From: owner-chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org (chakram-refugees-digest) To: chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org Subject: chakram-refugees-digest V3 #100 Reply-To: chakram-refugees@smoe.org Sender: owner-chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk chakram-refugees-digest Saturday, April 12 2003 Volume 03 : Number 100 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [chakram-refugees] Con 03 Katherine Fugate and Claire [KTL Subject: [chakram-refugees] Con 03 Katherine Fugate and Claire Next were the Charity Auction and a Gabrielle video. I don't remember which Gabrielle video except that it wasn't "Wind Beneath My Wings." Then Katherine Fugate came out. Since she followed the Charity Auction, she decided to try to auction herself off. But then just laughed and didn't. She said, "When I wrote 'When Fates Collide', I was not in love at the time. How different it is to be in love now and to watch it again." I wondered how it had changed for her now, if being in love made the ep seem a better or worse exploration of a loving relationship, but she didn't elaborate. She threw out a few of her New Agey sayings. "Every step you make gets you to where you are." "If you have lived deeply and loved well, you have lived your life well." (I wonder if she's another Tony Robbins reader...) As I said in my first post about this con, she broke the big news about Universal putting out a call for scripts for a Xena movie. And she said that Rob responded with a package that included Katherine as the writer. There was absolutely wild screaming and cheering when she told us about the possibility of a movie. She kept repeating that everything was absolutely preliminary and totally tentative and that it was still a VERY long way from being a done deal. So the first fan question was, "Are you telling us that a Xena movie is in the works?" And Katherine repeated, "No, no, not yet, it's just the first steps. We're a long way from a movie." The next fan came up and said, "So we're going to get a Xena movie, right?" And again Katherine repeated, "No, no, not yet, it's just the first steps. We're a long way from a movie." (We are such persistent little optimists, we Xena fans. And we wonder why Xena people hesitate to tell us things...grin.) The next question was, "What can we do to help get the movie made?" And Katherine said, "Nothing". That we should just keep our fingers crossed. She talked about being on set when they were filming Fates. She told the story again about how she never understood a word that Lucy said to her for the first few days but she would nod and smile and act as if she did. Then finally she just blurted out, "Look--just talk to me like Xena!" So Lucy used her Xena voice and after that everything was fine. She said that when Lucy had to film the crucifixion scene in Fates, she said to Katherine, "I HATE you for making me get on that cross again". (Which is actually a very interesting statement, given the storyline of Fates.) And Katherine flashed back, "But you do it so well!" And Lucy went off and did the scene. And then later she said to Katherine, "That just reminded me so much of Kevin. That was exactly something he would say". People asked if the same crew would be used to work on the movie-the costume designer(s), Jo DoLuca for music, would it be filmed in New Zealand, etc. And Katherine praised Rob's loyalty to people. She said he has used the same people over and over. And people want to work with him again and again. She obviously has a tremendous amount of respect and affection for him. Another fan asked, "What can we do to help get the movie made?" And Katherine said, "Nothing." That we should just hold tight and cross our fingers. Someone asked if Ares would be in the film or not. I believe that Katherine said she wouldn't be any part of dishonoring Kevin nor would Rob for that matter. Which makes me think that they might be reluctant to have Ares in the movie. She said she made a few rules before she agreed to write a script. One was that she would honor the subtext. (Huge cheers, very heavy from a section on the left hand middle side of the audience.) "I won't write anything that has Xena or Gabrielle marrying some guy." Well duh. Who WOULD? They tried that once, didn't like it. I would bet that if the suits insisted on it, they'd say okay and then off the guy again as soon as possible. Yet another fan asked, "What can we do to help get the movie made?" And Katherine said, "Nothing." (I'm not sure of the exact number of times people asked this, but it was repeated off and on all through her appearance. Excitement over the movie just dominated her whole time.) Then Katherine said that Rob wanted to ask us a question. If they made a movie, when should it take place? Before the 25 year gap? After the gap but before FIN? After FIN? The consensus pretty much was after FIN. That was my vote for sure--I want NEW stuff. I want to move forward with a new story since the old one is already resolved. BUT they have to be very careful to not destroy Xena's sacrifice--that has to be dealt with in any resurrection scenario. Some fan yelled out that they had to "fix FIN". Katherine laughed as she repeated, "Fix FIN". Oh, like this is something new for Xena. Destiny, Bitter Suite, Sacrifice and Ides all had to be "fixed" since Xena or Gabrielle was killed in them also. Of course, some of the fixes were better than others... But fixing Fin will be very easy, since Rob ended the show with a beautifully prepared set-up for any future storyline makers. He just handed them the goods on a silver platter. Now let's see-Gabrielle has Xena's remains (and her spirit) with her and she's heading for Egypt, AKA land of he dead, ya know? Where the religious system focuses HEAVILY on the soul being eternal and having a life after death. Gee, now let's put our thinking caps on and see if we possibly find something in this situation that might work towards bringing Xena back. And indeed, when Katherine was asked what her idea for bringing Xena back was, she mentioned Egypt. And mused that Osiris and Isis could be possible characters. Excellent choices, since they are both associated with the dead and with resurrection. One fan asked Katherine "What about an uber?" She had no idea what "uber" meant in this context and someone explained it would be a story of X&G in the modern world. She said something about, "Oh, like the concept in Between the Lines, the soulmates through time." (Didn't mention "The Xena Scrolls", which of course was the original uber impetus.) Katherine didn't follow up on that--she stuck with the original three choices, so the fans didn't get to vote on that option at all. There was a question about the level of subtext and Katherine answered that it would be about the same as that shown in the show. Someone asked if there would be a kiss in the script. "Sure, why not?" she replied and smiled. Again, more cheers and screaming, again very heavily from the mid left side of the hall. Then she added, "But we're not going to make something that some sleazy guy would go to the triple X section of blockbuster to rent." There was dead silence in the hall when she said that--that statement just stopped the cheering dead in its tracks. Can't imagine why...;-> Katherine talked about her previous work a little bit and mentioned that she has a movie coming out soon. She added that Renee had been scheduled to be in it but then got pregnant and so couldn't be. (Nope, I didn't get the name of it.) That's really too bad. But I would imagine that Renee thinks getting Miles was worth losing a temporary job over. Katherine said in response to some comment that I don't remember, that in order to make sure there are more movies made that feature women character's and stories about women, we have to go and see those movies. Buy tickets for them, show that there is an audience for female focused stories. (So go see Chicago--it's a GREAT flick focused on chicks and their stories.) Katherine said that she and Gillian Anderson have joined together as production partners. But she didn't say anything about any projects they may be working on. On some of the Xena lists, people mentioned that Katherine had a note about the movie on her web site. So I went over there to look. (She's either lost her ability to type capital letters or she's just into e.e.cummings mode. At any rate, here is what she had up on her site.) "THE XENA MOVIE: at the pasadena convention, i was asked whether there would be a xena movie and whether or not i was being considered as the potential writer of the movie. i answered that there had been talks about a potential xena movie, and that rob tapert and i had met about potentially working together on one - SHOULD it come to fruition. as i said at the convention, every movie takes this path. and it's rob's job, as the producer, to find a writer and suggest that writer to the studio. at the convention, i was very cautious to state any xena movie, as i understand it, is in the inchoate stages of birth and anything could happen - as it often does. i would also like to add that i was honored rob spoke with me about potentially writing a movie. as i said at the convention, rob is the biggest ally a xena movie has and he's a loyal man to those he's worked with. if a xena movie gets made - it will only happen because of rob and his belief in one." End of quote. I noticed that there are a lot of uses of various forms of the word "potential" in this note. It almost seems that Katherine is "potentially" a writer for the project but perhaps Rob has also considered and contacted other writers also. My own personal favorite would be for R.J. Stewart and Rob to write it together-I think their work on Xena has produced the absolute best of the series-episodes that looked like movies that they managed to produce on a syndicated television show budget. Like The Debt, Adventures in the Sin Trade, Part of the Ring Trilogy and Friend in Need. Stewart also gave us the excellent eps Ides of March, Return of Callisto, The Way, Looking Death in the Eye, Motherhood and Antony and Cleopatra, among many others. I would LOVE to see more stories like these but with the added bonus of seeing Xena in them on the giant screen. Another fan asked, "What can we do to help get the movie made?" And Katherine again said, "Nothing." Next up was that perennial favorite, Ms. Claire Stansfield Claire came out wearing a really great looking leather dress/coat and high boots with stiletto heels. The first thing I have written down is her saying, "I never got a f*cken doll". She talked about how amazing it was to still have so many people come and want to hear her talk. And care about what she has to say. She is now into making clothing. She said that she watches Lucy going out on auditions and coming back all jazzed, just glowing with excitement. And said, "I don't have the passion and fire that Lucy has for acting. I never did." And then she added, " So now I have my own tee-shirt, designed by a big chick FOR big chicks." She talked about now being a business executive and how it cuts into her time. Like her business partner saying when she leaves the office, "What do you MEAN, you're going to a Xena convention?" The name of the company is C&C California. One of the "C"s is for Claire and the other is for her girlfriend/business partner's name-I thought I had written the other name down but I can't find it. Claire said, "Danielle was a muse for me like Lucy is." Then she said "We almost had Lucy with us Friday night at the cabaret. A few more drinks and we would have had her." But she said that wouldn't be fair to the other people who were on later-"What could you do for the rest of the night after we had brought in the big gun?" She talked about what a great time she and Danielle had had on Friday night performing their skit. She said they were feeling all powerful and happy that night. And they again met up with Lucy after it. She said they came in really excited and you could see that Lucy was a little jealous and really seemed to wish she had decided to go and be there too. Darn... She said doing that kind of stuff gives one an instant gratification, just immediate artistic satisfaction. She looked around and asked, "Does anyone have any questions I can answer without swearing?" A fan asked what her favorite Alti episode was and she said Adventures in the Sin Trade. She talked about how it was purely an epic. And how she had to "let Alti become me". (Yeah, that's what she said. Not 'I had to become Alti'. I found that an interesting comment--I thought it would be the other way around for an actor.) She talked about getting work. And said something about, "I'll sleep with her for the job!" She said that in her Doll videos (which are VERY funny) her favorite private joke was the line, "People who befriend the lead character get more episodes." And then she said, "Thank you Lucy." And laughed. And then, "I'm still a whore for cash." She mentioned something about "Vivid Entertainment". And said, "They do (pause) porn." My notes have the phrase, "This kind of silliness", but I don't remember what that alludes to. She wants to make a film about convention actors. She's going to name it, "Con Artists". LOL!~ She said she didn't want to poke fun at the Xena fans. "Those are my people. I'd rather make fun of the actors." Big applause on that one. She said, "Alti was so big, strong and centered. And Claire had never been that." She talked about her first day on set. She said, "I'm like, (and she quavered out with a very high and tentative voice), 'Xeena?' It was a hilarious contrast to the husky growl she eventually settled on. You know, it strikes me that Claire could be the poster child for "How Xena: Warrior Princess changed my life". She has talked in the past about what a pleasure it was to audition for PacRen because they were so into strong, big, powerful female characters. And how she had often been refused parts in the past because she was just too big. But how with PacRen, this was exactly what they wanted. She has also talked in the past about how once she was on set, Lucy taught her to stand straight and tall and to NOT try to be small, disarming, diminished, girly. To literally stand and just be herself in all her big girl glory. And you know, even if the actor PacRen cast was somewhat diminutive as Hudson and Kathryn Morris are, the scripts they wrote and the directors they picked all showcased women as powerful, important, the movers and shakers of the world, the masters of their own destinies. None of them asked the boyfriend what he thought about what they were going to do. (Hell, none of them even HAD boyfriends! Talk about cutting-edge concepts in movies...) AND they made these female characters absolutely believable in their importance and power in their world. And I just love that--along with millions of others... Claire talked about her first appearance in Sin Trade. She said, "I didn't know anything about subtext. I'm pushing this young girl out and I have no idea why." Someone asked her if the character was an offering. Claire just looked at her for a second and before she could answer, someone yelled out, "Do you get it now?" People laughed and Claire also laughed and said, "I got it. And I gave it right back to you!" (Gee and here *I* thought it was Alti showing Xena her power over the amazons, so potent a power that when they tossed her out of the tribe for "being too powerful", she got in a snit and took one of them along as a pet. Ahhh, that mysterious Anokin...) Then Claire put her hands on her hips and shook her head and talked about how Lucy still says that people can see the relationship in whatever way it strikes them and that every interpretation is valid. And Claire said, "And I tell her, "Listen, babe, cut the crap. You and me-it's happening." Bwahahahahahah! But even so, she says that Lucy still argues with her and supports all viewpoints. Those two must have some very interesting days when they hang out together. I wonder if they still golf? She said that Zoe the stuntwoman from Xena is working with Uma Thurman I think she said in a Quentin Tarentino story. She said that she jumped out of a plane once during the filming of a movie just to get the feeling, have the experience. "And I won't do that again." She mentioned that Alti wasn't supposed to be in Fates but that Katherine wrote her in. And she was very grateful that she had. The fan who kept coming up and asking people how they dealt with the violence on the show in terms of their real life came up again and asked Claire about it. Claire said, like Hudson, that she was Claire and Alti was Alti. The woman persisted about wanting to know how the violence had affected her real life. And Claire was kind of trying to be polite and trying to explain that it was her character that was violent and then she suddenly just growled out, "No, damn it! I LOVE it that chicks can kick ass!" And she turned and stalked to the other side of the stage. Got big cheers for that one too. She talked about filming the love scene in Fates with Karl Urban. About how actors try to help each other, to be there for all the shots in the scene whether they are on camera or not. She wanted to let Karl be able to see her face so he could react to her when they got his close-ups. "So it was me and the camera guy straddling Karl. The camera guy is right on top of Karl and I'm on top of the camera guy trying to peek over his shoulder. And hissing." Then she talked about being a female actor. How there is so much pressure to take your clothes off and expose your body. How "You have to be really strong and not do it. But it's so hard to refuse a job when you're out of work." She talked about how it is when she's done nude or mostly nude scenes. And then she goes into her dry cleaner's to pick up her clothes. And the guy behind the counter says, "I see you on TV last night. Hee hee hee." She had this pained, distasteful look on her face as she spoke about it. No wonder the women all "love it that chick's can kick ass" on this show. She thought it was really special that "the show has been over for a little while and yet you're still here. It's great that we can get together as friends. It's great to have 2,000 new friends. I know all your faces." Claire is always so interesting. Like Lucy, she's very honest with us and let's us know what she's thinking and what she's feeling, what makes her happy and what brings her down. I really like how she shares herself with us. Also, like Lucy, she makes it clear by her words of gratitude and praise for us and by her actions in continuing to come to the cons that we matter to her and that she enjoys having us as part of her professional life. KT Up next: Vicky and Adrienne ========================================================= This has been a message to the chakram-refugees list. To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@smoe.org with "unsubscribe chakram-refugees" in the message body. Contact meth@smoe.org with any questions or problems. ========================================================= ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Apr 2003 06:23:27 -0700 (PDT) From: Meredith Tarr Subject: [chakram-refugees] Cleo 2525 on SciFi! Hi, I just noticed on tonight's TV listings that SciFi is rerunning _Cleopatra 2525_, beginning tonight (April 11) at 8 pm Eastern time. They are showing the first two episodes back-to-back, and will continue rerunning the series on Fridays at 8. http://www.scifi.com/onair/specials/#cleo Whee! Meredith meth@smoe.org Yahoo! Tax Center - File online, calculators, forms, and more http://tax.yahoo.com ========================================================= This has been a message to the chakram-refugees list. To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@smoe.org with "unsubscribe chakram-refugees" in the message body. Contact meth@smoe.org with any questions or problems. ========================================================= ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Apr 2003 14:14:36 -0800 (AKDT) From: KTL Subject: [chakram-refugees] Re: Con 03 Katherine Fugate and Claire Whoops, I just wanted to clarify one thing from my post that someone asked me about. It was Claire, not Lucy, who referred to Lucy as "the big gun" and was the one who said bringing Lucy out at the beginning of the night "wouldn't be fair to the other people who were on later". I just can't imagine Lucy being that egotistical--well, not publicly anyway...grin. KT ========================================================= This has been a message to the chakram-refugees list. To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@smoe.org with "unsubscribe chakram-refugees" in the message body. Contact meth@smoe.org with any questions or problems. ========================================================= ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Apr 2003 20:25:03 EDT From: IfeRae@aol.com Subject: Re: [chakram-refugees] Con 03 Katherine Fugate and Claire In a message dated 4/11/03 7:20:48 AM Central Daylight Time, fsktl@aurora.uaf.edu writes: << Claire said, "Danielle was a muse for me like Lucy is." Then she said "We almost had Lucy with us Friday night at the cabaret. A few more drinks and we would have had her." But she said that wouldn't be fair to the other people who were on later-"What could you do for the rest of the night after we had brought in the big gun?" She talked about what a great time she and Danielle had had on Friday night performing their skit. She said they were feeling all powerful and happy that night. And they again met up with Lucy after it. She said they came in really excited and you could see that Lucy was a little jealous and really seemed to wish she had decided to go and be there too. Darn... >> You know, obvious as that is, I hadn't thought about it like that. I think Lucy is very accessible and certainly likes to have fun, so often wondered why her appearances were mainly confined to the "one big show." I even saw comments that suggested Claire and others were more "fan friendly" because of their cabaret and more informal performances. It certainly seems consistent with Lucy's "team" approach, that she would be concerned about taking the spotlight away from other performers, even if she'd really like to be a part of that. I'm not saying that's her only reason, just that Claire & Co. might appreciate a positive side of LL/ROC's absence, which some fans might construe negatively. Thanks, as always, KT, for giving us another side to think about. - -- Ife ========================================================= This has been a message to the chakram-refugees list. To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@smoe.org with "unsubscribe chakram-refugees" in the message body. Contact meth@smoe.org with any questions or problems. ========================================================= ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Apr 2003 21:21:15 EDT From: Richan@aol.com Subject: Re: [chakram-refugees] Cleo 2525 on SciFi! "Angel" this week had an allusion to "Cleopatra 2525." Hellen (Hell) was one of the names considered for Conner and Cordy's daughter, played Gina Torres. Richan ========================================================= This has been a message to the chakram-refugees list. To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@smoe.org with "unsubscribe chakram-refugees" in the message body. Contact meth@smoe.org with any questions or problems. ========================================================= ------------------------------ End of chakram-refugees-digest V3 #100 **************************************