Vintage Interview: Pre-Firefly Gina Torres

Vintage Interview: Pre-Firefly Gina Torres

Oct 28

I had a total flashback yesterday, courtesy of Entertainment Weekly’s list of the cheesiest (read: awesomest) syndicated TV shows. Who here remembers the Cleopatra 2525/Jack of All Trades power hour, circa 2000?!

Don’t lie. I know at least half of you just started wailing “In the YEEEAAAAR twent-eee five twent-eee five! Three women keep hope aliiiive!” At least!

The whole thing was shitloads of fun. Jack had Bruce Campbell, while Cleo boasted a slightly insane premise (cryogenically frozen exotic dancer gets thawed in 2525, helps fight evil robots), scantily-clad eye candy of both genders, and one of the best credits sequences of all time.

Oh, and also? A pre-Firefly Gina Torres. In 2000, I interviewed Gina for the now-defunct IGN Sci-Fi. And I just dug up said interview via the Wayback Machine. Let’s all enjoy a little moment with the woman who would be Zoe. (In retrospect: pretty interesting what she says about The Matrix and Morpheus, eh?)

Gina Torres, Warrior Princess

Gina Torres is hungry. It’s lunchtime, but she’s spending it on the phone with me, talking about Cleopatra 2525, the hit syndicated show in which she plays a warrior princess type who could give Xena a run for her leather bustier. Though Torres chats good-naturedly about everything from The Matrix to future plot twists, the conversation can’t help but wander to the fact that she’s in imminent need of sustenance — and what that has to do with the onscreen life of her character. “You know, [on the show], you never see us eat,'” she muses. “We drink. We spend a lot of time in bars.” Very true. And why does she think that is? “Superheroes get thirsty!” she laughs.

Superheroes, indeed. On Cleopatra 2525, Torres plays Hel, a heroic freedom fighter in a future world where machines rule the Earth and humankind has been forced underground. Hel, along with Sarge (Victoria Pratt) and Cleopatra (Jennifer Sky), carries out dangerous missions against these machines (known as “Bailies”). Through it all, she is guided by the mysterious Voice, who speaks to her through an implant in her jaw.

Already, the show (along with its companion piece, Jack of All Trades) has garnered stellar ratings and a fervent fanbase, many of whom are quite taken with Torres’ regal Hel. Torres, however, is no stranger to fandom: she’s already won a following for her guest shots as pirate queen Nebula on Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Cleopatra on Xena. Now, as Hel, she’s really ready to take over the world — for now, though, she still has time to chat with me about Super Mario Bros., Lara Croft and her vast array of roles in the Hercules/Xena universe.

Sarah Kuhn: In the Renaissance Pictures universe, you’ve played a pirate queen, Cleopatra, and now you’re kind of a warrior princess/leader type. Which one of those roles do you identify with the most?

Gina Torres: Oh, gosh. All of them. I think in the most important ways they’re very similar. And at the same time, they are completely different women in the way they go about their daily lives, which is I think what separates them. I think they’re similar in that they’re strong. They are strong, they are determined, they are ambitious, they know that there is something that they must do. They have a very clear destiny. It’s not even so much a goal as it is something that they can’t help. And that’s fascinating to me.

Nebula’s the pirate queen, very irreverent, and has a really good time, and I think she feels she has many, many choices that she takes full advantage of, which was great, great fun to play. I enjoyed that very much, because she did teach me to just kind of let go [laughs]. You know, that’s something that happens when you wear peekabo suede pants and a brass bra. Cleopatra’s a queen. Great dresser [laughs]. And [she] had come to grow into her position of power, and, again, was very comfortable with her sexuality. That was wonderful to play. Hel is different. Hel to me is very much a reluctant she-ro. She was born into this position, she was chosen, she’s obviously good at it, but it weighs heavy. She does want a simpler life, which is why, in the end, she’s fighting so hard for it. She’s fighting so hard for a better, simpler life, and that is the irony.

Sarah: Since you portrayed Cleopatra first, did you have any tips for Jennifer Sky?

Gina: [laughs] Completely different characters! She’s playing Cleo, she’s not playing Cleopatra, our beloved Egyptian queen. The only tip I had for Jennifer [was] just be true, cause that’s all any of us can do.

Sarah: In the last episode I saw, you busted this total Matrix move and ran up a wall…

Gina: Oh, OK, yeah!

Sarah: That was really cool. I was wondering if you think the show is at all influenced by that movie.

Gina: Oh, sure, without question. I watch TV, and there are so many things that are influenced by that movie, I mean it really sort of changed the landscape of that genre, and I think we’ve benefited tremendously [from] that. And I think it’s great, it is certainly the wave of sci-fi right now, until something else comes along and blows this out of the water. And [executive producers] Rob Tapert and R.J. Stewart will tell you that they had an idea kicking around in their heads for a long time, and it started to come together, but it didn’t solidify until Rob saw Matrix, and he said, “That is what I want!”

Sarah: Do you identify at all with Trinity, then?

Gina: No. [laughs] If anybody, I’d be Morpheus.

Sarah: This show is also sort of like a futuristic Charlie’s Angels. If that’s the case, which one are you?

Gina: [laughs] You knooooow…in a previous interview, I was dubbed the Sabrina Duncan of the trio. And I can understand that, because, yes, of course, the comparisons are inevitable. You’re going to have the smart one, and you’re going to have the blonde…and then there’s a quandary because we have two blondes! [laughs] I think what’s nice about this show is that all three of us encompass, at any given time, aspects and traits of all three of those women, including some others. I’ve got a Joan of Arc thing going with this voice in my head! [laughs] So I think it’s just a nice combination of women. We’ve come so far, and we’ve been able to pull from so many wonderful role models over the years, and not just female, but also we’ve been able to incorporate some male role models, and those strengths and weaknesses as well.

I mean, Sarge is — and this isn’t is to say that Vickie [Pratt] is — I want to get really clear, I don’t want her to read this and go, “What do you mean I’m a man?!” [laughs] But the way she moves through this particular reality [is] very male. And I think that’s great! But it doesn’t compromise her femininity. It’s just a part of her. And I feel the same way about my character. There are parts of her that are incredibly nurturing, and den mother like. But she’s gotta go out and kill some people every now and then. You know, there’s a war on!

Sarah: One more comparison: some people have said that watching Cleopatra is like playing a video game. Are you into games?

Gina: No, not really. I had a moment where I was pseudo-obsessed with Super Mario Bros. Someone gave us a Nintendo for Christmas one year, and baby, I just wanted him to get to the princess! I was prepared to do whatever it took to get him the princess! It would be something to sort of wind down after I got home. And the flip side of that cassette was duck shooting, so if I had a particularly bad audition, I’d like, shoot things for half an hour. And then, I got over it.

Sarah: But did you ever get the princess?

Gina: I got the princess once! And then, you know, as it is at the end of all those games, it was like, “Ehhhh! Wrong princess!” So, I don’t have that kind of a bent on video games. I think they’re fun. I’ve played my share of Tetris and Solitaire after writing for three hours, or whatever, just before I shut down the computer. But it’s a long time in between Solitaire games, let me put it that way. I find it very, very interesting, though — I’m in that world. And my character has been compared to Lara Croft.

Sarah: Do you see that?

Gina: [laughs] It’s the rubber hot pants!

Sarah: Can you tell us about any future plotlines?

Gina: I have another run-in with Creegan, which is pretty brutal. And, you know…chaos ensues every week! [laughs] More than anything, I would say just look out for the continuing development of these women, and who they are. It is, by and large, action adventure, sci-fi, but [the writers] have been doing a beautiful job in weaving a storyline into that half-hour. And I’m so glad that they are. Because in the end, I don’t believe people will come in to see explosions, they will tune in to see how the girls are doing, and how are they gonna get out of this one.

Sarah: Well, sometimes you guys get out of things by using those cool wrist things that you and Sarge have. I love those.

Gina: Yeah!

Sarah: Are there going to be any more cool gadgets like that worked into the show?

Gina: I think we’re really actually rather well-equipped as it is! [laughs] We won’t be carrying around purses any time soon, but, yeah…I’m sure. In one of the episodes coming up, we have very close encounters with the Bailies, and from just the pilot episode, it really is a race to keep up with their technology, [which is] ever-changing. And in doing that, I wouldn’t be surprised if we get booted up. ‘Cause that’s what Mauser’s for, you know? To make sure that we are able to keep up and maybe someday surpass them, so I wouldn’t be surprised if new little things keep popping up every now and then.

Sarah: On Hercules, your character was involved with Iolaus (Michael Hurst), and on Xena, you flirted with Autolycus (Bruce Campbell). Who would you choose in real life, and who would Hel choose?

Gina: [laughs] You know, that’s one of those things I have to take the fifth on for me. Hel has no time for Autolycus’ shenanigans. But I think she would definitely admire Iolaus’ bravery and integrity. Out of the two, he’d probably be the only one who would be able to sort of get her to loosen up, cause he’d do it in sort of a stealth way.

Sarah: Your companion show, Jack of All Trades, also looks like it’s great fun to do. If you were going to do a guest shot on that show, what role would you want to play?

Gina: Let’s see, well we’d have to be in that world, wouldn’t we? Oh…I think it would be hilarious if I was Josephine to Verne Troyer’s Napoleon. That would be something for them to go back in the history books for. Yeah, honey! [That’s] just how it was! [laughs]

Sarah: When people read this, they’re gonna start campaigning for you to do that. I’ll bet you anything…

Gina: [laughs] Oh, no, no, I’m sure that whoever plays that part will have a really, really great time, but you know, just in terms of scope, I think that’d be really cool.

Sarah: Well, I should probably let you go eat lunch, but is there anything else you’d like to say?

Gina: Watch the show! [laughs]

Sarah: They’re already watching!

Gina: Watch the show…and just enjoy these women. Just enjoy them, really. That’s all I can say. Have a good time.

Sarah Kuhn has never worn rubber hot pants.