'Billy Elliot' Star Courted for Roles

Jan. 11, 2001 -- As film buffs begin feverishly debating which movies will score the year's coveted Oscar nominations, one thing is for certain: With or without a nod from the Academy, Billy Elliot stands out as one of 2000's biggest success stories.

The $4 million British film, about a young boy who makes the unpopular choice of ditching boxing classes to learn ballet, has melted the heart of Hollywood and jolted the American box office.

"It's a little bit overwhelming — I mean this whole year has been a bit of a roller coaster," Billy star Jamie Bell told PrimeTime Thursday's John Quiñones.

Bell's personal story mirrors that of the character he plays. They are both from northern England, where the men once proved their masculinity by pulling coal from the ground. Against this gray industrial backdrop, these boys grew up dancing.

Russell Crowe is among Bell's new fans. The two met up in Los Angeles over the holidays. The 14-year-old newcomer was thrilled to receive compliments from the Australian actor.

"It's Russell Crowe and he doesn't have to do anything cause he's got millions and he's going out with Meg [Ryan] and he's him and he's Gladiator, so he doesn't need to do anything. But then he came up to little old me and he said 'Oh, good day, Merry Christmas, good film, congratulations,'" said Bell.

Bell remembers a time when praise was hard to come by. As a kid, he was teased for taking ballet lessons. "They kind of called me 'poof' [homosexual] and they kind of told me I shouldn't be doing it. 'Ballerina boy' and stuff like that. 'Tutu girl.'"

‘A Wonderful Natural Sense’

Instead of fending off snide remarks, now the teen is being fought over for movie roles, including possible offers with Disney and other studios.

He says the money in such a picture would be "a little bit better" than his first outing in Billy Elliot. Still, he's already saved up what he needs to buy a house for his mom, who raised him on her own. When he was 6, she inadvertently helped him discover his love for dance when she asked him to go with his sister to her dance class because she could not afford a baby sitter for him.

"I saw this girl dancing on the stage and she wasn't doing it right. Didn't look right. And so I kind of said to my mum, 'I can do better,'" said Bell, who soon began training himself.

Soon others began noticing his talents. Trudy Hindmarsh began teaching Bell when he was 9. "He has got a wonderful natural sense," she says. "He understands, far beyond his years, what's required."

Several years and seven auditions later, Bell was chosen from among 2000 boys auditioning for the role as Billy Elliot in the first film by British theater producer Stephen Daldry.

"We needed to find a boy that would have an emotional language with the dance and a boy that could act," Daldry said. "And not only act, cause you're trying to second guess sort of a difficult thing like charisma and all these things are quite hard."Finding Bell, he said, was "like finding a needle in a haystack."

Shhh, Hide the Shoes

In the film, Billy, like Bell, decides to embark on a dancing career, which involves convincing his blue-collar dad he's no sissy for being interested in pirouettes. While their lives are not identical, Bell says he could certainly relate to the scenes in the film where Billy hides his ballet shoes to conceal his new hobby.

Bell even stuffed his ballet shoes down his pants to keep his friends from finding out what he was doing. "There were a few occasions when I got on the bus and one would fall down my leg," he said. "I'd have to walk rather crippled to my seat."

Bell's secret life as a dancer led him to all sorts of lies that alienated him from the other guys. "One day someone pointed out, they said, 'Do you want to come play football?' and I said, 'No I can't, I'm going to the dentist.' And the guy said, 'Well, you must have really bad teeth because you went there yesterday and the day before that as well!'"

There's certainly no hiding his strong leaps and rhythmic footwork now, although his mom, Eileen Bell, is making sure he keeps the balance between Hollywood and his life at home.

"He's got two important years at school for the next two years. Then he's got college." And whatever salary or job is offered, she insists, "He'll always need to go to school."

One thing he says he doesn't need is an Oscar. "While I'm honored to be considered," said Bell, "making the film and meeting all the nice people and going around the world is better than an Oscar, definitely."