Zoe Bell could have kicked my ass when I botched a question in the middle of our interview. She let it go, so I’ll leave it in just to show how cool and gracious she is. She plays a roller babe in Whip It, Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut about a roller derby team.

Crave Online: How long did you train at skating?

Zoe Bell: I think I probably had a month and a half.

Crave Online: It’s impressive to get that good so fast. Was it every day?

Zoe Bell: The three weeks before was like the boot camp. I had a couple weeks prior to that, just turning up to what they literally call Fresh Meat. When you’re new at roller derby, you’re fresh meat. I’m like, really? I’m fresh meat? But I’m not that [fresh]. I put on the skates and I was like who am I kidding. I’m fresh meat. You need to teach me something because I’m not very good at this.

Crave Online: Did you have a lot of takes ruined by accidental wipeouts?

Zoe Bell: Not really ruined. I think most of those got used. Like, “Yeah, it was awesome.”

Crave Online: So you just kept filming?

Zoe Bell: If you don’t get back up, then we lose the shot. If you eat sh*t and get back up and get back out and stay in character, that’s awesome because it happens in the game. That’s what happens in the game.

Crave Online: How much leg power did you develop from skating?

Zoe Bell: Psh, come check it out. They were there but they got a little bit fitter. They enjoyed it.

Crave Online: What’s the difference between acting with Quentin Tarantino and doing something with a female director but still being tough?

Zoe Bell: Each director has their own style and both Drew and Quentin, Quentin’s very much his own character and Drew is a very specific personality and she has a very direct way of doing it. The similarities were I was surrounded by incredible women on both movies. I’d sit there sometimes like, “How did I do that?” The incredible women that I had costarring with me on Death Proof and then the girls that I was surrounded with on Whip It are amazing but both directors have a very clear vision of what they want. Both directors, in my opinion, have a real respect for actors and what actors bring to the table. Quentin obviously doesn’t come from the background of acting the same way Drew does but they were in conversation about me before I got on the movie. Quentin was like, “So, Drew called me.” Excuse me, what? Then I suddenly realized it’s Quentin Tarantino because he becomes Quentin. Like he’s Quentin, then like dude, Quentin Tarantino and Drew Barrymore talking about me? This is awesome.

Crave Online: Is skating around a track nothing compared to samurai sword fighting and hanging from a moving car?

Zoe Bell: It’s so funny when you say it like that. It makes me sound silly to say no but I found skating to be very difficult because I hadn’t done any of it. So when I first got on skates, I spent more time on my ass than I did on my feet, and laughing a lot because I really hadn’t felt that uncoordinated in a long time and I found it to be highly entertaining. But once I started to figure it out, then it becomes all the same thing. It becomes about the shot.

Crave Online: Is it different than doing a stunt because it’s less choreographed?

Zoe Bell: It’s all the same. There’s an element of the choreography, especially when you’ve got multiple people and a bunch of wheels. You choreograph as much as you can. You have the foundation of being choreographed and having everybody on the same page as possible so that then you have the freedom to be spontaneous with it.

Crave Online: Did you shoot in front of a real crowd?

Zoe Bell: A lot of them. I ate serious sh*t in front of a real crowd.

Crave Online: Did some of the girls pick it up easier than others?

Zoe Bell: I think with the team of us girls that it became, it’s irrelevant who’s at what level. I’m naturally more likely to be faster to pick it up because that’s what I’ve been doing my whole life and I don’t have the fear of falling over, so that I am more gutsy attempting stuff. So I sit here and then Eve comes in later than me but she picks up quickly so she sits here and then Drew’s here and Ellen’s here. But it becomes all about the team. All of us are just there in support of each other so it’s irrelevant where I am or where she is or where Ari is because there’s just where we are as a team. I know that sounds kind of wanky but it’s completely true.

Crave Online: What would your real roller derby name be?

Zoe Bell: I don't know, I liked Bloody Holly. Is that bad?

Crave Online: Would Zoe Bell be too contrived?

Zoe Bell: That’s what it is. There’s a young girl in the junior roller derby dolls and her name is Zoe Hell after me. I was so touched by that. I thought it was the coolest thing.