America Olivo, Erin Cummings, Julia Voth, and Zoe Bell ('Bitch Slap')

Interview by Stacie Ponder

Given my enthusiastic response to the film, when the ladies of Bitch Slap walked into the interview room it was a little difficult for me not to turn into some awful parody of that old Chris Farley character. "Ooh, ooh, that part? Where you punched her in the boob? That was awesome. And that one line was so funny- can you say that one line? Man, I liked this movie. And then? When you're all wailing on each other? Ummm...you're pretty." Thankfully, I managed a quick moment of meditation to focus my mind so I could actually, you know, ask some questions of actresses Erin Cummings, America Olivo, and Julia Voth...oh yeah, and stunt coordinator Zoe Bell...

Bitch Slap is a hyperkinetic homage to the exploitation flicks of yore, inspired by the work of Russ Meyer. Three con women set out to to acquire several hundred million dollars worth of diamonds, and along the way they double-cross each other, spew lightning-fast dialogue at each other, make out with each other, and punch each other. In the words of Meyer's Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to violence."

From left to right, Julia Voth, America Olivo, and Erin Cummings

Oh yes, there's violence- including what Zoe Bell calls "the longest, baddest, best bitch fight in cinema history". Bitch Slap marks Bell's foray behind the camera, coordinating and not simply performing. She explains a bit how she made that epic fight come together: "I was like alright, awesome! I was excited to work with these guys and I was excited about the concept of the freedom I had. I was a little bit daunted… but it turns out I didn't need to be. I put a lot of work into it. It went on and on and on for weeks and weeks and weeks, and then training them and figuring out what works, but it's pretty satisfying watching it all come together. I've never been on that side of it (the camera), so it's like, 'Holy shit, I orchestrated that!'"

Aside from the challenges of making it all come together, Bell was also tasked with training three actresses who had very little experience with combat and stunts. All of them, however, quickly rose to the occasion. "They're all physically talented and capable of listening, which is so key- especially when you're in your own front yard and you've got half an hour to make three girls as bad-ass as possible," she says. "They were all really dedicated and excited to make it look good. Especially being a woman of action, I know that something might feel awkward, but I know what's gonna make you look cool...and they all trusted me." Yes, you read that right- the practice arena for this low-budget affair was Bell's front yard where Bell says they laid out a bedspread "so we didn't get itchy from the grass."

America Olivo (Camero)

For their part, some of the actresses found their biggest challenges in areas outside of the Bell-choreographed combat. For Erin Cummings, who portrays the firebrand party leader Hel, the most taxing task was simply standing around: "I'm not even kidding- because when you're standing in the sand, wearing 3 and a half inch heels...my heels would start slowly sinking in. The scenes where I'm just standing there having a conversation were the worst. It was a fucking nightmare. Fight scenes I'll take any day."

During her performance as the "innocent" Trixie, Julia Voth discovered that strippers do indeed work hard for their money. "It looked kinda easy, but I had, like, 8-inch stilettos on with 20-pound angel wings on my back," she explains. "Walking in the heels alone was challenging, and then dancing and looking sexy and everything...trying to keep myself composed was probably the hardest for me. Not as easy as it looks." Think about that the next time you're stuffing a dollar in a g-string, people!

On the other hand, America Olivo, who may have the most physical role as the hot-headed Camero, found the fight scenes challenging enough, thank you very much- especially considering her background in singing. " Julliard does not have a class that teaches you anything remotely like what I had to do in Bitch Slap!" Often relegated to the role of mistress or girlfriend where she was "killed in the first five minutes", however, she welcomed this change of pace enthusiastically. "It was fun not only to get to play a lead in something this grand, but to get to do all the things that usually men get to do in action films. Fight scenes, getting dirty, playing on a green screen- the whole thing was fun, a circus to read. Yeah, not what I thought I'd be doing when I got my degree in opera theatre."

A fight scene Zoe probably made up!

In case you're wondering about what I meant when I mentioned up top that the girls "make out with each other", well, yeah- Bitch Slap is super gay. There's lots of instances where girls enthusiastically kiss girls...even though they're girls! By the time these actresses are done with all the press attention for the film, they'll most likely be tired of talking about the "challenges" faced with sharing kisses (and gropes) with each other, but for now, they're happy to explain how it all...err...went down. Says Cummings, "One of our camera operators is bisexual, so once she let that little secret slip, I was like, 'Okay, so what do you think about this? Should we do this? Did that look real?' We had an on-set gay! Julia and I talked about it, and we all feel like, if you're going to do a fight scene or a lesbian scene, whatever you're going to do, you want to make it something that's real." For the record, every movie should have an "on-set gay".

Julia Voth didn't shy away from anything, despite the fact that Bitch Slap is the model-turned-actress's first film: "Yeah, my first on-screen kiss was (America), my first on-screen a lot more than a kiss was (Erin). We all became friends so it was very comfortable. I trust them, we talked about it- Erin and I basically just said nothing's off limits. Can I grab your hair? Yeah! Can I stick my tongue in your mouth? Yeah! Can I grab your boob? Yeah!" Adds Cummings, "Julia's taking my leg and putting it behind my head and I'm like, that's cool!"

Julia Voth (Trixie)

"To make it real, you've gotta sell it," says Voth. "To be able to do that, you've got to be extremely comfortable with that person and just go for it- and I think that's what we did. I'm very proud of both scenes. No complaints, so I think that's good."

Erin Cummings lays it on the line: "I want lesbians to watch this and go yeah, that's pretty hot- I wanna be in the middle of that. I want guys to look at this movie and go yeah, that's hot, I wanna be in the middle of that. Otherwise, what's the point? Truth be told, look at the two of them (Olivo and Voth). It's not the worst thing in the world to have to kiss them. I'd rather kiss a pretty girl than an ugly guy, right?"