STARBURST #228, August 1997 - Volume 19, Number 12.
Hanging out with Xena is probably not the safest way to spend one's time. Ask Gabrielle, the wide-eyed storyteller, who decided to leave her village behind in order to follow the warrior princess on a life of adventure.
GABRIELLE has found her self attacked by everyone from blood-thirsty Amazons to vengeful giants. She's also seen her newly-wed husband savagely murdered by the evil Callisto; how can someone retain their innocence under those circumstances? Well, according to Reneé O'Connor, who's getting ready to start work on her third season of Xena: Warrior Princess, there will be a residual effect on her character in some of the upcoming episodes. "I talked about that with [co-executive producer] RJ Stewart," says the actress, "and he told me to think of each episode as its own separate entity so the character can grow, and then I leave it alone and go onto the next story. In that sense, my character can mature but I can still keep the innocence of Gabrielle intact.
Playful Moments
"I do want to make sure she still has her light moments, her silly moments, and her very girlish attitudes, as well as the experience of life that she's seen. I think that's very natural for human beings: every now and then, someone will go back to his childhood and play around or feel some of those emotions. I have to be careful about some of the choices I make; I think Gabrielle is so strong in her beliefs that she'll always keep her optimism intact. Sure, she might get to be a little more jaded as she sees some of the horrors of life, but if she still believes there's a better way of life or the world, then it keeps her balanced."
One of the reasons the up-and-coming actress finds her work on Xena so exciting is its successful mix of drama and comedy. A darker, more hard-hitting episode can be followed the next week by all-out farce, so the audience never knows what to expect from week to week. "We'll be doing that again next season," promises O'Connor. "They like the fact that we have high drama in one episode, and in the next we get a bit sillier and satirize ourselves. It's nice, because if you have an emotional scene or two for the week, it's nice to break it up and hop around the set and have a good time. I prefer the comedy, because I enjoy the timing of it, and just laughing in between scenes with the other actors. I feel more comfortable doing drama actually; it's something I feel stronger at, but I enjoy doing the comedy more."
Another reason for the show's continuing success may be its ever-growing repertory company. While the core of the series is the relationship between Xena and Gabrielle, other characters such as would be warrior, Joxer (played by Ted Raimi) and Xena's chief nemesis Callisto (Hudson Leick) have also grown in popularity. "Although I love working with Lucy who's the key to it all," agrees O'Connor, "I think that whenever Ted or Hudson come along, it's just a bigger energy on the set, and there's more to do, because there's such a history between the characters now. I also know that Lucy is in just about every scene, so whenever we have Ted or Hudson come over and have a sub-plot following her, own plot line, it just creates an easier workload for her. For me, I'm either with her character or have my own plot so it's not nearly as bad."
Hold Your Horses
That repertory company was put to the test when Lucy Lawless fell off a horse during a publicity stunt for The Tonight Show, breaking her pelvis. The injury sidelined the star for several weeks, requiring last-minute script rewrites and a massive burst of creativity from the show's writer/producers. As O'Connor recalls, "I was a bit worried that we would lose our audience to begin with. Obviously, people tune in to see the character of Xena, and she does hold the show.
"Although my character is important, I believe it's our chemistry as two friends together that's most important over just my character alone, so I was worried that without that chemistry we might have lost a few of our loyal followers, but the writers just went to work as quickly as possible, trying to find some way to make it all seem logical, to keep the show moving, and we were lucky that it happened to work out pretty well.
"They did mix the episodes up a bit - we filmed a couple of episodes before Lucy's accident that didn't air until after the episodes without her. We never really follow a storyline from one episode to another, and if we do, it's very rare, so I think they have to look at each episode as one piece; there's a beginning and an end and then move on."
Callous Callisto
Reflecting on the just-finished second season of Xena, O'Connor can point to a number of personal highlights, ranging from a few of the more comedic episodes to moments of high drama. "Looking back on my character's growth alone, I think The Return of Callisto is the episode that gave Gabrielle another level to express herself, and they definitely continued that string of courage throughout the season. I think she's much stronger, more multi-faceted in this last season, so that was one of my favourite episodes.
"Another would have to be A Day in the Life, where we had a great time playing off each other and really developing our characters' friendship a bit more on screen. There's also A Comedy of Eros, which was a take-off on the Shakespearean A Comedy of Errors. Ted came over for it, and it was nonstop entertainment and laughs, so that was another highlight for me. There's a mix-up of love interests, and it was a nice way of taking the characters into an element they're not used to."
One of the more technically complex episodes was the Halloween offering, Girls Just want to Have Fun, in which Gabrielle is transformed into one of the vampiric Bacchae. "TJ Scott directed that, and he's one of our favourite directors. He has a style about him that is fast-paced; his stories take you on a frenzied adventure. His work is quick, lots of energy, lots of movement, and I think that was just an expression of his style. He also did the first Callisto episode, where we had this big ladder fight.
"This episode had a similar style: lots of different shots and illusions that drew you into the story, and before you knew what's going on, it's over. We have a couple of other directors we call upon quite a bit, but he's definitely one of our favorites. It was a pretty exciting episode for me, because that was one of the first times that Gabrielle was able to change into another character, so I enjoyed it. The only drawback to the role was possibly the contacts, because I'm not used to having anything in my eyes, so that was a test of patience to keep the sand and smoke and everything else out of my eyes, but it was worth it; I enjoyed playing that character."
As Xena progressed well into its second season, the writers began to experiment with off-format episodes that pushed the envelope a bit more. One of their outlandish experiments was The Xena Scrolls, featuring O'Connor as a cigar-chomping Indiana Jones-type archaeologist, Lucy Lawless as a damsel in distress, and Ted Raimi as an Inspector Clouseau-like detective. "We had a great time on that one, and I thought Ted was wonderful with his accent; everybody spent so much time laughing on the set.
"I watched a couple of the Indiana Jones films beforehand, since we were definitely ripping off the characters, and I had a great time playing it up. I decided to go with it all, especially the cigar smoking, which was a first. You should have seen me practicing for that - they'd keep the film rolling, and I think it was a test to see how long I could keep smoking without gagging. It was pretty hilarious."
Another successful experiment was the tongue-in-cheek A Day in the Life, which chronicled a 24-hour period in the lives of our heroines. The episode was directed by Michael Hurst who took a break from playing Hercules's sidekick Iolaus to work behind the camera. "He has so much energy in his body that it just emotes throughout the entire crew. He's very enthusiastic, he's passionate, and he established a sense of trust immediately. He's a fine actor as well, and you just let him take the piece and carry it. You'll try anything he says, knowing that if it doesn't work, he'll think of something else to try."
Bath Time
A comedic highlight from A Day in the Life was the now-infamous bathtub scene, featuring Xena, Gabrielle, several buckets of scalding water and a lost bar of soap. O'Connor remembers being slightly nervous before shooting, but needlessly so. "It was actually lukewarm and very comfortable, and it wasn't that bad. I was a bit nervous going into the scene, wondering what we were going to be thrown into to wear, how many people would be on the set, but it was very easy to do. Everyone was very polite and considerate of each other, and I felt very comfortable around Lucy, so it wasn't a problem at all."
Platonic Friends?
That said, the bathtub scene has provoked a good deal of discussion from viewers who have it as 'proof' that the relationship between Xena and Gabrielle might not be strictly platonic. "It's funny how that aspect of the show has developed over this season," reflects O'Connor, who finds the controversy somewhat perplexing. "It's pretty amazing for Lucy and I to hear the feedback about that aspect of the show. I think we play our characters very true to each other; we have an honest friendship, and we love each other; that's all there is to it. People just read into it what they choose to see.
"I think it's sad that people have to pigeonhole our characters into one stereotype, because our relationship is so multi-dimensional that you can't really place it into one mind or another. I guess people see whatever they want to see, so we just have to move on and do what we want to do."
Darker Directions
With the third season of Xena close at hand, O'Connor doesn't want to reveal too much in terms of spoilers. Pressed for a few hints, she finally admits that upcoming episodes will turn up the intensity of her character's emotional arc. "Right now, the writers have come up with some new ideas that are so extreme, and I really don't want to give them away because I think it will ruin it for the audience, but it's going to be challenging enough for me that I have no desire to change any direction that they're going with the character right now. Some of that direction is pretty bizarre and much darker than we've done before, so it will be interesting to see how the directors will portray it."
Although her work on Xena: Warrior Princess has kept her too busy to explore other work, Reneé O'Connor says the role of Gabrielle offers her just about anything an actress can want. "I'm very fortunate to have this character," she affirms. "I was just thinking about it recently: I have the action and the physicality of Gabrielle, but the emotions are also there, the comedy, the drama, and the wonderful friendship with Xena. It's so fulfilling, it's completely challenging, especially with the writers constantly throwing new twists and turns at us. It keeps you on your toes, but I wouldn't want to be doing anything else. It's a perfect job. The people who come up with these ideas still love the show, and I think that's the reason why everyone is still as excited about it."
--JOE NAZZARO