A Chat with Heir of the Witch’s Victoria Bell

“She wasn’t the type of witch that will do good things with those powers, or inspire or help those around her,” Heir of the Witch writer and director Victoria Bell explained. “She was doing actual things to harm people and especially her family.”

Asking about Bell’s real-life Moldovan grandmother was the natural starting point for a conversation about Heir of the Witch, which starts streaming everywhere on August 4. Her grandmother’s witchy ways inspired Bell to write the movie and own her family’s history, which had proved a source of embarrassment to her for years.

But that’s not all her family inspired. He production company, Pasha Entertainment, is named after her mother, who Bell couldn’t speak highly enough of. So much so that I struggled to hold back tears when she talked about her mother’s influence on her. Her love and respect for her mom was both palpable and powerful.

But it was Victoria Bell’s grandma who really made me stop and go, “Hmm…”

Did that really happen?

Had her grandmother ever bound Bell to a chair like the grandma in Heir of the Witch did to Anna? (The character Bell stars as.) I knew if I was wondering about it after seeing the movie, others would be too. So that had to be where the conversation started.

Bell assured me she never experienced anything like that. (Phew!) However, the only time she ever met her grandmother, she pulled her aside to do a “protection spell” on her.

“I remember she had this pan, it was a metal pan, that she put over my head. I was sitting on the chair. And she started to break things and put liquids in there…and metals, and the whispers, and the things she would say…they were horrifying. And as a child, I just remember thinking. ‘This can’t be good.'”

No, it wasn’t. Thankfully Bell’s older sister ended up coming in and rescuing her before any harm could be done.

Although, the joke is on her grandma because Victoria Bell channeled her once embarrassing family history into something positive.

The Witchcraft-Inspired Inspirational TED Talk

I never know what will come of talking to people. In the case of Victoria Bell, I felt like I’d been treated to a one-on-one TED Talk. One that had me bursting to tap into my creativity.

“What does witchcraft actually do to people?” Bell said at one point. “And think about it. If you take an emotion that’s positive, right, then you inspire someone, and you sit with them and tell them, ‘You’re a beautiful human being. You can do so much goodness in this world. You have a gift, and you’re here to create a new path in the world.’ And you take that energy, and that’s light, and that’s positivity you need to inspire you, right? And you take that energy, and you go and create things. You create worlds, you create movies, you create children, you create a business. So it’s the good energy that inspires us.”

Shortly after this is when she explained how her mom gave her so much, and she’s now striving to both honor her mom and do things her mom never had a chance to.

“We as women think first of things to nurture, to procreate. And I think that creativity and writing is also procreating. It’s a creative child. And it’s okay to have a voice, and it’s okay to be courageous, and to have the courage to go out there and make something that you’ve never done before. Like it’s okay. Create something. Make a movie, a story, write a book. And even if it’s decent, you still did so much more than not trying at all.”

Watch the Chat with Victoria Bell

While her grandmother sparked interesting conversation, it wasn’t the only thing we discussed. I asked what the biggest challenge was that Bell faced writing, directing, and starring in Heir of the Witch. Also, what was the most satisfying part of the experience. And were there any Easter eggs? At one point, a red balloon appears in a scene. Was it an homage to IT?

The full interview answers all.

For More Info

Visit https://www.heirofthewitch.com.

Courtney Mroch

Courtney Mroch is a globe-trotting restless spirit who’s both possessed by wanderlust and the spirit of adventure, and obsessed with true crime, horror, the paranormal, and weird days. Perhaps it has something to do with her genes? She is related to occult royalty, after all. Marie Laveau, the famous Voodoo practitioner of New Orleans, is one of her ancestors. (Yes, really! As explained here.) That could also explain her infatuation with skeletons.

Speaking of mystical, to learn how Courtney channeled her battle with cancer to conjure up this site, check out HJ’s Origin Story.