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A girl by the name of Lucy Lawless should sing a cowboy song Lucy's song, 2,188 kb

Lucy Lawless on the Rosie O'Donnell Show
Rosie: Our next guest is the baddest gal on TV. Take a look at her in action... roll it! Please welcome Lucy Lawless! [applause] Hi Lucy, how are you?

Lucy: I'm fabulous.

Rosie: Can I tell you something, that we have gotten the most requests to have you on the show.

Lucy: Really?

Rosie: THE most. People have been faxing, they've been calling they say, "We want Xena". Here you are.

Lucy: It's amazing. When you're the object of that kind of attention it's hard to believe and not some abstract...

Rosie: Yeah it is sort of a weird... You're from New Zealand I hear.

Lucy: Yes I am.

Rosie: See that, I'm smart. But on your show you have an American accent, do you not?

Lucy: I do. I do, and it's quite tricky for New Zealanders to pick up a standard American accent. It's much easier to pick up a Southern or New York...

Rosie: Yeah, can you do, can you give me a little New York accent?

Lucy (In a New York accent): A little New York? You know where I got this from, is from... [laughs] Listen to me I can tell I'm really excited. A little quaver in my voice.

Rosie: I don't think New Yorkers have accents, personally. [audience laughs]

Lucy: I can't believe you people really talk like that.

Rosie: Really?

Lucy: No I come here and, oh my God, it's unbelievable!

Rosie: When you walk down the streets of New York City, people scream "Hey, it's Xena! Awright!" That's just my family...

Lucy: Yeah-

Rosie: There's so many Xena little trinkets out, the doll... [holding the 10" Xena dollie] Have you seen this little doll?

Lucy: I have never seen this one. [she takes it] Got this sexy kind of dominatrix thing going.

Rosie: Kind of does. In fact a lot of people asked if you would show up wearing the costume. I said "I'm not going to ask the guest to show up wearing the costume."

Lucy: That's very kind of you.

Rosie: But we thought about it. [audience laughs] But we didn't.

Lucy: [sliding her hand down her shirt] You know it's on under this...

Rosie: It it? The whole... really? Well maybe later, you never know. Keep the people and viewers staying for the rest of the hour. Do you enjoy doing the show?

Lucy: I love it, I love it. It takes a lot out of me, but...

Rosie: It's seems very taxing, a lot of physical stuff going on there.

Lucy: Yeah. I was an actress first and foremost. It was a big shock to me to be cast in an action role. So they sent me off to classes... I grew up in a pretty rowdy kind of house. I've got 5 brothers and one sister and um, there's a lot of scrapping and...

Rosie: So you learned from the best right there.

Lucy: Oh yeah. But, uh, they sent me off to kung-fu training... [Lucy spies the Xenite membership certificate on Rosie's desk and picks it up]. What? Where did you get this from? Rosie: Well, just so you know I am a certified member of the Xenite Club [she holds the certificate up to the camera] and I have the Xenite Newsletter [holds it up] and somebody sent me in all the Xena trading cards [holds them up].

Lucy: That's amazing. Was it Jetthead?

Rosie: Yes

Lucy: [waves to camera] Hi Brenda!

Rosie: So you're finally, finally on in New Zealand? You weren't on there until recently?

Lucy: That's right. I enjoyed complete anonymity and it's all over now, Baby Blue.

Rosie: Yeah, is it a big hit over there like it is over here?

Lucy: Yes it is. But I find a real advantage to playing an intimidating character is that people just leave you alone.

Rosie: Yeah, yeah you see..

Lucy: People are so indiscreet. I go into a restaurant and they all turn around-- [she wipes her arm across her nose] they all look. They think you can't see them...

Rosie: The funniest thing to me is when people go "Hey, that's Rosie O'Donnell right there, right in front of us that's Rosie O'Donnell!" Like I don't hear them.

Lucy: They're very subtle in New York.

Rosie: Yeah you know, and you're right there... I hear you wanted to be an opera singer, you used to sing when you were little?

Lucy: Uh, when I was a teenager I studied opera for about four years and one day I woke up and went, "I don't really go for this crap". That the life of an opera singer is so dull, you can't go out late at night, you can't laugh your head off, you can't eat certain things...

Rosie: No, that's why I gave it up, too.

Lucy: No, forget it. No fun.

Rosie: Can you sing a little for us? Cause you know how I love people...

Lucy: Oh I would love to!

Rosie: Would you? Go ahead.

Lucy: Do you mind if I don't do that?

Rosie: I don't mind, you do what you want, you're Xena, Warrior Princess...

Lucy: A girl with the name of Lucy Lawless should sing a cowboy song.

Rosie: Alrighty you go ahead and do it.

Lucy: [sings]

Rosie: Wow that's nice!

Lucy: [keeps singing very very well] Yippie ai o kai ay!

Rosie: Wow, Lucy Lawless! [applause] That's unbelievable!

Lucy: You sing, you sing great I heard you!

Rosie: I don't really sing well, but I like to sing. It was a big hit here in the 70's it said "Don't matter if you're not good enough for anyone else to hear, just sing, sing a song." And that's what I think is my motto, Lucy.

Lucy: Do you not do cabaret?

Rosie: I did a Broadway show.

Lucy: What did you do?

Rosie: I did Grease, remember with Olivia Newton John?

Lucy: Did you really? Who did you play?

Rosie: I played Sandy [laughter]. Rizzo, I played Rizzo.

Lucy: That's a great part.

Rosie: I always cracked up when people said "who do you play?" Like I'm going to be the blonde bombshell! I mean I either had to play Rizzo or Zuko, either one.

Lucy: Because Rizzo is the coolest part in the whole thing.

Rosie: It is, it's the best part. You could do Broadway, you've got a beautiful voice. You do. [applause]. You know, one of our staff members, Lisa, she works in research. You are the goddess to her. Can she come out and meet you? Cause she'll be really mad at me if, and she works late hours...

Lucy: Of course [smiles]

Rosie: Lisa! Lisa! Lucy!

Lucy: [stands up, shakes Lisa's hand and pecks her on the cheek] Thanks for researching...

Rosie: Here I have a little thing, sit down Lisa, a have a little picture for you to sign this for her [hands Lucy an 8x10 photo]. And we're going to go to break here and I'm going to show everyone my little Hercules toy that I got here [walks out with her Hercules Action Sword and starts chopping in front of Lucy]. Watch I can... see that I can totally get her..

Lucy: Come on the show, come on the show.

Rosie: [thinking about the sword] You have one? Cause we could get in a fight?

Lucy: A show? Well [laughs]...

Rosie: No, a little sword fight, we could, just sign that for Lisa, is that exciting for you, is it thrilling?

Lisa: I'm very excited.

Rosie: No vacation for you. Coming up next George Jones. Lucy Lawless!!

“Spartacus: Vengeance,” the second season in the gory and explicit “Spartacus” TV series, is about new beginnings not just in the show’s storyline but also in real life for the show’s cast and crew. Andy Whitfield, who played Spartacus in the show’s first season “Spartacus: Blood and Sand,” tragically died of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma at the age of 40 in September 2011. In honor of Whitfield, who wanted the series to continue without him, a there was an extensive search to find the actor who would be the show’s next Spartacus. Liam McIntyre was cast in the role as the gladiator slave living in Italy under the rule of the ancient Roman Empire.

In “Spartacus: Vengeance” (which premieres on Starz on January 27, 2012, at 10 p.m. Eastern/Pacific Time), Spartacus leads a group of fellow slaves in a rebellion after they have escaped from their gladiator training school (also known as ludus) and killed Lentulus Batiatus, the ludus owner. Many of the same cast members have returned for “Spartacus: Vengeance,” including Lucy Lawless as Lucretia Batiatus, the widow of Lentulus Batiatus; Peter Mensah as slave Oenomaus (formerly known as Doctore), one of Spartacus’ trusted allies; and Viva Bianca as Ilithyia, who is one of Spartacus’ biggest enemies. Here is part one of a conference-call interview that Lawless, McIntyre, Mensah and Bianca did with journalists to promote “Spartacus: Vengeance.”
Lucy, your Lucretia character is crazy when Season 2 starts, and you've come upon Ilithyia. You don't really know that she's not your friend and she hates you. Do you find out her bad side as the series progresses?

Lawless: Or does she find out mine? I don't know, it's I don't want to give you too much. Needless to say, Lucretia and Ilithyia continues to have a very fraught relationship. Which is, Lucretia has to work very hard to make Ilithyia care about her again. Or at least need her, because Ilithyia just wants her dead.

Isn’t it a difficult situation, especially after Lucretia lost her baby? And now Ilithyia is pregnant.

Lawless: Yes, though Lucretia's lost everything. She's even lost her marbles, so that's the least of her worries.

This question is for Viva Bianca. We’ve seen Lucretia's side of the equation. One of the best parts of the first season was of course Ilithyia and her scheming ways. Can you give us a little bit of a look at what we might see in the second season?

Bianca: I think obviously what we all saw in Season 1 was that Ilithyia developed into a more and more of a complex woman. So in turning into Season 2 “Spartacus: Vengeance.” Ilithyia has that whole recent history of really a guilty past. And a suitcase of treachery lies in deceit. So firstly she has a lot to fight for and she's had a lot to fight against. And as people become aware in Episode 1 [of Season 2], Ilithyia lands right back at the place she so much wants to escape. So it kind of just ends of playing out as a fight for her life really.

Lawless: That's right. That's right, it is a fight for her life, and her husband's affections.

Bianca: That's right, and I think with regards to Ilithyia and Lucretia, what's so interesting in Season 2 is that, because of the circumstances in which they both landed, they are forced into a situation of becoming a lot closer than they even were in Season 1. Which means a potential for drama and the unraveling of relationship revelation is so much more interesting. Really, there's a lot in store in too for this female relationship.

McIntyre: Well that's what I like about all the characters. I think it's safe to say that every single character has death rider at the corner every time, at every turn, actually. From Spartacus all the way up to you guys.

Bianca: Yes. It was not a kind or gentle society, that's for sure.

McIntyre: No, it wasn't.

Is Lucretia that crazy or is there a method to her madness?

Lawless: Up to you to decide. I tell you what, by the end all will be revealed.

And when you're filming, does your inner Xena ever come out? And do you want to pick up a sword and fight along with the boys?

Lawless: Not even once. It's a stinky, smelly world down there. I have no intention of going. I'm going to sit up with Ilithyia and eat Turkish Delight.

Bianca: Ilithyia's a good girly girl.

Liam, “Spartacus” has been renewed for a third season. Is there anything you want to change about how you played your character in Vengeance for the next season?

McIntyre: I just want him to keep growing. To be honest, I've been given this great honor in carrying on this legacy and I feel, especially getting towards those last episodes, he's just really getting to a very interesting place.

Mensah: A bit more pants. Yes, we can put some pants in there. If we can talk to some people, that would be great. Maybe occasionally even an unbuttoned shirt, that will be fine. But, yes I know, it's been great sort of getting to grow with the character. And he's in going into season three, there's even more craziness in store. So I really look forward to exploring it. And just growing more it's a great privilege.

Liam, are you going to be trolling the pages of Facebook to see what the reaction is to your character?

McIntyre: Well I'm a bit of a dork, so I know how I can be with things I'm passionate about. So having that in mind, I'll probably insulate myself from that a little bit and just let the fans judge as they will and make their own decisions. And I'll curl into a bed and hope for the best.

And I have a question for Viva, who's your baby daddy?

Bianca: Well that is why you have to watch “Spartacus: Vengeance.” That is the big question on everyone's lips. Lucretia was a turkey baster. Yes I know, that's the mystery. But all will be revealed eventually.

Liam, you played a character that was already played by another actor. So I was wondering, how did you manage to carry on the character that Andy Whitfield had built and also leave your own mark as an actor?

McIntyre: Well, I mean I'm very lucky in that the writing team is absolutely sensational, and that Starz is really supportive. So Starz early on said make the character your own, treat it as your own character. You know, that they didn't expect me to copy anything.

I did watch all of Andy's amazing work. And so I don't know if any parts was osmosis or kind of like a kind of influenced me in any way. I can't be sure, but I mean hopefully because he was sensational. But realistically, I just tried to be true to the character which essentially stays the same, because the writing is the same and all of that lovely humanity and those difficult choices and all that.

Then that struggle that Spartacus goes through, it's still there this season. So I didn't get the honor of being able to treat that with respect and truth. And hopefully you have a character that feels the same as the great character that Andy portrayed.

Spartacus managed to battle Lucius as the leader of the revenge. And he seeks for personal vengeance. So what side do you think it will have more important to Spartacus: his personal issues or the cause he has sustained?

McIntyre: It is possibly the biggest battle that Spartacus has beyond the battles that he fights. I think obviously it's called “Vengeance,” and a large part of that vengeance is that vengeance he feels against Glover and the Roman Republic -as a person who's been wronged. And his family's been taken away from him. So that drives him throughout Season 1and into Season 2.

And I think the biggest challenge that Spartacus faces is embracing that bigger cause that I guess ultimately left its mark on history, which is that of taking these disparate people, these rebels, and building them into a force that is for a while certainly the match of Rome. It's something that he really has to get to the bottom of this season. It's one of his great challenges and something that I made really important in exploring this year.
Ilithyia was involved in a great part of all this bloody intrigue that happened in the first season. So, will she be punished somehow? Will she at least feel guilty by what happened?

Lawless: She's a good little girl.

Bianca: She's such a naughty girl. Look this show calmly comes and bites everyone in the ass. So Ilithyia will get her own. But there's going to be a real journey for Ilithyia in Season 2, where she's on a roller coaster of just when she thought she's going to break through and breach her dreams, the rug will be pulled from beneath her. And she'll feel like she's falling through the depths of the earth. So it's a real dramatic roller coaster for Ilithyia.

Are you're ever affected by the violent scenes in the show? Are you ever surprised by them?

Lawless: Always surprised, but we're not affected because they never look that way in actuality. It's all done in post, you know. Quite brilliant.

Bianca: I think it was David Mamet who said, "An actor must always defend his character." And so I think as an actor, you become very good at emphasizing a character, however evil or misguided the character is, certain for Ilithyia or any of the villains on the show. You have to find a reason or many reasons as to why a character is doing a scene. So like for instance in Episode 4, Ilithyia does very a brutal thing. I think that's what you're referring to. There was a moment when I think I was saying just afterwards, "Oh my god, I can't believe what Ilithyia actually just did." Like the reality of what one human is doing to another.

Lawless: What did you do? I can't remember.

Bianca: I don't know if I'm allowed to say it. At the Roman party in the villa. That whole piñata scene.

Lawless: But it was all about brinksmanship, wasn't it? That you were getting one up on the young lady. So yes you're right, you become that character.

Bianca: You become the character, and the truth is for these Roman aristocratic people, they didn't consider slaves, or people of that class, as people. And to really feel like, for instance, for Lucy and I to get ourselves into that mentality is quite an extreme step. But it is a step that an actor has to make in order to enter that ancient Roman society, and to play these kinds of women.

The brothel scene was quite an eye-opener too. Liam, do you walk through those sets and see that stuff going on and think, "Wow”?

McIntyre: It's one of my greatest one. I mean I loved the show before I got the call to be part of it. So I kind of knew what I was getting into. But that's one of my greatest memories from the whole year, was watching our director from a distance in what was essentially the sign language version of the scene. So I got to watch him throw his hands around and do all the motions and actions as he described what he wanted to see as this camera panned through there. And that was one of the greatest memories I'll ever take with me, because that was hilarious.

But there is a moment where I have to attack a gentleman's money-making facility, and that was one of the most harrowing moments in my life. Because it's kind of a sword, a small little protective kind of steel rig, and his gear, and a whole lot of hope, and so that was one of the very first days of shooting. And I'm like, "Oh god, what have I got myself into?"

Viva, you seem to really enjoy being the bad girl. Does it also feel kind of empowering to be that pure evil?

Bianca: I'm a really nice person. You know what? I would so love to play a really virtuous, heroic person after Ilithyia. But Ilithyia's a very satisfying role to play. And because she isn't just pure bad.

And the lovely thing in Season 2 is the writers gave me a lovely range and complexity to explore. So I think the audience will get to see many different sides to Ilithyia. And of course there will still be that scheming, naughty girl, and then almost a lady now. But yes, I think maybe I see some vulnerability.

Lucy, we all know “Spartacus” has a lot of nudity in it, is it kind of a source of inhibition when you know that maybe your husband is on set?

Lawless: He's not on the set. And it's all inhibiting … But we're really like funny little middle class people. And it's very hard for us to be comfortable with nudity and sex scenes. I've tried. I want to be cooler about it. But I'm just not. But if you believe in it, it's important to the scene.
Liam, you mentioned before that you were trying to make the role of Spartacus your own. How did you try to do that?

McIntyre: I guess just you work extremely hard and diligently. And it's one of those things that early on, you have to use everything in your power to do the best job you can. And I mean I got trained really well by my first acting coach I hope, and that and you just put your tail between your legs and just work really hard until it's all finished and cross your fingers. I don't know, there's no simple trick, or we'd all be doing it I suppose.

Liam, can you talk about what you went through to handle a sword and all those crazy acrobatic moves?

McIntyre: Well, it's a rare and lucky person who gets to be a 10-year-old for a whole year. It's fantastic. Getting into shape, early on when I started the process of testing for this role, I'd done another film where I was 45 pounds lighter or thereabouts. So I was going for that whole machinist look. And unfortunately I was succeeding. I thought there was no way I'd ever even be considered, but they did consider me.

And I got taught exactly how horrible training can be. In much the way that people say, "Do you get used to sex scenes?" And the answer's generally "No." "Do you get used to lifting ridiculous amounts of weights?" Not really. I think the point is that you do it and it really hurts. But it's one of the few things in life where you get to see tangible results. So I guess it's worthwhile.

So you're saying you gained 45 pounds of muscle for this role?

McIntyre: Something like that. I haven't done the math, but a lot. Because I certainly look a lot more healthier than I did back then.

How do you approach getting ready to do some of the sex scenes?

Lawless: I've done things again this season that I've never, ever done before and never seen on television before. And it was very heavy duty. There were days when I would just go home and just have a quiet little meltdown and be just go to sleep, because it was so demanding emotionally. Oh let me tell you, this does great things for the viewer's sex life. Not so much for the participants. It's like aversion therapy.

McIntyre: It's difficult to have that conversation. "What did you do today honey?" "Well, long story...."

Lawless: Sometimes I do need a hug because it's harrowing. It's really harrowing.

Bianca: What Lucy might be talking about is some of the sex scenes or storylines in Spartacus that involves sex are actually not in any way of a turn-on. They can be quite brutal. The show is talking about exploitation of slaves and of women, and a lot of the violence is actually talking about some very serious stuff. So it's kind of far from a turn-on. And can be quite horrific. And as an actor to carry that, it can be quite heavy on us.

Lawless: Very.

Lucy, are we going to see you at Comic-Con San Diego in 2012?

Lawless: Oh gosh I don't know. I think I've been there pretty much 15 years in a row. Do they really need me? I'm like that brass pig in the corner that you touch for luck, you know.

McIntyre: I need to get me one of those.

Lawless: I do love it though. I love the fans. I'm really grateful to them for everything they've given me. So I don't know. We'll see.

What have your processes been like for getting back into these characters?

Bianca: Well I mean like for me, because Lucy is also in the prequel, a year had passed pretty much between wrapping on Season 1and starting on Season 2. And yet at the same time, I mean the reality of our show, it was only about eight weeks that had passed between the end of season one, beginning of Vengeance.

So it was kind of quite challenging, actually. Yes, it was really quite challenging to go back into the world and feel that level of acute continuity that was required, and to find the character again. But it was actually so fun to go back into the character. I was really happy to do it.

McIntyre: Yes. For me I guess it's a unique situation. But I watched the first season and “Gods of the Arena” countless times. And so for me, I guess it was unique in the way that, I mean I really felt like I was right there with all of Eddie's performances.

I really felt like I got Spartacus as he portrayed him. So to me more than anything, it was important to make sure that Spartacus as a character continued as that character and not just some totally different person who was inspired by different things.

And the world as a different place for him. So I guess I had a unique situation of trying to create a new Spartacus that felt like the same kind of guy that Andy's Spartacus was. So it was a fantastic and very unique process to go through. It must be a really sad thing to have to kind of even look at. But it was I, touch wood, never have to go through anything like that again in my life, I suppose.

Lucy, you did have a sort of a different challenge going in because you had just done this Spartacus prequel, you've been living in essentially the past of this character that you played for awhile.

Lawless: That was less of a challenge than it was a help actually, because you got the very rare chance to revisit your character and see what formed them, which was such a pleasure. Oh my god, I was so lucky. And it really helped round out the character, her softness. Her potential for hope and because she could default to that. If Ilithyia would just be kind to her, Lucretia would be kind back, but Ilithyia doesn't know how. So therefore Lucretia has to stamp on her to kick finish her off.

Spartacus gets into this wonderful relationship with the character played by Katrina Law. Liam, after everything that you've gone through with his wife, if this is going to be a possibility of love for him? Or what can you tell me about their relationship?

McIntyre: I guess who doesn't need love deep down? You know, I think that's very true of everybody. So it's that was a great thing to get to play with all year because in Season 1, Sura said, “You will never love another person.”

And that's kind of like a truism for Spartacus's existence. So he now has the problem, which is a real problem for everybody that falls into those horrible circumstances that can you ever love again. And he certainly wants to.

You know, I think Spartacus certainly wants so, and he's going to try. But it's very, very difficult of thing for him to try and - not only move on, but move into any relationship. So it's a constant struggle throughout the season.

Another big relationship for Spartacus is the one between him and Crixus. What can to say about the position of their relationship in this season?

McIntyre: It's one of the great parts of the season. In fact, all of the kind of, I guess you call them the big dogs on campus, you know all the alpha males of the ludus have a very difficult journey trying to even get along because of the nature of who they are. And so with Crixus and Spartacus there's a desire to work together but just a difference of view which really just dovetails and splits apart throughout the season and that goes and that's true with other characters that appear in the rebels camp that are very powerful characters.

And part of the battle that Spartacus has is to want to lead them and then find a way to do that and actually unify people. So to this day I still don't understand how one man can unify so many different cultures and creeds into one cause. I don't know if it's ever been done before or since.

Peter, it's fantastic all the background information that we're learning on Oenomaus this season. He's deeply embarrassed over being a part of the taking down of The House of Batiatus. How does Oenomaus go from being this shamed person into the rebel that he's meant to become in history?

Mensah: I think actually that my understanding of Oenomaus; journey was that it wasn't so much embarrassment at aiding the rebels as that he was caught at making the right decision at a certain point in time which led him into a sort of a no-win situation. He knew what was going on at the house of Batiatus which ultimately was wrong so in the moment he assisted and did what he thought was the right thing. And that leaves him in a no-man’s land and the journey then or the question then becomes if you have nowhere to go what do you do with your life.

And I think that's the biggest question he faces as the season starts is not having an affiliation to anyone in particular, not necessarily believing in the cause if there actually was one. He has to figure out what to do with his life and so this season is a journey that he undergoes to understand and find a place in the world.

Liam, how do you think fans will accept you as Spartacus?

McIntyre: You know, that's all right because again like I said, I mean, I would demand the scrutiny of fans in that sense. I hope they come asking difficult questions because frankly I would if I was in the reverse situation. I'm not trying to pretend that I am Andy or that I'm going to be matching Andy in any particular way. I just hope that I do the character justice.

Lawless: And you do. You do.

McIntyre: Thank you, Lucy. And with time I hope that they can like my Spartacus in a way that keeps him a compelling character in a way that they loved Andy's, you know? That's obviously at no stage is that for me to decide in any way. I guess time will be the judge of that question.

Lawless: People report that they were surprised at how very quickly they accepted you in the new role as Andy wished.
McIntyre: Well, I worked hard. That's all I can say. I worked bloody hard.

Bianca: Well, it was evident to all of us as cast members is that Liam did what any great actor could do which was to bring integrity to the role and bring his own imagination and individuality and history to the role.

McIntyre: I've got the sweetest cast. Thanks, guys.

Do you feel that it's easier or more difficult to still play versions of historical characters that have some vague and sometimes contradictory real life pasts? Some of what we learned about them contradicts what's come before.

McIntyre: You think? I don't know because one of the things that I loved about researching Spartacus is that there are maybe four, five, six wildly varying accounts of what happened and who did it and how and very few people agree and often many of the reports are written hundreds of years after. In a way, it's the perfect story to tell because it's a great story with only little signposts for historical markers. So it's great playing a character who is historically very valid and viable but has the creativity and drama of a well-written piece.

What about you, Peter?

Mensah: Well, I think the interesting thing is no there are very absolute histories in this world and so we on top of that are providing entertainment. We're playing with the story or a version of the story and I think what makes this really entertaining is that you take such a heroic depiction of a character as we do in Spartacus, and you've get someone like Liam who takes it on and does such a remarkable job of showing the conflict that may have been in this man. And Liam makes it very, very real.

And I think what really works is that because there is license to play with history — and obviously with the grace of the audience — we get to actually go out and provide a version of what might have happened. And in no way are we claiming this is exactly what happened. You know, we're just telling a story. So hopefully, we tell an entertaining one. This is why I love my craft because it's sort of a chance to take a look at a situation and give a version of how we feel it may have happened.

So does anybody think that there will be a big-screen version of “Spartacus,” kind of like what they're getting ready to do with “24”?

Lawless: Cool idea.

McIntyre: Wouldn't that be fun?

Mensah: I think you should tell someone that.

McIntyre: Yeah. Get on that. Start that trend.

Bianca: We just need a budget.

Lawless: What we need is money.

McIntyre: I'll give you a budget: a hundred million dollars.

Mensah: Just ask James Cameron for the money.

McIntyre: We just need an investor I think is the real key.

Lawless: We're kind of making a movie every week.

McIntyre: It is like that, isn't it. It is like that. I feel like I've made ten little movies.

Lawless: Thank you. That's an awesome idea.

What about lending your likenesses and voices, say, to a Spartacus video game?

McIntyre: Trust me, if there's a video game out, I'm so excited about the possibility of that happening. I would love that.
Lawless: There was an app early on in the days of apps.

Bianca: OK. There's been lots of like graphic novel kind of comic book things I've seen.

Lawless: I think there's no way to stay out of that sort of stuff these days, you know? It's all just part of the course possibly.

McIntyre: It's a fun world to play in I think like for that same reason that Peter was talking about that you can tell a version of a story. It's a fun story to explore and all in all the different avenues. So, I mean, here's hoping, right?

Lawless: And wonderful wish fulfillment for people.

Lawless: People want to be Spartacus. They want to be Crixus.

This question is actually for Lucy and it's kind of not about “Spartacus.” Do you wish you’re your guest appearance on “Burn Notice” could have ended in a way where you could come back?

Lawless: Well, I must say that I was at a time in my life sick to death of acting, just wanted to give it up and Bruce Campbell convinced me to come down and do an episode and so I did. I was a bit pissed off at the world.

And I had some other role I'd just done. I had these big gold fake fingernails stuck on. I'd thought I'd just keep them for the role. Anyway, at some point, Jeff Donovan's character is supposed to still be in love with me. I just didn't really see how.

But anyway he had some sort of a rescue scene to rescue me and at some point I lift my hand up there and it's scripted that I touch his face and when I saw the episode like this great big mudgepole with big gold claws and it was like a man's hand. And I was trying to touch Jeffrey Donovan on the face … you sort of claw...

Yeah, there's a lot of things I remember about that episode and shooting that with those guys which was really fun and he's brilliant but unfortunately my character just had to die. So I suggested that they hire Grace Park and Tricia Helfer from “BSG” [“Battlestar Gallactica”] because they were looking for women who could carry off that sort of action.

“Spartacus” is an ancient period of time and it's stripped of all the modern trappings that we have now. Is it a clash to do what you do and then walk off the set and walk to cars, cell phones, computers, laptops, assistants?

Bianca: We have slaves, we don't need assistants.

Lawless: Actually, no, it's really important to be able to walk away from the modern world, away from your family, away from your relationship and go into this make-believe world of ancient Rome. It's helpful to have that universe separate from your own.

Bianca: I think that's a lot of what makes actors actors. We love going into fantasy make-believe worlds and playing. So the fact that we get to go into a world that is so far from our own reality is part of the joy.

Lawless: It's like having a second life. It's like having a virtual life experience. And I just love it. I've had a really crazy ride as Lucretia this season. The most intense stuff I've ever, ever shot. And I'm really grateful.

McIntyre: As far as slipping back into the modern world, though, I think it's not too challenging for some people I think there's a photo somewhere of most of the rebels on their iPads/iPhones in a row.

Lawless: Is that right because that's banned from our set.

McIntyre: I know. And I think as a result it was banned from ours.

Bianca: I thought there was an email going around about those iPhones.

McIntyre: Yeah, I think that's because I've said rebels. Sorry about that.

Lawless: They've got more time. There's a lot of people doing things.

Bianca: We had a lot of dialogue because we were Romans.

McIntyre: All right. Don't show off.

Lawless: Don't rub it in.

McIntyre: I know. They should have been a gym somewhere working out.

Lawless: No, it's good. It's like having the kids in the back of the car. You give them you give them a video game, you keep them quiet. That's what we do with the rebels. We let them play with their iPads.

McIntyre: “Sit there and be a good boy. We'll call you when we need you.”