Last year I interviewed “Army Wives” actress Catherine Bell for Turner Entertainment’s “Good Morning Killer”. It was premiering Tuesday, December 13, 2011 on TNT. Bell was a delightful person to interview and time just flew by as we discussed her recent project.

How you do to keep up the positive attitude and keep creating such great work?

Catherine Bell: Well, you know, I guess it’s just who I am. I don’t know. I kind of just enjoy life and try to keep finding fun projects to work on; and I’m fortunate enough to keep finding them and people want to make them with me. And in between, I intersperse that with my family, my kids and, you know, try and enjoy life.

What is it like playing an FBI agent?

Catherine Bell: I’d never played an FBI agent and found it fascinating just trying to get into the mind of a, you know, a kidnapper, a rapist and track this guy. It sounds very fascinating. And obviously it was based on a wonderful novel so we had a lot of things to draw from. And it’s a very rich, rewarding experience actually.

There are several other novels featuring your character. Is this something you’d like to continue doing later - revisiting the character?

Catherine Bell: I would love to. It’s actually something we talked about from the beginning. And it ended up being such a wonderful filming experience I think for all of us involved that we were instantly hoping to do more. So hopefully it goes in that direction.

Is there an aspect of this character that you connect with or you really just didn’t like?

Catherine Bell: I actually found her fascinating. She’s not a perfect woman by any means. She’s very smart, very good at her job, very much in control there. But very much not in control in her personal life, picks very bad relationships. And definitely has some issues, which I found as an actress really fun to play, you know.

What was the most interesting thing that you learned about being an FBI agent?

Catherine Bell: You know, I really didn’t know too much about the FBI. I got a chance to go down to the headquarters in Los Angeles and really learned a lot just touring the offices for several hours and finding out, you know, all the different areas that they cover from bank robberies to terrorism and, you know, anything of course that crosses state lines.

But also like hate crimes and cyber crimes and things like that, which I really didn’t fully understand what the FBI did and how they protect us as American Citizens; and they’re kind of a combination of sort of military and law enforcement, just everything rolled into one. And I gained some new knowledge and respect.

If the Internet movie database is to be believed, William Devane started working the year you were born. What was it like working with such a veteran actor?

Catherine Bell: It was fantastic. He plays my grandfather in the script as a great character, kind of just a crotchety old, you know, cop who thinks he knows better then me and thinks the FBI are a bunch of (whooses) and, you know, so we have this sort of love-hate relationship. But we had a blast. He’s definitely been around and, you know, knows how to fill a character’s shoes. It was really fun.

How much research do you think is needed? When do you know when you’ve done enough research, you’ve got your character and you feel like you can continue. You can perform the role?

Catherine Bell: To me it’s kind of ongoing even throughout the filming I think. There’s a point in the beginning where you really know nothing about the character. And to me that’s always scary --depends on how close you’re getting to start of production date.

Very rapidly it all starts to come together, which reading the script and reading the novel and meeting FBI agents and asking a ton of questions -- just doing your research. It’s like little by little, it’s like you’re putting on layers of this character, and you start to kind of get a sense of it.

And for me, it usually all comes together on the first day of filming where, okay, there I am and I’m in a costume. I’m wearing the suit of this FBI agent. I’ve got the badge, the gun, and you start saying the lines. And then it kind of - it all comes together and progresses over the next few days.

But even then I’m always looking and searching and finding out more. I really think that the more you study, the more you do that, the more you find.

What were some of your favorite moments that you had while filming “Good Morning Killer?”

Catherine Bell: Oh, let’s see. So many. It was really, really one of the best experiences I’ve had filming, both the story and everyone involved in making it. All the actors were really wonderful from Cole Hauser and Titus Welliver and some great, great talent.

But I don’t know. I loved doing the scenes that involved the killer, the bad guy. Those were - without giving anything away or what kind of scenes they were, very intense and very emotional and, yes, kind of very challenging to shoot a well. But yes, those are probably my favorite I would have to say.

And why do you think people will want to take the time to watch “Good Morning Killer?”

Catherine Bell: Well, if they’re anything like me, they like to be entertained and so many people - myself included - like mysteries and thrillers. I know I’ve always been fascinated with serial killers or the kidnapper/rapist. What makes somebody do that? And to me it’s fascinating. So to have something that’s based on such a wonderful novel with such a great story I think makes for some good, fun popcorn-eating, soda-drinking movie watching.

What are the other projects you’re working on?

Catherine Bell: Yes. Well, let’s see, we’ve got - I’m doing “Army Wives” right now. We just got picked up for ten more episodes in this season. I’ll be busy for a little while but - yes, yes, we’ll do 23 episodes now. And hoping to, you know, some talk of maybe another, “Good Morning Killer,” movie or series after “Army Wives”. Or some other projects that I’m working on as well as the producer and developing, but you know me, always - I’m always busy -- always working on something.

http://www.movieroar.com/catherine-bell-talks-army-wives-good-morning-killer-researching-characters/