Last Man Standing Interview

Get the scoop from the talented Catherine Bell about love and loss on "Army Wives," working with her real-life husband, portraying the military on TV, her movie "Last Man Standing," how she connects to fans and more!

By Lisa Raphael

What did you like best about playing Lieutenant Collins?

She’s actually Abby Collins now, and Lieutenant Collins is buried in her deep past and I really love that. I love that here’s this woman who has this beautiful, simple soccer-mom life and this entire hidden life that you know nothing about until a former member of her unit is killed and her husband is kidnapped — and then her former skill set kicks in, and she has to do everything she can to get him back and protect their daughter at the same time. I love it!

To me, action heroes and action movies, and doing some of my own stunts and all that stuff, are really probably my favorite things to do, so I had a blast.

How is it going from playing an Army wife to playing an actual, former Marine, having done the Black Ops and everything?

I love it! To me, in acting the most fun thing is mixing it up — going from playing a wife who started off being abused by her son and going through all of this emotional stuff, and then just going into full-on action mode and Special Ops, secret-agent stuff. Maybe next time I’ll get to do some sort of period piece or something completely different from all those things, you know?

What do you think Denise (your “Army Wives” character) and Abby would have to talk about if Abby were to hang out with the “Army Wives” crew?

(laughs) I think she’d probably have a lot to say! She obviously knows a lot about the military. More than anything, she’s a mom, she’s a wife, she’s a strong woman, and those are all things that seem to be very central to an Army or military spouse as well, so she might fit right in.

You do stunts in the movie “Last Man Standing,” and we know that Terry Serpico, who plays your husband Frank Sherwood on “Army Wives,” has a stunt background — did he give you any pointers?

That’s right, he does! No, he didn’t give me any pointers, but we did talk about it a little bit. He’s a real stuntman; I obviously had a stunt girl for some of the more dangerous things. I got to do a lot of it, but anytime there’s any risk involved, they let a professional do that sort of thing. My stunt girl was amazing. I don’t want to give anything away, but there was a cable rig that was attached to her chest that pulls her back and she gets knocked back. She actually flew back and hit her head on the concrete. If it was me, I would have been definitely down for the count, but she was amazing! She took a couple of minutes, shook it off, got up and was like, “Let’s do it again!”

What can we expect from the “Army Wives” finale? Is there a cliffhanger? What can you tell us without giving too much away?

That’s always a challenge! Well, every character is obviously going through so many things, you know … Roxy is running into her challenges with opening up her truck stop, and Denise and Tanya, Jeremy’s fiancée, are getting closer and helping each other through the loss of Jeremy. But I think the big thing is that there’s huge, unexpected news that we all get as a group that — of course I can’t give away — but it really forces us all to take a look at where we’re going next in our lives and what’s the next step for each of us. Really, it’s a big shocker, and I guess it is a bit of a cliffhanger in that sense. What’s next for these people?

That sets up the next season. Have you seen scripts for next season yet?

Not yet! I think all of the writers — as they should be — are on vacation at the moment!

What was it like connecting with the cast of “Last Man Standing” as opposed to the “Army Wives” cast?

Well, it’s always different on a movie; you’re only with people for a short amount of time. It was a three-week shoot, maybe with a week of prep and stunt training and stuff like that, in Detroit. So you just kind of come together fast and furious, get to know each other really fast. Love those guys! Mekhi Phifer and Anthony Michael Hall are just fantastic people and actors, and we had a blast. You know, you do it and you all go back home. Whereas “Army Wives,” we all came together on the pilot, didn’t know where it was going, had to go to Charleston and live there for a couple of weeks, and then all of a sudden we were back together for six months at a time. And that’s an interesting one too because you’re out of town, you’re on location, most of the cast is away from their families. I got to take my family with me, but most people were leaving a spouse, or boyfriend or girlfriend, at home, so you kind of become a little bit closer being away from home like that as well.

What was it about this particular film that drew you to portray this character?

Well, you know this was something that my husband, Adam Beason, actually co-wrote with Jolene Rice. He came up with the idea a couple of years ago, and we were trying to find something to do together. So this was something that literally started with, “Hey honey, what do you think about playing a female bodyguard?” And I said, “Yeah, cool!” because he had been doing research on female bodyguards and how cool they are and how a lot of people are hiring females for that. And next thing you know, he and Jolene started writing a pitch. They pitched to Lifetime, and they loved it and brought in Gale Anne Hurd, an amazing producer, and she produced it with us and really just created the whole thing from the bottom up. It was fun to be involved in that, because the character was probably my favorite as someone who was really strong and gets to do the action stuff, which is what I really love. And it’s a thriller; it’s really fast-paced and action-packed.

You’re such an active participant in Twitter. Why is that an important way for you to connect with your fans?

I love Twitter! I used to be a Facebook girl, and I was afraid of Twitter because I thought I had to let everyone know every time I took a sip of water or something, and I was like, No, this is weird! But I realized that it’s just a really fun, fast way to communicate with a lot of people and hear back from them immediately and really stay in touch with your fans.

You seem to be drawn to shows that highlight the military life, all the way back to “JAG.” What is it that brings you back to these particular roles?

I think on one hand it’s a bit of an accident. With “Army Wives,” I was looking for something very, very different from “JAG,” and even though it’s called “Army Wives,” it’s a very different show. It’s more emotional, and more about people and relationships and women and friendships and families and all of that. Where “JAG” really wasn’t about any of that; it was about the military and law, and jets and aircraft carriers. I think they’re very different shows, and yet, I think in “Last Man Standing,” she has the military background, but that just sort of brings in her strengths and her Special Ops skills, which let her run around and take care of business and get her husband back, you know?

Military is something I obviously have huge respect for and has been a big part of my career.

What was it like working with your husband on “Last Man Standing”?

We have been together 19 years. We met on a movie set, so we kind of started out in this business together, He was a production assistant to Robert Zemeckis, I was an actress, and then we kind of went through different phases of our careers and he became a writer seven years ago. And we always wanted to work together. He’s always been a part of my production company, and we’ve been looking for a project to do together and work on together. He’s very, very smart — I call him my “walking IMDB” — I can say, “Adam, who directed blah blah blah?” and he knows! If the computer is down and the Internet isn’t working, you call Adam for your IMDB questions.

How do you keep your amazing body after two kids?

Well, you have your husband write you an action movie nine weeks after your baby is born (laughs). You’re forced to get in shape! You just do. Nothing crazy, but I do work out regularly. And try to eat well most of the time, though I cheat here and there.

How does being a producer change your connection to a project that you’re working on?

Well, you know I’m always going to be connected to any project that I’m working on, even if I’m just an actor because I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t love it, love the script, the character, or something about it. But I think being a producer — especially on something like this, where we really created it from the ground up — that’s just a whole nother level. That’s something where you’re just sitting around on the couch, like, “Hey, what about this idea?” and then it grows into a full-blown script, and the next thing you know, you’re on a set filming it and you look around and go, “Hey, look at this! This is the set you came up with, hubby!” So there’s definitely even more passion, more connection to it.

This past season of “Army Wives” was huge for Denise because she lost her son, Jeremy. How has it been, filming without Bubba’s presence on set?

Oh man! I think one of the hardest things about filming those episodes was knowing that Bubba — Richard, we call him Bubba — was going away. I adore that man — I call him a man because he’s actually, like, 25, even though he plays 19. But yeah, such a sweetheart! He’s almost like a kid to me, like a real kid, he’s just a good, good person. He’s a Charleston boy, born and raised in Charleston! So we still see him and hang out. He takes my daughter Gemma fishing and fun stuff like that.

But man, we miss him! That final scene, the one with him in the coffin — brutal! So hard to shoot, and we were all sobbing because we were saying goodbye to him and the character.

What are you looking forward to next — should we expect a sequel to “Last Man Standing”?

Well, “B-Ring” is our pet project, hopefully the next one Adam is writing and will direct. We have that on Kickstarter.com, which is a really fun fund-raising website. As for “Last Man Standing,” we would love to do a sequel. Gale and I have talked about that from the very beginning, we’re like, “Hey, let’s do a bunch of these. That would be great!” So hopefully people will watch and love it on Monday night, and hopefully we’ll get to do more!

You moved to South Carolina years ago for “Army Wives.” What keeps you in the South and in Carolina?

A couple of things. I think originally we fell in love with the city right away, and after “Army Wives” got picked up for the second season we decided to make it our permanent home. Partly because my daughter was starting kindergarten and I didn’t want to keep moving her around. We would finish filming and I would have to move her back to L.A. And I’m working a lot — I went to Canada and Detroit for “Last Man Standing” — and I’m never really in one place, so we said, “Let’s make Charleston home base.” It’s beautiful, and the people are really nice — Southern hospitality at its finest. It’s on the beach, water everywhere, and it’s really just a wonderful place to raise a family. I’d lived in L.A my whole life before that and I never knew a single neighbor ever. Then I get to the South, and while you’re literally still moving in furniture, people are bringing homemade cookies and notes with their phone numbers — “call if you need anything.”

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