Interviews and articles

Source: Filmforce.ign.com
Interview with Marshall Bell
"I want the cats with the comic book collections to be the ones who are our fans..."
by Kenneth Plume
2000-04-06

GN FilmForce's Kenneth Plume recently talked to character actor Marshall Bell.
Bell has acted in over fifty movies and TV series over the last 16 years, among them are Twins, Total Recall, The Puppet Masters, X-Files, Millennium, Starship Troopers, and Virus. He's currently on the Sci-Fi Channel TV show good vs. evil (previously known as G vs E when it was on the USA Network) and was gracious enough to allow Ken to interview him between takes while they were wrapping up their first season and even more gracious to volunteer additional time to expand the interview after production ended.
In his two-part conversation with Ken, Bell discusses how he got into acting, the state of character actors today, what it's like working on good vs. evil, which TV and movie projects he's worked on have had the most impact on him, his work philosophy, and where he sees himself going in the future.

The interview:

PLUME: Tell me a little bit about your background...
BELL: I've been around for awhile. I've done quite a few movies, but the ones that got me into this genre were Total Recall – where I played the guy who had Kuato coming out of his stomach – and Twins and Puppet Masters and Starship Troopers... I've done a lot of science fiction pictures. I've been acting since about 1984. I'd started late... I'd been a consultant doing something else before I did it, and it was in a movie that people liked and people saw called Birdy – with Nicolas Cage and Matthew Modine – which made me start working pretty much right away.

PLUME: From your filmography, it looks like you've been working steadily since '84...
BELL: Sometimes you think you aren't, but by the standards of the industry I certainly have. By the standards of the industry and a lot of actors that I've known along these years who have even been big, I would not be able to complain about it at all.

PLUME: You played a lot of supporting roles in a lot of films... Would you consider yourself a character actor?
BELL: Yeah... I mean, in a short word – yes. Would I have liked to have had a few more romantic roles? Well, the answer is – sometimes you get paid more for them, but the fact of the matter is they're not as much fun. If they don't work, you're boring... And then you go away. Even if were to play one of those roles I'd like to have character in it... Some people get away with that, like Nicholson.

PLUME: Do you think there's a common thread to the character that you have played or the films that you've been in?
BELL: Common threads in that... Hmm... Well, he's a little off, but I've played some pretty bad guys, and then I've played some pretty straightforward guys. I've played a lot of military people, and some of the military guys I've played have been very straightforward – energetic, but straightforward people.

PLUME: And some pretty tough-as-nails guys...
BELL: Quite tough.

PLUME: I know the first part I remember you in was Stand By Me...
BELL: See, there's no common thread, really, because he was quite different to the kind of person I now play. He was a pretty grim guy. I just saw that last night...

PLUME: How does it hold up, looking at work that's about 15 years old now?
BELL: Funny you'd say that... I was looking at myself during the dinner table work there, and I was kind of critical of myself. I thought I could have been better.

PLUME: Better in what way?
BELL: Knowing what I know now, I wish I still had that youth, but I would probably have played it a little more interestingly maybe... I don't know. Just a couple of beats. It's just technical thinking, actually.

PLUME: Are there any pitfalls to being seen as a character actor, or does it mean that people are always able to plug you into a project?
BELL: The pitfalls are that there is less and less of that kind of detailing in movies now... The care in which the industry picks character people has diminished to a great degree. In other words, when I used to go to the movies, they used to know who Struther Martin and L.Q. Jones and Ben Johnson were... They were a big deal. Now it just goes the top billing and a cast of thousands. That's the problem.

PLUME: Do you think people in Hollywood today see character actors as glorified extras?
BELL: Not necessarily, but there's more of a tendency for it than there had been in the past. In the old days, you could make a movie and the star of the movie wouldn't work everyday, because they'd be doing the other stuff. Now... That rarely happens.

PLUME: What were you doing before you started acting?
BELL: I was a consultant in New York teaching senior executives how to improve their speaking skills in front of other people.

PLUME: How did you get into acting?
BELL: My wife is a really well-known costume designer – in fact, she's nominated this year for the seventh time for an Academy Award (for Titus). She had just finished Cotton Club. The guy who was one of the producers on Cotton Club – and helped cast it – was Fred Roos, and he suggested to another director, Alan Parker, that he use me in a movie. It was about like that. I didn't have anything much to do with it.

PLUME: And that was Birdy...
BELL: Yes.

PLUME: How did it feel to suddenly be in a feature film?
BELL: Well, I had quite a bit to do in my role. It was one or two days of actual shooting, but there was responsibility on the scene. It meant that you really had to be serious about being in a movie, which thrusts you into the middle of, "Oh. This is serious business." So you learn fast.

PLUME: Do you think that your casting was a leap-of-faith on their part?
BELL: Well, Alan had actually known me over the years... They were taking a calculated risk.

PLUME: And it seems to have paid off...
BELL: Yeah... Yeah... The only time I ever beat J.T. Walsh out for a role was Birdy. The only time I really know of.

PLUME: Really?
BELL: Yeah.

PLUME: Did you find yourself in competition with J.T. often?
BELL: Yeah, I was in competition with him. I found myself wanting to play the roles he got. I don't know how it was viewed on the other end... I probably wasn't thought of much at all if they got him.

PLUME: But you would both go out for the same type of roles...
BELL: Not always, because I think I have a little bit more range, which is not a detriment in terms of skill, it's just that I can probably play more kind-of military types, maybe... But he was there. He was definitely in the way of me. We had the same birthday too.

PLUME: How do you view your career now, as opposed to 15 years ago?
BELL: I'm not going to be stealing any work from Leonardo DiCaprio anymore... That kind of thing.

PLUME: Are you content with where your career is right now?
BELL: I'd have to say yes, and then on the other hand, you'd like to have more security... But then, if you want security, you're in the wrong business if you do this.

PLUME: Do you think the role on good vs. evil has increased your visibility?
BELL: I got a bunch of recognition and took a bunch of pictures down to the (San Diego) Comic-Con convention to visit some of my friends at Dark Horse – about 100 pictures – and they were all taken away pretty fast. I'd say that that had to do with the show, punctuated with the other work I've done. These people like Total Recall and Starship Troopers... The people who are fans of the genre. But yes, the show has increased my visibility.

PLUME: When were you approached for good vs. evil?
BELL: About 2 years ago right now. They did a pilot which was a speculation pilot, called Underworld, and it was made to show it around to people. Disney fronted the money for it, I think, and then didn't want to put it on the air, so the USA Network took it over.

PLUME: So with Underworld, was the concept basically the same?
BELL: Yeah.

PLUME: What were your initial thoughts when you heard the concept?
BELL: I loved the concept. I wanted to see it work... I wanted to see how they made it work.

PLUME: Did they have you in mind for the role, or was it an audition process?
BELL: It was a little of this, a little of that. My agent knows the Pate brothers [the creators/directors of good vs. evil], and so she put the bug in their ear about me and I went in and met them and everything. Then I was kind of always in mind, but no, they didn't write it with me in mind. They didn't know me, but I had some inside clout with them.

PLUME: How would you describe the experience of working on the show?
BELL: I really, really, really, really love it... I really like it. I like most things. I'm easy to please... But I really like this.

PLUME: Is there any improvisation on the set, or is it mostly scripted?
BELL: We just did a bunch of it today. In my case, there is plenty of it. Mind you, we're disciplined.

PLUME: So you're currently filming the end of the first season?
BELL: Sort of... We had a split season. We made 13, then we made 9 more, so that gave us 22 – which is a full season.

PLUME: In what direction would you like to see the show go?
BELL: Some stuff where they show background of the main characters, maybe.

PLUME: They've definitely increased your visibility in this back 9...
BELL: I've done some... And yeah, people get to learn a little bit more about me. I'd also like to see them get into a lit more formidable, big trouble with the satanical beings. We're starting to.

PLUME: One of the gimmicks of the show has been the feature of infrequently utilized actors from the 70's and 80's... Who would you like to see them get in the future?
BELL: I've got a really great friend who I'd love to come in and do one that I go sit next to at basketball games, named Steve Forrest, who actually goes back way farther than that. He was almost a leading man, and he was Dana Andrews' brother... I'd love to see somebody like that come in. If we could start getting people... Friends like Marty Landau... Somebody like that.

PLUME: Have you had any discussions with them about it?
BELL: I have no problem doing that. We've talked it over, but I don't think those moves will really been made in force until we have a new season. It's a little harder to say, "Look, we have this great show, you should come do one."

PLUME: The security has to be there first...
BELL: We just haven't had time to go out in that way. We've been just busy making shows.

PLUME: Has there been a strong indication of a second season?
BELL: I just can't even start on that, because those are the kinds of things that if you say them...

PLUME: Point taken.
BELL: I can't imagine... I mean, I think it's a really interesting show and there's nothing like it on television, and we're getting these really super reviews from the magazines and everything. It just seems to me that – for the amount of money we make the shows for – it would be a great idea to keep us on the air.

PLUME: What are your thoughts on the move from USA to the Sci-Fi Channel?
BELL: Oh I'm happy. I totally agree with that, being what we are – as a compliment – a "geek-friendly" show. In other words, as a genre, sci-fi, com-con type of show... And why not make it as easy as possible to be seen by the people who really want to see it?

PLUME: It's like a ship at sea finally finding the right port...
BELL: That's right. That's where I want to go... I want to go down that direction. I want the cats with the comic book collections to be the ones who are our fans, because that's the most dedicated group of people you can possibly have.

PLUME: Do you look forward to a time when you can go to the Comic-Con and be on a good vs. evil panel?
BELL: Absolutely. If they don't figure out how to do those things... I'm on their case about that now. We've been invited to go to panels by panel people all along and I put them in touch with the network, and the network doesn't even know about that kind of thing. I had to tell them about it, and when and if the time comes, I'm going to start hammering away at that. If for some reason they don't pick it up I'll go on panels over it. I wish the network would understand that we should be going and doing those things. I just think it's a no-brainer, plus it's just a wonderfully invigorating thing to do, I think.
Interview with Marshall Bell (Conclusion)
"I would have loved to have played the villain in Se7en..."

PLUME: Tell me about the oft-mentioned, never-seen, almost mythical Pate Brothers. Do they really exist, and if so, what's it like working for them.
BELL: They really exist, they're material beings... They exist in a big way. I see them, and I'll be seeing one in a second because he's directing the show. They're hands on, they're very, very human. They're extremely intelligent, ambitious, creative kids. I was more than twice their combined age when I started working or them, but they've caught me now. I just can't say enough about them. They're not mythical, they're completely for real, and the world's going to be seeing a lot of them.

PLUME: How do they work creatively together? What's their on-set dynamic?
BELL: Well, they don't necessarily. One of them will come in and direct one show and then one of them will come in and direct the next, they write together, and they produce together. When they do work together – Underworld they did it together – it's interesting.

PLUME: Is it very much a brotherly relationship?
BELL: Well yeah, but what does that indicate? Do they bitch at each other? Why yeah. It's a synthesis oriented deal. They see each other and hang out all day long, so in that respect it's a brotherly relationship. Have I seen one of them ask the other one to leave the set? Well, ummm, no comment.

PLUME: With a season under your belt, how would you sum up your experience on good vs. evil?
BELL: I've loved it. I think what keeps you young is to work with young people, and they're all over the place here. The organization's average age is, I would say, half mine. The whole organization... And that's as good as it gets. I don't mean if they're young, it's just because they're young... I mean, if they're stupid it's a problem, but these are not.

PLUME: Would you say that they challenge you?
BELL: I have to sit and take orders from a 25 year-old Tori Amos freak, for Christ's sake! I have to take orders from her!

PLUME: And you're happy to do it...
BELL: Yeah, I'm happy to do it!

PLUME: I'm assuming she's relatively close to you right now...
BELL: She's right nearby...I'll probably get punished for that comment.

PLUME: How would you describe your cast mates?
BELL: This is how I would describe them: Way, way, way monstrously talented for this kind of profile show. Regular television casts don't accumulate this kind of know-how and talent anywhere on the networks. That's how I really think. You could say I was the weakest link and still be well ahead of the average talent level on any show I've ever seen.

PLUME: I must admit, when I first saw the show last Summer, it was definitely one of the most interesting ensembles I had ever seen, as far as talent...
BELL: It's packed with that. Packed. Not only that, but the detailing – the people that they get to come in... They get wonderful actors to come in.

PLUME: Like we were talking about before regarding Hollywood's trend away from putting care into the background casting – it seems like this show does...
BELL: It definitely does.

PLUME: It provides a texture that you don't see often...
BELL: Absolutely does.

PLUME: Had you worked with any of the other cast members before?
BELL: I knew Clayton (Rohner). I'd met him quite a long time ago, and I was really happy to see that it was him. Very happy. And I'm a fan of Richard's (Brooks).

PLUME: What is the set dynamic like amongst the cast?
BELL: It's like we take each other for granted, and that's exactly how it should be. Now Kristen (Minter) has arrived, and I play her half-brother, and I beat her up on a daily basis. And that's not easy... She's got a background in martial arts.

PLUME: So you beat her up with care...
BELL: Verbally, yeah, but I don't get away with much.

PLUME: Of all the projects you've been involved in, tell me the three that had the most impact on you, and why.
BELL: Okay... There have been a lot of projects... You know, the fact that I was able to do Birdy having never acted before – and being in a major studio picture that ended up with a lot of industry people seeing me and that a career could begin off of it right away – has to have had a lot of impact on me. In other words, it got me a SAG card – I was in the union earning my pension immediately and working as an actor and making a living immediately because of Birdy... You can not say that isn't a major deal.The next one would be a double package in a way. It was the joint influence on my career of both Twins and Total Recall had, and they were both in tandem and they were two Arnold Schwarzenegger pictures in a row. They were both totally different roles, so the industry got to see a lot of me in that, which had a tremendous impact on my career.
Then I'd have to say that this show (good vs. evil) did in a way, because I had to figure out a character and claim space for something where we didn't know where it was going to be. So in terms of making me a 100% better actor, this third would be this show.

PLUME: What is your mindset when you enter a set for the first time on a project.... Is it different if you're a day player as opposed to a supporting character?
BELL: A day player being less than a supporting character?

PLUME: Yes... Meaning that you only work a day as opposed to a chunk of the shoot...
BELL: I'm so familiar with sets now that you know where the craft service table is, you know where the sound cart is... You know where everything is, so you're friends with that. That's your home for the day. Therefore, I have no problem becoming a part of the situation – I know where the office is... I know where everything is. I have no trouble blending in and just being part of what's going on in any role. I don't get roles where I'm so far down the totem pole that I didn't get asked to do it... If it's a really tiny role, it means I got asked to do it, please. If it's the other kind of role, then that means I'm already part of the cast.

PLUME: Are you able to forge relationships with other actors if you're on the set for a short time?
BELL: Oh yeah. I was on a set for about 2 days on Hill Street Blues years ago, and I made friends with Michael Warren... I go to UCLA games and it's like we're old friends – I only worked with him for 2 days. This is Michael Warren, who you might imagine with me being an actor for only two years – even though I was an older guy – watching him in uniform for UCLA... Gimme a break. It's like we're old friends. I'll be sitting there during the national anthem during a Bruins game and he'll wave over to me from his seat. That answers your question, I think.

PLUME: Is there a camaraderie that develops when you work with someone again?
BELL: Oh big time. I'm working together again with somebody right now on "good vs. evil". I did Virus with an actor named Julio Mechoso. On "good vs. evil", we finally incarnate El Aurens, and it's Julio. Again, we were sitting around with make-up and pulleys and people flying through the air, and that's exactly where we came from. When you've gotten in the trenches with an actor on a show, it's an enormously intense "Let's make friends" kind of deal. Then you don't see them again till the next show, and it doesn't overlap... All that psychic stuff is in place and you start where you left off.

PLUME: Is there a hierarchy on sets where it's harder to approach the "big-name" stars?
BELL: I've never run into that. I've worked with Mel Gibson, I've worked with Arnold, I've worked with Warren Beatty... No, I never run into that. I've heard about it, but I've never run into it. I've heard it happens, but like, I got along well with Sharon Stone before she was a star and I get along fine with her now. I hear things about her... I'd love to go there – I'd bitch with anyone, but it's not there. It isn't like, "Hi Sharon", but if I go somewhere and she sees me, she comes over and says hello... Which warms me towards her.

PLUME: You've worked with a large swath of directors... How would you contrast the different styles, from an actor's perspective?
BELL: Oh man... Wow... That is a long deal. They all have personalities... They're all what they call "alpha-males". I just found out I wasn't going to get a job on a picture directed by Terry Zwigoff, and he didn't hire me based on that he thought I was too much of an alpha-male. I thought, "Oh boy..." This movie I didn't get was based on a comic book called Ghost World. Zwigoff did Crumb, and I could see when I saw Crumb, I thought, "Okay, I'm going to go in on this and I want to get it and I know all the people," Malkovich is producing, but I told them ahead of time, "This is going to be hard because I've got this personality..." And I was right.

PLUME: See, you shouldn't have pointed it out!
BELL: I wanted them to know that I knew that I'm not Charles Crumb, which is really what it was. I can sit there and make faces all day long and I can be suicidal in a movie, but nobody's going to think I'm Charles Crumb. I love that character in the documentary.

PLUME: You might have pulled it off...
BELL: I think I would have, but I can see why they thought I wasn't going to be able to pull it off. So they all have their styles...

PLUME: What do you find to be the hardest type of director to work for?
BELL: Bottom line, what I do when I go into a deal is they're all directors... I did a student film with a guy named Matt Martin in November – and he isn't even out there making money as a director yet – and then you turn around and do a film with Francis Coppola or Paul Verhoeven or anybody, and my feeling is it's all the same. It's just different personalities. When you're working with a student filmmaker, you want to put him at ease when he looks and sees you've worked with these other people.

PLUME: But that also goes back to the fact that you know your spot on a set...
BELL: Right, but I do want them to come give me adjustments if they want me to do them. I don't make fun of them for doing that. I want them to tell me how to act... That's their job.

PLUME: Is TV work easier, harder, or different than film work?
BELL: It can be harder, because you don't have as many takes or options and you're not satisfied with exactly what you got out of it, or it can be a lot easier because sometimes the tasks that you have to perform on film can be so daunting that you can't understand what the hell it is. It is a different process.

PLUME: So it works different muscles...
BELL: Yes it does.

PLUME: If you have one, what is your work philosophy?
BELL: Know your words really well, and then let God sort it out. I'm not saying you have to know them ahead of time, I'm saying know them really well. That means that sometimes you can go to the set and they'll hand you some pages you never saw before and you can know them right away, but that doesn't exclude knowing them really well. If you've got big monologues to do, you've got to prepare those better than you think before you go out there, so don't leave anything up for grabs.

PLUME: So it's not a matter of just being prepared, it's a matter of being fully prepared...
BELL: Really over-prepared... You can't over-prepare when you've got too many words to say. You really can't.

PLUME: So you have to be flexible as well...
BELL: The more prepared you are the more flexible you will end up being. You know the coordinates on the map... The stuff sinks in so you know what it means so that whatever else comes out of your mouth pertains to where you are.

PLUME: We were discussing the kind of roles that you get often, like military men and cops. Is there a type of role you've wanted to play, but haven't been presented the opportunity yet?
BELL: Well, I would like to continue to play the characters I get... I'm satisfied with the characters I play, but it would be nice if those characters got the girl. There's no reason why those characters shouldn't be able to get the girl once in awhile. Nicholson's characters do, and he's by no means a conventional glamour boy. He's a character guy.

PLUME: Speaking of Nicholson, do you think – as an actor – you can get to a point where you're so successful and recognized that you can't sink yourself into a character and be believed by the audience anymore?
BELL: I would think that at this point, personally, if it was going to happen it would have happened by now... But maybe... You never know. I think I've got it in me, but I might be the only one that does. If I get turned down for roles too much more for being an alpha-male, maybe I will be! I've got to go study being a nerd at my age? And I am one, but nobody believes it, so what am I going to do?

PLUME: Is there a point where an actor's career gains enough momentum to keep itself going, or do you always have to stoke the fire?
BELL: I think there does become a point, but that actors sometimes aren't smart enough to know when that happens. I think I kind-of squashed my momentum in that department at one point, so a lot of it is just being sensitive enough to understand what is going on in your career when it's going on. I don't know the answer...

PLUME: How does one put a stop to that momentum?
BELL: By making the wrong choices.

PLUME: Is it the kind of thing that you only see in hindsight?
BELL: Yeah... Well, what you do is you tend to say, "****, this momentum can't be stopped..." and then, of course, you've stopped it.

PLUME: Do you think it's twice as hard to get back up to speed?
BELL: Well... I don't know... I was never "up" anywhere to the point where it was hard for me to get back up to the point where I was. It's like an oscilloscope with me. Look at Travolta... He went away. I used to see him in his late-night work and it was good – he was a perfectly good actor. That's what people didn't understand... He was a good actor, but they just thought he was a cute guy with a cleft in his chin. He was more than that. It can happen.

PLUME: Do you think it's the "ever vigilant" kind of thing?
BELL: I know most of these really big star actors have been pretty vigilant. They're really concerned. It is that you have to be really concerned about yourself to the point where I get bored. You've got to really stay on it.

PLUME: Is there a point where you get over-concerned and become too cautious?
BELL: The only time I think people are over-concerned is when they're not stars and they act as concerned as stars do, and then yeah, I think they're over-concerned. How do you know?

PLUME: Which comes back to that hindsight thing...
BELL: Right. It's hard, this whole dynamic. There's so many variables.

PLUME: Do you think this is a business that one can plot a career in, or do you think it's a matter of going with the flow?
BELL: I think you've got to be ready to go with the flow. I think a lot of people have tried to plot 'em and I've heard a lot of concrete language about how careers work in this town and it's all nonsense. I think you have to be willing to go with the flow. I think that's one of the great assets you can have if you're going to stick around here, and when I say here, I mean in the business of acting.

PLUME: Just having that flexibility to roll with the punches...
BELL: Yeah. And there has to be a limit... I've turned down roles – one in a movie that did quite well, and I noticed that the guy who took the role didn't really benefit from it. It was a father who was molesting people, and I wouldn't do it. The guy's not going to get hurt, but it didn't bounce him into the next category. I took a lot of crap for not taking it, because it was a great opportunity... The movie was seen by a lot of people. There's certain things I won't do. After the movie was made, Nightmare on Elm Street: Part 2 was interpreted as a gay movie... Nobody knew this when it was getting made. I'm kinda pleased that Freddy Krueger sodomised me in the shower... People were just, "Oh Marshall, you can't!" – and this was in the first part of my career – "You can't do that!" and I went, "I don't even know what I'm doing. Shut up, I'm working." It worked fine.

PLUME: Do you think your career has been snowballing in recent years?
BELL: No... It started to go someplace right after Twins and Total Recall and then it kind of went off. It's been steady.

PLUME: Do you think steady is a very good thing in this business?
BELL: Boy, ask a lot of people, and you'll find that they've gone down instead of being steady... That they're not here anymore.

PLUME: When did you become involved with Dark Horse Comics?
BELL: They produced a pilot that I did called Enemy, which was based on one of their comic books that was written and produced by a guy named David Goyer, who wrote Blade and The Puppet Masters, which I was in. Very young, but a good writer. I met Mike Richardson then, and then they were involved with Virus, and I met him again and became friendly with him. He's a wonderful guy.

PLUME: Are there any projects that you look back on and think, "God, I wish I hadn't been a part of that?"
BELL: No. I've had rough times on projects. I had a time where I didn't sleep any, and it's just that I didn't like it. Something was wrong with it... I just didn't like it at all.

PLUME: Was it the project itself, or...
BELL: It was the project itself. I just can't go into it. If I get asked to go see those people again, I'm not friendly about it.

PLUME: Conversely, are there any you look back on and wish you had been a part of that you were up for?
BELL: I would have loved to have played the villain in Se7en. Having said that, I think Kevin Spacey was a magnificent actor and he blew me away with American Beauty. I just think I could have made that villain better... More horrible and fun than that.

PLUME: Where do you see yourself in five years?
BELL: I have no idea... I want to produce a film. I've got a project underway now that I want to produce, and a friend of mine who's a star is interested in it. I told him I'd love him to play the role if he played him as me. If I could get that done, I'd love to do that. Of course, I'd play a role.
I'm never going to direct... That doesn't interest me. There's so many good ones out there, I don't know why I should be bothered with it. That would free me to play a role and then produce the film at the same time and watch the making of the picture and cast it and all that kind of thing, and make big bucks off it... I'm not sure that it wouldn't. So I'm doing that while -as far as acting is concerned – I just couldn't tell you. I just don't know how to judge all that. I don't know what's going on out there now.

PLUME: So it's best just to stay the course...
BELL: And go in on stuff you like that's interesting. I went into a casting thing the other day, and I'll give you a little example of what it's about – give you a tidbit...There's a scene where there's some Chinese girls walking by and I've been caught saying something kind-of vulgar, and then I look at them and say, "Oops! Sorry girls." And the I said it in Mandarin, because I happen to know a few words in Mandarin.
The director looked at me and said, "What are you saying?" And I said, "Well, I'm saying excuse me." He said, "Yeah, that's what you say you're saying." I said, "No, that's Mandarin...", so the casting guy just got all resentful and said, "You're just saying, 'Cast me! Cast me! Cast me!'."
I thought it was a little rude, but I'm in my old age and I've become much reserved in dealing with that kind of thing, and I just looked at him and said, "Well, John, it's all about 'Cast me! Cast me!' Always. It's lunches, you go to the bookstore and buy the book... Everything is about 'Cast me! Cast me!', so what are we trying to prove here? " That's the kind of stuff you run up against sometimes, just as a for instance.

PLUME: I guess it shows you not to work up to the extent of your knowledge...
BELL: Some people are just always ready to pick bones.

PLUME: The job of casting agent can sometimes be a resentful one...
BELL: Absolutely, because they wish they were doing it, and you have to understand this.