The
sword-and-sandal epic has been an entertainment-industry
staple since the silent era, though a generally
male-dominated one in which women were relegated to the
roles of sultry desert sirens or evil sorceresses, both of
whom had to be conquered. In the 1990s, the verdant shores
of New Zealand gave television audiences a hirsute Kevin
Sorbo in
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, which, in
good epic tradition, begat
Xena: The Warrior Princess,
starring an unknown lass named Lucy Lawless. Both shows were
multi-season hits, and Lawless became an international
celebrity and, unexpectedly, a lesbian icon, due to the
deliberately ambiguous relationship between Xena and
Gabrielle, played by Renee O'Connor. This Saturday, Lawless
makes a rare Bay Area concert appearance at the Herbst
Theatre, a benefit for the Richmond/Ermet AIDS Foundation,
and she is donating her services to the nonprofit.
"I
believe they have real integrity in how they spend money,"
she says of the long-time San Francisco fundraising agency.
"I'm really careful about who I link up with. I have amazing
fans who are very generous, and I'm very aware that they're
not wealthy people. There's a lot of organizations out there
that are, at best, not very streamlined, or just very
shonky [Australian for dubious] at worst. I think my
fans know that I never support a charity if I'm not, after
due diligence, as certain as I can be that it's an honorable
enterprise."
A conversation with any performer who has been blessed
(or, in other cases, cursed) with a signature role rarely
takes long to visit the touchstone, but rarely is it so
timely. "Somebody just e-mailed me that Sarah Palin's
supporters are calling her Xena, and I thought, 'I didn't
know that Sarah Palin was a lesbian, too! In addition to
everything else, she's a lesbian! How progressive of John
McCain to go in that direction!'" Lawless says with mock
amazement. "Curiously enough," she continues, "there is
a similarity in that, in her earlier years, Xena did trade
motherhood for a career as an evil warlord." Lawless resists
being labeled a political animal, saying these are merely
observations "from a visiting New Zealander." Not to mention
a smart and very funny lady.
Lawless recently made a guest appearance as a celebrity
judge on RuPaul's Drag Race. "We had to find the next
drag superstar. I didn't entirely agree with the result,"
she laughs, "but clearly I am a visitor to that world
and did not know what I was talking about!" Then she adds,
"Oh, I don't know if it's been announced, but I'll give it
to you: I'm going to do a guest spot on The L Word ."
Hmmmm! Long-time lesbian icon, just returned from a
friend's gay wedding in Provincetown, judging a drag reality
show, doing a concert in San Francisco and appearing on the
leading lesbian cable-drama. Sound like a not-so-secret
queer agenda? "It's all coincidental," says the
twice-married mother of three, of the LGBT prevalence in her
life. "It was not intended to be the focus of my year, but
it's turned out that way." So will she, on The L Word,
finally be portraying an out lesbian, as opposed to a
possibly lesbian warrior princess? "I don't know. They've
sent me several scripts, and I haven't been through them
all, which I must do soon!"
"I don't think so," she responds to the question of
whether turning 40 this year was traumatic. She starts
chuckling with increasing vigor. "I had a meltdown a couple
of years before, when I thought I was going through early
menopause. I kind of wigged out then. So 40 was a bit of a
relief, when I could go through it still having my period!"
Voted one of People magazine's 50 Most Beautiful
People in 1997, Lawless give a verbal shrug to it now.
"Yeah, back in the day! Oh, I don't care. It's all bullshit
anyway. But in my living room, I'm still right up there!
"My role as a mother has been overriding in my life. I
would not be happy with myself if I had chosen to take roles
over any of my children's well-being. My kids have had the
best of me, whatever that means." That included the decision
for Lawless, born Lucille Frances Ryan, to keep her first
husband's name despite their divorce. "It takes two years to
get a divorce in New Zealand. It was a difficult period. It
seemed better for my daughter's comfort for us to have the
same last name. And yes, I was known by that name, even
though at first I thought it might be a bit silly and no one
would take me seriously. Then I got over that and," she
chuckles, "nobody does take me seriously!"
Would she ever pick up Xena's sword again, perhaps for a
feature film? "I sure would have liked to have done it, but
it would seem that that boat has sailed. They'll remake it
at some point because it's too good a character not to
revisit. Then they'll come and ask me to play her mother,
and I'll say 'Fuck off!' Or worse, I'll do it!" she laughs.
"I've come to realize the place of career in my life. It's a
delight. I love it, but it's not where my happiness lies.
It's the icing on the cake. It's crazy to think that your
job is going to bring you happiness. You have to be happy
already, and then you do the job."
Lucy Lawless: Come to Mama, Herbst
Theatre, Sat., Sept. 27, 8 p.m. Tickets ($45-$100): ( 415)
392-4400 or
www.cityboxoffice.com
09/25/2008
