North Jersey Herald

8 February 2001

Celebrity news and notes

PUT 'EM UP

Lucy Lawless, who shows off her martial-arts skills as the title character of "Xena: Warrior Princess," had to learn a whole new way of fighting for her guest stint on tonight's "Just Shoot Me" (9:30 p.m., NBC).

"It does come to blows, I'm afraid," Lawless says of the scenario. "I had to slap somebody in a girlish way, 'cause for years I've been slugging them."

The New Zealand native describes her "Just Shoot Me" character as a "tart with a heart," a call girl whom Nina (Wendie Malick) hires to accompany Elliott (Enrico Colantoni) to a charity auction, as a last-minute replacement for his intended date, a doctor pal of Nina. The call girl then pretends to be the doctor.

Lawless had high praise for the "Just Shoot Me" cast, especially Colantoni.

"He's tremendously versatile, and he's so attractive onscreen that I really wanted to work beside him," she says.

She also gushes over David Spade.

"Oh, my God, he was charming," Lawless says. "I expected him to be a bit of a rat bag -- that means rascal; it's not particularly derogatory -- but he was very charming."

"Xena" is wrapping up its six-year run in first-run syndication.

"I've got four more to be filmed, including one that's a musical," says Lawless.

On her last day of filming "Xena," Lawless says, "I'm gonna walk off wearing the outfit and I'm going to drive home in it."


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