Jacqueline Kim (Lao Ma)

(spoiler-free except for The Debt I & II)

After the outrageous, goofy antics of Bruce Campbell and Claire Stansfield, Jacqueline Kim was a major change of pace. She was quiet, calmly amazed at the convention crowd, and deeply thoughtful about all her questions and responses. That doesn't mean she wasn't funny, though. She opened up her appearance with "Hi, I'm Jacqueline Kim. ... I'm an alcoholic. No, I'm kidding!"

Jacqueline came onto the stage after the top ten moments video, and commented about how proud she was to be part of a show that's so good. She said she was cheering right along with the CPR scene and was struck by how intense the friendship between Xena and Gabrielle is. She marvelled at the range of audience for the show, providing everything from "real-life" mythology to 9-year-old girls to guilty pleasures for 50-year-old men.

For nearly every compliment that Jacqueline received for Lao Ma, she passed on praise to RJ Stewart for writing the character. She pointed out how frequently philosophies and beliefs leave women out entirely, and found it beautiful that RJ envisioned a woman behind an entire religion that was based not just on peace, but also on power.

For inspiration for Lao Ma, especially the fight scenes, Jacqueline watched a lot of Hong Kong films and Brigitte Lin, and how calm and smooth she moved in even the most outrageous and difficult stunts. She called herself clumsy, but said that she practiced fight moves with the stunt coordinator at every opporunity to make them as fluid as she could.

When she was asked what her favorite moment from the Debts was, she paused to think as she did for nearly every question, and some audience members shouted out their suggestion. Jacqueline immediately replied with a twinkle in her eye, "The bathtub? That was your favorite part!" She decided that working with Lucy was her favorite part of the episode work. She said that she's never seen a star so constantly accessible to everyone, staying on the set all the time, being involved with the show, instead of hiding in her trailer like so many other people she's seen in show business.

Jacqueline was asked one of the great questions of the Debt: what was the significance of the hairpin, and what did it mean when Lao Ma sent it back to Xena? Jacqueline saw the hairpin as a symbol of Lao Ma's power and teaching, and compared giving the hairpin to Xena as a passing of the baton, not as an edict to kill Ming T'ien, but to now take control and do what Xena thinks is right.

A few changes were made to Lao Ma at Jacqueline's suggestions. She said that there was originally some "dancing" (literal, or figurative?) between Xena and Lao Ma that was so overbearingly overt that she campaigned to have it removed. She pointed out that part of the beauty of Xena and Gabrielle's relationship is that it's subtle, and she wanted Xena's relationship with Lao Ma be the same. Also, they asked Jacqueline to use an Asian accent for her character, which she refused to do. She pointed out that Xena doesn't have a Greek accent, and said that using accents is usually a red flag for any actor of color. The show's producers weren't happy with her refusal at first, but went along with it.

Jacqueline mentioned her time at the celebrity breakfast and said she was struck by how much convention-goers seem to be there for "a really agressively good time." Which of course got her a raucous round of cheers. She seemed surprised to note that the convention was really an excuse for a big fan party. Welcome to the party, Jacqueline.

Return to the Cherry Hill Report.

	Web www.bethgriese.com