Interview #27: Sir Richard Taylor! [UPDATED] Wētā Workshop Co-founder and Creative Director 🏆🧌⚔️🎬
Xena: Warrior NutballsShow Notes
🚨 Rerelease!🚨 Thanks for bearing with us whānau! ⚔️💜...now on with the podcast! ___ 🏆 This week, Lou and Shell are chatting with Sir Richard Taylor (KNZM), Co-founder and Creative Director of Wētā Workshop, a five-time Academy Award winner! 🧌⚔️ Based in Wellington, Wētā Workshop is an award-winning special effects and creative company who have worked on some of the biggest franchises in the world, including The Lord of the Rings, Marvel, Dune, Star Wars, DC, Indiana Jones, and Avatar🎬 Richard takes us back to his work on Xena: Warrior Princess, sharing stories of working with Lucy Lawless before she was cast as Xena, his admiration for Renée O’Connor as Gabrielle, and the challenge of bringing centaurs and even centaur babies to life! 🐎👶 Plus, we chat about how the opportunity to work on Xena helped pave the way for Wētā Workshop’s future success with The Lord of the Rings. Turns out, the road to Middle-earth had a few stops in ancient Greece! 🗡️💍 Join Lou and Shell as we chat with Sir Richard about the creatures, creativity and connections which helped shape Aotearoa’s screen industry, and the legacy of a little Kiwi ingenuity that went a very long way. 🧙♂️✨
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🛠️ Find out more about Wētā Workshop 🌐 Website: https://www.wetaworkshop.com/ 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wetaworkshop/ 📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WetaWorkshop/
Vote for "Xena: Warrior Nutballs" in the New Zealand Podcasting Awards - Listeners Choice Category: https://www.nzpodcastawards.com/nominate
More from Xena: Warrior Nutballs
This week, Lou and Shell are heading into the costume department, getting sized up and squeezed into our own leather corsets and miniskirts with the wonderfully talented Kiwi Jane Holland - Costume Designer for Xena: Warrior Princess Seasons 5 and 6! 🧵✂️🪡⚔️💜
This week Lou and Shell go deep behind the scenes as we kōrero with legendary Aotearoa casting director Diana Rowan, who tells us exactly what she saw in Lucy Lawless which made her push for her to become Xena: Warrior Princess. 👀⚔️ AKA that “don’t fuck with me” energy she owns. 💜💪🌶️ Xenites, you might recognise Diana for another reason… she played The Shepherd in Xena: Warrior Princess Season 5, Episode 22, Motherhood! 🐑🏜️ But, Diana’s casting legacy goes WAY beyond Xena - She has been shaping New Zealand's screen industry for decades! Casting countless Kiwi performers, including Michael Hurst as Iolaus in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, and is the only casting director in the world to have cast multiple child actors who went on to receive Oscar nominations: Anna Paquin for The Piano (winning at just 11!) and Keisha Castle-Hughes for Whale Rider. We talk about the building blocks of casting the right person for the role, and what it takes to spot a future star before everyone else does. ✨ Whānau, this interview is an absolute one-off, one-of-a-kind. Diana doesn’t do these, so we are bloody thrilled she chose to kōrero with us. 💜
This week Lou and Shell are welcoming into the whānau Eric Gruendemann - Producer, Supervising Producer, Co-Executive Producer, and founder and Managing Director of Pacific Renaissance Pictures!🎬🌿⚔️😮💨
This week, Lou and Shell have grown out their beards and donned their muumuus as we welcome into the whānau Timothy Omundson AKA Eli!🧔🏻♀️💚🕊️ Yes! That devilishly handsome, charismatic man with the sparkling blue eyes who arrived in Xena and Gabrielle’s lives as a street magician, before becoming one of the most important spiritual figures in the series.🎩🪄🙏 In this episode, Tim talks about connecting with Lucy Lawless, Renée O’Connor, and Kevin Smith, how much he loved working with the Kiwi cast and crew, and getting up to some proper Kiwi antics when the cameras weren't rolling.⛳ And yes… he stole his muumuu. HE STOLE HIS MUUMUU, YOU GUYS. 😂🤣 We absolutely ADORE this man. Tim is funny, warm, generous and genuinely phenomenal, and we loved hearing his memories of his time in Aotearoa and the people who made Xena so special. Show notes: Find Tim on Instagram 📸 Instagram: @omundson If you'd like to hear about Tim's recovery from his stroke, check out “Tim's 9th Stroke-iversary” on The Psychologists Are In with Maggie Lawson and Timothy Omundson, released 7 May 2026. 🎧 Listen to “Tim's 9th Stroke-iversary” on Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/episode/31jzGjgNzD6XsLGlz9NvvC
In this Special Guest Side Quest, Lou gets up close with THE ACTUAL COSTUMES worn by Lucy Lawless and Renee O’Connor! 🤯⚔️ Getting to head behind the scenes at Te Papa, the National Museum of New Zealand, with Stephanie Gibson, Curator of New Zealand Histories and Cultures.