Lucy Lawless (Xena)

The highlight of the weekend arrived with much hoopla, enough anticipation to charge the auditorium in case of a power outage, and a change in format. Creation announced that a professional interviewer would kick things off with Lucy, followed by questions from ten pre-selected people from the audience.

The interviewer started things out promisingly; she read the top ten list of answers Lucy had to give time and time again. (#1: "They're really, really, really, really good friends.") A great idea - let's get the stuff we've all already heard over and done with and move on to the new. Lucy came out to enough noise to threaten the roof structures, she and the interviewer settled into director-chairs on the stage... and the interviewer started to ask half the very questions she had answered in the top ten list. She covered every moment of Lucy's life from childhood until prom dates. The audience squirmed and even Lucy looked to be pretty bored. But finally, the interviewer recognized the fan questions.

The appearance took a dramatic turn for the better from that moment. Lucy got up and started walking around the stage, animatedly telling stories and mugging for the crowd. The audience got into the act, too, and shouted suggestions and questions that Lucy fielded happily. All told, it was much better than an hour of "Will you sign this for my dog?" questions, although next time Creation would do better to ditch the lame interviewer and get more and a bigger variety of pre-determined questions.

Lucy's gotten a look at some sites on the Internet, and marveled that there were photos of her on the Net that she'd never even seen before. "I don't know where you get them from," she exclaimed, which prompted someone in the audience to shout out "We have many skills, too!"

The Rat Toss from Locked Up and Tied Down was brought up. The rat that Xena grabs in her teeth and, as Lucy put it, "biffs up to 400 feet" was a fake rat, but the fake was lying amidst eight scurrying real rats. Lucy was terrified that she was going to accidentally chomp down on a real rat, and according to her, damp rat doo is one of the worst smells of all time.

Lucy Lawless for President? "I gather they can overlook a lot of things, so maybe they'll forget I was from New Zealand." What would Xena do if she was president? "Kill 'em all!"

Lucy still seems high from her appearance on Saturday Night Live; she waxed rhapsodic about how much fun she had doing the show. The show's staff asked her if she could do any impersonations, and she reluctantly admitted that she used to sing like Stevie Nicks. Since Mexican food does not show up on many New Zealand menus, though, she wasn't at all sure that the skit she ended up with was funny. She kept telling the cast not worry about patronizing her and to absolutely tell her if the skit wasn't funny. Thankfully, they all assured her it was.

Filming Adventures in the Sin Trade came at one of the toughest times she's ever had on the show. She was feeling miserable all around, but was very aware of how her attitude affected the morale of everyone else on the show, especially the young actresses that were there, so she kept plowing forward as best she could, and has since gotten her feet back under her and promises she's back in the swing of things again. She also mentioned the roller-coaster ride she's had dealing with a life of fame and fandom, and says that she is just now really getting comfortable with it. She mentioned being glad to be at the convention with everyone, and at one point when she thought the staff were signaling her that it was time to go, declared "Nahhh, I'm staying!" I don't know whether they actually were trying to tell her time was up, but she stayed a lot longer after that.

Renee did not cut her hair, Lucy teased at one point - Lucy had cut it. With the chakram. She did eventually, though, confirm that Renee's tresses are now short, and looking beautiful, she promised us all. "But it was either her or me."

Lucy and Renee have worked together so long that they're like family, which according to Lucy means that they have to take every opportunity to make each other's lives miserable. During the filming of Tsunami, which demanded spending days in a water tank, Lucy, Renee, and Bruce Campbell made a bet among themselves - the first person to "crack" (complain, pitch a fit, whatever) had to pay the others $5000. So to encourage Renee-cracking, Lucy and Bruce kept pushing floating half-rotten cabbages at her. Nobody cracked, although Lucy admitted she came close enough that she should have probably paid out the dough.

At massive audience request, Lucy closed out her appearance with a song; I can't remember the name of the tune, but it started with "You take the high road and I'll take the low road," and she sang it beautifully. She thanked the convention crowd as the "grass roots of our support" and gave her heartfelt gratitude for it. It took her a few minutes to work her way off the stage, the applause was so riotous for her.

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