CNN SHOWBIZ TODAY 17:30 pm ET
July 10, 1997; Thursday 5:30 pm Eastern Time
Transcript # 97071000V17
     
News; Entertainment
     
Entertainment News of the Day
     
GUESTS:  Dick Wolf, Kevin Sorbo, Lucy Lawless
     
Laurin Sydney, Jim Moret, Michael Okwu, Bill Tush,
Dennis Michael, Beth Horslev
     
Major entertainment news of the day.
     
     LAURIN SYDNEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, everybody.  I'm
     Laurin Sydney in New York.
     
        JIM MORET, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Jim Moret in Hollywood.
     
        Coming up, Xena and Hercules leave ancient Greece for
     modern-day Orlando. But first, our top story.
     
     
        SYDNEY: Xena and Hercules are two of the most popular
     superheroes on television these days.  But their power isn't
     confined to the tube.
     
        Our own Hercules, Bill Tush, is down in Orlando, Florida,
     where a brand-new Hercules and Xena attraction was unveiled just
     a few hours ago.
     
     
        Bill.
     
        BILL TUSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): All right, Laurin,
     and you weren't kidding.  They are two of the biggest stars on
     television today.  You should have seen the crowds that were
     here today to say hello to Kevin Sorbo and Lucy Lawless.
     
        Of course, we're talking about Hercules and Xena, who have
     now been, I guess, immortalized at Universal Studios here in
     Florida with your own exhibition, your own attraction.
     
        And you were there this morning, and rode in on chariots.
     
        KEVIN SORBO, ACTOR: As we should.
     
        TUSH: Now, you ride chariots in the show you tell me.
     
        LUCY LAWLESS, ACTRESS: Routinely.
     
        TUSH: Routinely.  So this is no big deal, right?
     
        LAWLESS: No, it's another day at the office.
     
        SORBO: Right.
     
        TUSH: So the exhibit this morning, now you guys shot a film
     for that, I understand.
     
        SORBO: Yeah, we had this part.
     
        TUSH: I mean, if you could, tell us a little bit about the
     exhibit, which I should say you opened this morning by using
     swords to cut leather straps and unveil the big sword in front
     of the attraction.
     
        Now, let's move inside of the attraction.  What happens in
     there?
     
        LAWLESS: It's really a chance for the audience to participate
     in the film making.  And primarily, it's fun.  And they get to
     become centaurs and see how the movie magic worked.
     
        We bust everybody's illusions and give away all our trade
     secrets.
     
        TUSH: I know, what do they do that for?
     
        SORBO: (OFF-MIKE) know that it's fake.  But they did.  So
     what are you going to do?
     
        TUSH: That's the secret of the show, though, isn't it?  I
     mean, it's just illusion, it's fun.  What do they call it,
     wizards of the screen...
     
        SORBO: That's it.
     
        TUSH: ... you see back there.
     
        SORBO: Well, it gives -- it gives -- it gives a very thorough
     explanation of how we make the special effects come to life, and
     how the, you know, the blue screen, which I'm sure you've heard
     of a blue screen.  Everybody has.  It's not an uncommon thing.
     
        But it -- it's basically a simple technique.  But it works
     and it's effective.  And it makes fantasies become reality.
     
        TUSH: Blue screen, of course, is the background that you
     have.  And we want to mention the reason we have this background
     and not your attraction is because the folks at Universal
     predicted it was going to rain.  And I don't know if you can see
     it, but it's sunny out there.  We're inside...
     
        SORBO: Well...
     
        TUSH: ... that's another story.
     
        SORBO: But it's air conditioned.
     
        LAWLESS: It's kept cool in here.
     
        (LAUGHTER)
     
        SORBO: We're happy.
     
        TUSH: That's true.
     
        You do this show in Auckland, New Zealand, which is where
     Lucy's from.
     
        SORBO: Lucy's home state.  And I mean, state, home city.
     
        TUSH: Home city.  Now you're translated...
     
        LAWLESS: Which is a lot easier for me, whereas Kevin has to,
     you know, deal with home sickness and...
     
        TUSH: Because you're a Minnesota boy.
     
        SORBO: I'm a Minnesota boy, yes, Midwesterner.
     
        TUSH: He brought the whole family here today.  Mom and Pop
     are here.
     
        SORBO: Yep.
     
        TUSH: And we're not talking about alchemy and Zeus.  We're
     talking about...
     
        SORBO: No, no, not alchemy and Zeus, no.
     
        TUSH: ... they're back there.
     
        SORBO: Mom and Dad are here.  And so are a couple of my
     brothers and the nieces and nephews and sisters-in-law and all
     that.
     
     
        TUSH: And he's a big golfer, too.
     
        SORBO: I love golf.  (OFF-MIKE) like it.
     
        TUSH: We gotta go back to New York and L.A...
     
        SORBO: Back?
     
        TUSH: Thank you guys, Hercules and Xena.
     
        LAWLESS: It's a pleasure.
     
        TUSH: Lucy and Kevin.  And back to...
     
        SORBO: It's a pleasure to be here.
     
        TUSH: ... to our guys in New York and L.A. on Showbiz Today.
     
        LAWLESS: Thank you.
     
        SORBO: SHOWBIZ TODAY.