There are moments when my job is a lot cooler than others. Like the moments, I get to interview people like Zoe Bell. A legend for her stunt work in films like Kill Bill and TV shows like Xena: Warrior Princess, Bell strapped herself to the hood of a vintage Dodge Challenger and became a downright genre icon in Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof. Now the New Zealand native/Los Angeles transplant is starring in her very own online series, Angel of Death (available on Crackle). Scripted by comic-book writer Ed Brubaker, the series follows the exploits of Eve, a paid assassin who has the misfortune to grow a conscious when her brain is pierced by a sword. But what drew her to the project, Bell tells me when I speak with her at Wondercon 2009, was the simple fact that, though she's a woman, her character transcends gender.

"We were in conversations with Sony at least a year a half ago," says Bell. "There were a bunch of different online movies that they wanted to get out there. And I was like, ‘I like the idea.' They seemed like patient people, so I said. ‘Keep me in mind.' Then they came back to me with the synopsis of Angel of Death. I can't really explain why, but when I read the breakdown of it, I was like, ‘Dude, that bitch sounds cool!'"

"Not that she sounds like a cool person by the way," Bell laughs, "because she is an assassin, and I don't want to be friends with any assassins. But I was really intrigued by her as a character, and I think a part of it was sort of like, if you switched the name Eve for Ian, it would be another male action movie. It didn't feel like it was curtailed around the fact that she was a girl. It wasn't female action. It was just an action movie with a female lead. She just happened to be a female. For some reason that totally appealed to me. I don't know, I kind of got sold on that… Then it got greenlit. I may speaking out of turn, because it might come out and, in the end, people might hate it and it might tank, but up until now, everything seems to have gone incredibly well. We've got really passionate people – people who want to put money into it, they want to put time into it. Seldom do you come up with an idea and have it greenlit and go within months. We were all a little bit like, ‘Let's not mention this in case we might jinx it, but…this is pretty fucking incredible, y'know?' So it's been a really good experience for me in many, many ways."

Should Angel of Death prove successful enough for Sony to greenlight a sequel, would Bell do it?

"I would love to," she says. "Even if it's not Eve. I mean, I love Eve – she's the first real character that I've had to sink myself into as an actor. I don't know, I guess it's like your first boyfriend or something, I feel like I'll always have some sort of love affair with Eve. But I would do anything with these guys again. I really, really enjoyed them."

No matter how Angel of Death fares, Bell's got plenty of other projects to keep her occupied, including Game, a sci-fi thriller starring Gerard Butler from the makers of Crank, and a job as, once again, a stunt person on Quentin Tarantino's upcoming war movie Inglorious Bastards.

"Inglorious Bastards," says Bell, "I'm stunting on that. I'm doubling two of the leads on that. Shot in Germany, hung out with Quentin again… I mean, it was like being with family for me on that set. I have so much history with those guys now. Yeah, it was just an honor to be out there. I would love to be acting in it, because I'm telling you right now, the movie is gonna be off the hook. I'm so excited for him, and so excited for everybody in it – because I know a bunch of the cast. I know they're really excited. I really can't say much more about it."

"But," she adds with a devilish gleam in her eyes, "it's gonna be sick."

I've asked plenty of actors to name for me their greatest fears. But I've seldom been more curious than I am when asking Bell. After all, what could scare the most physically fearless woman I've ever met?

"Things definitely scare me in real life," Bell says. "But not the same things… Taxes make my sin crawl. The thought of not ever going back to New Zealand scares me a little bit. Praying Mantises creep me out – for no rational reason. Bugs in general I couldn't give a shit about, [but] Praying Mantises just give me the heebee jeebees. It's the way they watch you. I kind of feel like they must be plotting to kill me or something."

"Uhhh…" she cries. "Now you're making me feel all gross!"