by Sharon Delaney
The Chakram Newsletter: Issue 07
Renee's yellow robe, with an embroidered “G” on the back, reveals nothing but her sandaled feet. I'm glad it's not raining and there’s no mud. A cold, wet bard with muddy feet and a staff sounds like a dangerous combination. Oh, right, she tossed the staff in the river. However, she’s still covered in Mehndi. P’raps I'd do well to mind my P's and Q's. Although, truth be told, as nearly half of Renee's 12-hour day has already passed, the Mehndi is looking a little the worse for wear.
Never one to stand on ceremony, Renee walks over with two small wooden boxes, places them out of camera and microphone range and we plop down to have a chat.
I gaze down at her toes and say, “They gonna give you something a bit more substantial for the winter?”
She laughs. “These are until the end of the season and then I go back into boots. This episode and one more and then I'm out of the India gear.”
“I suppose Argo's been carrying around the green sports bra outfit?” I said, grinning.
“I don’t think Gabrielle will regress to that again,” Renee said. “She's still discovering herself. I've enjoyed that. I love change so anything they do is refreshing to me. I've had so much fun with having no hair!”
“You've got the type of hair that ‘flys’ well, if you know what I mean?” I said.
“‘Fly,’ yeah! It lives!” She laughed and tossed her head and the silky blonde hair fell right back into place. She reminded me of a wood nymph. “It’s just so liberating, I think. Especially having had long hair for such a long time. It was exciting to do something completely different.”
“It must have felt strange the first day you shampooed it?”
“You know. I didn't have to adapt to having short hair because I immediately forgot what it was like,” she said, astonished. “I remember watching some of the episodes we filmed earlier and being shocked to see myself with long hair. Isn’t that weird? My mom has short hair and maybe I was seeing her face so it was familiar.”
“Has she seen it yet?” I asked.
“No. It will be interesting to hear what she thinks of it.”
Renee’s really reveling in this. She continues, “There was too much debate over the changes in Gabrielle — the staff, the hair, the tattoos, the outfit. So they're going to try and find something that's a little more like the spirited, feisty Gabrielle they had before she became a pacifist.”
“I was wondering how a warrior and a pacifist would be able to survive traveling together,” I commented. “Would they each be able to hold on to their beliefs.”
“It was an interesting turn of events for Gabrielle, but I think everyone's tired of it. The show is about many women, fighting. But I still enjoy taking a nap during the fight scenes,” she laughed.
Now – down to the nitty gritty. How did she enjoy being the demon, Tataka, in “Devi”?
“Ooooo – I had so much fun with that! So much fun,” she crowed gleefully. “It was the most fun I’ve had with a character other than Gabrielle since we started the show. I thought Tataka was just so vain wanting all those pearls draped over her body. She wanted to be idolized and anyone who disagreed should die. To me, that was the core of the character and I went with it and had a ball.”
“You looked right at home sitting on that throne,” I teased.
“We shot that on a Saturday which is unusual for us,” she explained. “It was one of those situations where you just jump into the costume and do it in five minutes and I thought it came off really well considering how little time we had. It was so fast.”
“Speaking of ‘things only a demon could get away with,’” I said, “I was trying to picture you and Lucy, each in your own home, reading the script and coming to the part where Tataka licks the side of Xena’s face and leaves an acid burn. Did this raise any eyebrows?”
“No, no. Lucy and I just said, ‘Oh, yeah, we can do that.’ And I did think it was quite funny. But I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would because the taste of the makeup was so disgusting. What also bothered me was that I felt I was invading Lucy's space. That's something an actor is always conscious of. But she didn't have a problem with it at all. It felt pretty outrageous,” she laughed.
“Maybe if they had given the makeup a bit of chocolate flavor?” I grinned.
“Yeah, right.” She laughed.
Earlier in the day, I saw a woman with a still camera take a picture of Renee’s feet. I looked down at the tattoos on her hands and asked, “They wear off as the day goes on?”
“They do,” she said. “It's just makeup. It's a transfer they put on every morning with alcohol. And they're ever changing. I think I was covered in more in the first episode. I had them up my arms. Since it’s supposed to be henna, and true henna fades after three weeks, we're saying Gabrielle puts it on every month,” she laughs. “Next episode, I lose the ones on the chest.”
“Are they still on your stomach?”
“Yes. We have to match the feet and palms for the crucifixion scene. That's why we're playing around a bit. But it makes sense for it to change because Gabrielle could have let one tattoo fade and started another one.”
“Something else to store in Argo's saddlebag,” I joked.
“Xena's off fighting and Gabrielle’s waiting for her henna to dry,” Renee laughed.
The question everyone has been asking is if Tataka was in Gabrielle the whole time and was Gabrielle ever speaking for herself?
Renee sat back and smiled. “I heard about this debate. I decided to play it where Gabrielle didn't know. Otherwise you can't really play the scene between her and Xena where Gabrielle is defending herself so strongly. Plus, who’s to know when it would emerge. So I thought it was legitimate to play that aspect. The whole idea is to keep the mystery of the episode. Who is the demon in? If I play Gabrielle as if she's possessed, you lose any mystery.”
Renee then asked how long I was visiting and who I was interviewing. I told her I was there for two weeks and was working my way through the production team. Which was something she’d just finished doing in preparation for her first directing assignment “Deja Vu All Over Again.”
“I went to each department to have my preliminary meetings,” she explained. “Ngila (Dickson – Costume Designer) is so profound in her thinking. She wants to know why a person would wear that underwear and who would have bought it for them. She goes into such detail to understand everything the character would do. What is their history that makes them wear that outfit. It inspired me to thoroughly analyze all the characters before I started directing.
“Rob (Gillies – Production Designer) wanted to hear my ideas. Then he would exponentially multiply what I started with on a small scale into this vision of grandeur.
“Because my episode is set in contemporary time, I thought the set would be finished at least a week before filming. I went to look at it two days before and all they had was the frame and the paint on the walls - no props or set decoration. And then, overnight, it was completed. It's just incredible!”
“Can you tell me anything about the plot?” I prompted.
“It's a comedy. The episode takes a look at some of the feedback we've received throughout the year and tries to remind everyone that we are a vessel for entertainment! It’s a combination of ‘A Day In The Life’ and ‘The Xena Scrolls,’” she laughed.
“Can you walk me through what steps a director takes preparing for the job?”
She leaned forward and I received my first lesson in Directing Xena 101.
“First I met with the heads of each department. We started off with a preliminary meeting and went through, with a broad stroke, what the episode was about and what I had in mind. That was before Christmas. Then I went off and basically worked with the story. I talked to R.J. (Stewart) many, many times and tried to flesh out parts of the story’s structure I thought were important. He was wonderful, so supportive. And so very, very patient,” she said warmly. “I’m hoping he’ll be pleased.
“There were a few changes during filming, as I learned, by the actors.” She laughed and said to Lucy, who was walking by, “I was just telling Sharon how the actors change things.”
“Enough about you, let’s talk about me!” Lucy teased.
Renee sassed her back. “You changed that song, the 'Annie Banani’ song. Now you'll have to re-record it in the studio.”
Lucy made a face at her. “We never do anything that would change the plot,” she said to me.
’”Right,” Renee said. “Just adding jokes. Which you might find on the day that can help improve the rhythm.”
“The synthesis of all these creative people,” Lucy explained.
“Because you're in character?” I asked.
“Yes,” Renee said. “And the atmosphere - you work off other actors. I remember trying to tell R.J. every change we made. But on the day of filming…”
“...you can’t do it.” Lucy finished. “And, by that time, the writer's probably moved on and is working on other scripts. It’s the synchronicity that happens on set. And it's usually for the good.”
“At least, that's what we have in mind,” Renee laughed.
“It's greater than the sum of its parts and… sometimes… it's not.” Lucy made a woebegone face as she was called back to the set.
“Lucy changed a song?” I asked.
“She did. The ‘Joxer the Mighty’ song. She didn’t want to sing ‘Annie the Mighty’ so she ad-libbed, ‘Annie Banani with the lovely fanny.’” Renee and I went into a chorus of “Annie Annie fo fanny, banana rama fo fana.”
So much for conducting this interview with a straight face. And I wondered to myself what I would do when it came time to type it up. I'm probably going to have to call all my friends and see if anyone can help me with the song.
Renee was still laughing. “I went, ‘Okay Lucy. Whatever you want to do.’”
“Because of your work here, you couldn't participate in the editing the way most directors do. could you?” I asked.
“No,” she said with a definite sadness. I was quite disappointed about that. I've just been sending over notes. I think you would learn so much as a director to see what cuts together and what doesn't. That’s where I'm finding all my mistakes are popping out. You learn more visually by watching the editor's cut. And saying, ‘Oh, no, did I really do that!’” she said in mock horror.
“You've been sending a lot of notes to Rob Field?” I teased.
“Yeah,” she laughed. “He's getting five-page descriptions of one change. Like Ngila, he wants to know why you want to change something. Not in a negative way, but to understand. To make it better. And he warns me of things I might be doing that could cause problems which is great because I'm learning from that as well.”
“How was it looking at the dailies?” I inquired.
“I'm glad I could see them because after the first day, I was so mortified, that I found it inspiring to see what was actually taking place,” she said sounding grateful. “I'm quite hard on myself if I set goals and don't reach them.”
“You're a schedule keeper, aren't you?” I asked.
“Yeah,” she said with conviction. “So many directors have conversations with the producers at lunchtime because they’re behind. And I was determined that wasn't going to happen to me!” She laughed. “But there I was running late like everyone else,” she sighed.
“Speaking of the producers, how were Eric (Gruendemann) and Chloe (Smith)?”
Renee smiled warmly, her eyes bright. “They were very supportive. Of course, everyone treated me with kid gloves because I'm on the show. Eric and Chloe stayed away the first two days knowing how nervous I was about being behind schedule.
“There's a joke that is played on first time directors here,” she said conspiratorially. “At lunch on the first day, the producers bring them an airline ticket back to the U.S. and say, ‘First day you get behind schedule, you’re outta here.’ I kept waiting to get my ticket,” she laughed.
She continued, “Chloe is a woman in the film industry who, with Eric, is running a huge production company and I found her to be incredibly inspiring. She wrote me a beautifully encouraging note before I started. It was very touching. I thought, it is possible for a woman to have a responsible job, be successful, happy and have a full personal life as well. Because I still have other things I'd like to do. She's a great role model.”
“What lessons did you learn?”
“During filming, I learned how to compromise with what you have in your mind compared to what’s actually possible to manifest,” Renee said. “Maybe the costume department put great effort into a costume and if you don't have any wide shots, what a waste of energy. Little things like that you learn as you go. Try to make everyone happy, but not yet lose your own integrity and vision. I found that, early on, I made some mistakes because I was too green in not knowing when to hold my ground and when to let things go.”
“Being the new kid on the block, were you more likely to pull back?” I asked.
“Yes,” she nodded. “I found that I relied on the support team of the director of photography, the camera man, the first assistant director to guide me. As I developed more confidence, I realized what my instincts were and if I really wanted to follow them, I had to be stronger.
“And this was good,” she laughed. “Especially with the actors. It sounds weird to say ‘the actors.’ I did a lot of background with the characters by approaching the scenes as I would as an actress. That helped me a great deal when I had to support my theories of how a scene should be played.
“It didn't happen often, but occasionally I had to say, ‘I think we should do it like this and this is why.’ This was usually because we were running out of time and I had no other option.
“I found I had to take some choices simply in order to make my day, just to get our schedule accomplished because I was behind from the get-go,” she said ruefully.
“And I just kept getting deeper and deeper in the hole!” she laughed. “It was really hard. I think I had no idea just how challenging it would be. I constantly had to let things go.”
“Would you do it again?”
“I hope they’ll let me do another one,” she said brightly. “It was absolutely terrifying. Every day I’d come home being exhilarated, and then I would see how far behind I was and think ‘I’m never going to do this again,’” she laughed. “But that's all changed now. Lucy compared it to her performances when she sings. That it's the most humiliating, humbling, terrifying and exciting experience all wrapped into one event. And it's addictive because it's an adrenaline rush and you can never get it right.”
I wondered how it was directing her fellow actors. “Did they rib you at all?” I asked.
Renee smiled. “Lucy was wonderful.” Then she laughed. “The first day, she and Ted teased me a bit, saying, ‘Oh, I don't think I would play it like that.’ lust completely setting me up as an egocentric, precious actor might do. They joked around saying, ‘We'll dub my lines later. I'll just stand off camera for this.’ They were such a tease, but very supportive. Especially Lucy. She tried to help me get everything I could to succeed,” she said warmly.
“She knew how important this was for you,” I said.
“Absolutely. And she, more than all of us, has an appreciation of how hard it is for directors to make their day. Maybe it’s because she's married to Rob and he's also a director,” she said thoughtfully. “She's very cooperative in having them place her where they need her to go in order to get the shots that tell the story without having to stroke her ego and say, ‘What would you like to do as an actor?’ She’s very practical and says, ‘What do you need to get the show on film?’ Then she makes it work with her own choices in acting.
“I'd always noticed that before, but never appreciated it as thoroughly as I did when I didn’t have to apologize to Lucy for compromising her acting in order to complete my day. I learned an appreciation of that from her so that I’m even more docile towards directors now.”
“Did your directing experience change you as an actor?” I wondered.
“I don't think I was a difficult person to work with, but now I really appreciate how hard everyone works. As an actor, you're protected from the pressures everyone is under, because otherwise they think you might forget your lines!” she smiled. “It hasn't really changed my attitude acting-wise except that I realized I’d gotten a bit lazy as an actor and hadn't been doing as much homework as I used to do. So I'm putting more time into the analysis of scenes again.”
Speaking of putting more time into her character, I wondered if Rob Tapert knew Renee was so flexible when he put yoga into “Paradise Found.”
She laughed. “Rob warned me about a month before we started filming that he had all these ideas about Gabrielle aspiring to become a pacifist and I started taking yoga then. Although I've always danced. I think when your body has a history of flexibility, it adjusts more quickly. I took the lessons and fell in love with the whole idea of yoga. I've kept it up. It’s more strenuous than I thought it would be. You do headstands and handstands and standing poses where you're really using your leg muscles. For me, I think it’s the perfect complement to my weight training workout.
“I think yoga is the closest I’ve ever come to meditating because it's quiet, it’s relaxing, and yet you feel energized afterward.”
“What’s Rob like as a director?” I asked.
“He's very visual as a director and as a producer,” she explained. “He’ll come up with a vision he wants to capture and that's where he starts. He might have a photo from a book or painting and he’ll elaborate on that image.
“He also has a wonderfully bizarre sense of humor that I find hilarious,” she laughed. “Like that bit with the turtle in ‘Paradise Found,’ when we are left wondering whether or not Xena will crush the poor thing as she comes racing down towards him. That's so Rob. And he’s very good with actors in that he can talk to them. There’s a trust there that you don’t have with a lot of directors until they have been around for a couple of episodes. He can get you to do anything. Some directors just have that ability.”
I'm intrigued by that statement that Rob knows how to talk to an actor. “Is that something you were able to do?” I ask her, curiously.
“I found that very difficult,” she said. “The problem I had was when I had to compromise and have actors limit themselves in their movement or what they wanted to do in a scene. For instance, I had time to do one shot, not three, if they approached the scene in a different way. For me to say, ‘I’m sorry, you have to do it this way because that's all we have time for,’ was quite disappointing.”
I asked her about what kind of guidance a director gives an actor during a scene. For instance, in “Paradise Found,” when Gabrielle breaks down in Aiden's arms and Xena is watching from a distance.
“You know what Rob said?!” Renee started laughing. “He said, ‘Lucy, she’s in another man's arms!’ And Lucy went, ‘Another man’s arms!!’”’ Renee was laughing even harder. “It was hilarious because it was quite a serious scene and Lucy couldn't hold it in. She just started laughing. For the next take, Rob stood near Lucy and talked her through the rest of the scene. It was quite moving. But that was a hilarious line. One of those classic moments.”