It’s always worth taking a chance to geek out with Kristen Bell. Her roundtable interview for Astro Boy was the perfect opportunity to talk ‘80s cartoons and recent movies. In Astro Boy, Bell plays the voice of Cora, an orphan on the surface who Astro meets after he falls from Metro City.

Crave Online: What got you involved with Astro Boy?

Kristen Bell: I have always loved animation and I always knew that I wanted to be part of an animated movie, and I read Astro Boy and liked it so much and then I had always known the name in my head and knew that it was a character from somewhere but didn’t really understand how iconic it was overseas and how influential this character had been from the first in so many people’s lives in the television show in the ‘50s and in the ‘80s. It was all just a learning experience for me about what a cool cat he was and how sort of timeless the story was, you know, and there’s a reason that they want to remake it because it’s just a very relatable, attainable story for everyone.

Crave Online: Have you ever needed or found a sort of surrogate family like he finds with the kids on the surface?

Kristen Bell: Oh yeah. I have a surrogate family in L.A. for sure. I have a couple of surrogate families. I think the idea of community that Astro finds on the surface of the Earth is so vital to my way of living. I had a lot of roommates for a while. We all lived in the same house and it was very much like a functioning commune. [Laughs] It’s only for switching beds every night, you guys. It’s totally normal. I always say that to people and they’re like, “Oh…?!” I find that my friends out here are definitely like a surrogate family and I think that’s just very important to my sanity and well being.

Crave Online: Are they comprised of industry people?

Kristen Bell: Some, and some not. Most of the people work in the industry some way or another, whether they’re lawyers or hair stylists or make-up artists or producers.

Crave Online: You said that you were a big fan of animation. What were some of your favorite animated films or cartoons growing up?

Kristen Bell: I was obsessed with Aladdin, obsessed with The Little Mermaid. I mean, I kind of loved all those Disney movies and was very much on board with any of those. On TV, I was born in ‘80 so the late ‘80s was my prime and I really liked DuckTales. Anybody? Okay? Darkwing Duck. Yes? TaleSpin. I don’t know why so many of them involved ducks but I did like each and every one of those.

Crave Online: So you were really a Disney gal then?

Kristen Bell: Yeah. And I did like the Disney movies a lot.

Crave Online: Could that explain why you’ve got two Disney movies coming up?

Kristen Bell: Maybe. When In Rome, I was lucky enough that Disney allowed me to put it on my shoulders when I had never really carried a role like that and we’ll see how it does in January. But, it was a great experience and they were very good to me and gave me every reason to work with them again on You Again.

Crave Online: Now that we’ve seen how important Cora and the surface kids are to Astro Boy figuring out who he is, I can’t imagine this story without them. What do you think it adds to the mythology that came from the manga and anime?

Kristen Bell: Well, I’m not that familiar with the original, with the manga or the anime. I purposefully didn’t familiarize myself with it because I was playing a new character, because I didn’t want to know too much about Astro, in particular, going in because the story for me, from my perspective, is about Cora and Astro getting to know each other. But, I do feel like it provides a little bit more of a female perspective in the film, a little bit more estrogen, if you will.

Crave Online: Maybe you don’t know this either, I certainly don’t. Has Astro Boy ever had a team behind him before? Because, in the climax of this, you guys come and help him. So, that would be a very new element.

Kristen Bell: I don’t know. Not that I know of. As far as I know, these characters that he gets to know on the surface of the Earth, this is the first time he sort of has these friendship relationships.

Crave Online: What are some of your favorite animated films that have come out recently?

Kristen Bell: Oh wow. I really liked Wall-E and I was amazed at how much I liked it with there being so little dialogue. And there’s almost no dialogue. But I think that it reminded me so much of Number Johnny Five. Short Circuit? And Short Circuit was one of my favorite movies growing up. I loved it so much. So, I think he reminded me of Johnny Five a lot and that’s why I loved it. Wall-E was my favorite as of late.

Crave Online: What sort of movies or TV lately have you gotten really into?

Kristen Bell: Have you guys seen Damages? Whoa! I just did it on DVD and I ended it yesterday. Holy smokes! I really, really liked it. I remember when we were shooting When In Rome, we were at Steiner Studios in Brooklyn and that’s where they shoot Damages. One of the creators of Damages has a little dog named Uncle Ralph who I used to go up and visit on my lunch breaks. And then he had said like, “Oh, here’s the DVDs of the show. Check it out one day.” And I watched it over the last two weeks when we were on our press tour in Bora Bora and Australia and I thought it was fantastic and I can’t wait to start Season 2. I like doing them on DVD once they come out.

Crave Online: This is only one season of Damages you’ve seen so far?

Kristen Bell: I’ve only seen one season of Damages. I’m about to start season two tonight. I really like Mad Men. Really like Mad Men. I also really like Friday Night Lights. I think that’s one of the most underrated shows on television in just the way it’s shot and the acting. I think it’s some of the best out there.

Crave Online: How about movie-wise? Have you seen District 9 yet?

Kristen Bell: I loved District 9. Oh my gosh, I loved it so much. And, you know, I heard that they plucked that guy from the crew.

Crave Online: He’s a producer.

Kristen Bell: Oh my! Holy smokes. He was fantastic. I really liked the audacity of that director and those producers to make a documentary and then all of a sudden abandon the documentary but you were still so invested. I mean, anything that is delivered with such a sense of reality that has these fantastical imaginary elements like aliens or spaceships or magic. It’s always appealing to me if you can do it with still a sense of reality and I feel like that was. I was definitely on board for District 9.

Crave Online: When you become a fan, like such a hardcore fan of some of these TV shows, is it something like where you would think to yourself like you’d almost want a role on there or would that take you out of being a fan of it?

Kristen Bell: I think that would take me out of it. It wouldn’t take me away from being a fan of it. I don’t know because I haven’t been offered roles on these shows… yet. And please put that in, dot, dot, dot. I feel like my love for the show isn’t layered in with my desire to be on the show. It’s more just I’m enamored with how brilliantly a show is put together and how small it can stay on the radar of Americans. Like I don’t know that many people that watch Damages and I think it was one of the most interesting first seasons I’ve ever seen. I don’t know any other show that is that much of a thriller. I don’t know any other shows that are that much of a thriller. Yeah. It’s the Arrested Development syndrome. It’s fascinating.

Crave Online: Just because you got your start in television, are you looking for something to lure you back to do a series?

Kristen Bell: Oh absolutely. I mean, I’m always on the hunt for good material, period. And I think that a frequent question I get is, why have I chosen so many genre projects, and I think it’s not that I’m out to just do sci-fi stuff or just do fanboy stuff. It’s that that’s the best material I’ve run across. And, you know, I’ve done a few more mainstream movies this year that will be released and hopefully my fanboy fans will still like them, whether it’s their cup of tea or not. But, I’m just constantly looking for good material and good people, and whether that takes me to film or TV, I really don’t care. [source]