My how times change. The first time I met Zoe Bell she was a highly sought-after but behind-the-scenes Kiwi stuntwoman struggling to get a US work visa. It was some years ago in the garden of the swanky Four Seasons hotel in Beverly Hills, where she looked out of place in ripped jeans, a T-shirt, greenstone pendant and thick accent.
The next time was in 2007 at the Cannes Film Festival, after Quentin Tarantino cast her as one of his leading ladies in Death Proof. This time she was dressed in a designer dress and jewels, but still looked equally uncomfortable.
Fast forward two years and Bell is now a success story oozing star power, confidence, and the kind of "cool" money can't buy when I meet her in Berlin, where she is again working with Tarantino on his new, much-hyped, badly spelled German war film, Inglourious Basterds.
This time, her work for Tarantino is behind the camera, "doubling" for the two leading ladies, Diane Kruger (Troy) and Melanie Laurent. But Bell says working on this film is not as much about her talent as a stuntwoman but her friendship with Tarantino. "Me doubling these girls is not same as me doubling Uma [Thurman] in Kill Bill. I'm here because we are like family."
Bell says her platonic relationship with Tarantino has changed her life. "There is definitely a working relationship and I don't see any reason for it to not continue, we really like being around each other." Bell reveals there's also a good chance she will be in front of the camera for him again.
Bell's transition from Xena: Warrior Princess stunt double to leading lady came when an impressed Tarantino cast her in Death Proof playing a Kiwi stuntwoman named Zoe, no real acting required. The film wasn't the box office bonanza Bell or Tarantino had hoped for, but her charisma, not to mention a bravura 18-minute death-defying sequence on the hood of a speeding car, caught the attention of Hollywood.
She was approached by a production company keen to work with her. "The Untitled Zoe Bell Project" is still in development and will see her playing an "Indiana Jones-type" character. She also landed a part in Drew Barrymore's directorial debut, a roller derby film called Whip It!, due out this year. The film also stars Barrymore, Juno's Ellen Page, and Juliette Lewis who, Bell says, treated her just like any other actor. "They expect I can do my job as an actor and that I used to be a stuntwoman." She adds, however, that they expected her to pick up roller-skating skills quicker than the rest of them.
Accepting her newer, high-profile position has been a rite of passage for Bell, who for a long time resisted the lure of Hollywood. "The past two years have been me grappling with the fact that I want to be an actor. The words still stick in my throat a little bit," Bell admits. It's an adjustment she'll need to get used to with the release late last week of her latest project, Angel of Death. It's a big-budget action series for Sony's website (www.crackle.com), and sees Bell in the lead role as Eve, an assassin.
"With this one I am carrying the project, so there is a lot more pressure. I went to acting classes, got coaching, broke down the script," Bell says.
She quickly realised that she needed to take her burgeoning new career seriously. "It's easy for me to half-ass things, but if you are the lead and you half-ass it, you look like a dick."
In the highly regulated world of Hollywood, Bell was required by law to have her own stunt double for the series. But, I ask, did she let them do any stunts?
"Not one," Bell says with a laugh. "I fought having a stunt double, I didn't even want one on the books because it's part of my appeal, that I am now an actor who can do her own stunts."
Angel of Death is Bell's first real acting test. "The feedback has been good. I've got no reason to be nervous, but I am," she admits. "With Death Proof, if I sucked I could have blamed Quentin. Now I can't."
And in a twist which has Xena fans all over the world salivating, fellow Kiwi Lucy Lawless makes a cameo in the series. "With Xena, I was doubling her so we never had a chance to act together, so to be in a scene with her is just incredible." The reunion gets even weirder, as at one point Lawless' character dresses to look the same as Bell's. "It's a cute twist," Bell jokes. She is still hoping to continue working as a stuntwoman, but for now her full focus is on building her acting career. "It's a risky life decision to want to be an actor and try to stay sane and happy with your life."
Not stunting her growth
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