Liveblogging Xena Con, Day Three: Liz Friedman and Rob Tapert

Liz Friedman and Rob Tapert were producers of XWP, and Rob is also, of course, Lucy Lawless' husband.

The single topic everyone most wants to hear about: Will there or won't there be a Xena movie? Last night, at her concert, Lucy said everyone was driving her crazy asking about it... Claire Stansfield joked about a Xena movie several times earlier today. There are flyers on every seat in the auditorium about a letter writing campaign to support a Xena film.

Rob and Liz appearing together - especially as both were last minute additions to the schedule - certainly has made a lot of people VERY curious.

Before they come on, we see "Six Seasons in Six Minutes," a live performance of, well, six seasons in six minutes. Highlight: Xena high-fiving Callisto for killing Perdicus. Also kind of fond of the birth of Hope. The condensed version of "Bitter Suite" was pretty cute too. Also, the dance number, not bad. Certainly not good. But not bad.

Angel Callisto impregnated Xena. Don't ask.

Sason Five was just as bad in one minute as  in its full length version.

Little known lost work of Sappho: "Roses are red, violets are blue, you had me at hello."

And here comes Akemi. Couldn't we have skipped this part?  Or, as "Gabrielle" said, "Xena that is the stupidest thing I've ever heard." Word.

Standing ovation. Cue theme song.

Sharon Delaney takes the stage. She says Rob suggested bringing Liz as well as him. Sharon says this is the first time the two of them have appeared at a convention.

They get a standing ovation. Liz looks fantastic.

Rob says they'll be doing q&a. He says the first question will probably be, is there going to be a Xena feature? Says the  people at Universal say the feature has a future, but not with Lucy and Renee and not for ten more years. "Her will is being wilted away quickly because she... feels it's something she could do again, and do justice to, because she knows how many people would love to see. I don't know what's going to happen."

He says there is interest, but he can't make any promises, but he said, "If I was a betting man, I'd say something's going to happen."

"It's a matter of what's a story, what would happen, what would they do? One thing that keeps the people very interested is doing something that would enable them to it "outside the box" - computer etc. I'm only concered with, is there a good story to tell... two hours of great entertainment."

Fangirl asked: "Would you have a large part of the story be based on bringing her back, or would you just kind of....?"

Rob: "I keep wondering that same thing. That's a lot of baggage. Certainly a lot of incarnations running around."

Sharon asked Liz, would the show have been different if there were more female writers?

Liz: "I don't really think so. I think that we really were all sort of on the same page as to  what the character is .THere was no way Xena was going to be GIRLY. Very early in the first season.... there were ... I was always there like gum on people's shoe.... 'no, no one's going to think they'relesbians, shut up, it's fine.' They fell for it."

Sharon then asked the subtext question.

Rob: "The studio was concerned, but we said we're not even worried about it."

Liz pointed out that Draco looks like a woman in the opener. We pointed out then she's dating a woman with the shoulders of a linebacker. No one's going to think that.

Liz: "I think what it really was, it became pretty clear in the show... that the most important relationship would always be between X and G.... it was something we didn't feel we had to define."

Sharon: If you were making it now, would they be gay?

Rob: I don't think you could make the show now.... It would be harder to say.... there have been so many other shows since then that have shaped television.... it would really have to be different. The stories couldn't be as moralistically simple."

Sharon says there would be more pressure to define them as being either straight or gay.

Rob says that Cagney and Lacey was the only other show with two strong female leads. Says Universal was concerned that it wouldn't work... the station groups had faith in it as a suitable companion piece to Hercules.

Fanboy asked about the inclusion of Ceasar in the show. Rob said he loves Ceasar and Roman history. Says Steve and RJ and he were all history buffs.

"Nerds with power," corrected Liz. "Talking about battles I've never heard of and didn't understand."

Liz: "Xena was about getting to do Wonder Woman except she could really kick butt. Works for me."

Fanboy: Suggested movie being a prequel.

Rob says he's thought about it, but how can you get all those cool things with Gabrielle? He implied he'd want to make a movie with Callisto and Joxer.

Fangirl asked about Liz's involvement on House.

Liz: "It's different and yet there is a similarity. While I was mocking Rob for his history thing a while ago... I miss that stuff. House is just tons and tons of research, which is a pain, but satisfies that egghead part of me. Next to Lucy, (name of actor?) is my favorite person I've ever worked with."

Fangirl: Asked Liz what she's working on now, also Rob.

Rob: With Sam Raimi, I have a dedicated horror company. We've had mixed success. 

(I had to take a break here to talk with the Creation publicist and missed some of the discussion.)

I came back in with Rob talking about how Lucy and Renee pushed the series to have a more in-depth reading of the characters.

Sharon Delaney asked about the episode "Hellicon."

Liz: "Oh wow, we can rip off every WW2 movie imaginable... Michael Hurst just shot that one backwards and forwards. I've never seen so many dead Amazons."

They had a speech for Renee they called "the Patton speech," that Renee refused to read it, said her character would not say it. Rob said the writers and producers lost that day, because Renee was going to say what she was going to say, no matter what.

Fangirl: Hudson's interpretion of Liz in one of the Hercules episodes. Did Liz coach her?

Liz: NO! She had no idea. She hated it. Except that she loved that on television she looks like Hudson and wishes she could have a TV put into her room instead of a mirror. "It's strange to see how other people see you."

Sharon asked about when they saw Gabrielle wouldn't be just your typical sidekick.

Rob: We had killed Iolaus off in one of the Hercules movies, and then brought him back. The second became a reality, we knew we needed a person to handle the exposition and the comedy. RJ created that character in the first script, and brought her to life and watched over her for the first season. She was his baby. (This is quite different from what Steven Sears said yesterday.)

Rob went on that RJ was the one who would write her dialogue.

Fangirl asked if the XWP cast and crew participated in Frock Day.

Rob said he did not participate because he couldn't hold a candle to the Kiwis. He said Frock Day is  no more, now they have "sports wear day." Frock Day is a dead institution. He asked young guys on a movie he did recently and they didn't do it anymore.

"Too bad that's a dead institution."

Fangirl asked about Amazons and if they ever considered showing them with only one breast.

Liz said: "We considered it, but then we realized that two breasts were better than one..... they're just HOTTER with two. History is great; hotness is better."

That was the end.... another standing ovation. Cue music.

Comments

[Steven L. Sears]

" RJ created that character in the first script, and brought her to life and watched over her for the first season. She was his baby. (This is quite different from what Steven Sears said yesterday.)"

Not really. Rob was talking about the initial character of Gabrielle. RJ came up with her and created her in "Sins of the Past". But, as with any show, the characters are written by other writers and each person adds qualities and/or continues qualities about the character as it grows. I glommed onto Gabrielle very early, as seen in "Dreamworker" and continued my exploration of her.

"Rob went on that RJ was the one who would write her dialogue."

To clarify, Rob was talking specifically about "Sins of the Past". RJ did not write the dialogue of Gabrielle in other writer's scripts. Each writer wrote all the characters in their scripts.

Steven L. Sears
(nice blog, by the way)

THERE SHOULD BE A MOVIE W/ LUCY LAWLESS AND RENEE O'CONNOR!

i want a xena movie with Lucy and Renee... that is the only way it would work

i want a xena movie with Lucy and Renee... that is the only way it would work

[Synni]

Bring them back! It couldn't work with anyone other than Lucy and Renee.

[Katrine Hansen]

PLEASE! Give us a Xena movie with Lucy and Renee! We need it because we miss them and the show SO much!

In my opinion Xena and Gabs deserves it!