The Xena and Tarantino stuntwoman is making a new career for herself as action film leading lady.
Zoe Bell has been a part of the television and film industry for a long time.
She is even featured in a 2004 documentary,Double Dare, about life as a Hollywood stuntwoman.
More recently, Bell has made the transition into leading lady.
Bell calls on her considerable skills as both a stuntwoman and an actress in the film.
Can you talk about what made you want to play this role and be a part of this project?
Zoe Bell: Yeah, the role was actually originally written as a man.
And Dan [Noah, the writer] was like, What if it was Zoe?
And they were like, Yeah, and they rang me up, and I was like, Yeah.
Everyone should ask those questions, every time they have a male lead movie.
Yeah, it seems that way.
I mean it feels like it might be starting to shift a little bit.
She just struck me as an interesting, intelligent, challenging character.
When we were telling this story, the thought of being this woman, I was instantly in.
I asked very few questions.
And it helped that Ive known Dan a long time.
Ive worked with Josh before.
So, I knew I was in a safe place there.
Avery is hardly ever without her camera in the film.
Did you spend any time learning about photography and in particular war photography for the role?
I also had our amazing photographer Zoriah [Miller].
And he is incredible.
He is an amazing man.
And so he was on set with us for a while and was definitely my go-to consultant.
I just did it, like I was breathing.
Because we are a different creature, and we move around different things differently.
Was it difficult to get back into character after leaving to do another project?
You know, it was a little bit.
I got there eventually, obviously.
The jungle setting for the film is all-encompassing.
To be honest, I quite enjoyed it.
Its hard not to appreciate those moments.
Of course, we didnt get much time off …
They were useful to me.
I incorporated those into whatever Avery was going through.
Youve been on film and TV sets since you were a teenager, working alongside some pretty celebrated actors.
I would just watch because I was fascinated, you know?
There are times that Im drawing on what Ive seen someone else do without realizing thats what Im doing.
I think Im one of those actors who has come around the backside of something, you know?
I came in the backdoor without even realizing that thats what I was doing.
Im on the stage, but I didnt necessarily… Ive earned my right to be there.
You got your start in TV, but have done a lot of film work since.
In terms of both acting and stuntwork, do you have a preference between TV and film?
No, I love them both for their own… they are both very different, their own forms.
I love them both.
I enjoy the problem-solving thats happening.Right now, we dont have time to rehearse for hours.
So, I really appreciate both.
One of the things I really like about TV is the family, the maintaining of the family camaraderie.
Film has it, too, especially when youre on location.
Its like summer camp.
Youll get really close, really fast.
But, then youll have to say goodbye.
And, sometimes, youll see them again.
But I quite like the family-ness of a really caring TV thing.
Speaking of television, there is a Xena reboot in the works.
How do you feel about the fact that Xena will be back in some form?
It must be strange to think about.Do you have any interest in participating as either a stuntwoman or actress?
Again, nostalgically, I love the idea of revisiting that.
It would depend on who was involved, obviously, and where they wanted to go with it.
Id have to see what the product would be.
Youve got some pretty avid fans to deal with if you dont do it right, thats for sure.
Camino is out in theaters this weekend, and will be available on VOD starting March 8th.
