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 Three bad girls venture out into the desert in search of $200 million worth of diamonds. Each with their own secret vendetta, heads eventually butt (literally) and all plans go awry. Bitch Slap is one hell of a ride with one hell of a charismatic cast.
Created as a postmodern exploitation film, writers Rick Jacobson and Eric Gruendemann put their faith in the script and let the pages do the talking. Also producers of the film, the two were committed to raising money their own way to avoid any overhead control when it came to casting. They wanted Bitch Slap made entirely their way, and they count themselves lucky with the leads they found.
Being an independent film, even with a title that demands attention, a little extra leg up never hurts. Without any big names to tag up on the queue, Jacobson and Gruendemann reached out to an old friend from their days working on the television series “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys,” Kevin Sorbo.
“Eric called me up, who was my producer on ‘Hercules,’” Sorbo said. “Eric and I have been friends ever since, and he sent me the script and I decided I wanted to make a little appearance in this thing. I liked the script. I was laughing out loud reading it. It’s got that Quentin Tarantino thing in it, which I love.”
Sorbo plays the ubiquitous Mr. Phoenix, Hel’s (Erin Cummings) superior as an undercover agent. While Bitch Slap’s three leading ladies spent days in the sweltering desert engaging in cruel fight scenes and ice-cold water fights, Sorbo remained comfortably in the studio for his day of shooting.
“The green screen was so brutal for me!” Sorbo joked. “I was actually just the Charlie to these angels. That’s all I was in this movie. It was their movie. They were wonderful in it.”
Cummings recalls the day Sorbo was on set.
“You were Mr. Personality,” she said to him. “I walked on set and noticed all the women were all having a little extra bounce in their step. I was like, ‘What the hell is going on?’”
 After Gruendemann filled Cummings in on that day’s special guest, the extra little pep from the females was understood. “All the girls were just like, ‘Oh! He’s so charming!’ And then I’d go over, and he’s making all these jokes and everyone is laughing,” Cummings recalled.
Unfortunately for the ladies, shooting wasn’t as smooth sailing as it was for Sorbo. With physically demanding action sequences, climate aches and less than desirable wardrobes, the women really had it cut out for them. Lucky for them, premier stunt coordinator Zoe Bell was there to brilliantly train and choreograph the women as they punched, kicked and even bit one another ruthlessly.
America Olivo, a Julliard graduate, was worlds away from the type of performing she was accustomed to while filming Bitch Slap.
“Julliard does not have a class that even remotely teaches you at all what we did in Bitch Slap,” the actress, who plays Camero in the film, said. “For me, the fight scenes were pretty intense. I got put in this really insanely tight corset and I just passed out. I was completely out of it. I barely made it back to the trailer.”
Cummings also had her fair share of hitches, but her biggest quandary was far simpler than a suffocating corset. “I was in three-and-a-half-inch heels, so just standing there my feet were always sinking in,” she recalled. “The scenes where I’m just standing there having a conversation were the worst because I had to stand up on my toes flexing all the muscles in my legs and then try to be a good actor on top of that.”
 Julia Voth, on the other hand, plays the sweeter and softer part of the trio, Trixie, so her physical challenges were of another sort, but as she insisted, just as difficult. “I had my dance scenes that I had to do. It looked kind of easy but I had, like, eight-inch stilettos on with, like, 20-pound angel wings on my back. So walking in the heels alone was a challenge, and then to look sexy and everything…that was the hardest thing for me,” Voth said.
Bitch Slap is quite reminiscent of earlier decades’ exploitation genre, perhaps more commonly known as B films. Considering it is a modern twist on the genre, it may be presumed the actresses would have some background on the history of exploitation films. Much like the movie, it was just another little bit of unexpectedness.
“I hadn’t really seen any. I grew up in Huntsville, Texas where they don’t even have a Blockbuster,” said Cummings. “I don’t really have any shame in saying, ‘No, I didn’t watch these films prior to seeing and doing Bitch Slap.’ The three of us have agreed that that’s not our job to know exploitation films as a genre. Our job is to give it a truthful performance.”
With the other two ladies in agreement, Olivo actually had a bit more exposure to the genre due to her family history. “My mother was an actress and model and Miss Canada, so she was really tall back in the ’60s and ’70s here in Hollywood,” she explained. “Later in life, I started getting random tapes and DVDs sent to me by her friends. I’ve only seen what my mom’s done in this B-movie genre, so a part of it makes me feel, though my mom being her very British, Catholic self, that’s she’s very wary of showing us these times in her life.”
There’s no doubt that Olivo’s foul-mouthed, vicious fighting and drug-induced psychotic behavior are not comparable to the roles her mother played decades ago, but it’s all relative with the times. She insists this role has opened doors for her she had never imagined. “It (Bitch Slap) ran through all these fun things that I never thought I’d get the opportunity to do in my acting career,” she confessed. “It’s not what I thought I’d be doing when I got my degree in opera theater.”
Voth, not only a first-time lead, but also a first-time actress, began her career in modeling. She got the luck many Hollywood hopefuls dream about, landing a starring role in a feature film. “It’s opened doors that weren’t there before,” she said. “It’s been amazing. I’ve gotten other jobs, and just the learning experience of being on set and working with them…it’s been an incredible journey, and I’m very thankful for it.”
 Cummings, a bit more of a seasoned actress having had past roles on television shows such as “Dante’s Cove,” “Dollhouse” and the new series “Spartacus: Blood and Sand,” insists she also has had her world turned upside down. “It’s almost comical how this movie created a complete 180 in my life and in my career,” she explained. “To me, Bitch Slap was just going to be another independent film that never saw the light of day. I was just happy that I was getting a lead role in something.”
But through the help of the Internet and Comic-Con, Bitch Slap received buzz even before its release. “In the year and a half I’ve done Bitch Slap, my resume has increased three times, I’ve gotten ten times better representation, I’ve traveled around the world and I have more miles than I ever know what to do with,” Cummings concluded.
With its bold title, wacky plot, trippy visuals and epic girl-on-girl action (in combat and in love), Bitch Slap is destined to grab the attention of many demographics. And after a film like this, these actresses are sure to find their knack in Hollywood.
Bitch Slap is now playing in Los Angeles at the Nuart Theatre.
For more information, visit the film’s official Web site.
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