KRISTEN BELL RESCUED BY 'HEROES'

[Brian Damage]

September 16, 2007 -- The hottest actress on television has joined the coolest series. Veronica Mars, meet "Heroes."

Kristen Bell, the sunny star of the cult TV fave, didn't think she'd have a job this fall – especially after the CW kept "Veronica Mars" hanging in the balance until the absolute last second, not announcing the show's cancellation until well after it announced its fall lineup.

"There was about a month when I was taking meetings every day and going on audition after audition," says Bell, 27. "I thought, maybe I won't have a job this fall. I can accept that and I can still be happy."

Meanwhile, television producers were knocking each other over to hire her.

In the first week of August, Internet wags reported that Bell, who had signed on to narrate the new CW series "Gossip Girl," was a lock to join the cast of ABC's "Lost." Two weeks later, these magpies were choking on their words when NBC announced that Bell would be joining their hit serial drama "Heroes," for a 13-episode arc this fall.

On the eve of her October debut on "Heroes," Bell reveals that "Lost" producers never actually offered her the role.

"I didn't hear about the 'Lost' rumors until they were already on the Internet. [Then] I knew I was being considered for [that show], but 'Heroes' came along and made the offer," she says.

That offer was definitely put on the fast track by Bell's connections to many of the folks at the NBC series. She's friends with Zachary Quinto (Sylar) and Masi Oka (Hiro), and has known Hayden Panettiere (Claire) since she was 18 because they shared a manager ("Kristen likes to say she practically changed my diapers," quips Panettiere).

Bell met up with her friends at this summer's Comicon, a convention for science fiction and comic-book enthusiasts, in San Diego. Bell was there to promote her movie "Fanboys," a January 2008 release about a bunch of "Star Wars" fans who break into Skywalker Ranch to see "Phantom Menace" before it is released. She rode the train back to Los Angeles with her friends.

Bell says, "I was telling [the writers] that 'Heroes' was always the watercooler conversation at 'Veronica Mars' and they were saying that [my show] was always the talk at theirs.

"They said, 'If you ever want to do an arc on "Heroes," let us know, and we'll write something for you.' Later on, I said to my agent that it would be really cool if they were being serious, not just being nice."

Turns out they were. "We had this part that was already written and were going through the normal audition process to find somebody, but when Kristen became available, we bypassed that whole process and made her an offer - and closed the deal within three or four days," says "Heroes" creator Tim Kring.

Bell snapped up the role without a second thought. "The minute I heard, 'Hey Kristen, it's Tim Kring,' I said, 'Yes! Yes!' " she says with a laugh.

They made the part meatier and more three-dimensional, just for Bell.

Bell will be introduced in the fifth episode on the season as Elle, a 20-something who's lived with her power her entire life (it's rumored to involve electricity and confirmed to manifest itself in either productive or destructive ways, depending on what she wants to accomplish). The other heroes will scratch their heads in puzzlement when they cross paths with her.

"She's a cautionary tale to all of other characters: what could happen to you if you live with this for a long time and how it messes with you," Kring says. "Elle's a little off-kilter and plays by her own rules. She's not very socially adept, she's a bit of a loose cannon, a little inappropriate - a little flirty at the wrong times - a little quick to anger."

Bell says the best way to describe Elle, is that "she's just a vixen."

With "Heroes" characters coming and going this season - "some, not all, that leave in a pine box," says Kring - the big question is what'll happen to Bell when she completes filming her 13 episodes.

"There is a possibility that I will be staying longer, but I'm not sure yet," Bell says.

Kring isn't ready to let some other clever Hollywood producer snatch her up, though. "Obviously our hope is that we love her and that she loves us. You always go into it with the best of intentions and on this show that usually works out because we're a pretty happy place to work at," Kring says with confidence.

At the moment though, Bell says, "I have no plans after my 'Heroes' arc is over, other than [to fall into] the 'Never gonna work again syndrome.' "


HEROES

Monday, 9 p.m., NBC


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