woman in the front row) Potty Mouth there. . ." We laughed and then Lucy explained, "I thought it had something to do with thighs." Then we had a little round of Lucy leaning towards the audience, yelling at us, "Who's your momma! Who's your momma!" And some in the audience yelled back, "Youse our momma!" An odd little moment. Grin. Another woman in the front row said to Lucy, "You talked to me on a cell phone." They had a short exchange and Lucy suddenly said, "I remember! I was standing talking to you with one foot in the gutter." She turned to the woman she was teasing in the front row. "Don't make anything of that, potty mouth." She told us that the woman's husband had been working in New Orleans on Thanksgiving. "This hurricane is ripping up families. You see the terrible strain on the faces of the first responders. They've lost their own homes. They're working for little or no pay." And they're still there working. A fan asked Lucy to sing. She said she would "If Sharon will accompany me." She told us she would sing for us later, a song that she had written herself. "I wrote it after meeting Lyle Lovett when I was on my way to Texas for Renee's wedding." Lyle and Julia Roberts had already broken up and he was traveling with his new girlfriend. Lucy said something along the lines of "I was so jealous", that if she'd realized that Julia was gone. . . My notes are a little confusing here, but it's something like, "It was something I said to him, I think because my kid Julius was such a live wire on the plane. They liked the way he was and the way I responded to him. They pressed their names and number on me. And I was too shy." She then put on her fan voice and posture and talked and acted all overwhelmed and totally goofy with excitement that she had met Lyle and his girlfriend and he had given her his number. (You'll have to see it on the DVD.) Then she became herself again. And said, "Get love when you can. I wrote it because he had been with Julia Roberts and this new woman was such a keeper. (Pause.) Not that Julia Roberts wasn't", she added laughing. She was asked about being on Oprah. "I LOVE Oprah! When I was a new mother with Daisy, I watched it all the time. I was invited on the show and my (I thought I heard her say "my neighbor" but that doesn't sound right--though with Lucy, who can be sure?) said no, said wait until you're big enough that you're the only guest." Lucy had forgotten that she had been the one to turn Oprah down. She remembered it the other way. "I thought SHE had ditched me". So when asked in an interview about going on Oprah she said, "I guess she's more of a 'Touched by an Angel' type of gal." Lucy said that apparently word got back to Oprah about what she had said. Lucy figures she's going, "Who does she think she is!" Lucy added, "I do love her. And I think she's a great cause for good. She's an amazing woman. She came from great hardship as a kid and is now a force for good." Lucy was asked what role she'd most like to play. "Hedda Gabbler. Ibsen. A woman in moral peril. That's always interested me. Cool roles for women." Question: "What do you miss most about doing Xena?" "Renee. We don't get to see each other enough." Someone told her that Renee had been there earlier, doing photo ops in her Fairy Godsister outfit from Shoe. "With her tummy?" Lucy asked laughing. Then she said she would have liked to get a picture with her. Someone immediately yelled out from the audience, "Seventy bucks!" Now THAT was hilarious. Lucy said she thought Renee had been there yesterday and hadn't realized she was also going to be there today. She got kind of excited and asked Sharon if Renee was still around. She said something like, "I hope she's hiding somewhere and is going to pop out." Sharon said in a "sorry" voice that Renee had left already. Lucy got sad, kind of slumped and dropped her head down on her chest, her hair covering her face. We all went, "Awwwwwwwwww." Question: "If you could play any other character on Xena than Xena, who would you be?" Lucy thought a bit and then said, "Autolycus. Because he was powerful. He was very funny, but also, I knew when Bruce came on the show that Xena was not going to be the boss anymore. 'Cause he could stick it to Xena. (Regular laughs and potty minds laughs start.) It was no fun sticking it to Gabrielle. (Greater regular laughs and MUCH greater potty minds laughs.) He was outside the rules." Someone asked Luce about her theater plans. She said a new thing had been brought up. And to my confusion, I have a note about her saying, "Me and my twelve year old daughter". I remember hearing it and writing it but it makes no sense. Daisy is 17 or so. She said it was in Minnesota. Some audience members suggested it would be at the Guthrie Theater but she said that she wasn't sure where it was. People repeated, "The Guthrie! The Guthrie!" She kept repeating that she wasn't sure. I believe she said someone named Jamie Rockers???? (can that be right?) from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes was involved. But it's possible that if she did Battlestar Galactica, that "puts a crimp on it." She talked some more about being in "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes". "I never had so much fun as being on that stage every day, working things every night. Xena was fun but drawn out." I believe she also mentioned the charge of getting the reaction directly from the audience. Question: Is goofing around on the set of Battlestar different than on Xena? "You have to know your place on a set and give them room to be 'starring'." Lucy talked about becoming friends with the cast. She especially liked James Olmos. And her, James, Trish and Grace(?) became particularly close. "Takes a while to get there." She was asked if she would do Stargate. "Once you do one. . . I probably wouldn't do another genre. The critics would be all (and she adopted a whiny, pompous tone) 'Why are you doing another sci-fi? Shouldn't you be doing something different?" Either she or a fan brought up "Commander-In-Chief". Lucy said she loves Geena Davis in the role and added, "A woman who is older than me, starring in a show-I love it!" Question: Would you play Wonder Woman? (Laughter in the audience.) "Yeah, I would. The critics would ask, 'Why are you doing this?' Cause it would be so much fun." Okay, one more piece and that should do Lucy. KT ------------ Passing this on from the Chakram-Refugees mailing list: Date: Sat, 21 Jan 2006 01:06:24 -0500 Subject: [chakram-refugees] BSG: On The Set With LL Videoblog At scifi.com you can watch a videoblog called "On The Set With Lucy Lawless", from the filming of her first BSG episode. Just go here: http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/bts/videoblog/ It's #4. Available in both QuickTime and RealVideo format. Enjoy!! meredith ------------ Passing this on from the Chakram-Refugees mailing list: Date: Mon, 23 Jan 2006 12:14:40 +1300 Subject: [chakram-refugees] Herc Season 1 I've just got the Herc Season 1 DVD set, and there's some stuff that's of interest to Xenafans too. The set includes the five Herc tele-movies - as we know Lucy was in Herc and the Amazon Women, and I believe ROC was in one of the others. It also includes, of course, the 'Warrior Princess' trilogy, and LL's previous appearance as Lyla in 'As Darkness Falls'. There are no commentaries for the tele-movies. Commentaries are: Eye of the Beholder - Audio Commentary Kevin Sorbo Ares - A/C & Video Commentary - KS Pride Comes Before a Brawl - A/C & V/C - KS & Michael Hurst The Warrior Princess - A/C - MH Gladiator - A/C & V/C - KS & MH And of course some of the commentaries touch on locations, extras and staff who cropped up in Xena too. cr ------------- Passing this on from the Chakram-Refugees mailing list: Date: Tue, 24 Jan 2006 11:14:41 -0900 (AKST) Subject: [chakram-refugees] Con 2006 Lucy Lawless Part 4 Someone asked about the story we'd heard when Lucy worked on Battlestar, "Who was the first to call you Xena?" "Nobody did." She said that she might have said something herself referring to Xena. "You go on somebody else's show. Your character can't grandstand." She talked about how they'd be discussing a scene and she'd say (or want to say?), "Oh-how about I do this?", making suggestions about the bit. "Then I'd realize, I can't. This is not Xena." She did a little byplay of someone replying to her possible suggestions with, "Excuse me? You did what in the 90's? Is that Zed-ee-en-a? I think it was at this point that she began to play around and say things like, "You got a planet named after your character? You got a costume in the Smithsonian?" We were all laughing so hard over that that I didn't get it written down. But I do remember lots of people joking about it later. Saying things like, "Planet, Check. Smithsonian, Check." And it seems to fit here. Lucy ended by saying, "It only matters that you spread the joy." She used this again at some point, shorthanding it to, "Planet! Smithsonian!" Even she laughed at herself as she said it. Big goof. Question: "When are you going to do a photo op in a Xena costume?" Anyway, Lucy's reply was, "It's in Washington, D.C. I do 'em for free, man for people who come see me." A fan screamed out, "How about now?" Lucy continued (not sure if she heard the screamer or not), "At the very first Xena con--I signed for everybody. I was the last person to leave the place. All the fans were like, 'Bye, bye Lucy' waving as they left. I'm turning off the mikes, turning out the lights." She put on her goofy fan voice again and acted all excited and thrilled that she could, "Sign, sign." Question: What's the most important thing about being a mother? "The most important thing about being a mother, a human being--be an anchor to good behavior. You want your kids to grow up to be socially conscious and to care. Just to spread the joy again, all the time." She was asked about ageism in the industry. She said it's there all the time. That the prime age is 18 to 24. "There's no need to be a victim about it. That's just how it is. It's very hard to realize you're not the hottest thing any more." She mentioned Paris Hilton. "Imagine when she wakes up one day and says, (and here Lucy put her hands on her cheeks and pulled her face tightly back, mimicking old people with face lifts), 'Holy shit! I'm old!" We all found this hilarious. Someone in the front row asked a question. Lucy looked down and said, "Yes, potty mouth?" Then we had another round of "Who's yo momma!?" Lucy to potty mouth, "C'mere. C'mere. I can tell this is going to be a long one." The woman got up and walked up to the stage to talk into the microphone as Lucy leant over and held it for her. "Are your parents aware of Juicy Lawless?" Lucy repeated, "My parents. . .You know, the proudest moment of my life was when my father came to see me in the Vagina Monologues. I had performed this pornographic lesbian sex scene. Well, it wasn't that it was lesbian, that didn't matter. But it was pornographic. And my dad stood outside the theater. Stood there proud of me." Then she laughed and said, "Even though he was probably dying inside." Then she flashed us a very sweet, happy and proud smile and said, "I never felt so loved as that moment." She explained that "The other girls went through the script, I'm taking this, this, THIS one I'm not touching with a large pole. (Large pole? Barge pole?) I was pregnant had this large belly, (Lucy put on her goofy voice) 'I'll do it! So I got all the ones that were not funny. And the pornographic ones. When you're pregnant, your head is filled with cotton wool. I see it in season five. You're non compos mentis." She went on to apologize for her acting choices in season five. She said essentially that she thought she knew what she was doing when she made some suggestions. And now when she looks at what she did, well, I repeat, she apologized for her work while pregnant. That was funny. A fan came up to the mike and said, "I know your Mom's here but thanks for wearing those boots." She had on knee high boots with stiletto heels. Not sure how it came up but Lucy said, "I'd rather be a small fish in a very large pond than a large fish in a very small pond. When I'm there (New Zealand), everybody knows I'm there. They ask me to come to everything (openings, I think she meant among other things), small shows. Come to my grandmother's! I have no problem making friends here, in Vancouver. There are fine human beings everywhere." That's a great attitude, eh? Someone asked her about World Vision which she had made the video for last year that Sharon showed us at the con. She said she has sponsored two children through them (I think through them.) The person who asked the question talked about sending a goat to a village. Lucy added that everybody in the world plays soccer (and yeah, she said soccer, not football). And she had sent 100 soccer balls to World Vision. She said that soccer balls are cheap, maybe $15 and yet each one benefits a lot of people. The kids want to play soccer so badly that they will make their own balls out of bags or rags or whatever. A real ball is very special. "For 15 bucks, 100 kids get hours and hours of pleasure." She continued, "These are Christian agencies but they don't proselytize. I've really learned how to do it-you can't just give people resources. Teach them how to do things." Someone asked her if she was in training for a Xena movie. And they mentioned that the fans would be writing in to Universal for one. Lucy said, "Yeah baby, bring it on!" In answer to another question, Lucy said, "I'm so lucky, so many things bring me joy. In Seattle, at the Factory". She talked about things she'd done I think on Xena but also in the past, "They've thrown me out of planes--but none of it's such a rush as live performing." Question: "Where's your next gig?" Lucy: "Your house, baby!" Then she said there was a possibility of her going to the Dinah Shore golf thing. Wild cheering from the audience. And that she hadn't gotten back to them as quickly as they'd hoped and so they had asked Carmen Electra instead. She stood there and did the one hand then the other balance thing, saying in an assessing tone, "Lucyyy--Carmen Electra? Lucyyy/Carmen Electra. Can't have both." (Or maybe she said she didn't know why you "can't have both". Not sure.) Someone asked how hard it had been for Lucy to act with an actor whom you're not supposed to be able to see. (Referring to Six on Battlestar who is a figment of the VP's mind and so invisible to everyone else.) Lucy said, "There was some story about having to redo something because I saw her. I don't remember that. It's no harder to not see her than to pretend (on Xena) that a three-headed something is going to suck us in." Now the next part was a little confusing. I asked a number of people what they heard and got sometimes differing answers. But I and a number of other people think what Lucy said was that she can easily pretend about things, whereas Renee has always said, "Be real" .So they'd both be acting at times against a blue/green screen, facing a tennis ball on a stick. And Renee is seeing the tennis ball while Lucy is ignoring the tennis ball and so seeing the monster it represents. And then Lucy added, "It's a tennis ball either way. Same thing, different version." Grin. She said that when Renee would talk about the way she approached this, Lucy would say (and again, she put on her goofy, "I so don't understand" voice), "Are you speaking another language?" because it was so incomprehensible to Lucy to do it that way. Then she said that now she's tending to look for the actual reality and so is getting more like Renee. Now, let's all watch the DVD when it comes and see just what exactly she did say and what she possibly meant by it. She was asked about Tilly. (Tilly was the Argo that Lucy usually rode.) I have the statement in my notes, "Tilly's half-American." And doing fine. And then Lucy got a kind of surprised, "Oh, that's right!" look on her face and said, "She had a foal. Oh my goodness, I'll have to check on that." My impression was that Lucy suddenly realized that Tilly's gestation period was over and so she had probably had a foal. "She had trouble. She had a miscarriage before." A woman came up to the microphone and talked about I think that someone sent a toilet in her name to Bangladesh. A "Totsy Toilet". (So this was kind of like sending a goat to a poor community--same concept.) I think Lucy said that "There's nothing to hook it up to. In Bangladesh, you have to travel a long way when you need to go. Toilets come in handy. The frequency of me is WAY up there." (I believe that's a comment on her bladder.) A fan asked, "How do we nominate you for an award and a star on the Walk of Fame?" Massive applause of course. Lucy ducked her head and gave one of her "grateful and pleased but somewhat embarrassed" smiles while waiting for the applause and hooting "Yeah's" to die down. "Bless you. I don't feel like I need one." NOT done Lucy yet. Okay, one more coming at least. KT ----------------- --Jackie ****************************************************** * Proud to have the same birthday as Lucy Lawless! * * * * "I think New Zealand geographically comes from * * ... Hawai'i." --Lucy Lawless, Late Show, 4/9/96 * * * * "Feel the fear and do it anyway." --Lucy Lawless, * * Evening Post, 7/4/98 * * * * "I LOVED forgetting it because it really made it * * so _live_ and so _immediate_...!!" * * --Barry Manilow, Manilow Talks CD, 1998 * * * * JACKIE YOUNG, JYOUNG@LAVA.NET * * * * * ******************************************************