In a new comedy "In A World...," Lake Bell stars as a vocal coach with big aspirations to break into the male-dominated world of movie trailer voice-overs. Her character, Carol, finds herself competing against her own father (Fred Melamed), the reigning king of the insular industry, for a prestigious job: the trailer for a blockbuster "quadrilogy" called "The Amazon Games."
Ms. Bell, 34, known for her quirky roles in films like Ivan Reitman's "No Strings Attached" and on HBO's short-lived "How to Make it in America," wrote and directed "In a World...," which won a screenwriting award this year at the Sundance Film Festival. Next year, she will star in "Million Dollar Arm" a big-budget baseball film, playing the love interest of Jon Hamm.
Over coffee in Brooklyn, Ms. Bell, who recently wed artist Scott Campbell, talked about the film, due in select theaters Aug. 9 Edited excerpts:
You've been fascinated with voice-over artists from the time you were a kid, right?
It started super young, being enthralled with the voice as the ultimate acting experience, where you can create characterization without being judged by what you looked like. It became a habit of mine to collect accents. Fast forward to the first year of drama school, which was devoted solely to working the vocal instrument. We had to learn dialects via phonetics. I had this demo CD of all these accents and dialects and emotional characters. I loved that I could play any nationality, any gender for that matter, and was good at it.
Did you try to get voice-over jobs?
When I first came to L.A., I thought I was going to be one of the great voice-over artists, that I could take on any person and create these highly complicated vocal characterizations. I realized it was total naiveté to think I can roll into someone else's industry and conquer it without paying my dues.
What was the industry like?
It was so tightknit, and there were already people dominating certain sections of the industry. There was one woman doing purely branded voice-over content, like tampon commercials, and there was one woman who would do the sultry thing, maybe sell a car here and there. There was another woman who was clean and presentational a la The Emmys, Melissa Disney, who I got to know through the movie. I even wrote a part for her because she is the first woman who ever did a movie trailer voice-over. She did the "Gone in 60 Seconds" [Nicolas Cage movie] trailer, which is like the only trailer voiced by a woman.
Do you have any theories on why the movie-trailer business is so male-dominated?
I read a theory that with a male voice, both women and men can absorb it as an authority. But a disembodied female voice, women can absorb it, but men don't listen to it. They just can't absorb the information in the same way. I feel like that's what every sitcom in America is about.
What, it's like a dog whistle?
I know. I was like, "Are you serious? That's horrible!" So, maybe that's true, or maybe it's the fact that in the bible the capital-H "He" is God. And the voice of God is therefore male.
DId you start writing this after the famous voice-actor Don LaFontaine died in 2008?
When I heard he died, it was a seed in my brain, like "God, he was great" When I joke around with my friends, I would use the phrase "In a world" [often used by Mr. LaFontaine] to narrate people's lives, like when they went to get a coffee, I'd say "In a world where one woman tried to get a coffee, but couldn't." It occurred to me when I was having a conversation with a friend, "Isn't it funny that no woman ever gets to say "in a world" - or do any movie trailer for that matter?" I remember thinking, "What if a woman set out to be the first to ever utter the words 'In a world'?" So, Don LaFontaine died five years ago, and I started writing like 4 1/2 years ago. It definitely dovetailed.
Tell me about casting Fred Melamed as your father.
I saw him initially in [the Coen brothers' 2009 film] "A Serious Man." H was tonally perfect, with this beautiful booming voice. When I met him, he revealed to me that not only did he want to do the part, but he assumed that the reason I wanted him for the role was because he had been a voice-over artist for 20 years. I had not clue, but I of course nodded and said, "Yes! Of course that's why."
Did you feel like you had to write this role for yourself in order to play the type of woman you want to play?
That is one of the reasons for sure. Obviously in studio pictures there are only a handful of roles you can get, and often the lead character - if it is a female character - isn't that fun. I enjoyed playing the best friend or the weird co-worker or whatever because they are fun.
Before you shot this movie, you wrote a short film that starred Michaela Watkins ("Enlightened"), who co-stars in "In a World..." as your sister.
The short was "Worst Enemy," about a female misanthrope who gets stuck in a full body girdle that she buys on television. I wrote it for [Ms. Watkins]. And I loved shooting the informercial for the girdle, the Fat 2 Fab Extreme.
You did that short to test out directing?
Yes. "In a World..." had already been written. I had delivered it to my agent, and we had been shopping for directors. We couldn't find the right person. My agent at the time, Billy Lazarus, was like "Why don't you f---ing direct it?" I balked at it. I didn't want to direct a feature film without having been in that position before. So he was like, "Write and direct a short film. What are we doing here?"
Was "The Amazon Games" quadrilogy supposed to be a parody of "The Hunger Games"?
It's an amalgamation of all those "Hunger Games" and "Twilight" movies. I liked the idea that they are constantly trying to up the ante and find the newest thing. If trilogy is played out, you do a quadrilogy. If a male omniscient voice isn't good enough, then you look for a female voice. One of my favorite parts of the writing process was writing the copy for the trailer of "The Amazon Games" because it's so absurd, yet so believable. It was this: "One woman, among beasts who had to fend for her land."
Are you going to direct again?
I am writing something else. I should keep my mouth shut. But it's called "What's the Point?" and it's a comedy about marriage, an unromantic romance story. I started writing it three years ago. I was so far from getting married, and my perspective on marriage was so cynical. Cut to now, when my perspective has vastly changed. Getting back into that script being newly married has been interesting.
In A World ... Trailer
Source: 1, 2
Ms. Bell, 34, known for her quirky roles in films like Ivan Reitman's "No Strings Attached" and on HBO's short-lived "How to Make it in America," wrote and directed "In a World...," which won a screenwriting award this year at the Sundance Film Festival. Next year, she will star in "Million Dollar Arm" a big-budget baseball film, playing the love interest of Jon Hamm.
Over coffee in Brooklyn, Ms. Bell, who recently wed artist Scott Campbell, talked about the film, due in select theaters Aug. 9 Edited excerpts:
You've been fascinated with voice-over artists from the time you were a kid, right?
It started super young, being enthralled with the voice as the ultimate acting experience, where you can create characterization without being judged by what you looked like. It became a habit of mine to collect accents. Fast forward to the first year of drama school, which was devoted solely to working the vocal instrument. We had to learn dialects via phonetics. I had this demo CD of all these accents and dialects and emotional characters. I loved that I could play any nationality, any gender for that matter, and was good at it.
Did you try to get voice-over jobs?
When I first came to L.A., I thought I was going to be one of the great voice-over artists, that I could take on any person and create these highly complicated vocal characterizations. I realized it was total naiveté to think I can roll into someone else's industry and conquer it without paying my dues.
What was the industry like?
It was so tightknit, and there were already people dominating certain sections of the industry. There was one woman doing purely branded voice-over content, like tampon commercials, and there was one woman who would do the sultry thing, maybe sell a car here and there. There was another woman who was clean and presentational a la The Emmys, Melissa Disney, who I got to know through the movie. I even wrote a part for her because she is the first woman who ever did a movie trailer voice-over. She did the "Gone in 60 Seconds" [Nicolas Cage movie] trailer, which is like the only trailer voiced by a woman.
Do you have any theories on why the movie-trailer business is so male-dominated?
I read a theory that with a male voice, both women and men can absorb it as an authority. But a disembodied female voice, women can absorb it, but men don't listen to it. They just can't absorb the information in the same way. I feel like that's what every sitcom in America is about.
What, it's like a dog whistle?
I know. I was like, "Are you serious? That's horrible!" So, maybe that's true, or maybe it's the fact that in the bible the capital-H "He" is God. And the voice of God is therefore male.
DId you start writing this after the famous voice-actor Don LaFontaine died in 2008?
When I heard he died, it was a seed in my brain, like "God, he was great" When I joke around with my friends, I would use the phrase "In a world" [often used by Mr. LaFontaine] to narrate people's lives, like when they went to get a coffee, I'd say "In a world where one woman tried to get a coffee, but couldn't." It occurred to me when I was having a conversation with a friend, "Isn't it funny that no woman ever gets to say "in a world" - or do any movie trailer for that matter?" I remember thinking, "What if a woman set out to be the first to ever utter the words 'In a world'?" So, Don LaFontaine died five years ago, and I started writing like 4 1/2 years ago. It definitely dovetailed.
Tell me about casting Fred Melamed as your father.
I saw him initially in [the Coen brothers' 2009 film] "A Serious Man." H was tonally perfect, with this beautiful booming voice. When I met him, he revealed to me that not only did he want to do the part, but he assumed that the reason I wanted him for the role was because he had been a voice-over artist for 20 years. I had not clue, but I of course nodded and said, "Yes! Of course that's why."
Did you feel like you had to write this role for yourself in order to play the type of woman you want to play?
That is one of the reasons for sure. Obviously in studio pictures there are only a handful of roles you can get, and often the lead character - if it is a female character - isn't that fun. I enjoyed playing the best friend or the weird co-worker or whatever because they are fun.
Before you shot this movie, you wrote a short film that starred Michaela Watkins ("Enlightened"), who co-stars in "In a World..." as your sister.
The short was "Worst Enemy," about a female misanthrope who gets stuck in a full body girdle that she buys on television. I wrote it for [Ms. Watkins]. And I loved shooting the informercial for the girdle, the Fat 2 Fab Extreme.
You did that short to test out directing?
Yes. "In a World..." had already been written. I had delivered it to my agent, and we had been shopping for directors. We couldn't find the right person. My agent at the time, Billy Lazarus, was like "Why don't you f---ing direct it?" I balked at it. I didn't want to direct a feature film without having been in that position before. So he was like, "Write and direct a short film. What are we doing here?"
Was "The Amazon Games" quadrilogy supposed to be a parody of "The Hunger Games"?
It's an amalgamation of all those "Hunger Games" and "Twilight" movies. I liked the idea that they are constantly trying to up the ante and find the newest thing. If trilogy is played out, you do a quadrilogy. If a male omniscient voice isn't good enough, then you look for a female voice. One of my favorite parts of the writing process was writing the copy for the trailer of "The Amazon Games" because it's so absurd, yet so believable. It was this: "One woman, among beasts who had to fend for her land."
Are you going to direct again?
I am writing something else. I should keep my mouth shut. But it's called "What's the Point?" and it's a comedy about marriage, an unromantic romance story. I started writing it three years ago. I was so far from getting married, and my perspective on marriage was so cynical. Cut to now, when my perspective has vastly changed. Getting back into that script being newly married has been interesting.
In A World ... Trailer
Source: 1, 2