UP CLOSE WITH ’VERONICA MARS’ HOTTIE KRISTEN BELL

The star of the upcoming horror flick ’Pulse’ and the comedy ’Fanboys’ spills all

Kristen Bell, the sexy sleuth from TV’s "Veronica Mars," harrowing heroine of the upcoming horror flick "Pulse" and freaky friend in the comedy "Fanboys," is making her way to Wizard World Chicago this Saturday and Sunday. Wizard sat down with Bell to talk about her upcoming projects and what her life would be like if she was chosen to play Chloe on "Smallville."

Wizard: Let’s start with the news that "Veronica Mars" is switching networks. How’s The CW treating you?

BELL: They are pushing the show a ton, so hopefully it will succeed. I hope that our show will get a little more of a spotlight. I think that the networks merging will really give viewers of The WB and UPN an opportunity to see these other shows. I think it opens it up for new viewers, so it would be great.

Plus it’s being paired with "Gilmore Girls."

BELL: I think it’s the best match possible. I don’t watch it religiously but I know the writing style and the characters, and I think it’s catering to the kind of audience we want to include this year.

Let’s talk about the new mystery format of the show. Instead of one season-long mystery, there will be three arc mysteries that play out one after the other?

BELL: They wanted to make it a little easier for people to jump in. I know that Rob [Thomas, creator and executive producer] was saying that he wanted people who were new viewers to be able to jump in on episode 4. Having shorter storylines allows you to do that a little bit. I think it’s a way to keep it fresh and new, which our writers are really good at.

Any hints as to what the first big mystery is about?

BELL: Part of it is going to be the one unsolved mystery from last year.

You mean the episode where Veronica’s ex-boyfriend Troy was accused of raping a college student?

BELL: They satisfied you by letting you know that she got Troy off the hook but they never told you who the rapist was.

So what’s new with the cast?

BELL: Tina Majorina joins the cast, which we are all very excited about [she plays the recurring fan-favorite character of Mac]. You are going to see a lot more of Dick Casablancas, the lovely Ryan Hansen. You are going to get a couple new characters, they are introducing a guy named Piz [played by Chris Lowell], who is Wallace’s new roommate, who is everything that Logan isn’t. He’s not brooding. He’s not lonely. He’s very goofy and funny and charismatic, and I think they are really going to open that love line up to Veronica and give her a choice. I think there is going to be a little love triangle again at the beginning of the year.

How are Veronica and Logan doing at the beginning of the season?

BELL: They are doing great. All lovely dovey. He saved her life, so she’s into him. [Laughs]

Both Kevin Smith and Joss Whedon have done cameos this past season with little promotion just because they were fans, right?

BELL: I didn’t watch "Buffy" so much, but I knew of the Joss Whedon dynasty. I knew of him and his creations and how amazing he was, but I definitely watched a lot more Kevin Smith movies. I was just excited that guys of that caliber that don’t need to-they don’t need us at all. In fact, it’s completely the opposite. We need them. We need their promotion. It wasn’t like they were trying to be kind, either. They were just like "Your show’s a great show. I want to help." That is just a really flattering feeling and it only confirms what we think every time we read a new episode, which is that we have a rockin’ show, period.

So just how much of a detective are you? Did you figure out the big mysteries in the last two seasons?

BELL: [In season 1] I figured out that Aaron Echolls did it by October because I was paying a lot of attention to how they were placing people and how they were shooting the storyline. Last year’s mystery, I had no clue.

Tell us about your new horror movie, "Pulse."

BELL: It will scare the crap out of you. First and foremost people should know that. It does with a computer what the first "Scream" did with closets. It’s made it very unsafe. It also combines computers with the theory of, everybody dies at some point or another. What if there was a dimension that got full? Where would they spill over into?

How does your character fit into the plot?

BELL: I play a girl that’s more introverted than she should be, and she finds out that one of her friends killed himself and something’s bugging her about why he did it and why she didn’t see it coming, because she’s a psychology major. All these strange things start happening and she seems to be the only one that sees it.

So it’s a feel-good movie.

BELL: It really is. It’s just heartwarming.

Are you a fan of the horror genre?

BELL: Not at all, I’m so easily scared. My parents were watching the first "Scream" movie and I was babysitting when I was a teenager and I was sitting on the dining room table with all the lights on when the parents came home. That’s why none of the other horror movies intrigued me, but this one was just so unnerving-I wanted to do it because I wanted to get over my fear, which I didn’t really, because it was even scary to shoot it.

So where would you be today if you had gotten the role of Chloe Sullivan that you pursued when "Smallville" was starting out?

BELL: I would be living in Vancouver [Laughs]. I don’t know! Allison [Mack] is just great, and the show is so popular. They have a bigger budget than we do so maybe I’d have some more money in the bank, but I also would be living in Canada, so that would be the two biggest things.

What’s your strangest fan encounter?

BELL: I’ve gotten a lot of drawings of my face recently. People have been sending me portraits. Some are whacked and some are beautiful and I keep them on file. Someone put their time into that, someone likes the show enough, someone likes me enough. It’s a very flattering feeling.