Date of publishing: 26th October 2007

Creator of Heroes, Tim Kring has graduated from the USC School of Cinematic Arts in 1983. He got his start as a screenwriter writing for the TV show Knight Rider. One of his earlier projects was Misfits of Science, which, like his later project Heroes, featured superpowered humans as a main theme.

Best known as the feisty, young detective-in-training, Veronica Mars, on the critically acclaimed UPN series of the same name, actress Kristen Bell was a bona fide triple threat – gifted at comedy, drama, and musical theater. She plays "Elle" a new mysterious character in the second season of Heroes.

The Scifi World had the opportunity to take a part on a press conference with both of them. Here is the full report of this conference.

Question: Kristen how did it work out that you are doing this wonderful to begin with, did you reach out to Tim Kring, did the show reach out to you and were a fan of the show even before the opportunity came up?

Kristen Bell: I was a huge fan of the show, I watched it from it’s premier episode and I joked with the writers that Heroes was always the water cooler conversation while at Veronica Mars on set and they said that in many of their writer circles Veronica Mars was their water cooler conversation when they were working at Heroes. I certainly put feelers out there during Comic Con and let them know what a fan I was of the show, with the secret hopes that one day I could be a part of it and then it was the ultimate flattery when they came forward and said we might have something for you to do.

Question: Tim, can you talk about the Matt, Mohinder, Molly family dynamics, and the importance of those relationships for the rest of the season and touch on Wes and Claire?

Tim Kring: Well in our show the kind of secret about our show is that it really is about the relationships and really about the characters. So we always try to focus all of our stories by filtering them through that idea. But you know on our show things change and things morph and become very complicated and different as you watch. One of the hallmarks of the show is nobody is really who they seem to be. So in terms of Wes and Claire I’m sure there are a lot of questions the audience has as to whether Wes is ultimately good for Claire or not, and you know we will just have to say tuned. As for Mohinder, Matt and Molly, we wanted to sort of do in a way our own version of My Two Dads, a kind of domesticated life for these two characters we saw circling each other all last year. And one of the interesting things that’s happening this season is the joining of different characters that we never saw last year. Mohinder and Matt is certainly one, Matt and Nathan, last night and Suresh and H.R.G., Claire’s father is another one and so it’s a continual quest to try and shake things up.

Question: Was Kristen Bell’s role written with her in mind or did you create the character and then go you know who’d be good for this?

Tim Kring: The character was created before we cast Kristen. We had been taking about this character for a while and thinking about the character for awhile, but when you do cast and actor, especially one you are familiar with their work and that has as much personality as Kristen has, you try to tailor that character a little closer to who the actor is. So it’s hard to know when one starts to influence the other, certainly the character was created and conceived long before we cast Kristen.

Question: Kristen was it difficult or intimidating for you to join a cast that had been working together since the shows beginning and had already gelled and had their dynamic, was it hard to jump into that and be a part of it?

Kristen Bell: There was anxiety and nerves certainly but nothing about it has been hard. They are some of the nicest people that I have ever worked with and having had social relationships with a few of them and sort of heard through the grape vine what a great job it was. Not just a excellent show but really fun to be a part of and ensemble that really supports each other. And I think to find that many good people in one setting is really hard to find but clearly that speaks to, you know what comes down through the grape vine, starting with Tim. Every time you join a different job or different show is kind of like changing schools, like when you are in high school, that kind of anxiety, is everyone going to like me, is this going to be fun, am I going to do well. And the warmth that I was greeted with was like I was starting a school that all my friends already went to.

Tim Kring: Let me just add to that one of the interesting things that should be noted here that there was this kind of circle of people around Kristen and the show Heroes and all these common relationships. Kristen had known several of the cast members and some for years and years with real long term relationships with these people and some of the writers on the show, so she was already like part of the family by the time we cast her.

Question: Tim I wanted to ask about the danger of over population and if you never kill anybody are people going to start if you are crying wolf too often, particularly with Peter surviving a nuclear explosion. Is there a danger that you have too many characters and that you really need to kill people more often?

Tim Kring: Yes, on a show like this you have to be able to fold people in and fold people out, so the audience should fully expect to see characters leaving in the near future.

Question: Kristen has it been fun playing this new, mysterious character?

Kristen Bell: Oh it has been so much fun! I have been crossing my fingers and hoping that I would get a job soon where I can play a character as Tim likes to call it ‘a little off’ or perhaps didn’t have the shiniest and brightest intentions and I think the depth that they have written this character Elle is so conflicted and sort of comes across as such a victim, it’s so much fun to play with.

Question: Kristen can you tell us if you have any connection to Peter Petrelli and whether or not your character works for the company on the show?

Kristen Bell: Well I will probably have Tim guide me through this one.

Tim Kring: You can answer that, that’s fine.

Kristen Bell: I have a lot of information about Peter’s past. Want to help me out on this one Tim.

Tim Kring: we introduce the character and she is looking for Peter Petrelli and I think one can assume that she finds him.

Question: Tim what exactly inspired the show and in that vane, do you have favorite superheroes or superhero stories that might have acted as inspiration?

Tim Kring: Well there really not any superhero stories that inspired the show. The show was inspired by wanting to do a large ensemble drama that tackled some issues I felt were on everybody’s mind. And that was that this world is a very complicated and dangerous place and in need of help, and in need of help from us who are all ordinary. And trying to think about what it was that could speak to that. And in many ways a regular cop show or a medical show just didn’t seem to answer those questions in a large enough way, which led me to the idea of superheroes, and that’s sort of where it came from.

Question: Tim looking at some of the credits that you have done, you started doing an episode of Knight Rider episode and episode of Misfits Of Science, but then everything else is pretty much drama. So do you see yourself as a science fiction person, like a fan or did you just trying to develop a show that’s good that just happens to be science fiction?

Tim Kring: I’m not particularly a science fiction writer, although I co-created a show called Strange World a few years ago, but what draws me to an idea almost always is the character and how to put a character in a certain amount of drama that makes it compelling. The scifi elements of the show are really just a vehicle to tell dramatic stories about characters going through extraordinary things and on an extraordinary journey. Clearly the scifi elements are enticing to a certain audience and that was intriguing to me as well to capture that audience.

Question: Kristen Bell exactly how did you get to be so cool?

Kristen Bell: (laughs) Oh well, I don’t think that I’m that cool. I try to be nice and enjoy what I’m doing, I guess. I have been really, really lucky and I stay grateful for that every moment and I hope that comes across, because I love what I do and I want to keep doing it.

Tim Kring: And you also hang out with really cool people and that’s how you are cool.

Kristen Bell: I do! You know what that is how I’m cool, cause I have such cool friends, I have the coolest friends ever.

Question: Kristen do you have any predictions for 2008 either for yourself or in general, could be anything that comes to mind, for the next year? Something you maybe looking for in the world or your life?

Kristen Bell: Well I one thing I try to stay with is too not think too far ahead and I try to live moment to moment just in general. I’m fairly spontaneous and impulsive and I really don’t know what inspires me until I read it, as far as projects go. So it’s sort of difficult for me to say, I just hope that I’m happy with what I’m doing. I hope that I’m still involved with Heroes, because I’m having such a great time right now and that I can’t get it off my mind, how much fun it’s been I mean. I have two movies coming out one in January and one in May and I certainly hope they are wildly successful and that people enjoy them and that I just keep having fun.

Question: Anything else you are looking forward to in general in the world in 2008?

Kristen Bell: in general in the world? I don’t know peace maybe, kind of always hoping for that.

Question: Kristen can you tell us a little bit more about your character, are there any other origins that you can reveal, her secret origins, her secret power, her name?

Kristen Bell: 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 H.R.G. and to Claire and there is going to be a very interesting dynamic I think between her and Claire as far as what is and what is not. There is going to be a deeper relationship there then people are expecting and their going to see maybe some parallels there. She also has ties a little bit to Suresh and she’s a little messed up in the head which makes her manipulative and always out to get what she wants. She doesn’t have many boundaries, which is what I think is the really interesting part about playing this character on this particular show because the whole first season has been about these fairly good natured people trying to embrace these confusing abilities and being very conflicted as to how they should be using them. Elle is not that way at all, she very much enjoys her power and enjoys the emotional power it gives her over other people.

Tim Kring: Let me add to that a little bit. One thing we will say is that this character is tied to this company that we have been talked about this last year on the show, that one that Claire’s father was involved with. One of the ideas is that this character, Elle’s character was raised within the company and 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 that Elle has.

Question: Tim, a little about the reconstruction with Matt Parkman’s character, especially with the change of his family dynamic, and his wife, will she ever come back into the story or has he really just gone through a complete reconstruction of who he is?

Tim Kring: We will see the wife again, shortly, but there is clearly a mystery as of now, there won’t be within the next couple of episodes, as to what happened in the intervening four months from the end of season one to the beginning of two. But clearly he went from a man who was with his wife and expecting a baby and living in LA to a many who is living in New York and not living with his wife, so something happened in that intervening time and we will find out about it. But yes we will see the wife again.

Question: Kristen we know that Heroes is a show where even the actors don’t get to know a lot about where the characters are going, it sounds like you actually do have a lot of information, but coming from Veronica Mars which was another mystery show, do you have a way of approaching these characters where you might not know the ultimate point of the arc?

Kristen Bell: Yes, actually that is one thing that we struggled with a lot, all of the actors and I have some to the conclusion that it’s just all about trust. And I’m giddy when I say it, I was a little lucky that when I was picked for the character, Tim let a few cats out of the bag, which is exciting but certainly nothing I would never repeat. Ultimately I think when you are working on a show that is centered around a mystery that is of such vital importance, that you have to trust as an actor and as long as you are asking what details do I need to know, what should I be showing as far as me being an actor and being able to tell the story adequately and foreshadow and things like that. And other then that you just have to trust your creator, writers and director, that if you weren’t giving enough or they needed to allude to something then they’d tell you, it’s just got to be all about trust.

Question: Kristen can you talk about your relationships with the cast before joined, Hayden recently said she had known you since she was eight years old and does that impact the way you and character of Claire get along?

Kristen Bell: I have known Hayden since she was eight, we met in New York, we had the same agent, I was substantially older then she was. I was just starting college and met her and she came to some of the plays I did in New York and she was such a lovely little girl. Even then you could tell that there was something so alarmingly special about who she was and what she was going to be able to accomplish as a performer. Even at eight years old you could tell, it was right before she did Remember the Titans, she was so great in and I just socially kept up a relationship with her. Having joined the cast now it’s been really nice, because really good girlfriends are so rare to find in LA and she is a really cool and honest girl and so we have sort of become closer because of the show. We always used to joke about trying to play sisters or friends in a project, we might not be either of those in this show but it’s still fun to get to work together.

Question: Kristen you just achieved success moving over to Heroes, looking back from your current position, what is the one thing you fondly remember or miss about doing stage craft review theatre in high school?

Kristen Bell: What I missed the most is the audience as a participatory member of the production. When we were at stage crafters we would make the set and it was a comfortable circle of friends because growing up in the theatre I was never much for sports, because I was always about 50lbs. but when I joined that first theatre group I found my first really core group of friends and I really miss being on the live stage and get the immediate gratification of seeing the audience laugh, cry or you know emote at all.

Question: Kristen have you had a chance to catch your former co-star Jason Dohring in the show Moonlighting and if get to keep in touch with any of the former Veronica Mars cast mates?

Kristen Bell: We do actually keep in touch, a lot, I just came back from breakfast with Ryan Hansen who played Dick Casablancas and Joaquin Sedillo who was our D.P. we went to breakfast this morning. I have not caught Jason’s show but I have been TiVo’ing it and Tim’s been keeping me pretty busy and I have not caught up on all my TiVo yet, but it’s funny how many people from Veronica Mars are working on Moonlight right now. There is a substantial portion of the crew, and Jason and some of the A.D.’s. Everyone got along really well on that show as well so we are all pretty supportive of each other’s careers and we’ve maintained those friendships.

Question: Tim a specific question about last nights episode and about the photo of the twelve. Will we be seeing more of the five we are not aware of yet, have we already met some of them, and will you be using some of the same actors from the photograph for those roles as they show up? And can you confirm whether or not Joanna Cassidy was one of the actors that was standing there?

Tim Kring: Yes on almost of those accounts, we will be seeing the people in the photo and I think all of them will be the same ones. Which I just have to tell you the photo has got a life of it’s own because logistically it was so difficult to actually come up with this photograph that’s used now and refers to things that are shot well in the future here, it was very difficult to get that all lined up. But yes the photo is accurate as we can make it and it did look an awful lot like Joanna Cassidy in there.

Question: Tim with the possibility of a writers strike or certainly of the contract lapsing later this month, what kind of an impact has that had on the writing and production for you guys?

Tim Kring: Well to be really honest, it has not had a lot of impact. We like everyone else assumed a strike would be well after our season ended so we never really prepared for it. The fact that we were a little ahead of other people, we started production a month earlier then most people has been mistakenly interpreted that we were doing it because of the strike, when in fact it is that we are doing 24 episodes this year. And since our show is so much more complicated production wise then almost any other show on TV we just needed the extra time. So once that train starts rolling there’s not a whole lot you can do about it, you can’t speed it up and you can’t really slow it down. So in reality the strike doesn’t have a lot of effect, it clearly will have a tremendous affect if it happens, but in terms in what we have done up until now, no not really. I wish I could have done more.

Question: You are not banking scripts or anything like that at this point?

Tim Kring: No, you can only write them as fast as you can write them and we are already moving at such a pace that we can’t really accelerate the process for a strike.

Question: Kristen, Heroes has such hard core fans that want to know any leaks to the story lines, how have you tried to keep quiet about storylines and has anyone come up to you wanting you to leak anything?

Kristen Bell: Yeah, of course, everybody, even among the cast, everybody is always asking everybody else who has more information and unfortunately going into it, maybe because I had a big ole smile on my face or maybe they can sense it, but I had a substantial amount of information and all the other cast members sort of tried to pick it out of me. But I think that I did a pretty good job of just smiling through it and knowing that I was lucky enough to be told a little bit of where my character was going or at least know her first arc. You know it’s hard, because when you have secrets, of course you want to spill them, but you have to realize how important it is and how vital it is to keep them secret, and that it keeps your job, and that its kind of fun when you know a little more information then anyone else.

Question: You’re not excepting bribes or anything?

Kristen Bell: Oh I didn’t say that. (laughs)

Question: Kristen how do you expect your Veronica Mars fan base to react after seeing this more sinister character on Heroes after seeing you for three years as the a character that was this real go getter and always fighting for the little guy and do you get to interact with them a lot?

Kristen Bell: well one thing I will say about Veronica Mars fans is that they are extremely interactive, whether they are on a street corner or on a blog, they are definitely interactive. I hope everyone has fun with it, honestly I’ve been having a blast with it. It’s a little deeper character work when you have really figure out someone’s intentions. Because I don’t even think evil characters are evil, they always think they are doing something right, and its to get to that sort of conflicted, what’s the difference between right and wrong kind of point, which is fun and cool to work on as an actor. I hope everyone is going to have fun with it. I love rooting for the under dog, but it’s also a lot of fun to play a character that is a little crazy.

Question: Kristen it was widely reported that you were offered a recurring role on LOST as well, why did you decide to be on Heroes instead?

Kristen Bell: Well I think the facts of the situation is that the media might have gotten a little ahead of themselves, because I had been spoken too about possibly doing a role on LOST, but I was not actually offered one. That certainly would have been a wonderful opportunity, but I think that I have been such a fan of Heroes from the very beginning that this would have been the dreamiest situation I could have possibly thought up for my next job. So when Tim came forward I sort of pounced on it.

Question: Tim how do you guard against a little bit of fan frustration setting in, because the plot seems to be getting more and more complicated and we seem to be further away from answers then we were three episodes ago. Also at what point in the season can we expect the foray to Canada that you have spoken of before?

Tim Kring: We actually are not a show that tries to keep answers away from the answers. Out feeling on it is that, no answer is so precious that we can’t tell the audience what it is. That being said there is a certain amount of fun with drawing things out that it keeps your interest. But our show changes and morphs all the time. One of the things that we did this season that we didn’t do last year, last season we had one volume and it was called “Genesis” and it happen to be 23 episodes long. So one of the things we found by the end of the year, we were dragging a tremendous amount of story that had to be paid off in that final episode. Which made for an episode that the expectations were so high, and you know it’s hard to meet everybody’s expectations, so this season we are going to have multiple volumes. The first one is called “Generations” start with episode one of this season and ends with episode eleven. Where every question that is raised will be answered so that it’s one complete volume, but then sling shots us into the cliff hanger that takes us into the break and into another volume. If people are feeling the frustration of wanting answers, I think they usually say they want answers but they really enjoy the idea of following the mystery and watching the twist and turns. As for Canada, the show takes that turn in I think two episodes from now.

Question: Tim the story line about Micah’s new family going to focus more on him and Monica then Nichelle Nichols character, does she get more play as the story arc progresses and has the cast now become jaded to meeting Star Trek cast members?

Tim Kring: Nichelle Nichols will be in support of Dana David’s character for a while, but I think was can look for around mid season for that character to emerge in it’s own right. As for the cast being jaded to Star Trek its not really our intention to bring people on from that show, in a strange way it has been an odd coincidence that both people that have walked in to read for both the character of Kaito Nakamura and for the character of Monica’s grandmother have both been from that show. You know it has been a lot of fun for a certain segment of the audience to see that, but clearly there aren’t that many others we can tap into, so as of now we are leaving it at these two.

Question: Kristen with the rise of shows like Chuck and a sudden emphasis on geek subculture, as a female geek icon that is both beautiful and brainy, what are your geeky guilty pleasures?

Kristen Bell: Oh wow my geeky guilty pleasures? Certainly Comic Con would be a geeky guilty pleasure. I think the geekiest of all my pleasures at Comic Con is I definitely try to around and get pictures with every single person who dresses up. Because the people that come in full costume, just fascinate me, absolutely fascinate me. And what’s even more fascinating is that if I was to come in costume like dressed as a Strom Trooper, I would kind of expect the fact that people are going to want picture of me. And most the time when I ask them for pictures they are like so “alright, just make it quick” like its so frustrating for them. (laughs) And it’s so fascinating to me because its like “well dude you are the one who came in costume so don’t get angry with me”. My geeky guilty pleasures, certainly having done Fanboys, anything Star Wars is now sort of wonderful and fascinating to me and the fact that I’m sort of still learning and of course all my friends are fan boys. It’s not so much that I’m not typically going out on my own, as much as I’m learning from them and I have been so embraced by this community that I love it. I’m coming into my own as a fan girl and seeking things out. Like the new Beverly in Los Angeles had a double feature the other night of Tron and The Last Starfighter so was like I kind of need to see that, at least once in my life as that seemed like such an awesome double feature.

Question: What TV shows are you watching right now?

Kristen Bell: Hmm what’s on my TiVo? Pushing Daisies I love and I do of course support and watch our NBC line up of Chuck, Heroes and Journeyman. I’ve watched The Office since it started which I love and I love the BBC, I watch a lot of BBC shows, I don’t watch all that many American shows. I really like Little Brittan and I’m excited that is coming out on HBO and League of Gentlemen, although I’m always kind of into reruns of America’s Funniest Home Videos, that’s sort of my number one. That’s my geekiest guilty pleasure, right there and I don’t feel guilty about it because it’s an awesome show.

Question: Kristen how long can we expect to see you on Heroes and would you be up to a more long term commitment or something where you could come back periodically?

Kristen Bell: Funny that you should ask, I would be up for that. I think that this has been a great relationship so far and there was no hesitancy with entering as far as becoming a main part of the show, just more like well from both ends it was let’s feel each other out and see how you fit into the show and if you’re happy and it’s been a great relationship so far so I will one of the ones with my fingers crossed that I won’t get killed.

Question: Do you know how many episodes you will be on this season?

Kristen Bell: Right now I think I’m signed on for thirteen, which quite certainly it’s at the discretion on how it fits into the major plot line, you know they could use me or I could just sit on the sidelines, but quite frankly I hope they use me because I’m really having a good time. And then at the end of the thirteen we’ve decided to have a powwow and sit down and see if it makes sense for me to continue.

Question: Kristen you are really a fantastic actress and you can pick an choose about doing any platform, what is it about doing television and Heroes in particular that attractive to you creatively?

Kristen Bell: Well what attracted me to Heroes was that when I caught the season premiere it was just so engulfing, it’s like I couldn’t think about anything else. I mean when I’m telling you it was the water cooler conversation, I’m not kidding, like when we would come into Veronica Mars and the entire camera crew would be stand around and be like “ yeah but did you see what happened last night and did you see who Claire’s father is”. There are hooks that people are able to sink into when telling a story that Tim has mastered and I think Rob Thomas mastered, for the much smaller but certainly avid viewers that we had on Veronica Mars. It makes you want to be involved and I think they are also really smart shows and a little harder to follow, which I really respect because when you treat the audience like an intelligent member, you tend to attract intelligent viewers. The medium for me the difference, I mean I really love and miss theater, film is so much fun as well and it’s a little bit more like camp, because you are usually on location for a couple of months that you get really close with then it’s kind of like the end of the summer syndrome. With TV I really like the sense of security and I like the sense of family, I mean I like knowing who I work with. I work in this business because I like performing and I also really like the creative relationships and I think coming to work with people that you love and being able to see them on a daily basis is a really special thing. Not that many people get to absolutely love what they do and I’m lucky to one of those people.

Question: Tim you mentioned at Comic Con that you had an announcement where you wanted to harness the power of Heroes fan base towards something good and you would be making an announcement in the future months, do you have anything to add to that?

Tim Kring: You know I do, but we are a hair to early premature. Just to clarify it became very important to me to tap into what is a very large fan base of people that were not used to being tapped by any philanthropic or charitable ideas, just because of the demographic. So I just saw a tremendous opportunity there with the people who felt a connection to the show and the message of the show, the message of interconnectivity, message of hope and a message of healing and healing the world. There are a few things that we looking at internally of aligning ourselves towards with some various organizations. That I think we could really have a unique way of doing an internet based, web based movement on the fan base, the Heroes fan base. I promise you in the very, very near future we are going to start to talk about it, but right now I really can’t talk about it this second.

Kristen Bell: See, see is why it’s so cool to work for him, see, that’s what I’m saying!

Question: Kristen how is it working for you doing the voiceover for Gossip Girl?

Kristen Bell: Gossip Girl has been great. I have known Josh Swartz for a little bit and was sort of happy when they wanted me involved in it and it’s sort of an easy deal for me because it’s not on camera and I have always dreamt about having a job where I could go and show up in my jammies. So that’s kind of what it is, but I love and support Josh and it’s been a lot of fun.

Question: Are you going to be that Gossip Girl in fact?

Kristen Bell: I don’t think I will ever make an on camera appearance.

Question: Tim it seems like with past episode you are starting to really move the plot forward and narrowing the focus to a few key story lines. Can you talk about balancing the desire to catch people up or bring new people in at the start of the season to getting on with it?

Tim Kring: I think you very much hit the nail on the head with that. You know one of the problems with starting a season you pretty much have to start everything pretty much at the same time, or at least that’s that impulse. And on a show like ours where there’s a lot to cover it can get a bit cluttered but we have now settled into a pattern of telling fewer stories and I think this allows for a more deeper experience within the show and each one of these stories. But one of the pressures becomes the balancing act of people coming in and people sitting out, so not everybody can be in every episode. Par of what happens on any show where you enter into a relationship with your viewers where you teach them how to watch your show and they teach you what they seem to be responding too. So for us I think we are in the process of teaching the audience how to get used to the idea that not everybody is going to be in each episode. Last weeks episode was a great example of it, we didn’t have Hiro, Mazi’s character or Milo’s character, Peter Petrelli and others, in the episode. Those were two big story lines we have followed from the very beginning of the season. And you watched that episode last week and it was compelling and intriguing and I don’t think that you really missed seeing them for one episode, as you know their stories will pick right up where they left off last time.

Question: Kristen you played Veronica Mars, considered joining the cast of LOST and now you are on Heroes, so in other words you seem to be attracted to cult shows, so can you comment a bit on that and also have you ever had any bizarre or funny run ins with what can be assumed to be some pretty nerdy fans?

Kristen Bell: the thing about cult shows for me is that I would so much rather be on a show that people are wildly obsessed with and watch because they can’t not watch it, than be on a show people just turn on because its on prime time television. I think that the whole reason that as a performer and as creator of a TV show you want people to invest in your project, you want people to love it not just like it. And as far as the coolest fans ever, which are some of the ones that I have run into. I mean they can get really intense; I’m not going to lie, the one thing that is different about those fans because they are so invested more times then not, when they see you, there are tears coming and they don’t really know what to do with themselves. Because it’s not just oh there’s a person I watch on a television show, it’s like that’s the person I follow and am deeply invested in and there is a lot of shaking, sweaty palms and tears, but it’s precious, you know precious.

Question: Can you think of any particular episode the funniest or most bizarre?

Kristen Bell: With a fan? Wow, well not really because they are all kind of funny and bizarre, but at the same time lovely, because they are coming up to you because they support you.

Question: Kristen soon you are going to appear before millions of people world wide and you are not playing a teen, (yay) is that a relief to you and do you hope that your Veronica Mars fans with move on with you?

Kristen Bell: Yeah I certainly hope so, because I think that I have always played about ten years younger then I am, which is a major blessing just even in real life. My family is very petite and I have a young looking face and good genes I guess, I’m thankful to my parents. That being said as an actor you know there are certain things I’m going through in my own life in my late 20’s and experiencing and that is what you draw upon in you acting. I hope that I will be accepted as playing closer to my age, I know that I still look a lot younger but I’m thankful to sort of be out of teenageville a little bit. I don’t dislike it at all, I have just had my fill of it, I’ve had a lot of it.

Question: Kristen you said you have been a fan of Heroes for quite some time, so just wondering of all the characters on the show which would you like most to see Elle interact with and if you could steal on their powers which one would it be?

Kristen Bell: Ooh good question! I would like to most interact with, for two different reasons, for on and off camera reasons, with Zachery Quinto, because Zachery Quinto has a been a good friend of mine for almost ten years now and I have always wanted to work with him. Besides the fact that he’s pretty much the coolest thing, because he is so unpredictable and so down right evil and it’s almost hard for me to watch because it is the polar opposite of Zach’s personality. He’s just the kindest, gentlest and giving person and I would love to see him and Elle face off one day I think that would be unbelievable. Stealing powers, well I don’t know about stealing anyone’s power, but the one power that I would like to come up with, as that is the question the cast gets most often, like “what would your superhero power be?” . I have thought long and hard about that and I think my would be multiplicity, because I think it would be great to multiply myself and cook myself dinner or be like hey clean that up. Because I always like if there were more of me I could get so much more done and I’d be so much happier.

Question: Kristen can you talk a little bit about working on Fan Boys and Forgetting Sarah Marshal in your film career?

Kristen Bell: Two of the best experiences of the two years of my life. Fan Boys because it was a lot of friends involved in it and that really introduced me to the world of fan boys which I now love and respect so much. You know it was a bunch of Star wars obsessed guys and I was the only girl in the movie and we had so much fun, I can’t wait for it to come out. And plus there was a lot of people that cameoed from Star Wars, like Carrie Fischer and Billy Dee Williams, and it was a great experience and certainly to be a part of this at this point is kind of a dream come true and I’m happy call those people my friends and I hope to be one of the improv artist they draw upon in the future that can be a part of more of his films. It was a great experience.

Question: Kristen you were Veronica Mars for so long, do you really miss playing her or were you ready to move on?

Kristen Bell: Oh I miss her soo badly. I do I miss the crew and I miss the writers and I miss actually playing her. There’s a certain ease that you get, you know when you have been on a job for while and you just feel like it clicks, when you have a character like that that you have worked with for so long, there is a certain part her that is a little bit her and she’s a little bit you and it’s not only easy after awhile, but it’s really fun.

Question: Kristen you have spoke to us about the moral ambiguity and a little bit about the mental health status of Elle, could you tell us a little bit about her strengths as a character?

Kristen Bell: Oh wow, determination and she’s a very fierce and intense personality, when she want’s something, she wants it and she wants it now, which I think is really good when you are working of the good guys and is really bad when you are working with the bad guys. I think that is kind of what she will 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 is doing is right. But it is because she was raised by the company and not by a normal family that you will 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 she can get a little bit of redemption.

Question: Kristen is there a particular up coming episode that you are very excited about that we should watch out for good Elle stuff in?

Kristen Bell: Yes, unfortunately it might be a little bit of a tease because I start in episode five and then I’m not in six or seven, which is sort of, part of the mystery, at least that’s what I’m saying. Episodes of eight and nine have a lot of Elle, they expose her storyline and a few of the storylines completely revolve around her. The shooting of eight and nine was really great for me, I had a lot of stuff in eight and nine and so I sort of have to hold out myself to be able to see eight and nine and sort of really see how the character reads as far as interacting with all the other storylines.

Question: Kristen there has been talk of rob continuing Veronica Mars in comic book form, between that and the environment you are in now, any aspirations to get in there and maybe write and issue or two yourself?

Kristen Bell: If he invites me? If rob invites me to go mow his lawn I’ll consider it. (laughs) I have heard rumors of that, yes and I certainly hope it comes to fruition. I know Rob is a very busy man and rightfully so, but yeah I would not being opposed to being involved with that at all.

Question: Kristen this character of Elle, will be a character that fans will love or that fans will love to hate?

Kristen Bell: I think that she will go backwards in that area, I think that initially they will love to hate her while they are confused about her intentions. But I think that the more you find out about her the more, well I don’t know because I don’t how it will read, but I hope that the more you find out about her and the deeper you go into her, the more you will sympathize with her.

Question: For fun who is your favorite superhero?

Kristen Bell: I like the little pixie girls, I think because I can relate, I mean it’s great to love like She Hulk, that’s big and dominating but for me it would be like Harlequin or Wasp from Avengers, something like that I can relate to, something I feel I can accomplish.

Question: Kristen you were saying how on the Veronica Mars was the water cooler topic, have any of your former cast mates have prodded you about your new role?

Kristen Bell: Oh my God every single one of them. Every single one of them! We were talking about it this morning, because I was having breakfast with Ryan Hansen who played Dick Casablancas, and he of course was asking all the questions. We watched last night and every one was texting me and was really excited. The editors and Tim sort of really made it a big deal at the end of the show that I was coming on and I was so flattered. But our whole crew watched the show, so I get a lot of text messages, and I kind of like to hold it over their head, I’m not going to lie. It’s kind of exciting to say “well why don’t you just watch” and they are like “Arrggghh! Kristen!”.

Question: So they have not seen anything of your new role?

Kristen Bell: No, only the preview from last night. (Wednesday Oct. 17th)

Question: Kristen everybody at some point imagines what it would be like to have a superpower, what’s it like portraying a superpower on screen?

Kristen Bell: You know what, with out having the digital effects people, and with out seeing it right away, because it looks so easy on the show.

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