I recently had the chance to participate in a teleconference interview with Kristen Bell and Tim Kring. Here are some questions and answers from Kristen and Tim on her addition to the cast of Heroes and some information on the character she plays.
Q: How did it work out that you’re doing this wonderful show to begin with? Did you reach out to Tim Kring? Did the show reach out to you?
KB: I think it was - I’ve certainly put feelers out there during Comic-Con and let them know what a fan I was of the show I think with the secret hopes that one day I could be a part of it. It was ultimate flattery when they (came forward) and said we might have something for you to do.
Q: Was the character of Elle written with Kristen Bell in mind, or did you create the character and then go, you know who’d be good for this...?
TK: The character was created before we cast Kristen. And we had been talking about the character for a while and thinking about the character for a while.
But when you do cast an actor, especially one that you’re familiar with their work and has as much personality as Kristen has, you try to tailor the character a little closer to who the actor is. So it’s hard to know when one starts to influence the other.
Q: Was it difficult or maybe intimidating for you to join a cast that had already been working together since the show’s beginning and kind of had already gelled and kind of had their dynamic? Was that hard to jump into that and be a part of it?
KB: 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.
Q: Has it been fun playing this new mysterious character?
KB: Oh it’s been so much fun. I have been, I think crossing my fingers in hopes that I’d get a job soon where I could play someone who was as Tim likes to call it, a little off or perhaps didn’t have the brightest and shiniest of intentions.
And I think the depth at which they’ve written Elle, this character, she’s so conflicted and sort of comes across as such as vixen, it’s so much fun to play with.
Q: Do you have any idea how many episodes will be on this season?
KB: Right now I think that I am signed on for 13 which, you know, certainly to the discretion as how it fits into the major plot lines they could use me or I could just sit on the sidelines.
Q: Can you tell us is - do you have any connection to Peter Petrelli and whether or not your character works for the company on the show?
KB: I have a lot of information about Peter’s past.
TK: We introduced the character and she is looking for Peter Petrelli. And I think one can assume that she finds him.
**** WARNING: Spoilers below! ****
Q: Can you tell us a little bit more about your character? I mean is there any other details that you can reveal, her secret origin, her secret power, you know, anything…
KB: Her name is Elle. I can’t reveal her secret powers. You’ll have to watch next Monday. But it’s a very cool power.
She has ties to HRG and to Claire. And there’s going to be a very interesting dynamic I think, between her and Claire as far as what is and what is not.
And I think there’s going to be a deeper relationship there than people are expecting. They’re going to see some - maybe some parallels.
But she also has ties to a little bit to Suresh. And she’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 because the whole first season has been about these, you know, fairly good-natured people in trying to embrace these confusing abilities and being very (conflicted) as to how they should be using them.
And Elle is not that way at all. She very much enjoys her power and enjoys the emotional power it gives her over other people.
TK: Well let me sort of add to that a little bit. The - this - the one thing that we will say is that, you know, we are tying this character’s side to this company that we have, you know, talked about for the last year on the show that Claire’s father was involved with.
And so one of the ideas was that this character, Elle’s character 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.
Q: You’ve spoke of Elle’s moral ambiguity and her mental health status. Can you tell us what some of her strengths will be?
KB: Determination. And she’s a very fierce and intense personality. When she wants something, she wants it and she wants it now which I think is good when you’re working with the good guys and is really bad when you’re working with the bad guys. And I think that’s what she’ll kind of ping-pong in-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. And then hopefully, you know, she can get a little bit of redemption.
Q: Is there a particular upcoming episode that you’re very excited about that we should watch out for good Elle stuff in?
KB: Oh wow, yes. Unfortunately it might be a little bit of a tease because I start in Episode 5, and then I don’t - I’m not in 6 or 7 which I guess is sort of part of the mystery and at least that’s what I’m saying.
Episodes 8 and 9 are - have a lot of Elle. They kind of - they expose her storyline. A few of the storylines completely revolve around here. So shooting 8 and 9 was really great for me. I had a lot of stuff in 8 and 9.
And so I sort of have to hold out myself to be able to see 8 and 9 and sort of really see how the character reads as far as interacting with all the other storylines.
Q: Would you say this character of Elle will be a character that fans will love or will it become a character that fans will love to hate?
KB: I think she’ll go backwards in that area. I think that they will love to hate her initially while they’re confused about her intentions. But I think that the more you find out about her the more - well I mean, I don’t know because I don’t know how it’ll read. I hope that the more you find out about here and the deeper you go into her, the more you’ll sympathize with her.
