Starz’ new series Spartacus: Blood and Sand is a Xena reunion wet dream. Sam Raimi and Robert Tapert are producing the series with Lucy Lawless as Lucretia, the wife of the owner of a gladiator camp. The show promises pay cable level blood and sex, and yes, nudity all around. We joined a cluster of reporters clamoring for the scoop from Lucy Lawless over the summer.
Q: What is Lucretia doing in relation to Spartacus’ eventual rebellion?
Lucy Lawless: She takes up with one of the gladiators, and he’s in love with a slave and the stakes are so high because if Lucretia finds out that her lover has a genuine love for her slave, it’s going to be curtains and she’s going to have a new wig. I’m always wearing these wigs, kind of a Roman power thing. She’s red and then you see she’s blonde.
Q: Was that fun or a pain?
Lucy Lawless: Look, if it’s good for the show then I don’t even question it. It’s whatever the role needs. It’s kind of a pain actually. If I really thought about it, it would be a pain but there’s nothing I can do.
Q: Were you hesitant to do another series because there were other new adventures you wanted to try?
Lucy Lawless: No, I didn’t mean that, sorry. I wasn’t sure that I wanted to go back home just yet, but it turns out A, New Zealand has evolved, I’ve changed, the show is just tremendous. It’s very complex. Say you might have six people in a scene. Well, every one of them has a very tense and intense relationship with everybody else in that scene so it’s very difficult to capture all those relationships. It takes a lot of time but it’s really rich to watch. This is a rich experience for our audience.
Q: You say you’ve changed. What does it feel like to be Lucy Lawless right now?
Lucy Lawless: I don't know. I kind of float through life to be honest and whatever the situation calls for I kind of just crank up or down to that. If you all went away then I would go [makes deflating noise] and I would be in stasis.
Q: When you said you’d have a nude scene on the show, the internet went crazy.
Lucy Lawless: I’m not going to be going… or maybe it will. I don't know. It’s whatever the situation calls for and they’re always finding new and interesting ways to tell a story, so if I’m going to have sex on display, once again they’re going to think of some way you’ve never seen.
Q: But you must be aware of the excitement your males fan would have to see that.
Lucy Lawless: Oh, look, I am a little bit nervous but there’s nothing I can do. It’s a great role and like it or not, that is part of that world. I went to see Caligula when I was 17 years old. I walked out in 10 minutes. Less, five minutes. It was so boring to me to have all those bits hanging out. It’s never about the nudity. It’s never about the sexual act. It’s about what it means and it’s always different to those two people. My relationship with this slave is abusive. She doesn’t love him. Even if she has feelings for him, it’s all about being needy and being powerful. So if the situation ever flips around, well that’s interesting. So it’s about the abuse of power. It’s about him trying to keep Domina happy. That’s what they call my character. Keep Domina happy because she will just bloddy have your throat slit. You’re just horseflesh to her really.
Q: How do you get your mind around the glamorous gloom of the show?
Lucy Lawless: It’s only really about your gut reaction to that person in front of you, to their character. The audience will see the costumes, the audience will see the artifice. She’s wearing a wig. It’s about artifice. It’s not about oh look, she’s blonde now. She has a Single White Female relationship with this pretty young thing that comes from Rome. The costume is all about manipulation, manipulating the situation, fighting for status, fighting for survival even to the high class ones.
