Lucy Lawlesshas thrived in the sci-fi, fantasy and action genres for years now with a slew of standout titles to her name includingXena: Warrior Princess,Battlestar GalacticaandSpartacus. But even with all that experience, her latest feature,The Spine of Night, still feels like a wholly unique, one-of-a-kind production that takes her craft into new territory.
The movie is an ultra-violent epic told through hand-drawn rotoscope animation. The tale spans eras highlighting those who come together to stop a sinister force wielding a devastating amount of dark magic.The Spine of Nightdoes have an anthology feel to it, but there is one especially prominent character significantly contributing to both the heart and the framework of the film, and that’s Lawless as Tzod, a shamaness with experience harnessing such power who watches as it falls into the wrong hands.
Yes,The Spine of Nightdraws inspiration from works likeRalph Bakshi’sThe Lord of the RingsandHeavy Metal, but given the fact that pieces like those are now few and far between,Spine of Nightfeels like a special treat, a rare opportunity to go big, go dark and use this fantasy world to dig into real world flaws. As Lawless herself put it while onCollider Connected,The Spine of Nightis “bonkers.” She continued:
“I just thought it was cool and bizarre, and kind of ugly beautiful. And my lawyer said, ‘Lucy, do you really want to be seen that way?’ And I went, ‘Yeah!’ [Laughs] Because there’s this sort of a lump of a woman. She’s a shamaness and she walks like a caveman, she’s Australopithecus walking, and she’s cool. She’s awesome, she’s magic and she’s ugly beautiful.”
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Back onXena, Lawless came to realize she was a “killer looper” and ADR pro, something that came in handy big time onThe Spine of Nightbecause of the unique animation process. When Lawless was pitched the project, it wasn’t about assessing the potential of the film through concept art and story details; she actually got to see a rough cut of the film. That also meant that when the time came to record her dialogue, she was challenged to match what she was doing to the finished animation:
“Because [director] Phil [Gelatt] was working at this on his own, you’re locked into the picture, so the rhythm of the person speaking who initially did it is the rhythm that you have to go by. It’s not necessarily what you would have done. Most animation they do the voice first and then they animate to picture, but this is the other way around.”
Given the fact that Collider Connected is about retracing the steps that led to our guest’s latest project, much of this conversation with Lawless focused on fantasy material. So what exactly keeps bringing her back to the genre? Here’s how she put it:
“Fantasy chose me. I always look for the mundane. The banality of evil is what makes evil interesting and quirky. You can embed truth within the fantasy. It’s like Battlestar Galactic had a lot of sociopolitical commentary to make in a way that is embedded in that narrative so people can discuss deeper meanings afterwards. It gives you lots to think about. The story they’re telling is not the story underneath it all.”
If you’d like to hear more from Lawless onThe Spine of Night, howWhoopi Goldberginspired her at a young age, what it was like making her way fromHercules and the Amazon WomentoXena, and so much more, be sure to check out our full conversation in the video at the top of this article or the podcast below:
Lucy Lawless:
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