"FHM 5/1/2000"
The Big JAG!
She's saucy, seductive, and loves a man in uniform:
Meet Catherine Bell.
You've met a few real JAG lawyers - is your role a realistic representation
of what they get up to?
They say it's realistic, but that they wouldn't do 90% of the stuff
we do. They spend most of their time in court and not hanging from
the bottom of helicopters, ha ha; but they do say we put forward
a very realistic portrayal other than that.
Have you ever gone up in an F-14 Tomcat?
Not a Tomcat, but I did go up in a F-16 Thunderbird. I got up to
nine Gs'! I got a pin for that, and the pilot was nice enough to
slow it down a bit for me, ha ha. He also let me do a few loops
and rolls. It's like playing an arcade fame, you use a joystick.
I couldn't see if I was up or down, but he guided me. It was incredible.
You're on record saying that you "don't have a personal life
anymore." What hours do you work?
I always say that, but it's true. We usually work 14-hour days,
and sometimes 16 to 18 days, which doesn't leave much time for anything
else - most Sundays are spent recovering. Sometimes you work all
the way through to 5am, then get a few hours and you're back on
set again. When I do get time, I like to hike and I take lots of
vitamins and powders to keep healthy. I try to discipline myself
to spend 15 minutes working out each day as a minimum.
What were you doing when you found out you'd got the role of "Mac"
MacKenzie in JAG?
That's a funny story. My husband and I were sitting at our dining
room table looking at a stack of bills trying to work out a way
we could pay them. We'd already borrowed money and I was thinking
we'd have to borrow more. I'd been working two jobs and my husband
had taken on another while I did acting classes. I got the call
and my agent said, "You're not supposed to know this yet, but
you've got the part..." I started crying and we went out and
brought the cheapest bottle of champagne we could fine.
How did you get into acting?
I started when I was in college because I was shy and thought it
would be a good way to break out of that. So I did a bit of acting
and thought "that's scary, I'm gonna have to do it again."
I'm a firm believer in doing things that scare you. I love to go
bungee jumping, jump out of planes, ride motorbikes, do kickboxing.
I love all that stuff.
You were also a "body double" for Isabella Rossellini
(in Death Becomes her). What was that like?
It was strange, because I was showing my butt all day and all these
guys (on the set) were hitting on me. It was like, "you're
showing your butt on camera, why don't you show me?", and they
were so sleazy and gross.... Actually, I met my husband on that
film. He was assistant to the director, Robert Zemeckis, and the
only guy who didn't treat me like a 'thing'. I was gone as soon
as I spoke to him.
Do director's think they can get away with more with a body double
than they can with the "star"?
Well, I don't have that experience but I know what you mean, there's
meaningless shower scenes written in to scripts to show off someone's
breasts.... I had to wear a bikini for the JAG episode we filmed
in Australia, but that was okay because it was fun, and practically
straight after I was approached by Playboy. I didn't do it because
I didn't want my uncles going, "I know what your nipples look
like," every time I saw them. But I did ask how much, and it
was an incredible sum of money. It was kind of flattering but the
shots I did for FHM were without doubt the sexist I have done and,
I think, far sexier than anything Playboy could do. I was like "are
these photo's of me?!"
How long were you in Australia for?
Only two weeks. Didn't get to see much except for the Opera House,
Luna Park, and the Harbour Bridge - basically wherever we were shooting.
No time for sweeping plains and rugged mountain ranges, then?
Well, I did get to go out to the Blue Mountains with some friends,
but it was so foggy while we were driving around there that they
were pointing out into the mist and going, "Well if we could
see, this is where the so and so is." I ended up looking at
all the things I couldn't see on the drive on postcards. I was pretty
funny.
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