I walked into the elevator and immediately recognized her from You Again and Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Despite the fact that I lived in LA most of my life, I still find it surreal to walk into an elevator and come face to face with Kristen Bell, who plays one of the few fictional characters in the film Big Miracle. The character of Jill Jerard (Bell), a TV reporter from Los Angeles, was actually based on several news men and women who made the trek up to Barrow, Alaska to cover Operation Breakthrough in 1988.
We sat down to chat with Bell about her role in the film Big Miracle, her father’s influence on her character, and what it was like to shoot in Alaska. Having grown up “playing with a teleprompter,” Bell felt at ease in the role of the ambitious reporter, given the fact that her father was a news director and she grew up around news anchors. “It was kind of my little homage to my dad,” Bell states. Media was really the catalyst for the international effort in 1988 and it wasn’t until I sat down to speak with some of the talent from the film that I fully grasped this concept.
From a historical perspective, Jill Jerard’s character is integral to the film’s plot and the depiction of the effort. If you were a journalist at the time (particularly if you were a woman), it was important to be the first person to break a news story. And as much as media drew attention and garnered support, it was manipulated by many for personal gains.
The story, as impossible as it seems, was only feasible because the world came together to brainstorm and physically assist with the rescue effort. Bell hopes that viewers “will realize how unreasonably powerful it is when human beings can come together for a common goal. Anything is accomplishable if you’re working together.”
Despite Bell’s accolades, she’s actually quite grounded. She is confident and “doesn’t identify whether or not [she is] a good human being based on how respected [she is] in the acting community.” And while her travels have brought her to a number of exotic and picturesque locations, she prefers to be at home because she is “such a home body.”
Big Miracle is in theaters on February 3rd, 2012.
If you watch the trailer for the film on Facebook, Universal Pictures will donate $1 to Oceana!
You can read my previous interview with Vinessa Shaw and Bonnie Carroll here.
You can read my interview with Drew Barrymore and John Krasinski here.
No compensation was received for this post. I was invited to the Big Miracle Press Junket, courtesy of Universal Pictures.
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My boyfriend won’t go see this with me. He says he is against sad animal movies. I told him it’s a happy ending. He said he can’t endure the sadness in the middle.
Love Kristen Bell – she’s great at being the hot goofy sympathetic chick – speaking of hot, that’s a hot bunch a mommybloggers!
I can’t wait to see the movie! Great post!
I can’t even imagine the barriers female journalists had to break-down so many years ago. This movie sounds like it’s very motivational — looking forward to watching it!
Great summary of that junket chat! Big Miracle is such a feel-good movie, and it made me smile reading about that day again just now.
Ok…now – you finally made me jealous! She is one of my favorite actors. Can’t wait to see the movie with the kiddos this weekend.
can’t believe that I just found out she is the voice of Gossip Girl! can’t wait to see this with the kids!! thanks for the inside scoop
great post. I’m not a huge fan of hers but I’m looking forward to the movie!