Directing

BRET RUDNICK:
[03] Many fans know you have directed shows for XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS, but when I first saw your name in the credits I knew I recognized it from the past. Can you tell us something about your work leading up to XENA?

MICHAEL LEVINE:
[04] How far back do you want to go? Do you want to just talk about the directing part or things before that?

RUDNICK:
[05] As far back as you're keen to tell.

LEVINE:
[06] Without going into detail, I'm a former network and studio executive, transitioning into directing around 1989. The first thing I ever did was ZORRO (USA, 1990-1991) in Madrid, Spain. It is easy to get typecast and I seemed to stay with action/adventure after that. I worked on RENEGADE (Cannell/Segal, 1992- ), SILK STALKINGS (Cannell/Segal, 1991- ), RAVEN (Columbia Pictures TV, 1992- ), and FOREVER KNIGHT (Paragon Films, 1992- ). Then there was HERCULES, XENA, PACIFIC BLUE, and NOWHERE MAN (Paramount/Touchstone, 1995-1996), mostly action/adventure. I finished a DARK SKIES (Columbia/Zabel, 1996-1997) in February.

[07] Actually I was looking forward to DARK SKIES because it was mainly a drama but still had a lot of action in it. That's my experience. My first XENA was almost two years ago.



FOREVER KNIGHT

Nicholas, vampire turned cop,
and Natalie, the forensic pathologist who loves him
(and like most men on TV, he doesn't get it).

RUDNICK:
[08] (points to packet of information) In the back I also have some data from the FOREVER KNIGHT episodes as well as from XENA.

LEVINE:
[09] Wow, yeah, I did those as well.

RUDNICK:
[10] Yes, when I saw your directing credit I said "I know that name" and remembered FOREVER KNIGHT.

LEVINE:
[11] You were a fan of FOREVER KNIGHT?

RUDNICK:
[12] Definitely, and that was something I was curious about. There seem to be some interesting parallels between XENA and FOREVER KNIGHT, in the sense that you have a main character trying to redeem himself/herself over a bad past.

LEVINE:
[13] Sins of the past.

RUDNICK:
[14] Right. You have a character in FOREVER KNIGHT, LaCroix, that in some ways resembles Ares in the sense they try to lure the main character back to as "bad" past.

LEVINE:
[15] Although LaCroix was a much more major influence on Nick Knight, Ares is a god, the god of War, and therefore inherently evil to everyone.

RUDNICK:
[16] From there you eventually came to XENA?

LEVINE:
[17] FOREVER KNIGHT got me XENA. My agent was talking to people at Renaissance, Liz Friedman in particular, and told them I "had style". They said "we like style", so my agent sent them a FOREVER KNIGHT. They called me, I met Liz, and I spoke to Rob Tapert in New Zealand. They were just starting to shoot and all of a sudden in July I was doing episode #4 [CRADLE OF HOPE], the "baby tossing" episode. They all have nicknames, don't they? (both laugh)

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