HOLLY EARL On her acting career and starring in SHARK BAIT By Alex A. Kecskes Known by her fans as Lily Arwell in Doctor Who, as Agnes in the sci-fi drama, Humans, and as La Mousme in the animated crime biopic, Loving Vincent, London-born Holly Earl has proven to be a versatile talent in both TV and film. Her earlier credits include playing Nita Clements in the drama series Casualty. She also appeared as Kela in the action-drama Beowulf: Return to the Shieldlands, and as Zoe in the Comedy series Cuckoo. In the thriller, Shark Bait, Holly is Nat, a demure spring breaker struggling to survive a man-eating shark. After a night of partying on the beach, Nat reluctantly joins her friends as they steal jet skis and head out to sea. But the fun quickly turns to horror after a head-on collision leaves them injured, bleeding, and stranded in shark-infested waters fighting for survival.
Q&A Thank you for taking the time for this interview. There are so many shark movies out there. What attracted you to this one? Holly Earl: I read the script and loved it. I liked how Nat was so sweet, sensible, and honest at the start of the film. She didn’t want to get into trouble. But then she goes on this journey and turns into a completely different person. I thought that was interesting from an acting perspective.
Did you audition for the role of Nat? If so, what was that like? Holly: I auditioned for the role in front of director James Nunn and pretended to be in the presence of a shark. He wanted to see if I could be believable that way. I was also in a Playstation video game called Erica, which James was involved in, so there was that connection. What did you draw from emotionally to get into Nat, who confronts her fears and overcomes them? Holly: We had an amazing team of divers that were around us all the time. I don’t know, maybe they held some sharks at bay while we were filming. We were off the coast of Argentina and away from the crew boat, so we really had no idea what was in the water. If there were sharks in the water, I’m glad I didn’t know about it at the time (laughs). There were times when we were isolated in the water with the crew boat really far away, so I suppose that helped generate some fear in us. There were moments when I thought, oh, my God, I’m alone in the ocean. And that was scary, so you’re really not acting at that point. We were always busy doing stunts, swimming, and jumping off moving jet skis. So that helped take my mind off those scary moments. What was the biggest challenge you faced in this film? Holly: I’d never done such a physical role. I was in the water 12 hours a day. In one scene, I’m trying to save a guy but I’m
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