All About Eve…
The birth of Xena’s daughter, Eve, has signalled some cataclysmic changes for the Warrior Princess’ ongoing adventures. During a break in filming Xena’s fifth season finale, Motherhood, Lucy Lawless and Adrienne Wilkinson discuss their characters’ eternal bond with Kate Barker.
Official Xena Magazine: Issue 08
There are a few things in the Xenaverse that are capable of killing a god: the blood of the Golden Hind; a rib of the Titan Cronos; one half of Xena’s yin-yang chakram… And now, it appears, there’s a new addition to that list: the power of motherhood.
We all know that Xena can kick butt, but with her adult daughter beside her, she now has the power to kick butt as one mean mother. The showdown in Motherhood is no ordinary fight, either. After all, this is Xena’s fifth season finale, so the gods of Mount Olympus are really letting our heroes have it, and there are some pretty heavy casualties as a result. After the death of Zeus at Hercules’ hand (in the mid-fifth season Xena episode God Fearing Child), it’s up to Athena, goddess of Wisdom and War, to lead the Olympians’ attack.
This puts an interesting spin on things, considering that Athena had been the only god to whom Xena really paid any attention. “Athena has always been Xena’s hero,” says Lucy Lawless, taking a short break from filming a literally explosive part of the battle in Motherhood. “At least, she’s the only god Xena’s really respected.
“Now that Xena’s met her,” Lawless continues, “she’s revised her opinion. Xena’s battled long and hard to reclaim her daughter, and now she’s got Eve on side. Athena’s really coming down hard on Eve, and Xena’s not going to let go of her to Athena’s evil machinations.”
Lawless suddenly gets a very Xena-like gleam in her eye, before declaring: “Athena’s goin’ down!”
A proud mother will always have something positive to say about her offspring, and between dodging explosions, flames and all manner of wrath of the gods in Motherhood, Lawless is no exception about her on-screen daughter. “The wonderful Adrienne Wilkinson is playing my daughter, 25 years older. She’s borne the brunt of some pretty gnarly action that is usually reserved for Renee [O’Connor, Gabrielle] and I… Like kneeling in the surf out at Bethell’s beach on a freezing cold morning, covered in blood all day.”
Lawless praises Wilkinson’s professionalism and her role in the Xena family saga. After all, it was only a few episodes ago that Eve was being played by several young and bewildered babies. “To have someone who is gutsy and not freaked out by all the stunts,” says Lawless with a smile, “is a real relief! Now we’re really fighting back at the gods.”
Just how gutsy would you need to be to follow in Xena’s footsteps? It’s challenging enough to be a Warrior Princess taking on the gods. But being the Bringer of Twilight and Xena’s daughter to boot - well, that’s a lot for a girl to deal with.
Originally from Missouri in the US, Adrienne Wilkinson is mostly known for “Saturday morning, girl-next-door” roles in American teen series such as Saved By The Bell and Sweet Valley High. “I’m always the girlfriend/cheerleader,” she explains, decked out for a very different role on the set of Motherhood. “I’ve never done anything like this!”
It’s been an interesting experience for Wilkinson, who has been given only three episodes (Livia, Eve and Motherhood) in which to get her head around a character that has 25 years of off-screen history to portray in only a few minutes. “It’s been very fast,” she says, “knowing that I am Xena’s daughter but also knowing that I don’t have quite as much influence [on events] as I would have if she had raised me. I’ve had a bunch of different influences that created somebody who is individual but enough like Xena to make sure that I have the influence of being her daughter.”
The description of different influences is certainly right. In the time span between the events of Looking Death in the Eye and the following episode, Livia, Eve had been trained by Rome to be a hard-headed champion. By the time she appears in Motherhood, the situation is completely different.
“This episode is such a fast turn,” Wilkinson says of Motherhood. “[In] the previous episode [Eve], I was still very much a warrior. I wasn’t broken at all. It’s been the first role where I was evil, the first role where I was a warrior, the first role where I fought. In Motherhood, it’s such a physical change - my outfit, the fact that I’m wounded whereas I’d never been wounded before - things like that. Within three episodes I’ve had so many different twists and turns of character, and I’ve got to do so many things physically. Just the different sets we’ve had - locations and things like that - have been a real challenge.”
At the time of our interview, Wilkinson is looking a little bit worse for wear. This is hardly surprising, since she and Lawless are in the middle of shooting part of a mortal-immortal battle, with special effects fire breaking out on all sides. Through her cut-and-bruised make-up, Wilkinson accentuates the obstacles her character has had to face. “Eve has been through a struggle, physically and mentally, trying to find herself and figure out what is right and what is wrong… and just trying to figure out where she’s going.” There is also the minor fact that several uptight gods are trying to kill her.
Eve may have been forced to get over many obstacles in the ancient world, but here on the Xena set, Wilkinson has experienced a couple of hair-raising moments herself. One of these challenges involved her getting uncomfortably close to a certain bunch of ‘co-stars’ she didn’t much care for. “Something that was unique for me,” she remembers, “was playing with Avondale spiders.”
The spiders are very large residents of the Auckland suburb of Avondale, not far away from the Xena film studios. Anyone who has seen the horror comedy film Arachnophobia - in which Avondale spiders were the main special effect - is sure to understand Wilkinson’s reluctance to handle them.
“In the States,” she explains, “if a spider is that big, it’s definitely something you should stay away from. So for Xena, I had an official ‘meeting the spider’ day, so they could make sure I wasn’t actually going to be scared of it. It was definitely a challenge, trying to learn that it was perfectly fine and there was nothing wrong. That was pretty crazy!”
Other experiences that Wilkinson will take away from her time as Eve involve the skills and moves she has learned while playing the part. “I’ve learned so many new things,” she says enthusiastically,” so many things that I’ve got out of this, that I’ve never dealt with before. I’ve had crash courses here in the choreography and special effects of fighting. I’ve been fighting, I’ve been riding horses, I’ve been dragged around on my back through the desert… All of the acrobatics that are involved in that. It’s so fortunate for me to be involved in a project like this because it’s so completely different from anything else that someone of my age and frame would ever get to do!
Naturally, the Eve stunt doubles do some of the more tricky moves, but Wilkinson has loved the opportunity to do “as much as I can.”
Wilkinson has a definite idea of why the show is such a phenomenal success. “It’s something that, even though there’s action and adventure and a bit of gore and a bit of war and everything else in it, it’s something that everybody can watch. They don’t have to be worried that their kids are going to be upset by it, or anything like that. I heard it described one time as ‘family violence’, where it’s fun and it’s not too graphic. It’s just enough that it’s a real adventure.”
Wilkinson praises the dynamic portrayals of the character too, and the fact that even in war, Xena can still find a way to maintain those tender moments. “Up until now,” she says of the events leading to Motherhood, “I wasn’t certain in my own mind as the character about whether or not I was actually Lucy’s daughter; I didn’t have that mother-daughter thing going on. That’s been really nice in this last episode, just being able to cling to that fact and accept that. It’s been a really nice change.”
So how would Wilkinson sum up the feeling of being involved in such a dramatic Xena episode? “It’s been overwhelming and amazing and wonderful. Knowing about all the different characters that are on the show, the fact that this is the role I’ve gotten to play is amazing. It’s been very cool to play; a great character and a fabulous opportunity.”
Motherhood is definitely a climactic way to conclude a season, marking the end of over five years of out-and-out action for both cast and crew. Although the sixth season isn’t very far away, Lucy Lawless is certainly welcoming the break in between. “Towards the end of the season,” she admits, “it can be a hard ride, because your body winds down and you’re anticipating a break coming up. Sometimes it’s a real effort to find the energy to be 100 per cent.”
There’s also the fact that while Xena may be the ultimate working mother, Lawless is too, and like any mother, she needs quality time with her family. “I want to have more of a family time,” she confirms. “There comes a day when you don’t have a choice in the matter; I don’t want to put that off any more. Julius will be 18 months old by the time season six is over, and he needs his mum around.”
Having said that, there is no doubt that Lawless is primed and ready to throw herself right back into Xena’s sixth season. Even so, she still pleads ignorance as to what viewers can expect.
“It keeps changing,” she says simply. “I’m not sure what Rob [Tapert, Executive Producer] has up his sleeve. He’s probably just nutting it out himself. I’ve just got to give 100 per cent of my mental energy to the script I’m currently working on.”
From the sounds of it, Lawless will be giving her all to the upcoming season too. “I’m really looking forward to the sixth season. We’ve got a great new crew; we’ve been re-energised with a whole lot of new blood and with people who are really enthusiastic. We’re totally committed and really loving every minute of it.
“Renee and I are very happy; we’ve never been in better shape in any way, since the show began. We’re really pumped about it - the sixth season’s just going to be a blast!”