Claire Stansfield in Santa Monica 1/24/99
The Chakram Newsletter: Issue 08
Claire (in Alti’s voice): “I’m Alti.”
AUD: (cheers)
Claire: And I sound nothing like that. Thank you very much for your precious applause. This is my second con and I’m completely nervous, so bear with me. I guess I should explain how I got the part of Alti. I originally read for the part of Morrigan on Hercules. Wasn’t right for that part. But I guess Rob Tapert saw something that he liked and my agent called and said they want to offer you a part on Xena. And I thought, “Oh great!” They sent over the script and they didn’t tell me which character. So I’m leafing through the script and I see “Alti old hag bag of bones” and I’m thinking “Oh, wonder who’s playing that part?”
AUD: (laughs)
Claire: Then I get to Cyane, Queen of the Amazons, and I’m thinking, “Okay, this is great. Love it, love to do the show. Great.”
AUD: (laughs)
Claire: My manager calls and says, “It’s the character of Alti, but just ignore the old hag part.” So I go to New Zealand, really happy to be working on such an amazing show and I kinda said to TJ (Scott, director), “Can we take out the old hag part?” So they took out some of it, but it’s still in there a little bit, like the bag o’ bones and whatever. What else can I tell you guys? I went back (recently). Alti died (at the end of “Sin Trade”). She was impaled.
AUD: (laughs)
Claire: And I figured that was the end of that. But no! She’s back.
AUD: (roars, cheers)
Claire: I went back a couple of months ago for an episode called “Between The Lines” where we are all reincarnated and you guys are gonna have a great time with that one. I do a little hairdressing. That’s all I can tell you. Not my hair.
AUD: (Boos, cheers, laughs.)
Claire: And I die - again.
AUD: (laughs)
Claire: That’s the way it goes, but - somebody says to Xena at the end of the episode, “Thank you for killing Alti at the one time in her life when she was so powerful.” And Xena says, “One time?” And the woman says, “Oh yeah, Alti’s spirit can never die.” So, we’re working out something and I think Alti will be be back again to give Xena and Gabrielle a hard time.
AUD: (applause)
Claire: I’m gonna answer some questions and stop rambling.
QUESTION: Did you do any acting in Toronto before you moved to LA?
Claire: Toronto is where I’m from. I’m Canadian. I basically came to LA and started working here. I did a really bad TV movie with Lorenzo Lamas in Toronto and then I came here. But, are there are X-Files fans here? Because I am “The Jersey Devil.”
AUD: (cheers)
Claire: I always seem to get these old haggy parts!
AUD: (laughs)
Claire: That was a great show to work on. I had to be naked in a G string with hair. That was my costume.
AUD: (laughs)
Claire: They would hang it in my trailer. But I have to say that it wasn’t so bad because I was covered in dirt. So any parts of me I didn’t like, they just made black.
AUD: (laughs)
QUESTION (young child): I want to know if you like being evil?
AUD: (laughs)
Claire: Actually, that’s a great question. When I got to the set. I was really nervous cuz I knew I wanted to do this voice and I wanted to make Alti really dark and demonic. I’m a little shy, so it was a big step for me to just “go into this woman” (speaking in Alti’s voice). The first take, I wasn’t doing it. I remember Lucy came over to me and she gave me the best advice. She said, “Claire, just own it. Just be this person and focus.” And that’s all that I did. I think my whole life I wanted to be smaller. So I would talk really high up in my head and think that all of a sudden I was little. And the minute you bring your voice down and you’re in your body, you become much more present. And being evil is kinda fun. In “Between The Lines,” Alti is so evil, it almost scared me. I mean, I am BAD! You’ll be cheering when I die again.
AUD: (laughs)
QUESTION: Is there a chance you might appear on Hercules?
Claire: I did mention to them that I’d like to, but nothing’s happened yet. I did a voice on Hercules.
QUESTION: Renaissance is known for recycling their actors. Do you think you might do any other parts on Xena besides Alti?
Claire: I’d like to, but I think Alti’s spirit is so evil, she can go into anyone’s body and take over. She was once an Amazon, but she was too powerful. At least that’s what she says.
QUESTION: What other work have you done?
Claire: I did a movie called Drop Zone with Wesley Snipes where I jumped out of a plane. I was in The Doors movie for five seconds.
AUD: (laughs)
Claire: I’ve done Frazier, X-Files, Ned and Stacey and Cybil. A lot of sitcom work. I usually end up playing the Amazon or the alien or the big tall chick.
AUD: (laughs)
Claire: That’s what’s so great about Renaissance. It’s hard for me being 6’1” and a big girl and it’s so great that there’s somewhere where that’s cool. WIth them it’s the bigger, the stronger, the better. You’re never gonna hear back from Renaissance. “She’s too big or too tall or too strong.” It’s great! Bigger, better, louder, deeper! (laughs)
AUD: (cheers)
QUESTION: How did you feel when they said you get to fly?
Claire: I’d done a little bit in Drop Zone but it was really uncomfortable. But the thing about working with Lucy is that she goes for it. She’s amazing! There we are harnessed in these really uncomfortable harnesses, hanging from the trees and she’s screaming and loving it.
AUD: (laughs)
Claire: And I’m just thinking, “I better go for it!” It was very uncomfortable, but being around Lucy it just rubs off on you that you just want to be good. You want to go for it. You want to give it your best. They had us up on these two huge cranes and we were cabled and we would have to jump off and come flying at each other. There was about this much space between us and we’d have to pretend we were coming at each other. And when Lucy Lawless comes at you SCREAMING you better you have some comeback to that.
AUD: (laughs)
Claire: It’s fun. You get a birds-eye view of the world. That’s what’s so amazing about this job. I find myself in situations that are so surreal and yet so amazing. And you go “Look at me! I’m hanging in the trees!” - overlooking the most beautiful country. New Zealand is so incredibly beautiful - up in the trees overlooking the water wearing pelts and horns and blood and screaming. It’s very surreal.
QUESTION: I was noticing that Alti the Sorcerer seems to be a really mysterious, all powerful character and I was wondering if we were going to see more of her past in future episodes.
Claire: I think in “Between” it deals very much with the Karmic Cycle. So you get to know about the past and the future lives of all the characters. And with Alti, because she’s new, I can make it up with the people at Renaissance as we go along.
QUESTION: Do you think she’ll be as big as Callisto?
Claire: Callisto is such an amazing character, I could only hope. I hadn’t seen her and when I was in New Zealand, I got to see the “Callisto” episode. And I thought, “Damn, that girl is hot!”
AUD: (cheers)
Claire: I have some really big boots to fill. But I’d like to try.
AUD: (applause)
QUESTION: Are we going to see any more of Borias, Marton Csokas?
Claire: I don’t know. Marton is one of those actors who really gets into it and when he threw Alti out of the room, he REALLY threw Alti out of the room. Alti’s supposed to be really tough and when someone manhandles you out of the blue, it’s kind of jolting, it’s upsetting. And I wanted to cry because I thought, “What the hell was that?!”
AUD: (laughs)
Claire: He threw me out! He grabbed me and it was like “this old bag ‘o bones,” and threw me out of the door and I went flying into a bunch of the craft services and everyone said, “That’s just the way Marton is.”
AUD: (laughs)
Claire: He’s very passionate, sexy - like, “Let’s go for it!” So that was my working experience with him. (laughs)
QUESTION: How long does it take to get made up as Alti because in real life you look so young and beautiful and Alti looks so bad and evil and old? (laughs)
Claire: (laughs) It’s kind of fun and very liberating to do that. It doesn’t take that long. Just a lot of black around the eyes and the headgear. I asked Rob if we could get rid of the blood on the head in “Between.” But he said, “No, no, gotta have the eyes and the blood cuz the audience has to know it’s Alti.” And I’m thinking, “They’ll get it.”
AUD: (laughs)
Claire: But no, so I have this drippy blood and the black eyes, but I have a different outfit in “Between.” And I asked, “Could I come back wearing a little less clothing?”
AUD: (laughs)
Claire: So, not in “Between,” but maybe after that.
QUESTION: Do all you women plan what to wear to these cons? Cuz you all seem to be wearing black leather this weekend. Which is good!
AUD: (cheers)
Claire: Can you see through me that easily - “She’s wearing the black leather.” No, I actually had a skirt on. I was going to come very prim and then I thought at the last minute, “No, I need to be a little more, I need to sex it up a little bit.” Because Alti is draped. So, no, we don’t call each other. I know what Lucy’s going to be wearing. We were shopping and she bought this beautiful green smock. A very pretty color.
QUESTION: So you do shop together!
Claire: (laughs) Yeah, we shop together. We golf together. We’ve just taken up golf. And when I went back for “Between,” Lucy called me and she said, “They’ve just called and wanna know if I want to go to the World Cup of Golf and present the cup. Do you want to go with me?” I said, “Sure.” She said, “They’re sending a chopper!”
AUD: (cheers)
Claire: She said, “But the thing is I’m going to introduce you as my golf partner and we have to pretend we’re better at it than we are.”
AUD: (laughs)
Claire: We’ve played twice. (laughs)
AUD: (laughs)
Claire: So I say, “Sure.” They pick us up in the chopper and they fly us and she gives the big cup to these two really cute English guys who won the World Cup which was just held in New Zealand. And she’s introducing me as her golf partner. And they’re saying, “So what kind of clubs do you use?” And thank god I know someone who plays golf and I say, “Callaways.” And Lucy’s like, “Yes!”
AUD: (laughs)
Claire: She’s probably gonna get a whole free set of Callaways. And I’m still playing with my boyfriend’s clubs. (laughs)
AUD: (laughs)
QUESTION: How easy was it to do the dances in “Sin Trade”?
Claire: That was the most terrifying thing for me. Not only was the voice scary, but to get up in front of a group, there’s 50 crew, and dance. And I have no idea! I’m not a dancer! And dance this spiritual hocus pocus calling up the spirits. And I’m calling up spirits that aren’t there and they’re not coming, they’re putting them in later.
AUD: (laughs)
Claire: And TJ says, “Now pull them out of the fire.” And there’s a choreographer there whos’ helping and she’s doing jazz hands and being slick and Flashdancy. Luckily I had seen a program on tv, a travel show where someone was calling up spirits in South America and I copied that dance. Lucy got to do it with all the little Amazon girls. So they were a group! And I was so solo!!!
AUD: (laughs)
Claire: But by the end of that day I was relieved. Don’t ask me to do the dance. (laughs) That’s where I draw the line.
AUD: (laughs)
QUESTION: What part of being on the show was the most fun?
Claire: I think the flying around in the sky with Lucy was the most fun. That’s pretty cool. They shot a lot of it on blue screen where they put the background in later. So we had a couple days of flying. She and I were just hanging there in the sky.
In “Between,” I do some sword fighting which was fun too. It’s kind of scary cuz they just come up to you and say, “Okay, we’re gonna shoot the fight next.” And in the script it says, “Alti plows through a couple guys.” And I’m thinking, “Okay.” And then the stunt coordinator says, “Do you want to rehearse a little bit?” He hands me a stick and then he goes through this elaborate fight sequence. Then he brings in the bad guys - there’s 7 or 10 of them.
AUD: (laughs)
Claire: And of course. Alti’s so powerful, she takes them all out. I don’t know what I’m doing. He’s saying, “Stab here and parry there and stab and stab and back around.” And the stunt people sell it so well. They’re so amazing. They’ll flip for you even in rehearsal. “Do you want a back flip?”
AUD: (laughs)
Claire: Alti will just touch them and over they go! I’m just so nervous about trying to remember the moves that I forget you have to be into it and do the face and be angry and mad. Renee has just done a fight scene and she’s so brilliant and she’s taken out ten guys and she’s into it. Now it’s my turn. They get the fan going and the fire going and these guys come at me. But now, which we didn’t have in rehearsal, they’re screaming!!! And I’m terrified. And the director goes, “Cut. Claire…”
AUD: (laughs)
Claire: And I said, “I didn’t know they would be screaming!”
AUD: (laughs)
Claire: Then I did it and I wasn’t into it. I was so nervous about the screaming and luckily the director is watching on a video playback. They record it just on video and you can go back and watch it after your take. So the director said, “Claire, come here.” So I go over to the monitor and I look and it was so obvious. I’m taking out ten guys, but I’m not enjoying it.
AUD: (laughs)
Claire: Lucy and Renee, when they do it, you can just feel it. When they stab somebody, they’re into it. So I went back and I was wild and screaming. I was into it. But it took a while. (laughs)
AUD: (applause)
Claire: And then going home and watching Hudson who really gets into it. (laughs)
AUD: (cheers)
Claire: It was a rude awakening. “Claire, get it together!”
QUESTION (from a child): I heard a rumor that you are taller than Lucy and Renee and I was wondering if that is true?
Claire: (laughs) Well, I figure the only girl that could give Xena a hard time has to have something more than her. And, yes, I am. I’m about 3 or 4 inches taller than Xena. But she just stands so tall and proud that you can’t really tell. So I just have to learn something from those girls. And Renee is tiny compared to us, but you’d never know it when she’s on. She’s such an amazing woman. She was only in the dream sequence at the end of “Sin Trade,” but she was watching the whole time because she is going to be directing an episode (“Deja Vu All Over Again”)
AUD: (cheers)
Claire: She was sitting next to the director by the monitor watching my bad takes. (laughs) So I got to know her. Cause I’m so neurotic running back to the monitor saying, “How was it, how was it?” And Renee was very supportive and so focused. “Between The Lines” deals with reincarnation and Renee goes out and reads books on reincarnation! She is very powerful. It’s great to be tall and it’s great to have something over Xena, but I think I gotta learn how to “own” it some more.
Oh! We’re out of time! I was so nervous and you guys made me feel so good!
AUD: (applause, cheers)
Claire (in Alti’s voice): And “Xena’s coming!”