Mermaids on a mission
Siren gives us Thalassophobia! Be afraid of the little mermaid!
Streaming service Showmax opens its all-you- can-binge seafood buffet with mermaid horror series Siren (2018- current). There’s something fishy about Ryn (Eline Powell), the new girl who’s moved to Bristol Cove, which was once a mermaid haven. Ryn really makes waves after she catches the eye of marine biologist Ben
Pownall (Alex Roe) and his girlfriend colleague
Maddie Bishop (Fola EvansAkingbola), but they are wading into dangerous waters because the mermaids (known on the series as sirens) are gathering and they are hungry. “This show turns the typical notion of mermaids on its head. We think of these creatures as being fragile, hyper-sexualised victims. Ours are powerful predators. She will seriously mess you up,” warns Tricia Melton, the senior vice president of marketing, creative and branding for Siren’s production company Freeform. And they don’t come more dangerous than Donna. The deadly siren is played by Zimbabwe-born Sibongile Mlambo, who explained to us from the show’s set in LA that Donna is the main reason that her younger sister Ryn came to Bristol Cove in the first place.
Is Siren like The Little Mermaid (1989) meets The Walking Dead (2011-current)? It’s a gritty drama and our mermaids are deadly. They are apex predators and I would say that sirens are a lot more dangerous than sharks. What appeals to you most about Donna? She is a mermaid! And a tough, fierce, warrior woman! Researching animals and playing with Donna’s movement felt artistically liberating.
What is her endgame? She is just trying to get back home with her sister. Being on land is strange for her as it’s a new world and humans haven’t been very welcoming to her at all – she’s captured and kept in a glass tank. Underwater scenes are easy to create with CGI technology these days – but your sets
were in water, right? Yes, that really is us in the water. We wore bikini tops and long skirts that kept our legs together. There’s a monofin tail, contacts and prosthetic teeth, as well as computer tracking dots for the special effects team during post production. We had to get breath-hold training and I can hold my breath for over two-and-ahalf minutes. We had to earn diving certifications as well for working in deep water and there was always a safety diver close-by with an oxygen cannister in case we couldn’t get back to the surface quickly enough.
Your make-up routine sounds hectic. I’ve been lucky to not have crazy- early call times, which is a win! If we’re shooting a half day, half evening, I’d get picked up at noon. Tank days are my favourite because the water is warm and you are swimming the whole day – I’m in my swimsuit and it’s a quick stop in the hair and make-up truck for tracking dots, teeth, contacts and a wig. And it’s great exercise – so many wins! The oceans of Los Angeles are a fair way away from Zimbabwe in Africa… I knew that I wanted to get to Hollywood but couldn’t figure out how I was going to do it. When I was based in Cape Town, international actors encouraged me to check it out, so when I felt that I was ready, I visited and booked the movie that I auditioned for. The rest, as they say, is history. What is the biggest difference between a large-scale US production like Siren and something smaller back home? I love the amount of support that comes with being on a big set like Siren. The production provided a stunt and dive team to make sure we were always safe in the water, along with training and rehearsal, which you don’t always get on smaller productions. Siren isn’t your first spin in the fantasy TV genre though. I played Tamora Monroe on Teen Wolf (2011-2017) and while she isn’t one of the cool creatures, I did get to hunt a lot of them and that was a lot of fun. I loved learning how to shoot a rifle and the choreography for fight scenes. I love the fantasy genre because you are given so much more room and space to use your imagination and play.