by Lynn Barker
November 11, 2003
With the release of the Xena: Season II DVD set, we wanted to catch up with Xena?s galpal the spunky, loyal Gabrielle.
Houston-born actress Renee O?Connor moved to L.A. from New Zealand after the series wrapped and has been busy being mom
to 2-year-old Miles and wife to her New Zealand guy Steve Muir. Now, she?s back in show-biz with plans to act, produce and
direct.
When we caught up with the friendly, strawberry blonde actress, she gave us the low-down on getting slimed by an eel, wearing
a Porky Pig costume, chatting often with pal Lucy Lawless since the wrap-up of the series, her fave costume from the Xena
closets and her favorite Season II episodes.
TeenHollywood: Are you living in L.A. now?
Renee: Yes. I came back here to start a family. I was pregnant when I finished Xena and moved back here to be closer to my
family to have my son Miles. He?s two.
TeenHollywood: What was the toughest thing about doing the Xena series and what do you miss the most?
Renee: What I miss the most is probably working with my friends. We were practically in this little marriage of a situation
where we saw each other every day and went through the best and worst times together. To be away from Lucy has been a
huge transformation for me in the last couple of years and also to have my alter-ego disappear. The most challenging aspect of
working in New Zealand were the environmental elements. And the daily schedule we had to face working five or six days a
week. Usually when they had us in the rain it would be right in the dead of winter.
TeenHollywood: Have you gotten together with Lucy recently?
Renee: Actually I?m going to be talking to her today. I talk to her at least once a month and see her as well.
TeenHollywood: Do you talk about ?mom? stuff now?
Renee: We go through transitions. At first we did while I was pregnant and having my little boy but now we?re mostly talking
about work again. She?s writing quite a bit and I?m going into the producing field. It?s been interesting talking about different
situations and of course our personal lives as well as gossiping.
TeenHollywood: Are you into directing too?
Renee: Actually I want to do it all. Act, produce and direct, not necessarily in the same film but what I?m trying to do now is
choose the projects that I would be best at, to play the lead or direct someone else. It really comes down to project to project and
what I feel most passionate about and what?s the best way for me to tell the story.
TeenHollywood: Why is ?A Day in the Life? from season 2 one of your favorite episodes?
Renee: For one reason it was New Zealand director Michael Hearst?s first episode so we were all trying to jump behind him and
help him. Then the camaraderie between Lucy and I really came to a perfect sense of timing. We really had fun together. It was
a different way to view the characters; a behind-the-scenes of the way these people really are as opposed to the Batman and
Robin relationship you usually see on screen. That was a real kick for us to let loose and play.
TeenHollywood: Do you recall a funny Xena moment you can tell us about?
Renee: I had a horrible experience on ?A Day in the Life? with them throwing fish at me. If I wasn?t smelling like a fish they
were having me cut up an eel or something disgusting. Then you have to sit and bake in the sun after you have fish scales on
you. You become a horrible sight. It?s funny because Lucy was playing with the eels trying to catch them but I was fascinated
by the fact that if you touch them they become quite slimy, a horrendous creature that you cannot possibly catch and it looks like
a snake. At the end they had to put an eel in my sleeping bag. Everybody was freaked out by the whole thing. I knew this thing
wasn?t going to bite me but when they get nervous they become slimy and he was trying to find his way out. That?s the
absurdity of Xena; you get to do things you can never imagine you would.
TeenHollywood: Describe the process of doing commentary for the DVD after so long away from the show.
Renee: We had a question and answer session first that was just general ideas of characters and things that we went through
while filming then we sat down and watched a couple of the episodes I hadn?t seen in a long time. When we would finish each
episode, we would get a copy of it and I would take it home and watch it and put it in a little file box and I wouldn?t watch it
again. I didn?t have time. I?d forget what happened.
TeenHollywood: What had you forgotten that surprised you?
Renee: I had forgotten how dark ?Return of Callisto? was. I always encouraged Rob [Tapert] to push the envelope and go for
it. When the decision came about on whether Xena should let Callisto die or not, I was all for it. I love to look at both sides of
human nature; the dark and the light and, to me, that was the most interesting. That was such a bold choice.
TeenHollywood: What was your favorite costume that you got to wear in the series?
Renee: The one [from the episode] that was like Pygmalion where they try to make Gabrielle a lady. It was outrageous. It was
very bosomy. They gave me ample supplies of push-up bras. It was fun to get out of my peasant dress and get into something
more glamorous.
TeenHollywood: As a kid you wore character costumes at a theme park. Any stories?
Renee: I was playing Porky Pig once and the head broke and started spinning around like The Exorcist and all the children just
went silent. Another time I was playing Foghorn Leghorn, a six foot chicken twice my size and the head falls off! I was a
headless, dancing chicken running around but it was a ball. It was a great way to express myself and learn the physicality of
acting.
