Good Karma
Despite playing bad bitch Alti in Xena: Warrior Princess, Claire Stansfield has her fair share of happiness and good luck - and a career so varied that it shames those of many better-known names, as David Bailey finds out…
Official Xena Magazine: Issue 08
In just three episodes of Xena: Warrior Princess’ fourth season, Claire Stansfield’s indescribably nasty performance as the shamaness Alti secured her as a fan favourite. Making her return in the season five episode Them Bones, Them Bones, Alti does the unimaginable - she gets even nastier. After merrily tormenting Gabrielle in Between The Lines, she decides to set her sights on Xena’s unborn child. In another bid for reincarnation, Alti decides that she’s going to take the soul of the baby and effect her return to this plane. Thankfully, she’s defeated again - her bones are trapped in a special amber, and then shattered and scattered to the four winds - but not before causing a great deal of unpleasantness.
During the filming of Them Bones, Them Bones, Xena star Lucy Lawless was pregnant with her own child. Claire Stansfield made a return to the role of Alti, only to have to cope with the very unsettling experience of threatening the life of a friend’s child. “It was a little bit strange,” Stansfield admits. “Because Lucy was pregnant, it made it really uncomfortable when she was having problems giving birth to the little sort of alien in the [dream sequence at the beginning of the episode]. It was a little bit disturbing, because she really was pregnant, and God forbid if anything were to happen.
“So it was a little bit strange having Xena be pregnant, and having her worry that there might be something wrong with her baby,” she continues. “It was a little bit too close to home. But everything worked out fine. Alti’s dead, and Lucy has a lovely baby boy!”
Ah. So Alti’s dead, is she? We’ve all heard that one before… But Stansfield has just cause to worry about Alti’s fate. “Lucy always jokes and says, ‘Oh, Claire, just because you die that doesn’t mean you can’t come back.’ And we are always in cahoots together, figuring out how we can make Alti come back. But to be honest, Chloe [Smith], one of the New Zealand producers, said to me in passing in the hallway, ‘Oh, we finally get to kill you off!’ Which kind of made me go, ‘What the f*** are you talking about? I’m going to go talk to Lucy! Just you wait!’ I know that I have the greatest fans, and they’ve been so supportive. I know they’re all rallied around bringing Alti back. But to be honest, I don’t know. Chloe’s voice keeps ringing in my head. I’m hoping maybe I could come back as somebody else… I know there are a lot of people saying, ‘Hey, let’s get her back,’ which I’m just so grateful for, because I’d love to come back.”
So if she were to come back, does Stansfield have any particular suggestions as to what other mischief the evil shamaness could get up to? “I’d love to work with Hudson [Leick, who plays Callisto],” says Stansfield, “and I think Alti could kick her ass. But I’m not one of the writers. I’ve done all these conventions and I keep talking about it, but nobody’s getting my not-so-subtle hints! My people have spoken to their people and they’re talking about next season, but no one’s said anything for sure.”
And, of course, if there is a next time, Stansfield won’t have to worry about working opposite a pregnant woman. Did that pose any problems during the filming of Them Bones, Them Bones? “I just worked with Lucy that one time in that episode,” Stansfield explains. “I was over there for two weeks, and I shot all of my stuff in two days because Lucy could only work for a few hours at a time. After that I worked mostly with Renee [O’Connor, Gabrielle], and then I was dancing around with stuntwomen. So basically, I wasn’t in it so much.”
Wondering how she would cope if she were the pregnant star of a television series, Stansfield admits that she could manage it “not as well as Lucy does. She is just such a professional. We’re good friends, so the last time I was there, when she was taking it easy and I coincidentally had the day off, we did a lot of hanging out. I could tell Lucy was just getting really tired - she was ready to take a break.”
Stansfield thinks some more about it, before adding, “I don’t even know how I would have dealt with that. It’s interesting. Whenever I get parts I think, ‘I could never fathom doing this, there’s no way I could do that.’ But once you’re there, you shift into the gear you’re supposed to be in and you just do it. Lucy’s like that as well; she just does it, she’s not afraid. And that’s so cool.”
What kind of gear shifts does a person have to make to turn themselves into someone as cold and callous as Alti, though? “Alti is really, really evil,” she agrees thoughtfully. “I don’t play the nasty or the evilness. I play how much she gets off on the power. I work from that energy and how much I revel in enjoying what I’m doing. But I don’t ever actually think about what I’m doing. I sort of play with the emotion of the power and control and how much she loves it. She’s deliciously evil. But the actual act of stealing the soul of someone’s baby has never crossed my mind.”
“My mother was with me once when I ran through my lines,” Stansfield remembers, “and even she said, ‘Oh, you’re horrible!’ And I said, [adopting Alti’s voice - one of the creepiest things you’ll ever hear, folks!] ‘No, I’m not…’ It’s all a fantasy and you don’t really know where Alti lives or what her world is, she’s so not really real. She’s never really killed anybody, she just hurts them a lot - tortures them!”
Despite her downright nastiness, Alti has become a firm fan favourite. Stansfield makes many convention appearances around the US and the rest of the world. “I love it,” she enthuses. “I get high on it. It’s so great, because you feel like a rock star; they applaud you and they love you. The fans are so fantastic. Then you get to meet them all one-on-one, which I love.
“I’ve never had a negative experience,” she states. “Never. Even when they come up to you and say, ‘You’re so much prettier a person than Alti,’ I don’t automatically hear the compliment. I’m thinking, ‘Oh! So I look ugly on TV?’ Even when little kids hide behind their mothers, as sensitive as I am, I still enjoy it, because it’s right there. It’s not in your mind; the support is right there in front of you. It’s a great group of fans.”
But surely it would be nicer if they were fans of her show? Does Stansfield never dream of bagging the leading role in a series, as Lawless has done? “I actually just booked a pilot. I’m shooting for MTV, and it’s one of the leading roles. It’s not the leading role, but it’s a lead role. And I do get carried away sometimes and think, ‘Ooh, yes, maybe this will be the one!’ And then I just think, ‘Claire! Relax! The show might not even get picked up [for a full series]. Be grateful that you’ve got another job. Hopefully they’ll get you back on Xena. You live in a beautiful house and you’re healthy and happy, so shut up!”
“The pilot is for an MTV half-hour sitcom called The Sausage Factory,” Stansfield explains. “It’s about 14-year-old high school boys, and I play the kind of Mrs Robinson character - Ms. Johnson. She’s the librarian and she sleeps with some of the 14 year old boys!”
Stansfield seems justly satisfied with her career so far. While she may not be a household name of the stature of your Clooneys, your Duchovnys or your Anistons, she is happy - and that, she is sure, is the most important thing. “Sometimes I can switch channels in my mind and think, ‘Oh, I wish I was more this, or I had this, or I could be that person,’” she admits. “But the older I get, the more I look on the bright side and realise that I’ve been really lucky to be able to travel, always be working as an actor and not really have too much of a hard time.
“I don’t have to work too hard,” she says. “I always get a job. I’m always doing something interesting. On a day to day basis, I think I’m very lucky. I could think, ‘Why don’t I have a series? Why aren’t I super-famous? Well, if that’s where I’m supposed to be, then that’s where I’m supposed to be. And if not, I can’t be unhappy all the time.”
It is worth mentioning that, at this point in the interview, Stansfield is luxuriating beside the pool in her back garden on a sunny California spring day. She describes herself as an “out-of-work actress,” laughing at the faint silliness of it bearing in mind her current situation. Well, if that’s unemployment, no wonder she can stay so happy! But, she explains, there’s more to it than a sunny day and an outdoor pool. Stansfield puts her happiness down to her sensible attitude. “I have so many friends who are actors who are so goal-orientated,” she says. “So they’ve been unhappy for five years. That’s so sad. And then, on the flip side, I have a lot of friends who are very successful, and they’re miserable.
“I had a girlfriend pass away last year,” she adds. “She was young and gorgeous and unhappy because she wasn’t a working actress. And then she died, and that was just really profound for me - aside from the fact that I miss her, I felt so sad that she spent such a long time being unhappy about not working. And she thought that was the answer. She thought, ‘I’ll feel good if I have my own television show.’ Well, you know, I know a lot of people who have their own shows, and they’re miserable.”
And Stansfield’s attitude? “I just have to look at the good stuff,” she asserts, “and I’m really grateful. I would never have thought I’d be on a show like Xena, and now I’m just loving it.
“So that has shown me that I’m not driving the car of my life. I’m in the passenger seat and I need to just put on my seatbelt, relax and go for the ride, and not think, ‘I’ve gotta make that turn! If I don’t make that turn, I’m going to be unhappy!’”
Sidebar: Cyber Chick
Claire Stansfield’s career doesn’t just take in life in front of the camera - thanks to the Internet, she’s working on producing and directing her own shows. Want to know more? Then slap on your spandex and stride this way…
Xena Magazine: You’re working on a couple of series for broadcast on the Internet? Can you tell us a little about them?
Claire Stansfield: One is called The Triple-X Revue. It’s a comedy - all my favourite comedians doing stand-up, sort of alternative comedians. There’s a great show on HBO, The HBO Workspace, and they have comedians - some who are about to get their own shows and some who may never, because they’re a little risque - doing their stuff. It’s very clever, and it’s funny. I just love going to comedy clubs and seeing comedians, so I just put together my 10 favourite ones. It’s sort of like Saturday Night Live: some skits, some stand-up and some animation.
And then I’ve done kind of a spoofy superhero interactive chess game. It’s called Chickmate. There are three, six-foot tall models saving the planet, all wearing spandex. Kind of like Cleopatra 2525, except my girls are a foot taller! One of my girls has a German accent and you can’t really understand anything she’s saying at all. So we gave her the tiniest outfit. They save the planet from this horrible virus, and it’s about a lot of things that are going on now - cell regeneration, cloning and so forth. These girls are the ultimate killing machines - of course, they’re wearing no clothes and sky high boots - and they’re going to save the planet. With no guns. It’s very camp, and really fun. I’ve shot it, and I’m editing it now on my computer.
I’m thoroughly enjoying being able to start something and produce it myself, and that’s because of the technology we have now.
What kind of computer set-up have you got?
I have a G3. I am so pro-Mac… I’m working on Final Cut Pro, which is an Apple programme and it’s kind of like a mini Avid [the professional standard for digital editing]. I had to get about 100 gigabytes extra hard drive to store all this stuff, but it’s a pretty amazing program. I taught myself over summer. Lucy was a total inspiration, because she kept saying, ‘What do you want to do?’ And I said, ‘I just want to direct my own movies!’ And she was like, ‘Do it. Just do it.’
So is the next step to direct your own films and television shows?
Absolutely. That’s kind of where I’m heading. I’m putting together trailers and setting up meetings. I’d like to do a couple more Internet shows, so that once somebody says, ‘OK, here you go - direct a film’, I’m really ready. It’s teaching me so much more. It’s like a circus; you’re a ringleader when you’re a director, and sometimes it gets really out of control, so it’s good to have a practice run. Sometimes you can have the best material in the world and the best actors, but if you’ve practised it 100 times, you’re more likely to have a better finished product.
Once editing has been completed, The Triple-X Revue and Chickmate (a definite contender for best title in the world, ever) will be webcast at http://www.scribline.com later this year. To keep up to date with developments and find out more about Stansfield and her career, keep your eye on http://www.clairestandsfield.com.