LN: Yes.
R.O.C.: Oh, I just love hanging out with Lucy, you know, regardless - could be anywhere! (Laughs) It?s fun for us to look
back. These two characters are just, you know, so unique and it does seem like a lifetime ago. So it?s really interesting to have a
different perspective now and I just appreciate the whole thing in such a different way.
LN: Do you think you'll be doing commentary again for future Xena DVD sets?
R.O.C.: We?ve already done commentary for season three and I?ll be going back to do a little bit more I think.
LN: The commentary contains quite a few remarks about the 'subtext' in the shows. Do you think doing the commentaries gave
you kind of a fresh insight about why gay fans identified so strongly with the characters?
R.O.C.: Well, I think when we were actually filming the show that we were really striving to not ?come out of the closet,? so to
speak. I think we were really trying to keep the characters in a way that it was about the friendship and love. Because, you
know, they went through so much together and personally I thought that it?s a battle that they have to endure for the rest of their
lives. I think we just tried to balance it all and I think now, looking back, I can watch these episodes and I just see the love in a
whole new profound way that they have for each other. (Laughs) It?s undoubtedly obvious, you know, to me, that these two are
absolutely together, and will be together forever. In any realm, in any reincarnation. So I guess, in that respect, I feel like I have
the freedom to see clearly now. When I say freedom, it?s hard, when you?re in a show working every day, to really step aside
and look at it from the outside.
LN: I can understand that.
R.O.C.: I mean, even looking at what I was doing as an actor, that was difficult, much less trying to visualize the whole show
with an overview of it all and how it was affecting people. You couldn?t comprehend that when you were right in the middle of it.
LN: Moving on to life after Xena, I believe you recently wrapped filming on Diamonds and Guns. Can you tell us a little about the
project and how you became involved in it?
R.O.C.: I met this lady [in New Zealand] and basically she told me about this script she had written with her co-producing
partner. So they came to me and I was absolutely amazed that these two ladies were going to start producing this film
themselves. They had no support from anyone in Hollywood, so to speak, so they just decided to do this film and stop waiting
around. This is what I have been wanting to do for about a year. But I am the kind of person that I wanted to know everything
about digital [filmmaking] media before I jump in. And I wanted to support these two ladies. So I went in and I thought the script
was funny. I went on board basically to assist them in any way possible and ended up co-producing it with them. I find that I
love producing, it?s really interesting. I love to enable people to be creative and tell their own stories.
LN: Well, you seem equally as comfortable behind the scenes as in front of the camera.
R.O.C.: Well, I guess I?m a bit of a techno guy somewhere in there too because I love working with the digital formats. We just
set up an editing system through a friend of mine, so I?m going to start playing with Final Cut Pro. Not that I?ll ever be an editor,
but I like to understand everything about all the jobs.
LN: What other upcoming projects do you have in the works?
R.O.C.: Well, we?re going to, these two ladies and myself, Helena [Beaven], Dawn [Higginbotham], we?re all going to be
producing another film together that Helena wrote. It?s a great story about a woman who has sort of lost her identity and has to
sacrifice certain ideals in order to find herself again. It?s sort of a dark comedy, but its so beautifully. . . I just love the story and
the reason I love it is because it is a social commentary on what happens to women nowadays, sometimes. I?m probably going
to be acting in it, but at first I had wanted to direct it, but I don?t know yet. We?ll see.
LN: Are you planning on hitting the theater stage again anytime soon, maybe doing some more Shakespeare?
R.O.C.: I?d love to do some more Shakespeare! I?m just starting to get that little need to get back out there with that, but it?s
such a huge commitment and right now I?ve been focusing more on the production elements of my own projects. Possibly next
summer, I really don?t know. I?d love to do it next summer, but I have to wait and see.
LN: With all of these commitments, what do you think is the most difficult part of maintaining a balance between your career &
your family?
R.O.C.: Oh my God, its so difficult, it?s so much harder than I ever thought it would be. I hate to leave the house because I feel
guilty about not seeing everything my son does. But at the same time I think it is so important that I be true to who I am as well
and having something that I find very stimulating intellectually. So yeah, I?m finding it really difficult actually. It?s been a huge
year for me to make the transition to try to balance the two. I can?t say I?m very good at it, but I?m aware that both are
extremely important and my son is first. So its just a matter of finding the time... And how do you do it? You?re up all night,
that?s what you do!
LN: I don?t know how you do it!
R.O.C.: You don?t sleep, that?s what you do!
LN: You probably don't get a lot of time to take time off, take non-working vacations. But, when you do, what do you like to do?
R.O.C.: Well, you know, it?s funny that you should say that. Just the other day I finally said, you know what, I have such a
supportive, wonderful husband. I said, I need some time just to be alone and reflect. Because I go through stages where I
suddenly have to look back on my life and see where I am and what I want to be doing. And I can?t do that when I?m going a
hundred miles an hour, which is how I tend to function. So the other day I started drawing... (interrupted by car alarm, she
laughs and talks louder). I got back into my drawing, I used to love to sketch in high school, at the performing arts high school I
went to. I just starting picking that back up and started playing around, and before I knew it, there was a little Xena! I was like,
oh my god! I?m drawing Lucy!
