Alti Vista
Claire Stansfield talks to K. Stoddard Hayes about Alti’s final appearances and the many ways playing the evil shamaness has changed her life.
Official Xena Magazine: Issue 21
The first time Claire Stansfield spoke with Xena: Warrior Princess Magazine she had just made her first appearances as Alti in Adventures in the Sin Trade and Between the Lines. Two years later, she’s finished filming Alti’s final episodes, season six’s Send in the Clones and When Fates Collide. And what a remarkable journey it has been! While her character has travelled through several incarnations in different physical and spiritual planes, Stansfield has seen her life go in several new directions.
Thanks to Alti, Stansfield has developed a loyal fan following through conventions and fan web sites, not to mention her own web site. She has developed many close friendships among the Xena cast and crew, and now frequently travels to New Zealand just to visit. She has even begun a business venture with a New Zealand craftsman. And her portrayal of Alti has changed the focus of her acting career and paved the way for her to begin directing and producing digital videos. And all this from just five guest appearances.
At the time of this interview, Alti’s two final shows were still to air in the US, but Stansfield hopes that once the fans see them, they’ll agree that Send in the Clones and When Fates Collide are the best Alti episodes ever.
“Alti in modern times” is how she sums up the plot of Send in the Clones, a clip show which had a shorter schedule and different approach from the standard Xena episode. “We shot it in four days,” says Stansfield, and launches into an imitation of the kind of direction she got from helmsman Charlie Haskell: “‘And Claire, go! And go! And insert clip! And pretend that you’re watching a clip!’ So you’re just standing there staring at nothing, acting your little heart out, not knowing what’s going on! But the part that’s not clips is wonderful, because of the actors playing the fans. They play the fans in the extreme. We’re not poking fun, we’re laughing with them. So it’s a fine line, that episode. Alti just thinks that the fans are pathetic, but Claire doesn’t!”
Stansfield is pleased with the Xena/Alti fight which takes place in Send in the Clones, and she’s not the only one. “Rob Tapert doesn’t say much, but when he does it’s either a huge compliment or a really horrific insult,” Stansfield reveals. “He said [she imitates Tapert’s voice], ‘Oh, that chick fight’s fantastic. I love it!’”
The previous time Stansfield filmed a Xena stunt fight, Lucy Lawless was heavily pregnant. “Lucy was really back in top form, right back into the action,” she reports of the latest battle.
“We love doing the fight sequences together. In fact, they usually have stuntwomen standing by, and we’re like, ‘Uh-uh! Let’s do it!’ We work together in those sequences because we’re the same build, so it’s equal. We don’t have to lay off, we can really go for it. We’re not going to get hurt…”
Stansfield admired Lawless’ portrayal of the present-day version of Xena in Send in the Clones. “Lucy is very funny as the real Xena,” she says, “who’s different from the Xena on the television show.” However, her favourite scene involves one of the few automobiles ever seen in Xena or Hercules, a Pontiac Firebird. “I had so much fun!” she enthuses. “This machine is so sexy and has this great rumble! I took my headpiece off, so I had wild hair and wore black leather. That’s really my dream part: having a muscle car and screaming and doing doughnuts in the parking lot…
“The [second unit] director was in the back seat with the headsets on,” she recalls of this particular shot, “listening to me shrieking away and giving me some direction, crouched underneath in the back seat hiding from the camera. The director of photography was in the passenger seat filming me, and we all had the best time! We were like little kids who wanted to drive out of control.”
Despite all this campy fun, Stansfield feels Send in the Clones doesn’t compare to When Fates Collide. “That episode was the most fun I’ve ever had,” she says unequivocally. “Lucy has always been pushing for me to take my clothes off and be more sexy, and she got her way! Alti gets to really play sexy with Karl Urban… I have a fantastic love scene with him in which we’re both naked, which is hot hot hot!
“There’s license to flirt and be naughty when you’re acting, so that was really fun for Karl and I. I adore Karl and we have great chemistry, and we both know each other’s partners… And Karl is such a strong actor, he’s really, really come into his own lately, and he was just going for it in that episode.”
Stansfield and Lawless also heated up the chemistry between Alti and Xena in Fates. “Lucy and I are such good pals but we really love to wind each other up,” she admits. “That’s what we do. We’re always ribbing each other and saying really horrible things, but all in jest. So we just turned up the heat in that show, and played it as Alti and Xena. It’s all about Caesar, and she imagined he was Rob and I imagined he was my boyfriend. If in reality Claire was coming on to Rob Tapert, you’d have to look out! So the scenes that Alti has with Xena are really fun, because it’s them basically saying, ‘Hey, are you messing with my guy?’”
It was the decision of Katherine Fugate, writer of When Fates Collide, to bring Alti back. “They gave her a choice of villains, and God love her, she chose Alti,” Stansfield says appreciatively. “She really wanted Alti to be redeemed. It was funny in script meetings because Rob Tapert kept turning to her and going, ‘What’s the name of the show? Oh yeah, it’s Xena: Warrior Princess. She’s got to win!’ Katherine wanted Alti to win!”
For any other fans who want Alti to win, Stansfield has a tip for them when they watch When Fates Collide. By the end of Act III, Alti has destroyed both Caesar and Xena, and made herself mistress of Rome. “Then [after the commercial], Gabrielle saves the day, changes the Fates, Karl and I are destroyed, and she and Xena wander off into the sunset, and blah blah blah. The whole episode goes downhill. But up until then, it’s really mine. So just turn off the set after Act III! Turn off the set!”
Whether you turn off the set or not, once the end credits have rolled on When Fates Collide, Alti’s screen career is well and truly over, and Stansfield has given a lot of thought as to how she would like to bid farewell to her alter ego. “I’d like to do three or four big Xena conventions to have a sense of closure with the fans and to go across the country just to say goodbye,” she says. “Hopefully after that I won’t be doing conventions - not because I don’t want to see my fans, but because I’ll be doing other things. But I do feel like I need some closure. It’s been a pretty great ride. I’d like to say thank you and give the fans a chance to have some closure, tell them my last few stories, and round it all off.
“When Alti’s last two episodes air, let’s just keep the party going and let it dwindle naturally, and not just come to a screeching halt. I think all of us need to wind the show down because it’s so much a part of a lot of people’s lives. I want to make sure that the web site and my presence keep information going. Hopefully I can give the fans something to help them continue to enjoy Alti and what they love about her.”
At the time of this interview, Stansfield was already scheduled to appear at Creation’s Xena convention in Pasadena and the German Xenafest in May, at two Slanted Fedora conventions in August (Washington DC and Las Vegas) and at DragonCon in Atlanta in September. Much as she enjoys conventions, however, they are far from the first thing on her mind.
“I’ve really been focusing on building my career as a director,” she reveals. “I’ve just finished shooting a music video, and I’m starting another one for Claudia Christian [of Babylon 5 fame], her first music video.”
Another project close to Stansfield’s heart is a possible collaboration with Danielle (Ephiny) Cormack on a one-woman show, which Cormack would write and perform and Stansfield would direct. “We’re hoping to do a series of monologues loosely based on growing up in the 1980s and 1990s,” she says. “That’s something I’m really excited about. Danielle’s one of the best actresses out there, so I would really love to direct her in a one-on-one situation.”
Stansfield met Cormack at a Xena convention, and describes her as a “soul sister.” The two have become such close friends that they visit each other regularly at their respective homes in Los Angeles and New Zealand. Through Xena conventions and her friendship with Cormack, Stansfield has found a place in the close-knit New Zealand film community, and mentions Kevin Smith and Joel Tobeck among her many friends there.
She is also close friends with Ted Raimi, although they’ve only shared the screen in one brief scene in When Fates Collide. “Ted and I both direct music videos and individual filmmaking, so he’s been over to the house a lot and we’ve worked together,” she explains. “He poked fun at me when we did the episode because I did one of those Joan Crawford exits, where your head whips to the side and you march off. He kept doing impressions of me being Joan Crawford! He was like, ‘Check out your exit, Claire!’ and I’m like, ‘F*** off, Ted!’”
As if all these directing projects weren’t enough, Stansfield also has a new business venture: representing George Nuku, a Maori carver. “A couple of the wardrobe girls on Xena had these beautiful necklaces made out of shell and green stone and volcanic rock, and just beautiful Maori-influenced carving,” she explains of how this venture came about. “One of the camera guys gave me one as a gift, and I said, ‘Where did you get it?’ He said, ‘It’s by one of my dear friends who’s a carver. Would you like to meet him?’”
The result of that meeting was a partnership. At the time of this interview, Nuku’s designs were set to be featured in the British, French and US editions of Vogue, and had already been purchased by US celebrities such as Helen Hunt and Sharon Stone. Stansfield is already planning a trip to the South Pacific to find more Polynesian artists for the venture. Even Nuku’s new web site (at http://georgenuku.com) has a Xena connection, since it was designed by one of Stansfield’s own fans.
While she may be busy with a number of different projects, Stansfield hasn’t written off acting entirely. However, she admits that she’s looking for a very specific type of role. “I don’t want to go off to some movies in foreign countries,” she says. “I don’t want to guest star on The Practice or something like that. If acting were my main focus, that would be great, but my main focus is directing. So the only acting I’d really be interested in would be a fun arc as a bad-ass on a show.”
Stansfield mentions Dark Angel, Witchblade or The Lone Gunmen as the kind of series she would accept a role in. “There might be a great villain part in one of those shows that I might have balked at five or six years ago, but now I’ve completely changed my mind. I’m really drawn to that genre, that comic book-type sci-fi. I love it! My agent laughed when I called him and said, ‘Forget NBC. I need sci-fi!’ It’s only because I’m so happy in that kind of world, and it’s all encompassing, with the conventions and the funds that are involved. That would be like my waitressing job to subsidise my directing career! If I was focused on acting, I’d be doing a play or one-woman show, desperately trying to get in to see Scorsese or Oliver Stone or one of those great directors. I would much rather be directing, myself.”
Stansfield sums up her current plans for the future in one, understated sentence: “Basically, besides directing and representing Maori carvers and being in the jewellery business, I’m looking for my next bad-ass chick part!”
SIDEBAR: Claire on the Net
Claire Stansfield’s web site is a gift for Xena fans. Her site designer, Aida, is both a Xena fan and a web professional and has become a good friend. Stansfield’s site includes pages for Alti, The X-Files and Claire’s directing ventures, regularly updated news, and a message board. The site will soon include a Photo Gallery with rotating exhibits of photographs by Stansfield and friends.
“I wanted to have the web site be more personal,” Stansfield says. “I try to write letters once a month. It’s fun, because I have fans that go to the forum, and now I’ve become friends with them; they meet me at conventions. I’ve even had friends and relatives leave me notes in the guest book and we’ve reconnected. I’m a big fan of the internet!”
SIDEBAR: Alti vs. Callisto
Claire Stansfield reflects on a dramatic opportunity that was missed in Xena…
“The only thing that I’m bummed about is that I didn’t ever get to work with Hudson [Leick], because I think she’s by far the best villain they’ve had on the show. I would have liked to just try to give her a little bit of hassle.”
So if Alti and Callisto went toe-to-toe, who does Stansfield think would win? “I’ve heard people ask [Hudson] that question, and she immediately says, ‘Of course, Callisto would.’ And I prance around going, ‘Alti would kick Callisto’s ass!’ But really I don’t know. Physically I’m bigger than she is, but she’s so good at being deliciously evil, and she has much more of a cross to bear in the history of her character.
“I think it would be a real struggle. Alti basically messes with your mind. She will take back and make you relive all your horrible experiences, so I think she could do a number on Callisto.”