Zoë Bell on Fighting Her Way Through Hollywood

“To actually do an action film without Zoë Bell is foolhardy,” director Quentin Tarantino says, but according to Denver news site Westword, based on the current slate on the Waiheke Island-born stunt double turned actor’s resume, doing any film without her is a questionable choice.

The sparking star was recently at the Denver Film Festival, three years after receiving their Rising Star Award in 2012, with a juicy role in the new film Camino.

Bell got her start in 1995 as Lucy Lawless’ stunt double on Xena: Warrior Princess, when she was just 17, and later doubled for Uma Thurman in 2003’s Kill Bill Vol. I and II, where Tarantino saw not just a great stunt performer but a charismatic soul ready to bust through into acting territory.

In Camino, Bell plays Avery, a photojournalist who gets hired to tag along with a group of gun-toting missionaries in the jungles of Columbia documenting their journey. But when her camera captures something she shouldn’t, she finds herself in the crosshairs of their leader who sets his crew loose to find and silence her.

Bell worked with Tarentino again recently on The Hateful Eight, her “dream job” she says.

“I spent a lot of time training before we were shooting, I was learning to drive a six horse coach and one of my favourite things to do is get paid to learn new skills.”

Bell, 37, can also be seen in the music video of Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds’ 2012 single “Dream On”.

Original article by Keith Garcia, Westword, November 12, 2015.

Photo by XLrator Media.