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Ordinarily, a young actress who has only had bit parts is a handful of movies would be intimidated by the notion of co-starring with the notoriously reclusive and intense Daniel Day-Lewis. But Camilla Belle, who is the daughter of former Brazilian supermodel Deborah Gould and has a natural, earthy beauty of her own that provides an earnest look to her considerable talent, was anything but frightened on the set of “The Ballad of Jack and Rose.”
“He’s been my favorite actor since I started watching movies,” Belle said of Day-Lewis. “I guess you could be very intimidated from all the stuff you hear – about him becoming his characters and how intense he is. But once you meet him you realize he’s very kind, funny and welcoming, so I wasn’t I wasn’t intimidated at all when we started shooting.”
That’s not to say she didn’t learn a thing or two from Day-Lewis. “I was Rose as much as I could be,” Belle said, adding that she marveled at the way Day-Lewis “concentrates and becomes his characters,” which in this case helped her to understand her own.
In the film, Belle’s Rose lives an isolated existence with her father, Jack (Day-Lewis). Rose is, at best, a confused and troubled teen who is not accustomed to socializing or interacting with others. “Getting into the role was different,”
Belle, who has also appeared in “The Lost World: Jurassic Park” and “Practical Magic,” said. “I just had to realize that I had to break all boundaries and break off my natural impulses to try to do what someone who’s broken off from the world would do.”
Belle did connect with Rose in another way, however. Just as Rose is forced to grow up when her father invites his lover (played by Catherine Keener) and her family to live with them, the teenage Belle grew up quickly during production.
“I was 16 when we filmed it,” Belle said, “and we filmed it in sequence, so I kind of grew up personally and as the character throughout the shoot. By the end I was so emotionally and physically exhausted that it was just an incredible experience.”
Although she’s been working as frequently as possible since she appeared in a commercial at the ripe age of nine months, Belle has no regrets about foregoing a more normal adolescence in order to pursue her passion. “I couldn’t really imagine myself doing anything else,” Belle said. “I have a passion for this, and it’s what I’ve always wanted to do with my life. It’s just in me.”
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