Lucy Lawless Reveals She Never Liked Being an Action Heroine
This may come as a surprise to Xena fans. Lucy Lawless, who played the legendary heroine for six years, reveals she never liked being a tough girl.
“Yes, I hated it,” Lawless said. “Hated it, but I wasn’t in a position to say no. Very quickly I realized I can’t be cringing every time they come and say, ‘Lucy, would you like to go and learn your next fight?’ I haven’t even finished filming the last one and I have to go learn the next. I said, ‘You know what you guys? Instead of asking me would you like to, just say: Lucy, fight’s up.’ Then it doesn’t require a response. It just requires me to do what I’m told. But if they say ‘would you like to?’ it makes me think, ‘No, I f***ing hate that stuff and if I have a choice, I don’t want to go.’ So we very quickly realized that it’s better to talk to Lucy, just give her an order and she’ll do it without thinking.”
Lawless now stars on the Starz series Spartacus, but she doesn’t have to worry about any of the action. Her character, Lucretia, manipulates the gladiators outside of the arena. “It’s a completely different side of the show. It’s the upstairs/downstairs of it. I’d forgotten about all that stuff and I’d be horrified if I had to that. In this role, I suppose she did slap a slave around last season, didn’t she? No, that’s not part of her thought process. She’s not a physical person at all and I love that about her.”
Spartacus: Gods of the Arena is airing Fridays on Starz.
Related: Q&A: Lucy Lawless Dishes On Sexy 'Spartacus' Scenes, Hurt 'Xena' Fans & More
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