The Oldenburg Film Festival, Germany’s leading indie film fest, will honor actress and stunt legend Zoë Bell this year with a tribute to her life’s work.
Born and raised in New Zealand, Bell first became known in the late 90s as the stunt double for Lucy Lawless in the fantasy action series Xena: Warrior Princess (1995-2001). Her work attracted attention from Hollywood, particularly from Quentin Tarantino, who cast her as Uma Thurman’s stunt double for Kill Bill : Vol. 1 (2003) and Kill Bill: Vol.2 (2004).
Tarantino was so impressed, he gave Bell her first leading role as an actress, having her play a version of herself in his grindhouse revenge thriller Death Proof (2007) alongside Kurt Russell. She became a Tarantino regular, with roles in Django Unchained (2012), The Hateful Eight (2015) and Once Upon a Time…In Hollywood (2019), in the latter as stunt coordinator Janet Miller, wife of Kurt Russell’s stuntman character Randy Miller.
“Zoë is actually the greatest stuntwoman in the world,” Tarantino has said of Bell. “And she’s one of my best friends — like a sister to me.”
She has continued to work as both stuntwoman, on such features as Iron Man 3 (2013) and Thor: Ragnarok (2017), and actress, playing roller derby star “Bloody Holly” in Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut, Whip It (2009), the assassin Eve in cult classic Angel of Death (2009), and Scorpion in James Wan’s horror feature Malignant (2021). She’s a four-time winner of the Taurus World Stunt Awards.
Oldenburg will screen a selection of Bell’s films for the tribute, including Death Proof, Once Upon a Time in…Hollywood, Angel of Death, and Double Dare, Amanda Micheli’s 2004 documentary about Bell and veteran stuntwoman Jeannie Epper.
After years of campaigning by the stunt and filmmaking community, stunt work will finally receive official recognition at the 100th Academy Awards in 2027, with a new competitive category, Achievement in Stunt Design.
“For far too long, stunt work was regarded as the invisible art of cinema — indispensable, but unseen,” said Oldenburg, announcing the Bell tribute. “Zoë Bell broke with that pattern. Over the course of more than three decades, she transformed the work of the double into an artistic performance in its own right; she became one of the defining physical presences of modern genre cinema and, in the process, a star herself.”
Bell is attending the Oldenburg festival where she will present her films. The 33rd Oldenburg Film Festival runs Sept. 16-20.