How was it singing with Idina?
Kristen Bell: Nerve-racking. She’s the most intimidating singer, and unintimidating human being. She’s so gentle in real life, but there’s such ferocity behind her voice and skill level and set. I was really nervous, as I’ve seen her on stage numerous times. She has one of the best voices on the planet, and it was very daunting.
But we would rehearse at her house, and she was lovely and kind and carefree. I’d sing my verse, and she’d say, “You sound great.” I was secretly so excited.
Jennifer Lee is the first female director in the history of Disney. Was it good to have a female director for a film like this?
Kristen Bell: Chris and Jennifer work really well together. They both bring really necessary components to it. Chris had, with his resume and scope of vision, a great idea for the whole film, including how the story needs to be told. Jennifer has a real knack for the character voices.
Since Jennifer is a little quirky as well, or at least in tune with it, we would be recording the dialogue, and look up at each other at the same time. We would be having the same thought, like what if she sneezed there? What if she also told him XYZ, and pushed him further? What if she punched him in the face?
We were really in tune with each other, and that was unique. I don’t know if I’ve had that with a director before.
Is Anna going to stick with you for a while? Are you going to think of her when you’re in a dark place?
Kristen Bell: Yeah, I think I’ll be the most proud of this character for a long time. There was so much of me that was put into this character. There was a lot of collaboration, and not just in the fact of, here is the character, and here is what I want to bring, and here is what you want to bring.
I really wanted to infuse her with who I am, and the weird attributes that I feel like I’ve embraced. Part of those attributes was the feistiness I wanted to bring in the wrong situations. Also, she had the ability to get to into things, too quickly. Or, she would pick up a shovel and fend off the wolves, and save the day. It’s not all silly and goofy and failures; a lot of it is successes.
I wanted the heart behind it to be that things didn’t come to her; the birds didn’t come and braid her hair. She went out and fought for those things. I’m really proud that little girls will be able to see that, because that’s what I wanted. So I will be thinking about her for a while.
With CBS deciding to reboot Charmed, if Veronica Mars do well on the big screen, would you be interested in rebooting it for TV again?
Kristen Bell: I’m far from a studio executive having any knowledge to base it on. But in my heart, I’ll be involved with that character until the day I die. I could do 12 movies, like the Star Trek series.
If they could do it on TV, that would be so much fun. But my heart aches a bit, because I have a ton of fun on House of Lies. You can’t have two television contracts at the same time; it’s the one thing you can’t do. You can do as many movies as you want, but on television, you have to be owned by one project. You would have to have permission to do another show. Like I did Parks and Recreation, and I had to have permission from the head of the network to do it.
Technically, under a contract, you’re advertising your show, like House of Lies, on a daily basis. You can’t advertise more than one. The TV shows want to own you, but with movies, it doesn’t matter.
That concludes our interview, but we’d like to thank Kristen Bell for taking the time to speak with us. Make sure to catch Frozen when it hits theaters on November 27.