By Joe Puccio
There is certainly no dearth of examples of future celebrities, before achieving stardom, having the zealous desire to attain fame at an early age. From media mogul Oprah Winfrey, who has always felt her destiny was one of prominence, to pop powerhouse Lady Gaga, who told her father of her vision of becoming a rock star as a child, to storied sex symbol Marilyn Monroe, who knew her goal would become a reality by simply “dreaming the hardest,” Hollywood is no stranger to conceptualizing greatness.
Emma Bell, however, took it to another level. “I convinced my parents that it would be a good idea to let their 16-year-old daughter move to Manhattan to pursue her dream,” Bell, the onetime Flemington, New Jersey native, recounted, during a recent conversation with Generation X Wire. “At the time, there was a possibility of my dad’s job moving to New York City. It didn’t but I got accepted into the High School of Performing Arts on the Upper East Side. I positioned it to my mother and father that it would save us so much bus money and I’d be able to ‘do my thing.’ My parents, bless them, agreed.”
The prolific actress, who has starred in a plethora of television and film projects since graduating from the prestigious institution, including post-apocalyptic horror drama The Walking Dead, prime time soap opera Dallas, supernatural sequel Final Destination 5, and psychological chiller Frozen, is grateful for the freedom provided by her folks (her mother was a producer for 60 Minutes and her father was a writer/reporter for WWOR-TV) that allowed her to follow the goals that she was so passionate about for nearly her entire life. “When I was around seven, my mom was diagnosed with leukemia and not given a long time to live. She’s fine now and is a miracle but the diagnosis reignited her love of performing and singing. She never did it professionally, but it became part of the healing journey for her,” Bell shared. “It really left an impression on me, and I got bit by the bug too. We wound up doing an Off-Broadway cabaret show together when I was twelve where we sang standards and jazz classics at Don’t Tell Mama in the Theater District. Fast forward ten years and I began auditioning for things myself.”
Bell’s first high profile undertaking was via Frozen, the aforementioned survival thriller not to be confused with the vastly different Walt Disney-produced animated musical that arrived a few years later. The Adam Green-helmed motion picture, both a critic and public favorite, is still lauded today for its sheer intensity while employing a minimalist setup. Filmed at a ski resort in Utah, she calls it one of the best experiences of her life – despite the challenging conditions. “They brought in a snow machine, and I don’t think they even had to turn it on once,” she recalled. “We were hit with hail. We were hit by snowstorms. It was so cold that by day two or three, the wardrobe department made me a full body suit with foot and hand warmers, which barely made a difference.”
In addition to the extreme temperatures, the hazard of being high in the sky for multiple hours per day, on a legitimate mechanical ropeway system, was something that Bell, as well as co-stars Shawn Ashmore and Kevin Zegers, learned to contend with. “Its positioning was very specific so if any of us had to use the restroom – which was often in that weather – they’d have to move the chairlift all the way to the top of the mountain, turn around, and come all the way back down. We were never told we couldn’t pee, but they let us know that every time we had to, we’d lose about an hour and a half of filming time. We were all good sports, though. Shawn and Kevin would joke that it wasn’t a problem for them since they could just turn to the side,” she laughed. “But I don’t have the same equipment! If I looked uncomfortable up there, it’s because I was and we used it to our advantage. It was forced method acting.”
If there was one aspect of the making of Frozen that truly warmed, so to speak, Bell’s heart, it was the pack of real, non-CGI (Computer-Generated Imagery) wolves that were central to its plot, one of which technically being half wolf, half German Shepherd. “Because he wasn’t a full wolf, he was more trainable, and since wolves are pack animals, they follow the alpha. They all acted like giant puppies,” she clarified. “They were awesome.” While Bell enjoyed her time working with the beautiful creatures, she was initially the target of a good-natured prank at the hands of their trainers. “We were told that since wolves can smell food on people for up to four hours after they’ve eaten, not to eat anything for at least that long before shooting scenes with them. At one point, my character crawled through the snow and came face to face with one,” she explained. “One of the trainers threw a piece of meat near the alpha, which really freaked me out, knowing that it was fully trained and wouldn’t react. He started laughing when he saw how much fear was on my face. It was a little wolf trainer humor, I suppose.”
Ironically, Bell’s stint as Amy Harrison (sister of Andrea) on the first season of AMC’s influential zombie apocalypse series, The Walking Dead, was notable, behind the scenes, for a filming plight that was the opposite of Frozen’s – heat. Shot primarily during the summer in Atlanta, the set was beset with excruciatingly steamy conditions, combined with an infestation of insects. “Steven Yeun (Glenn Rhee) fainted from the extreme heat on his first day shooting. It was about 100 degrees,” she described. “Luckily, there were lots of trees around, where we would find shade whenever we could.”
While her memorable turn on the show came to a conclusion with her character’s death, a plot development she was well aware of when securing the role since the story – at least at that point in its tenure – mirrored the comic book collection, Bell often peppered showrunner Frank Darabont with suggestions for deviating from its predecessor to keep her alive. “I completely understood that Amy had to die in order for Andrea to evolve into who she became. But man, did I ever pitch different ideas for me to live to Frank,” she laughed. “As for my death scene, bugs were all over my body and my hair. The blood used was mostly sugar-based and since I got bit on my neck, which is where all of it was supposed to be gushing from, they started out there. Each time they yelled ‘cut,’ I got up and shook everything off me. I was a giant buffet.”
Although the multi-talented performer is still active in front of the camera, writing and directing are both current priorities. At the forefront is Realms: The Girl Who Would Be Mad, a young adult dark fantasy series, penned by Bell herself and interestingly, the project is neither a TV program nor a movie endeavor; it’s a radioplay, a theatrical audio show suitable for all ages, complete with narration, an array of characters, and original music. “I’m a big fantasy genre nerd. And since I love being creative and telling stories, the entire process has been so fulfilling for me,” she beamed. “It’s sort of a cross between Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter and hopefully it will be released within the next six months or so. I’m really excited to share it with everyone.”
Realms isn’t all that is keeping Bell busy these days. Between the Pines, a short that the married (her husband is actor Camron Robertson) mother of two wrote and directed in 2019, will soon be expanded into a feature length film. “It’s my heart and soul project and it was very much inspired by Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth, which I’ve always felt is the perfect adult fairy tale,” she opined. “Between the Pines has a lot of adult themes and like Pan’s, deals with grief and loss as well.”
If that isn’t enough, a fright flick named The 100 Candles Game: Dark Mirror is complete while Nice Trick, a romantic comedy, is also aiming for a 2027 launch. “Nice Trick is sort of based on my own experience as an aging actress,” she stated. “It’s a reflection of how the industry has become really small in many ways and what that means for the average working actor.”
With a fruitful career spanning over 20 years and a pair of young children presently being raised by Bell and Robertson, would a prospective journey into show business by her children be welcomed by Bell as it was by her own parental figures years ago?
“My mom never doubted my passion. She always allowed me to focus on where my interests took me. I never did drugs and I didn’t have a drop of alcohol until I was in my mid-twenties. So, I think that worked to my benefit in my own situation at chasing my dream,” she acknowledged.
“I think I’ll take a page out of my mother’s playbook and encourage them in whatever they want to do. My daughter is into bugs and science and wants to be an entomologist while my son is very ham-like and loves an audience. I’ll support them in whatever they decide to do. I love doing what I do, and I just hope that I can inspire them to follow their dreams. But hopefully they don’t want to move out at 16,” she continued, smiling. “I’d be so sad.”
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