Actress Siena Kelly says there were “gross” challenges involved with filming her latest project, supernatural drama Domino Day.
The 28-year-old told Sky News: “I was in no clothing, you know, and in Manchester in March. Doing night shoots. So, I was freezing.”
She plays Domino Day, a young witch who uses dating apps not to find love, but to hunt.
Aside from the British chill, there were more physical challenges awaiting her when her character located a victim and set about having a ‘feed’.
Kelly explains: “You have to be like [open mouthed] for ages. And what’s the gross thing is that when I’m over the top of someone, you have saliva, you mouth wide is open. So, you’d have to be like, ‘stop, water,’ [mimes glugging down water] and then go again.”
Her co-star Percelle Ascott, 30, who plays her love interest Leon, agrees it was far from romantic.
“I’m here holding you. And I’m worrying, I’m like, ‘Oh, is my breath smelling right now? Can she smell my breath? What did I eat for lunch? Is there anything in my teeth?'”
Kelly adds: “It’s not cute… And then when I did it on the next guy, I was in all latex which gets hot and gets slippy… I was getting a bit moody because I was like, ‘I’m really hot’. And he was in a suit. We were sweating and stinking in all the lights.”
To add injury to insult, Ascott also put his back out during one feeding scene and was out of action for eight weeks.
Kelly, who initially trained as a dancer, admits: “I don’t know if I could have done it if I wasn’t someone that was a yoga loving honey.”
She jokes that Ascott, who has nearly 100k followers on Instagram and is known for his impressive topless work out shots, “was on set doing press ups, but can’t do a back bend!”
Written and created by BAFTA-nominated Lauren Sequeira, it seems the show’s part of a growing trend, with numerous other witch-themed dramas out this year (Sanctury: A Witch’s Tale, the second series of The Mayfair Witches and Rise Of The Witches to name but three).
Kelly says she’s not surprised 2024 has been pegged as the year of the witch: “I have so many friends and people in my life who identify as witches and practice pagan rituals and are into their crystals and meditate with the moon and know the lunar calendar.
“It does seem like we’re reclaiming it and it’s not a strange thing anymore. I know men doing it as well. My partner does it. His mum’s a witch. I think it’s coming back.
“Maybe it’s because we’re all so into technology now that now we’re needing something that roots us in the planet and the earth and getting back to animal instincts.”
But while she’s a fan of getting back to nature, there’s one bit of tech she couldn’t live without – in common with her on-screen character.
“I’ve honestly had wonderful experiences on dating apps. I’ve got a friend who I met on a dating app – we dated for three weeks – but five years later, we’re still mates.
“I’ve fallen in love many times. I met a partner. I’ve had so many fun dates. And the worst ones I’ve had, have just been boring.”
And like Domino, she goes in with a clear strategy, which is clearly paying off: “I have two drink rule – if I’m not into it by two drinks, I’m out.”
Domino Day is available in full on BBC iPlayer now, with episodes airing weekly at 9pm on Wednesdays on BBC Three.
Source : Sky News
