Con But Not Forgotten
The end of Xena: Warrior Princess may be a sad occasion, but Creation Entertainment gave fans in the US cause to celebrate back in May at a gigantic convention attended by every major star of the show and a number of the behind-the-scenes crew members. Her work in New Zealand done, our set reporter Kate Barker touched down in Pasadena for the experience of a lifetime…
Official Xena Magazine: Issue 22
There have been conventions ever since the world was introduced to the Warrior Princess, but Creation's Xena wrap convention at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in California over the first weekend of May 2001 was billed to be an event of Herculean proportions.
The convention featured no less than 14 Xena actors, as well as behind-the-scenes personnel, including stunt doubles, directors and producers, and was the first ever to feature both Lucy Lawless and Renee O'Connor on stage together.
Official events kicked off on the Friday afternoon with a welcome address from Sharon Delaney, editor of Creation's official Xena fan club, followed by a video montage of Xena and Gabrielle kicking butt, set appropriately to the music of the Eurythmics' 'Sisters Are Doin' It For Themselves'.
It was then time for the first guest to take to the stage: Robert (Salmoneus) Trebor, who, as expected, was typically comedic. The crowd reacted with cheers when Trebor spoke of his role in the upcoming series Tropical Storm. The series is being developed from an 'uber-novel' by fanfiction (and Xena episode) writer Missy Good, who was also at the convention running a few events of her own.
Delaney soon returned to the stage to introduce the next guest, revealing that, “Even when this actor is not on the screen, you still feel her presence.” The tribute montage was put to the song 'Maniac', and the crowd began to go wild even before the video had finished. There was cheering and a standing ovation as Hudson (Callisto) Leick took the stage and, when the roar of the crowd finally died down, she had only to say, “Hi!” for the cheers to begin again.
Leick certainly knew how to play up to the crowd. At one point, she brought a fan named Laura up onto the stage and gave her a hug for her 72nd birthday. When other members of the audience cried out for hugs as well, Hudson smiled in mock innocence, “Oh, is it your birthday too?”
Leick went on to talk about how much fun - and how challenging - it was to portray Xena in Callisto's body, and that the hardest thing to do was “ride a horse and try to chase Lucy.”
Responding to the question of Callisto's role in Xena's pregnancy, Leick showed no fear in adding to the subtext. “Did I have any feelings about impregnating Xena and becoming her child? No, I didn't like it,” she said mischievously. “It was too quick for me!”
Outrageous acts included a spontaneous auctioning of the red rubber dress she was wearing on stage at the time. “I don’t come with it,” she said at one point during the bidding. “I don’t think you could handle that.” The dress eventually sold for $7,000, with the money to be donated to charity after the convention.
A cheer went up when Leick invited her parents up on stage. She then moved into the audience, throwing around handfuls of Hershey’s Kisses, apparently something of a trademark of her convention appearances.
After an hour of wonderful entertainment, Leick was still smiling as she threw out the last of her store of chocolate. “You just love me because I’m feeding you sugar,” she teased.
Next up on stage were Second Unit director Paul Grinder and Xena stunt double Zoe Bell, who revealed their tricks of the trade and how those high-flying stunts are really done (Grinder and Bell will be revealing all this and more in the next issue of Xena Magazine).
Further guests that afternoon were Karl Urban, who revealed some of his favourite moments as Cupid and Caesar, and talked about his recent film The Price of Milk, and Bruce (Autolycus) Campbell, a fan favourite who told some typically amusing anecdotes about his time in Xena and Hercules.
Other smaller events took place in the afternoon, such as fanfiction writers’ meetings and group sessions with some of the people running Xena-oriented web sites.
Friday evening saw the first of the convention’s ‘Night Music In Pasadena’ cabarets, showcasing the talents of a number of Xena actors and hosted by fan favourite Hudson Leick, who, having auctioned her red rubber dress, came on stage in a dazzling white, sequined number
The first half of the programme starred Bruce Campbell and Ted (Joxer) Raimi, who showed off their legendary comedic abilities with Raimi as the ‘Great Sven Garlic’, who hypnotised Campbell. Highlights of the act included Raimi telling a hypnotised Campbell, “You are now a bad actor,” to which Campbell predictably replied, “I am now Ted Raimi…”
The second half of the programme presented the singing talents of Ebonie (M’lila) Smith, Adrienne (Eve) Wilkinson and Darien (Cyrene) Takle. The talented ladies performed such classic hits as ‘Black Velvet’, ‘Cabaret’, and a Xena-style version of the torch song ‘Fever’.
Leick made a number of appearances during the programme, working the room just as outrageously as she had earlier in the afternoon, and obsessing hilariously about a pair of handcuffs used in Raimi and Campbell's act. And, by the end of the evening, her latest attire had also been auctioned off - this time for $1,300.
Saturday's events kicked off at 1.30pm with another set of video montages set to music. The first of these was a salute to Hercules put to the song ‘Now And Forever’, which ended with the parting shot of Hercules and lolaus walking off into the sunset together. The second montage of the day, set to Bonnie Tyler’s ‘Holding Out For A Hero’, featured the female action heroes Supergirl, Wonder Woman and, of course, Xena.
The afternoon included talks from season six guest stars Adrienne (Eve) Wilkinson and William (Virgil) Gregory Lee, as well as the ever-popular Tim (Eli) Omundson, who, amongst other things, treated the audience to his self-penned harmonica tune ‘Eli’s Blues’.
The audience then got to see the latest Xena episode to air in the US, The Last of the Centaurs, featuring the son of Borias (also played by Marton Csokas) and Ephiny (Danielle Cormack) as a ghost.
After the episode screening, it was time for the day’s charity auctions. The chief recipients of the money raised in these auctions were the James Ellis Foundation and Lucy Lawless' official cause, the Starship Foundation for the Starship Children’s Hospital in her home town of Auckland.
Most of the items auctioned off were props actually used by the actors during the filming of Xena, most of which went for several thousand US dollars each. These ranged from a foam-rubber stunt prop of Hades' sword (which went for $1,000), to a foam Callisto sword signed by Hudson Leick (a snip at $4,500), to the call sheet for Lucy and Renee’s last scene together in the final episode A Friend in Need, signed by Lucy and Renee, which was not to be given out to the buyer until after the episode had aired, which went for $4,000.
However, the most amazing sale of the day was of one of the few metal chakrams used by Lucy Lawless during the filming of Xena, presented mounted in a glass case with the promise that Lawless would sign it later for authenticity. After an opening bid of $500, the chakram eventually went on to sell for a staggering $40,000, which was all to be donated to the Starship Foundation.
In shows like Xena, it’s the villains who often get the most applause. Following a stunning video montage put to pumping dance music and featuring her evil alter-ego, Alti, Claire Stansfield took to the stage to a cacophony of cheers from the crowd. Stansfield told the audience she wasn’t allowed to swear on stage before coming out with a very strong expletive to describe just how much she really did, “love you guys!”
Questions put to Stansfield covered such topics as Alti’s many deaths (“I think I’ve died about seven times now”), to what made Alti so formidable (“I felt that Alti’s strongest power is her stare”), to showing more of Alti’s history in the modern-day episode Send in the Clones. “It really fulfilled my fantasy of being a hard-ass leather mama!” she told the audience with obvious enthusiasm.
Asked how she developed Alti’s husky, mesmerising voice, Stansfield revealed a rather unlikely source. “I basically stole the voice from the wicked witch in The Wizard of Oz,” she admitted. “When I was little, she was the scariest person I knew.” Told that Alti didn’t necessarily come across as an evil hag, Claire replied jovially, “Remind me of that in 10 years, when I am an evil hag!” She then went on to talk about her sadness at not having the opportunity to work with Alexandra (Aphrodite) Tydings in the show, but encouraged the audience to watch out for her and Tydings later that day in the second of the convention’s cabaret evenings. “We’re really looking forward to entertaining you guys,” she promised.
Towards the end of her time on stage, Stansfield addressed the much-debated issue of whether or not there would be a Xena movie. “There have been rumours,” she stated, “but I don’t know... actually I do know,” she teased cryptically, “but I can’t tell you... But I think it's a great idea!”
Next on the programme was a video salute to Aphrodite, put to the music of Aqua's ‘Barbie Girl’, followed closely by the appearance of the person behind the valley-girl goddess herself. Dressed in plain trousers and a top, with her hair in pig-tails and looking very unlike the Goddess of Love, Alexandra Tydings came on stage to a standing ovation. “I’m so excited,” she exclaimed once the room had quietened down. “This is really great!”
Amongst other things, Tydings talked about her recent guest appearance in the new series Sheena: Queen of the Jungle, commenting that she actually “got to wear clothes” for the role! Turning to her time in the Xenaverse, Tydings pointed out that although Aphrodite was often presented as an airhead, she was definitely no fool. “My first Hercules episode had me coming out of a clam shell and saying, ‘Tubular!’, and that was great, but Aphrodite is manipulative; she’s crafty, she’s sexy. She was almost killed - but like they say, you can’t kill love, baby!”
The actor took time to pose for photographs and answered every question as fully as she could.
At the end, a couple of fans approached the stage with gifts for her, which she received with what looked like genuinely pleasant surprise. “Ooh, presents!” she exclaimed in a voice which more resembled her Xena alter ego.
Tydings’ parting words were straight from the heart: “Thank you all so much - you guys rock! she said. Not surprisingly, the crowd gave her a standing ovation as she gracefully left the stage.
Next up on stage and the last guest to appear that afternoon was Ted Raimi, who was introduced by a musical tribute to Joxer, put to the music of ‘Wanna Be A Cowboy’. As usual, Raimi was hilarious, providing a very entertaining hour of anecdotes, comical musings and a sneak peek into what he’s up to now that Joxer has hung up his hat.
Hundreds of fans returned later that evening for the cabaret, and they were not to be disappointed. The first part was billed as ‘Claire & Alexandra XXX Review', and it soon transpired that their act lived up to its name. The actresses came on stage dressed in bowler hats, black tuxedo jackets and not much else. They read a number of pieces of Xena fanfiction written by some of the more well-known names in the Xena fan circles. Their act was risque and very entertaining, and was met with yet another standing ovation from the appreciative audience.
The second half of the evening’s programme featured the musical talents of Robert Trebor, Tim Omundson, Karl Urban and Ted Raimi, backed b the Creation Big Band and the vocal group Solstic Highlights included an Elvis-like Omundson involving the audience in ‘Minnie The Moocher’ and Ted Raimi’s ‘Papa Loves Mambo’ accompanied by a video montage of his flamboyant character Jace from Lyre, Lyre, Hearts On Fire. At the end of the song the rest of the guests came back on stage for a sing-along to round off a wonderful evening’s entertainment.
Sunday began early with a charity breakfast with the guests, an event which was, not surprisingly, booked out months in advance. The convention proper kicked off again at 1.30pm, and the usual music videos were followed by the day's first guests, Ebonie (M'lila) Smith and Tsianina (Varia) Joelson, who amused the audience with tales of their appearances on Xena.
Another charity auction then followed, and during this time autograph seekers queued to get pictures signed by Ted Raimi, Adrienne Wilkinson, Alexandra Tydings, Claire Stansfield and Hudson Leick, who were only too happy to oblige their fans. It also happened to be Hudson’s birthday, and she jubilantly offered chocolate cake to the eager fans waiting in line.
Following the charity auction, New Zealand actress Darien (Cyene) Takle entertained the audience with anecdotes of her life and her delight playing Xena’s mum. Takle was followed by Xena Editor Rob Field, who turned up with a highly amusing tape of bloopers from Xena’s sixth season.
The final video montage was an extra-lot overview of the entire series of Xena: Warrior Princess, eliciting wild cheers from the room, which was now full to the brim with fans hardly able to contain their excitement at the impending highlight of the weekend.
The appointed hour finally arrived, and Renee O’Connor appeared on the stage to cheering, clapping and, not surprisingly, a standing ovation. The applause went on for at least two full minutes before O’Connor could make herself heard above the noise, even through a microphone. After a few brief exchanges with Creation’s Sharon Delaney, the subject of O’Connor’s frequent claims that she can’t sing was raised. Following a little prompting from Delaney and the audience (and some coincidentally-cued music), the actress agreed to a short burst of song and began singing the first few bars of Donna Summer’s ‘Last Dance’. Halfway through the first verse, however, another voice joined in from behind the stage and Lucy Lawless soon stepped out from behind the curtain, eliciting a staggering roar of applause from the audience. After the song (through which the clapping never ceased), it was time for some questions, which had been gathered from fans in advance by Sharon Delaney.
Over the next two hours, the audience was treated to comments and anecdotes from Lawless and O’Connor which covered a wide variety of subjects. One of particular interest to the actresses and the audience alike was the many different costumes they’d worn during their time on the show. O’Connor revealed that her outfit in “the Cinderella episode” was her favourite, while Lawless admitted that hers was O’Connor's double’s go-go outfit from Lyre, Lyre, which she was seen dancing in during the episode’s closing credits despite being eight months pregnant!
Still on the subject of costumes, O’Connor commented good-humouredly on the gradual change of her costumes over the series’ run to reveal more and more of her figure. She assured the crowd that it was really just to give her more freedom to move, while Lucy put it a little more succinctly, pointing out that, “Renee has abs of steel....”
O’Connor made the surprise revelation that she had a middle name, something she had previously kept a secret. She told the audience that her middle name was, in fact, Renee; her first name being Evelyn, but that she had adopted Renee as her first name as she preferred it. Both women admitted that a great deal had happened to them over the past six years, including meeting their future partners.
Other highlights included Lucy’s impersonation of singer Stevie Nicks, as well as a brief discussion about the show’s ever-present subtext, which the actresses addressed in a non-committal but satisfactory way.
At the time of the convention, the final episode of Xena had yet to be screened, and Lawless and O’Connor were therefore unable to give away any details about the episode. However, both actresses assured the audience that they were more than satisfied with the show’s conclusion. “There were truly some beautiful, heart-wrenching moments,” said Lawless. “I felt a real sense of closure. A friend of mine watched the rough version and just cried through all of it.”
“I cried too,” Renee admitted. “It was just heart and soul.”
As their time on stage came to an end, both Lawless and O'Connor thanked the audience and fans everywhere for “being a force for good,” and revealed how grateful and gratified they were to know that they had made some small difference out there in the “real” world. Much to the crowd’s applause, they launched into a reprise of ‘Last Dance’, joined at the end by Xena creator and Lawless’ husband Rob Tapert and all the other convention guests.
As the Xena actors and crew members said their final goodbyes, the auditorium was filled with cheers, tears and wild applause for the people who had obviously made a difference to so many people’s lives.
SIDEBAR: Parting Words
Kate Barker brings us highlights of Lucy Lawless and Renee O’Connor’s historical appearance.
Starting Out
Renee O’Connor: The biggest surprise was the time schedule! That was the hardest, keeping the schedule and trying to keep your creativity as well.
Lucy Lawless: By the eighth episode, when we were getting all the subtext feedback, I think we really started knitting together.
The Subtext
ROC: I have to say that the relationship between these two was amazing. It was all about love.
LL: We wanted it to be about love. It’s never been grubby and we didn’t want to present it that way. Whether you want to believe that they’re gay or straight is irrelevant to the fact that these two love and care for each other.
Acting Styles
ROC: I think Lucy uses her instincts.
LL: Renee will work in a completely different way, and I don’t really know what that is…
ROC: …even after 6 years!
LL: In the fifth season she’d never let me run lines with her. I’m going, ‘Let me help you’, and she’s going, ‘no!’ The nature of acting is that you don’t have a preconception of how the other person is going to act, and it was often like that.
Practical Jokes
LL: Renee tried to pull all these lame practical jokes on me.
ROC: But they never worked! It always happened to other people, like the time I put slime on Lucy’s door handle and Rob got it…
LL: I wondered who did that…
Summing Up
ROC: I’ve grown up on the show completely. I’m so glad it was in my twenties because I’ve been learning who I am.
LL: If we weren’t making bold choices, it wouldn’t be worth the last six years of blood, sweat and tears that all of us have put in. It was a magic and wonderful place in time and space, but we can never have that again, because we’re not the people we were then. It made me a better person and professional. I have nothing more to say - it was magic.
The Future
LL: [I’d like to] make [people] experience something they never would have experienced in their lives, something really dramatic or sad, to make people laugh and cry. I’m planning activities rather than projects. I don’t feel a psychological need to distance myself from the role… but I am going back to my own hair colour!