It’s the most feminist script I’ve read in years
years,” says the star, whose past Hollywood projects include Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and The Maze Runner film franchise.
“You know, I read it and I kept waiting for, ‘And then she kisses the boyfriend’ or, ‘And then she’s in her underwear’ and it never came. And I thought, ‘Wow, amazing! It’s possible’.”
She continues, passionately: “People always ask me, ‘Do you play these female roles because you want to inspire young girls?’ I’m like, ‘I want to inspire young boys too!’ I want to inspire everyone that a female can hold a film, and she’s got just as interesting a story as any other character.
“I wanted to prove that a female can carry a studio film and be kick a** and be fun and be crazy, and still vulnerable. She still gets scared; she isn’t a superhero, she’s a person, and I loved that.”
Kaya is hopeful change is coming, where women in films are concerned.
“I think it’s just a dialogue we have to keep on having. There are amazing creatives in the industry, and some who get opportunities and some that don’t, and as long as we continue to nurture those that don’t always have the same opportunities as others, we will carry on creating good content, and that’s what it’s about.
“I believe completely in fairness and balance and it should be about great content. It’s just about supporting women who sometimes don’t have the same opportunities.”
Crawl was definitely offering an empowering role for Kaya, as well as a chance to push herself physically.
First of all, there was the intense fitness training she had to put herself through before the shoot.
“I could swim, but I wasn’t a swimmer, at all, and I kinda started in the kiddie lane with the floaty things and worked my way up from there,” she remembers.
“I had some amazing coaches, former Olympians, both (in the UK) at the London aquatics centre and then in Serbia, and I’d do an hour a day in the pool – worked my way out of the kiddie lane into the big girl lane.
“I also trained with George Ashwell at Twenty Two Training gym, who helped me work on my core and my strength, because she (Hayley) needs to look like a swimmer, but me, as an actor, I need to be able to survive a month, two months of shooting this movie. So I wanted to feel the strongest I ever felt.”
“I think no-one, including me, could expect how difficult it was going to be,” adds Kaya, who has a two-year-old son with her husband, American actor and comedian Benjamin Walker.
“I think it’s the most emotionally challenging film I’ve ever done. Outside of work I’m usually very good at switching off, and I’ll go for a drink and be fine afterwards.
“But this, I was alone for so much of it. I’m really used to big ensemble casts and most days it was just me, and I felt really lonely.
“I got quite... I don’t want to say depressed, but intense and insular, during the shooting. And I think that really helped.
“It was kind of beautiful because it was claustrophobic, and I did feel completely separated from the world around me,” she follows thoughtfully.
“I figured out that if I went home in my blood and make up that I could save 20 minutes of sleep time. So I’d go home fully as Haley still, and I’d look in the mirror some days and think, ‘What have I done? Where am I? What’s going on?!’
“So, emotionally, it’s the most intense job I’ve ever had.”