[IMG:L]She may able to stop herself from spilling spoilers, but Kristen Bell just can’t keep a secret.
That’s because the appealingly unpretentious blonde actress, late of Veronica Mars and recently the voice of the never-seen Gossip Girl, is what your mom probably called “a talker,” someone with a quickly spinning mind and lots and lots of words at her disposal. And while she was intensely cautious about revealing too much about Elle, the mysterious new character she plays on NBC’s megahit Heroes for fear of ruining the surprises in store on the show.
(Indeed, because it was probably killing Kristen, an avowed fangirl of the show herself, to not to talk about Elle, Heroes creator and executive producer Tim Kring stepped up to relieve her anxiety with everything you need to know about Elle before her debut on Oct. 22 episode: “We are tying this character’s side to this company that we have talked about for the last year on the show that Claire’s father was involved with,” he said. “Elle is actually raised within the company, and it’s in some ways a cautionary tale of what would happen to any of our characters had they lived with their powers their whole life the way Elle had.”)
But a respect for the show’s secrecy doesn’t mean the new addition doesn’t have deliriously loose lips on just about every other topic Hollywood.com threw at her. Here, then, are 10 Deep, Dark Secrets about Kristen Bell.
Deep Dark Secret #1: A villain never thinks they’re a villain—they’re the hero of the their own story.
“Elle’s a little messed up in the head, which makes her really manipulative and always out to get what she wants. She doesn’t have many boundaries, which I think is the really interesting part of playing this character on this particular show. The whole first season has been about these fairly good-natured people in trying to embrace these confusing abilities and being very conflicted as to how they should be using them. Elle is not that way at all. She very much enjoys her power and enjoys the emotional power it gives her over other people. She’s a very fierce and intense personality. When she wants something, she wants it and she wants it now, which is good when you’re working with the good guys–and really bad when you’re working with the bad guys. That’s what she’ll kind of ping-pong between. She has an inability to decipher between right and wrong. That’s what makes her so interesting. She always thinks what she’s doing is right. But it’s because she was raised by the company–and not by a normal family–that you’ll sympathize with her. I certainly hope you’ll sympathize with her in trying to understand how her childhood really messed her up.”
Deep, Dark Secret #2: She made Heroes hire her–with the power of positive thinking.
“I was a huge fan of the show. I watched it from its premiere episode. And I joked with the writers that Heroes was the water cooler conversation that Veronica Mars on set. And they had said that in many individual writer circles, Veronica Mars is the water cooler conversation now when they were working at Heroes. I certainly put feelers out there during Comic-Con and let them know what a fan I was of the show with the secret hopes that one day I could be a part of it. And then it was ultimate flattery when they came and said we might have something for you to do.”
[IMG:R]Deep, Dark Secret #3: It never hurts to have a friend on the inside.
“I have known Hayden [Panettiere] since she was 8. We met in New York. We had the same agent. I was substantially older than she was, but I was just starting college and met her. And she came to some plays that I did in New York. And she was a lovely little girl, and even then you could tell that there was something so alarmingly special about who she was and what she was going to be able to accomplish as a performer. Even at 8, you could tell. And I’ve sort of kept up a relationship with her just socially. And having joined the cast now–it’s been really nice because I think really good girlfriends are so rare to find in L.A. And she’s a really cool, honest girl. And so we’ve sort of become closer because of the show. And we always used to joke about trying to play sisters or friends in a project. And so, you know, we might not be either of those in this show, but it’s still fun to get to work together.”
Deep, Dark Secret #4: Even the popular kids get nervous on the first day at a new school.
“There was anxiety and nerves certainly, but nothing about it has been hard. They are some of the nicest people I’ve really ever worked with. And having had social relationships with a few of them, I’ve sort of heard through the grapevine what a great job it was, not just an excellent show, but actually really fun to be a part of and an ensemble that really supports each other. To find that many good people in one setting is really hard to find. But clearly that speaks to what comes down through the grapevine, like starting with Tim. Every time you join a different job or a different show, I feel like it kind of feels like you’re changing schools like when you’re in high school. It’s that kind of anxiety, like ‘Is everyone going to like me? Is this going to be fun? Am I going to do well?’ And the warmth that I was greeted with, it felt like I was starting a school that all my friends already went to.”
Deep, Dark Secret #5: A little healthy obsession is okay with her.
“The thing about cult shows for me is that I would rather be on a show that people are wildly obsessed with than on a show that people just turn on because it’s on primetime television. As a performer and as a creator of a TV show, you want people to invest in your project. You want people to love it, not just like it. And as far as the coolest fans ever, which are some of the ones that I’ve run into, it can get really intense–I’m not going to lie. The one thing that is different about those kind of fans because they are so invested more times than not when they see you, there’s much more tears coming and they don’t really know what to do with themselves because it’s not just like ‘Oh, that’s the person I watch on the television show.’ It’s like ‘That’s the person I follow and am deeply invested in.’ And there’s a lot of shaking and sweating palms and tears. But it’s precious.”
[IMG:L]Deep, Dark Secret #6: Sylar’s secretly a sweetheart.
“I would like to most interact with–and this is for two different reasons, for on- and off-camera reasons–with Zachary Quinto. Because Zachary Quinto has been a good friend of mine for almost 10 years now. And I’ve always wanted to work with him, and besides the fact that he’s pretty much the coolest thing because he’s so unpredictable and so downright evil. And it’s almost hard for me to watch, because it’s the polar opposite of Zach’s personality because he’s just the kindest, gentlest, most giving person. I would love to see him and Elle face off one day. I think that that would be unbelievable.”
Deep, Dark Secret #7: She may be the only actress in Hollywood who’s NOT shaving years off her age.
“I have always played about 10 years younger than I am, which is a major blessing, just even in real life. My family’s very petite and I have a young-looking face and good genes, I guess. I’m thankful to my parents. That being said, as an actor there are certain things that I’m going through in my own life in my late 20s that I’m experiencing, and that’s what you draw upon in your acting. And so I hope that I’ll be accepted as playing closer to my age. I know that I still look a lot younger. But I’m thankful to sort of be out of teenageville a little bit. Because I don’t dislike it at all. I’ve just had my fill of it. I’ve had a lot of it.”
Deep, Dark Secret #8: Star Wars and Judd Apatow comedies are all right with her.
“Two of the best experiences over the last few years of my life: Fanboys, because it was a lot of my friends were involved in it. And it really introduced me to the world of Fanboys, which I now love and respect so much. It was a bunch of Star Wars obsessed guys and I was the only girl in the movie and we had so much fun, I can’t wait for it to come out. And plus we get to work with like a lot of people who cameoed from Star Wars like Billy Dee Williams. So it was a great experience. And then certainly to be a part of Forgetting Sarah Marshall, when Judd Apatow tells me that this point in his career is kind of a dream come true. And now I’m really happy to call those people my friends. And I hope to be one of the improv artists they draw upon in the future that can be a part of their ensemble.”
[IMG:R]Deep, Dark Secret #9: She’s fully embraced geek chic.
“Comic-Con would be a geeky, guilty pleasure. I think the geekiest of all my pleasures at Comic-Con is I’d definitely try to go around and get pictures with every single person who dresses up, because the people come in full costume. They just fascinate me, absolutely fascinate me. And what’s even more fascinating is that if I were to come in costume like dressed as a Storm Trooper, I would kind of expect the fact that people are going to want pictures of me. And most of the time when I ask them for pictures they’re like so “Oh, all right, just make it quick,” like it’s like so frustrating for them. And it’s so fascinating to me because I’m like “Well, you’re the one that came in costume, so don’t get angry at me.” Certainly having done Fanboys, anything Star Wars is now sort of wonderful and fascinating to me and then the and the fact that I’m sort of still learning. And I have like all my friends are Fanboys. Now I’m sort of coming into my own as a fangirl and seeking things out. The New Beverly in Los Angeles had a double feature the other night of Tron and The Last Starfighter. So I was like “I kind of need to see that at least just once in my life,” because that seemed like an awesome double feature, you know?”
Deep, Dark Secret #10: Two Kristens are better than one—and three would be even better.
“The one power I would like to come up with–because that’s the question that the cast, I think, gets most often, ‘What would your super hero power be?’–I thought long and hard about that. And I think mine would be multiplicity. Because I think it would be great to be able to multiply myself and cook myself dinner. I’d just be like “Hey, clean that up,” you know? Because I always feel like if there were more of me, I could get so much more done. I’d be so much more happier.”
