HAIR BY RAMIRO RODRIGUEZ, MAKEUP BY AGOSTINA FOR EXCLUSIVE ARTISTS, STYLING BY JODI LEESLEY

LUCY LAWLESSPHOTOGRAPHED EXCLUSIVELY

FOR VENICE MAGAZINE BY

BLAKE LITTLEJANUARY 30, 2010

LOS ANGELES

Lucy Lawless flexes herconsiderable dramatic

chops in Starz’ grittyand graphic new hitseries, “Spartacus,

Blood and Sand”p.34

Table of Contents

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Speedways

10 TAHAR RAHIM

12 JASIKA NICOLE

14 LOS CAMPESINOS!

16 OPENING NIGHT

18 ART SCENE

78 CHOW BABY

80 HOROSCOPE

Departments

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Lucy Lawless is a very different kindof beautiful. Her power is front andcenter, with her broad smile andstraight talk cutting to the chaseand giving the distinct impression

that she doesn’t suffer fools. The sultry starhas earned a singular place in the public eyeas an image of strength, whose charactersfocus a piercing fire toward such ends as kind-ness, justice, and vicious retribution. AsLucretia, the fair lady of the house of Batiatuson the Starz original series, “Spartacus: Bloodand Sand,” Lawless stops at nothing to regainthe former wealth of her husband’s ludus,where gladiators are trained to kill and die inthe arena. Set in ancient Rome, “Spartacus”sees Lawless’s seductive matriarch useeveryone within reach to ingratiate herself andher husband, Lentulus Batiatus (JohnHannah), with those of higher station. Her per-formance is a sly study in greed, betrayal, andruthless pursuit of socio-financial ascension.

Before she embarked on this reimaginedtale of Spartacus [played by Andy Whitfield],the enslaved gladiator who dares to chal-lenge the Roman supremacy, Lawlessachieved stardom as the title character on“Xena: Warrior Princess” (1995-2001). Thesword-wielding heroine on the first-run syn-dicated series quickly developed a devotedfollowing of admirers, who reveled in Law-less’ portrayal of kick-ass, hack-’n’-slashfearlessness, which guarded a tender core ofwarmth and femininity. With her faithful com-panion, Gabrielle (Renée O’Connor), at herside, and her knife-edged “chakram” discalways at the ready, Xena took her placeamong the pantheon of indelible televisionheroes. And while tearing through the adven-ture, which was shot in her native NewZealand, Lawless also found herself a family— as she married Rob Tapert, co-creator ofthe fantasy saga, and they have two childrentogether. Tapert currently co-produces “Spar-tacus,” along with Sam Raimi, Josh Donen,and Steven S. DeKnight.

Amid the priorities of motherhood, whichincluded dedication to her first daughter,Daisy, from a previous marriage, Lawlessfound time for numerous post-“Xena” pro-jects. The statuesque thespian appeared on“The X-Files,” “Veronica Mars,” “BurnNotice,” and “CSI: Miami,” as well as inSpider-Man (2002) and a hilariously deviantvignette in Eurotrip (2004). She also offeredher voice talent to the animated releases,Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight asGoldmoon, and Justice League: The New

Frontier as Wonder Woman. And after lendingher pipes to the FOX reality show, “CelebrityDuets,” in 2006, she took to the road for aseries of sold-out live performances in LosAngeles, New York, Chicago, and London. Asher first long-term project in some time, Law-less recently took on the role of D’Anna Biers,a reporter with a wicked secret on “BattlestarGalactica.” And in a playful turn, the viva-cious Kiwi showed up as the Prime Minister’sassistant on HBO’s New Zealand-spawnedhit comedy, “Flight of the Conchords.” Theactor-chanteuse, who grew up with six sib-lings in the Auckland suburb of Mount Albert,where her father was mayor, also enjoyed astint on Broadway in 1997, as the rough-and-tumble Rizzo in “Grease.”

We meet with Lawless for brunch at Panee Vino on Beverly Boulevard. The renownedperformer proves a consummate conversa-tionalist, who eschews the trivial and rolls hereyes when you call her an icon. Here’s whattranspired:

Venice: I’m really liking “Spartacus.” Lucy Lawless: “Sparty-Pants,” yes, it’s

good!

You have a great line in one of the firstepisodes, “‘Proper’ is a word used by men,who would seek to enslave us with it.” Itseemed to typify a lot of the work thatyou’ve done.

I think she’s lying, by the way. It’s completemanipulation! She’s a great liar. Men are notthe enemy. Society — men and women — tryto enslave one another, or exclude oneanother with certain manners, and fashion,and you name it. They’re all misused toexclude, or have some false sense of inclu-sion. So even though she says this great line, Ithink it’s reaching too far, perhaps. I don’t thinkshe’s being wise. She’s manipulating theperson in front of her.

Tell us more about the character you’replaying, Lucretia.

She’s just a really great liar. Viva [Bianca]and I decided — our characters are “best fren-emies” — that we wanted our characters to bethe kind of people that we would want towatch. We wouldn’t want to know, necessarily,what they’re thinking, so that’s why our actingrelationship, our characters, are so complexand, I think, really powerful. Because they’resuch good liars that they’re almost secrets tothemselves, those girls. And they’re strugglingfor survival all the time.

Your character, and her husband, aregoing through something that’s apropos ofthe times we’re in now. Their financial trou-bles are really relatable to what’s going onin our current economy. They’re trying toget back on top after falling down.

It’s almost like sci-fi, in that you have thedistance between the graphic nature of theshow, and then the distance of time, whereyou go, “Oh, it’s a historical drama, thereforeall bets are off!” But we still can’t help relatingto those people, can we? So that’s whatmakes it fascinating. It’s such an alien environ-ment, yet, put yourself in their shoes, and it’s ascary place to be.

What do you enjoy about acting onscreen, and on this project, specifically?

It just has to be real to you. That’s what Ilike. When the buck stops here! [laughs] Aftereverybody’s done the writing, cast it, and donetheir business. And when it comes down tothe filming, it’s really only you and the directorand the camera. And when the camera’srolling, it’s just you. You’re right there on theedge, and that’s where I like to be. Nobodyelse can talk. Camera’s on. My turn! Then theygo and cut you down to size, but for one briefmoment, it’s all you, baby! [laughs]

And you’re out there, doing somedamage.

Kind of. I tried to do this role really differ-ently, because I never saw myself as... Xenawas a real shock to me. I never saw myselfgetting into syndicated action television. It wasan accident. I fell into the role, and then had tosink or swim. I spent two years just beingpunched in the face until I got good at doingthe dreaded action scenes. I realize now thatanybody can get really great at that if you arebrutalized enough. Your reflexes will pick up,you will become good because you have to.So I fell into this funny world of Hong Kong-style action and tongue-in-cheek humor,which is okay, because that’s where I startedout, in comedy [on the sketch comedy show,“Funny Business”]. But that was then and thisis now. It’s a completely different role. There’sa completely different tone to this show. I’vedone lots of things in between, but this is myfirst, I feel, really personal role. I guessbecause I originated it more than I did on “Bat-tlestar” where I walked into something thatwas already set up, and I had to fit into the gapthat was left — whereas in this ... I didn’t knowwhat I was doing in the beginning. None of usdid, because we didn’t know what the show

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LUCY LAWLESSBeauty, Blood and Sand

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was going to be. But it was a strong start, andit just gets better and better. You’ve got topush those boundaries before you find outwhere they are.

There’s a great dichotomy on the showbetween the violence, brutality, and the vis-ceral stuff, versus the acting, the story, andthe relationships between the characters.Lucretia can’t stand Spartacus! It’s way intothe season before you even have a one-on-one with him.

Because he’s immaterial. He’s not really aperson to her. He’s a prop that she can’tstand, because of what he signifies to the

Romans — and she’s trying to ingratiate her-self with them. So it doesn’t matter about hissparkling personality. She’s not interested.He’s only a commodity, and he’s painful toher. Later on, he starts to win, and her attitudetoward him changes, because now he’s notonly the cash cow, but he’s her way of payingback those little Roman bitches for slightingher. I think, really, Lucretia thought that shewas smart enough to compete with the brightyoung things from Rome. And might just beyoung enough — if she did her hair just so,and spent enough money on clothes — to bea new friend. And they, at some point, let herknow that she is never going to be a brightyoung thing. “You’re too old. You’re washedup. You have no status, and there’s no wayyou can dress that mutton up as lamb, thankyou very much.” Which goes right to the heartof every woman in our society. When we feellike our best is passed — and who doesn’tfeel that every other week! [laughs]

You can tell in the early episodes thatwhatever kind of friendship Lucretia andIlithyia are venturing into is going to endbadly.

It’s very peculiar, isn’t it! [laughs] Andthey’re all giving one another these terribleJudas kisses. And you go, “Ugh, that ain’tright!” Whatever they do is jarring on somecellular level. In the same way that you can’tdress up mutton as lamb, you can’t makesomething so toxic appear beautiful. There’sjust no way. Everything about their relation-ship is toxic.

The little passive-aggressive comments,and each of them looking for a piece ofinformation that they can use later.

And yet, Viva and I tried to keep it, verymuch, that our characters want to like oneanother. So that there is some genuineglimmer of something hopeful and pure inthem, but it’s stymied by their need and theiravarice. The Seven Deadly Sins, basically, arekilling some kind of divine spark. They couldbe good, and they sometimes kind of want to

be, but neither of them has the background,the self-love, the generosity of spirit, to realizeit. They didn’t grow up with Oprah on the tele-vision. [laughs]

“Xena” had a compelling story arc. Shestarted as an evil character, and then didthis complete turnaround, deciding tobecome good and embark on this hero’sjourney. I remember watching the finaleand thinking, “What a perfect ending. Xenafinally found her redemption.”

We thought there would never be anyredemption for her. That was the bit of grit inher makeup that kept her searching, and

thinking that she was irredeemable. And thenwe found out why she thought it, and thenshe achieved redemption. Although the fanswere terribly hurt that we would kill one halfof this new dynamic duo. They took it verypersonally, and only recently have peoplesaid, “Oh, I kind of like that ending!” A lot ofthe fan-base were people who felt very disen-franchised, or had been through pretty toughchildhoods, and to them, Xena meant morethan just a cool hero on an action show. Shewas some sort of a role model. To be honest,personally, I feel that role models are for kids.In the end, you’ve got to be your own hero.There’s nobody out there any better than youare, essentially. So, basically, they felt like wedecapitated their role model, and that reallyhurt them, personally. Whereas, I thought,“Guess what. Everybody dies.” Get used to it.You’ve got to look for heroes inside yourself,and not outside. And certainly not on televi-sion, for crying out loud. But, you know, thatwas the hardcore fans’ construct, and peoplewill always do that. If you’re not in touch withreality, it’s going to hurt you, eventually. Youhurt yourself by doing that.

Renée O’Connor, who played Gabrielle,was great. I really loved the dynamicbetween you two, and her characterdevelopment as she found her ownheroism.

Yes, that’s what you learn in the end. That’swhose journey it really was.

She inherits the Chakram.And she’ll carry the torch. That’s kind of

beautiful. I’m glad you pointed it out to me![laughs]

A group effort! I actually think Gabrielle’sjourney is quite role-modelly. In the begin-ning, she says, “I want to be different fromeveryone I grew up with.”

“I’m not the little girl they wanted me to be!”Which is a classic lesbian line, by the way. Allthe lesbians went, “[Gasp!]” They saw them-selves in that line.

And she runs away to figure out how tobe a hero, on her own initiative, whilehelping your character learn how thiswhole “being-a-good-person” thing works.

Yeah, boring! [laughs] Yes, how to be a fullyoperational human being.

I enjoyed your “Curb Your Enthusiasm”episode.

Thank you. I didn’t do much, but I reallyenjoyed hanging with that crowd. [Larry David]is so lovely. And working with somebodywhose talent you love, that’s what we all crave,isn’t it? We all want to work with somebodywhose talent we have long admired.

You live in Auckland now?We film “Spartacus” in Auckland, minutes

from my house. I love that! Less than 20 min-utes, maybe 25 when it’s rush hour. I left Hol-lywood, and my career happened. It’s typical,isn’t it? Life got 800-percent better, at least,when I moved back to New Zealand. BecauseI’d been living here [in Los Angeles] for a longtime, or I’d be in Vancouver, or New Orleans,with the kids always with me. And Rob wouldbe in another country, working, so there wasnever any family around. And you can’t paysomebody to be ... You know, a nanny is not afather. So I went home, and my husband and Iare under one roof, my parents live nearby,and all my girlfriends from grade-school. Thereare a few people I miss here, but in every otherway, life’s just much better. I’ve got dogs, andchickens coming. And we live right in the city!But climate change, though...

What’s it like over there, in that regard? It’s just disastrous. Our emissions are

appalling. We got slammed in the run-up tothe World Summit on Climate Change bycritics saying New Zealand’s “clean green”image is basically a sham and that our gov-ernment doesn’t want to commit to an emis-sions trading scheme that is meaningful,because agriculture produces so muchmethane, and it really powers our economy.It’s a really significant challenge for us to findways to keep farming going, and address theissue. And it’s all of us. Every time we fly — Imean, I’m cringing at my own bloody footprint.It’s ghastly. If the average car creates, let’s sayeight tons of CO2 per year, what does eighttons of CO2 look like, sitting on your dri-veway? It’s a shit-load of dry ice. And when Ilook at my own life, I’m horrified — as much asI try to keep the impact down. Just flying hereputs me way over an allowable, sustainablelimit for one human being. It was part of acampaign in New Zealand, to get our PrimeMinister to go to the Copenhagen WorldSummit. He did go, but there was no legallybinding agreement. It was a big copout.Anyway, the work goes on.

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You went on tour as a singer for a while. How did youdecide to put that together?

I knew some people who could put together some musicians,and you knock it out in two days flat, and it’s rough and readyand full of energy. It’s something you should do because you’realive! If you can, then do, no matter what it is! If God gave youany talent at all ... In fact, you don’t even have to have talent. Youcan see that in any karaoke bar in the world, that it’s more aboutthe doing than the result. People’s spirits are really set free bysinging in public, for some reason. And it really doesn’t matterhow good you are. It feels so good, that you might as well bebloody Barbra Streisand. Some of the caterwauling that comesout of those places! [laughs] But it’s awesome; I love the phe-nomenon of it. You just do it because you can. It’s so funny thatthese things are almost taboos, like dancing or singing in public— or crying. Any of these things that are so human and so harm-less, that people look funny at you for doing them. Like, “Whodo you think you are?” Like we ought to squish this thing that isharmless and beautiful and liberating to the performer! “Get theeto the karaoke bar,” I say! [laughs] It’s really important. Just freeyourself.

I was watching an interview, where you said that you weretired of acting, and you were really happy as a singer now.

They had me [when I was] tired. I had been tired of acting, andthen you get back into it, and go, “This is my new favorite thing!”I’m like that. No matter where I am or what I’m doing, it’s my newfavorite thing. I never miss stuff. People say all the time, “Do youever miss Xena?” I’m like, “Hell, no!” I’m so happy doing what-ever I’m doing now. [“Xena”] was wonderful. It was rewarding atthe time, and now what I’m doing is rewarding. I’m just blessed.I’m totally happy with whatever’s going on, for the most part.

It seems like you really go with serendipity when it arises.It’s about having your eyes open, and being willing to go with

serendipity, instead of being fear-bound — probably with some-body else’s ideas, like your parents, or the teacher, or whatever.With serendipity, I think you have to be open to it, because thatmakes you deserving of its gifts. It’s not going to happen if you’rebound up with fears, or if you’re on somebody else’s flight path.

Are you finished shooting “Spartacus” for now?Yes, it sounds like they’re going to push back shooting the

next season until May, and we’re in talks for me to be in thesecond season — because I wasn’t supposed to be. It could allfall apart. I might not be in it; I don’t know! We’ll see.

You have a man on the inside! Right, but I’m not dealing with [Rob]. My deal is never made

with him. He and I manage to keep our careers and marriagevery, very separate. Very compartmentalized.

That’s amazing, considering how you met on “Xena.”Yes, but you see, our marriage would have fallen apart if I

expected him to cast me in everything, for me to be in everythingthat he did. Our marriage would not have survived. So long ago,I made a choice that, basically, I was not going to be in any ofhis stuff, so the pressure would be off him. I don’t even ask himabout work very much. And often, people want to come to mewith their ideas for something that I’d be perfect to play in — butwhat they really want is my husband to come and produce it. Forus to come as a team, and to take on their project as our project,and I have to routinely say to people, “I understand that youwant this so very badly, but Rob has his own project in mind —and I don’t even get to be part of them most of the time.” [laughs]You cannot sweet-talk your way, via me, into my husband’s life.Our relationship is not a business enterprise. We have a real, old-fashioned, love relationship that we’ve worked hard to maintain

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and spruce up. And we didn’t “literally” meeton “Xena,” because he wasn’t in NewZealand. But I think he saw me in the castingtapes, and went, “I’ll cast you as my wife!”[laughs] And 15 years later, we’re stilltogether and it’s great!

And it’s important to you to maintain atraditional family environment.

My family is my everything. I get thebiggest, most jubilant hugs from my kidsevery time I come home. And from my hus-band. You’re a star to them. Maybe not intheir minds, but you’re a star in their hearts.[laughs]

Parenting is a lot of work. Now that my kids have reached a certain

age, all of a sudden, I’ve found myself withmore energy, and I’m going right back tobasics in my career. The things that excitedme so long ago, like Meisner and StellaAdler. I’m revisiting everything, and now it’smy time to invest in film, and all the thingsthat, for the last 15 years, I’ve been too par-alyzed by my role as a mother to attend to.It’s a huge indulgence for me, becausebeing a mother has taken all the brain-power I have — which wasn’t much to startwith [laughs] — and now I’m free to go backinto it all. So it’s thrilling; now I’m going to gosee some films!

What are your thoughts on being con-sidered an icon?

It’s not the reality of my life, obviously. Idon’t think you can live up to being an icon;you’d have to live down to being an icon. Youhave to screen out everything that you are, tobe that little, two-dimensional image. An iconis like a business logo. It has nothing to dowith the organization! It’s just something thatyou can grab at a glance. So Xena was iconic,in that you could grab her at a glance, and go,“Oh, I know that show. I know that person.And, by extension, I know that actor.” But ithas nothing to do with what you are, or whatyou’ll ever be. I learned early on that nobodyis that lacking in complexity as to be able tolive up to that. Nobody is so damn simple asto be merely a concept. So I think the wholething is a little silly. But if they’re going to turnyou into something, it might as well be some-thing positive, like representing a differentshape of woman out there, who’s tough, andstrong, and able, and unafraid.

Your “Battlestar Galactica” characterwas very interesting. As a Cylon, herdesign wouldn’t be reproduced becauseshe was too strong-willed.

She didn’t toe the line. [laughs] Her fatalflaw is her curiosity. And I am a little bit thesame as that, because I’m very attracted tothings that scare me, like challenges. They’ve

thrown me out of planes, and done all thisstuff; I don’t find that stuff scary at all. I mean,a little bit. It’s physically frightening, but men-tally, spiritually, it has no challenge whatso-ever. It’s a complete bloody waste of time, asfar as I’m concerned. But performing — goingout live and risking failing on a magnificent,colossal scale, that’s where I’m happiest.Because nothing can touch you there, man!You are so far out over it. You’re in completefreefall, and there’s nothing to live up to,nothing to live down, and for that time whileyou’re in freefall, nothing can compare. I getsuch a thrill out of doing it, that I really don’tmind too much what other people make of it,because that’s their business. The scarier thegig, the better I like it. Anything you do live —theater, singing on national television... Thingsthat are out of your comfort zone — that’swhere I want to live. And the uglier the char-acter. Oh, I love that stuff, because I’ll gothere! And damn the torpedoes. I’ll gettherapy for it later. So far, I haven’t been any-where, professionally, that I couldn’t getmyself back from quite safely. But one daythat challenge will come. Bring it! ▼

Watch new episodes of "Spartacus: Bloodand Sand" on Fridays at 10pm on Starz.Episodes replay throughout the week, and onStarz on Demand. All six seasons of “Xena:Warrior Princess” are available on DVD.

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