For a while, it seemed like Camilla Belle was on the cusp
of Hollywood stardom — until one big flop totally derailed her acting career.
Belle found success early as a child actress, making her big-screen debut
in Alfonso Cuarón's 1995 adaptation of the 1939 classic A Little Princess. Belle
also appeared in The Lost World: Jurassic Park as Cathy Bowman,
a young girl attacked on the beach by dinosaurs, and she played a young Sally in Practical Magic.
She also earned favorable reviews playing Rose Slavin in The Ballad of Jack and Rose opposite
three-time Oscar winner Daniel-Day Lewis. David Ansen of Newsweek said of Belle's performance:
"Belle uses her blank, doll-like beauty to unnerving effect:
she has the vulnerability — and the amorality — of an unbroken colt."
In 2006, Camilla Belle made the jump to horror when she starred in the remake of When a Stranger
Calls. Belle played Jill Johnson, a teenage babysitter terrorized by a deranged killer.
The film received negative reviews across the board, but it recouped its $15 million budget
and then some, earning $67 million worldwide. Her next project was her highest-profile movie
to date, but instead of making her an actress in demand, it led her down a path of obscurity.
10,000 BC is the action blockbuster that saw director Roland Emmerich adapting his
high-octane style for a period piece set in the stone age. The film is about a community of
hunter-gatherers who must confront an advanced civilization that begins to encroach on their
territory. Steven Strait stars as D'Leh, one of the community's best mammoth hunters,
and Camilla Belle plays Evolet, a young woman from a nearby tribe who becomes D'Leh's love interest.
That might sound like an amazing idea on paper, but the movie ended up being
a total dud. That said, 10,000 BC was at least a box office success,
raking in over $269 million worldwide when it premiered in 2008.
"He is not a god!"
But moviegoers clearly didn't like what they saw, as evidenced by the film's paltry 37%
audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. And it fared even worse with critics, sitting at just 9% on the
Tomatometer. Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly spoke for many when she wrote:
"Neither grand enough to be impressive nor antic enough to be charming,
the movie settles for bland and frantic."
In his review for The New York Times, A.O. Scott deemed the cast's performances "wooden,"
while Peter Travers from Rolling Stone said of Belle herself:
"D’Leh loves Evolet, played by Camilla Belle, who is made up and muscle-toned
like the attraction on 'America’s Next Top Lifeless Mannequin.'"
Following 10,000 BC, Camilla Belle continued to work in front of the camera and co-starred in
over a dozen films — but few of them will ring any bells for the average movie fan.
There was Push, for example, a 2009 superhero action flick that starred a
pre-Captain America Chris Evans. Then there's Father of Invention, a 2010 comedy about a
disgraced infomercial entrepreneur that earned a whopping 0% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Finally, there's Cavemen, a 2013 indie flick that opened in a total of 12 theaters.
Nevertheless, what Belle lost in her acting career she appears to have gained elsewhere,
as she has been focusing on both philanthropy and work behind the camera.
Most recently, Belle was one of five filmmakers to contribute to the 2021 horror anthology film
Phobias. Before that, in 2016, she directed Looking at the Stars — a documentary about a
ballet school for the blind in São Paulo. In 2017, Belle appeared in The Mad Whale,
which co-starred James Franco, who also served as a producer. All proceeds from the movie
went to the nonprofit group, The Art of Elysium, which was co-founded by the actress.
Another cause close to Belle's heart is the One Love Foundation.
Following the death of UVA student Yeardley Love at the hands of her ex-boyfriend,
the organization was founded to teach young people how to identify and avoid abuse.
"So there are all these different blind spots with
various forms of relationships that can be very unhealthy and toxic."
In 2019, Belle directed a video short for the foundation's second annual #LoveBetter campaign.
So while it may appear that 10,000 BC put a dent in Camilla Belle's acting career,
she still seems to have made it right where she belongs.
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