'Xena' Meets 'Tarzan'
On tonight's ET, we go one-on-one with Lucy and her co-star TRAVIS FIMMEL on the Toronto set of The WB's new drama, "Tarzan," premiering Sunday, October 5, at 9 p.m.
"People are always going on about how I don't look like Xena, and I was always a little surprised," says Lucy, now a redhead. "Then I went and saw the 'Xena' DVDs the other day, and I was, 'Holy cow! I was a big girl.' So I probably have lost a bit since then, and I was way more muscle-bound. I had washboard abs under that corset."
Since The WB's "Tarzan" is contemporary, the more svelte Lucy will forsake the costume look for comfortable, modern clothes. Her character, Kathleen Clayton, is a high-powered newspaper publisher and Tarzan's aunt, so she says she's looking forward to wearing some serious designer duds.
"I am so glad I signed on because they are making me look so pretty," she says.
Unlike previous "Tarzan"s, the new series is set in the jungles of Manhattan, rather than Africa, so not only will there be no jungle calls, Travis will not be wearing a loincloth.
"This is a semi-clothed Tarzan," Lucy teases, "and Travis is a bit shy, so we're, 'Get your shirt off, monkey boy. Stop fooling around."
Considering some of the very hot ads Travis posed for in his modeling career, including one CALVIN KLEIN billboard that literally stopped traffic in the U.K. so often that it had to be removed, it may be hard to believe.
But Travis insists, "I try to be fully clothed. I try to keep my clothes on as much as I can. I don't want to be topless, but it is not my choice."
"Tarzan" also stars SARAH CALLIES as Jane, a NYPD detective, MITCH PILEGGI as Tarzan's Uncle Richard and MIGUEL NUNEZ as Jane's partner.
Travis, who hails from Australia, and Lucy, who is a New Zealander, have only been working together two weeks, but they are getting along famously.
"He has a great presence and visual appeal," Lucy says of her co-star. And adds, "When you get the whole group together, a swinging time is had by all." No pun intended!
"Xena: Warrior Princess"'s LUCY LAWLESS took a few years off from series TV to have a baby and spend time with her children, but now she's back -- and, boy, does she look different!
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