An interview with Zoë Bell

An interview with Zoë Bell

 

We here at the Sword Experience were able to convince the highly prolific and sought-after stuntwoman Zoë Bell to take some time and chat with us via phone call. In the following interview, we discussed her methods preparing for sword and fight choreography, her recent viral hit #BossBitchFightChallenge, and some of the different phrases that Kiwi’s have compared to Americans.

Sword Experience (SXP): So, let’s start with your career. You got your first big gig as a stuntwoman with Xena: Warrior Princess, and quickly made a name for yourself. You’ve starred in Quentin Tarantino movies and were Uma Thurman’s double as The Bride, and you most recently doubled for Cate Blanchet as Hela in Thor: Ragnarok. So, my first question for you today is, what actions do you take to prepare for fight scenes and sword fight choreography?

Zoë Bell (ZB): As a performer or a coordinator?

SXP: Both

ZB: Well, it sort of depends on the project for both. It depends on your resources, AKA financial results and having the time and players. It’s one thing if you’ve got a fight between four people and you’ve got four doubles and you’ve got a couple of weeks to work on it, and you can’t afford to have all the doubles to work with. Plus, the fight choreographer and maybe a regular or performer if you will and, you know, a couple of other regulars, and what have you. The process becomes quite difficult. Ideally, you’d have enough resources and time to choreograph the fight and get it ok’d by the director. Then train with the actors and the doubles so that… A) That they can complete the fight and choreography, and B) Have enough of the groundwork so that if things change on the day or leading up to the day, that the scope isn’t so narrow that they’re presented with changes and can’t adapt. So, you want to train actors and doubles, so that if I’m the coordinator or the double, you want your actors and your doubles to sort of have the foundation of footwork, stances, the specifics of the character or their style. So, on the day, if things shift around, we have some fluidity to it and we can maneuver around. Like, if the script changes, or character arcs shift, or if the story line changes, the choreography needs to be able to support it from a different angle. You want your players, your performers, to have enough of an arsenal that they can roll with the punches, excuse the pun. (laughs).

 

 

SXP: My next question, because we have a lot of Musketeers and fans that have either been doing or are interested in starting sword or fight choreography, as a stuntwoman you’ve probably had your fair share of accidents and injuries. So, what I’d like to ask you is what steps do you take, personally, to prevent injuries, or the steps that you take when you’re actually injured?

ZB: So, I guess that kinda folds into the last answer, as well as… A) Working with choreography, but you also want to train your actors or performers, this goes for me as well as a performer or me as a coordinator training actors or doubles, you want an element of fitness and flexibility and strength that they should have as a safety guard. You know, eighty percent of accidents, like small accidents, are avoidable if your joints are more flexible. If your structure has more strength in it, and if you are fit. That’s just sort of the nature of the game.

You know, you don’t always have time to do that. As a performer myself, I should maintain that at all times in case I end up getting a job that requires that, and I’d expect that of my stunt players in particular. Also, in terms of avoiding any accidents, a huge part of it is…. It’s kind of a tricky one to speak about, because the stunt world tends to still have a little bit of a stigma that stunt people don’t complain. You know, like the stunt people, we just make it work and get it done sort of thing. But for me, personally, I want to work with coordinators that trust me to speak up. I’m only gonna speak up if I feel like I need to. Otherwise, I’m gonna shut up and get the job done. But I would expect the same back as a coordinator. I want to hire players and performers that I trust to either just get the work done and or if there is a problem, like something is not sitting right. Or their instincts are kinda perking up, I want to hear it. I want you to communicate with me. A huge part of that is being able to communicate and understanding your own body and your own limits, and your skill set.

There have been times where I’ve said yes to jobs to do a gig that I’ve never done before, but I know, I trust that my body can do that and I know my limits. There are other times that I’ve said to them, “if I’ve got a week or two to go learn that, or to train it, or to rehearse it, then yes.” And there have been times that I’ve had to say, “You know what? There’s someone better at that then I am.” You know? And if you don’t want to hand the job over to someone else, go get good at it before you turn up. You can say, “Yes.” Just make sure when you turn up on set that it’s not a lie.

 

 

SXP: I’ve noticed that you’ve been very active on social media, and you just recently went viral with your #BossBitchFightChallenge. What was your thought process in getting this project started? What made you want to do this, and how do you feel about the response you’ve been getting?

ZB: Well, the fight challenge started before me. There’s a stunt guy named Aaron Toney, who I think it originated with him. The first video that I actually saw was one that was by the CUC fight challenge. It’s a fight stunt school in France. But, basically, I watched that and I was like, “What a dope idea!” That is so cool and such a dynamic way to be in the company of others when we’re in social isolation. I just thought, “There’s not very many girls in the one that I saw. I know so many badass girls, maybe I should just make an all-female one and see how it goes.” And the response was just so overwhelmingly… um… not just positive, but excited. Like everyone was just like, “(gasps) Yeah! Let’s do this!” You know? We were like little kids getting to play. And it kinda blossomed into its own thing where over the space of the week we made it, we had other… like I sort of had a core group of stuntwomen that I had reached out to.

And then other people started coming aboard, and we kinda had other actors coming aboard. Even to the point where like the day before we posted the video, we had newcomers. So, it was quite fluid and fortunately we were… I don’t know! We were just in the mindset that this thing is just cool and has a life of its own and I’m gonna do what I need to do to facilitate that and give it room to breathe. And make sure we can pull it together, and at some point, we had to lock it down and say, “We can’t accept anyone…” I mean depending on who it was, I’m sure. But there was definitely like, you know, when Drew was like, “Can I fight?” I was like, “Uh yes. We will make room for that.” But there was a point where we were like, “We can’t keep bringing more clips in.”

SXP: And just to clarify, Drew is Drew Barrymore, correct?

ZB: Right. And then there was Scarlett (Johansen) who came aboard, but Heidi Moneymaker doubles her a lot. So, she was like, “I can reach out to Scarlett.” And I was like, “Do it.” You know the whole thing was like, if these women want to come onboard, go. It’s gonna be fun and awesome regardless of who else comes onboard. I don’t know. It’s just sort of like the glass was already half full and just kept getting fuller, you know?

 

 

SXP: Overflowing, right?

ZB: Yeah to a point, almost. Yeah.

SXP: Well obviously we’re finding ourselves in a time that is just unprecedented. So, your career requires physical touch. It’s a big part of stunt work.

ZB: Except for the Fight Challenge. (Laughs)

SXP: (Laughs) Except for that. Yes. I just wanted to ask what your thoughts were on how the stunt industry will move forward after an event like this.

ZB: Well, I mean it’s an interesting question, because there’s sort of no foundational absolutes to base any theory on at this point, you know? And yes, obviously, the stunt department, we have physical interactions as a major component of what we do, but let’s be honest. Making films, like, a crew together, it’s gonna be difficult to get a crew to shoot a movie and not be in physical contact with each other.

SXP: Very true.

ZB: You know the whole… I don’t know. It’s a big picture to imagine. If we were to find a way to shoot movies where crew members maintained whatever the mandated distance is, and we all wore masks, and we got blood tests and we did whatever all those precautions would be….

You know it’s like, what are you going to do for a sex scene? Or what are you gonna do for a fight scene? It’s the same in the sense that you would just have to rewrite it, or rechoreograph it. Maybe it’s in how you shoot it. Obviously, there are ways… there are imaginative ways to get around these issues. And to be honest, I feel like…. This is an extreme situation, obviously…. But, a huge part of filmmaking, in my experience, is when you come up against blocks, or things that prevent you from shooting or completing something in the way that you planned, or rehearsed, or would normally lean on, sometimes that’s when the magic comes in. Where ideas come out. Like with the fight challenge. I didn’t come up with the idea, but when I saw it, I was inspired by it, because it’s such a cool idea. So, then things shift. And now there’s these fight challenges going on all around the world. Fire’s starting everywhere. Who knows what comes from that? Maybe that becomes a new flavor of action.

So, I don’t know. I’m definitely pondering all these ideas. Less from a how are we gonna make it work and more from a what else can we do in this world right now. What are the fun things we can explore? Now is kind of the time to be experimenting, really. Who knows?! Maybe it shifts the way we tell stories. I don’t know. These are the sort of things that shift the foundations. Even if it feels like a subtle shift at first, they may be changes that are kinda permanent, you know?

SXP: Absolutely.

ZB: At least until the next shockwave happens. You know, you can look at different parts of history, and all the Great Depressions, and these massive things that have affected the industry worldwide in any way, shape, or form. Styles and flavors come out of things like that. So, I’m kinda curious to see what comes out of all of this crazy.

SXP: Me too. Me too. I’ve been talking to a lot of actors lately, and I was wondering what you think… Because clearly the entertainment industry has taken this very seriously. And when things start getting back to some sense of normalcy, how do you think producers are going to go about choosing the people they work with?

ZB: Um, honestly, I don’t even know how producers made those decisions before Coronavirus. Um… You know, I don’t know the answer to that. I think that’ll be a little bit of the proof is in the pudding, you know? There are people that are willing to take the risks. Some producers might be like, “Great! That means we can get started and I like someone who’s a bit ballsy,” or whatever. And then there might be some producers that are like, not interested or willing to take those risks.

Places are all starting to open up in different places around the world, and I think fortunately, or unfortunately, they will be the litmus of how things continue. You know, if Atlanta gets another flair up, and they end up having to shut down for a second time, it could be crippling! And there will be other states that will take lead from that and be like, “we’re not doing this.” I mean, I don’t know. It’s still so early to make calls around those kinds of things. But, honestly, if I’m in the role of producer, I wanna look at people who are cautious. Cautious in a way that they are aware that, you know, money is at stake. And it’s not just money, but if there’s a risk to the finances, there’s a risk to the project, there’s a risk to the art. At some point, those things all have to be considered.

SXP: Absolutely. Alright, so now to get off such a depressing topic…

ZB: It’s not depressing, there’s room for new growth and sh*t in times like this. So, it doesn’t have to be all depressing.

SXP: Exactly. You’re one hundred percent right about that. However, I just wanted to ask you something fun here at the end. For those that don’t know, you’re from New Zealand, and you’ve been living in the states on and off for a while now.

ZB: Pretty much on for twenty years now.

SXP: So, the first time I (the SXP editor in chief) ever met you was on the set for the short film No Touching, which is a very appropriate title for right now, right?

ZB: Yeah. Totally. (laughs)

SXP: One of my fondest memories of that experience was when you asked me for a cooler, but you referred to it as a chilly bin.

ZB: (laughs) Yeah.

SXP: I was very taken aback by that, because I did not know what you were referring to…

ZB: (laughs)

SXP: But after we figured it out together, I thought that was probably the funniest thing I’d ever heard, because, like of course you can call it a chilly bin. Because that’s what it is, you know?

ZB: Yeah! It’s a bin to keep things chilly! (laughs)

SXP: Yeah! So, my question to you is, what phrases do you have in New Zealand that you see differ from phrases here in the States? Is there anything that really sticks out in your mind?

ZB: I have to ask my boyfriend these things, because I use them or I don’t use them and I don’t remember where they’re from anymore, but the most obvious one is we say “rubbish bin” and you guys say “trash can.” Some New Zealand phrases that I use that you just go “What?” Munted.

SXP: Munted?

ZB: Munted is a New Zealand word for… I guess the equivalent for it would be “F***ed up?” Excuse my language. If you come off your motorbike in gravel, you’re gonna get munted. If you drink too much whiskey on an empty stomach, you’re gonna get munted. So, any time you could probably say f***ed up, you could probably say munted. We also will call someone a munter. (Laughs). And I don’t know quite the definition of munter is, because it’s not f***ed up, it’s more like um…

SXP: Like Motherf***er?

ZB: No, it’s not like, “You a**hole,” it’s more like you… Ugh, what would be the equivalent? Like someone who’s willing to get f***ed up. Like if someone is a munter, like, “oh yeah, that guys a total munter,” he will go to a party and just get s***faced and pick a fight with whoever owns the house or that person’s mum.

SXP: So, like maybe a party monster?

ZB: Yeah?… Yeah. Or someone who’s like really into heavy anything can be a bit of a munter. Like if you willingly munt yourself, or get yourself munted, you’re a munter. (laughs) I really don’t think I’ve ever had to describe that before. It’s kinda fun.

SXP: Wonderful. Well, thank you for your time, Zoë. Stay safe.