Maria Bello is home. The Philadelphia media junket heralding the release of Oliver Stone's "World Trade Center," which opens nationwide tomorrow, is only a short drive from Archbishop John Carroll High School for Girls, where Bello was a varsity cheerleader during the 1980s. It's a few miles south of Norristown, just off the Pennsylvania Turnpike, where her family still lives.

	Stephen Chernin, Associated Press Maria Bello, arriving at the New York premiere of "World Trade Center," grew up in Eastern Pennsylvania. Click photo for larger image.

More importantly, Bello's role as the wife of a real-life Port Authority policeman buried alive in the 9/11 collapse of the World Trade Center really hit home. On the day of the attack, Bello was in Manhattan.

"You could feel the bump, the shudder," she said, by phone. "It was tremendous and frightening."

In the context of Stone's startling film, "home" could be regarded as the collective shudder of the world community as we watched the towers fall, or the sharing of a global group hug as we watched the smoke and the body count rise. "Home" could be the spiritual bond that grew among the men trapped together under the rubble, or the mutual anguish of family members unsure if their loved ones were ever coming home.

Of the thousands buried at Ground Zero, only 20 were pulled out alive. Bello says her meetings with John McLoughlin, who was rescued from the rubble, and his wife, Donna, whose courage in the face of unimaginable desperation helped the family to endure, made all the difference in her performance.

"I didn't really know what to expect," says Bello. "Going in to meet with John and Donna, sitting at their kitchen table like that, looking at the family pictures, I think I could feel some of what it must have been like for the family that day. The enormity of it. Understanding the impact of this global issue and suddenly realizing that you're at the center of it."

Bello said her meetings with the McLoughlins made her think of her family in Norristown, of her home, of the randomness of the violence and the fact that it could have been any of us.

Both of the McLoughlins offered insights that Bello said influenced her performance.

"Certainly meeting with Donna -- the way she carries herself, her poise, the things she remembered doing while it was going on," she said. "But actually, I got a lot from John, too. His memories of his wife at the moment he thought he might not make it out. His relationship with her, the way he was this assertive policeman, but he relied so much on her strength and support."

Stone has a reputation for inserting his point of view in fact-based films like "Salvador," "JFK" and "Nixon." Bello says Stone's opinionated nature and personal style of filmmaking were among the reasons she was so excited about being cast in the role. This time, however, Stone generated buzz by leaving his opinion out of "World Trade Center," a decision Bello says made all the difference.

"Oliver said he wanted to make a movie about hope, not disaster," she said. "The true personal stories of these people, the men trapped inside and their families on the outside -- it's more powerful than any conspiracy theory or political drama or any of that. Because this could have been any of us that day."