Kristen Bell on ‘Outrun’: It’s Like a Sundance Version of ‘Smokey and the Bandit’

TV stars Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard are heading back to the back to the big screen in ‘Outrun,’ a new indie car chase film they convinced all their friends to be a part of. It’s a project very close to Bell’s heart, she said.

“I made a movie with Dax and a couple of our other friends in the beginning of the summer — right before the Showtime series [‘House of Lies’] — called ‘Outrun,’ which will come out in 2012,” Bell said to Huffington Post TV. “I’m really proud of and it was the first time I’ve ever worn a producorial hat.”

Shepard pulled triple duty for ‘Outrun,’ acting, writing and co-directing the flick that also stars Tom Arnold, Bradley Cooper, Beau Bridges, Kristin Chenoweth, David Koechner, Michael Rosenbaum, Joy Bryant, and Ryan Hansen.

According to HitFix, ‘Outrun’ follows Charlie Bronson (Shepard), an ex-getaway driver who is in the Witness Protection Program. He comes out of hiding to drive his girlfriend, played by real-life fiancee Bell, cross-country for a job opportunity. On their drive, the duo meet a variety of zany characters along the way and end up being chased by both cops (Arnold) and robbers (Cooper). David Palmer co-directed the flick.

“[W]e asked all of our friends to be involved, all of our actor friends,” Bell said. “Everybody made the time to do it, it was really cool — actors we did not think would be involved or make time for our little movie and they did. We shot it for almost eight weeks and we had so much fun. It’s kind of an indie car chase movie, it’s like ‘Smokey and the Bandit,’ Sundance Style.”

Shepard and Palmer also co-directed the 2010 spoof film ‘Brother’s Justice.’

Up next for Bell is Showtime’s ‘House of Lies’ and ‘Big Miracle’ opposite Drew Barrymore and John Krasinski. And what about a ‘Veronica Mars’ movie? Find out what she had to say on the prospects of the project over at The Huffington Post.

‘Outrun’ speeds into theaters Aug. 24, 2012.

[Photo: Getty]