Zoe Bell
Zoe Bell kicked off her career as a stunt performer but in the last few years she has been taking on more and more acting roles.
She balances acting and stunt work in new movie Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters and we caught up with her to chat about it.
- Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters is just about to be released on DVD here in the UK where you take on the role of Tall Witch as well as doing some stunt work so how did you get involved with the movie?
Basically one of the producers is a friend of mine, I met him on the set of Death Proof and we became friends.
He has always talked about wanting to put me in a movie and I was home in New Zealand for Christmas one year and I just got a phone call saying ‘I have a role, it’s not a massive role, but it’s action packed and I think that you will be perfect for it. Would you be interested?’ And I just said ‘absolutely’.
My friend Ben Cooke, who was a stunt guy in Xena back in the day, was co-ordinating on Hansel & Gretel and so it was a chance to work with him as well and hang out.
- You did a balancing act in this movie playing one of the witches as well as doing some stunt work so how did you find that?
I really like doing both and I don’t find it a problem. As long as when I’m an actor on set I can concentrate on just that and I am not having to both at the same time; I like to be able to give each my full concentration when I am doing them.
So when I was in the Tall Witch costume then I was Tall Witch but if they needed me for something else they would call me in on a different day and I would do that. It is the same when I am doubling for someone else when I am in that costume I am that character.
So it’s fine and it is all part of the same game to me. The acting thing I do require a little more mental space. I can double for four different people in a day and I can switch easily between the four of them and I am sure that I could it if I was acting as well.
- But you have been making the move into acting so is acting where you always wanted to be? And how have you found that transition?
It wasn’t always something that I wanted and it wasn’t something that I was chasing it before Quentin Tarantino created a role for me. It really wasn’t until Quentin put me in Death proof that I considered it to be a route that I wanted to travel down.
The transition has been really interesting. For me the most difficult part for me has been getting my head around being an actor - which I know sounds really weird.
Before I never needed to cry on set of lose my temper but now as an actor it’s the opposite as it is now my job to emote in front of people. It has now become my job to be emotionally vulnerable with a camera in front of my face - so it is psychologically more challenging for me more than anything else.
The other part of that has been difficult is having the industry view me as… it’s not about whether or not I am qualified as an actor but it is just about them viewing me as an actor as opposed to a stunt person who does dialogue.
- Hansel & Gretel has come great action set pieces but there is also some broomstick work so how do you go about choreographing a sequence like that?
It is challenging because it is all going to be on green screen or wires or both. So it is challenging but it is also freeing.
A lot of comes down to making it look like you are actually on the broom and so it is all about where you put your body and where you put your weight so it doesn’t look like you are on wires or you are floating.
If it looks like you don’t have great balance on the broom audiences can tell so it is all about making sure that it looks right and making sure that you are comfortable.
- The role of Tall Witch saw you have to wear prosthetics so how did you find that experience?
I have done a lot of prosthetics throughout my career so I am use to it. I am happy to do it as I will do whatever is required for the job but I do find it quite challenging.
When they call ‘action’ I usually forget about everything and I just do whatever I need to do to make a shot work but it is the down time between shots that is tough.
- The movie is a lot of fun to watch so how much fun was it to be a part of it?
It was so much fun. I was working with friends, which was amazing and those who I didn’t know I quickly became friends with. We were working in Berlin and it is an awesome city; I have worked there before so I knew the places that I liked to go for my Bratwurst and by beer.
Working with Jeremy (Renner) and Gemma (Arterton) was great because they are super professional and super talented.
It was a really fun project to work on - a lot of the things that I work on end up being fun - as it was full of dedicated people and there were lots of crazy looking witches rolling around (laughs).
- You are also set to lead the cast in Raze so can you tell me a little bit about that?
Raze is a horror/action film and they asked me to get involved when it was just in the developmental stage - they also brought be on board as one of the producers and that is really what drew me to it.
The movie follows fifty women who have been kidnapped and held against their will where they are forced to fight to the death.
The people who have taken these women have eyes on their families and if they don’t fight they will kill their loved ones and if they lose they will kill their loved ones.
The story is basically about the lead character Sabrina, who I play, and she is fighting for is the daughter that she gave up for adoption when she was a teenager and never met.
So there is an underlying story of coming to terms with being a mother as well as being the bloody and gory fights as well (laughs).
- Finally what is next for you?
At the moment it is still very much Raze as we are in the process of selling it and getting it distributed and we are hoping to get it out into theatres some time this year. Then I am staring work on the next project that I want to produce.
But there is also a couple of acting gigs that are in the pipeline - but nothing is definite yet. I am also set to go and do a week on Freshwater, which is a friend’s low budget movie that he is producing, so that should be fun.
Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters is released on DVD & Blu-Ray 24th June.