‘The Last Exorcism Part II’s Ashley Bell Talks Demonic To THN

While most found-footage entries have us rolling our eyes, one effort impressed largely thanks to a lead character doing exactly that. Daniel Stamm’s THE LAST EXORCISM followed a documentary crews attempt, along with a now faithless reverend, to disprove the methods secretly used in the church for exorcisms. Rising star Ashely Bell gave an impressive, tormented performance as Nell Sweetzer, the young teen daughter of a Louisiana farmer claiming she’s lost to demonic forces.

Bell reprises her role in the sequel, THE LAST EXORCISM PART II, which has dropped the found-footage aspect in favour of a standard narrative. THN were lucky enough to put some questions to the actress about her back-breaking return in the Eli Roth-produced chiller, due in US cinemas tomorrow.

Could you tell us at which point Nell’s life is at in the new film?

Part two begins where part one ended. We find Nell raw and vulnerable from the last exorcism in the last film. She doesn’t remember anything that happened to her and she’s thrown into the middle of New Orleans. Here’s a girl that’s been so sheltered, she doesnt know what and iPod is, so she’s thrown onto New Orleans, she’s thrown into Mardi Gras and there is temptation everywhere and it’s left for her to choose good and evil.

Where there any apprehensions returning to such a dark role?

I think I was always more excited to come back. I so loved playing Nell for the first film. Getting a chance to build a character like Nell and then building her polar opposite, Abalam, the Devil. So when discussions were happening about coming back for a part two, and re-exploring where Nell, physically and mentally, would be, I was really looking forward to stepping back into my Doc Martins (laughs).

Was the new script always going to be played as a straight forward horror narrative rather than returning to a found-footage aspect?

Yes and I thought that’s what was so brilliant about Eli Roth and Strike Entertainment was that everybody was expecting another found-footage film and when the trailer came out and people saw that it was a straight narrative, it was really shocking and it immediately turned the tables and think that very much set the standard for the surprises that will come when people see this film.

How much do you bring physically to the role, in terms of the body contortions, and how much is actually special effects?

It was really always important to continue to do all my own physicality. So for part two it is all me! Everything you see as me, is me. It was important to be truthful to the character and the whole process of the film in that way. For part two, if you’ve seen the trailer, there this whole levitating back-bend, which is how we ‘one-uped’ the last back-bend and that was something I was really excited to be able to do. I was really happy that I was given clearance to do. The stunt guys on-set said, “You have to get her on 6-8 takes”, and I think we did it about 20 times and each take we found something new with Ed Gass-Donnelly. A different layer, a different shade, a different quirk, a different element to play and building upon that scene was really fun. It was probably the most challenging day on set but the most rewarding because physically it was dangerous. I was up about 15 feet suspended in the air and there was a physical therapist on set to pop my shoulder out between takes and the bed was heated so I could hyper contort like that. It’s so funny because as an actress, I come from classical training, I never knew until I began experimenting physically with the role that I could be that flexible but it ended up being my ‘thing’ (laughs).

How different an experience was it working with Ed, the new director, as opposed to Daniel with the first film?

I was a fan of and met Ed after he worked on a film called SMALL TOWN MURDER SONGS, which is just a beautiful film. He wrote it, directed it, edited it, composed the music himself and I think he did everything in the film (laughs) and it’s just a beautiful, slow burner of a film. So working with him, he just added a whole different element, a whole different style to this film. He really wanted to just paint it across New Orleans and allow the secret side of New Orleans to seep through and you can pretty much see that in the exorcism scenes how much voodoo plays a role.

Is Eli Roth a producer that likes to be involved in the creative process, or does he allow the director to make it his own?

Eli Roth is such a master of his genre. He knows how to turn something scary into something truly terrifying and what was fun about this was, a sequel wasn’t just jumped into. He wanted to make sure he had a story and had a way to spin the sequel and turn it on its head. Because he knows the genre he can break the rules and make something audiences haven’t seen before. Going into part two, there is a twist at the end that only someone like Eli Roth could pull off. I think audiences are going to be very, very surprised at the direction it takes.

Was it daunting going back to something that was so successful in the genre? 

I think it was always important to be true to the character and to be true to where Nell was at both physically and mentally to always challenge myself. I really look forward to that and that was what was so fun about the first film. That she was so complex and so vulnerable as she walked that tightrope by either being on the verge of a mental breakdown or possessed by the demon and that was so much fun to play, so going into part two, I was really looking forward to piecing together Nell again, to see where she would be at after what happened to her. The set sets the tone and it was such a collaborative, fun set to be on I felt I could be true to Nell.

Is there a need to research a role like Nell, considering the religious aspect and themes of both the films?

Very much so. I love to seep myself in research and ground myself in research in a sense. I find the more I research, the more fun it is to slip into a character. I looked into a lot of exorcism movies. I read priest logs. I listened to voiceovers and audio recordings of exorcisms and also a lot of pictures of people who, for the first one, hysteric breaks, and in looking at these pictures it inspired me to try that physicality out myself. For the first film I read a lot of exorcism accounts and people would describe an exorcism account as somebody’s body being overcome as if a battle was going on inside of them and it inspired me to try that and work on that back-bend and I showed Daniel Stamm this when he asked if I had any ideas and he said, “Okay, you stay there. I’m going to change somethings”, and I had no idea that would become the poster image for those films and become such an iconic pose.

We obviously don’t know the outcome of the latest film but would you be adverse for coming back for a third time?

I would of course, seize that opportunity. I think the devil never has a last exorcism. There is always another element of evil to be uncovered and I would love to step back into my Doc Martins again to see what more trouble I could get into.

Can we ask what else we can we expect to see you in, in the near future?

Yes, I have a bunch that I’m really proud of. I’m coming out in a romantic comedy called BOUNCEBACK, which will be premiering at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin. Also there’s a romantic epic called CHASING SHAKESPEARE, which will also be at SXSW. I’m in an action film called THE MARINE: HOMECOMING, which will be out March 5th and SPARKS, which is action film based on the graphic comic and will be premiering at the Cinequest Film Festival. I’m also going to be stepping behind the camera for the first time and I’m working on directing a documentary on elephants in Cambodia. It’s about the rescue and transport of Asian logging elephants in Cambodia and I spent the first part of January there filming, which was absolutely breathtaking to be in the company of such majestic creatures. It’s called LOVE & BANANAS and you can go to www.loveandbananas.com to check it out!

THN would like to thank Ashely for her time. THE LAST EXORCISM PART II is released in the US on Friday 1st March and the UK 0n the 15th March  (although the latter date is subject to change).