Photo Illustration by Erin O’Flynn/The Daily Beast/Marc Sagliocco/Courtesy of Sundance Institute
A few years ago, Lucy Lawless got an email that changed her life. It came from Joe Duran, a former CNN cameraman reaching out to various Hollywood types to pitch one hell of a story. Duran wondered if someone might want to make a documentary about Margaret Moth, a friend and colleague of his who spent years risking her life to capture combat zones in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Israel. Moth, like Lawless, was born in New Zealand, and Lawless remembered Kiwis’ fascination when Moth kept working even after a sniper’s bullet shattered her jaw during the Bosnian War.
Lawless says she responded to Duran’s message within 90 seconds, promising to help the saga of this intrepid videographer who resembled Joan Jett see the light of day. She offered to produce the movie. Quickly sensing that Lawless understood Moth’s drive, Duran suggested she direct it, too. “The moment I got that email, it owned me,” Lawless tells The Daily Beast’s Obsessed. “The spirit of Margaret compelled me to make this film.”
Roughly two years later, Never Look Away is premiering at the Sundance Film Festival, an institution Lawless never saw herself fitting into. Almost by accident, she forged a career in sci-fi and fantasy, genres that don’t have much of a footprint at North America’s premier indie fest. Few actors’ résumés are less Sundance-y than Lawless’. Now, the 55-year-old Xena: Warrior Princess and Battlestar Galactica actress is infectiously chipper about her newest chapter. On the morning of the film’s premiere, she deems this her best year yet.