 TAFs Interviews The Destroyer's Olivia d'Abo!
Princess Jehnna Discusses Her 13-year-old Role!
Reported By: Randy Jennings
Monday, August 30, 2010
When I saw Conan the Destroyer's Olivia d'Abo for the first time as a young teenager, I knew she was pretty but "Jehnna" is even more of a beautiful princess now in her 30s. At The Hollywood Show, I sat next to Olivia for roughly twenty minutes to interview Princess Jehnna and to hear her recall many stories about Arnold, the Destroyer's cast, the Wonder Years and Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
TheArnoldFans: Did you think Arnold's physique was attractive or freakish?
Olivia d'Abo: Bodybuilding wasn't really my thing. I mean muscles are nice. He's quite a specimen in terms of that particular category and he was still certainly into bodybuilding at that time. I just felt very small around him because he had these massive muscles. It was really more of his persona and how he carried himself as an individual and as a person. Well, obviously he had his shirt on through most of the movie but it was kind of hard not to look at these bulging muscles. I don't know, I just always really admired how dedicated he was in keeping in shape. He would work out and work out with the rest of the cast at six in the morning and get us to the gym... and staying healthy. It was a really an important part of your daily routine and weather you felt that way too or not, it wasn't really up for discussion. He was the ringleader.
TheArnoldFans: You still look so young. How old were you were you landed the role in Conan the Destroyer?
Olivia d'Abo: I was thirteen but I was developed. I was having my fourteenth birthday party months into filming.
TheArnoldFans: What was your favorite location or set design from Conan?
Olivia d'Abo: My favorite set design was the amazing shadizar which became princess Jehnna's kingdom when I became queen. It was a very expensive set built on the Churrobusko studios where they shot Dune as well. It really looked like a palace and was ornately designed like a proper ancient castle. The main set was in the center of the palace where Toth Amon came to life when it's horn was pulled out and all hell broke loose! However, that being said, the ice castle was pretty spectacular with the Venetian gondola and canals that ran under the palace and all the amazing mirrors that were surrounding me as I was sleeping. On the bed and when Conan had to crash open the right one to get to the entry way to save me....all these sets were built on or sound stage and were magnificent.
TheArnoldFans: As far as you know, were Conan the Destroyer toys ever discussed? Did you ever see any prototypes?
Olivia d'Abo: I don't know. You know, that's a good question. I had heard at one stage there had been talk, and now that the film is considered a classic and it's been over 20 years. I did a DVD. I narrated the DVD where I talk abut each scene and they specifically went through the film with me. They put me in a booth about what was going on in certain scenes. Primarily the scenes I was in but they could have had other actors come in too.
TheArnoldFans: When did this happen?
Olivia d'Abo: This was about 2 years ago.
TheArnoldFans: You had several great costumes in The Destroyer, did you manage to keep any outfits, props or jewelry?
Olivia d'Abo: In terms of costumes, I don't think I was allowed to because the outfits were very specific and done by Italian wardrobe people. Much of the whole crew and surrounding participants were around building the sets, creating the swords, and it was such a high-budget movie for that time with Dino de Laurentiis and Rafael, the producer, they were just pretty protective of keeping everything. In most cases, you don't always get to keep things in case there is a reshoot. So they keep things sort of under lock and key.
TheArnoldFans: What was it like working with Wilt Chamberlain?
Olivia d'Abo: Positively. He was extremely tall. They couldn't find a horse big enough so they had to fly one in from Spain. He was just delightful. I mean, I didn't actually know how famous he was when I worked with him because i didn't watch a lot of basketball. But he was funny, he was charismatic and he was very protective of me, like his character.
TheArnoldFans: Andrea the Giant played the Dagoth creature at the end of the film. Did you get to meet Andre?
Olivia d'Abo: Really, I did not know that. He played the monster? Because as far as I knew, I thought that was the Italian monster maker who made E.T. He was a special effects guy. It was some thing that they constructed and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on it. He had a crew of about twenty Italian special effects guys. I don't know what that monster was made out of but as far as I knew, it was a machine. I didn't know it was an actual human being.
TheArnoldFans: You play Luminara Unduli in The Clone Wars animated series. How did you get that role?
Olivia: Yes, they called me up and asked me if I wanted to do a couple of shows which then turned out to be a reoccurring role. There's the main character in it, Ahsoka and I was going to be her apprentice and, well, that's what happened with Law and Order, a lot of these things you do one or two episodes and it catches on and it's memorable and popular and they end up creating a more in-depth story line. But with The Clone Wars, what ended up happening with Lumnari is it was set up with me being Ahsoka 's apprentice and a Jedi but they liked the contrast between teacher and student and that she could kind of guide her and educate her on the force.
TheArnoldFans: What do you think of the Star Wars universe and it's fans? Have you met a big following of Star Wars fans?
Olivia d'Abo: They ask very in-depth questions that I wish I could answer all of them. But like with Star Trek fans too... I mean, I'm not a Trekkie, but I played the only female Q in The Next Generation. I played Amanda Rogers. I've been reciting an encyclopedia recently, It's really cool, it's like a dictionary of Star Trek. With science fiction, Star Trek and Star Wars, there's a lot of layers to it and each individual film has a lot of history. The characters, I find in science fiction, is that usually there's a lot of layers to them.
TheArnoldFans: What's your weapon of choice: Conan's sword or a lightsaber?
Olivia d'Abo: Conan's sword for certain. It was heavy but worth trying to pick up and swing. I was coached by Arnold and Vic Armstrong the stunt man on the movie how to defend myself if I ever got into trouble .
In the Wonder Years, Olivia D'abo played an Arnold (Karen Arnold) and in Conan the Destroyer, she starred with Arnold.
TheArnoldFans: I loved The Wonder Years. It was my mom's and my favorite show from 1988-1993. The series finales for LOST and The Sopranos were not good but the series finale for The Wonder Years is still one of my favorites along with Six Feet Under. Do you have a top favorite series finale?
Olivia d'Abo: Oh my gosh, I'm trying to think... Six Feet Under, yes, that was. Definitely. I just can't really think of some right now that I loved the ending of or that I've seen the ending because I don't watch as much TV as I'd like to. I'm more of a movie buff.
TAFs: Did you like the way The Wonder Years ended? (Spoiler of the show is below).
Olivia d'Abo: YES! Well, no, actually I was a little disappointed that Jack died. I was very sad. I would have liked it to have a little bit more of an optimistic ending, It was melancholic. Because in my opinion, the show was more like a dramedy than a comedy. And I know personally I got to do a lot more drama with Karen's character that I got to play. She was this teenage angst person, you know, she was growing up, she was in conflict with a lot of stuff and her hormones were going crazy , she was a hippie, she was stubborn and opinionated and sort of thick-headed and stuff.
TheArnoldFans: How old were you when you played Karen Arnold?
Olivia d'Abo: Uh, seventeen.
TheArnoldFans: I'm sure working on Conan the Destroyer was a lot of fun but what was the worst thing about the experience if you had to pick on thing?
Olivia d'Abo: The worst experience? Umm, that's a hard one because it was such an amazing time for me and everyone was so kind. There was nobody my age and so I was a bit cut off from other kids and was around all adults which was a bit isolating at times. I absolutely loved the the exterior locations were they chose for us to shoot at however, one of them was a Volcano outside of Mexico City and it took us nine hours to get there in a car. I did in fact get quite carsick . But I can't complain, my mum and I had a driver to take us to all these tremendous places.
TheArnoldFans: What are your top three Arnold movies?
Olivia d'Abo: The Terminator, I like Commando and Twins.
TheArnoldFans: What was it like kissing Arnold Schwarzenegger?
Enough talk! This response and others shall be told soon. Before my time was up, Olivia signed my Conan sword. One side of my Conan Atlantean sword has signatures from the Conan 1 cast and the reverse side has the stars of Conan 2. It was a thrill to have Olivia sign and hold my sword! CROM!
Olivia d'Abo will be making a big appearance at October's Chiller Theater. Click HERE for dates and details!
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Randy Jennings
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