03.31.04
By L. A. Vess
We recently caught up with former "Xena" star Lucy Lawless making the pilot season rounds in Los Angeles, what she calls "the
roller coaster of hell." The public hasn't seen much of Lawless since her brief guest role on "The X-Files," her animated
appearance on "The Simpsons" (and that tiny walk-on in Spiderman), but now she's back and ready for action. With two new
film appearances under her belt, possible "negotiations" in the works for a TV show, and the new Xena Season Three DVD set
on the shelves - she's one busy lady, and loving every crazy minute of it.
Lucy Lawless may have missed out on appearing in The Lord of the Rings trilogy because she was pregnant at the time, but
she's still got plenty of pans in the fire. For one thing, gay fans may not have realized it, but she recently narrated VH1's "Totally
Gayer," a documentary about sexuality in the 21st Century.
Lawless also has what she calls a "big" cameo in Eurotrip, a raunchy film about a guy who travels to Europe with his pals to
meet his online dream girl and finds more adventures than he bargained for. Eurotrip was recently released in theaters and DVDs
for the movie are on presale.
Lawless plays Madame Vandersexxx in the film, a sadistic Dutch brothel keeper. Lawless' costume for the movie was recently
auctioned off to raise money for The Trevor Project, a nonprofit endeavor establish to promote tolerance for gay and questioning
teenages, and to aid in suicide prevention among that group.
The Boogeyman, produced by Lawless' husband Rob Tapert, features her as the drug-addicted mother of a disturbed boy who
reluctantly returns home as an adult to face his fears of a monstrous entity. The Boogeyman is currently in post-production.
Lawless also narrated "Warrior Women," a Discovery Channel five-part documentary series about famous female warriors
throughout history. The series has been shown in the UK and several other countries, but has not yet aired in the U.S. Lawless
will also be performing at the Broadway..and All That Jazz benefit concert in August to raise money for northern California AIDS
organizations.
In the midst of promotional appearances, filming, networking and charity fundraisers, Lawless still finds time to squeeze in time
to re-connect with the fans of the show that launched her to stardom. The enormous sales of DVDs, videos, CDs and
merchandise from "Xena" continue to prove that the legacy of the Warrior Princess will live on indefinately. Season 3 of the hit
show just came out on DVD and Season 4 is on the way. And of course, there is Xena apparel, Xena jewelry, Xena toys, Xena
weapons, Xena travel gear -- practically Xena-anything you could wish for still finding its way into fans' homes day after day. So
it is no wonder that Lawless never seems to mind stopping for a chat about the series that has made her a household name.
Interviewing Lucy Lawless is an interesting experience, you just never know quite what she's going to say or where the
conversation will go. So I wasn't alltogether suprised when she started out the exchange by greeting me with my (secret) pet
name and proceeding to interview me for a solid three minutes.
We never did quite establish how she knew my girlfriend's pet name for me, but I think I really don't want to know. She seemed
impressed that I was calling her from Charleston, SC, which she called "a legendary place" - and I call "rather boring" - but
couldn't quite understand why I wasn't in Los Angeles slaving away in the Lesbianation main offices. This lead to a discussion
about my propensity for traveling constantly, moving to random places every three years, and my glorius plans to make
lesbian-friendly Seattle my next port of call. Finally, after establishing that I was actually supposed to be interviewing her, and not
the other way around, we got down to the business at hand.
Lesbianation: So how are you doing today Lucy?
Lucy Lawless: Stormin' man, stormin'!
LN: Stormin'?
LL: Ya, I'm feeling good, feeling good.
LN: Fabulous, so what are you up to these days?
LL: I'm on the roller coaster of hell, the pilot season in L. A. But its really exciting, one day you've got everything in the world at
your feet, and the next day you've got shit... I don't know, I couldn't be happier.
LN: Well, let me start off asking you a little bit about the Xena Season Four DVD set that just came out.
LL: Season Four?
LN: Arrghh. Sorry, Season Three. I swear, I get so confused.
LL: Me too, and don't ask me specifics about episodes cause I'm like... I'm the world's most live in the moment human being, I
can't even remember yesterday, I really really can't. Quite often I don't even know what day it is or sometimes I have to ask
what month it is. It's a little embarrasing, but that's me.
LN: Well there is one episode I'm sure you do remember, 'The Bittersuite.' You can't forget that one.
LL: (Laughs) Yeah, I can't forget that one.
LN: Were you worried at the time about what people would think of a big Xena musical?
LL: No, why would I be worried about that?
