Don?t let the ?gratuitous shots of cleavage, explosions, and muscle cars? fool you! According to Bitch Slap star Erin Cummings, she says she likes to think of the film as ?the thinking man?s exploitation film?, with quality writing and filmmaking! Aside from explosions and bare skin, it just so happens that Bitch Slap ALSO includes three sexy starlets, direction by bitch-slapping Xena director Rick Jacobson, cameo appearances from Michael Hurst, Kevin Sorbo, Lucy ?Xena? Lawless, and the ?red? camera technology used in 300. Intrigued? Read on to see what Cummings had to say about the all-star cameo cast, bitchin? exploitation films from the past and the only thing that can scare that bad-ass, bitch-slapping, b-movie chick to death!

By Gabrielle DiPietro and Eric Walsingham

Could you tell us a little bit about your character in Bitch Slap?

I like to think of Bitch Slap as the thinking man?s exploitation film because it really is a throw back to the exploitation and grindhouse films of the 50s, 60s, and 70s. Russ Myer is certainly one that comes to mind. Although he was known for having really horrible actors and really just horrendous writing and so this [is] something that the writers Eric Gruendemann and Rick Jacobson decided they wanted to take a B-Movie and put in really good writing and really good acting and really incredible visual effects and really high production value and make actually a good movie that on the official level is seemingly nothing more than a smut film but actually has many layers beneath. So my character - I play Hel who is a buxom, corporate bombshell. She?s very hard edged and when we?re first introduced to her character ? she?s very methodical, she?s the mastermind behind the entire operation and tries to keep the other two girls in line and in control and in task. This becomes increasingly more difficult as problems arise throughout the film. The way that the movie is being told is that we have two storylines ? an A and a B story line. The A is where the main story takes place and it takes place all out in the desert where the three ladies are looking for diamonds and there?s a B story line where there?s a series of flashbacks and they all take place in reverse order. So the first one is ten minutes ago and the next one might be two hours ago and so on so forth until more is revealed about each character. My character specifically we find more out about her through the flashbacks then we do the entire main storyline. And that?s when its revealed that she?s not exactly who we think she is, which was great for me because obviously I got to explore a very interesting character that when we first meet her you think oh ok well there?s maybe not a lot going on with her, you find out as the story goes on there?s an incredible amount of depth there.

In that respect you?re essentially playing two roles?

Yeah in a way. I mean one of my favorite lines is while the three girls are out in the desert, they?re digging and they?re just digging for days ? this endless digging. And one of the characters looks up and she?s asking about secrets and my character looks up and she says ?I don?t have any secrets.? And it?s such a telling moment because you know anyone who says ?I don?t have any secrets? has an entire closet full of them. And especially because we shot all of the flashbacks first. We shot them all on green screen because they?re going to be told in a very stylized manner reminiscent to Sin City or 300 in that comic book style, it almost looks like it?s painted. That?s how the flashbacks are going to be told. So a lot of these revealing aspects of the film, of my character were shot first. So then I had to throw all of that away and then go back to being another character that was much more subdued and not showing a lot of the personality that I had shown in a lot of other scenes we had shot. I?m really excited to see how it turns out.

In using the new ?Red? cameras to shoot the film the footage must look beautiful, but does it possess any of that gritty quality that old grindhouse films have?

You know what, I personally ? and the director might kill me for saying this because I haven?t talked to him first about it ? to me visually, no it doesn?t have original 8mm look that a lot of the grindhouse films had. I think that?s something you really need in order to tell that kind of a story. Certainly those films all looked like that but it wasn?t like that was done intentionally. That was done because they didn?t have the budget to do it any other way. Their limited budget obviously put a cap on their production value and so fortunately because we were able to call in a lot of favors, the production value is exponentially higher than a lot of your typical grindhouse movies or low budget films. So I think what they were trying to do was capture the essence of the exploitation film through the story and through the way that their story was told versus the gritty, raw look of it. Also I think as the film industry evolves the way that stories are told obviously is going to evolve as well. Now-a-days when you have the ability to make a film look like a comic book like Sin City did, like 300 did that?s the new way of selling the grindhouse films, especially if you can do it in an inexpensive way ? then why not? But I think a lot of the elements of the grindhouse films like gratuitous shots of cleavage, explosions, muscle cars, the dopey sheriff that gets himself caught in a bad situation ? those tradition iconic images from these types of films are very much there.

So I guess the take away is the over exaggerated amounts of blood, sex, and cars are there but there?s also good writing, good filmmaking there?

Exactly? I mean, just to give you an example. Michael Hurst who played Kevin Sorbo?s sidekick on Hercules has been cast as the fourth lead in the film. He plays this incredible role, this cockney bastard who?s just the most despicable bastard ever. The vile filth that comes out of his mouth is offensive on the level that it would probably make prison inmates blush ? but Michael Hurst is actually one of the premier Shakespearean actors of New Zealand. He is the equivalent of a Knight in New Zealand. He has dinner with dignitaries and politicians. He?s one of the most upstanding members of the artistic community in that country and so here he is flying over to America to play this disgusting, nasty role in Bitch Slap. So that kind of gives you an idea of the caliber of actors. And the thing about it is, the reason he decided to play this role is he said ?I never get to do this stuff. I?ve played Macbeth three times. I?ve never gotten to be this guy.? And likewise for me, I come from a theatre background as well. I played Lady Macbeth ? certainly someone who?s very different from the lady in this on some levels. But at the same time, Lady Macbeth was incredibly calculating and was a mastermind of the plan that she and her husband went forth on.

What was it like for you to work in this environment? You had almost an all-star cast of just cameos?

First of all working with Michael Hurst was just the greatest gift that I could?ve received on this film. I mean even if nothing ever happens with this movie. Just having gotten to work with him and see his process and bear witness to an actor, someone who really loves their craft, it was incredible. I felt like every time I was in the room with him I was learning something new about acting. That was an incredible experience. It was very sad when he was wrapping and he had to go back to New Zealand because he was a great joy to work with. Because he certainly made me step up and rise up. Because I remember at one point it was windy, we?re in the desert, it?s miserable ? no one?s having a good time because the weather conditions were just horrific. And I look down and I see Michael Hurst covered in blood and sweat and spit, lying face down in the dirt covered in mud from head to toe wearing nothing but a thong and a kimono. Just happy as a pig in shit, couldn?t be happier. And I just thought ?Wow, man, that is an actor.? He?s not complaining. He?s not being a diva or a primadonna which he absolutely has the right to. He?s just like ?Oh, you want me to lay face down in the mud? And then you?re gonna have that actor kick me in the stomach and then you?re gonna do it twenty times? No problem.? That was very good for all of us being able to see him getting tortured, literally being drug through the mud, and just going with it. And then, I didn?t get to work with Lucy Lawless or Renee O?Connor because I wasn?t in the scene they were in ? which was a flashback. I did get to meet them briefly and they were lovely, lovely ladies. But Kevin Sorbo all of his flashbacks, I did get to work with him so that was really fun. I had not seen Hercules, but my mother ? oh my God! You would?ve thought I told her I was doing a movie with one of the Beatles. She just went crazy. And Kevin?s wonderful. He?s lots of fun, he knows what he?s doing ? he just has a great presence about him. And Kevin, he?s like twenty feet tall. He?s like the tallest man I?ve ever met and just has a very strong presence about him. So it was a great joy to work with him. He hung out for a couple hours after the shoot and had lunch. And the stories that he and Michael Hurst had ? you know they worked together for so long on Hercules. They just had some very funny anecdotes about their time there. He and I had a lot of fun and we talked about definitely working together in the future on something.

Sounds like the dynamic between the cast and crew was pretty fun?

It was and that?s something I would really credit the producers with. I mean I don?t know if you?re aware of what the budget was but it wasn?t a huge budget so every single person that was working on this movie ? no one was being paid their normal rate. Everyone was saying ?Okay, I?m gonna make a little bit less than I normally do.? And some people not really making anything at all. I mean I know that Tony Gardener who is one of the premiere special effects artists in Hollywood, I mean he did the Fat Bastard costume in Austin Powers and he did John Travolta in Hairspray, I mean he?s a wizard. He made a bust of Kevin Sorbo and he basically did that for free because he had such a great relationship with these producers. It was a wonderful environment of everyone being there not because they were being paid and they had bills to pay at home and they needed a job, but because they really loved the script and they really wanted to be there. So that created an instant feeling of camaraderie and we?re all in this together. It was wonderful.

Any details of what you and Kevin Sorbo are thinking of working on together?

He talked to me recently about a project but I don?t know if that?s actually gonna happen. He?s trying to make something happen but obviously there are many channels that casting has to go through. At this point it?s just like we?re throwing around some ideas but nothing specific.

Were you a fan of the B-movies or exploitation films of the past?

I saw Grindhouse the weekend that it opened and I was not actually familiar with a lot of the movies that the guys were referencing so y?know I went out and rented Faster Pussycat! Kill, Kill and stuff like that. And I was always a fan of more the movies from the 40s, the film noirs and things like that. It wasn?t really a genre that I was even that familiar with before I started but I instantly got it. I liked it and I enjoyed it and I saw the fun and the humor in it.

Once you went back and looked at these films, did you draw on any of them for inspiration?

What I really did was I allowed Rick and Eric to tell that version of the story and I tried to bring to it a truth and earnestness in my character because I feel that one of the things that will make this movie stand out is if instead of me going ?Oh, I?m gonna play that this is b-movie? if I say no, I?m gonna play my character with the most truth and honesty that I can as if this were a period piece or a Shakespearean play or an episode of Without A Trace ? it doesn?t matter, I always try to bring to every role the truth and the honesty of the situation. I tried not to dwell too much on the genre of the movie. Because I think otherwise it can come off as too campy. I mean there?s a scene where we end up getting into a slow motion water fight.- which is ridiculous. And so, that in itself is campy. I then try to play campy on top of that, not only does it come off as me being a bad actor, it comes off as a completely untruthful situation. So I try to bring that into everything that I do. I?ll let the director play the genre and I?ll just play the truth. And if he needs to turn it up or turn it down ? fortunately Rick and I had good communication. So I felt like we were on the same page on a lot of things.

This isn?t your first genre role. Are you a fan of horror or sci-fi?

I?m definitely a fan of anything in the fantasy world. I feel like there?s only so much real life that we can handle. Sometimes its nice to be able to watch characters who have special powers or watch characters who are going through an experience that we cannot fully understand or comprehend because they are not human. I really enjoy that. I like the supernatural because it offers us an escape and that?s part of the reason people go to the movies or watch television because they do need a little bit of an escape. The fantasy genre encompasses horror and sci-fi, and those provide a really lovely escape for people. And the characters are usually incredibly well thought out and they?re very smart storylines. The stupid people don?t like sci-fi or horror. They just don?t. Because a lot of times they just don?t get it. I think that for the most part, I?ve found in my experience, that people who are into the fantasy genre are just smarter than the average moviegoer because they demand more. It?s interesting to me.

What?s your biggest fear?

Hands down ? spiders. I cannot deal with them. I have nightmares. It?s not even a joke. Like if one of my friends were to jokingly put a plastic spider on something that?s cause for me to terminate my friendship. Like honestly, I do not mess around with that. And the thing is, I know they?re not going to kill me but I think it?s this primal instinct I have. I think I must?ve lived in the jungle in a former life or something with that innate fear that spiders are going to kill me. Like I?ll see a picture in a book and it will send a wave of fear through my body that is so intense. It?s the worst. I can?t stand spiders.